Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

These bars have the distinct taste of bananas - perfect for breakfast in my opinion! These have less sugar than many recipes since the bananas add moisture and sweetness. The bananas also work as an egg substitute allowing these to turn out great without any eggs.

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bars work great for a make-ahead quick breakfast option or also go well as an after school snack. I hope your family enjoys them as much as mine!

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Ingredients:

¾ cup brown sugar

¾  cup plain yogurt

¾ cup mashed bananas

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup dried fruit or chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix brown sugar, yogurt, mashed bananas, vanilla and oil. Add dry ingredients and mix well. If mixture looks too dry, add 1-2 Tbsp milk. (The need for milk will depend on how thick your yogurt is. My homemade yogurt is thinner than store bought so I did not need to add any milk.) Add dried fruit or chocolate chips very last. Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min. or until golden brown.Cut into bars. These freeze very well. Allow the bars to cool completely before placing in freezer bags or containers.

Pasta Primavera

This is one of our family'e favorite pasta dishes. It is quick to throw together and easy to double the batch. I use fresh carrots if I have them. When using fresh carrots, you need to simmer the sauce until the carrots are tender instead of turning off the heat and allowing it to just sit and re-hydrate the veggies. I also trade up the noodles sometimes using spaghetti noodles and sometimes fettuccine. 

This dish freezes well so I always double it and put the extra in a freezer bag. To use the frozen pasta dish, just thaw and microwave in a covered, glass dish until heated through, stirring occasionally. It makes for a quick and easy dinner with garlic bread and lettuce salad served on the side.

Pasta Primavera
Everything can be done in the time it takes the pasta to cook for a quick dinner any night.
1 can cream of mushroom soup	¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¾ cup reconstituted powdered milk	½ tsp dried, minced garlic
¼ cup dehydrated carrots	⅛ tsp pepper
2 cups frozen broccoli florets	3 cups cooked spaghetti
Combine everything but the spaghetti in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and turn the heat off. Allow to sit for 15–20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in pasta and heat through. Source: All Things Provident by Tamara Price

Freezer to Crockpot Cranberry Lemon Pork Roast

Freezer to Crockpot Cranberry Lemon Pork Roast

2-3 lb pork roast

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1-2 tsp minced garlic

1 16oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp cornstach (added later)

Place all ingredients into a gallon ziplock freezer bag except for the cornstarch. Label bag with instructions to add 2 Tbsp cornstarch just before cooking. Thaw before cooking. Dump everything into the crockpot. Mix cornstarch with a little cold water and add to crockpot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice.

Freezer to Crockpot Mexican Sweet Pork with Beans

It is difficult to photograph the filling in a tortilla - that said, this is so tasty! I cooked up a large pork roast and shredded it as the recipe below describes. I wanted to stretch it and use it for a few meals so I decided to throw some beans in the mix. I am so glad I did. The beans added a nice texture and everyone loved it. 

To prepare this for the freezer, place the pulled pork in a ziplock freezer bag. You need about 4 cups of pork. Add the salsa and brown sugar. Throw in 2 cans of kidney, pinto, or white beans, drained. (You could also cook dry beans and use them. You need about 3 cups.) Label and freeze. To eat, thaw and heat through in the crockpot or microwave. Wrap in a tortilla and add cheese and lettuce. (You can see some purple cabbage and a carrot in the photo because we just used a lettuce salad mix to make it easy.) This recipe was enough for two meals. You can choose to divide it into additional freezer bags before freezing or just know you'll have leftovers or enough to share with company.

Mexican Sweet Pork
This becomes a speedy dinner if you already have pulled pork cooked and frozen in the freezer.
1 pork picnic roast	1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup medium salsa	½ cup chicken broth, optional
Place pork roast in a crockpot and cook on low for 12–15 hours. I usually put the roast in just before going to bed. Test the pork by stabbing it with a fork and twisting. If the meat shreds easily, it is ready. Remove from the crockpot and place on a baking sheet. Using two forks, pull the pork apart and separate out all the visible fat and bone pieces. It pulls apart more easily when it is still warm. Combine 4 cups of the shredded pork with the salsa, and brown sugar. Add a small amount of pork juices or chicken broth if the mixture seems too dry. Return this all to the crockpot. Heat through and serve wrapped in tortillas or top a taco salad with it.

