Some of the best recipes happen when you need to 'use up' something in the house.  In this case, there were 3 things-- some chocolate milk that had gone sour, a bunch of bananas that were overripe, and the tail end of a jar of mayonnaise. 

Several years back, when I was still in high school, I told my mom what I would really like as a graduation gift was a card file of her recipes.  She made one, painstakingly putting one card at a time into our manual typewriter (OK, this was more than several years back) and typing out each recipe.  When the next sibling graduated, 2 years later, she had realized there was a way to type the recipes on the computer, and that way the info was saved for and could be printed an number of times without having to retype them. The recipe card in the photo below is from one of that second round of recipes she gave me. As you can see, it makes a big cake. 11x15. So I've scaled it down to fit a 9x13, and tweaked the leavening to use both baking soda and baking powder, which combination I've found to give slightly more consistent results.

Have you ever had the boiling-water chocolate cake before?  It's a wonderful, very moist cake. It looks to me that my mom simply took that recipe and adjusted it to include mashed bananas. Chances are high that she was simply being creative with what needed using up, too.

For the cake this week, I made it using mostly whole-wheat flour, for the nutrition, fiber, and flavor. I also used a blender to streamline the mixing steps.  The strange-sounding frosting really does work!  It's modified from the Sauerkraut Cake recipe posted much earlier.

Chocolate Banana Cake

Heat oven to 375 degrees F, and spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. (This can also fill 2 9" round cake pans instead.)

In a large bowl, stir together
3 cups flour (I used 2 c. whole wheat flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour)
1/4 to 1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Meanwhile, melt
1/2 c. butter
and set aside. Measure 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil in the microwave or on the stovetop. Set aside.

In a blender, combine
2/3 cups sour milk (or milk mixed with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar)
2 eggs
2 large overripe bananas, or 3 medium/small ones
2 cups sugar​

Mix until smooth. Pour over the flour mixture, add the melted butter, and stir well. Pour the boiling water over the top, and mix in thoroughly. Bake at 375F for about 30-35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly with a finger.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Frosting
1 bag (11-12 ounces) chocolate chips (I used semisweet)
2/3 c. mayonnaise

Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl in the microwave; heating for 1 minute at a time and stopping to stir.  This took about 2 minutes in my microwave. 

Add the mayonnaise, and stir to combine.  Spread over cake.
Notes:
If you put the frosting in the fridge, it will set up very firmly. Too firm to spread. If you need to soften it, microwave for 15-30 seconds and stir.  
If you don't have mayonnaise-- remember I said we were at the tail end of the jar?-- use yogurt instead. I had only half the mayo needed, so used that, and made up the difference with some strawberry yogurt sitting in the fridge. 

This is a recipe I remember as being in a neighborhood cookbook my mom got in the 1970s. It's a recipe that comes with fond childhood memories-- a cool, creamy dessert on a cookie crumb crust that hit the spot on a hot summer day.  

You'll see in the recipe that the 'cheese' in this can be either cottage cheese or cream cheese.  My mom almost always made it with cottage cheese. There's not a lot of difference in the finished product, so use either one.  I like that cottage cheese increases the protein content of this. It's also usually a little less expensive than cream cheese.

We've always made this in a 9x13 pan. The filling is only about 1/2-3/4" thick, but it's good for a crowd that way. You could pour it into a pie pan instead.

You can use a graham cracker crust if you prefer, but I'm partial to the homemade crumb base. It uses simple ingredients and comes together in just a couple of minutes. It's flexible, too; this week I made it gluten free by using a combination of almond flour, GF oatflour (the last few tablespoons in the bag), and coconut flour (also a couple of tablespoons). 

NO-BAKE APRICOT CHEESECAKE
1 prepared cookie crumb crust (recipe below)
2 1/4 cups fresh apricots or 16 oz can of apricots
3 oz package lemon or orange gelatin
16 oz. cream cheese OR cottage cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whipping cream, whipped, OPTIONAL (8 oz whipped topping is fine too)

If you're using fresh apricots, wash and pit them.  If using canned, drain them and set the juice aside for later. 

