Mormon Muffins from the Greenery Restaurant

Recently while visiting my sister and nephews, I tried these muffins at the Greenery Restaurant at Rainbow Gardens in Ogden, Utah. Well, actually I stole a hunk from my sister’s muffin and fell in love with the flavor! Luckily, she purchased a six-pack of the heavenly treats (along with some honey butter) to bring home for the next morning’s breakfast. Yummmm.

So, in a nutshell, the Greenery Restaurant is famous for these muffins and kind enough to share the recipe with all of us. You can find it online at the restaurant’s Web site, www.rainbowgardens.com, or simply use the recipe I typed up below.

Thanks, Greenery Restaurant, for a delicious meal and a great breakfast treat!

Mormon Muffins from The Greenery Restaurant

2 cups boiling water

5 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 quart buttermilk

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups All Bran Cereal

2 cups 40% Bran Flakes

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1)      Add soda to boiling water and set aside.

2)      Whip shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

3)      Add the eggs slowly. Mix well.

4)      Add the buttermilk, flour, salt and mix again.

5)      Add the soda water very slowly.

6)      Gently fold the cereals and the walnuts into the mix.

7)      Cover with plastic and store in the refrigerator overnight before baking.

8)      Spoon 1/8 cup into greased muffin tins.

9)      Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Serve with honey butter, if desired.

NOTE: Muffin mix must sit in the refrigerator over night before baking. Muffin mix will last one week, covered and refrigerated. Yields 3 dozen muffins.

Cocoa Lentil Cake with Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Moist Cocoa Lentil Cake

2 cups boiling water

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup washed lentils

1 cup oil

4 large eggs or powdered eggs equivalent

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sifted flour

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

4 tbsp cocoa

½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking soda

Creamy Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

1) Add lentils and 1/4 tsp salt to boiling

water. Cover & simmer for 40 minutes.

Drain, reserving liquid.

2) Add 1/4 cup liquid back to lentils and

make puree in blender or food processor.

3) Preheat oven to 350. Grease & flour a

9x12-inch pan.

4) Mix sugar, oil, and eggs & beat well for

2 minutes.

5) Add vanilla & pureed lentils to creamed

mixture. Sift & add remaining ingredients.

6) Beat for an additional 2 minutes.

7) Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for

30-35 minutes. Cool and frost.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

9 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

7 Tbsp cocoa, sifted

3 Tbsp light corn syrup or honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

3-4 Tbsp milk

In small mixer bowl, beat butter, cocoa, corn

syrup and vanilla until blended. Add powdered

sugar and milk; beat until smooth and of

spreading consistency. Add additional milk,

½ tsp at a time, if needed.

Ingenuity in the Kitchen

Ingenuity in the Kitchen

·         Kick the fast food habit. Commit to cooking at least 4 meals a week in your kitchen from foods you have stored in your pantry or freezer.

·         Stock your kitchen shelves with small containers filled with egg mix, powdered milk, etc. This will serve as a subtle reminder that you have these items without taking up your whole kitchen. Stock your shelves with canned items, too. The more you see these items the more often you will use them.

·         Before you grab eggs and a stick of butter from the fridge to make your favorite cookies, try using powdered eggs and powdered butter in your recipe. (Ok, doesn’t sound appealing, but it really works great!) For instance, when I make chocolate chip cookies, I use 8 tablespoons of butter powder instead of a cube of butter and 2 tablespoons of egg powder for each egg, along with the appropriate amount of water to reconstitute the ingredients. I also substitute a portion of the white flour with freshly ground whole wheat (I use white wheat—my family likes it much better than the red.) Using my hand crank wheat grinder, it takes me 2 minutes, 15 seconds to grind just over ½ cup of the wheat kernels into 1 cup of flour.

·         Figure out creative uses for your food storage ingredients. Check out the internet for recipes using the foods you have on hand.

·         Foods can be multitaskers! For instance, dried beans aren’t just for savory dishes such as soup and chili. White beans can be magically transformed into “pumpkin pie,” “bundt cake” or “chocolate fudge.” Oatmeal can be used in fruit smoothies. Truth be told, I’ve been searching for three years for a chocolate lentil cake recipe. I tried a piece of this cake at Washington State University while visiting my daughter there and fell in love. I had no idea that lentils were used in the cake! When I found out, well, I knew I had to get the recipe. (By the way, I was successful! The recipe is provided on this blog site.)

·         Let your kids help choose recipes to try, then let the kids help make them. Kids are much more willing to try a new recipe that they helped create.    

·         When making a favorite food storage recipe, double the batch and share with a friend! Be sure to include the recipe—maybe you and your friend can switch off on trying new recipes and finding dynamite grocery deals.

Pulled Pork

I served this recipe to friends and family at our daughter’s graduation. It was definitely worth the extra effort to brine the meat first—it adds amazing flavor, texture and moistness. And since I’m not a fan of fennel, I used a different herb in its place.

I’ve revised this recipe a bit to make it more user friendly for those of us who don’t have all the professional chef tools. Make up a batch of this and toss meal-sized servings into freezer bags for future use. I also make single-serving freezer packs of the meat for my husband’s lunches. It’s the perfect recipe for a crowd and can be made ahead to serve at a family reunion or summer party.

