This is a simple recipe using dehydrated apple slices, a food storage staple, to create delicious boutique-looking gifts. I demonstrated how to make them in my first You Tube video for Alison’s Pantry.  Since it uses these great dehydrated apples from food storage, I thought my readers here may enjoy it too.  The audio is a little off, and I am clearly not a celebrity, but have patience as I’m learning.  Look forward to better video demos as I improve.  Anyway, the recipe is a fun one and I think you’ll enjoy how dehydrated apples can look so fancy with a little caramel and white chocolate. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXIVPTv1h8

And, here’s a photo (from Kelly Walker at Mystery Sock Design) of some of the vendors.

If you’d like copies of the handouts from my food storage demonstration, you can download them here:

AP Products for Food Storage : Ideas for  72-hour kits, Three-Month Storage and Long-Term Storage

Recipes from Food Storage : Harvest Apple Bread, Whole Grain Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Turkey Noodle Soup Mix and more

If you’ve dutifully collected the amounts of grains, legumes, flour, sugar, oil, and salt needed for your family’s storage, it’s time to think about adding in fruits and vegetables.  Freeze-dried and dehydrated products retain much, much more of their nutrients than do canned or even frozen produce.  They are a bargain, lightweight, and more compact to store than their water-packed counterparts. Using dehydrated produce removes the need to wash, pit, peel and dice, so it can be a real time-saver.  However, depending on how you are using the product, it may be necessary to plan ahead to allow time for the product to rehydrate.  In many circumstances, dehydrated vegetables can be added as-is to your recipes.  Dehydrated onion flakes are one example.  I use dehydrated onions so often, I almost don’t consider them part of my food storage.  I spare myself the tears of chopping fresh onions and use the dehydrated version in soups, sauces, casseroles, etc..  Here is one of my favorite recipes using them:

CANDIED CHICKEN

3 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. prepared mustard

1 c. ketchup

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/3 c. dehydrated onion flakes

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. water

Combine all ingredients and pour over 4-5 chicken breasts in a large casserole dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.  This makes a lot of sweet sauce that can be served over rice.

There are a lot of dehydrated products that make regular appearances in our family meals.  My previous posts show my love for dehydrated apples and dehydrated bell peppers.  We eat potato flakes (reconstituted of course) at least once a week.  I store a dehydrated vegetable stew blend that includes diced potatoes, cabbage flakes, onion, carrots, celery, bell peppers and tomato flakes.  Added to beef stock, it makes an easy soup or stew.  You can vary the recipe with the additions of meat, rice, pasta or other vegetables.

To purchase these or other dehydrated fruits and vegetables, here are my top three choices for the best prices:

1.  Alison’s Pantry.  Visit the site to see if there is a distributor in your area.  Alison’s Pantry sells a wide variety of restaurant quality foods as well as bulk grains and dehydrated storage foods in #10 cans.  Orders are placed with local distributors and then paid for and picked up the next month. This is where I order the dehydrated stew blend mentioned above, and also bulk bags of brown rice.

2. San Francisco Herb Company.  This is a great place to do some sampling.  The dried vegetables come in 1 lb. bags so you can order a variety to experiment and see what your family prefers before investing in larger amounts.  They even sell interesting products like coconut milk powder and spinach flakes, so you can make your own version of Great Harvest’s Spinach Feta Bread.

3. LDS Home Storage Center. For potato flakes, carrots, onions, and apples, the prices can’t be beat.  Of course, you’ll have to can them yourself.  Click on the link to see the items that can be ordered pre-canned online.

I love to add a few simple mixes to my food storage for convenience as quick comfort foods. One indulgent favorite is Alison Pantry’s Marvelous Macaroon Mix. It only requires hot water, so it couldn’t be simpler, but the finished product is a decadent, chewy coconut treat.  If you have teenagers, it makes for a  fast treat to mix up for late-night studying, without messing up the kitchen.  As a variation, I like to stir in about 1/3 cup chopped toasted almonds to the batter, and then drizzle the tops of the cookies with chocolate (I used Guittard A’Peels.) when they cool for an Almond Joy flavor.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pies are a delicious and convenient comfort food.  When I make them, I like to make a lot so my freezer is stocked for easy lunches.  The great thing about anything homemade is knowing exactly what goes into it.   Store-bought pot pies generally have a frightening amount of fat in them, so it’s nice to have some control over that when I make my own.  Typically, I like to make my crust with half whole wheat flour ground from hard white wheat.  (The Delicious Meets Nutritious Xagave cookbook has a great recipe for a Whole Wheat Pie Crust or I like to keep this simple Crisco Pie Crust Mix recipe in my freezer.)  If you need mini pie tins, look online.  You can find them in bulk at significant savings.

