2. New Ideas for Cooking with Home Storage (also found here)--
​created to be used with the foods at the dry-pack canneries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You can no longer dry pack food there, but can still purchase products already packaged.   ​

To help with building your year's supply (this is Week 12 of 26), see this chart. 
 

What is powdered milk?. 
Why store it?. 
How much powdered milk is recommended? And how do I store it?. 
How do I use powdered milk?. 
What if it gets old?. 
What dairy-free substitutes can I store?. 
 

What is powdered milk? 
Milk begins with a very high water content—about 82%.  The water is removed in a couple of steps- a low-temperature evaporative boil is first. Doing this in a vacuum allows the boiling to happen at 135° F rather than the regular 212°. Then it’s sprayed from a very tall tower into very hot, swirling air. A tiny particle of powdered milk is all that’s left when it hits the bottom. (See this article for super-interesting details.)  This milk powder is made of very small, nearly dust-sized specks.

Since fat turns rancid quickly and drastically shortens shelf life, powdered milk for long-term storage is fat-free. It’s skim milk that goes through the drying process. That’s also why it tastes watery.  Adding a little extra powder when mixing up the milk will help with this. And adding a bit of vanilla helps give it some flavor.  Serving it chilled helps, too.
 
Full-fat powdered milk is available if you know where to look. The only brand I’ve seen widely available is Nido. It’s a whole milk powdered milk you can find sometimes in the Hispanic foods section at grocery stores. In the U.S. it’s mostly used in the food industry, but tons of it per year are shipped to third-world countries, where they have few dairies, little way to transport the milk, and no refrigerators to store it in anyway. If you buy whole-milk powder, use it within 6 to 9 months unless it’s in sealed cans and stored under 75°F.  And then use it up within, say, five to seven years.
I have some that’s older than that; I can report later this week on what it’s like, if I remember…

Instant powdered milk is made by making the tiny particles clump together to make a little bigger granules. There’s air between the particles, which allows water to better penetrate when you're reconstituting it. The air also makes the powder less dense. That’s why you’ll sometimes see recipes that specify which kind to use- ‘non-instant powdered milk’ or ‘instant powdered milk’. It takes a larger scoop of instant powdered milk to be equal to a smaller scoop of the regular.  (Of course, you can go by weight measurement and get it right every time!)
 
One pound of either instant or regular nonfat milk powder will make about one gallon of milk.

Your week 16 assignment:  Buy for Three.

Two houses, four wards, and almost ten years ago, a friend and I were on a quest to find two things--
the perfect pancake recipe,
and a perfectly adaptable muffin recipe. 

We measured, stirred, cooked, talked, shared and compared.  (I still think the ‘Foolproof Pancake’ recipe is tops.)  And after all that, Laura compiled what I learned about muffins with what she learned about muffins, and the “Anything Goes” Muffin recipe is the result. 

It’s a basic recipe that you can customize- whether sweet or savory, it will make good muffins.  Lemon-blueberry, bacon-cheese mufins, spiced applesauce muffins, oatmeal cinnamon muffins, chocolate raspberry or chocolate banana muffins, and much more.  Do you have a couple overripe bananas sitting on your counter?  This will help you use them up. How about a wrinkly apple that has gone mealy?  It will be delicious chopped or shredded into muffins.
After you've used this recipe-- or formula-- a few times, you'll get to where you don't even need the recipe to make any kind of muffin you can think of.

What will you make with this recipe? 

Or, what did you make?

Week 6 assignment-- Going off your  Inventory Shopping List and this week’s sales, buy the 3 months’ worth of as many different items as you can (= Buy For 3) as your new budget allows.    You'll do this through Week 21.
_______________

A big part of food management at home is reducing waste.  There are many ways to do this. 

Serve only what you’ll eat.  Refrigerate, freeze, or re-purpose leftovers. Or share with a neighbor.  A friend of mine regularly fixes a plate of leftovers immediately after dinner, and takes it across the street to an elderly widow.

You can use a lot of your food prep trim - lemon peels can be used to flavor things, clean kitchen disposals, make homemade lemon extract and lemon sugar. Shriveled lemons, orange, grapefruit, or limes are good for making marmalade. Tops and bottoms of celery can be frozen and saved to make broth or to add flavor when you cook dry beans. Broccoli stems can be trimmed and cooked along with florets, or chopped and added to salad for a nutritious crunch.  Things you can't re-purpose or eat can be fed to chickens, and many can be added to the compost pile.

If you wonder how much improvement you could make-- and how much money you could save on food!-- remember this:
“What’s measured gets managed.”

For one week, notice, measure, and take notes on what gets thrown out. 
 Aramark, a food service contractor, began doing this, and has reduced their food waste by nearly half (44%). For them, that was 479 tons of food saved from being sent to landfills. 

This is an interesting article on what some restaurants have done to reduce waste. Most of what they've tried works in homes, also.

You may have heard that in the US we waste 40% of our food-- 63 million tons of it per WEEK. But do you know where that waste is happening?

