Sprout Burgers

This is a yummy recipe, which you will want to make all of the time! So, you'll need to have sprouts on hand from the health food store, or start sprouting your own.

First, you need to begin with 3 cups of sprouts. Use sturdy sprouts such as lentils, adzuki, mung, sunflower, garbanzo, etc. If you have alfalfa or broccoli sprouts, save those for garnishing the sandwich.

Assemble your ingredients:

3 c. sprouts
2 eggs
1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
1/4 c. milk
2-3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the flour, eggs, and milk in a bowl. I just now noticed that I forgot one egg and my "batter" was a little thick...it still turned out just fine.

After measuring the sprouts, chop them using a chopping knife or put them into a food processor. You don't want a puree, but rather a fine chopped product.

Mix the sprouts into the batter until the ingredients are well blended.

Drop large spoonfuls onto a heated griddle. I put a little olive oil on first, then heat it up. Cook on each side until browned.

I like to serve these on buns with mayonnaise, tomato slices and broccoli sprouts. Today I toasted up some honey bran whole wheat bread that I baked yesterday. I got the recipe at Foodie Farm Girl; It made for a great Sunday evening meal.

Sprout Burgers
adapted from sprout people

3 c. sprouts
2 eggs
1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
1/4 c. milk
2-3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Mix flour, eggs and milk in a medium-large bowl until ingredients incorporated. Chop sprouts (or use food processor and pulse until medium chop consistency), green onions and mince garlic cloves. Mix all ingredients together. Spoon "batter" onto hot, oiled griddle or frying pan. Fry on each side until golden brown. Serve on bun, garnish with tomato and broccoli or alfalfa sprouts.

Sprouts: second progress report

Happy Thanksgiving! Today, before getting into today's food preparation, I wanted to show how the sprouts are doing. I am going to put them in refrigerator where they will last for about a week (that's if I didn't have plans for them..hahaha!). I am going to let the broccoli sprouts sit in the window uncovered for a few hours to green them up a bit. Below are the broccoli sprouts.

Here is a picture of the lentil sprouts. I could have put these in the refrigerator yesterday before they got leaves. But, they are just fine for the sprout burgers I'll be making tomorrow.

The adzuki bean sprouts are still covered and on the counter. Stay tuned for my yummy sprout burger recipe that I'll post tomorrow.

Sprouts: a progress report

A lot of people have been asking me about sprouting, so I thought I'd share what I know about sprouts. I've been doing sprouts now for many years. They are really great in a salad or on a sandwich. They are so nutritious and very tasty! I have a recipe for a wonderful sprout burger that I'll share with you by the end of the week. But, for now, I just wanted to show you how my sprouts are doing. I soak a couple of tablespoons worth of sprouting seed in a custard cup over night, then pour the seeds into a sprouting tray. I lightly rinse the sprouts a couple of times a day. They need the moisture to continue sprouting.

This first picture is of adzuki bean sprouts. If you click on the picture, so can see the beans just beginning to sprout.

These are lentil sprouts, and they are really starting to take off! The tray that you see just barely on the left is full of broccoli sprouts.

So, make sure you check back often for the continuing daytime drama of how the beans sprouted! They will be on the chopping block soon ......to be continued!

Awesome bread making blog!

I came across a wonderful blog yesterday. I wanted to make some bread using up some of my huge stash of oats. I was pleasantly surprise to find the blog of Farmgirl Fare! Her oatmeal toasting bread is just plain wonderful! I was so pleased that I had all of the ingredients on hand to make this bread in the first place. I do use a Bosch mixer, so I did eliminate the first rising of the dough.

I am going to make her recipe for Honey Bran Whole Wheat Sandwich bread next. I just need to pick up some wheat bran today while I'm out.

Anyway, I had 3 loaves of bread last night, and only have part of one loaf left...yep, it is that good! Don't worry, we didn't stuff ourselves silly......well, one loaf is gone...hmmmmm. I did send a loaf home with my adult sons. This is a nice, dense loaf of bread....no airy stuff here! Go check out her blog, and leave her a comment.

http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2008/11/were-back-to-baking-at-year-in-bread.html

Black Bean Corn Salsa from your food storage

Having great recipes is the best way to use items from your food storage. My feeling is that when you have fresh ingredients available to add to your storage items, family members get used to eating those items. If and when the fresh ingredients aren't available, you can still use the basic recipe, excluding the fresh, and your family will still eat the dish. Black Bean Corn Salsa is a recipe that allows you to be flexible in the ingredients you add. Here are the basic ingredients to this really yummy recipe:

1 can black beans, drained, rinsed and drained again
1 can corn, drained
1 package Good Seasonings Italian Dressing
Canola Oil
Vinegar
2 avocado, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
cilantro, 1/2 bunch, chopped
Mix all ingredients together and make up the Italian dressing according to package directions, and pour over the salsa. Gently mix together. Chill for an hour if you can.