Homemade Fruit by the Foot

Here is a great family experiment that turned out fabulously!

I mixed sugar free jello with applesauce. I did about one quart of applesauce to one small box of jello, but really you can just do it to taste.

I then spread the mixture onto parchment paper as thin and uniform as I could get it right on my dehydrator racks. (I have a huge, old dehydrator that takes a while to get things done, but lets me do huge batches.)

I fit three quarts of applesauce in. We did three different flavors - raspberry, peach, and strawberry-banana.

Here is my big, behemoth! Without a thermostat, it doesn't do as well with evenly drying so I have to rotate the racks, but I can sure get a lot done. I had to leave these in all day and over night.

Here is my more common sized dehydrator with a thermostat. It probably would have dried a batch in about 6 hours so I could have completed just as much in the same amount of time I just would have had to refill it a few times - and worry about getting up after only 6 hours of sleep to turn it off. It also has round trays so the parchment paper would have had to be trimmed and it wouldn't do the long "fruit by the foot" I was imagining. I opted for the big behemoth.

When it was thoroughly dry and leathery, I cut it in long strips.

Rolled them up.

And packaged them all ready for school lunches. So easy, no sugar added, rolls of sweet goodness - 

The kids have been loving them!

Chewy "Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I finally snagged some time to post this recipe you have all been asking for. These are the most amazing tasting chocolate chip cookies! No one ever believes that they are lower in sugar and contain only half the fat of a traditional recipe. They are also egg-free, which for some is important.

Chewy "Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies
You and your kids can eat all the dough they would like since there are no eggs! These cookies are lower in sugar, lower in fat, and lower in cholesterol. You can't get much healthier than that and still enjoy a cookie! This is the result of a year's worth of experiments. I'm so glad I didn't give up!
½ cup butter	2 tsp baking soda
½ cup white bean puree	1 Tbsp vanilla
⅔ cup sugar	¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar, packed	1 cup chocolate chips
3 cups all-purpose flour	Oatmeal, coconut, chopped nuts (optional)
Cream together butter, bean puree and sugars. Add flour, baking soda, and vanilla. It will look pretty dry at this point. Slowly add in the oil and mix until it has pulled together into cookie dough consistency. Stir in chocolate chips and any other optional ingredients you'd like. Roll into balls and place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° F for 8–10 minutes. Pull them out of the oven just as they are beginning to turn light brown in a couple of spots. They still look pretty doughy overall. Allow to rest on baking sheet for about 5 minutes to set and them move to a wire rack to cool. Makes 3 dozen.

Here it is just before adding the oil.

Slowly add the oil, and watch the dough pull together. (I have also made these cookies using 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. When I use the whole wheat flour, I sometimes have to add just a touch more oil to see the dough come together.)

Here it is all ready for chocolate. Isn't it beautiful!

Add the chips and any other goodies you would like.

I always roll some of the dough up in plastic wrap and freeze to bake later.

Form into balls by pressing the dough together. Place on a baking sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.

Bake for about 8 minutes. You just want them to barely be turning brown. They still look quite fluffy. Allow them to sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes after pulling them from the oven so they can finish the baking process.

Cool on a wire rack.

This recipe consistently make these gorgeous cookies!

Sometimes I bake a few trays of just plain chocolate chip cookies, and then I add some other goodies to the rest of the dough. Here I added oatmeal, coconut, and chopped pecans. Be careful not to add too much or else you won't be able to press the dough together into a ball. (This batch was right on the edge of too much.)

I was still able to press the dough together, but the cookies didn't spread out much on the tray. They were still good, but know that you have been fairly warned - too much of a good thing can be too much. Enjoy!