If you want to make your own filling, here is a simple recipe:

6-8 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks (4 cups)–or dehydrated cubed potatoes

2 cups carrots, cut into small chunks–or dehydrated diced carrots

1 cup frozen peas–or dehydrated peas

1 onion, chopped–or dehydrated minced onion

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped–or canned chicken

2-3 cups gravy (You can either use your own chicken stock and thicken it with Clear Jel or cornstarch to make gravy, or you can use 2 cans of cream of chicken soup mixed with 2 cups of chicken broth.)

season to taste with pepper, salt, garlic, thyme, parsley,etc.

Rehydrate or partially cook the vegetables just until tender.  (Don’t overcook or they will be mushy in your final product.)  Drain.  You can also use frozen mixed vegetables to save time.  In a large pot, combine cooked potatoes, carrots, peas, onions and chicken.  Pour gravy over the vegetable / chicken mixture and gently mix. Divide sauce among crust-filled pie tins.  Top with top crust and seal edges; poke holes with fork on top. Wrap in foil and freeze.  When you are ready to serve them, bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until crust is golden brown.

If you don’t have time to make pot pies entirely from scratch, you can make a healthier crust and use Flav-R-Pac Chicken Pot Pie Filling from Alison’s Pantry to fill the crusts.  It is a creamy combination of carrots, potatoes, onions, peas and hearty chunks of chicken that tastes homemade.  The Pot Pie Filling comes in a large frozen pouch and only requires water.  Flav-R-Pac is a commercial brand that is served in restaurants so it is top quality and has reliable results.  I also like to prepare it in a 9 x 13 pan with biscuits on top for a quick family dinner.  You can make biscuits from scratch or use a mix like AP’s Flaky Buttermilk Biscuit Mix:

I love baked sweet potatoes, but unfortunately my kids do not.  However, when I make a pan of Sweet Potato Fries they gobble them up. These sweet potato fries from Alison’s Pantry are ready for the oven straight from the bag and bake in about 15 minutes.  They make a fun, finger food that is crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside.  Sweet potato fries are a much healthier alternative to fries made from white potatoes.  They have 3 grams of fiber, are lower on the glycemic index, lower in fat than deep fried french fries with no trans fat, and they are full of antioxidants.  It’s almost an added bonus that they are absolutely delicious!  When I first tried these fries, I thought the case may be too big for my family, as they come in a case of 6 / 2.5 lb. bags, so I split it with a friend.  We ended up devouring our bags and counting the days until our next order from Alison’s Pantry arrived.  We don’t like ketchup with these fries, but try them with blue cheese dressing or this simple dipping sauce:

SWEET POTATO FRY SAUCE

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayo

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. Garlic Supreme

Stir all ingredients together and use as a dip.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

 My family loves homemade cinnamon and orange rolls, and I love to make them.   However, like I mentioned above, I don’t like the greasy, trans-fat-filled tubes of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough at the grocery store, so cinnamon rolls are usually holiday fare at our house.  Like the cookie dough, the new frozen sweet rolls from Alison’s Pantry also have that homemade taste and texture.  They are full of sweet and spicy filling, and have a tender dough that isn’t overly sweet.  These take about 6 hours to thaw and proof, so a little forethought is necessary, but there is no work or mess which makes them perfect for an effortless breakfast or brunch for a group (or a family).  

I wish you could smell my kitchen!

All of the rolls are delicious with or without icing, but my family likes frosting so we would likely add it.  You can also make speedy Pecan Sticky Buns by sprinkling pecans in the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ pan and pouring a simple butter and brown sugar caramel sauce  over the top.  Then place the frozen cinnamon rolls over the mixture to proof.  After baking, invert the pan onto a large baking sheet for a gooey delight. 

Yummy new healthy muffins from Lehi Mill.

