Preparing Wisely Emergency Supply & Food Storage

In an effort to keep my children from killing each other in their spare time (which ends up being almost every Friday), I decided it was high time to take them to a local store that is owned and operated by Troy and Tracey Adair in Mesa Arizona. It's called Preparing Wisely Emergency Supply and Food Storage. It sounds like a mouthful to say. Given my love and adoration for anything food, grain, and preparedness related, I was excited to take a short trip. Part of my wholesome Mormon upbringing has been the use of basic grains and food storage. We always used a lot of wheat, especially whole grain hard high protein wheat. So, when Tracey told me that there was a bag of Wheat Montana Prairie Gold high protein wheat with my name on it in her store, I jumped on it. Fifty pounds made it into my van along with 10lbs of Wheat Montana's all purpose flour and 7 grain rolled cereal. So, I am a gooseberry for a good bag of wheat. Folks we have a winner.

I may be simple, but I'm not stupid. My sons milled wheat by hand for over 2 hours and didn't get bored. This wheat is now my all time favorite. I'm not just saying it. The bread we got from the fresh milled wheat was perfect. I could tell the wheat was very fresh. Because it was a "white wheat" it made a very nice light bread with a nutty mild and earthy wheat flavor. Very very nice texture.

I wish everyone could try it.

A few other cool things I found at their store..kitchen sprouting trays and food choppers.

Water storage barrels and literally tons of wheat and other grains.

Honeyville Grain being one of my favorite food storage companies, can be readily purchased here at their store. Hooray for that! Remember the meatless wonders made from vital wheat gluten flour? They have #10 cans of it. That is where I got mine.

Here's the kicker. We have the Victorio hand mill (around 60$) for grinding wheat and other grains. Cussing Granny bought it from Troy and Tracey a year or two ago. It's pretty slow, but it makes flour. Troy let use borrow the store model of the Wondermill Jr. Handmill to take home. We compared them side by side. I must say, for just over 200$, it is a smoking deal for the Wondermill. I'm getting one very soon. There are several types of hand mills in existence with varying difficulty of use. I just want one to mill flour if we didn't have electricity. That along with my solar oven, we would be able to still bake bread and have food. It just makes simple sense, especially with all the emergencies that happen, to be prepared for anything, right? Global Sun Ovens has been shipping solar ovens to Haiti by the boat load. The mill isn't super fast, but it gets the job done. Electric mill is faster...by about 200%. I like putting my kids to work with the hand mill though, it makes them appreciate bread. Is that wrong?

The Wondermill does cracked grains, "cream of" grains, nice fine flours, and nut butters.

What did we do with the 7 grain rolled cereal? We made my grandmother's oatmeal cookies with a dab of homemade jelly right in the middle. Yes, it was fantastic. Would I visit this Food Storage Supply store again? You bet...I'm a friend for life. Much Thanks to Troy and Tracey for the wonderful samples of fabulous products. I'm hooked. If you are ever in town, may I highly suggest stopping by. Oh...if only for the cookie supplies. Good news, they do have an online store for the out-of-towners. Check them out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the low prices on whole grain. I know I am.

Preparing Wisely
Emergency Supply & Food Storage
144 S Mesa Drive Suite D
Mesa, AZ 85203
(480) 964-3077

Online store:

www.preparingwiselyonline.com

Kim's Spaghetti Pie

The first freezer meal seminar I ever attended was given at my church and the instructor was a gal named Kim Rapier. Kim is a mom. She doesn't claim to be a cook, and yet, she was teaching the class. Several years later, I can honestly say that that class was a huge turning point for me in freezer meal preparation. Kim made the idea of cooking in advance a very easy process. Don't ask me why I had never, until that day, conscidered doing freezer meals. I'm maybe not as smart as I pretend to be...but don't tell anyone. Thanks to Kim I in turn was able to make a freezer full of meals when my second son was born...and didn't panic. So, thank you Kim. I love you. Really. Not just because of the freezer meals, but it was a much needed lesson. This is Kim's recipe for a casserole called Spaghetti Pie. She gave it out at that pivotal class, and my family has enjoyed it quite often. I'd never heard of it before that day and when I tried it, I was pleased with the result.
It's made with "regular food" that most everyone has. Middle of the road. Not at all gourmet, but still, very comforting home cooking. Most people eat that way, am I right?