I put the food storage items first on the ingredient list. These are the backbone to the recipe. The fresh ingredients are negotiable. For example, I found the avocados on sale at my local Smith's, I only had one tomato on hand and I used 1/2 bunch green onions. I didn't have any cilantro on hand. You could chop up celery or red bell pepper and add it to the mix. If you had nothing else, you could add drained, canned diced tomatoes.

This is delicious as a side dish (serve it with chicken and rice, or BBQ beef and another salad) or you will have it all gone if you serve it with corn chips. You will love this recipe because it is really delicious, but it is also very versatile. I hope that you'll try it and post a comment!

Bok Choy Smoothie using my Vita Mix

This week I am not following my breakfast menus at all! It's OK though, because cold and hot cereal are not going to go bad in my pantry! I am loving my morning smoothie creations. Yesterday I was at Costco picking up a few items, and a woman was doing a Vita mix demo. Of course, she had the new, more bells and whistles Vita mix. Price of a new one was $389, or something very close to that. I've had my Vita mix for about 20 years, and it is still blending away! Can I just say, that if you have that kind of money to spend right now, it is a fantastic investment. Anyway, she got me in the mood to experiment more with my Vita mix creations.

I took a look into the produce drawer of the refrigerator this morning and found a bag of baby bok choy I had purchased at the Farmer's Market. Hmmmm....OK...what the heck, thought I'd give it a go. To that I added some Italian parsley, a pear and 1/4 c. organic red seedless grapes.
Once all of that was in the blender, I added a 12 oz glass filled with ice and 1/2 c. lemonade. Blended it for about 1 minute.

Spinach is always a good choice for the smoothies as it really has no taste when raw. The bok choy has an earthy taste to it, but you know, it was really very good! I have now gotten in 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables this morning which includes the highly nutritious leafy greens! Total calorie count is about 250 calories. Yield is about 2 cups.

I'm full now because I drank the entire 2 cups. Well, it is only 250 calories....I'm just saying....

Preparing Spaghetti Squash

Preparing spaghetti squash is a relatively easy. The most difficult part of getting it cooked is cutting into it. I used a short, sharp knife to puncture a hole in it, then get a bigger knife to cut it in half.

Here it is cut in half. It doesn't matter if you have jagged edges...you just need it in two pieces.

The next step is to scoop out the seeds and strings, just like you would a pumpkin. I find that a metal melon ball scoop and my metal ice cream scoop clean the squash out great.

Then, put both halves into a pot of boiling water. I have a pot with a steaming basket, which works great. You can also put both pieces, cut side down in a 9x13 baking dish and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at about 350*. You can also do this in the microwave for about 15 minutes with cut sides down in some water. I prefer to steam it. It cooks in about 10-15 minutes.

While the squash is cooking, prepare your sauce. You can serve this with a tomato sauce or marinara sauce. I have a great recipe I found on http://www.allrecipes.com/ for spaghetti squash with diced tomatoes and feta cheese that is yummy. First, saute and onion and garlic clove in some olive oil. Saute until onions are translucent.

Add a couple of diced tomatoes, just until the tomatoes are heated through.

In a large bowl, add a small can of slice olives and 2 TBSP of chopped fresh basil.

I got this feta cheese at the farmer's market. It is made from raw milk, and is really delicious. You will need 3/4 c. crumbled feta cheese.

Add the crumbled feta cheese to the bowl. It's looking good, isn't it!

Once the squash is cooked (it is fork tender) use a fork and scrape the inside of the squash to pull of the strands of squash. This will look like threads as you are scraping it out. Click on the picture to see it up close.

Add the onion/tomato mixture to the bowl, along with the squash. Mix it all together. Serve this warm. Serves 6.

I hope that you'll try spaghetti squash, even if you try it with a tomato sauce. It is nutritious and a great side dish if you're looking to include more vegetables in your diet. It is a wonderful main dish if you are looking for a vegetarian option.