Whole Grain Pancake Mix

Here's my latest and greatest attempt at a whole grain pancake that doesn't require eggs. The battery is dead on my camera so you'll just get to imagine how good they look. I'd wait until I could take pictures again, but that could be forever with as crazy as my life has been. I decided you would probably rather get the recipe now and not wait on photos. Enjoy! Whole Grain Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat flour	1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup rolled oats	1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup corn meal	5 Tbsp dry milk powder
1/4 cup sugar	Approx. 1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp cinnamon	2 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the water and mix well. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes to soften the oats. Stir in the vinegar just before baking and add more water if needed to give you the right consistency. Cook on a hot griddle. This recipe can easily be turned into a large mix. Just multiply the recipe of the dry ingredients by 6 or more and store in an air tight container. To use: Measure out 3 cups of mix and then add the water and vinegar as in the recipe above.

Storable Breakfast Ideas

We all know we need to start our day off with a good breakfast. Here are a few recipes to try that could be added to your 3 month menu plan.

Good Morning Cookies
I used to make these many eons ago when my children were small. They are made with lots of healthy ingredients and can be refrigerated or frozen. I always freeze them because they never get really hard and thaw quickly. It is fun to have some of these cookies to pull out for a quick breakfast. The recipe calls for them to be sandwiched with peanut butter or cream cheese but this time I tried a couple of different fillings and loved them. I used raisins in the cookies (which I didn’t always do years ago and added some mini chocolate chips to some – which was a fun change.) For the filling I used homemade strawberry cream cheese on some and Nutella on the rest. Peanut butter is good too.

Here is the recipe for the cookies. It makes 8-10 sandwich cookies and I doubled the recipe since I was freezing them anyway.
¼ c. butter 

½ c. brown sugar
¾ c. applesauce
1 egg
½ c. rolled oats
1/3 c. bran
¼ c. dry milk
¾ c. whole wheat flour (use any flour combo you want to)
½ t. soda
½ t. cinnamon
¼ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
¼ t. ground cloves
½ c. raisins (opt.)
¼ c. chopped nuts
Mini chocolate chips (optional)

Combine butter and sugar, mixing till creamy. Mix in egg and applesauce until well blended. Add remaining ingredients. Stir in raisins and nuts. Spray a baking sheet with Pam or use a Silicon baking mat. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2-3” apart. Spread dough so each cookie is about 2” across. Bake at 375º for 10 minutes or until set. Cool on rack. Use flavored cream cheese, peanut butter or Nutella to make “sandwiches”. Refrigerate or freeze. Y: 8 large sandwich cookies.

Source: preparedness365.blogspot.com

BAKED OATMEAL

Ingredients:
2 c. quick oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. raisins
1 T. chopped pecans
1 t. baking powder
1-1/2 c. skim milk (or 4-1/2 T non-instant, non-fat dry milk and 1-1/2 c. water)
1/2 c. applesauce
2 T butter, melted (or Red Feather Canned Butter or butter powder)
1 large egg, beaten (or 2 T dry egg powder and 4 T water)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the first five ingredients in a medium bowl. If using dry milk and dry eggs, add those powders to the dry ingredients. Combine the milk (or water), applesauce, butter, and egg (or water) in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; stir well. Pour into a greased 8″ square baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Makes 4-5 servings.

Source: foodstoragemadeeasy.net

Potato Pancakes/Latkes
Quick and easy–we love them for breakfast or dinner.
3 cups dehydrated hash browns	Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup dried, minced onion	¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ cup flour
Place hash browns and onions in a pan. Cover with water so the water comes above the potatoes 2–3 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, and remove from the heat. Allow to sit for 15–20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain off any extra water. Place potatoes in a bowl and mix in flour and seasonings. Shape into patties and fry in a frying pan with about ¼-inch of oil in the bottom. Flip when potatoes begin turning brown on the edge and cook until done. Drain on a paper towel. Enjoy! Leftovers freeze well. Reheat in the oven to keep them crispy. Source: All Things Provident by Tamara Price

