Hard White Wheat Pricing

Some wheat pricing comparison’s I did this morning.

• Diversified Products
  50 pounds of Wheat $25
  6.5pound bucket $5.50
  Total - $30.50 or .61/pound
  
• Mesa Cannery (you can stop in anytime and get up to 25 bags/month)
  2-25pound bags @$7.40 each
  Total - $14.80 or .30/pound w/o buckets
  6.5pound bucket $5.50 (from diversified)
  Total - $20.30 or .41/pound w/buckets
  
• Costco
  45 pound prefilled white bucket $21.99 +tax of .33
  Total - $22.32 or .50/pound
  
  The cannery is definitely the best deal if you already have buckets. However if you need buckets for the wheat it’s pretty convenient and a great price to just go pick them up at Costco w/no limit, no driving to Mesa to pick up the product & no caning of the product.

Tanya Hansen's Enchiladas

You know how they say when you do your visiting teaching it blesses the sisters you teach as well as you? Well today I went visiting teaching and it blessed me and my family ;)
My companion is Tanya Hansen, I picked her up this afternoon to go to an appointment and she smelled like enchiladas. She told me about how she had been making them all morning getting ready for an upcoming wedding that she's catering. We went to our appointment then I dropped her back off at home. Well I left her house totally craving enchildas so about 10 minutes after I dropped her off I called her back at home asking for the recipe. She also told me about a handy tip that is probably common knowledge except to me ;)
She told me that she makes a huge batch then puts them on cookie sheets and freezes them. Once they're frozen they can be taken off the cookie sheet and broken apart and labeled in ziplock bags. How smart! So you keep them in the freezer and you have a quick enchilada dinner any night of the week. There's no sauce on them so they don't get soggy.

Enchiladas
Filling: shredded meat, green chilis, shredded cheddar cheese, onions (I cooked mine), black beans (I added that), mexican seasonings til it tastes like you like it.
Corn Tortillas: Fry them in oil just for a second until soft then dry on a paper towel.
Place a thin layer of sauce on bottom of cooking dish. Fill the tortillas, roll and place in dish to cook in oven or on cookie sheet if freezing.
Place sauce over entire pan and cover with cheese. If cooking from frozen state dip in sauce then place in cooking dish. Pour remaining sauce over pan and top with cheese. Cook at 350 until cooked through.

Julie Herrell's AMAZING Dinner Rolls

I am sharing this recipe on Julie's behalf, it is SO AMAZING!!! I've made my fair share of dinner roll recipes but this one was by far the softest most yummiest :D
I had my sister and her husband over for dinner Tuesday night and made these for the first time. I'd say having them turn out the first time says volumes that plus they were super easy!

Dinner Rolls
2 Tbsp Yeast
3 cups warm water
3/4 cup sugar (I used a little extra)
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed potatoes (I used potato pearls, julie told me she uses the dehyrated potatoes also)
1/2 cup butter
9 cups flour (I used about 4 1/2 each of wheat and white)

Mix in your mixer for 8 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes, then pinch out small dough balls. Let rise in warm oven for another 20 minutes or so. Take out of oven and let oven preheat to 375, then bake for 20 minutes. The recipe says it makes about 60-70 rolls. I only got about 3 dozen so I'm sure I made mine too big.

Recipes - Tortillas, Pizza Dough & Honey Wheat Bread

Here are some recipes I've been asked for recently that I use ALOT, in fact they are in my 3 month food storage supply because they are so easy to make.

Flour Tortillas
6 cups flour (you can mix it up if you'd like to try a little wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup oil (I use canola)
2 cups warm milk

Mix flour, salt & baking powder in your mixer. Add oil then milk and continue mixing until a large sticky ball forms. At this point I put a golf sized ball on my hot tortilla press and flatten it out. If you don't have a press you can roll them out on a floured surface. You can either cook them up now or freeze them for later. I put them in stacks of about 10-12 and store them in ziplock freezer bags so we always have fresh tortillas on hand. They are similar to the uncooked tortillas you can buy at Costco (only much cheaper). When you need them just defrost them and cook in a dry skillet.
I recently did a salsa flavored batch and it was a hit with my family! I just decreased the milk a bit and pureed some salsa and added it to the mix.