Banana Split Smoothie

My son was late getting out of bed, so I needed something quick for him. Here is the smoothie I made for breakfast, and I am calling it the banana split smoothie.

Here is the line-up of ingredients:

8 oz. non fat milk (I used powdered)
1 package chocolate powdered instant breakfast (got these dirt cheap at Target using coupons)
4 oz carton low fat banana yogurt (yoplait kids....also very inexpensive with coupon)
1/2 c. frozen strawberries

Blend all ingredients in your blender or vitamix. I also added a few ice cubes because I like my smoothies cold! Pour into a large glass and serve with a straw.

Sorry, forgot to put the strawberries in the picture....gotta start getting these pictures right! Below is a picture of the powdered milk we like. It has a good flavor to it and is easy to mix. I like the Pampered Chef plunger pitcher. It is perfect for mixing up powdered drinks or frozen juices with water.

Calorie content of one drink (use a large glass) is approximately 350 calories. A great drink to start your day, and a little different than the spinach smoothie I usually make. Do you have a favorite smoothie that you enjoy? Feel free to share it with us.

Using Pudding from food storage

For dessert, I pulled out a #10 can of vanilla pudding. I have had this for awhile, when the drypack cannery used to carry it. We are not big pudding eaters, so I decided I had better make it special! I had gotten oreos a few weeks ago on sale at Walgreen's, so I chopped up a about 1.5 cookies per serving, and mixed them in with the pudding. It was really a tasty dessert and it didn't require much of my time or energy in making it. I used my vitamix to blend the pudding powder and water.

Crockpot Lasagna

I have a blogger friend who has the best recipe...well she has many great recipes..but the crock pot lasagna is such a great one. I just had to share it! It is a great recipe to use for a 3 month food storage recipe. So, Sherri, thanks for sharing your recipe. Please check out her blog over at http://kaysvillemomma.blogspot.com/ . Sherri posts her recipes in the left column.

So here are the star ingredients for the lasagna (this is slightly different from Sherri's recipe...it is what I used this morning) :

1 jar spaghetti sauce (or equivalent)
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 c. cottage cheese (I prefer this to ricotta)
12 oz pasta, any type
1 can diced tomatoes
1 TBSP Italian seasoning
1 TBSP parsley flakes
1 diced onion, sauteed in olive oil

The ingredients below are all from the pantry. The ground beef can be frozen flat in the freezer in Ziploc bags, as can the the cheese. The cheese can be frozen in the bags from the store, or if you are shredding your own cheese, put it in the Ziploc bags and freeze it. You can also buy frozen diced onions or dice you own and freeze them.

Saute the onions in the olive oil and brown the ground beef. Then, put all of the ingredients into a large crock pot and cook on low for 3 hours. I mix everything around a few times in the first hour. This is a great dish to take for a potluck meal and you can easily store all of the ingredients as a part of your 3 month storage. You are probably wondering where the final picture is, right? Well, I took my crock pot of lasagna to a luncheon today, and forgot to take the picture...sorry!! But it looks just like regular lasagna, so I hope that you can envision it!

Food Storage Dinner: Red Lentil Tomato Soup

Tonight for dinner I had planned to make a meal using red lentils. If you've been reading my blog, you know that I have some cases of tomato soup in my food storage that I want to use up. I did donate a case of tomato soup to Dixie Care and Share, the local food bank, but I still have a little less than a case worth in my pantry. So, I decided on Lentil Tomato Soup. There are many recipes out there using a variety of ingredients for this recipe. I decided to make this one my own, by using what I had on hand. So here it is, Red Lentil Tomato Soup:

Here are the ingredients I used.....

2 1/2 c. Chicken Broth (3 month food storage)
14 oz can Tomato Soup (3 month food storage)
1 c. red lentils, sorted and rinsed (1 year food storage)
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning (1 year food storage)
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced

Step #1 is to sort through the lentils. I like to put mine on a white paper plate, and pick out the dark lentils and anything that is out of place. You might find little rocks or other debris. I put about 1/3 c. on the plate at a time and clean it out. One you are done, rinse all of them in a deep bowl and carefully pour the water out. Do this a few times.

I have this handy-dandy dicer, I peel the onion and cut it into smaller pieces. Then, I put it into the dicer for an easy way to dice the onions.

My parents bought this for me.... I think that they got it on one of those TV infomercials! But it is really great to dice onions with.

Here is the finished product on the onions.

Put the minced garlic and onions in a TBSP of oil and saute in a frying pan until translucent.

