Cornbread on the Grill

Part of emergency preparedness is having a plan for cooking your meals when the traditional methods are unavailable. There are multiple "alternative cooking" options. One is the back yard grill - it can be used for many more items than hamburgers and hot dogs. Our kitchen remodel has dragged on long enough and definitely made my traditional ways of cooking unavailable. We were in the mood for something besides a crock pot meal so I got a little creative. I used my cornbread mix recipe and baked up something simple yet scrumptious. 

Preheat the grill to 350 degrees. Mix up the cornbread. It took 1 1/2 times the batch to fill a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Spray the skillet with vegetable oil and pour the batter in. Adjust the burners on the grill to create indirect heat and maintain the 350-375 degree range. I turned off the center burners and turned the upper and lower burners to low. Place the skillet in the center of the grill and close the lid.

Resist the urge to open the grill and check on it until at least 15 minutes has passed. It took me about 25 minutes to have it pass the toothpick test and be golden brown on top. Depending on the size batch you are baking and how warm you keep the temperature, it can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

It was perfectly done with a slightly thicker crust than when I bake it in the oven. We loved it with a crock pot full of chili and enjoyed the leftovers for breakfast the following morning.

Mexican Rice

A one-pot meal is always a welcome sight to my children when it is their dish night. This dish is hearty enough to be a meal all on it's own or you can serve it beside another favorite Mexican dish.

I made some quick cheese quesadillas on the griddle and served tortilla chips on the side. You can freeze any leftovers that remain and add them to taco filling the next time you make tacos. The other way I have used the leftovers is as a filling in quesadillas. Add a little shredded pork or chicken and top with shredded cheese before sandwiching it between tortillas and cooking on a hot griddle. It is also great with some salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese stirred in and then you can serve it as a chip dip. There really are endless possibilities with this recipe. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do.

Mexican Rice
⅓ cup dried, minced onion	8 oz tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder	2 Tbsp bacon bits
1 cup rice	1–1½ cups cooked kidney beans
1 tsp chicken bouillon	1 can corn, drained
1 cup water	Salt and pepper to taste
Mix together onion, garlic, rice, bouillon, water, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20–25 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in bacon, beans, and corn. Heat through. You can use 1 can of kidney beans, rinsed. I love the precooked real bacon bits for this recipe. They make it convenient and easy.

Chili and Cornbread

What tastes better after a day of early spring yard work? We had fruit trees and raspberries to prune. By the time we were done, it was just starting to drizzle. It was just slightly chilly. To walk into the house and smell the chili in the crockpot was heavenly. Precooked beans and hamburger in the freezer make it a snap to mix up this meal. Simmer in the crockpot for a few hours or heat quickly on the stove top depending on the demands of your day. Any leftovers freeze well for lunch or dinner another day.

Quick and Easy Chili
½ lb hamburger	1 can condensed tomato soup
⅓ cup dried, minced onion	2 cups precooked red beans
1 tsp dried, minced garlic	2–3 tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp dehydrated green pepper	½ tsp dried basil
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes	¼ tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a pan or slow cooker. Add water as needed to achieve desired consistency. Simmer for 15–20 minutes or until heated through and vegetables are tender. In a slow cooker, heat on low for 5–6 hours or on high for 2–3 hours.

I have a couple of cornbread recipes that I use. This one is very moist while my other one is more dry. It is all a matter of what you are in the mood for. This recipe calls for plain yogurt and bean puree to significantly lower the fat content. To learn more about making and using bean puree, click here. Enjoy!

Moist and Delicious Cornbread
2 cups all-purpose flour	2 cups plain yogurt
2 cups corn meal	¾ cup white bean puree
½ cup sugar	2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp baking soda	2 Tbsp honey
1 ½ tsp salt	¼ cup water
Combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix just until moistened. Pour batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake at 400° F for 20–25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. You can cut the recipe in half and it fills an 8x8-inch pan. Bake for 15–20 minutes.

Craving Summer

As winter begins to drag on, I begin craving at least a taste of summer. I served hot dogs and potato salad the other night for dinner and we all loved it!

This potato salad is a bit unique - I always get requests for the recipe whenever I bring it to BBQs or potlucks. The secret is the sweet pickles and the tomatoes! I originally got this recipe from my sister years ago. It came from her mother-in-law. I started making it for my husband when we were first married and it fast became his favorite! He will eat it any time of year and loves the leftovers for lunch the next day. It is also a favorite of my kids - although my daughter, Sarah, has to pick out the tomatoes.