The largest share of it (43%) is happening in our homes-- 27.1 million tons of it per year. That's about 51 ounces per person, per week, or 3.17 pounds. If my family was average, that would mean the 8 of us currently at home would be throwing out 25 pounds of food every week. Shocking!
​
That would count food trimmings when I'm cooking, vegetables and fruits that went bad before getting used, whatever is wasted on a plate, leftovers that didn't get eaten in time, and anything that got burned too badly to eat. :)

We waste much less than average, though, and truthfully throw out very little. We belong to the "Clean Your Plate Club" that my grandma and mom talked about; all but the tiniest kids have learned to only serve up what they are willing to eat. We serve the 2- and 4-year-olds their food, and only in small amounts. If they want more, they get it after the other food on their plate is gone. Usable trimmings get saved for soup or broth. Unusable ones go to the chickens. Produce that went bad gets washed and trimmed; any good parts are used, bad parts go to the chickens. (We call these, "chicken treats"!) Bananas and apples that are getting mushy get put in smoothies or in baked goods. We understand what "expiration" dates mean on food, and so use our senses of smell, sight, and taste to know if they're still fine. (And they ARE, for much, much past those dates.)   When I miss a container of leftovers in the back of the fridge and find it after a week, that goes to the chickens too. Somehow we had THREE gallons of milk go sour this week, so they were turned into quick cheese; the whey went in muffins and bread. 

Let’s look at how to reduce waste with one item- MILK.

What can you do when milk goes sour?  This applies whether it happens before the ‘sell by’ date or after. Why does milk go sour? Does that mean it will make you sick?


Milk is high in lactose, which is the natural sugar found in milk.  When bacteria are introduced to the milk, they eat the sugars and convert them into lactic acid (=fermentation).   This means the milk has less sweetness, and more sourness.   This is the process used and controlled when making yogurt, cultured buttermilk, cottage cheese, and more.  

Some bacteria can make you sick, others are perfectly safe.  Because you don’t know which bacteria made your milk go sour, using uncooked sour milk has a possibility of making you sick.  Cooking with it, however, kills the bacteria, and is therefore safe.

Ways to use sour milk
 
-use it in place of buttermilk in pancakes, biscuits, chocolate cake, cornbread, wheat   bread, or any other recipe. 
-freeze it for using in recipes next time.
-pour a cup around your garden plants- it’s good fertilizer!  Milk is used to help grow     giant pumpkins, and helps prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes.  
- feed to chickens, pigs, or dogs (boil it first if you’re concerned for your dogs)
- make CHEESE! 

That’s right, you can take sour milk and turn it into cheese.  The fastest, easiest ones to make are cottage cheese and Queso Fresco, a mild fresh cheese. The method for both is the same until after the cheese curds are drained.

One gallon of milk will make about one pound of cheese.
 

Cheese from Sour Milk
You will need:

Sour milk
Salt
Vinegar or lemon juice—maybe.
 
Spray the inside bottom of a heavy saucepan with nonstick cooking spray.  Heat over low for about a minute to form a coating-- this helps the milk proteins NOT stick to the bottom of your pan.(You can skip the spray and still be fine.  Just stir more.)  Add your sour milk, and heat over medium-high until the milk starts to steam, stirring often.  If your milk is sour enough, it will start to curdle-- separating into curds and whey.  (Remember "Little Miss Muffet"?  Curds are the white clumps, whey is the yellowish liquid left behind.)  If your milk isn’t separating on its own, add up to ¼ c. of vinegar or lemon juice, a few DRIPS at a time, stirring after each addition.  The milk will immediately start to curdle.  Remove from heat and let it rest for one minute. 

Put a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and pour the curds and whey into the sieve.  Move the sieve to the sink, and rinse with hot water to get the acid out.  Rinse with cold water for about a minute, until no more whey is in it.  Add salt, ½ tsp. per cup of curds.

Cottage Cheese-
For each cup of curds, stir in 2-4 Tbsp. of yogurt or sour cream.  Cover and refrigerate.  This works great in recipes like lasagna.  I can make a batch of cottage cheese (using dry milk powder) faster than I can drive to the store and purchase it. (That’s saying something; the store is about a mile away.)
 
Queso Fresco-
After draining, rinsing, and salting the curds, put them in a couple layers of cheesecloth or on a flat (non-terrycloth!) dish towel.  Twist the top of the fabric closed, and tightly squeeze the cheese over the sink.  More liquid will come out.  Attach the twisted part of the towel (your ‘bag’) to a cupboard handle, and set a bowl under it to catch any more drips.  Let hang overnight.

If you want a nice flat, round shape, instead of hanging the bag, set it inside something round—a clean, empty 29 oz peach can, a food storage container, or whatever you have.  Set something on top of the cheese, and put something heavy on top of it to press it down.  Let that sit overnight. 
In the morning, wrap and refrigerate the cheese.  Use within a week or two; this one doesn’t have a long shelf life.  Here are ways to use it. https://www.thekitchn.com/queso-fresco-the-cheesemonger-91408
 
 ---------------------------------------
Now you have leftover whey - a yellowish, clear liquid that contains protein, carbs, calcium, phosphorus, and several B vitamins.
 