Puree the apricots.  If you're using fresh, reserve 1/2 cup for later. (Don't reserve any if you're using canned.)

Put the rest of the puree in a microwave-safe bowl and heat just to the boiling point.  Stir in gelatin and mix until mostly dissolved.  Pour this back into the blender and add the cream cheese or cottage cheese, and vanilla.  Blend until very smooth.  If you're adding the whipped cream, let the mixture cool to near body temperature, then fold in the cream or whipped topping. If you're not adding the whipped cream, pour the mixture into the prepared crust.  (The first photo in this blog post shows the cheesecake made without the whipped cream. Using it will make a slightly taller cheesecake with more airiness.)

Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or until set.  

While it's chilling, make the Apricot Glaze- 

Fresh apricot version- 
Get your 1/2 cup reserved puree. Stir in 1 tsp. sugar; mix well. Store covered in the fridge until serving time.

Canned apricot version-
Boil together 1/2 c. reserved syrup and 1 tsp. cornstarch. Stir until smooth.  Store covered in the fridge until serving time.

When the cheesecake has set, spread with Apricot Glaze. 

For another version of this, spread with pineapple glaze-- mix 1 tsp. cornstarch with 1/2 c. crushed pineapple with juice.  Boil; stir until smooth. This is the topping my mom used!

Cookie Crumb Crust
1 1/4 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. softened butter

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mix ingredients together until crumbly.  Press on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until it starts to lightly brown, and smell delicious.  Let cool while you make the filling. 

This is also delicious with chopped nuts in it; add 1/4-1/2 finely chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans) and reduce flour to 1 cup.

For details on how I dry these, see Chewy Dried Bananas. 

Right now my trees are FULL of apples, as they are about every other year. We've been in this home for four year, and feel very blessed to have moved somewhere with an existing fruit orchard. Everywhere else we've lived, we've had to plant the trees. 

But even when we had yards that weren't yet producing fruit, there was fruit to be found, just by looking around the neighborhood. I'd look for mature trees where the fruit was falling, walk up to the house, knock on the door, and ask if they'd like help using up their fruit.  The answer was almost always a relieved "yes!" It turns out that many people with fruit trees can't utilize it all themselves-- especially if they're now empty nesters or young couples-- and feel sad about the waste. Learning that helped me feel less self-conscious about asking. 

So- know that asking leads to a win-win. The owners can be happy that what they grew helped someone, and you are blessed with food for your family. This also builds good relationships and communication in your neighborhood. 

All that, just from asking someone a simple question!

While some varieties of apples store well under refrigeration, most of us don't have that much fridge space. Because of that, most of my apples either become applesauce, juice, jelly, apple butter, or dehydrated apples. 

You can use dehydrated apples in almost any recipe that calls for apples to be cooked. How much do you need of the dehydrated in place of fresh?  See this chart:

Watch the slideshow to see how to dehydrate apples.  I use a dehydrator, (this one) but drying in the sun is an option (It will take sitting in the sun during 3-4 days of good clear weather), as is using your oven (200​° F, check them after 2-3 hours). An apple peeler-corer-slicer makes the job much faster. Once they're dry, you can extend the best-nutrition-shelf-life from the standard one year, to 10-20 years by vacuum sealing them. 

Want conversion charts for other dried foods?  I've got one.

Use dried apples in any recipe that calls for fresh apples.  Just cover the dried apples with warm water and let sit for 15 minutes.  Then drain and use as fresh apples.  Make apple pancakes or apple muffins by reconstituting the dried apple slices and mixing into pancake or muffin batter. 

Make an apple topping by simmering the slices in apple juice or water until soft, sweeten to taste with sugar, add cinnamon and nutmeg as desired and thicken with cornstarch. (1 Tbsp. cornstarch per cup of liquid that you have.) Serve warm on ice cream, plain white cake, pancakes, waffles, or cheesecake.

Stir dried apples into oatmeal or cream of wheat in the last few minutes of cooking.  Mix with raisins and granola for a nutritious trail mix snack. 

When using dehydrated apples, ¾ cup of apple slices is approximately one cup of fresh apple slices, or one medium apple. If your apple pieces are smaller, it will take less than 3/4 cup to equal a medium apple.
 
