Ethleen's Eat of the Week: Cinnamon Pecan Apple Crisp

I know I've said it before, but... oh my Heavenly Day. I thought the spice cake was good. That cake has nothing on this Apple Crisp! So simple. So 'I live in a cabin in the woods'ish... this recipe is the Godfather of all food storage recipes.

I shant keep you waiting!

You will need:

For the body -  
3 cups dehydrated apple slices
4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt

For the topping - 
1 cup sugar
1 cup quick oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup soft butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 

First things first... Combine the apple slices, water, sugar, salt, and cinnamon and bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat and let the mixture sit about 30 minutes so the apples can get married and go on a honeymoon with the cinnamon-sugar syrup. Oh yeah.

Pour the mixture into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

Combine the topping sugar, quick oats, and flour.

Cut in the butter until the mixture is about as fine as corn meal.

Spread the topping over the apple mixture.

NOTE: If you're lazy like me, cut up butter pads and place them *strategically* over the topping mix. 

Now you would ask, "Really? THAT much butter?" 

 

And I would say, "Yes silly. That. Much. Butter."

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and serve with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream!! Yowzers it's good!!
 

Scrumditiliumptious. 

Oh my crap I can't take it. Look how gloriously the syrup spills over the top of the pan... 

I need help. 

Really. 

DISCLAIMER: I got so excited about this dish that I actually didn't even add pecans. And I GUESS it turned out okay. ; P

Danae's Deals of the Week: Introductions!!

Oh our Nae Nae... how we love her!!!!

Danae Winder will now be sending me 'Deals of the Week' as she scours markets for the BEST deals out there!!!! I'm so excited I could scream!!

This week's deals:

Winco:
Flour $6.08/25 lb bag (that's $.24/lb) - AMAZING DEAL ALERT!
Corn Syrup $1.78/ qt.

Also to note...

Danae and I hit the stores a couple weeks back to update her food price comparison chart. A few of you may have already seen this - it's FABULOUS!! It compares the price of common bulk foods between Winco, Cash-N-Carry, and the Bishop's Storehouse. I will also be adding a column for Azure Standard, an online food co-op. Anyways, after making the rounds, here are Danae's notes on a few important things:

Rice has gone up- quite a bit. In October the cheapest long grain rice was $.29/lb and now the cheapest is $.40/lb. (!!!)

Popcorn has gone up too. In October it was $.39/lb and now it is $.46/lb.

But beans have gone down a little bit. In Oct the cheapest prices were:
pinto: $.50/lb  
white: $.56/lb  
black: $.52/lb
kidney: $.80/lb

And now:
pinto: $.48/lb
white: $.50/lb
black: $.52/lb
kidney: $.77/lb

Excellent!! Thank you Danae!!!!

Ethleen's Eat of the Week: Southwest Salad

 

The talk of the town this week is Southwest Salad!! Whew!! This salad is divine, and of very feminine persuasion... when I eat it I feel like I should  be in a cafe selling antiques - like our beloved Ruthie B's used to be (may she rest in peace). The corn adds a hint of sweetness while the lime/olive oil dressing gives it a little kick, and don't even get me started on the cilantro! 

You know the drill - Ethleen sends me the recipe (these are all recipes using -mainly- ingredients which can, or should, be found in your food storage. I make the recipe, add my notes as if anyone cares, take pictures of the process, and pass the information along to you fine ladies (and gents lurking in the wings)... 

On that note, let's take a look at our cast of characters this week...

 

You will need:

2 cups corn (frozen, canned, blanched fresh, or dehydrated - re-hydrated of course)

4 cups cooked black beans (you can use canned, but they mere pennies if you use home storage beans)

2 cups shredded red and/or green cabbage (the only thing on the list we don't usually have in storage, however it grows near year round here so it's almost always available!)

1/2 a red onion, minced (re-hydrated dried onion works great here)

1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or sliced almonds

1/4 cup lime juice (some of you may have lime juice powder on hand - I didn't so I used lemon juice and it tastes great)

1/2 tsp salt

2 T olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or dried cilantro)

pepper to taste

First things first, chop your cabbage and mince your onion.

Mix together corn, black beans, cabbage, and onion.

Toast your almonds (or pine nuts/walnuts) and toss them in!

It should look about like this right now...

Last, but certainly not least, you'll mix together the dressing. Chop your cilantro, and mix it with your olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Then add that to the base salad, and voila!!

Refrigerate this dish til you're ready to serve it. It's even better if you make it ahead of time and give the flavors ample hours to get to know one another. Holy yum.

Goes great as a side dish and is even better with a warm piece of bread!! Enjoy gals!