The resulting whey in this recipe is ‘acid whey’ (versus ‘sweet whey’) because it is a little acidic.  How to use it?  Very much as you would sour milk or buttermilk.  Use in most recipes that call for water or milk.  Use it as a tenderizing marinade for meat; add flavors and spices as you like.  Use it to make whey lemonade, feed it to animals (chickens love it!), or as a last resort, pour in your compost bin.  It’s also reportedly used as a great hair rinse, but I haven’t tried it yet.

What else have you done with sour milk, or with whey?

Your assignment this week is to look through the grocery ad for things on your inventory list that you need. With the budgeted amount of money you have (ballpark figure is $14 per week, per person) buy your three months' worth of however much you can on your list.

Do you like to use instant oatmeal?  You can save money (and know exactly what you're eating) by making your own. It's so quick and handy to have it all made up!
 
Homemade Instant Oatmeal 
4 cups quick oats (oatmeal), gluten-free if you need them
1-3 tsp. cinnamon
½ - 2/3 cup brown sugar*
½ - 1 tsp. salt
optional: 1/2 cup dry milk powder
optional: 1 c. chopped dried fruit or toasted nuts

Put 1 ½ c. of the oats in a blender; blend on high until almost powdery.  Dump this into a medium-sized mixing bowl; stir in cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and milk powder and fruit/nuts if you’re using them.
 
After making it for the first time, see if it needs adjusted for your family’s tastes-- take 1/4 c. of this mix, combine in a bowl with ½ cup water, and microwave for 60 seconds. Taste it.
Is it great? Does it need more cinnamon? Sugar? Salt?  Add as needed, then cook another bowlful to see.  Take notes so you don’t have to do this next time.  😊 
 
Store in a canister, a quart-sized ziptop bag, or pre-portioned into snack-sized ziptop bags.
This batch can easily be doubled or tripled.
 
You can pre-portion these into snack-size baggies (then reuse baggies!), or just keep a measuring cup in the canister or bag. If you want individual servings measured out ahead of time, place either 1/2 c. or 1/3 c. mix in each baggie.

TO USE:
One large serving:  use ½ c. mix and 1 c. water.  Microwave 90 seconds; let stand. 
One small serving: use 1/3 c. mix and 2/3 c. water.  Microwave 60 seconds; let stand.
For four large servings (or 6-8 small ones), use four cups boiling water and add 2 to 2 ½  cups oatmeal mix.
Adjust water and/or mix to make it as thin or thick as you like.  

    
* For children who aren't yet accustomed to sugary oatmeal, use 1/2 cup brown sugar.  For those sugar-addicted husbands, you may need to add more. Regular sugar, evaporated cane juice, or an appropriate amount of stevia may be used. 
If your brown sugar is lumpy, it can be added to the blender with the 1 ½ c. of oats and blended with them.
 
Here are some flavor combinations; the sky's the limit!

Apple Cinnamon- Use the higher amount of cinnamon; you might even go up to 1 ½ to 2 Tbsp. Stir in 1 c. chopped dried apples.

Apricot Almond- Add 1 tsp. almond extract to the oats being blended.  At the end, stir in ½ c. finely chopped dried apricots and ½ c. chopped toasted almonds.

Banana Maple- Add ½ tsp. maple extract and ½ to 1 c. banana chips to the oats when they’re blended.

Chai Spice- Use 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ginger, ½ tsp. cardamom, and ¼ tsp. cloves. (If you like, you can also add ¼ tsp. ground black pepper and ½ tsp. allspice.)  For Vanilla Chai, add 1 Tbsp. vanilla to the oats when they're blended, or use vanilla powder.
 
Date Nut- Use the higher amount of cinnamon. At the end, stir in ½ c. finely chopped dates and ½ c. toasted chopped walnuts or other nut.  TIP- if you chop the dates and the nuts together, the dates won’t stick to your knife as badly.
 
Dinosaur- Use the higher amount of cinnamon. Stir in ¼ c. dinosaur-shaped sprinkles.
 
Maple Brown Sugar- Add ½ tsp. maple extract to the oats being blended. Use the higher amount of brown sugar (dark brown if you have it), and the lower amount of cinnamon.

Pumpkin Spice- Use 2 tsp. cinnamon, plus 2 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/2 to 1 c. pumpkin powder. Best if you also use the 1/2 c. dry milk powder.

Raisin, Apple & Walnut- Use the higher amount of cinnamon.  At the very end, stir in ½ c. chopped raisins, ½ c. chopped dried apple, and ½ c. chopped toasted walnuts.

Strawberries and Cream- Use either ½ c. dry milk powder, or ½ c. powdered creamer. Stir in 1 c. chopped dried or freeze-dried strawberries. You can also make Raspberries and Cream, Blueberries and Cream, or Peaches and Cream this way.
 
Very Berry- Add 1 tsp. vanilla to the oats being blended. Use the lower amount of cinnamon.  Omit brown sugar, and use 1 c. of the berry drink mix from the Home Storage Center. Stir in 1 c. chopped dried cranberries or other dried berry.

Bonus- this fudge can be made dairy-free and still have that creamy, melt-in-your mouth texture!

