Storable Snack or Dessert - Chewy (egg-free) Molasses Cookies

If you love ginger snaps, you'll love the flavor of this chewy cookie. It's a molasses cookie with a snickerdoodle texture. They are a Fall favorite at our house and at the many potluck events we attend this time of year. I altered the recipe to make them more healthy but I didn't have to give up any flavor or texture. No one will ever guess that these cookies have half the fat of their original counterparts!

Begin by creaming the butter, bean puree, molasses and brown sugar. In these photos, I am doubling the recipe. The dough freezes so well that I like to fill my mixer and have some waiting to bake another day.

Add the flour - I used hard white wheat to grind into the wheat flour. The mix of wheat and white flour adds whole grain without making the cookie too dry.

Add the remaining dry ingredients.

Drizzle the oil in a little at a time as the dough pulls together.

Roll into balls and then in granulated sugar.

Place on a greased baking sheet.

Smash down slightly with the base of a glass.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool on a wire rack. You can freeze the cookies once they are cooked.

You can also freeze the dough before you bake it. I just wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap and place in the freezer. It thaws pretty quickly the day I want to bake it.

Chewy (egg-free) Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup white bean puree

2 cups brown sugar, loose

1/2 cup molasses (mild flavored)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup oil

Cream together the butter, bean puree, brown sugar and molasses. Do not pack the brown sugar when you are measuring it - this is a change from most recipes. Add the dry ingredients. Begin to mix the dough with your mixer and drizzle the oil a little at a time until it pulls together into a soft dough. Roll into balls and then roll in granulated sugar. Place on a greased baking sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 5 dozen.

Freezing Peppers

Peppers are easy to prepare for the freezer. It is a simple way to preserve your garden bounty or to take advantage of a sale at the grocery store. All varieties of peppers freeze well.

Wash the peppers, cup open and remove all the seeds.

Be sure to wear gloves, I purchased a pair of kitchen gloves that have colored trim on the end. This way I know which ones to wear when preparing food and I won't mix them up with the ones that I do my cleaning with. When you are doing quite a few peppers at a time, the oil can really build up on your hands and it really burns if you have any cuts on your fingers or if you get it in your eyes.

You can chop in a food processor. This really minces the peppers which works great for making salsa or adding to soups for a little flavor. If you want larger pieces or even slices for making sweet and sour chicken or something similar, then you can just chop by hand with a knife.

Once chopped, place in a ziplock freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to a year. I chop a few at a time as they ripen in the garden and then I pull them all out for salsa making day.

Chunky Cinnamon Applesauce

Apple season isn't over for us until I have made some of this delicious chunky applesauce. It is so yummy straight from the bottle! We love to serve it over waffles for breakfast. It is also delicious served warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream for dessert. I love having a couple dozen of these bottles in my storage every year.

Begin by peeling your apples. Be sure to use an apple variety that will hold its shape after cooking. Some varieties are really only good for making sauce once they are cooked. My dad has red and golden delicious trees so I usually make this chunky sauce out of the apples we pick at his house. But many other varieties would work also.

Core and chop your apples.

Put the chopped apples in a pan of water. You want to keep the apples covered with water so they don't turn brown.

Drop a few vitamin C tablets in the water and let them dissolve. This also helps in keeping the apples from turning brown. You could use Fruit Fresh instead, but it is a lot more expensive and it never hurts to have extra vitamin C in our diet.

Once your pot is full, turn on high and bring to a boil. Cook until the apples are soft.

Drain, but reserve the juice so you can add some back if needed.

You'll add cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar to taste. I usually add about 1 tsp vanilla to a large pot and about the same amount of cinnamon. I then add sugar and taste.

Mix everything together with a potato masher. Mash some of the apples, but leave it chunky.

Here's my finished pot. I didn't add any juice back to this batch. The consistency was just right. Save the juice and let it cool down. My kids love to drink it.

Ladle into jars. Each pot only does 3-4 quarts. I store my bottles in the fridge and work on this project over a few days time until I have enough to fill my cooker.

Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Adjust for altitude if necessary.

Chunky Applesauce
Apples	Sugar
Vitamin C	Cinnamon
Water	Vanilla
Fill a large pan half full with water. Dissolve 3–4 vitamin C tablets into the water (or use Fruit Fresh to keep apples a light color.) Peel and chop your apples. (Choose a good cooking variety that will hold its shape when cooked. My parents have red and golden delicious trees so I usually use these varieties.) Add to the water. Make sure your apples stay covered with water. Bring to a boil. Simmer a few minutes until apples are tender. Remove from heat and drain most of the liquid off into another pan. I reserve the liquid to use with another batch of apples or to add a little back to my batch to get the right consistency. Mash warm apples just a bit with a potato masher. Add a little juice back in with apples, if needed to obtain the desired consistency. Sweeten to taste with sugar and cinnamon and just a touch of vanilla. Ladle into warm jars and process quarts for 20 minutes. Adjust time for elevation as needed.

Freezing Tomatoes

Freezing tomatoes is very simple. I freeze them a little at a time as I pick them from the garden. Eventually, I finally have enough to make soup, pasta sauce, or salsa.

First, wash the tomato and then cut the stem out.

Place in a freezer bag and freeze. Add more tomatoes to your bag as they ripen. When you are ready to use them, rinse them in cold water and the skin will slip right off. You can them chop and cook or process as desired. A quick and almost effortless way to preserve your garden bounty.

Stretching Your Food Dollar

               

-Frugality means to practice careful economy.”  -James E. Faust

A long journey begins with a single step and this is your first step. Begin with your own attitude towards being frugal, because it will impact the rest of your family. How can they be excited about changes if you aren’t? So start by being thankful for all that you do have. Compliment your children for trying new things and explain that you are trying to follow the prophet. Cooking frugally is like changing your diet. You need to learn gradually how to save money by cooking and eating frugally. Don’t expect that you will get your food bill down to $150 a month for 4 people in the first month if you are spending $600 a month now. Don’t get discouraged if one idea fails. Try another one.

Keep a list handy in the kitchen. As you cook day to day, note what you use that you would like to keep on hand. Note items that you are low on. Before you shop, take a tour through your pantry, refrigerator and freezer. Add those items to your list. If you are a fan of coupons, make sure that you buy only what you ordinarily eat. Stock up on genuine bargains.

Keep track of the prices you are paying for items you often purchase. That way if something is “on sale” you will know if it really is on sale or not. Become a comparison shopper. Try the cheaper “store brands” they are often produced by the same manufacturer as the “name brand”. Watch for grocery sale ads and shop the specials. Many stores rely on the fact that you will buy more than the specials. Watch for cash register errors when checking out. Create menus from the weekly specials in newspaper ads and seasonally available items. Plan your meals in advance. This will end the “what’s for dinner?”  dilemma that often ends with take-out pizza.

Don’t purchase food that is a convenience item, such as pre-made sandwiches. You are better off buying the ingredients and making them yourself. Don’t assume that bulk is cheaper. Compare costs by the ounce or pound. Observe “unit pricing”.

Shop for healthy items, stop buying things like toaster pastries and breakfast bars – instead eat oatmeal, pancakes, granola and fruit in season. Substitute cooked cereal for boxes of cold cereal.

If you don’t have one, invest in a good freezer. Then when you find a good deal on foods that can be frozen, stock-up. Find a close “day-old” bakery outlet for bread items and freeze until needed. Every time you have a few left-over fruits like strawberries, store them in the same zip-lock bag in the freezer. Then whirl them together in the blender for a smoothie snack. Take a few hours on the weekend to cook from scratch. Many dishes can be prepared ahead of time and frozen until needed. Purchase large packages of meat, they are often cheaper than smaller sizes and can be divided and frozen for later use.

