Food Storage Friday::Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad/Salsa

I just went to a class this past week that discussed food storage and more specifically the use of wheat and beans in your storage.  It may sound like I'm up on a "soap box" but I firmly believe that we need to get our food storage ready.  Whenever I turn on the news, which is not often, I'm hearing about another major disaster of some sort.  Now I'm not saying, just get whatever so you have something on hand, but get what your family eats in store-able bulk.  I've slowly been working on incorporating this into my meal planning and grocery shopping.  I started using coupons to make this affordable, too.  One way I've made this goal affordable is incorporating WHEAT into our diets.  For the past two years I've cooked and served wheat berries with SO many meals that it is now just a part of how I cook.  My kids (ages 7 & 3) and hubby don't even notice the difference anymore.  We're used to it.  Which is how food storage should work.  You should eat what you store and store what you eat.  Then when something major does happen and you need to dive into your supply (which I've already had to do in the months we are super tight on funds so it's not just for major disaster use, either) your family won't notice a difference!!!!


With that in mind, I want to try and incorporate more food storage worthy meals into our family diet than I already have been.  As I discover more recipes and tricks and techniques, I will share here, on Food Storage Fridays. 

For my first Food Storage Friday, I'd like to remind you of a recipe I shared quite some time ago.  It is THE best recipe to introduce you into the world of wheat berries, if you're not familiar.  I have converted many friends with this recipe.  I'd love to add you to this list!  :)  It is one of the most perfectly delicious, eye opening recipes you can make using the wheat from your food storage.  It will amaze even the non-believers into using their wheat, and/or getting wheat incorporated into their life. I can't wait to hear what you think about it, too!!!!

{fiesta wheat and bean salad/salsa recipe}

{wheat berries}
 **See NOTE at the end.  
4 c. raw whole wheat 
10 c. water 
1 T. salt 
Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8-10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for at least a week or in the freezer for months.  A sandwich bag will hold 2 cups.

Once you have a small supply of cooked wheat berries prepared, try experimenting with adding a cup to your favorite soups, chicken salads, or casseroles. When combined with regular white rice it makes a very simple—but healthy—pilaf.   I've been adding these wheat berries to EVERYTHING.  We enjoy them most in taco meat.  They hardly notice the difference and I can save so much money using 1/2 wheat 1/2 meat.  It's GREAT!


***NOTE: You can't actually buy the wheat berries, you have to cook the dried/raw wheat grains to make them into the wheat berries. A lot of places carry the wheat grains. Maceys, Harmons, Walmart, Costco, Sams, etc. You just need to look in the food storage section of their stores (baking at costco/sams). The problem with these places is they usually sell the big 25-50 lb buckets. If you're not sure if you're going to like the wheat berries, you will want to get a #10 can first. You can get the cans from any LDS Dry Pack Cannery. You will just want to call ahead to see if they have any extra single cans for purchase (they usually do). Anyone can go in there and purchase a single can and/or use the machines to pack your own food storage items.
This link shows the single-can prices.
This link shows locations in UT.

Easy Thai Chicken Curry

Okay, so remember that post I had back a few months ago all about canned coconut milk vs. powdered coconut milk?  Well, I figured it out.  And am so incredibly happy I did.  I can now eat one of my favorite meals without feeling like I'm eating fire.  Sadly, I've discovered that coconut milk powder, though fantastically shelf-stable for food storage, is NOT universal.  It's good for use in baking, but not with cooking.  Especially when you are using a hot/spicy ingredient like curry paste.  I swear, the powder only made the bite of the heat that much worse.  No lie!  So, with that said, if you're going to make this most incredible Thai flavored recipe full of coconut flavor, bamboo shoots, carrots, bell peppers, curry and chicken, you're definitely going to want to use CANNED coconut milk.  Learn from my mistakes. You'll be happy you did!  Oh...and you're going to LOVE it that you can have this amazing restaurant caliber Thai meal at home for a fraction of the price, too!

Photo courtesy of Pimp My Dinner

{easy thai chicken curry}

   from pimpmydinner.blogspot.com

4 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, diagonally sliced (to look pretty)
2 bell peppers, julienne sliced
1-8 oz. can sliced bamboo shoots
1-4 oz. can thai curry paste (green or panang) - I use MAESRI brand
2-14 oz. cans coconut milk
basil

Cook chicken in a large pan with olive oil. Add onions, carrots and bell peppers. Let cook for a couple of minutes. Add bamboo shoots. Add curry paste and stir to coat all ingredients. Add coconut milk and basil and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until carrots are soft.