52 Weeks to Family Preparedness: Week 6

Download Week 6 here.

52 Weeks to Family Preparedness: Week 5

Download Week 5 here.

Self-Reliance 101: FOOD STORAGE

Food Storage can be extremely daunting - especially when you're first starting out. Here are the basics about what you need to be storing. These suggestions are based on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' guidelines...

There are 6 Areas of Self-Reliance. But more on that later. Right now, we're just going to talk about one: Home Storage.

 There are 3 Categories of Home Storage:

1. Basic Storage - Included in your basic storage should be life-sustaining food and nonfood items that will store for long periods of time. These include grains (wheat, rice, corn, etc), nonfat dried milk, legumes (beans and peas), sugar, salt, fat, and DON'T FORGET WATER! In your basic storage it's also extremely important that you store a year's supply of garden seeds to plant and to supplement your diet. Basic storage should also include fuel, bedding, clothing, and medical supplies. The last thing to keep in mind would be a hand grinder for processing your grains, recipes for using the stored foods, and any other items that you feel necessary for survival.

2. Emergency Storage - Each individual in your family should have a portable container with emergency supplies such as water, food requiring no refrigeration or cooking, medications and critical medical histories, change of clothing, sanitary supplies, first aid equipment, and other things needed for 72-hour survival. These 72 hour kits are easy and can be cheap to assemble. I'll be dedicating an entire post to this, so again, more on that later!

3. Expanded Storage - This type of storage includes foods and other daily essentials which will provide variety and allow for personal preferences. They include baking powder, soda, and spices. Also fruits and vegetables, which can be dehydrated, bottled, canned, pickled, etc. Meats which can be smoked, canned, or freeze-dried. These foods have limited shelf life compared to the Basic Storage foods, so they should be a regular part of your diet and replaced routinely. Expanded storage can also include little pleasures such as hard candy, chocolate, etc.

 

 

52 Weeks to Family Preparedness: Week 4

Download Week 4 here.

LDS Preparedness Manual

The LDS Preparedness Manual is an excellent resource for self-reliance. While it has not been endorsed nor produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, significant effort has been made to ensure that all materials are in accordance with general church guidelines on food storage and family preparedness. 

You can download a copy of the manual here.  

LDS Preparedness Manual Index

THINKING ABOUT GETTING STARTED
3 Preface
6 Book of Gomer Parable, Author Unknown
8 Preparing for a repeat of Haun’s Mill, By Roger K. Young
16 Preparedness Test, by One Heart Inc.
17 Deluxe 96 Hour Kit, By Glenn A. Anderson
 

FOOD STORAGE
20 Food Storage, by Chris Parrett
22 BARE-MINIMUM Food Storage Requirements, by Chris Parrett
23 Do you Really have a Year’s Supply??, By Chris Parrett
24 Basic Food List, Lynette B. Crockett
28 Monthly Food Storage Purchasing Calendar, by Andrea Chapman
32 The Seven Major Mistakes in Food Storage, By Vickie Tate
34 Common Storage Foods, By Alan T. Hagan
35 Grains & Flours, By Alan T. Hagan
45 Legume Varieties, By Alan T. Hagan T. Hagan
47 Availability of Grains & Legumes,, By Alan T. Hagan Alan T. Hagan
50 Moisture Content in Grains & Legumes, By Alan T. Hagan
52 Dairy Products, By Alan T. Hagan
55 Canned Fluid Milks and Cremes, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, By Alan T. Hagan
58 Sugar, Honey and Sweeteners, By Alan T. Hagan
63 Fats and Oils, By Alan T. Hagan
65 Cooking Adjuncts, By Alan T. Hagan
69 Infant Formula, By Alan T. Hagan
71 Growing and Using Sprouts, by Al Durtschi
73 Pros & Cons of Freeze-Dried, Dehydrated, MRE, etc.., by Skipper Clark
74 MREs, Meal Ready to Eat, By Alan T. Hagan
81 Storage Containers, By Alan T. Hagan
93 Oxygen Absorbers, By Alan T. Hagan
93 Moisture Control, By Alan T. Hagan
99 Spoilage, By Alan T. Hagan
105 Storage Lives of Dehydrated Food, By Al Durtschi
111 Water, by Paton Turner
124 Master Food List, by Chris Parrett
128 Master Seed List, by Chris Parrett
 

