Thinking about Christmas gifts?

Why not food storage? I know it sounds lame. I can hear the groans from my kids already. REALLY, Food storage makes a great gift, whether it is a can of an item, a case of toilet paper (not really FOOD, but you still NEED it), a 72 hr kit or a starter kit from the Dry pack cannery, it shows YOU care about whoever you are giving it to.
I have come to learn that Food Storage is NOT about food. It's about Obedience. How many times have we heard our leaders admonish us to "get our houses in order"? Hundreds, right? Do you think they want us to be prepared? We need to be self reliant because when there is a natural disaster, the church sends aid, but they cannot help every single person at the same time.
We should be prepared for not just the "major" natural disasters, but those little disasters in our lives, like unemployment, the loss of a spouse, a major injury, health issues, etc.
When my daughter left for college last year, I stocked her with a few cases of food and some supplies she might need. I know when her budget is tight, she has potato pearls, green beans, pasta, tuna and peanut butter. She has learned to make some pretty tasty meals! I haven't showed her how to make bread, YET, but so far she is doing great and hopefully FOOD STORAGE will always be apart of her life.

The easiest fudge on the planet

This is one of the easiest and tastiest recipes for fudge ever! I can't remember where I got it, but I tweaked it a bit.
1 can sweetened condensed milk (you can use fat free)
1 c peanut butter
1 pkg semi sweet cocolate chips
1/2 pkg Heath Toffee bits

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk until the chips are melted. Add peanut butter and stir. You will see the glossy look go away Stir in the toffee bits. Pour into a prepared foil pan (spray it first with non stick cooking spray). I have used the small pans for a toaster oven, which make a great gift, in the pan!
I have found a variation without peanut butter and it works too.

Where Have I Been?

Just taking a break from the BLOG...I have had an incredibly busy past few months: kids, work, boutiques, teaching classes and working on family history... Life is just busy, so blogging doesn't take priority...
I am working on doing better.
Sorry I have left everyone in a lurch.

Mixin it up

It has been such a crazy few months...Where did the summer go? I taught a Beans and Rice class last week and have a Milk and Mixes class this week, on Wednesday the 26th. For those of you that come to my regular quarterly activity/class, you know all the work that goes into these classes. The Enrichment classes are much simpler and not as much food to taste. I spent the last week typing up recipes for the "Mixes" portion of the class. I am pretty excited to share these recipes and how making your own mixes can be economical and simpler.
I love the Magic mix and have used it a few times in the last few days. I used it to make cheese sauce for the funeral potatoes I made for dinner tonight. My daughter was home from college and she loves good comfort food like funeral potatoes.
I will post a few of the mix recipes next week. Crazy week ahead with my son starting Middle school on Tuesday, my Enrichment class on Wednesday and my mom coming for a visit on Friday. I don't see my mom that often, so we have a lot to catch up on.
If anyone is interested in the Enrichment class, let me know and I will email you directions and a time.

Baked Honey Chicken

In my research, I found this recipe and I tried it on my family (they are my taste testers) and I got a big thumbs up from my picky eater son. He loves meat !! I didn't have corn flakes, so I used Special K. I think any flakey type cereal would work. Reminds me of my Honey Bunches of Oats Chicken.

Baked Honey Chicken
3 lbs. chicken breasts - boned and skinned
2 c. corn flakes, crushed or other flake cereal
1/3 c. honeySalt and pepper
Instructions
Wash chicken and pat dry. Can be pounded thinner. Combine corn flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken in honey or smooth on chicken with your fingers, then roll chicken in corn flake mixture. Place in a large buttered baking dish and bake in a preheated oven at 350 to 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes until golden brown..

Super easy Cheesecake from scratch

If you LOVE cheesecake (the cool, no bake kind) this recipe is so easy and tastes great. My family loved it and I made mini cheesecakes for my Milk and Honey class last week. For the mini cheesecakes, I use a MINI vanilla wafer (who'd have thought there was such a thing?) and used a mini muffin tin!

Easy Cheesecake
½ c warm water
¾ c non instant powdered milk
¾ c sugar
¼ c lemon juice or orange juice
1 t vanilla
1 c cream cheese or cream cheese yogurt (I used 1 8oz brick of lowfat cream cheese)
Put warm water in blender and turn on medium. While running the blender, add all ingredients. Pour mixture quickly into a graham cracker crust. Chill

YUMMY! Who knew dry milk could taste so good.

GOT MILK? WHY HONEY?

Here it comes, another of my foodstorage classes...Saturday July 18 at 10am. If you email me I will send you the address.
I guess this class is for me since I really don't like dry milk. I will get out of my comfort zone and try new recipes (or old ones, using dry milk) and honey, but not always together. I will have a variety of milks to try (non fat dry milk, morning moo- milk alternative, boxed milk- in a variety of flavors) for whoever shows up, to sample. I promise i will not force you to drink anything you don't want to!
Now HONEY...I LOVE HONEY. I use it in a lot of recipes and it is one of those essential food storage items I have to have on hand. It stores FOREVER! Even if it gets hard and crystalizes, I can place it in a pan of hot water and melt it back down (and even boiled it all over my stove top- not fun to clean up!) I am not a perfect cook! I have my "Lucy and Ethyl" moments. I practice a lot too, I may even practiced on YOU!

I have a busy 2 weeks ahead getting recipes and information together for my class, a " 5 ingredient or 15 minute dish" for Enrichment night and a Chocolate cookoff (starring my Butt cake- see recipe below) and all the other mundane household duties.
If you have a great recipe using dry milk or honey, email it to me.
Why Honey, it's time we GOT MILK!