This week in Joyschool I taught the kids about the process of making chocolate.  I had a library book that had pictures of each step, from cacao tree to wrapped chocolate bars, and I brought hands-on things, as well.  They got to see, smell, and taste bits of roasted cocoa beans (didn't like them!- it's like eating unsweetened chocolate but crunchier.), see and smell cocoa powder, see, smell, and have cocoa butter rubbed into their skin, we melted and molded chocolates (cute little Easter shapes)... and then made this baggie fudge.  If you're making it yourself or have careful children, a single bag is fine, but for this group that includes a few 3-year-old boys, I double-bagged it. :)  This could be a fun Family Home Evening activity AND treat. 
Our batch was made using the coconut oil and coconut cream, since 3 of the kids can't have dairy.

I had brought walnuts in the shell to use in the fudge, but the kids had so much fun cracking the nuts first and eating the bits inside that they were all gone before the fudge was ready.  It's good fudge either way!

Baggie Fudge
1/2 c. coconut oil or butter, softened or melted
1/2 c.  cocoa powder
1/3 c. coconut cream, OR 1/4 c. water and  1/2 c. nonfat dry milk powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla 
1 lb. powdered sugar (about 4 cups unsifted)
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Put the ingredients in a gallon-sized ziptop bag.  Put this bag inside another bag if  it seems like a good idea.  Squish, knead, or pound the bag until everything is well mixed.  (Giving the kids 30 -second turns seemed to work the best- and gave them practice counting.)  

Once it's mixed, squish the mixture into a rectangular shape near the top, making the rectangle about an inch narrower on each side than the bag.  Put the bag on a cutting board or similar surface.  Cut down one side of the bag and across the bottom with scissors. Cut fudge into squares, or use small cookie cutters to make cute shapes.  Makes about 1 1/2 pounds.

If fudge is a little too soft, let it chill in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to firm up.

I've been neighbors with a few Brazilians; they have been warm, kind people who have a strong affinity for desserts made with cooked sweetened condensed milk, or 'dulce de leche'.  There's a plum-caramel filling for cakes, another cake filling made with crushed pineapple and the caramel, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  

One Christmas my Brazilian neighbor Celia brought over a plate of these creamy, sugar-coated dulce de leche balls.  When I next saw her, I asked for the recipe and what they were called.  She shrugged her shoulders, then said, "little bears, I guess".  This is a simplified version of hers, which contained strained egg yolks and 'crema media' (half-and-half), but the results are just as delicious.  Best of all, these are cooked and ready to shape within ten minutes of starting!

Ositos
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
unsweetened cocoa powder
about 1/2 cup sugar, for rolling


Pour the sweetened condensed milk in an ungreased, very large microwave-safe bowl.  Cover the top with plastic wrap  to help avoid boilovers: this boils much higher than you would expect!, Microwave it for 2 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave for 2 more minutes.  Stir, scraping sides down.  Repeat in 2-minute intervals for a total of either 6 or 8 minutes, stirring every two minutes.  It should thicken and darken some. To see if it has cooked enough, drop a little in a cupful of icy water, then pull out after about five seconds.  However hard it gets is how hard it will be when completely cool.  It needs to be able to hold its shape.  Put the sugar in a cereal bowl and set aside.

With buttered hands, pinch off a bit and roll in a ball, about 3/4" across.To get the brown side, drop into unsweetened cocoa powder, then pick it up and drop it  into the sugar.  After you have a few in there, roll or toss to coat, then set on another dish.

Makes 30-36 balls, about 3/4" each.

Yogurt Cheese

This is 'strained yogurt', the same thing as authentic Greek yogurt;  use it like cream cheese in recipes, or eat it with a little jam or fruit.   Add a bit of salt if subbing this for cream cheese.  
Since the whey- which contains the lactose, or milk sugar- is drained off, you end up with a product that has twice as much protein and quite a bit less milk sugar.

All you do is pour plain yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined colander, set it over a bowl overnight, and check on it in the morning.  You can either leave it on the counter or do this in the fridge. The longer it drains, the thicker it gets.  It works best with homemade, unthickened yogurt, since added thickeners make it hard for the whey to separate away from the solids.  If you don't have cheesecloth, use something else that liquid can drain through but the solids won't, like the superstrong paper towels, or a clean flat-woven dish towel.
16 ounces of plain yogurt will yield about 8 ounces each of yogurt cheese and whey.  You can substitute whey in place of buttermilk in recipes.  I use it for part of the liquid when making bread.

Sweetened Condensed Milk- use it to make my favorite, Two-Minute Fudge recipe.  For the closest version to a 14-oz can, use

1/2 c. powdered milk*
1/2 c. water
1 c.  sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, optional
To read more about making it or how to use it, see here.
If you happen to need it, here's a recipe for dairy-free sweetened condensed milk 

*If you happen to have some old food storage powdered milk, and it's labeled 'instant,' check to see if the milk has larger particles.  If they're more the size of coarse sand, it's fluffier and you're need to increase the powdered milk in this recipe to about 3/4 cup.

Easy No-Bake Cheesecake  

Another great way to use sweetened condensed milk!