Kim's Spaghetti Pie

6 oz dry spaghetti noodles
2 T butter (melted)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp all purpose Italian Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb ground beef (we use garbanzo beans or veggie meat)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cottage cheese (I use ricotta)
1/2 cup cheese of your choice, shredded

Directions: Cook spaghetti noodles as directed on package (I slightly undercooked them by 2 minutes). Drain. Rinse until cooled. Stir in the butter, Parmesan cheese and eggs into the cooked noodles along with the Italian seasoning and a dash of salt and pepper.

Butter a 9 inch pie plate (non aluminum if you have one). In a skillet cook ground beef, onions and garlic until meat is cooked through. Meat is optional by the way. I don't use it, but my husband has been know to eat a hamburger now and then. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano and any other Italian herbs you desire. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove sauce from the heat. Place the noodle mixture in the bottom of the pie pan and press up the sides of the pie plate as you would a pie crust. Leave a crevasse in the middle. Spread the cottage cheese or ricotta cheese of your choice over the noodle mixture.

Top with tomato and meat mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese over all.

Cover and freeze. I like to cover mine with plastic and then foil so that the foil doesn't have any chance of coming in contact with the tomato sauce. Just as a general rule, you don't want foil and acid to touch. It's like the wicked witch of the West and water...don't do it. "Oh my beautiful hideousness"...yeah. Nasty stuff.

When ready to bake, defrost 24 hours in the fridge or microwave. Bake covered for 25 minutes 35o degrees. Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes until cheese is lightly browned.

There you go.

Sweetheart Cherry Cake with Lemon Rose Buttercream

I had a cake pan giveaway last week for the Lucky Leaf Pie Filling company. 10 pans got given away and as I type, I realize what a blessing it is to be able to share my love on this blog. Hopefully all of you who read know what an influence your love and prayers have been to me. Especially this time of year when we seem to focus on love...I just want you all to know that I love you. Maybe I don't know you, I've never met most of you...but the comments and emails I receive truly make me smile. Thank you for being part of my life. A life I truly don't take for granted. I made this cake for my kids. It just seems like it's been a while since I made them something truly special. So I decided I would try this recipe that Luck Leaf sent me.

The cake was lusciously moist (with no added fat, besides what was in the cake mix...and slathered all over it in the form of butter cream.)

Look how festive Valentine it is. I think everyone should make one. Oh...and if you send me a picture of your cake, I will probably be more than happy to put it on my blog...but you have to use Lucky Leaf pie filling. After all, it's what's inside that counts, right? Please say, "right". I just ate a huge slice of cake and now have this "you're going to be fat" feeling. You know the one? I'm not eating another...not, not, not. Oh dang it. How can I resist?

So...here's what you need...

Sweetheart Cherry Cake

Adapted from the original cherry cake recipe by the Lucky Leaf Pie Filling Co.:

1 (18.25 oz) dry white cake mix (I used homemade cake mix)

2 large eggs

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp orange zest

1 tsp rum extract

1 (21 oz) can Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry Pie filling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9inch by 2 1/2 inch heart shaped cake pan (I used Wilton). Mix together on medium speed, dry cake mix, eggs, baking powder, zest, extracts and 1/2 can of cherry pie filling until moistened. Fold in the remaining 1/2 can of cherry pie filling by hand until blended. Batter should appear thick. Pour batter into pan and level with a spatula.

One thing I noticed right away, was how many cherries where in this filling and how fresh it tasted. I loved it!

Bake for 65-75 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Invert cake onto a serving platter to decorate.

Lemon Rose Butter cream

Adapted from the original recipe by the Lucky Leaf pie filling company

1 cup softened butter (use the real stuff)

1 tsp Watkins double strength vanilla

1 tsp rose water

1/8 tsp orange brandy oil

zest of one lemon

4 cups (1 lb) confectioners sugar (sifted)
2-4T buttermilk

For icing:

Cream together butter and extracts. Slowly add the sifted confectioners' sugar, beat well. Add 2T buttermilk, mix well. If needed continue to add buttermilk 1T at a time until icing is smooth and spreadable.