Serve over rice.

The story of "Sweet & Sour Chicken", A Freezer Meal

Long ago in a far away land, I was introduced to the world of Freezer Meals.  Yes, it didn't take much to pull me in, but it has been a wonderfully rewarding journey ever since.  Right now, I'm on a quest to find and create more and more freezer-worthy meals that my family not just likes, but LOVES.  This is a new love.

Sweet and Sour Chicken from the book, "Dinner Is Ready" by Deanna Buxton.  The main recipe can serve 6-8, I doubled it.  It gave my family of four enough for dinner that night, two left over containers PLUS Two gallon freezer bags filled with dinner for two more nights.  LOVE IT!  Now, I know this looks like a rainbow just landed on our plate...just in time for St. Patrick's Day, but I promise you, if you follow the recipe, it won't look nearly this colorful...unless you WANT it to.  I bought a big bag of sweet peppers at Costco and wanted to use them up...as well as a couple of red onions.  It sure does look pur-ty, though.

Sweet & Sour Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1T. Oil
1 carrot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 1/3 c. water
3 T. Oil
2/3 c. vinegar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 onion, chunked
1/2 red bell pepper, chunked
1/2 green bell pepper, chunked
1 small can pineapple chunks

Cut Chicken in 1 inch cubes.  Saute in oil with carrot and garlic until no longer pink.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Combine sugar and cornstarch in saucepan.  Stir in water.  Add oil, vinegar and soy sauce.  Cook and stir until thick and clear.  Remove from heat.  Stir together chicken, sauce, vegetables and pineapple.  Allow to cool.  Place in gallon freezer bag.  Label and freeze.

To Serve: Thaw.  Heat until hot and bubbly.  Serve over hot rice (mixed with cooked wheat berries if you dare!). 

TIP - Rice freezes really well.  Make a big batch and separate it out into meal-sized portions so you can just grab a bag in the morning to thaw in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave...poof!  Easy!

Quick Chicken a la King

This recipe comes from that cookbook I love called "Remedies for the I Don't Cook Syndrome" by Janet Peterson.  It's fast and easy and the best part is it tastes DELICIOUS!  It's definitely a food storage worthy meal too.   You can't see the chicken too easily in this photo because I've used my pre-cooked shredded chicken breasts (an idea I got from my bestest friend, Kira), but you can't miss the flavor. It just saves oodles of prep time. 

Another time saver I use is having both my onions and bell peppers already pre-diced and in baggies in the freezer.  I just pull out what I need for my recipe, toss into the pan and cook 'em up.  You'd never know the difference.  Toss...Toss...toss..and poof!  You're done in 15 min or less.

Maybe you're also wondering about what those little darker brown balls are in my rice?  Cooked Wheat Berries!  I ALWAYS have some ready-cooked on hand in the freezer and toss them into just about everything.  Seriously.  I LOVE adding them to my rice meals, too.  1/2 Rice 1/2 Wheat Berries.  Not only delicious but a real money saver since I just pull out my food storage! 

QUICK CHICKEN A LA KING

1/4 c. chopped onion

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour

1 (10 3/4-oz) can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. Milk

1 1/2 c. cooked diced chicken or turkey

1 ( 4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms or 1/2 c. sliced fresh mushrooms

2 Tbsp. chopped pimiento (I HATE these and never add, but you can)

1/3 c. chopped green pepper

1/2 c. sour cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a large skillet, saute onion in butter until limp but not brown.  Add flour.  In a small bowl, blend soup and milk.  Add to onion mixture.  Cook and stir until thickened.  Add chicken or turkey, mushrooms, pimiento, and green pepper.  Heat but do not boil.  Add sour cream.  Serve over rice, biscuits or toast.

Serves 6.

Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad/Salsa

I don't know about you, but I'm really not that interested in baking breads all the time using my wheat.  I just don't have the hours to put into it and I find that there are breads out there I can buy already made that are lower in calories and fat thus making my homemade whole wheat bread less desireable.  BUT, I still want to use my wheat from my foodstorage AND enjoy it AND teach my kids about the wide variety of healthy foods out there.  Which is why this book has become one of my absolute favorites!  It really has taught me so many ways to start "thinking outside the box" in regards to my foodstorage usage and I will be forever grateful.

