Marti’s Corner – 28

Hi Everyone,

Time for a disclaimer again.  I am NOT an expert.  I do NOT have any kind of degree in agriculture, nutrition, or food storage LOL.  BUT, I have a lot of experience that I’m happy to share.  Each day in the garden is a big experiment for me as I battle insects and diseases.  Each time I cook with my food storage or try different recipes, I’m adding to my reserve of knowledge.  Over the past few years, I’ve learned to maintain a sourdough starter, sprout alfalfa seeds, and use herbs for medicine.  I’ve felt prompted to do all this and have just tried to follow those promptings.  There is always something to learn.

NOTES:

• I have had people ask me about storing food in plastic bottles.  Here is a great article that answers EVERY question.  What kind of bottles work best?  What kind of bottles should you NOT use?  How long can you store in plastic bottles?  Packaging Dry Foods in Plastic Bottles for Long Term Food Storage – The Provident Prepper
• I actually went to their home page:   the provident prepper.org, and found a lot of really good information.
• We’re into July hot and heavy.  Here’s what you can do in your garden:  Summer Gardening: July Garden Checklist Zones 9-10 | Kellogg Garden Organics™
• Confession:  I have never made homemade tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes.  However, now I have 2 gallon-sized bags of orange grape tomatoes and I don’t know what to do with them.  THEN, I found this video.  I’m anxious to try it.  I have fresh basil in the garden, so I’ll add that as well and let you know how it turns out.  The FASTEST Tomato Sauce Recipe – YouTube
• Gardening Tip from USU Extension.  He talks about the heat, about blossom end rot in tomatoes, and zucchini.  (874) July Gardening Tips & Checklist – YouTube
• I’ve finally decided to make some earwig traps. I did this:   Daves Earwig Trap – YouTube.  I set them out late one night and checked them in the morning by dropping them in a bowl of water.  Nada.  Upon closer inspection, I found little tiny green worms.  Yeah.  Time for Captain Jack’s spray.
• Tally Hansen let me borrow a food storage recipe book.  I liked it so much, I ordered one for myself.  It has a lot of good recipes – especially for wheat.  In addition to just cooking the wheat, it tells you how to substitute wheat in all kinds of dishes, how to use sprouted wheat, how to make wheat crackers, and wheat treats with a honey glaze.  I just couldn’t begin to copy the recipes I liked so I just bought it.  Simple Recipes Using Food Storage: Lyndsee Simpson Cordes, Lyndsee Simpson Cordes. In addition, there are recipes for using ALL your food storage items.

LONG TERM STORAGE: Garlic

I stopped mincing garlic a long time ago.  I use the minced garlic in the jars in the produce section.  As long as you’re storing onions, get several jars of garlic.  My daughter has that BIG jar.  I don’t have room in my fridge for that, so I just store lots of little jars.   Think about how much you use.  I go through about a jar a month.  Store accordingly. 

SHORT TERM STORAGE: Chocolate

Are you thinking you’d like some comfort food made with chocolate when things go south?  Then you’ll want to store some cocoa.  Unfortunately, chocolate in any form does not last 30 years, so you’ll have to make it part of your pantry that gets rotated.

You’re Storing Your Chocolate Wrong: From Cocoa Powder to Bar — Here’s What You Need to Know | Kitchn  The bottom line is that as far as the cocoa powder is concerned unless it smells bad or has mold, it’s safe.  Try to get it rotated within 3-5 years.  Winco has cocoa in their bulk section.  I filled up 2-quart jars with cocoa.  That should last me a few months anyway.  LOL

72-HOUR KIT FOCUS: Knives

Remember last week when we talked about knives?  This video shows you 10 skills in 10 minutes that you need a knife for.  10 Bushcraft Knife Skills in 10 Minutes – YouTube

Okay, this is NOT about knives.  But I just saw this in my inbox and had to share.  Disclaimer – I have NOT seen it yet.  But it looks like JUST the kind of thing I need. Be Ready Utah PrepCast Episode 22: Cooking without Utilities, Segment 5 Solar Cooking – YouTube

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Here are some of my best cocoa recipes

Hot Fudge Sauce
It’s really good! This fills a pint jar to the brim.

2 TB unsalted butter  (If you only have salted butter, omit the salt below)
2/3 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/4 c. dark brown sugar (pretty sure I used light brown sugar)
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
Simmer all these ingredients for 3-5 minutes until smooth.  Remove from heat.
1 c. (about 1/2 package) of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Add in and stir to melt
1/2 tsp vanilla – Add last

My Chocolate Cake

(I call it mine because I actually tweaked the ingredients a little from the original)

3/4 c. butter
2 c. sugar – Cream butter and sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Add and beat 1 minute

In a separate bowl mix:
2 c. flour
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Add this to the batter alternately with
3/4 c. buttermilk and
3/4 c. water

Start and end with the flour

For a 13 X 9 pan, grease and flour

Bake 35-40 min.

I ALWAYS use cream cheese frosting on this cake
1 stick butter softened
1 8-oz package of cream cheese softened
About 1 tsp vanilla

Then add powdered sugar until you have the consistency you want ) at least a pound.

Texas Sheet Cake

This is known by a variety of names.  I like it because you cook it on a cookie sheet – a jelly roll pan with sides?? Not sure what you call it.

2 cubes butter
1/2 c. shortening
4 TB cocoa
1 c. water

   I mix this in a pan and cook over low heat until everything melts and mixes.

In the bowl I put:
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
Then I add the melted butter and cocoa to the flour and mix well.
1/2 c. buttermilk  Add this first, so it will cook the mix and not cook the eggs when you add them.
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  

As soon as you put it in the oven, get to work on the frosting.  I use the same pan that I melted the butter in before.
1 stick butter
4 TB cocoa
6 TB milk
Melt this together. Again, add powdered sugar until it is thick.
I like adding chopped walnuts to my frosting, but I usually only add them to 1/2 of the frosting just in case there are those who can’t have nuts.
Remember that the frosting will melt when you put it on the hot cake, so you want it pretty thick.

As SOON as the cake comes out of the oven, put little plops of frosting all over the cake.  They will begin to melt and then you can spread it around.  When everything cools, it will taste like a thin cake with fudge on top.  AND, it feeds A LOT of people.  You can go here:  Hershey’s Dessert Recipes | Hersheyland and find about 75 pages of desserts made with Hershey chocolate.

Alright, everyone… Carry on.  Three months food, some long-term storage things, alternate cooking sources, first aid kit.  You can do it!!!

Marti