Actually, some of the newer "instant" powdered milks taste pretty good.  However, the non-instant dry powdered milk is generally less expensive.  It's just not so great for drinking straight.  There's more on that in the printable.

The first couple recipes are below and the next blog post will have the others.  You can get all of them without waiting, plus some extra stuff, in a two-page printable format right here.  For even more great powdered milk recipes, download the Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook or the Wooden Spoon class booklet (see here for corrections & notes for the Wooden Spoon booklet.)

Lasagne using powdered milk?  You bet!  You can make homemade cottage cheese in 5-10 minutes.  There's even a recipe for a mock mozzarella that melts beautifully, in the Bee Prepared book.

All cost estimates are based on paying $1.89/lb for powdered milk, which is the 2013 price at the LDS Church's 'Family Home Storage Center'.

Homemade Cottage Cheese- makes about 16 oz., $ 1.00/batch

4 c. hot water                                                                          6 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 ½  c. non-instant dry milk powder                                           ½   tsp. salt, to taste

            Stir together water and powdered milk in a saucepan, heat until it starts to steam, stirring.  Drip vinegar around the edge of the pan and gently stir; it will immediately start to separate into curds and whey.  If it doesn’t, heat it up some more.  Let rest one minute.  Pour into a cheesecloth-lined colander over a bowl. Save whey, then rinse with hot water, then with cold water and break apart into the size curds you want.  Rinse for one minute or until all the whey is out. Add salt. To make it creamy, add 4-6 Tbsp. sour cream, yogurt, evaporated milk, or cream.

  The whey may be used in place of liquid (milk or water) in baking.  It has vitamins, minerals, some protein, no fat, and some milk sugar (lactose- very low on the glycemic scale.)  Since it has the acidity of the vinegar in it, you can add a little baking soda to neutralize and get extra leavening power- use 1 tsp. baking soda per 2-3 cups of acid whey; reduce any baking powder by three times the amount:  if using 1 tsp. baking soda, the baking powder is reduced by 3 tsp.

Yogurt – makes 2 quarts of plain yogurt at $ .57 per quart if using your own starter
1 ¾ c. regular nonfat dry milk, or 3 c. instant                         7 c. hot water (not over 120 degrees)
1/3 c. plain yogurt, with active cultures

Combine dry milk and 4 cups of the water.  Whisk or mix in a blender.  Add yogurt and whisk.  Add remaining water or divide the remaining water evenly between your containers; stir well after adding the milk mixture!  Pour into containers, cover, and incubate in a warm place for 4-8 hours or until set.  Tip a container after 4 hours to see if it has set.  If the yogurt is still liquid, wait 1-2 more hours.  It will set up a little more when chilled.  Store in fridge.  The ideal temperature range for culturing yogurt is 105-120 degrees.  The lower of these temperatures you begin culturing at, the sweeter the yogurt will be.  The higher, the more tart. Above 120 degrees will kill the bacteria you’re trying to grow.  Save 1/3 c. for culturing your next batch.

To flavor your yogurt after it’s made, add fruit, jam, juice concentrate, chocolate milk mix, etc., before eating.

To flavor it before culturing, use 6-8 Tbsp. of sugar per 2-qt batch,  or 4-6 Tbsp. honey (dissolve this in your water first, or it will sink to the bottom), or a 3-oz. box of flavored gelatin, or 1/3-1/2 c. jam, or 1 c. chopped or mashed sweetened fruit. The syrup from canned fruit can be used in place of part of the water.  If it’s not sweet enough, you can always add sugar when it’s done.  1-2 tsp. vanilla added to the batch is also a nice addition.  Make your own combinations- chopped cherries with some vanilla and a little almond extract, blueberries with cream cheese added, toasted coconut with caramel sauce swirled in… let your imagination run wild!

To make firm yogurt that doesn’t become thin after stirring, use 4-6 tsp. unflavored gelatin, or two envelopes, per two-quart batch.  Soften it in part of the recipe’s water, then heat gently on stove, in microwave, or over hot water, until the gelatin melts.  Add along with remaining water.

Most grocery stores start having 'baking sales' right about now.  I usually stock up for the coming year whle these baking ingredients are cheaper.  This year the sweetened condensed milk price hasn't been as low as usual. 

What can you use if you don't have sweetened condensed milk? (If you want one without dairy or table sugar, see here.)

While playing with it in recipes, I've learned a couple things about it.  One 14-ounce can is roughly the same as adding 1 cup of evaporated milk and 1 cup of granulated sugar (more accurate is 7 oz. evaporated milk and 7 oz- which is 1 cup- sugar).  You can also use half-and-half, whipping cream, coconut milk, coconut cream, or powdered milk mixed to double strength.  If you need it to be rich and are using powdered milk, add a couple tablespoons of butter.  Cream of coconut is a pretty good substitute; use the same amount.  Coconut cream is my favorite to use in this when cooking for dairy-sensitive people.  You can find it, and sometimes coconut milk powder (mix to double strength for coconut cream consistency), at Asian markets.    See photo at bottom of post.