Pizza Dough
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups water
5 3/4 cups flour

Using a mixer with a dough hook combine olive oil, honey, salt, yeast & water. Add most of the flour, until it pulls away from bowl; you might use a little more or less. Mix for about 10 minutes. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Punch down and shape. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. We use this dough and let everyone make their own pizza then make breadsticks with any leftovers.

Honey Wheat Bread
In mixer add:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
3 Tablespoons ground flax seed
Mix, then add:
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
Add 2 3/4 cups hot water and 2 cups white bread flour. Add whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time until it pulls away from sides and clears the edges of bowl. Knead in mixer 3-4 minutes more. Divide into 2 loaves (or shape into rolls) cover with hand towel and let rise in greased bread pans until it's a nice rounded loaf. Bake 28 minutes at 350.

Everyday Food Storage

Aren't these so cute! I'm totally making these with my kids...

She has a family home evening activity and lesson to go with them for this week.

Check out this site - there are all kinds of great food storage tips and helps as well.

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/

canned meat

I have canned a lot of meat and am willing to teach anyone that wants to learn how. It has a shelf life of 5-7 years and is great to have in your food storage - and actually gets used. It is easy to do. In the picture is chicken, pork, steak, & hamburger. I will send directions to anyone who wants them. email me at julieherrell@yahoo.com.

Condiment Graveyard?

I just got this in an email from savingdinner.com and thought it was good information to share, every now and then we need to go through our fridge and dejunk...
Old Condiment Syndrome
Ladies, are you suffering from OCS? Old Condiment Syndrome? You know what I’m talking about. Crusty ketchup bottles, icky, old Ranch dressing and ancient mustard?
We all have a lot of condiments, don’t we? Listen, I know what you have lurking in your refrigerator doors. Fossilized condiments! And more than a busy hotdog stand in New York City needs, too!
Did you know the refrigerated shelf life for mayonnaise is two months? It is! So guess what? Today is the day you get to toss that stuff and get a new one. Listen, if you don’t use it often enough, buy a smaller jar. Even though it costs more money, it really is the cheaper way to go. You don’t need nasty old mayo with a thick crust on it in your fridge!
Here are some more items you probably have languishing in the doors of your fridge or way in the back:

1. Mustard. Not just the yellow kind, but Dijon, honey mustard, brown mustard and that teeny, tiny jar of gourmet mustard from the gift basket you received over the holidays with the funky taste. No one likes it, but instead of throwing it out, you put it in the fridge. Why? Toss it! Shelf life: 6-8 months in the fridge; 2 years unopened in a pantry.


2. Jams and Jellies. Yesterday, I pulled out a raspberry jam that had a “best used by” date of 4/5/05. YIKES! I bet you have some of those too! Time to chuck them as well! Shelf life: 1 year in the fridge; 1 year unopened in the pantry.


3. Salad Dressings. A lot of commercial salad dressings have enough preservatives in them to embalm you. However, nothing lasts forever. If they’ve been opened for more than 3 months in the fridge, they’ve gotta go too. Unopened, they’ll last a year in your pantry.


4. Pickles. I think I’ve had the same jar of pickles in my fridge since I’ve had the raspberry jam. The issue for pickles is they don’t last as long as jam in the fridge! Only 1-2 months opened and in the fridge. For the pantry shelf? One year unopened.


5. Ketchup. I don’t even want to know how old my ketchup is. Let’s just say probably from the same era as the pickles and the raspberry jam. Truth is, it’s only good for about 2 months in the fridge. Unopened and on the pantry shelf, it can last a year before it needs tossing.


6. Salsa and Hot Sauce. Guess what? Once your hot sauce or salsa is opened, it’s good for just a month in the fridge! Don’t wait for it to mold; throw it OUT! Unopened, it’s good for a year on your pantry shelf.


7. Olives. Oh yes, I confess. My olives are refrigerator pals with the jam, ketchup and pickles! Out they go today…they only last a month opened in the fridge. They’ll last a year unopened in your pantry though!

Food Storage - Canned Apple Pie Filling

4 Cups sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 Cup cornstarch, 3 Tablespoons cinnamon (less if you like), 1 Tablespoon Nutmeg (less if you like), 10 Cups water.

Add all together, cook well over medium heat while stirring. Cook till it becomes clear and thick. Add 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice. I have apples already sliced and in the jars(about 60 med. size). Ladle syrup into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Water bath for 20 minutes. Needs one inch of water over the jars. Remove and let cool on counter.