Use individual freezer containers to store leftovers. Then use them later for individual lunches. Bag your lunch. At $6.00 each working day, you are spending more than $1500 annually. Skip the vending machine, pack a snack. Start collecting recipes using leftovers and trade them with friends and family.

Dine out less often – make it a special occasion to go out to eat rather than a common event.

If your family is used to drinking milk, juice or soda with every meal, start substituting water with meals. You can also try having just one glass of juice or milk then only water after it is gone.

Do not convert to a wheat diet overnight, allow time for changes. Start small and then keep going. Use powdered milk whenever possible in your recipe. Mix powdered milk with your whole milk to stretch your milk supply. You can add flavored powders, like Nestle Quick, to help with the taste.

This month try two meatless meals a week. Have a “meatless Monday”. Beans are an inexpensive protein. Add them to tacos, casseroles, salads, etc. Dedicate one night to a “budget meal” and put the saved money towards your food storage items.

Grow as many of your own vegetables, fruits and herbs as you can. Stock up on “in season” foods. Learn to preserve what you grow or purchase to stretch your savings.

Ben Franklin advised “use moderation in all things – don’t deny yourself too many treats or you will never stick to your new eating habits.

Choose a few of these ideas to implement into your regular routines. Feel good about the progress you are making even if it only seems small. Figuring out a savings of $20 a week adds up to over $1000 a year!

Generators and Fuel Storage

I've had a good number of people ask me about what kind of generator we have and how we store the fuel for it. My camera is MIA right now or else I would have posted a few photos of what we have. (My 2-year-old carried it off somewhere I'm sure.)

Generators - We went for the large potable one that we could get locally. We waited until we had a 10% off coupon for the store and used it to save us some money. We researched sizes and capacities and decided if we really did have a big power outage we would be grateful to have a generator that could handle more items. We could run our freezer, fridge, and even our microwave off our generator at the same time.


Fuel Storage - We have a couple of 5 gallon gas cans that we keep in the garage along the outside wall as far from the house as we can. It would be better if we had a shed, but we don't yet have that at this house. We also never let our gas tanks in our vehicles get below half full so we could siphon the gas out if needed. This is really the safest bet for longer term storage. It is constantly being rotated and is always available.

To keep a freezer cold, keep the door shut and then run a generator 1 hour in every 4 hours. The frozen food in the freezer will last quite some time without even running the generator especially in the winter months when we are more apt to have a longer power outage due to a severe winter storm. I can't remember for sure how long 1 gallon of gas is supposed to keep a generator going. It seems like it is either 3 or 5 hours. If it is 3 hours then 5 gallons of gas will give me 15 hours of usage which will actually allow me to do the one hour on, 3 hours off cycle for 60 hours. So 10 gallons would give me 120 hours. With our gas cans and our vehicles we have more than 30 gallons so we could last quite some time.

Hope this helps -

Loving the Harvest

I'm behind in getting posts written for this blog because it is harvest time around here. I have learned to love the harvest! This is the time of year when all the hard work of planting and caring for a garden pays off.

People have been very generous this year. Since others know that I am willing to go to the work of preserving the fruits and vegetables, they are kind to offer to share their abundance. We have picked apples, plums, blackberries, nectarines, and zucchini this year. I've also driven out to the orchards and picked up peaches and pears.

With the help of my extended family, we canned 228 quarts of applesauce and juice! I've also done 7 dozen jars of peaches and so far I have done 4 dozen jars of pears. I have 4 more dozen to go before I'm done. I've  done about 20 batches of freezer jam and lots and lots of fruit rolls. Salsa is half done and the ingredients are all waiting in the freezer for me to harvest enough tomatoes to finish the batch. Our family is more than set with our year supply of fruit to pull us through until next year's harvest! It feels so good to have the shelves in the storage room and freezer full again.

The fruit is so pretty in the jars and it tastes heavenly! I realize that it is a bit of work to get it all done, but I work extra hard for about 5 days and then have it set to go for the rest of year. I am teaching my kids important principles at the same time. Those lessons are priceless!