Alton Brown’s Pulled Pork

Ingredients

Brine:

·         8 ounces or ¾ cup molasses

·         12 ounces pickling salt

·         2 quarts water

·         6 to 8 pound Boston butt

Rub:

·         1 teaspoon whole cumin seed

·         1 teaspoon whole fennel seed

·         1 teaspoon coriander

·         1 tablespoon chili powder

·         1 tablespoon onion powder

·         1 tablespoon paprika

Directions

Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart bowl. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine (I didn’t grind mine—you can also substitute your favorite seasonings for the ones listed). Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.

Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex gloves during the application.

If you are roasting the meat in an oven, place it in a large roaster and cover with foil or a lid.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F or preheat smoker to 210 degrees F. Place butt in oven/smoker and cook for 10 to12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing as desired.

Using your food storage

Using your food storage

Wait!!! (insert sound of skidding brakes…) in the last post, the words “foods meant to stay on the shelf for at least several months” were uttered. Yes, food storage is meant to be STORED and SAVED for EMERGENCIES. But, hey, no food can last forever. That’s where food storage rotation comes in.

Back when I was a kid, my mom always made me place the new cans of Spaghettios behind the older cans. There they stood, like little soldiers standing in a row. We did the same thing with the canned beans, the Spam (yes, we ate Spam—it’s actually not so bad!), the tuna fish, and anything else that came in a box or can. I grumbled at the task back then, and now my kids grumble at the task now that I’m the mom. But (you know what I’m about to write) Mom was right. Food rotation is good. Very good.

By consistently rotating the cans, using up the older foods first, we always had a pantry filled with food. Some was from the grocery store, some was home canned from food we grew in our yard.

Now this bounty of food didn’t just show up. The shelves were filled gradually. We didn’t have much money, so my folks saved their grocery budget for a really good sale day. Mom had super-hero vision when it came to spotting case sales at the grocery stores. We didn’t buy a couple of cans of chili, a package of toilet paper or a box of Kleenex now and then, we bought a whole case of it when it was on sale for dirt cheap.

Now, back to successfully rotating your food storage. It takes practice. It takes commitment. It takes ingenuity (the next column will cover that). And it takes a few great web sites for inspiration. Check out a few of my faves:

www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

www.beprepared.com

www.everydayfoodstorage.net

www.idareyoutoeatit.com

www.dealstomeals.blogspot.com

How Much Food Should You Store?

How much food should you store?

Okay, so this is the question that freaks most people out. If you consider a full year’s worth of food storage—we’re talking about the staples that will keep your family healthy for a long period of time should disaster strike, layoffs take away your income, or health problems leave you unable to work—a family of four needs several hundred pounds of food! OY!

So, instead of freaking out, break down a year’s worth of food storage into 3 months. That’s it. Now the numbers don’t look so bad. Here’s how to figure out the numbers:

Visit http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm and fill out the form (only two questions—I promise, it’s easy!) Then hit “calculate.” Voila, the food form below magically presents the amount of food that you would ideally store for one year for your family. But remember, DON’T FREAK OUT! Now, divide all those numbers by 4 and you will have the amount of food suggested for 3 months of food supply. Those numbers aren’t as scary, huh?

Now, figure out reasonably how much you can budget for food storage. If you can only spend $10 a month, that’s okay, just do it. Got a bigger budget? Great, just do it. The key here is to JUST DO IT!

Keep in mind, you want VARIETY. Don’t just focus on oatmeal and pasta! Add in a few cans of your favorite soups, boxes of cereal, and family favorite treats. If an emergency really, truly happens, you’re family will need to have a few comforts of home, including favorite foods. But remember, these foods are meant for storage (meaning they stay on the shelf for at least several months before being opened) not for immediate satisfaction! Post “food storage only” signs on the food, set booby traps, disguise the good stuff as something your family hates—whatever it takes to keep your food storage safe for at least a while….

Taking Baby Steps

Take baby steps

When you walk into your pantry, do you hear an echo? You’ve barely got enough food to make it through the week, let alone several days should you not be able to make it to the grocery store during a winter snow storm. Take baby steps to fill your cupboard shelves. Consider this:

·         1 matinee movie ticket is $7.50. For that price you could purchase 10 boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese—easy peasy to make and kids of all ages love to eat the stuff.

·         1 vanilla frappuccino is around $5. For that price you could purchase a couple of canisters of oatmeal (and maybe even a box of granola bars if everything’s on sale!)

·         1 lipstick in the latest, greatest color is around $8 (for the cheap stuff!) For that price you could purchase a 25 lb. sack of flour to make all sorts of treats for your family.

·         One meal at your favorite restaurant probably runs around $15 plus a tip. For that price you could pick up 8 pounds of boneless chicken breasts (at $1.99 a pound) to store in your freezer.

·         A round of golf is $37. Tack on another $13 for the golf cart. That’s $50 you could have spent on a 25 lb. bag of sugar (around $18), 2 cake mixes ($1.50 ea.), 2 tubs of frosting ($2 ea.), 7 cans of fruit ($2 ea.), 5 pounds of pasta ($1 lb.), 3 cans of spaghetti sauce ($1 ea. on sale), and 6 cans of vegetables (50 cents ea.)

·         A manicure is $10-$15. For that price, you could purchase several cans of soup.

Most of us have little luxuries that eat up our paychecks—why not hold off on a luxury or two each week and use the money saved to purchase a few staples for the pantry or freezer? A day of fun in the sun on the golf course or a girls’ day out for pedicures is great, but hungry kids during a crisis—trust me, you don’t want to experience it.