Note-- Cream of coconut and coconut cream are NOT the same. Cream of coconut can be found with the drink mixers in any grocery store. It's made of coconut milk, sugar, and stabilizers.  Coconut cream is the thick liquid extracted by crushing or grinding coconut meat. -  I've found that this homemade "sweetened condensed coconut milk" does NOT set up in the no-bake cheesecake recipe.  The homemade stuff made with actual dairy does work.  I suspect it has something to do with dairy curdling- and coconut not- when mixed with citrus juice.

If your recipe is not going to be baked, as when you're making Two-Minute Fudge, stir together the milk and sugar, then bring it to a boil to dissolve the sugar crystals.  If the food you're making will be baked, the sugar will dissolve as the food cooks.

This substitute also works in reverse: when you have a recipe that calls for 1 cup milk/cream/half&half and 1 cup sugar, you can add a can of sweetened condensed milk!

To see how to make delicious thick apple-wedge-dipping caramel, see the instructions for Making Tres Leches Cake.  Just cook the sweetened condensed milk, don't add anything else to it.

Here's a recipe for sweetened condensed milk using powdered milk:

Sweetened Condensed Milk – for the closest version to a 14-oz can, use

1/2 c.  powdered milk*
1/2 c. water
1 c.  sugar
0-2 Tbsp. butter

 If you like to be precise, use 1 1/2 Tbsp. less than 1/2 c. water (this also gives a slightly thicker result, like the can), but the first way is very close (yields 14 3/4 oz)    Other recipes use more -or less- of any of those ingredients.  Really, they all work. That said, the 'closest' version costs $ .39 if you use no butter, and $ .53 if you use 2 Tbsp.  What a deal! One important thing to know- these recipes call for hot or boiling water so the sugar gets completely dissolved. Otherwise you get grainy condensed milk.  I usually put my sugar with the water, then microwave and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Then blend with the milk powder and butter.

For more recipes using powdered milk, see the post from 10/25/10

or the recipes from The Wooden Spoon Cooking School.  For the class handouts for all the Wooden Spoon classes, see my Favorite Resources page.

*If you happen to have some old food storage powdered milk that is labeled 'instant,' check to see if the milk has larger particles.  If they're more the size of coarse sand than of dirt, the powdered milk is 'fluffier' in the measuring cup so you'll need to increase the powdered milk in this recipe to about 3/4 cup.

Merry Christmas!

Here is a simple thing to make with your family- hot chocolate.  There are a few different ways to make it-  you can add chocolate syrup to milk, or you can melt a chocolate bar into milk, or you can make it the old-fashioned way, starting with unsweetened cocoa.  It’s really fast and easy.

May you have a wonderful Christmas, full of the spirit of love and of God.

-Rhonda

Homemade Hot Cocoa

1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. sugar or honey
1 cup milk
Pinch of salt, ¼ tsp. vanilla, optional
 
Stir together the cocoa powder and sugar.  Stir in 2 Tbsp. milk, mix until smooth.  Bring to a boil, either on the stove or in a microwave.  This is to dissolve the sugar and bring out the flavor of the cocoa.   Stir in the remaining milk, the salt, and vanilla.  Heat to the temperature you like. Top with marshmallows or whipped cream if you have them.

This recipe can be sized up to whatever you like.  I usually make a 4-cup batch, using the microwave, and a canning jar for my cooking container.  

This makes a ‘milk chocolate’ flavor.  If you like it darker, use 1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp. cocoa.  If it’s bitter, add the same amount additional sugar.

 For mint chocolate, use whatever form of mint you have- mint extract, peppermint patties, or crushed candy canes.

For raspberry flavor, you can use 1 Tbsp. of raspberry Jello powder instead of the sugar.  Orange is another good flavor to make this way.

If you like richer cocoa, use whole milk, or a bit of cream, evaporated milk,  or half-and-half.   

To make it frothy, use a blender, or an immersion blender, to whip it.  This works especially well if you used powdered milk!
 

The cocoa and sugar, ready to be stirred.

Add as much milk as you have of the sugar and cocoa- in this case, 2 Tbsp.  You want to make a smooth, pancake-batter-consistency slurry.

Bring it to a boil to dissolve the sugar and 'bloom' (bring out the flavor of) the cocoa.  Once it's at this point, add the rest of the milk, along with salt and vanilla if you want them.

If you've never had a Tres Leches cake, you're in for a treat!  It's very moist, with a Dulce de Leche flavor throughout.  It's soaked with a mixture of 'three milks'- whole milk, evaporated milk, and cream, normally.  I tend to use whatever's on hand, though.  If you don't have cream, replace with an equal amount of evaporated milk.  You can even whip evaporated milk, if it's very cold.  30 minutes in the freezer usually does the trick.

This is how you get the Dulce de Leche flavor- caramelize a can of sweetened condensed milk.  It takes two hours if you let the unopened can boil, ALWAYS completely covered by water (or it could explode). Or if you open up the can and pour it in a bowl,  it takes 7-15 minutes in the microwave.  It really boils up, though, so use the biggest microwave-safe bowl you own!  And cover it with plastic wrap.  The condensed milk on the left is caramelized; the condensed milk on the right is what it looks like beforehand.

The baked cake, a sturdy hot-milk sponge cake.  Let it cool for ten minutes, then poke holes all over, using a skewer or similar.  (My 'skewer' is the bottom of an instant-read thermometer.)

