Apple Cake w/ Cream Cheese Glaze

As you can probably tell I'm just not posting much right now. That will probably continue. I have too much demanding my attention at present. However I have had a few recipes on here for quite some time that won't take much at all to quickly publish. The site is still riddled with food storage helps and I plan on posting a "basics guide" at the bottom which will always be on the site. I hope everyone is well and that your holidays are wonderful. Here's an apple cake that uses pretty basic ingredients, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Apple Bundt Cake from Bob's Red Mill Baking Book

1 c whole wheat pastry flour (1 c - 2 T)
1 c unbleached white flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 T milk
6 T vegetable oil
1/2 c applesauce
3 eggs
2 apples-peeled, cored and chopped

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. and GREASE AND FLOUR a bundt pan.
Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together the milk, oil, applesauce, and eggs and stir into the flour until just combined.
Fold in the apples, then pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth. Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. COOL IN THE PAN for 15 minutes then invert onto plate to cool completely.

The recipe is very forgiving if you don't mix the ingredients perfectly to their specs, but definitely grease and flour your pan as well as let the cake cook before trying to get it out. Nothing like trying to make a pretty cake and not having it even come out of the pan in one piece.

Cream Cheese Glaze Biggest issue here was cream cheese not mixing without lumps. Power was out so I couldn't warm it in the microwave. It was already at room temperature, but just wouldn't go that last bit without a little more heat.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay I'm still going to be slow about this. Summer just has us all over the place, but I do have one to get posted. Often on here we talk about not buying those little packages of something because it's so much cheaper just to make it. Cookies is another one. Whether it's a mix or a tub of dough or those convenient little break and bakes it's still cheaper if you make them from scratch and it helps keep your food storage rotated. Also like most other things you can double, quadruple or whatever you feel like on the recipe and have plenty left to freeze and bake up just like those ones from from the store.

Below is a basic recipe from a product manufacturer. Packages are great for that. You buy some chocolate chips and on the back they already have a recipe. You could certainly look for a better one if it's not quite to your taste, but the point is it will get you started using the product. Oh, by the way a great lady from my church once said she considers chocolate chips a basic food storage necessity. I think most of us can agree with that;) Back to the packaging and recipes... Often the companies themselves have great websites set up that will help use a lot of the basic products we store. For example...

Chocolate Chips - Nestle
Oats - Bob's Red Mill, Quaker
Powdered and Condensed Milk - Carnation
Wheat - Kansas Wheat Growers (This last was found once when I was searching for wheat recipes. The growers want to promote their products and have websites just like the big companies, not only promoting their product, but showing uses for it.

Those are just a few. If you have a favorite please share away in the comments section of this website.


Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies Estimated Times: Preparation - 15 min | Cooking - 9 min | Cooling Time - 15 min cooling | Yields - 60 This famous classic American cookie is a treat no matter what the age or occasion. Enjoy it with a glass of cold milk.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour ( I found if I used some oat flour then when I took them out of the freezer later to cook they cooked up nicer then the ones that were straight all-purpose flour. Just toss some oats in your wheat grinder and use maybe 3/4 of a cup.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs (Remember powdered 1 T and then 2 T water per egg required in recipe)
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Directions:PREHEAT oven to 375° F.COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars. SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION: PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. * May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks. FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

Package up the extra in ziplocs or in saran wrap for rolls of dough. When you take them out of the freezer you can simply slice the dough from the rolls or cut the baggie off the other and cut them into squares before placing them on the pan. Do not let them completely unfreeze. It's easier to work with them still a bit frozen.

Hope your all having a great summer!

Central Oregon Great Give Away

My warm up for getting back into blogging starts with a non-food item but a help item none the less. The Central Oregon Great Giveaway is a great event that's in it's 7th year running. It's gotten bigger every year. The event is designed to help those who need it. You don't have to be in dire straights to use it though. If you have something you don't need that's in good condition your welcome to bring it to be given away. If there's something you need, your welcome to take it. If you feel like giving a bit of time, that's more then welcome too. There are several days of set-up and take down involved. Go to www.cogga.org for more information on the event or how to contact those in charge and please pass this along to anyone who may need it.

Brief Break

Friday's Food will be back after July 15th.

I may get back up and running sooner, but too many big things are happening between now and then and I've decided I'm only human. Still there's plenty of great back reading and links to other great food storage related sites. Good luck till then and I may still be able to answer questions if you have them go ahead and post them in the comments section.

Thanks.

Fried Chicken with gravy, Macaroni Salad, Biscuits and Cream Peas

What does any of this have to do with food storage? Well the breading for the chicken comes from my food storage, the pasta and mayonnaise both come from my basic food storage and certainly most of the ingredients in the biscuits came from my food storage and well the cream peas at least the milk for the cream part came from my food storage. The rest we'll label under seasonal eating.

This is totally artery clogging by the way but well worth it so just make sure to take your vitamin C after eating it and until then enjoy every bite:)

Southern Fried Chicken
From: The Heritage of Southern Cooking by Camille Glenn

1 Frying Chicken 3 to 3.5 lbs (Cutting up a chicken)
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
pepper to taste
1 c all-purpose flour
(I also used paprika with this recipe. I didn't want it in my gravy so I waited till the end and then sprinkled it on the chicken after removing it from the frying pan.)
lard or vegetable oil for frying

Start oil heating in the pan. Use enough to have a 1 1/2 inch deep layer of oil.
After you've cut up your chicken mix salt, pepper and flour together. Coat chicken pieces evenly in mixture shaking off the extra. Add chicken to pan and cook till meat is white all the way through. If your oil is hot enough then it should only take 8 minutes per side. I don't like cooking with my oil that hot so I fry it longer. Cover your pan while cooking the first side, but leave it uncovered while cooking the second.

