Well, after a nearly two year hiatus, I haven’t forgotten about this blog. I could hardly stand to think about beans and other food storage type foods when I was first pregnant, and well, things just never settled down. They still haven’t, but I’ve got to share some great recipes we’ve been enjoying. Forgive the brevity!

We’ve recently discovered that we have some sensitivities to milk in our family, so I’ve been exploring Vegan recipes. I really enjoy making whole grains and fruits and vegetables more the focus of our meals, and turning to herbs and spices for flavor rather than animal products. We still eat milk & animal products, but on a much more occasional basis. I also purchased a stand up freezer, so I am always anxious to get meals in the freezer that I can pull out when I need them. So these recipes are certainly not strictly food storage recipes, but some of my favorites in our efforts to eat better for less.

1. Jamie’s Minestrone
We had this over the holidays and have been making it ever since. Only we cook up a lot more whole wheat noodles and eat them with it. Served with some whole grain bread and fruit, it’s really a satisfying and yummy meal. My son is always asking if we are going to have “noodles and soup?”

2. Warm Winter Pasta Salad
We’ve been making variations of this on a regular basis too the last few months. I like to switch in shelled edamame since my crew isn’t too crazy about the nuts to add some protein. I love to make it with pesto instead of just the olive oil. And the blanched asparagus and crisp squash are fantastic.

3. Peanut Butter Power Bars
Call these power bars, cookies, whatever you want, they are a favorite treat at my house. I’ve adapted the recipe to some variation of basically this:
Mix together:
1 Cup peanut butter (or half peanut butter and half almond butter – fantastic!)
1/2 Cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP Chia Seed
then add and mix:
2 1/4 cup quick rolled oats
Roll into balls and keep in the fridge. But they don’t last long! They are a great high energy, satisfying snack or treat. And you can mix in any kind of chopped nuts, dried fruit, chocolate you want to make them healthier or more of a treat!

4. Chia and Flax. I’ve been enjoying trying to work Chia and flax into more meals. Grainmix.com has some great information on how to use both of these. We usually put them in our smoothies by allowing 2 TBSP of each to soak in about a cup of water for 5-15 minutes, then blending before adding our spinach, frozen fruit, etc. I also just blended about 1/3 cup of a chia and flax mix (I have mixed them together in equal parts in a container since I so often use them equally) in 4 cups of water to make a quadruple batch of whole wheat waffles. We loved them. This is an especially good method for using flax, because whole flax seeds are pretty inexpensive (less than $1/lb at Winco) and will be much more nutritious than flax that has already been ground.

5. Multi-Grain Cereal
This recipe is the only way we’ve been able to survive without milk–it’s a quick and easy breakfast. We haven’t bought cold cereal in about four months! I found the programmable rice cooker at Costco for only 29.99 and had to look around for a lot of the grains. I don’t follow this recipe exactly, but usually have about half steel cut oats and about half other grains. I had good luck finding a lot of the grains at a specialty store here, buying them in bulk is also good.

6. Baked Kale Chips My new favorite way to enjoy Kale, these are surprisingly tasty!

7. Orange Fries
As we like to call them. Wash and slice up 3 or so yams or sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes are white inside but the same basic shape as a yam) into fries. I don’t peel, but you can if you want to. Toss them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring once. Like the Kale chips, suddenly my family devours these vegetables where they never did before!

8. Frozen Pizzas
I learned a great technique for making frozen pizzas here and have adapted it to my favorite pizza recipe. I still make my favorite whole wheat pizza crust but then prebake it (4 minutes at 500, see instructions in her post). I mix about 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (this is one of those milk/dairy meals we can’t live without!) with about 1/2 cup pesto and spread it on the pizza crust. Top with thinly sliced tomatoes, a little more mozzarella, some parmesan and italian seasoning, then wrap with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. To serve, just preheat oven to 425, placing pan or pizza stone in the oven while it’s heating up. Then bake pizza for 10 minutes. I LOVE this recipe because most frozen dinners take some time to thaw. This is one we can pull out at the last minute and have dinner in no time.

These Cinnamon Rolls are a General Conference tradition. They’re not as healthy as I like most things to be, but occasionally things are worth the indulgence and this is one of them.