The recipe that follows does not share any amounts. There aren't many cooks that actually measure when they are making a salad anyway. You just learn how to mix things until they look about right. I always include potatoes, onions, tomatoes and sweet pickles - lots of sweet pickles. The other ingredients are optional. If I didn't have tomatoes, it would also be pretty good. My garden tomatoes last pretty long in the garage. This year we ate our last ones the week of Christmas which is when I had to start buying them at the grocery store. They never taste as good as garden tomatoes, but they help us pull through until we can plant a garden again. Potatoes also store a long time. I'm using ones we purchased in October and have just stored in a box in our garage.

The other ingredient that adds a lot of flavor to this salad is bacon bits. I love the precooked bacon bits you can purchase. They don't need to be refrigerated and have a long shelf life.

Put everything in your bowl and add some mayonnaise and mustard. Stir to combine. Add a little more mayo if it appears too dry. Then salt and pepper to taste.

I mixed it up in this cute new bowl my husband and kids gave me for Christmas.

Doesn't it look tasty? It filled our heads with memories of summer which is what I needed for sure! I also love that I can make it ahead of time before all the kids get home and life gets a little crazy around here. You could make it even the night before if you needed to.

Potato Salad
Potatoes, cooked and diced	Hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Sweet pickles, chopped	Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Onions, chopped	mayonnaise
Celery, chopped	mustard
Tomatoes, chopped	Salt & pepper
Olives, sliced
Directions:
Cook potatoes just until done.  You do not want them too mushy.  Allow potatoes to cool.  Add vegetables and bacon.  Stir in mayonnaise and mustard.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Make as much as you like.

Scalloped Potatoes

This recipe relies on my white sauce mix that speeds up the preparation of many meals.  They are my Sarah's favorite potatoes! Fresh potatoes can store for many months so can easily be part of your 3 month menu plan. For more info on storing potatoes, click here. Whisk sauce ingredients together in a pan. Stir and heat until thick. Layer sliced potatoes, dried, minced onions and chopped ham (optional) in 9x13 pan. Pour sauce over the top. Make sure potatoes are evenly coated. Cover with foil. Bake at 325° for about 2 hours or until potatoes are tender. Remove foil and serve. We cooked up some frozen veggies to serve on the side. Scalloped Potatoes
Creamy and delicious—great as a side dish or add some chopped ham to make it a meal.
7–8 large potatoes, peeled and sliced	3 Tbsp mayonnaise
½ cup dried, minced onion	1 tsp salt
¾ cup white sauce mix	¼ tsp pepper
3 cups hot water	Paprika, optional
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon	Cooked ham, optional
Layer potatoes and onions in a greased 9x13-inch pan. You can use dehydrated potato slices that you have soaked in boiling water for 15–20 minutes. You can also add precooked ham pieces if you'd like. Whisk white sauce mix, water, bouillon, and mayonnaise together in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Stir in salt and pepper. Pour sauce over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Cover and bake at 325° F for 2 hours or until potatoes are tender. I also cook this in the microwave. It always cooks faster on the edges so you have to stir it a few times when you use the microwave. You can also do it in the crockpot. Cook on high for 3–4 hours or on low for 6–8 hours.

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.

Annual Applesauce Making Day

Applesauce is a family affair every year. My parents have apple trees so those of us who live close get together to pick and process the apples. The pictures that follow share just a glimpse of what went on here a couple of Saturdays ago. I think I am still recovering from being so exhausted!

Here my mom is washing the apples and cutting them in half.

We then put them in our steam juicers. This is the step that takes the longest so we pool all our equipment together. We've also learned to cook on our camp stoves to keep the heat outside. You can cook your apples covered with water until they are soft, but this waters down the juice. Using a steam juicer keeps the juice pure and more flavorful. We add a certain amount of juice back into the sauce, but never all of it.

Sarah and Emma are putting the cooked apples through the strainer which spits the peels and seeds out one side and the sauce comes out free on them.

Ben is scooping the sauce into the jars. We add sugar to taste and pour enough juice back in to make it the consistency we like. The kids all look forward to this day. They all like to help a little, but they mostly like knowing they get to spend the entire day with cousins.

 

Here's another shot of Sarah and Emma. This was Emma's first year to help.

We rotated and took turns manning the different stations.

For some of the sauce, we used kool-aid powder to flavor and color it. All the kids love it! Once we have a dozen jars full, the processing begins.

By the time our 12 hour day was done, we had processed 19 dozen jars - that equals 228 quarts! It was a new family record!

Fruit Salad Using Plain Yogurt

For all those who have started making yogurt, here is a quick and delicious fruit salad you can make with it. (For those of you who haven't braved making your own yogurt yet, store bought plain yogurt works just as well.)

Begin with canned peaches, pineapple chunks, and mandarin oranges. You can decide how much of each you would like. 