Most instructions say to soak them in warm water for 15 minutes. I've learned that if you soak them in just-off-the-boil water,  at 5 minutes they were a little firm in spots, but not much.  At ten minutes, they were close to the same. At 15 minutes, they’re considered fully hydrated but aren’t quite to that super-soft 'cooked' texture.
 
Heating them WITH the water, bringing to a boil, covering, and letting soak for 5 minutes yielded as good of results as 15 minutes of soaking. 


Here's a great recipe to start with; I got it from my neighbor, Sheri Schiess, who worked at "the Cannery" in Logan, Utah, in the early 2000s.  ("The Cannery" was what we called the local dry-pack cannery owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where we could purchase and can dried apple slices, among other things.) I don't know for sure where Sheri got the recipe, but she knew all sorts of things and was something of a 'pioneer' herself. The recipe likely goes at back at least to the mid-1800s.
 
Pioneer Dried Apple Cake

3 cups dried apple slices
2 cups sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. baking powder
 2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts, optional
 
Cover apples in warm water, let soak for 15 minutes; drain.  Mix cake in order given except add apples last.  Pour into greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.  Let cool before cutting.

This is called the 'Double-Double' recipe because each of the three main topping ingredients (butter, brown sugar, flour/oats) is double the quantity of the one before. You can use that same ratio to make cookies- to a quantity double what’s listed below (= use 1/2 cup butter) also add one egg, ½ tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. salt, and a big handful of chocolate chips or whatever else you want in there.  You've got cookie dough!
 
Mom’s Double-Double Apple Crisp
Makes 4-6 servings

5-6 apples, peeled and sliced—enough to mostly fill an 8x8 baking pan --or about 4 c. dried apple slices
¼ cup butter, softened or melted
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup flour- or use ½ cup quick oats and ½ cup flour (gluten-free flour works just fine)
Optional: 3/4 tsp. nutmeg and/or cinnamon
 
If using dehydrated apples, put them in the 8x8 pan, cover with boiling water and let them soak while you make the topping. 

In a small to medium bowl, stir together the sugar and butter. Mix in everything else until no flour patches remain, but you still have some lumps. (They’re the best part!) 
Drain off extra water from the apples, leaving just a little in the bottom.  (Save the drained water for making bread, breakfast oatmeal, for feeding a sourdough start, add to a smoothie or other drink. It contains a little bit of Vitamin C and some natural sweetness.)
 
Cover the apples with the topping.  Bake at 375° F for about 25 minutes, until topping is browned and crunchy.  If using fresh apples, you’ll need to bake it 30-45 minutes. 
 
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

As you plan, store, and use your food daily, one thing becomes clear: It needs replenished, and we’re much more dependent on systems and stores than we might have realized.  Right now, many more of us are feeling vulnerable.
 
Fortunately, restocking is simpler than starting from scratch. But that ‘dependency’ issue?  Hardly anybody can be completely self-reliant in this right now.  And we’re made to learn from and help each other. More self-sufficiency, however, is better than less. And almost everyone can grow some sort of food, even if it’s herbs in a pot on the windowsill, or tomatoes in a planter on the porch. You can even grow some vegetables without needing to buy seeds.
 
Ezra Taft Benson- an apostle at the time, who had also served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture-- gave us excellent advice 40 years ago.  He said,

“There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two. Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own.
 
“The counsel from Church authorities has been consistent over the years and is well summarized in these words:
‘First, and above and beyond everything else, let us live righteously. …
‘Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow.
‘Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.
‘Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead. You of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing apparel, not in stocks and bonds; you of large means will think you know how to care for yourselves, but I may venture to suggest that you do not speculate. Let every head of every household aim to own his own home, free from mortgage. Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it; every man who owns a farm, farm it.’ (President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in Conference Report, Apr. 1937, p. 26.)
 
“You do not need to go into debt, may I add, to obtain a year’s supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check. Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget. Store seeds and have sufficient tools on hand to do the job. If you are saving and planning for a second car or a TV set or some item which merely adds to your comfort or pleasure, you may need to change your priorities. We urge you to do this prayerfully and do it now.
 