I micro plane zest one lemon over the top of the prepared frosting. What is it about the smell of lemon that makes me want to run through a field of wild flowers with a bouquet of pansies? Just curious.

It's such a bright addition to frosting. Especially this one that I won't be piping through a pastry bag aka "cake decorator" bag.

Once you've stopped sniffing the lemon zest, wipe the yellow substance off your nose. Proceed to mix it into the frosting. Wait. That sounded bad. Don't put the stuff from your nose in the frosting...just the zest that was already there. Goodness sakes...don't do everything I say to do. Wait...send me a million dollars. Do that.

When cake is cooled completely, spread frosting over the top and sides of the cake. You can also just use icing on all the sides of the cake, then evenly spoon 1/2 can of additional cherry pie filling over the top (keeping the pie filling about one inch from the edge of the cake). Pat slices of almonds, chopped nuts, or mini chocolate chips onto the sides.

Happy Valentines Day...a bit early. It's never too early to show someone you love them.

There you go.

41 Year Old Wheat Update...

Would you ever guess in a thousand years that this bread was made from wheat older than my husband?! 41 years old. Yikes. Apple sourdough was leavened without commercial yeast, just apples...and the wheat. Looks good enough to eat doesn't it?

On Monday I shared some very interesting wheat we had found in our food storage area. Wheat that is in fact 41 years old. Did you miss it?41 Year Old Wheat...Can You Cook It or Eat It? http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2010/02/41-year-old-wheatcan-you-cook-it-or-eat.html
So Face ground up the wheat, about 2lbs of it, so I could make bread. What a sweet little boy. It baked up just like regular wheat bread. The only thing that I thought was a bit off was it tasted slightly rancid. Ace didn't seem to notice one bit. No, not one bit.

I also started some of the kernels soaking to sprout. So far we are still lifeless...but we have bread. Just a little update, as I'm sure everyone is as weird as I am and think this junk is fascinating. There's a great place to get food storage like this. Go to http://www.preparingwisely.com/ to find more ideas of getting food insurance...storing food for the future if there was an emergency. What amazing stuff!

Freezer to Oven Ready Cinnamon Rolls

My cousin Michele is expecting her first baby. Smooches to expecting moms' craving stuff. She asked me if I made cinnamon rolls or if I had a good recipe. I realized in a fit of shame that I had never actually posted an in depth full on-scale battle plan/tutorial on how to construct them. Let the wild rumpus start. It's Tutorial Tuesday after all. I'm the queen of all the Wild Things.

Now... I had a song when I was growing up that I admittedly mocked sometimes whenever I ate something naughty. The angelic song was "Give Said The Little Stream" and it gives-oh-gives away as it hurries down the hill. Evil song went: "sin-oh-sin-away"...and usually involved "I'm small I know but wherever I go my thighs grow thicker still"...it wasn't very sweet to make delirious fun of such a good song. I'm going to bakers heck for singing it. I am. Singing, singing all the day... If it is cinnamon rolls I guess that would be...cin-away oh cin-a-way. Evil. Evil little fat bombs. Smothered in cream cheese frosting warm and fluffily calling my name. Fluffily? I'm going with it. It's a word.

Sin oh sin away...stink. I haven't any boundaries with cinnamon rolls. They are evil. Why would I ever make them more convenient?! Why? Evil. Evil.

That being said, the freezer to oven dinner roll recipe got me thinking last week. As if that wasn't Evil enough (thinking...)

So here's the dinner roll recipe:

http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2010/01/perfect-freezer-friendly-dinner-rolls.html

Follow it to the point where you have raised the dough for the one hour. Take out of the bowl and place on a floured table or counter top. Roll into a rectangle, 2 feet long by one foot wide. It will be about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure you lift the dough a couple times and dust underneath with more flour so it doesn't stick to the table.

You will need 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 2T cup high grade cinnamon. That means a nice brand that really smells cinnamon-eee. Spread the softened butter over the dough in a light coating. Leave about 1 inch on the ends and sides that doesn't have butter or and sugar mixture. It will help the rolls seal better.. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle generously over the cinnamon roll dough, covering the butter. Now roll them up tightly. Spastic ally pinch the living daylights out of the edges so they seal. Wow. I may have been a little dramatic in my use of words for pinching. You do understand however that I must make myself clear. Pinch those bad boys really hard. Unpinched they will be lifting off the roll and getting all wiggle-jiggle goofy looking.