So for this post, I want to introduce you to this book, "I Dare You to Eat It" by Liesa Card since it also contains one of our FAVORITE family recipes. 

My kids GOBBLE up this salad/salsa, literally.  They'll sit for a long time just enjoying this "salad" while I sit back and enjoy knowing all the good healthy food they're eating.  They don't even notice all the peppers and spend time picking them out like they do in ALL other recipes...that in itself is AMAZING! 

So I MUST share!

First you have to start with cooked wheat berries **See NOTE at the end.  Here's the recipe (pulled directly from the site):
4 c. raw whole wheat
10 c. water
1 T. salt
Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8-10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for at least a week or in the freezer for months.  A sandwich bag will hold 2 cups.

Once you have a small supply of cooked wheat berries prepared, try experimenting with adding a cup to your favorite soups, chicken salads, or casseroles. When combined with regular white rice it makes a very simple—but healthy—pilaf.   I've been adding these wheat berries to EVERYTHING.  We enjoy them most in taco meat.  They hardly notice the difference and I can save so much money using 1/2 wheat 1/2 meat.  It's GREAT!

Now for the salad Recipe and my #1 way I LOVE to use my wheat.

Fresh Ingredients
1 orange or red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, cored and diced
juice of 1 lime

Storage Ingredients

3 c. cooked wheat berries
1 can corn, drained (16 oz.)
1 can black beans, drained (15 oz.)
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 c. cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.


Message directly from the Author, Liesa Card:

"Here it is friends. This is my all time, best, #1, very favorite way to use the wheat from my long-term storage. Whenever I give food storage presentations I always suggest/beg/insist that this salsa be served with chips. Experience has proven that even non-believers are converted once they taste wheat prepared this way."

I'm a convert and proud of it!  I hope you'll join me in the near future, too...

Here's to healthy provident living in 2010!

Happy New Year!

***NOTE: You can't actually buy the wheat berries, you have to cook the dried/raw wheat grains to make them into the wheat berries. A lot of places carry the wheat grains. Maceys, Harmons, Walmart, Costco, Sams, etc. You just need to look in the food storage section of their stores (baking at costco/sams). The problem with these places is they usually sell the big 25-50 lb buckets. If you're not sure if you're going to like the wheat berries, you will want to get a #10 can first. You can get the cans from any LDS Dry Pack Cannery. You will just want to call ahead to see if they have any extra single cans for purchase (they usually do). Anyone can go in there and purchase a single can and/or use the machines to pack your own food storage items.
This link shows the single-can prices.
This link shows locations in UT.

Stuffed Pepper, What?

I don't know about you, but I sure do {HEART} stuffed peppers. 

Green bell peppers were on sale this past week,
so I decided that this is what we would have for dinner at my house. YUM-O! 

My kids won't eat the outside pepper, so I just put theirs into a big casserole dish, bake it then top it with cheese at the very end.

BUT, as I'm eating my delicious stuffed pepper dinner, all I could think about was how much I can't wait to make soups again!  If I lived in an air conditioned home, I could eat soups year-round.  Alas, I have a swamp cooler.  Blasted things and my multiple layers of insulation!  So, since I'm sure you have a recipe that's a family favorite for stuffed peppers, I decided that what I'd rather share with you is one of my many favorite soup recipes for STUFFED PEPPER SOUP.  It may sound weird, but I would almost rather have this soup instead of the old family favorite version.  It's lighter by A LOT and it is so incredibly tasty and you won't believe how much it tastes like the original without all the extra calories and fat!!!!

STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

1lb. extra lean ground beef

1c. diced onion, fresh or frozen
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1-14oz. can diced tomatoes
2 c. chopped green peppers
1-15oz. can tomato sauce
3 c. water
1 Tbsp. Beef Boullion
1 c. cooked brown rice

Brown beef with onion, drain any fats. Place in slow cooker with the remaining ingredients on low for 6-9 hours...OR place in large dutch oven on stove and simmer for 1 hour.

Makes 12-1 c. servings (1.5 Weight Watchers points/cup)