“I speak with a feeling of great urgency. I have seen what the days of tribulation can do to people. I have seen hunger stalk the streets of Europe. I have witnessed the appalling, emaciated shadows of human figures. I have seen women and children scavenge army garbage dumps for scraps of food. Those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory.”
 __________________________
Meanwhile, gardening season is here-- a beautiful time of year! It’s best to wait until about Mothers Day to plant frost-sensitive vegetables, but everything else can be planted now here along the Wasatch Front.
 
Here are blog posts you might like:
Starting on Your Spring Garden 
 
Start Thinking 'Garden'

Gardening 101

The Early Garden

What Brigham Young said about wheat vs. gold

How to Prune and Fertilize Trees and Shrubs

Or just click on the 'Gardening' category at the bottom of this page if you're on a mobile device; to the right if you're on a regular computer. 
___________________________
Below is information from two of my local resources—the USU Extension office and a local nursery, but it’s helpful stuff for anyone, anywhere.

Your state Extension office has tons of resources.  Here in Utah, it’s the Utah State University Extension office.  Replace “Utah” with any other state name, run a search online, and you’ll find lots of gardening and yard that is specific to your area.

Here are three new gardening videos to help you get started in your garden; they’re from the Utah extension, but these are good advice for any location: 
·         How to Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors 
·         ​How to Start and Grow Sweet Potatoes 
·         How to Create Soil Blocks 
There’s also a great book, Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs guidebook and other gardening resources through their online book store.  One resource I’ve used quite a bit is their free online book, “Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden.”  Use it, and you’ll know better what to weed out, and what to keep.  And it's super useful to know what your soil actually needs to be healthy, before shelling out serious money on fertilizers or supplements.  You can get your soil analyzed, here. (I have this done at every house we've lived in, as we're getting started growing things there.)

The USU Extension has a gardening group on Facebook, called Utah's Gardening Experts.  Post photos, share your knowledge, or ask questions and get help from your fellow gardeners and Extension experts. Join the group here.

The Extension offers online courses. They’re usually $25, but are currently $15 with code GARDEN2020. The code will automatically apply at checkout if you use the link below.   Browse courses.
--------------------
April (Mid-Spring) Gardening Tips from Glover Nursery

They also have an article on Victory Gardens: 4 Steps to a Bountiful Harvest
_______________

What will you grow this year?

Painting: Gathering Almond Blossoms, John William Waterhouse.
That farm we lived on was two hours from stores. We shopped once a month, for our family of 9. We drank 6 gallons of milk a week, and there was no way to fit 24 gallons of milk in the fridge after shopping. So Mom bought 6 gallons each month. She always kept a storeroom full of basic foods, including powdered milk. As we needed milk, each jug was mixed with 3 gallons of powdered milk, to make 4 gallons. That way the 6 gallons became 2 dozen.
We raised beef cattle, so we had our own beef. A neighbor across the river raised hogs, and we’d trade him beef for pork. We had a huge garden- we grew almost all of our vegetables, and Mom was insistent on that 5 or more servings a day of fruits and vegetables. The only vegetables I remember buying were frozen peas and tomato sauce. Elderberries, chokecherries, and currants grew wild on the farm, so we picked and made jelly from them. We grew strawberries and had a huge raspberry patch. We stored our garden carrots  through the winter in an insulated pit in the garden. We canned and bottled a lot, froze corn, zucchini, asparagus, spinach. If we didn’t have something for a recipe we wanted, we came up with a substitute, or went without.

It was a different mindset, a different way of living.  What we’re seeing now reminds us of how fragile our modern way of life is, and helps us better appreciate traditional ways, including making and filling a family storehouse. Now I live in a valley with one million other people, and I can’t do all the things we did on the farm.  But I can grow food and preserve it, store and waste less.

What about Hoarding?

People who store are sometimes accused of hoarding. And sometimes they ARE hoarding.  So what is the difference between preparing and hoarding?
​
‘Hoarding’ involves selfishness or coveting on one or both sides of the equation. On one side, it could merely mean somebody is upset at what you have-- coveting-- and on the other side, you might be acting like a dragon clutching its pile of gold and belching fire at anyone who comes near. There’s God’s way of preparing for the future, and there are a whole bunch of other ways.  God’s way includes loving your neighbor as yourself. Use that as your guideline for building and using food storage. Don’t build in a way that takes from others who need it.  Building a godly family storehouse is “is founded on the doctrines of love, service, work, self-reliance, and stewardship”.

