blog address change

The web address has always bothered me.  I wanted goodmuse and got ggodmuse.  So follow me to:

wheathoneywatermilk.blogspot.com

How to Make Your Own Flavored Gelatin

1/2oz. or 2 1/4 Tbl. unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
3 cups fruit juice
juice of l lemon
sugar, to taste

Soak the gelatin in cold water until softened.  Strain fruit juices, if needed, and then heat to boiling point.  Pour hot juice over gelatin. Add lemon juice. Add sugar to taste.  Chill until jelled.  Serve with fruit, custard sauce or whipped cream.

21-year-old Raspberry Gelatin

I tried it last night.  It gelled, but had a metallic taste.  Good-bye, Jell-o.

Granola

I've decided that I really don't like the dried apricots, I put in the granola.  I think dried pineapple, cranberries and raisins are my favorite fruit combo.  I also used a 3 to 1 ratio of honey to maple syrup.  Real maple syrup is expensive.  I think next time I'll use maple flavored syrup.

Week 4

Okay, did I make the mistake of saying I had the whole wheat bread thing, down?  My mistake.  I tried yesterday to make only one loaf.  I have a new doorstop.  I am DETERMINED to make a great single loaf of whole wheat bread!

Today, I am trying again.  Instead of just halving the ingredients, I am altering the amounts.  So far the proof came out good.  I used 1 1/2 Tbl. yeast, one cup ww flour, and one cup water.  I let it sit for 45 minutes.  It rose nicely.  On to step two; added one cup ww flour & 1/4 cup vital gluten, and mixed well.  I added the oil, honey and salt and continued to add ww flour.  I continued to mix to a nice dough.  I sprayed the kitchenaid bowl with a light coating of Pam and floured it.  I added the ball to the mixed and started to knead on #2 for 10 minutes.  I was worried about the dough sticking to the bowl, so as I saw that beginning to happen, I dusted the sides with a powdered dough enhancer that contains lecithin.  I probably added maybe two tablespoons full.  I placed the dough in my Hammarplast dough bowl and it is rising well.

This bowl is probably one of the best investments I ever made.  You don't need to grease it, the air circulates all around it and with the lid you don't have to worry about drafts.  I purchased it from Williams Sonoma, probably 25 years ago.  I understand the company doesn't make them anymore.  Too bad.

I have been cooking my little fingers to the bone!  I canned chicken, sloppy joes and made granola.  I also had to cook some more wheat and make non-fat milk to go with my breakfast.  I canned mostly 1/2 pint jars.  It is enough for Chris and myself.  I canned some larger pint jars, if we need them.  I had planned on doing plain ground beef also, but it was just so much easier to make it all sloppy joes.  I have a great recipe for them that I made x4.

Sloppy Joe's                                                               

 1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

2 cubes beef bouillion

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp prepared mustard

In a skillet, brown meat with pepper & onion; pour off fat.  Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes.  Serve on hamburger buns.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Canning Friday

I am sooo tired.  Chris and I have been canning spaghetti sauce all day long!  He asked me why we needed to can it instead of just freeze it in foodsaver bags.  Because what happens when the electricity goes out?  The freezer doesn't work.

The sauce spent a few hours on the stove and then we got to work.  We checked on the last items we canned, from 1999 and lets just say I'm sure the worms in the compost bin are eating good tonight.  We really geared up when we didn't know what to expect from Y2k.  This time we canned mostly 1/2 pint jars.  That is enough for two servings of sauce since we're empty nesters...I did can some larger jars for company or when I have to take dinner in to someone at the last minute.

I also made some cafe de Cebada, like I used to drink on my mission.  Cebada is barley in Spanish.  More tomorrow.

Great Coleslaw Recipe

I don't know about you, but I love Kentucky Fried Chicken's coleslaw.  I get the dinner, just so I can get the side of coleslaw (and the biscuit).  Here is a copycat recipe I found somewhere:

KFC COLESLAW
* 8 cups finely diced cabbage (about 1 head)
* 1/4 cup diced carrot
* 2 tablespoons minced onions
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 cup milk

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup buttermilk
* 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
* 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
Finely dice cabbage and carrots.
Place cabbage and carrot mixture into large bowl and add minced onions.
Using regular blade on food processor, process remaining ingredients until smooth.
Pour over vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.
Cover bowl and refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

cook's notes: I usually just put 1/2 cup of buttermilk in place of the 1/4 cup milk & 1/4 cup buttermilk.  This time when I made the recipe, I used buttermilk powder that I bought in Utah.

I bought 10 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts today @ $1.99/lb.  I also got 9 lbs. of hamburger @ $1.49/lb.  Both were on sale, so I took advantage of it.  Why might you ask do I need 19 lbs of meat?  Because tomorrow I am going to can meat for the first time.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Banana Bread

This is the WW Banana Bread.

Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe and Instructions:

Be sure to use ultra ripe bananas for this. Their skins should be mottled black and they should feel soft to the touch. Using what you would normally consider to be ripe bananas will diminish the bread’s rich flavor.

½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
½ cup (3 ¾ ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (~ 12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (3-4 medium to large bananas)
¼ cup (3 ounces) honey (I used sugar – works fine)
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat (I found that 2 cups was closer to 10 ounces – guess my whole wheat is heavy)
½ cups (2 ounces) chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a cake tester (like a toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

http://www.breadtopia.com/moist-whole-wheat-banana-bread/  I got the recipe from this site.
I had 4-5 over ripe bananas and want to use them up.  I bought a 4 small loaf pan in Utah, so it will be perfect to try with this recipe.

Blender Milk Shakes

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/magicmilkshakes.htm  Here is a link to the recipe listed below. Check it out to see her reasoning for the oil and spray.  I'm giving it a try tomorrow.

Magic Milk Shakes
1/2 to 2 cups ice water
1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purposes

Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4’s full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve. Makes 4 - 12oz servings.

Week 3

I'm counting this a week three, since I was gone last week.  I made ww bread today.  I pretty much have that one down!  I am looking for recipes and info on canning meat.  I want to do some of that this week.  Wouldn't it be great to have pre-cooked canned bacon that you could spinkle on salads, sandwiches, etc?

So far we've seen 3 cars in the snow including a highway patrol. Also a semi was jack knifed and another car was mangled.

We're headed back home. I can't wait to try some new recipes!

We went to Welfare Square in SLC, today. I got another cooking with food storage book and picked up a #10 can of stortening powder and buttermilk powder, also. I am excited to get back home to start cooking and experimenting again.

We have been driving all over Utah since early this morning! We must have hit 5 or 6 Deseret Industries. My DH thinks they're great. I thought I would be able to find some great food storage cookbooks. I found 4-5 books, but not exactly what I was looking for.

Honey is a great sweetener for bread. It improves both flavor and keeping quality. Honey can sub for sugar in equal amounts.

Honey French Dressing
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt or pepper, to taste
Dash of pepper
2 tbl. honey
1/3 cup vinegar
1 cup oil
Combine dry ingredients, blend in honey and vinegar. Slowly add oil, beating constantly. Makes 1 1/3 cups.

We qre making our way to SLC. We stopped in St. George. I got a bottle of root beer extract, and found a book, 'Cooking With Honey', by Hazel Berto. I got that at a second hand store. More later...

Bread part dos

Okay, let's just say I made 2 ten-pound bricks.  Learn from my mistakes.  Batch two made later in the day came out beautiful. Here is what I think happened.

I made the mistake of putting the yeast proof in a small glass bowl.  I thought that I could make the mix in the KitchenAid with the beater.  After proofing, I added everything to the mixture and then when it was done mixing change out the beater for the dough hook.  I noticed right away that the consistency was not the same.  There was a lot of dough that stuck to the sides of the bowl.  It didn't knead cleanly and was an elastic mess. 

Here's what I should have done.  I should have started the proof in a large glass bowl. When it was done, I needed to add the other ingredients to the bowl (like the recipe) and mix it all by hand.  It took a few minutes, but the result was worth it.  I added about a tablespoon of flour to the bottom of the KitchenAid bowl, to help prevent sticking, and added a nice ball of dough to the bowl.  It kneaded the bread to a beautiful, non-sticky, dough.  I followed the rest of the recipe as it was and guess what? The next two loaves came out great.

BTW, I'm in Las Vegas to attend my daughters graduation from Le Cordon Bleu's baking and pastry program.  Then it's on to Utah for her wedding open house.  More later...

Bread Day

Okay, I was looking to make a great loaf of ww bread, that was eatable.  I tried one recipe and wound up with a 10 lb. brick.  Luckily, I did a search and found it!  My first attempt was great, so today I am trying to duplicate it.http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/wholewheatbread2

I ground the wheat in a Grain Master grinder.  I was a bit short on the wheat, and didn't want to go down to the basement to get another can, so I used some of the six-grain mix.  It was a bit tougher to put through the grinder, only because it was flat flakes and not roundish kernals.  IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure the lid to the receiving bowl is on tight...

I will preface this by saying I may have already have botched it by not measuring the yeast correctly.  I was thinking 4 1/2 Tbl. but it was really teaspons.

Let me just say the the proof is rising beautifully.

Wk. 2 con't

Okay, I was lazy and didn't go to Trader Joes. My daughter, Courtney, was doing a huge favor for someone at church, and was making a small wedding cake for TONIGHTS ceremony. I had to stay close to home so I could sneak buttercream frosting from the bowl. Hello. My name is Kim and I am a chocoholic, junk foodaholic and carboholic. I'm waaaay beyond 13 steps at this point in my life.

What I did do last night was open some potato pearls we had canned in 1998. You know in anticipation of Y2K? The label says they should be used within 3 years. It's true. Yikes, they were a dark gold color and tasted, well less than appealing. I told my DH that we probably have 2 cases we need to dump. The worms in the compost bin will be in heaven.