Dough:

2 T. instant yeast
½ cup warm water
1 T. sugar
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2- 4 cups flour (half wheat)
¼ cup margarine, not butter

1. Dissolve dry yeast in warm water for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon sugar.

2. Scald milk. Transfer milk to another bowl and add ¼ cup margarine (can be frozen) into bowl to melt.

3. Add sugar, eggs and salt to milk mixture and cool. Add to the dissolved yeast.

4. Stir in enough flour until dough leaves sides of bowl clean (if using a bread mixer). If making by hand, stir in flour for as long as your arm can stand in, then knead until dough reaches a bread-like consistency (not sticky).

5. Put in greased bowl. Cover. Let rise about ½ hour.

6. Punch down dough and roll into a rectangle. Spread with:

¼ cup soft butter

½ cup brown sugar

1 T. cinnamon

7. Roll up and slice with dental floss. Place in greased pans and cover with plastic wrap for about ½ hour. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

8. Remove from pans on wire racks and spread with frosting and sliced almonds if desired.

Frosting:
¼ cup soft butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp. milk

This spreadsheet has been an excellent way to track our food storage and identify what we need to focus on. You input how many adults, children and infants and it adjusts the amounts based on typical servings. It’s easy to then adjust based on your family’s actual usage. And getting an inventory of our food wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be!

Simply Living Smart Food Storage Calculator

This Granola is so good that I can’t keep even a double batch around for more than a few days. It makes the perfect snack any time of the day and disappears fast! Good thing it’s so easy to make.

This is a very basic recipe adapted from one my sister-in-law shared. It can be made in no time, and has room for lots of variations to suit your pantry and your tastes.

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My good friend Angie shared these with me years ago. I recently rediscovered the recipe, and what a find! These work great in the freezer for lunches on the days that there are no leftovers! I knew these were a winner with both my little sister and my husband were really excited about them.

We had them for dinner before I packaged them up and froze them, that way I could add some more corn and tomatoes to suit my husband’s tastes.

2 cups brown rice, cooked
4 cans (15 oz) black beans*
2 cans (15 oz) pinto beans*
1 can (10 oz) corn
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes and green chilies
16-20 10 inch flour tortillas
1 lb pepper jack cheese, shredded

1. Place beans in a colander and rinse. Add corn and diced tomatoes. Toss to mix. Transfer to large bowl and mix in rice and cheese.

2. Divide the mixture evenly among the tortillas and roll up. Wrap individually in plastic wrap, place into a large Ziploc freezer bag and freeze.

Reheat as needed in the microwave for lunch or snacks.

*To use dry beans:
1 can beans equals about 1 1/2 cup cooked dry beans.
1 cup dry beans yields about 2 cups cooked beans
Cook about 3/4 cup dry beans for every can of beans you want to replace.

You can buy all kinds of flavored diced tomatoes these days – you may want to experiment with roasted garlic and onion, italian, olive oil and garlic.

Food storage is one area where cooking Vegetarian meals are a great choice. Regardless of whether you’re committed to being meat-free or whether you really enjoy a good steak, learning to cook Vegetarian is an important skill to have, particularly when comes to being prepared for the worst. Meat is not only expensive, but it’s also difficult to store–either you have three freezers with a year’s supply, a cabinet full of Spam, or a closet full of jerky. Being able to reduce the amount of meat your family eats will allow you to stretch your budget and eat more nutritious foods that are easier to store.

Making Vegetarian Meals Satisfying
Perhaps a non-vegetarian’s biggest complaint with Vegetarian Cooking is that they don’t feel satisfied. Here are a couple of ways to make Vegetarian meals more filling.

1. Protein. Skimp on the meat, but not the protein. Beans and nuts are great meat-free sources of protein, but whole grains are as well. I love to accompany a Vegetarian soup or stew with whole wheat biscuits or whole wheat cornbread.

2. Fat. Fat not only enhances flavor, but is also digested more slowly, causing you to feel full longer. Although fat has gotten a bad rap in past years, we are understanding now that it’s important to have healthy fats, such as those found in Olive Oil and Canola Oil. I have found that when I don’t skimp on the fat in my meals, I am satisfied longer and don’t end up coming back to the kitchen for more snacking later on.

3. Variety and Flavor. Vegetarian recipes don’t need to be bland. Vegetarians are some of the best at integrating a variety of produce and flavorings to make truly exquisite dishes. Try experimenting with various spices and flavorings to see what you can create. I recommend Sally Schneider’s book, The Improvisational Cook for understanding how to develop and coordinate flavor.

Favorite Vegetarian Recipes
Pizza Recipes
Bean Recipes
Soup Recipes
Whole Wheat Recipes