Drain the fruit. (Freeze the fruit juice to make delicious smoothies later. You'll find the instructions here.)

Place a double layer of paper towels in a colander with a bowl below it. Fill the paper towel with plain yogurt. Allow the yogurt to drain until it is the consistency of sour cream.

Add the yogurt to your bowl of fruit. Sprinkle in a little powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix. 

If it is a little runnier than you like, stir in a bit of Ultra-Sperse (or Ultra Jel) until it is how you like it.

This salad is cool and refreshing on a hot summer day. It is well liked by kids and adults.

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Is summer keeping you so busy running that you are out of energy by the time making dinner comes around? That is how I am beginning to feel - My solution is to make a few larger batches of certain items so they can be waiting in the freezer for just one of these nights. "But, I'm feeling that way every night, " you think. I am too quite frankly. These mashed potatoes can be a side dish with many meals so they can come to the rescue many nights in a row if you need them too. You can also load them up like you would a baked potato and have them pass as the main dish. My kids never complain when I put them on the table.

Peel and dice your potatoes. (Many times we leave the peels on and just scrub well.) Boil in water until tender. Drain and place in your mixing bowl. My Kitchen-aid is great for this. I use the wire whip attachment.

Add homemade yogurt, milk and seasonings until it is the consistency you like. Because I never measure my potatoes anymore, I just do it until it looks goods. (My original measurements can be found in the recipe below.) Allow to cool, and package in freezer bags or containers. 

You've heated your kitchen up once and have quite a few nights covered. Next time you grill any meat, this can be your side dish or like I mentioned above, load them up when you reheat them and call them dinner. You won't get any complaints from us.

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
These are nice to have in the freezer ready to go for a busy night. They are also great for a holiday dinner. You can just reheat in the crockpot on low for 5–6 hours.
5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced	½ cup reconstituted powdered milk
8 oz cream cheese (plain yogurt)	2 tsp onion powder
1 cup sour cream (plain yogurt)	Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain and mash. Mix in remaining ingredients only using enough milk to achieve the consistency you desire. Serve immediately or store in the fridge or freezer for later. Just package in ziplock bags or meal size containers. We also like to add grated cheese, chives, and bacon bits sometimes to dress them up.

French Bread Pan

One year for Christmas, my husband surprised me with a gift that I didn't even know existed! It's a French Bread Pan. You can get them in single or double loaf versions. I love it! It gets used often around here.

Shape your loaves and place them on the pan. The holes on the bottom help to give it a crispy crust and the shape of the pan allows the bread to rise up instead of out and rather flat like it does on a baking sheet. (I had used a baking sheet for years so if that is all you have, the bread still tastes great! The appearance just isn't as authentic.)

We gobbled up one loaf so quickly that I only got a picture of one of the finished loaves. For you bread bakers out there, now you have something to put on your Birthday or Christmas wish list - or maybe you'll have to grab one "just because."

Coleslaw Mix

Not all of your 3 month supply needs to be dehydrated, frozen, or canned. Cabbage stores for quite a while in the fridge. It is also inexpensive per pound and provides the opportunity to serve something fresh for dinner that is full of vitamins and other nutrients. You can add chopped cabbage to stews or many Asian dishes. It is also delicious in coleslaw or other cabbage salads.

Sometimes the outer leaves of the cabbage begin to spoil when storing it in the fridge for a couple of months. Just peel those leaves off and use the the remaining head. I've never actually timed how many weeks my cabbages have stayed good in the fridge, but they always last longer then I think they should. Carrots also stay good for many weeks.

A food processor makes it quick and easy to chop cabbage. Use the slicing blade for best results. Shred a few carrots into the mix to add some color.

Here is one of our favorite salads. I always substitute regular onion for the green onions and I even use dehydrated onion if I need to. It is always good. I served this at a church luncheon for over 80 senior sisters and everyone loved it! I got many requests for the recipe. You can shred and chop everything a day or two ahead. Add the nuts and Ramen noodles just before serving and then toss with the dressing.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

1 package Ramen noodles, crushed 1 ½ cups cashew pieces, almonds, or                             sunflower seeds 5 ½ - 6 cups shredded cabbage 1 carrot, shredded 3-4 green onions, chopped Cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Dressing: 1/4 cup white sugar 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 tablespoon soy sauce Ramen noodle seasoning packet

DIRECTIONS:

	In a 350 degree oven, toast the crushed noodles and nuts until golden brown. When I use sunflower seeds, I only toast the crushed noodles since the seeds are toasted already.
	In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots and green onions.   Add toasted ramen noodles and nuts just before serving.
	To prepare the dressing, whisk together the sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and ramen packet. Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving. Canned chicken works great in this salad.