Makes great Apple Crisp -

1 Cup flour, 1 Cup oats, 1 Cup brown sugar & 1 Cup butter

Take a bowl and mix dry ingredients, stir in softened butter. Evenly spread over Apple Pie Filling recipe in 9 X 13 pan (sprayed with Pam) and cover with Apple Crisp topping. Cook for 45 minutes at 350. When it turns golden brown it is done. Let it cool for awhile then you can serve it with yummy ice cream. What a treat to have in our food storage.

Weekly Menu Form

https://sites.google.com/site/allisonbrittonfiles/Home
Click this link, then click the attachment Blank MealPlan (this is my first time using google sites so please let me know if this doesn't work and I'll figure something else out). It's an excel file, I think I got it from the Microsoft database, I don't really remember.
It's very plain, but I've been using it for ages and it helps me stay organized with my grocery shopping and what I'm gonna make for meals in the coming week. If I know what I'm going to make and have the food at home the chances of me actually making the meals instead of hitting the drive thru are much better. Certainly not 100% or even 90%, because I still have weeks where it seems like I planned it out but end up picking up dinner the whole week, but that's life and I accept it. I usually put two or three desserts on the list, one for Sunday, one for Monday (FHE) and one for another week night.
It's helpful if you glance at your calendar while planning your dinners. For example on a night when there's a lot going on, I'll plan a crockpot dinner. I LOVE my crockpot!!!
You can stop reading at this point...
I'm compulsive and have to push it to the next step so I actually have about 8 of these that are marked "regular" menus and 4 that are marked "food storage" menus. I try to rotate the food storage ones in here and there so I'm rotating those food items out of my pantry/freezer. The idea is to have enough food on hand to make the food storage menus three times which would take care of my three months storage. Sometimes I keep that up and sometimes I don't, I try not to beat myself up when I fall behind...

Trial Run

I got a crazy idea today to start a blog where you and I could share the little tidbits of information that all of us ladies keep stored in the many corners of our brain.
One of my big flaws is that when an idea randomly pops into my head I can't focus on anything I'm really supposed to be doing. I start brainstorming all the possibilities, get all excited and don't stop until I have something in tangible form. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it gets me into trouble because I don't always think things through. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who keeps me grounded and asks all those important questions. Like the day I got the idea to rip out the built in desk in my office so I could rotate it to a different wall. The thought came to me that it would be so nice to face the double doors instead of the window in my office. In theory a great zen idea that I stumbled across but in reality a built in desk isn't a piece of furniture, you can't just move and reattach it without major damage.
So anyways - here goes... I would consider this to be a great project if we all walk away with odds and ends of useful knowledge that help us to increase our enjoyment on this journey we call life. And who knows, maybe we'll develop some great relationships along the way? I would consider it to be a flop that we should just walk away from if it sucks too much precious time out of our already busy lives.

If you'd like to be a contributor (I hope you do) please email me and I'll add your name, I don't want this to be my thing, I want this to be our thing as a collective group. I was sitting here today realizing how much I learn from the ladies that I'm blessed to have in my life. We are all so unique and have so many different talents and qualities to offer. Please don't be shy and think you don't have anything to offer the group because you have plenty to offer and we want to hear all about it!

When posting please use labels according to the categories that have already been used or add new ones as needed. Hopefully this will help us keep things organized so we can find what we're interested in reading about.
As far as topics please share anything you feel would benefit others. Maybe it's an uplifting quote or scripture for the day, or maybe it's something you have that you'd like to donate or something you need that someone else may have lying around their garage? Maybe it's a great recipe that you made for dinner and your family loved? Maybe you've seen great progress with a particular workout or new eating habit? Maybe it's a great tip on budgeting or keeping our heads above water in this crazy economic climate? Maybe it's a great visiting teaching handout or way to organize your food storage? Maybe you have great ideas on cheap date nights or inexpensive family day trips? Maybe you know of a great scripture studying tool or found a cool new website to help put that last minute primary talk together at 10pm on Sunday night? The topics are endless - are you getting the idea here???

I'm hoping to see lots of contributions from all of us here and there. NO pressure to post constantly, just whenever you have a moment to share something that might lighten someones load. I'm counting on ALL of us to share things that we can use to enrich our lives spiritually and temporally :D

P.S. If you're a guy related to one of the ladies on this list and you're reading this feeling a little left out right now, feel free to share your idea. (It better be amazing though! j/k)