Case Lot Sale

It is caselot time again. There are tons of great deals at Smith's. Here are some examples:
Betty Crocker brownie mix $12 case of 12= $1 each (Make the low fat brownie mix in my bean post!)
Kroger mandaring oranges (11 oz), $7.99 case of 24=$.33 each
Nalley canned chili $20.99 case of 24=$.88 each
Kroger chunk tuna $23.99 case of 48=$.50 each
Kroger vegetable oil (48 oz), $18.00 case of 9= $2 each
Kroger mushrooms $11.99 case of 24= $.50 each
Kroger chicken broth $11.99 case of 24= $.50 each
Hunt's pasta sauce $8.99 case of 24= $.75 each
Libby's canned vegetables $6 case of 12= $.50 each
**Kroger canned beans $11.99 case of 24= $.50 each

These per can prices are SOOOO much less than what you pay when you shop a "what I need each week" shopping list. If you haven't started your food storage yet, pick one ingredient from above that you use on a regular/semi-regular basis and make your first case-lot purchase this week! You'll love having it on hand the next 24 times you need it! Sale goes through next Tuesday, April 13.

Beans are on sale, so if you are interested in trying to substitute some of your oil/butter in your baking with bean puree, now's the time to do it for only $.50 a can! (see earlier post on beans)


Have a great week! :)
Heidi

Beans

The rule of thumb for replacing the fat in your recipes with a bean puree is to match the color of beans to the recipe. So, the following chocolate recipes use black beans. A chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie would be better with a white bean or pinto bean puree. I have heard some recipes that don't turn out well with the puree, will do well with half puree and half oil/butter. Even if you replace half of a recipe's butter, think of the fat and calories you cut out and the fiber you add by making this switch! It is also a creative way to still be able to bake if you were to live off your food supply and ran out of fats in your storage.

Low-Fat Peanut Butter Brownies
1 pkg. (18.3 oz.) Brownie Mix
1-1/3 C. Water
1/3 C. Oil (1/3 C. Black Bean Puree)
2 Eggs (2 T. Dry Egg Powder + ¼ C. Water)
1 C. Peanut Butter Chips
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix ingredients until just moistened. Pour into greased
pan and bake immediately. Check brownie mix package for baking times for
your pan.
**Tip** Replacing all of the oil with black beans will create a cake like brownie.
If you like your brownies chewy, only replace half of the oil with mashed black
beans.

Low-Fat Devil’s Food Bundt Cake (this is the cake I served)
1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) Devil’s Food Cake Mix
1-1/3 C. Water
½ C. Oil (1/2 C. Black Bean Puree)
3 Eggs (1/3 Dry Egg Powder + 2/3 C. Water)
Preheat Oven to 350°F. Grease sides of Bundt® pan. Blend ingredients in large
bowl at low speed until moistened about 3 seconds. Beat at medium speed for
2 minutes. Pour batter in pan and bake immediately. Check cake mix box for
specific baking times. Allow cake to cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning
out onto cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar when completely cool.

**Black Bean Puree**
Cooked Black Beans
Reserved Cooking Water
-or one can Black Beans
Blend Black Beans and enough water (or entire
can of beans) in blender to make a thick paste.

Wondering if you should store dry beans, but not sure what to do with them if you do?? Here's a little blip from www.everydayfoodstorage.net that you could print out and tape to your barrel of beans and forget about until wartime ;) Or I guess you could use it... I'm just so sold on 50 cent case lot canned beans!!!

Cooking your DRY Beans:
Quick Soaking – For each pound of beans, add 10 cups hot water; heat to boiling and let boil 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for at least 1 hour.

Overnight Soak – For each pound (2 cups) dry-packaged beans, add 10 cups cold water, then let soak overnight, or at least 8 hours.

Cooking Beans - Once your beans have soaked and tripled in size, it’s time to cook them. The most important step in this process is to drain off the soaking water and rinse the beans before cooking to help decrease the gas side effect. Depending on the bean variety, it will take 30 minutes to 2 hours to cook. Make sure and check the package for more specific directions. You’ll know the beans are done when they are tender, but not overcooked. If your beans have been sitting in your food storage for a long time you will need to cook them for a longer period of time. Cool the beans in their cooking liquid if you are not adding them to another liquid, like a soup, when they are done cooking.

Dry Milk

I noticed after the class I taught in January that some food storage recipes were listing different amounts of dried milk per cup of water. SO... to help you avoid running into the same confusion, here's the scoop. "NONFAT DRY MILK" which is what is sold by the cannery requires 3 Tbs powder to one cup of water. "INSTANT dry milk" which is what is usually found at the grocery store requires 1/3 cup powder to one cup water. So, be careful. The cannery shopping girls are saying 3Tbs and other sites say 1/3 cup. Basically, just know what YOU have in your pantry and watch the wording in recipes to be sure you are using the right measurements.

Remember to NOT warn your family if you use dry milk in recipes or for your family to drink. If switching your family to drinking dry milk, consider first topping off a half gallon of fresh milk with powdered milk to blend the flavors. Be sure to serve the milk COLD and if you still aren't happy with the flavor, try a bit of sugar and/or vanilla.

Here are some links for reference:

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/training-cooking/powdered-milk (great overview of powdered milk)

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/handouts/milk-conversion-charts.pdf (conversion chart for the cannery's "NONFAT DRY MILK")

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/powderedmilk.htm (scroll down for an instant powdered milk chart)

DRY POWDERED MILK RECIPES (adjust if using instant)

Blender No-Bake Cheesecake (can't believe how well this turned out! Ask anyone who was at the class)
1 recipe sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz. pkg. Cream cheese (can’t be low-fat)
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
9 inch graham cracker pie crust
1 can pie filling (I always use cherry)
Blend the ingredients for the sweetened condensed milk in the blender. Turn
blender to low and add the vanilla, lemon juice and cream cheese. Gradually
increase the blender speed, until smooth and creamy. (You may have to stop
the blender once or twice to scrape down the sides). Pour into prepared crust.
You will see it start to thicken, even as you spread it into the pie crust! Chill
2 hours. (If you are in a hurry, you can put it in the freezer for half the time,
without changing the properties of the cheesecake at all). Top with pre made
pie filling and serve. Yum!

Sweetened Condensed Milk 14 oz. can
1/2 C. Hot water
1 C. Dry Powdered Milk
1 C. Sugar
1 T. Butter
Blend in blender very well. Can be stored in the
refrigerator or frozen.

Pineapple Banana Freeze
1 C. Unsweetened Pineapple Juice (you can use pineapple juice that you drain
from using canned pineapple just double check that the juice you drained off
is unsweetened)
1/2 of a Medium Banana, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 T. Dry Powdered Milk
1 C. Ice Cubes
Place ingredients in blender jar in order listed. Place cover on blender jar. Turn
blender on and use the “Crushed Ice” setting.
For a nice variation: Omit ice cubes and use 1 C. frozen strawberries.
Makes two 8-ounce servings.