Alison, from Alison’s Pantry, was kind enough to send me more fun samples to play with, including this delicious new Lehi Mill mix for Multigrain Muffins.  The mix has a 1 year shelf life and only requires water so it’s great for simple meals and food storage.  You know me though, my favorite things about it are on the side of the box.  The mix has no trans fats, 3 grams of fiber per muffin, Omega 3’s, and organic grains…and it’s still the best tasting healthy muffin mix I have ever tasted.  (By the way, don’t waste your money on the new Fiber One muffin mixes…they cannot compare in health benefits or quality ingredients.)  I love that I can mix up healthy muffins in a flash on a hectic school-day morning.  The Lehi Mill Multigrain Muffin Mix has a good basic wheat / oat flavor that is great as-is, but I can’t leave it alone.  You can dress the muffins up with frozen blueberries or raspberry crumbles, or add raisins or nuts.  I think my favorite addition is chopped dried cherries and chopped pecans.  The muffins also pair great with AP’s jams.  Luckily the box comes with 4 pouches, so you can make your first batch just as the box directs and then let yourself go crazy with the other pouches.  These muffins are obviously great for breakfast but they also make a healthy after-school snack.

Place 1 lb. of stew meat in crock pot.

Add about 4-5 cups of chopped potatoes, carrots, celery and onion.

Stir together 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 soup can of water, 1 small can tomato sauce, and 2-3 Tbsp. Savory Stew Seasoning and pour over meat and vegetables.

Cook for 8 hours on low.

I’ve decided once you try dehydrated, you don’t go back.  I actually feel spoiled by the convenience of using freeze dried and dehydrated fruits and vegetables in my cooking.  My latest favorite is dehydrated green peppers.  My children used to remove green peppers from any food I sneaked them into.  Recently one of my daughters started requesting them on her pizza, so I thought the pepper may be making a comeback.  I wasted no time trying to find recipes to incorporate the flavorful green veggie, but it seems I was out of the habit of buying green peppers.  I always forgot to pick one up at the grocery store.  Enter dried bell peppers!  The photo above shows the Alison’s Pantry Dried Green Bell Peppers that I now keep at the ready.  Life just got more flavor!  I love these things!  Not only are they always available for my recipes, but I love that these ones are in 3/8″ dices.  They are nice and small so my more-picky children don’t notice what is making their food taste so good.  And this saves me the time of washing, chopping and disposing parts of the pepper.  (I am all about making dinner fast, as I still have an infant on my hip 90% of any given day. ) Although they won’t work well in green salads, they are great for pasta salads, spaghetti sauces, and two great recipes I am including below.   The shelf life is at least a year, but you can vacuum seal the unused dices in a mason jar or freeze them to extend the lifespan.  The Alison’s Pantry Peppers come in 1/2 lb. bags which are a great size to experiment with before you dive into a full #10 can. 

TOMATO STEAK

2-3 lb. chuck roast

salt and pepper to taste

1 medium size onion, diced

1/4 green pepper, diced (I just sprinkled in dried peppers to my liking)

2 carrots, grated

1 Qt. tomato juice (I used a jar of home-bottled crushed tomatoes)

Place chuck roast in crock pot and sprinkle with salt and pepper.   Cover with onion, green pepper and carrots.  Then pour tomato juice over all.  Cook on low for about 8 hours. (This can be done in a dutch oven in a 325-350 degree oven for 3-3 1/2 hours also.)  When cooked, the meat should shred nicely.  Thicken the sauce for gravy.  Serve over warm mashed potatoes.  We added some of the Alison’s Pantry Beef Gravy base to the gravy for more flavor and to help with thickening.  It was delicious.

Kudos to my friend, Amy, who shared this great standby recipe that can incorporate several food storage items if desired.

GREEN SAUCE PASTA

Start 1 pkg. bowtie pasta boiling.

Combine the following 3 ingredients: 

2 TBSP. parsley flakes

2 TBSP. basil

1/4 cup butter, melted

Then add:

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1/4 c. olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. pepper

2/3 c. boiling water

After mixing, stir in cooked shredded chicken (leftover rotisserie works well), and any steamed or sauteed veggies you like.  We like to saute zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, red and green peppers, onion, and mushrooms. (The rehydrated peppers make one less item to wash and chop.)  Combine all ingredients with cooked bowtie pasta and toss well. This is a delicious recipe!  Amy often takes it to friends when they need a meal.  (That’s how I first had the privilege of trying it!)