Get your Baking Supplies Stock Up at Walmart

For the last month, I have been stocking up on Walmart brand flour that has been $1.54 a bag, which I thought was really good until I found the Gold Medal brand at Walmart for $1.50 a bag. I have a ton of flour now and continue to stock up on it, while it is that price. I have not seen it that low for awhile for the 5 lb bag. Also some people have reported to me that 5lb bags of sugar are on sale at Walmart for $1.89 a bag which is the cheapest I've seen it for awhile, but that's not at all Walmart's. My Walmart is $2.24. Also, I found mini marshmallows the Kraft brand for $0.75 cents a bag and the small bag of chocolate chips for $1.80 something. They are usually almost $3.00. There were also $0.40 cents a pound turkeys, Stove Top stuffing for $0 89 cents a box and many more sales on Thanksgiving type food. Tis the season for stocking up on baking supplies at Walmart!

Back to School Food Storage Basics-Whole Wheat

Today Crystal is talking about whole wheat on her Everyday Food Storage website during her Back to School Week series. You can see her full whole wheat article here. Everyday I plan to list things I learned from that series on my blog to help me better understand it. I am pretty new to the food storage area so I hope these really help me! I have never really owned any whole wheat. I did go to an enrichment activity where the person showed us how to use a wheat grinder and she gave us so of the flour she had ground and I used that in a couple of recipes. Our church is planning to take an order for the LDS cannery and several people are going to go down and bring back the stuff for us and whole wheat is definitely something I want to buy. As I was looking over the order form, I was thinking to myself what's the difference between hard red and hard white wheat. I think I got my answers today.

Here's what I learned today:
1. Wheat gives you fiber, cuts down on cavities, keeps you fuller, saves you money, and keeps you regular.
2. There are two types of wheat hard red and hard white. Hard red has a nutty strong some people say bitter taste and it is harder to get your family to eat. Hard white has some things added to it that make it have a softer flavor but can still be stored for a long time.
3. You have to use hard wheat not soft because it will store for a long time.
4. Red Wheat has more protein.
5. Look for recipes that have equal brown sugar and white sugar, recipes with chocolate. recipes with strong spices like cinnamon, recipes with applesauce or other fruits and vegetable, and recipes with oats to help disguise the whole wheat.
6. Cook with whole wheat gradually and get your family used to it. You may need to use 1/2 whole wheat and half white for some recipes.

Some things I found on Crystal's website that I find helpful with whole wheat:
1. Wheat handout- this handout give information and recipes about wheat
2. Cracked Wheat video- this shows you how to crack wheat in your blender
3. How to make homemade video- shows step-by-step how to make homemade bread
4. Tips for making bread in your bread machine- gives great ideas for getting great bread from your bread machine.
5. Dough enhancer video- shows you how and why to use dough enhancers in bread making.

Some recipes I want to try using whole wheat:
1. Brown Sugar Zucchini Bread
2. Blender Wheat Pancakes
3. Wheat Thins
4. Graham Crackers
5. Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins- found on another blog and copied but forgot where it was.
6. Whole Wheat Banana Bread- I made this last week the one on Crystal site, so yummy and it really is better the next day!

What I take away from this lesson:
I want to buy some hard white whole wheat and start trying it in my cooking. I also want to experiment with the dough enhancers.

Questions I still have after this lesson:
Will my family notice the difference? I made the Whole Wheat Banana Bread and my kids loved it so I think they might try some and I can't wait to do it.

Back to School Food Storage Basics-Powdered Eggs

Today Crystal is talking about powdered eggs on her Everyday Food Storage website during her Back to School Week series. You can see her full powdered egg article here. Everyday I plan to list things I learned from that series on my blog to help me better understand it. I am pretty new to the food storage area so I hope these really help me! Recently our church took a group order for whole powdered eggs. We also had an Enrichment meeting that focused on using our food storage. They made an egg casserole that I would like to try. I have not even opened my #10 can of whole powdered eggs so I was ready to learn a few things.

Here's what I learned today:

1. Powdered eggs last 5-7 years. You should keep it in a cool dry place with the lid on after opening.

2. Powdered eggs will save you money. Most #10 cans have about 226 eggs and the average price is $17.00 which makes 1 dozen 94 cents. We did a group order and with shipping and all we paid $16.00 a can so my eggs are an even better value!

3. 1 Tbsp.= medium egg and 2 Tbsp. = extra large egg

4. Benifets of using powdered eggs are no egg shells, they are pasteurized so no worry if you want to lick the batter, save you time because you do not have to wash your hands after cracking an egg, and you can half an egg if you need to half a recipe and have an odd number of eggs.

Some things I found on Crystal's site that I find helpful about powdered eggs:

1. Breakfast handout- great information and recipes that use eggs.

Some recipes I want to try uing powdered eggs:

1. Blender Wheat Pancakes

2. Whole Wheat Quick Bread

3. Low-fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

What I take away from this lesson:

I need to order some more powdered eggs to use with my regular recipes because it really saves money! I also learned how long they last. When our church ordered them someone asked that question and nobody knew the answer.

Questions I still have after this lesson:

After reading my new Emergency Essentials catalog, I noticed that there are seveal different powdered egg products like egg whites, scrambled eggs, etc that I need to look into more.

Back to School Food Storage Basics-Powdered Milk

Today Crystal is talking about powdered milk on her Everyday Food Storage website during her Back to School series. You can see her full powdered milk article here. Everyday I plan to list things I learned from that series on my blog to help me better understand it. I am pretty new to the food storage area so I hope these really help me! I bought some powdered milk from an order we took up at church and it was the instant powdered milk. I think that is all I have ever used. My family never noticed when I made some and put it into my empty milk carton. But I never really knew about non-instant powdered milk, so this was a good lesson for me.