In a crock pot, I dumped the tomato soup, Italian seasoning, chicken broth and lentils. Add the onions/garlic to that when they are done. Do not add a can of water like you are making regular tomato soup. Pour the chicken broth into the can to rinse the can out.

It doesn't look like much initially. I cooked this on high for 4 hours. Check the moisture level occasionally, you may need to add some more water or chicken broth. I was gone for an hour toward the end of cooking so it turned out more like a stew. I picked up some artisan bread: rosemary olive oil and cut a slice to go with it. Delicious! My 16 year old son agreed that it was really good (amazing!...you know it was good if he said so!).

If you don't have tomato soup, you can substitute canned diced tomatoes with the liquid. You can use any tomato product but remember to use the same amount of liquid. Just adjust as necessary. I hope that you'll try this and let me know how you like it.

Breakfast and Lunch using Food Storage

Using your food storage for meals really shouldn't stress you out. I know that a common complaint from people about using food storage is that they don't know how to use what they store. I thought I'd take you through my day today and show you what our meals have been and what came from "storage". I regularly use items from both my 3 month and 1 year food storage.

Below is breakfast. We happen to love oatmeal. I store oat groats instead of oatmeal. As detailed in a previous post, I have a Marga flaker, and I use this to roll out my groats into flakes. I roll enough for the week, then store it in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator. Oat groats take up half of the space as oatmeal. This is important for me now that I am in a smaller home without a basement. I made oatmeal on the stove, added a few raisins and milk before serving. I also used the hot cocoa mix from the cannery and served hot cocoa. Throw in a banana, and you have a breakfast of about 450 calories. This is nice on a cold morning.

For lunch, I made wraps. I had tortillas in the freezer. I had purchased them on sale and they are the kind you "cook" before using. By the way, I love my cast iron griddle, it belonged to my now deceased grandmother. I think of her every time I use it. It is so well seasoned from years of use.

After cooking the tortilla, I added a little shredded cheese, canned chicken that I heated with bbq sauce. I then topped this with sunflower sprouts.

Next, put a healthy amount (I use about 3/4 c. per serving) of lettuces...I used iceberg and green leaf lettuce. You can use a little ranch dressing to hold the lettuce in.

Here you have a very delicious taco/wrap/whatever you want to call it! My sons love these. They are filling without being fattening.

Food storage items used so far today:

• oat groats


• raisins (3 month storage)


• hot cocoa mix


• canned chicken (3 month storage)


• tortillas from freezer (3 month storage)

See, wasn't that painless! I will post dinner's meal after I make it tonight. If I had sprouted my own sprouts, I would have considered that a part of my storage also.

Dry Pack Canning

This week I checked out a dry pack canner from the LDS Cannery to can items for my one year long-term food supply. If it is hard to get a appointment at your local LDS dry pack cannery (I can't get an appointment for the St. George cannery until April 2009), you can request to check out a canner. Then, buy grains and beans in bulk, along with the cans and oxypacks (you can buy all of this at the cannery) and do it at home.

I had members of the ward (congregation) sign up for times to come do their own canning. One of the items I packed was black beans. I canned about 50 pounds of black beans in this session.

In my garage I had a fairly good set-up for doing all of this. I put the cans up on the work bench, and had a small table to the side for setting the large bags of food. Because I was doing all of this by myself. I filled all of the cans first before getting the oxypacks out.

Below is a picture of the can with an oxypack in it. This are meant to keep the food fresh for a longer period of time. They have a limited amount of time to be exposed to air, so I put these in the cans after I have all of the product in the cans, put the lids on, then start sealing the cans.

I was able to get about 12 cases of food canned in about 2 hours. That is 72 cans of food for my long term food storage. I will gradually use and replenish what I have, and always have enough food on hand for my family. If you are unfamiliar with long term food storage, go to http://www.providentliving.org/ for more information. I will store about 300 pounds of grains per person/year and about 60 pounds of beans per person/year for my household.

The items I drypacked this time around came from both the cannery and Costco. I put up Calrose rice (our family favorite), black beans, fruit drink powder, hot cocoa powder, white beans, oat groats and dehydrated apple slices.

If you would like to store food items in the #10 cans, but aren't into doing the work, you can actually go in and purchase certain items already canned. This includes rice, pinto beans, hard red wheat, oats, or a starter kit with each of these products in the case. You can get additional information at http://www.providentliving.org/ .