Slice the roll into 12 pieces...

Looks like my son's first grade class lining up for recess.

Now. Divide and conquer. I mean...divide and place on a parchment lined sheet pan 2 inches apart.

Now...lightly mist the tops of the rolls with oil and cover with a loose fitting piece of plastic wrap.

This next picture totally reminds me of E.T. when the government comes in and puts him in a big zippy bag to put in cryogenic deep freeze. Poor Elliot...the drama. "You're killing him!" Sniff. Sniff. Then Gertie brings in the flower pot and all is well?Remember that? Well...you are going to have to raise the rolls completely, about 45 minutes to an hour. Then instead of baking, place on parchment lined sheet pans and freeze solid (about 1 hour). Now you can keep these up to one month! What a great way to prepare for that big breakfast weekend when Auntie Bertha comes to visit. Won't you look so Domestic Diva-like? When frozen and ready to bake you take these out of the freezer and remove the zippy bag...

Place frozen rolls on a lightly oiled pan 1/2 inch apart and bake 375 degrees 25-30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool. We usually can't wait to frost them and then the cream cheese frosting melts all over the table in pools of sweet buttery bliss.

Feel free to put them in your bicycle basket and fly away from the government freaks. Yeah! Turn on your heart light. This is the moon.

Cream Cheese frosting is evil. Enters Evil Tara with exceptional recipe for cream cheese white chocolate frosting with a little orange zest...(http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2009/11/evil-taras-pumpkin-whoopie-pies.html ) Mom starts to cry. It's totally emotional. Ahh. I love a good cinnamon roll/sci-fi spoof.

There you go Michele. There you go...remaining bakers. Sin oh sin away...

41 Year Old Wheat...Can You Cook It or Eat It?

In 1969 Viola Rogers in Cottonwood Arizona would never have imagined that the wheat she purchased for my Father in Law, Mr. Putt Putt, would still be around in 2010. It's like a space Odyssey coming back and opening a time capsule. So, here's the deal. We have 3 35 lb canisters of this wheat. It's been in our food storage room for so long we forgot it was there. One can was in a box, the other two, just exposed to outside air.

We got brave and decided to open one. Heck, just for kicks. Worst case, it's a molded black death cloud and evil. Even worse...a mutated two headed purple worm the size of a baseball bat erupts out of the lid and eats my husband...or is that best case? Ha ha. Depends on the day of the week. If there is this said "worm" can I save it for later, in case I need it's services? Just kidding Ace. Smoooches babe. You know I worship the quicksand you walk on.

So what is best case?

Best case, it's perfectly preserved and the packaging company gets gold stars galore. Right? Look at the outside of the can. Do you seriously think I was even remotely going to find anything edible in that can? It looks like it survived a nuclear blast. Scary.

Ace pry ed the top open. "1969" was scratched in the top of the can, but I outlined it with marker so the folks at home could see it.

Inside the lid looked like this. Bright and shiny...enough to see my polka-dot jammies. Yikes.

First visual inspection. LOOK! It's clean, mold free, dust free, and...it smell like...wheat!
No worm. Sorry.

So here's how it was packaged...fumigated with Ethylene Dichloride. The studies I read said it wasn't toxic after exposure to air for several hours. Just to be sure, we kept our heads back.

This wheat was packaged by the Perma Pak food company. Yes, just like the wheat, they are still around too.
Thank you Perma-Pak!

My son got really excited about sprouting it and grinding some for bread. The dough is fermenting now...so we'll keep everyone posted. In the meantime...just know I am still totally insane.

Wheat is soaking...

Here we go. Since I doubt "There you go" is appropriate given the fact that 41 year old wheat may not be something anyone else has in abundance.

First Day of February...and the Winners are...everyone!

Those who entered my giveaway for cake pans are going to be excited! These are Wilton Excelle Elite given with love from the Lucky Leaf pie filling company. The first 10 who entered the giveaway need to send me their mailing addresses (that will only be used for the giveaway and no other purpose). All remaining entries win rice from Success Rice company. I got my rice and think it's pretty awesome. So...go check the actual original blog entry and count down the list. Contact me chef-tess@hotmail.com . Thanks everyone!