What is the ideal to work towards in building a family storehouse?

A two-week basic water supply, a financial reserve,  a three-month supply of everyday food and recipes to use it, a good supply of basic foods that store a very long time, and the skills to use them. That will give you stability and security, and helps you be calm through new adjustments.  That supply of basic foods that have a 10-30+ year shelf life will help you and your neighbors weather some of the worst life-storms.
Real peace comes through loving and serving God and your fellow men. Sometimes ‘feeding his sheep’ is literal, especially with those in your house.

How to do it

You’ll want to make a plan and implement it carefully, wisely, and lovingly. Don’t go into debt for it, purchase more when prices and demand are low. Purchase less when prices and demand are high.  Learning to waste less will go a long way toward helping you build your family storehouse.
Details of how to do this are on the page called “52 Weeks of Building Storage”. Read through the links beginning on Week 1.  There are more helps on that page, including- charts for how to build a 3-month supply in 6 months or less, and a buying schedule for building a year supply in 6 months or less.

How do I begin building my family storehouse? Find info from Week 1

First, be determined that this is going to happen, starting today. "All we have to do is to decide, commit to do it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place"!  Pray to see how to do this. 

The next step in getting your family storehouse is to  take inventory of what you have.   (All stores have to take inventory! At least yearly.) Get a notebook or a clipboard, and write down all the food you have in the house.  Group them in categories that make sense to you.  

Go through your budget and see where you can free up some money; you can build a 3 month supply in 6 months , under normal circumstances, with about an extra $15-20/person/week.

My experience has been that because of the way you ideally shop for this short-term storage, it costs considerably less than your regular-meals budget.  Can you afford it?  The way I see it, I can’t afford NOT to have a family storehouse.  Most of my shelf-stable grocery items are purchased when each is on sale, usually at 30-70% off the regular price.

Where Do I Get the Money?

-Waste Less
-Cut money somewhere else. Vacations. Gifts. Extras. 
-Grow and Glean
-Buy Smart!
.

• Waste less—the average family of 4 throws away more than $2000 of food every year. That alone could fund your food storage!
• Budget it in. This is much easier when you’re shopping sales and reducing what you waste.
  • Replace more meat with a cheaper protein source like beans or eggs.
  • Cut your entertainment or eating-out budget.
  • Sell a ‘luxury item’
  • Skip a vacation; buy food and supplies instead
• Grow and Glean
• Shop Smart – SOS method
  • Buy when others don’t want it
  • Shop sales—for what’s on your list. Stick to the foods on your plan
  • Know your prices.  Then you recognize when something is a stock-up price.
    ​

​Now where in the world are you going to fit the necessary food into your house?  If you have a cool, dark room available, that's perfect. 
find a place you can store shelf-stable food, Get a shelf, and Set it up.
That's it!

There are posts on my website with FAQs, including what you need to know about expiration dates on cans and packages. Skim through that 52 Weeks page to find them.

What is the point of being more self reliant?

The most obvious is family security. But if we stop there, we’ve missed the point. We’re all family.  Self reliance allows us to help and strengthen others.  Our families are the basic foundation of society. How goes the family, goes the nation. 

You can be a chayil woman, a powerful force for good in your home and in your neighborhood.


Do you have any questions?  Leave a comment, or email me at singyourwayhome@comcast.net 

​If you’re storing up all the wheat, flour, and other grains recommended, you’ll need to have the ability to use it.  (You know-- "store what you eat, and eat what you store!") The most common way to do this is to grind the wheat into flour to make bread and other baked goods.

My mom taught all of us kids how to make bread when we were young. I still use her recipe today; it has good flavor, is immensely adaptable, and works well with quite a bit less yeast per loaf needed than many other recipes call for.  That recipe is found on my website under “Making Bread”. There are two amounts of ingredients- one for a two-loaf batch, and another for a six-loaf batch (the size that fills my oven-- because it's the same amount of dishes and time to make 6 as it is to make 1).