Here's what I learned today:
1. There are lots of things you can do with powdered milk besides drinking it. Like making your own sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream soups and just cooking with it. The benefits of doing that are that you will save money if you use the non instant kind.

2. As of August 2009, if you buy non instant powdered milk you would only spend about $1.00 for a gallon of milk made with it. If you made sweetened condensed milk you would spend about 60 cents a can where as at the grocery you would find it for $2-$3 a can. If you made evaporated milk it would cost you 25 cents a can whereas it is usually about $1.00 at the grocery. Those are some big savings!

3. There are two types of powdered milk: instant and non instant.
Instant is puffed with air and it would take 2 #10 cans to = 1 #10 can of instant. So, it is more expensive and takes more room to store. Instant also mixes better for drinks. I have found that I like instant better for drinking.
Non instant does well in baking and is cheaper and takes less room to store.

4. There are milk alternatives which are like a flavored milk drink. They add shortening, corn syrup and other stuff to it so it really is not as healthy of a drink as milk. You can use it in baking but most say you need to use less shortening because it is already in the milk alternative.

Some things I found on Crystal's site that I find helpful about powdered milk is:
1. Powdered milk conversion sheet- this will help you know how to mix the milk.
2. Powdered milk handout- this gives lots of information and recipes on using powdered milk
3. Making Powdered Milk Drinkable - This gives you some great tips on getting your family to drink powdered milk.
4. A video on mixing powdered milk- this video gives tips like using sugar or vanilla to help family members like the taste better and to make sure and serve powdered milk cold.

Some recipes I want to try using powdered milk are:
1. Sweetened Condensed Milk
2. Evaporated Milk
3. Magic Mix
4. In other recipes I already make that call for milk

What I take away from this lesson:
I need to buy some non instant powdered milk and use it in my baking to save money. I probably will still use the instant for drinking because my family seems to really like it, but I might have to try it on them too and see how they react.

Questions I still have after this lesson:
1. If you do not live near an lds cannery are your only other sources to buy it from emergency like companies and how much more expensive are they? I need to go check that out. I wonder why stores do not carry non instant milk.

Back to School Food Storage Basics

Crystal from Everyday Food Storage is hosting a Back to School week for Food Storage. She will be going over uses and info for basic long term food storage items. I started really working on my food storage last year and I have mostly been getting canned goods etc. This year my church took up an order for powdered milk and powdered eggs. We ordered from Emergency Essentials and I just love the powdered milk. So, anyways I really need to learn more about food storage so I am planning to go to the site each day to learn more. I plan to write up what I learn, more questions that I still have etc. Kind of like my school notes. lol. Come along with me and learn something new about food storage.

Using Beans in Desserts

Beans are a great thing to have in your food storage. They can be substituted for oil in your favorite cake and brownie mixes. You just have to match the color of the bean with the cake mix.
Black Bean Brownies

1 Box Betty Crocker Low Fat Fudge Brownie Mix

1 (15 oz) can Black Beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Puree the beans and water together until smooth in a blender or food processor. Stir into the brownie mix until combined. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side of the pan comes out clean. Cool completely and cut in to 24 pieces. Serve with whipped topping.

Food Storage Brownies

3/4 cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup bean paste

1/2 cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs (2 TBSP dry eggs + 1/4 cup water)

1 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Pregheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine cocoa and baking soda in mixing bowl. Blend in 1/3 cup bean puree. Add boiling water and stir until thickened. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup bean puree until smooth. Stir in flour, salt, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Fold in chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9 X 13 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.

REALLY GOOD PINTO BEAN PIE
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, beaten (or use dry eggs)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 heaping cup mashed, cooked pinto beans
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Whipped cream, whipped topping, or scoop of ice cream
Beat until creamy the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and
butter. Add pinto beans, blend well. Pour into unbaked pie shell and
bake at 375o for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350o and bake an
additional 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out
clean. Serve with whipped cream, whipped topping, or scoop of ice
cream.

PINTO BEAN FUDGE
1 cup cooked soft pinto beans (drained and mashed)
1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp. vanilla
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate

6 tbsp. butter or margarine
2 lbs. powdered sugar

Nuts (optional)
In large bowl stir beans and milk together, adding enough milk to
resemble mashed potatoes; stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and butter
or margarine and stir into bean mixture. Gradually stir in powdered
sugar. Knead with hands until well blended. Spread into lightly
greased 9-inch baking dish or form into two 1-1/2 inch rolls. Chill 1-2
hours.

Got Bananas? Make Banana Bread!

Recently I was at the grocery store and they had a ton of bananas reduced and I decided I wanted to make some banana bread. I only paid $1.00 for all of those over ripe bananas. I had a Weight Watchers recipe I wanted to try and decided to also try a whole wheat banana bread while I was at it. I love banana bread and this one is low fat and made with whole wheat flour. That is good because it will keep you fuller longer. I got this recipe from Everyday Food Storage, I love that site! This was pretty good. Super easy recipe. I also made some mini loafs. So cute and I plan to freeze those to use for visiting teaching gifts.

Low-Fat Whole Wheat Banana Bread
4 T margarine (or butter), softened

¼ C applesauce

2 eggs (2 T. Dehydrated Eggs +1/4 C. Water)

2 T skim milk or water

¾ C packed light brown sugar

1 C mashed banana (2-3 medium bananas)

1 ¾ C Whole Wheat Flour

2 t baking powder

½ t baking soda

¼ t salt (optional)

¼ C coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans(optional)
Beat margarine, applesauce, eggs, milk, and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until smooth. Add banana and blend at low speed; beat at high speed 1 to 2 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix into batter. Mix in nuts. Pour batter into greased loaf pan, . Bake at 350º F until bread is golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (55 to 60 minutes). Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool to room temperature.