Fried Chicken Gravy

In the same pan you just fried the chicken now add flour and milk and salt and white pepper to taste. For more precise measurements...

2 T drippings (Pour off extra leaving crunchy bits from frying the chicken in the pan.)
3 T flour (If you have a shaker put your flour and milk in it and shake to mix before adding to pan to prevent lumpy gravy. DO NOT DO THIS WITH HOT LIQUIDS!)
1 1/2 c milk
salt and pepper to taste

Stir constantly over med low heat till thickened.

A great looking fried chicken variation.

Macaroni Salad

Cream Peas & New Potatoes

Biscuits (This is by far the biscuit recipe I use the most.)
From: Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book

3 c flour (I used variations of all white flour to half wheat half white, just depending on my mood.)
4 tsp baking powder
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 c butter or 1/2 c butter and 1/4 c shortening (I've used both variations here too, more depending on what I have in stock.)
1 1/4 c buttermilk or 1 c milk

Stir together all dry ingredients then mash in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and stir till kneading is all that will work in the rest of the flour. Kneading is important it forms the gluten in dough which makes for nice fluffy biscuits. If you freeze any of this dough let it come back to room temperature and then with a floured surface knead the dough again before cutting into biscuits and baking.

After cutting and putting on cookie sheets bake at 450 degrees F for approx. 12 minutes.

Pizza

History of Pizza

Okay this is one of those foods that I like homemade and gourmet (though I'm not sure that word can be attached to pizza). Also oh so greasy from the local Pizza Hut. Deep dish pan crust please. I just like pizza and if I'm going to have the first version of this listed then I guess I should know how to make it. It's something we made a few times when I was growing up and occasionally since I've been married. I have a few different recipes for crust. I'm only going to post one on here though. I think it's something you need to experiment with and try a lot of different ones. Even after you find your favorite one you may find you like more then one style so keep trying new dough and sauce recipes. Most of the ingredients are found in your basic and expanded food storage so pizza is a perfect recipe to have in your food storage cookbook. Oh, and please feel free to post your favorite crust and sauces, etc in the comments section below. I'm always looking for a new one too :)

This dough recipe comes from the Moses Lake 1st Ward Cookbook and was submitted by Sheri Osburn.

Pizza Crust

1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2 T. I never buy this in the little packages. Always the big bag at places like Costco, much cheaper. After it's open store it in an air tight container in the fridge or freezer.)

1 1/4 c warm water (Tap warm is fine, better a little cool then too hot.)

2 T vegetable or olive oil

1 tsp. salt

4 c. flour (Play with substituting wheat for all purpose in different ratios. I used 1 c wheat and 3 c all purpose in this pizza.)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in oil, salt and 1 c flour. Mix well and wait for bubbles then add remaining flour and knead. If you need to, add a bit more water to work in all the flour. Oil the dough and let it rise till double in size. Knead lightly and roll out to fit your pan. There will very likely be extra dough. Save it for dessert(see below:) Top your rolled out dough with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. Usually a very light sprinkling of cheese then your toppings then more cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, possibly less depending on your oven, at 450 degrees F.

Here are a couple links for pizza sauce. I used the first one this time around.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Easy-Pizza-Sauce-21202
http://www.recipezaar.com/Ultimate-Pizza-Sauce-114392

Finally back to our left over dough. I pulled out a pie tin and worked the dough to a circle about the size of the bottom of the pan. I placed the dough in the pan and cut it into pizza sticks (Carefully so you don't put holes in the tin pan.) Then I sprinkled the top with brown sugar and dropped a couple cut up pats of butter around the top of the bread sticks. I baked them at the same temperature, 450 degrees, for about 9 minutes. Serve them hot with some frosting for dipping. You could also sprinkle things like cinnamon on this, before baking, or work in dried fruit(rehydrate first) to the dough before rolling them out into bread sticks. The variation possibilities are endless. Good luck and enjoy!

Scones & Whip Cream

I like looking at international cook books or books with international recipes. I find they often use grains and many foods we here in America use very little of. We all matriculate from somewhere so going back to our roots is not a bad thing and certainly the variety keeps us healthier. The scone recipe today is one such recipe. It uses not just all-purpose ( or wheat based flour), but oat flour as well. This concept is becoming more and more popular in the US with more and more people finding they have wheat allergies. Also after the scone recipe post I'll be posting a recipe for whip cream. I meant to post that last week with the biscuits (short cake) but spaced it. Sorry.

Griddle Scones
From: Greene on Greens and Grains by Bert Greene (Another great cookbook :)

He says this is "straight from Scotland and another tasty way to add oats to your morning meal."

1 c rolled oats (ground into flour)
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (less if using salted butter)
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c unsalted butter, chilled
2/3 c heavy whipping cream (1/3 c water, 1/3 c pwd milk)

1. Mix oat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
2. Cut in butter with fork until mixture is coarse crumbs. (This is similar to biscuits)
3. Stir in cream.
4. Knead briefly and roll out to form a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into six pie-shaped wedges.
5. Rub flour into skillet and place over (low) medium heat. Then cook the scones in the skillet, three at a time, 8 minutes per side.

Makes Six scones. Serve hot with butter and honey and a nice side of sausage:)

Whipped Topping
From: Cookin' With Powdered Milk by Peggy Layton

1/2 c cold water (the colder the better)
1/2 c powdered milk (Make sure this is instant powdered milk, not non-instant!!!!)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c sugar
2 T. Lemon Juice

Put water in ice cold bowl. Add milk and beat with a cold egg beater until stiff peaks form. Add lemon juice and beat 3-4 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla, beat well.