My hubby was opposed to it, but I mentioned if there really was an emergency, would you want to eat something we wouldn't eat now? Courtney asked about that. In our culture, food is such a comfort item to many people. We have good feelings when we eat mom's apple pie, or we were rewarded with candy for doing something good. I want to at least eat something that is palatable.

I served a church mission in Guatemala for 16 months. Whenever I was having a bad day, or week, I'd reach for my comfort food. I managed to find white bread, bottled jelly and a jar of peanut butter. A PB&J. Good times.

Week 2

Beans, beans, the magical fruit...I have never cooked beans before, so this was a new experience for me. I cooked a petite bag of small white beans. Yikes. They smell gross and don't look any better. I pureed them after cooking, because I have a recipe for low-fat, whole wheat, blueberry muffins. Supposedly, you can substitute the puree for the oil in the recipe. This could be scary. I need to run to Trader Joe's to get the berries. I'll let you know how it turns out. ...to be continued...

Oh, and did I mention I made granola, also? I opened a #10 can of 6-grain and used the following recipe from a friend:

One Fit Chick Granola

4 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 Tbl vanilla
1 1/2 Tbl cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cups pure maple syrup
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup dried fruit, any combination (cranberries, apricots, dates, cherries, etc.)
3/4 currants

Preheat oven to 325. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper sprayed with Pam. Mix first 6 ingredients. Combine well. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingrients after the half-way point. Watch it closely so as not to burn. Allow to cool in pan, then store in an airtight container.
Cook's Notes: I used the 6 grain mixture in place of the oatmeal. I also had a bag of chopped nuts used for sundaes, so I used those also. I did buy the Maple Syrup at $12 a bottle,(grasp,choke,cough). I opened a #10 can of brown sugar. (We had canned it by putting it in a gallon sized ziploc bag, so it didn't touch the can.)
I bought orange-flavored cranberries on sale and picked up some chopped dried pineapple at Sprouts. I had raisins and added those. I don't know that the maple syrup made that much difference. I think next time I will use honey.

I tried it this morning for the first time and it was tasty! Even with the non-fat milk!

2010, A New Year

Today is 27 February 2010. Lots has happened that I don't feel like writing about. But, my new goal that I just came up with is to use my food storage in everday cooking.

Week 1:

I was determined that I would make a loaf of whole wheat bread that even my husband would eat. He's a Wonderbread lover...I'm enticing him to the dark side...

But not with my first loaf. I wish I had taken a pic of that. Yek. It must have weighed about 10 lbs. I didn't even like it, and I like thick, grainy breads. So off to the internet I went. I found a side with a recipe that made sense to me. Here is the Link:
http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/wholewheatbread1

I carefully read through the recipe, ground my wheat and used my Kitchenaid (my DH bought for me for Christmas). I followed the recipe and made two loafs. Surprise, Surprise. They were great loaves of bread!

Here is what one of the loaves looked like. The texture was good. It was a light loaf and the taste was excellent.

I also cooked up some wheat in the crockpot. Just water, a bit of salt and cooked it for a few hours, than soak overnight. I have been adding it to my breakfast cereal. I usually eat GO Lean Crunch. I also ran out of the non-fat milk that I use in my cereal and cooking. I decided, why not try our non-fat milk storage? I opened a #10 can from 1998 and mixed it in a mixer/pitcher. I let it get cold overnight and tried it on my cereal mixture the next day. I couldn't tell the difference. Wow. The cereal is so flavorful that I would not have guessed it was from a mix. Now mind you, I don't drink milk. I only use it in cold cereal and in cooking. My DH will only drink whole milk. Small steps at a time.

I went to a friend's game night yesterday and brought a dessert. I checked another site and made a Swedish Apple Pie with dried apple slices and whole wheat flour. I reconstituted the apples with apple juice I had in the fridge. They were from 1998, also. I opened the #10 can and it was all stuck together in a big lump. I tried one and it didn't have very much taste. I decided to use them anyway. They worked great in the pie. It was more like a cobbler and I brought vanilla ice cream to top it off with. Everybody liked it. I didn't mention it was from food storage.
Here's the recipe:

SWEDISH APPLE PIE from Dianne Lauffer in Family Fun magazine, November 2009
Filling:
2/3 c. raisins
2 medium apples (about 2 2/3 cups), any baking variety, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Topping:
3/4 c. butter or margarine
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Soak the raisins in hot water until they plump. Drain, then combine with apple slices. Transfer the fruit to a 9-inch pie pan (it should be no more than 2/3 full). In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (I used a tsp. of Apple Pie Spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe). Sprinkle over the fruit.
To make the topping, first melt the butter and set it aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and egg until they are evenly blended. Whisk in the butter, then spread the topping over the fruit and sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Bake the pie until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.