TEMPORAL PREPARATION
129 OK, But what do I prepare for?, by Capt. Dave
132 Surviving in the City, Edited by Chris Parrett
142 Money, Edited by Chris Parrett
145 Defence, Edited by Chris Parrett
147 Clothing, Edited by Chris Parrett
148 Emergency Heating & Cooking, by Greg Pope
150 Emergency Light, by Robert Roskind & Brandon Mansfield
158 Emergency Shelter, by Larry Bethers
159 Master Preparedness List, by Chris Parrett
173 Space Cramp, Where do I Put it all?? by Kim Hicken
175 Emergency Sanitation, by Greg Pope.
176 Emergency Toilets & Garbage Disposal, by Alan T. Hagan
178 Emergency Generators, By Steve Dunlop
184 Thoughts on Disaster Survival, post Katrina , By Anonymous
 

TERRORISM
193 Protecting Yourself From Terrorism, By Kenneth B. Moravec
197 Homeland Security Advisory System, By Kenneth B. Moravec
199 Preparing for a Pandemic, By Kenneth B. Moravec
200 Fact about Avian Flu, By Kenneth B. Moravec
204 Quarentine, By Kenneth B. Moravec
205 Quarentining for Epidemics, By Kenneth B. Moravec
207 Biological and Chemical Agent Dispersion, By Kenneth B. Moravec
211 Common Biological and Chemical Agents
213 Nuclear - Chemical Decontamination Kit, By Kenneth B. Moravec
215 Nuclear Disaster and Warfare, By Kenneth B. Moravec
219 What to do After a Nuclear Attack, By Kenneth B. Moravec
221 What to do Before a Nuclear Attack, By Kenneth B. Moravec

Please Note:
The contents of this booklet are intended to assist individuals and families in
coping with emergency preparations. However, final decisions on preparation
for actions taken during an emergency are the sole responsibility of individuals.
No one knows your needs or can take care of you better than you can-nor does
anyone else have that responsibility. Information and examples contained within
this booklet are provided for illustration and advice only. Therefore, no liability
is assumed by the Editor or any of the Authors for the use or misuse of any
information or products contained in this publication.

This publication has not been endorsed or produced by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its contents and the opinions it expresses
are those of the Editor and the separate authors.

While it should not be construed as an official church publication,
significant effort has been made to ensure that all materials are in
accordance with general church guidelines on food storage and family
preparedness. A special “LDS Authorized” edition of this book is available to Stakes and Wards
upon written request from the Stake President or Ward Bishop that contains significant additional
LDS copyrighted material not contained in this public version.

Questions, Comments or requests for additional copies of this manual
should be directed to its compiler
Brother Christopher M. Parrett, “chris@ldsavow.com”.

This manual may be freely re-printed and distributed so long as
all of the copyrights of the original authors are respected, and such reproduction is
NEVER DONE FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN!.

Ethleen's Eat of the Week: Pinto Fiesta Cake

Introducing "Ethleen's Eat of the Week" - creative ways to use your food storage!! Every Friday, Ehtleen Rhees is going to be emailing me a recipe. The woman is a genius when it comes to cooking with food storage. She's got a talent for it! On Saturdays, I will use the recipe - and my food storage - to create one of Ethleen's culinary masterpieces. I will photograph the entire process, and blog about it Monday mornings!! When all is said and done, you'll have a collection of tasty, useable, food storage recipes and knowledge to boot!

Bon apetite!!

**NOTE: Ethleen's directions are in regular font, my side notes/words of nonsense are in italics!**

And now for.... 

 

The ingredients line-up... 

You will need:

For the cake-

2 C cooked mashed pinto beans
2 C rehydrated apples
1 C sugar
1/4 C butter (or equivilant in butter powder rehydrated)
1 egg beaten (or equivilant in dried egg powder rehydrated)
1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 T vanilla
1 C raisins
1 C chopped nuts

For the Orange Glaze-

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C orange juice (or orange juice powder reconstituted)

1. Cream sugar & butter.

2. Add eggs and beans. You'll want to cook the beans using your preferred method ahead of time. My mom soaks/cooks them overnight on low heat. Make sure they're cooked through so they're easy to mash, and so you don't have little pieces of hard bean in your cake when you go to eat it. *Ahem* Of course that would never happen to me.

 

3. Mix together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture.  

4. Add apples, raisins, nuts, and vanilla. Rehydrate by putting approximately 2 cups dry apple slices in a bowl and cover with water for about a half an hour.

5. Pour into greased 10 inch tube pan (bundt pan for those of you who are wondering... I of COURSE knew exactly what a "tube pan" was and did NOT have to consult Google... I greased the pan with Crisco and then I floured the pan on top of that... I might have been a TAD overzealous, but it's better than ruining a cake - aka death by sticking!!) and bake 45 min at 375. 

 

 

6. To make the Orange Glaze: Dissolve sugar in orange juice. 

7. Pour glaze on cooled cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar.