Home Made Spagetti Sauce

I am a little picky on my spaghetti sauce. It has been difficult for me to find a spaghetti sauce I like that is a reasonable price to purchase for food storage. I recently came across this recipe and have used it several times. I love it. It is simple, healthy, and home made with items that could be in your food storage.

The recipe has two parts to it. The first is a dry mix that you could have premeasured and in individual bags for added convenience.

Spaghetti Seasoning Mix:
1 T minced onion (I have used chopped and it worked fine.)
1 T parsley flakes
1 T cornstarch (I leave this out it keeps it a little more saucy and not as thick)
1 T salt
¼ t instant minced garlic
1 t sugar
1 T dried green pepper (I don’t have this in my food storage so haven’t made the recipe with it yet. I am sure it tastes great though)
¼ t basil
¼ t thyme
¼ t sage
¼ t marjoram
¼ t oregano

Spaghetti Sauce:
2 lb of ground beef
2 16 oz cans tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
2 4 oz cans mushrooms (never put this in I don’t like mushrooms)
3 T of seasoning mix (I just put all the

Brown ground beef and add all ingredients. Simmer 30 minutes.

I have made it with a few variations. For example; I have not used meat yet. I have added 1 pint jar of pinto beans, which was pretty good. I don’t have thyme or marjoram in my spice cabinet yet so I haven’t made it using those two spices yet, however the flavor is great.

Also I use diced tomatoes and my cans are 14.5 oz. If you are worried about your family not enjoying the tomato bites, just throw the tomatoes in the blender or food processor first. If I make the recipe as is, our family of 3 only uses half. I put the leftovers in a freezer container and keep it for days that I don’t want to be cooking. You could probably make a double batch to get the same effect.

Bottom line, TRY IT. It is a fast recipe, if it wasn’t it would not be in my collection of favorites.

Happy cooking!

Aunt Norma's Whole Wheat Waffle Mix

My great-aunt Norma was one of my most favorite people. She was amazing at so many things. She always said that these waffles should be served when "there is just a nip of Fall in the air". Though Fall is a long way off from our 110° Arizona Summer days, my dad is getting a fancy waffle iron for Father's Day (his request) from my sisters and I, and I'm also making up a batch of this mix to go with it.

Aunt Norma's Whole Wheat Waffle Mix

Combine the following, and store in an airtight container in the freezer:
10 C. Whole Wheat Flour
4 C. AP White Flour
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Baking Powder
2 C. Powdered Milk
4 tsp. Salt

To make waffles for 6-8 people, mix:
4 C. Dry Waffle Mix
4 Eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 C. Oil
3 1/2 C. Water

Whisk together well, and bake in a ready waffle iron.

White Sauce Recipe

I have found that one of the hardest items to rotate for people is powdered milk.

Here is a recipe that I use a lot that can help with rotation. This is a base for soooo many sauces. I have used it twice this week already. We have had it on the board many months back, but wanted to put it on the blog for easy access.

White Sauce:
1 cup Water
3 Tb Powdered milk
1 Tb Flour (2 Tb for a medium sauce, and 4Tb for a Thick Sauce)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tb Butter
Place water and butter in pan, and bring to a boil. Mix powdered milk, flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Once water is boiling add dry ingredients and whisk for one minute. Turn off heat.

Yesterday I added 1/8 tsp dry mustard, some garlic salt, and 1 cup of shredded cheese and added it to macaroni. (Simple Mac and Cheese the wholesome way)

This morning I added 1/4 tsp chicken bouillon, and put it on biscuits for biscuits and gravy. (Next time I will just cook up some sausage, mix it in and omit the chicken bouillon).

Experiment with it. You can use it (with proper flavorings) in place of any canned cream of soup. It is cheaper, and healthier. Talk about working within a budget.

Let us know what you think.

Butter to Oil Conversion

Oil is an important component of food storage. It improves the flavor and texture of the things you cook, and greatly increases the number of recipes you can make with your food storage. However, some of my favorite recipes call for butter, and I wanted to find a conversion ratio so that I could substitute oil when necessary.

Last week, I decided I wanted to use olive oil in my bread instead of butter. So, I used 1 cup of oil instead of 1 1/2 cups butter. (My recipe makes several very large loaves per batch.) I figured that was a good ratio, and it wasn't until that evening that I looked on the internet and was surprised by exactly how close I was to the proper ratio! Here is a chart I found. It is specific to olive oil, but should also work fairly well for canola and vegetables oils. Basically, when changing from butter to oil, it is a 4 to 3 conversion, meaning that for 4 parts of butter, you only need to use 3 parts of oil, ie: 1/4 cup butter (which is 4 tablespoons) is equal to 3 Tbsp. oil, 1 cup of butter is equal to 3/4 cup of oil; 1 1/2 cups of butter is equal to 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. oil.

Remember, though, that this is for things like breads and muffins that are not entirely dependent on the butter for texture. Cookie recipes wouldn't work with this substitution because you have to cream together the butter and sugar in order to achieve the proper lift and texture in the final product.

Burrito or Taco filling

Here is a great food storage recipe. I would imagine if you don't have refried beans you could use cooked or canned beans. (Home canned beans would be my choice) 

Can't wait to try the recipe. Thank you Susi!

 

"I have a recipe that I use a lot that contains all cannery items, or items from food storage.

It is a burrito or taco recipe.

It makes a large batch and can be scaled down to fit a smaller family.

 

4-5 cans beef chunks (the size of the cannery cans)

1 jar cannery salsa

2 big handfuls of dehydrated refried beans (from the cannery)

1 handful of dehydrated onions

1 bag (8oz) cheese

 

Add all ingredients in to a pan, including the water from the beef chunks.  It is necessary to have the water so that it can rehydrate the beans and onions.  Let them all simmer till the beans and onions are rehydrated, or till all the liquid is soaked up.  Add the cheese to the mix.  Serve with tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream if desired.

 

Homemade tortilla recipe would work great with this.  

 

This can also be refrigerated and possibly frozen to add more to the food storage."

 

Submitted by: Susi McCabe