Surprise Pancakes
When we sit down to the table for breakfast, the kids always try to guess the "secret" ingredient. It makes for a fun and healthy breakfast.
Pancake mix	Cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
Fruit puree or yogurt
Use your favorite pancake mix. Before adding the water, pour in some fruit puree or yogurt. Add the water you need to make the right consistency. Sprinkle in a little spice. To help you know how much, we use about 3 cups of mix and I pour in ½–¾ cup fruit puree. Cook on a hot griddle. Source: All Things Provident by Tamara Price
Whole Grain Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat flour	1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup rolled oats	1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup corn meal	5 Tbsp dry milk powder
1/4 cup sugar	Approx. 1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp cinnamon	2 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the water and mix well. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes to soften the oats. Stir in the vinegar just before baking and add more water if needed to give you the right consistency. Cook on a hot griddle. This recipe can easily be turned into a large mix. Just multiply the recipe of the dry ingredients by 6 or more and store in an air tight container. To use: Measure out 3 cups of mix and then add the water and vinegar as in the recipe above. Source: allthingsprovident.blogspot.com

Storable Dessert - Chocolate Cream Pie

Pie crusts freeze so well.  I always keep some on hand for a quick dessert or a pot pie for dinner.

When baking an empty crust, place a piece of foil on the crust and fill it with a handful of dry beans.  I used black beans.  They hold the crust down so it isn't full of air bubbles when you take it out of the oven.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

Mix a small box of chocolate pudding or any other flavor you would like with 1 1/2 cups of reconstituted powdered milk.  Chill until set.  Fold in 8 oz of frozen whipped topping, thawed. Fill pie crust with pudding mixture. We like to add bananas to our chocolate pie and coconut to vanilla pudding for a coconut cream flavor. Top with additional whipped topping before serving.

The last time I made pie crusts, I did 5X the batch so I ended up with 10 pie crusts. We used some at Thanksgiving and then I have had them ready to go since then.

Pie Crust
This crust recipe freezes very well. Double or triple the batch and freeze in individual crust sizes. It will keep for 6 months or more in the freezer.
2 cups all-purpose flour	1 cup shortening
½ tsp salt	Ice water
Cut the shortening into the flour and salt mixture with a fork until the pieces of shortening are between the size of quarters and nickels (no smaller.) Add ice water a tablespoon at a time. Toss the moistened area with a fork until it begins to pull together into a ball. Set it aside and add more ice water to the dry parts, tossing as you go. When all the dough is moistened, but not sticky, separate it into two parts. Shape into disks about 4 inches across and wrap in plastic wrap. (You can freeze the dough at this point to use later. Thaw and roll out when it is still cold.) Refrigerate the dough for at least 10 minutes, but 2–3 hours is best. (The trick to a crispy crust is larger pieces of fat that are cold so they can create pockets of steam in the crust when it bakes.) Roll out between two pieces of plastic wrap to fit the pan. If baking empty, place a piece of foil over the crust and fill with a hand full of dry beans. This will keep bubbles from forming in the crust. Bake at 400° F for 8–10 minutes until lightly browned. If filling crust, use a precooked filling that is already thickened to speed up the baking process. Top with crust, cut a few vent holes, and bake at 400° F for 30–35 minutes or until golden brown. Check after 25 minutes and cover edges with foil if crust is browning too quickly.

Storable Lunch or Dinner - Meat Pasties

Meat pasties are basically single serving size meat pies. History tells us that miners used to take them in their lunches in place of a sandwich. It is one way to trade up the way you serve beef or chicken stew. I've done them with canned meats and dehydrated vegetables and they turn out deliciously! I also use items from my freezer sometimes. This time, I mixed frozen peas and carrots with hashbrown potatoes. I stirred in some precooked hamburger and then made a thick gravy using reconstituted powdered milk, flour, beef bouillon, onion, and garlic. I mixed all of this together for the filling.

Roll out pie crust (I always keep some in my freezer ready to go.) and place filling on top.

Fold over and crimp the edges well. Cut a few slits for ventilation. (These pasties can be frozen at this point for up to 3 months.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned.

Enjoy with your favorite side dish - we opened some bottled fruit to make it an easy night.

Eggs in Your Food Storage

Long Term Storage

For your long-term storage, you can store powdered eggs. These are a little pricey so many people shy away from them, but they work well in all of your baking. You need to remember that one can holds the equivalent of 80+ eggs so it is like buying 7 dozen at once. They have a shelf-life of at least 10 years, unopened.