Wait until the bread is cool before slicing and bagging it. The exception is the loaf you eat while it's still hot!  But be patient for 10-20 minutes after it's out of the oven; it continues to cook during that time. It will mash if you slice before then.  Bread freezes exceptionally well, so I always put in the pantry only the bread we'll eat in the next three days, when fresh bread is at its best. The rest goes into the freezer; it will taste fresh-baked when you thaw it later. (The best way to thaw is in its bag at room temperature for a few hours. The next best way-- which we do more often-- is to put it in the microwave for 60 seconds. Be sure to remove any metal twist tie on the bag!)

This recipe works whether you’re making it in a big bowl with a strong wooden spoon, or if you have a stand mixer.  (Mom made me learn initially with the bowl and spoon, because, she said, “You won’t always have a mixer.”  That turned out to be true. I made my bread all through college with nothing but a bowl and wooden spoon.)  If you’re new to making bread, make your first few batches with all white flour.  It’s easier to make good white bread with than it is to make good whole wheat bread.

A new electric grain mill generally costs somewhere around $200. There are hand mills sold for much less money – around $80—but it’s a whole lot of work and time to get enough flour for a batch of bread with one of those. I like having one as emergency backup, but not for normal use. The electric mill can give you finer flour anyway. 

If you want to start using your wheat for bread and don’t have a mill, try this recipe: Really Good Whole Wheat Bread Without a Grain Mill. It's the bread version of Blender Pancakes; this kind of pancake recipe can also be found in the Wooden Spoon: Wheat section, and in the Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook.
​
What if you don’t have yeast?  Use a sourdough start or “everlasting yeast” to leaven it.  (Maybe that should be the topic for next week’s post—What do you think?)

What if I ruin the batch of bread?

First of all, everyone makes a ‘bad’ batch every now and then.  See if you can figure what went wrong, and learn from it.  Meanwhile, here are some common problems and how to use the bread anyway.  Ruined doesn’t need to mean wasted.

BURNT BREAD- Scrape off the darkest parts, or cut it away in the thinnest slices you can manage. 

BREAD WON’T RISE- Make fried scones. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, they’re a kind of yeast-raised Indian fry bread or sopapillas. Here in Utah, we just call them ‘scones’. Heat a 1-2” deep layer of cooking oil to 350 degrees, pinch off golfball-sized pieces of dough and stretch or roll them about ¼” thick. Fry 3 or 4 at a time, turning them over after about a minute. Drain on paper towels and serve as the base for Navajo Tacos, or with butter and honey or jam.

BREAD IS UNDERCOOKED- if the bread is still hot, put it back in the oven for another five minutes.  Check again. Cook longer if needed.  If the bread was no longer hot when you discovered the problem, slice it a little thinner than you normally would, and toast it. Now it’s cooked. 

BREAD IS CRUMBLY. (Or stale)- This is a problem you see only after it has cooled; warm bread is almost always amazing and not crumbly. The solution next time is to get the gluten to develop better. (Unless the problem is the bread is several days old and dried out. These solutions still apply.)

• Make it into French toast, egg toast, or bread pudding. (Try Caramel Pumpkin Bread Pudding or Pineapple Coconut Bread Pudding!) 

• Use it for sandwiches with a creamy filling, like egg salad or chicken salad.

• Use it up sooner than usual and freeze everything that you won’t use within a day, rather than the regular 3-day window I usually keep it out for. 

• Cut it into ½” cubes, toss with a little oil and whatever seasonings you like, and toast them in a skillet or in the oven to make croutons.

• Make bread soup. This is an Italian specialty, and you can find lots of recipes.

• Make cream of tomato soup using bread in a surprising way to make it thick and creamy.

• Make a batch of bread crumbs- either toast them to dry them out, or if you want the fresh, soft bread crumbs, store any extras in an airtight container in the freezer. 
​___________________________

What other bread problems would you like a solution for?  Comment below, and I’ll do my best to answer.  If there's a way to mess up a batch, I've likely done it.  :) Experience is a good teacher.