While the cake is still hot, but the 'milks' mixture is cool-ish, pour all over the cake.  It will start soaking in.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, to let the liquid totally soak in and start to set up a bit.

You know how food blogs make it look like everything is always perfect?


Well... 
 a doubled recipe + the same size bowl = scrubbing!

For an easy-to print version, click on one of these, below.
Tres Leches Cake recipe, or Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free version here.

To get the milk mixture to soak in properly, the cake should be hot and the milks room temperature: make the milk  mixture first so it can cool during cake baking time. This was modified from the Cook’s Country recipe.  I live at 3500 ft. elevation, and their version kept falling in the center.  If you live around sea level, you might need to increase the sugar back up to 2 cups, and the baking powder to 2 tsp.  

Tres Leches cake

Milk Mixture:
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (or use the powdered-milk version)
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1 c. heavy cream (sometimes I just add 1 c. more evap. milk instead)
1 tsp. vanilla
           Caramelize the sweetened condensed milk by either boiling the can (covered at ALL TIMES by water) for two hours OR in the microwave:  pour into a large microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 7-15 minutes, until slightly darkened and thickened.  Stir every couple minutes, especially at the end.  This takes 7 ½ minutes in my microwave.  If it looks a little burned, it’s still OK.  Stir in about half of  the evaporated milk, then set aside 3 Tbsp. for the top of the cake. Whisk in the remaining evaporated milk, cream, and  vanilla.  Set aside.

Cake:
½ c. unsalted butter (if using regular butter, reduce salt by ¼ tsp.)
1 c. milk
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 ¾ c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon, optional (I prefer the cake without)
           Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat together the butter and milk until the butter melts; set aside.  Beat the eggs for about 30 seconds, then slowly add the sugar while beating.  Beat on med-high for 5-7 minutes, until they become very thick and glossy.  Mix in vanilla and hot milk/butter.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt  (I dump them on in that order, then mix them with my fingers a bit before beating them into the batter.)  Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until cake tests done with a toothpick.  Let sit on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.  Poke holes every half inch all over the cake with a skewer; pour milk mixture over top.  Let sit for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 24.  Frost right before serving.

Frosting:
1 c. whipping cream
3 Tbsp. reserved cooked sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
           Beat all together until whipped and thick enough to spread.

(originally from 7/29/10)
At the beginning of the year we had the ‘three month challenge’.  Where are you now in your home storage program?  Which step are you ready for?  I know some of you are done with all of them, congratulations!  The more self-reliant you are, the more of service you can be.  Here’s the four-step program the Church has published.

1. Gradually build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet until it is sufficient for three months.

2. Store drinking water.

3. Establish a financial reserve by setting aside a little money each week, and gradually increase it to a reasonable amount.

4. Once families have achieved the first three objectives, they are counseled to expand their efforts, as circumstances allow, into a supply of long-term basic foods such as grains, legumes, and other staples.

Of the new guidelines, Presiding Bishop H. David Burton says, “Our objective was to establish a simple, inexpensive, and achievable program that would help people become self-reliant. We are confident that by introducing these few, simple steps we can, over time, have more success.”  

I know that following this will bless you and your family temporally, spiritually, and physically.  For more information, see “Family Home Storage: a new message”, March 2009 Ensign, or the “All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage” pamphlet. 

* * * * * * *
Need something to keep your kids entertained?  There’s nothing more fun than watching paint dry….   Well, maybe not actually watching it dry, just looking at the crystals after the paint HAS dried (see Crystal Paint, below.)   The following paints were found at http://bluebonnetvillage.com/recipes.htm    They have other ‘kid craft’ recipes as well, including several versions of ‘play-dough’ , edible dough, finger paints, poster paints, …..

 

Monet’s Water Color Paints

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon glycerine
food coloring

Do like the famous impressionist painters did and bring your watercolors outside to paint.
To make your own watercolors, first mix vinegar and baking soda.
Next slowly add cornstarch and glycerine to the mixture. Pour into small paper cups to let dry.
Add food coloring. The color is not as intense when it is dry so remember to add a lot of food coloring.
When dry peel away the paper cups.

Shiny, Glossy and Shimmery Paints

Moooo Paint 
1 cup condensed milk (or make your own with powdered milk)
Food coloring

Mix one cup condensed milk with a few drops of food coloring. This makes a very bright, glossy colored paint, great for fingerpainting.

Egg Yolk Paint
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp. water
Food coloring

Mix egg yolk with water and lots of food coloring. Use a paint brush to paint on baked cookies. Return cookies to oven until egg has solidified.


Non-edible paints:

Artist Quality "Oil" Paint 
Tempera paint
Liquid dish washing soap

This paint has a smooth, glossy effect and holds color well. Mix together tempera paint and soap. Store in glass jars.


Crystal Paint
1/4 cup hot tap water
3 teaspoon epsom salts

Sparkle and Shine! Mix hot tap water and epsom salts. Brush the mixture onto a dark colored paper. When dry the salt will form crystals that shine in the light.  Photos are at http://unplugyourkids.com/2008/10/05/salt-crystal-paint/

Once the dough is mixed, if you use a greased/sprayed 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the dough, you'll get a more traditionally-shaped biscuit.