To substitute in any recipe calling for eggs: 1 egg = 2 Tbsp dried egg powder + ¼ cup water. If you are mixing a recipe with dry ingredients, you can just add the egg powder with the dry ingredients and add the water with the wet ingredients without having to actually mix the egg up.

Shorter Term Storage

For shorter-term storage, you have two options. The FDA has determined that eggs are good for 10 weeks in the refrigerator. This means you can store almost all the eggs you need for a 3-month supply in your fridge. So you can change your buying habits and just make sure you have plenty of eggs at all times. The other option is to freeze eggs. Frozen eggs work just like fresh eggs once they are thawed out. You can even fry them up for breakfast!

To freeze eggs, crack them out of their shell and store in an airtight container. I use ½ cup-size freezer containers. One egg fits in each container very easily. They stack well in my freezer and it is easy to determine how many eggs I have. I can grab one or more depending on my recipe. I let them sit in a sink of hot water to thaw and then use just like a fresh egg.

Don't let the idea of storing eggs keep you from putting certain recipes into your meal plan. If French toast is something you eat on a regular basis, you can easily store what you need to make it again and again.

Many things can be substituted for eggs in most recipes. Remember that an egg is equal to about ¼ cup of liquid in a recipe. It is high in protein which helps with leavening and also contains a certain amount of fat that will help give you the texture you are used to in baking. Because some of the substitutes are missing fat, the texture may not quite be the same. You'll just have to experiment and determine which ones work best for what you are baking.

Egg Substitutions

Here are some suggestions of things I have tried and had success with. Each substitution is equal to 1 egg. It is difficult to have success when you try to substitute for more than 2 eggs at a time.

¼ cup mashed bean puree

1 tsp baking soda + 1 Tbsp vinegar  (You may need to add 2-3 more Tbsp water to make up for the liquid that is missing from the egg. If your recipe already calls for baking soda, you do not need to add any more. Just add the vinegar.)

¼ cup mashed fruit such as bananas, pumpkin, applesauce, sweet potato, etc.

1 Tbsp ground flax seed + 3 Tbsp water

These substitutions have all worked well in cakes or soft, cake-like cookies. It is much more difficult to achieve a chewy, chocolate-chip cookie type texture when you are substituting for the eggs.

Coconut Bread
Sweet and delicious!
¼ cup butter or margarine	1 cup reconstituted powdered milk
1 cup sugar	1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour	1 Tbsp white vinegar
¼ tsp salt	¾ cup flaked coconut
1 tsp baking powder	Cinnamon and sugar
¼ tsp baking soda
Cream butter and sugar. Add remaining ingredients except the coconut and cinnamon and sugar. Mix until combined. Fold in the coconut. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350° F for 50–55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10–15 minutes and then remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.

Banana Cookies
My daughter usually requests traditional chocolate chip cookies. The day I developed this recipe and had them ready for an after school snack, she declared them "the best cookie I had ever made!"
½ cup butter	1 tsp baking powder
½ cup sugar	1 tsp baking soda
½ cup brown sugar, packed	½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups mashed banana	½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla	1 cup chocolate chips
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Cream together the butter and sugars. Add bananas and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients. You can use half wheat flour and half white flour. Mix or stir together. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350° F 8–10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on a baking sheet before removing to a wire rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. You can freeze the cookies once they are baked.

Crazy Cake
This is the recipe that inspired me to experiment with egg-free recipes. My mom has had this recipe for years and it is the best "from scratch" chocolate cake! You can easily make your own cake mix with this recipe and just store it in a ziplock bag. Use a sharpie pen to write the wet ingredients on the bag for quick mixing another time. We love this cake served with a generous spoonful of chocolate pudding topped with a dollop of whipped topping in place of frosting.
3 cups all-purpose flour	2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups sugar	2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt	⅔ cup oil
2 tsp baking soda	2 cups cold water
3–4 Tbsp cocoa
Mix all ingredients together. Bake in a 9x13-inch pan at 350° F for 30–35 minutes.

Source: All Things Provident by Tamara Price