Yum.  Tender and light on the inside, crunchy on the outside.  This batch was made with 1 cup whole wheat flour.

How much will your year’s supply cost you?  I just got an emergency supply store’s catalog in the mail; they advertised a year’s supply of food for ‘just’ $3649.95.  For one person.  Is it really that much money to get a year’s supply?

Adding up all the essentials, a month’s worth of food for one person is $16.23

                            A year’s worth for one person is  $194.76

Figure in that you’re getting your year’s supply after building your three-month supply; that knocks it down to getting nine months’worth;

                                                            $146.07 per adult.   

You CAN afford to get your home storage! 

If you really want to spend $3649.95 plus tax, you could buy a year’s supply for not just one person, but for NINETEEN people.  Yes, basic storage is different food than that ‘gourmet’ version, but here’s the counsel we’ve been given:          "We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.” “For longer-term needs….gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time  and that you can use to stay alive” (fromAll is Safely Gathered In, First Presidency pamphlet)

Here is the cost breakdown:

Grains, 300 lbs- if you get just wheat and oats, at the cannery they cost between $5.80 and $8.15 for 25 lbs. depending on if you get white or red wheat, quick or regular oats.  If you average this out, it will cost you $6.98 per person, per month.  $83.70 per year’s worth.

Milk, 16 lbs is $1.40/lb at the cannery, which is $1.87 per month, $22.40 per year.

Sugar, 60 lbs is $ .56/lb there, $2.80 per month, $33.60 per year.

Oil, 10 qts –this isn’t sold at the cannery, but the price at Macey’s last week was $2.50 for 1 ½ quarts (48 oz.) At that price, after tax, it’s $1.43 per month, $17.17 per year.  It’s only $14.38 if you buy it at Sam’s Club ($6.98 + tax for 5 qts.)

Salt, 8 lbs- 4# box at Costco or Sam’s Club is a dollar; $ .16 per month, $2 per year.

Legumes, 60 lbs– the cannery sells black beans, pinto, and white, from $14.10 to $16.30 for 25 lbs.  Averaging the prices, it’s  $2.99 a month, $35.92 per year.

Water, 14/gal/person-   You can store this for free by using 2- and 3- liter pop bottles, or juice containers (not milk jugs- they break down).  Or use the 5-gallons square jugs or big blue barrels; they’ll run you about $1 per gallon of storage. 

When you’re done storing these items, you might decide to add a few ‘gourmet’ items- but that’s just extra stuff.

Notice that the costs were just for food, not containers to store them in. Most of my storage containers cost nothing.   You CAN get buckets for free, with a little effort- most bakeries give them away; all their frostings and fillings come in those buckets.  Plan on washing them at home.  There are two main sizes; 5 gallon and 2 1/2  gallon.  I keep packages of dried fruit in the smaller buckets, also cornmeal or other things that I don’t use as much.  They are a great size for a pantry, too.  Some of the buckets have gaskets, some don’t.  The ones that don’t seal well are still good for storing sugar. 

If you want all your wheat, powdered milk, sugar, and legumes in #10 cans from the cannery, it will cost you $85.83 more to get a full year’s worth, $65 to do 9 months' worth.

Here’s the year’s worth breakdown and quantities:    51 cans of wheat $137.80, 11 cans of beans $48.95, 10 cans of sugar $46.50, 4 cans of powdered milk $28.20.

 I don’t can my wheat, sugar, or beans because we go through large quantities; one batch of bread would use a whole can.  Pretty silly storage for me.  Besides, it’s easier for me to find space for 10 buckets than 60 #10 cans; they hold about  the same amount of food.

 

Best Drop Biscuits
 adapted from Cooks Country
Makes 12

 1 cube butter, melted and cooled a few minutes- set aside 1 Tbsp. of this.
1 cup cold buttermilk or sour milk  (1-2 Tbsp. vinegar in 1 cup regular milk)
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½  tsp. salt  (3/4 tsp. if you used unsalted butter)
1 tsp. sugar

 Heat oven to 475 degrees, no, that’s not a typo.  Mix together the butter (except reserved) and buttermilk; stir until the butter forms clumps.  (This is a faster way of getting the same results as ‘cutting in’ the butter.)  Mix all the dry ingredients together, then pour in buttermilk mixture.  Stir until just mixed in and dough pulls from side of bowl.   Drop onto  greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.  A greased  ¼ c. measuring cup makes the perfect size scoop.    Brush with reserved butter.  Bake until tops are crisp and golden, about 12-14 minutes.    Serve warm.  These also reheat well the next day (10 minutes at 300 degrees) and freeze well, too.

You can use powdered milk in this: mix in 3 Tbsp dry milk powder when you’re stirring together the dry ingredients.  Use ice water  and 1-2 Tbsp. vinegar to make 1 cup, stir with the melted butter.

 

Powdered Milk from the Home Storage Center, $1.40/lb.  The bowl holds yogurt.  You can make plain yogurt as cheap as $ .42/quart, or $ .10/serving.