How To Calculate Bread For A Year

In an effort to get some food storage in order I decided to figure out how much I would need to store of the ingredients necessary to make my homemade bread for an entire year.  (You can find my homemade bread recipe HERE).

I did this based around how many loaves of bread I want to make in a week.  Right now I make about two loaves of bread a week.  I am sure that would be more if we were living completely on what we store, but you have to start somewhere.

Below you can see the spreadsheet I created.

Change the Number of Loaves Per Week to Calculate the Amount to store for a Year
	1 Loaf		Loaves Per Week
			2
Wheat Flour	6.50	cups	676.00	cups	2,704.00	ounces	169.00	pounds
Gluten	0.25	cups	26.00	cups	130.00	ounces	8.13	pounds
Yeast	0.09	cups	9.75	cups	52.00	ounces	3.25	pounds
Honey	0.41	cups	42.64	cups	511.25	ounces	31.95	pounds
Oil	0.25	cups	26.00	cups	208.00	ounces	13.00	gallons
Salt	0.04	cups	4.33	cups	41.60	ounces	2.60	pounds
Water	3.00	cups	312.00	cups	2,496.00	ounces	156.00	gallons

The first column shows the ingredients based upon one loaf of bread.  In the second column you can put in the number of loaves per week and it will calculate the amounts needed in cups, ounces and pounds/gallons.

I found this to be helpful because some of the food storage calculators I have used had estimates that were too low for the honey, oil and yeast and none of them have recommendations for gluten.

If you think that it would be helpful to play with the spreadsheet to make your own calculations you can access it HERE.  You could even modify it to fit your own recipe by changing the amounts in the first column.

I would love to know what you think, even if you think I'm a bit nutty for putting this together.

Meal Planning For Those Who Hate Meal Planning

I don't know if you have ever seen one of those blogs that manages to put out a meal plan for an entire month.  I hate those blogs.  Well, not really.  I just hate it when people are so confident in what they are making for dinner three weeks from now?  Who does that?  I sometimes have trouble deciding what to make for dinner the same day.

Since I an not a planner, but I still like to stay organized, I thought I would share with you my method of figuring out what I can make for dinner on any given day.  This might just change your life.  Or it might not.  If it helps make your dinner planning a little easier, I'll be satisfied.

1. Make a list of starter ingredients.  A starter ingredient is one that I base my meal around.  For me this usually involves some sort of frozen meat (frozen because I stock up when it's on sale).  If I buy a Bountiful Basket one week, it might involve fresh vegetables.

2. For each starter ingredient, plan a meal.  For example if I have ground beef as my starter ingredient I might put Shepard's Pie.  If I have green peppers, I might put stuffed peppers.  Cabbage might be Cabbage Burgers.  Chicken might be Crock Pot Massaman Curry.  You get the idea.

3.  For each meal, list the ingredients that you don't have on hand and will need to pick up at the store.

That's it!  I even made a handy printable so you can try my method.  Download it here.  You can see one of the printouts pictured above with sparkles because using it is so magical.  There is no guarantee, however, that the sparkles will appear when you use the printout.  In fact, they probably won't.  Please don't be disappointed.

I like to to tape my lists to my fridge so I can refer to it when I am trying to come up with dinner.  I can quickly decide what I have on hand, and make a grocery list for what I might want to make later.  I cross things out as I make them and replace the list when my adjustments and scribbles become bothersome.

If you try my method or my printout, please leave a comment and let me know how it goes.

Hash Browns in the Waffle Iron

I don't know if any of you have seen this on Pinterest, but it's the simple idea of cooking hash browns in a waffle iron.  I decided to give it a try.  I used dehydrated hasbrowns for the experiment since we have those on hand.  I also decided to pour a little oil in the pan so they would be nice and crispy.  They turned out delicious and were 10 times easier than frying them in the pan because I didn't have to flip them!  Total success.  I will definitely be doing this again.

My Favorite Food Storage Pins of the Week

I love it when I find pins that inspire me to get working in the kitchen.  Check these ones out:

Source: country-magazine.com via Katherine on Pinterest

This pin for bread is salt-rising bread.  It's an old, old pioneer recipe that uses a cornmeal mixture in place of yeast.  I can't wait to try it.

Source: allthingsprovident.blogspot.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Source: myfoodstoragecookbook.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Source: homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com via Katherine on Pinterest

I love the idea of using applesauce to make fruit roll ups.  Jello is the flavoring.  How easy is that?












Maybe you have had the problem of getting crackers thin enough?  How about using a pasta roller?  I totally want a pasta roller now!











This is an interesting canning recipe to use up zucchini.  It's called pineapple zucchini and can be used in place of crushed pineapple in recipes.  This could make a super healthy sweet and sour sauce.









And who doesn't need these cool storage boxes for jars?

Source: jarbox.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Homemade Hand Sanitizer

        

Source: education.com via Katherine on Pinterest

I saw the above pin on Pinterest.  It only takes 3 ingredients, 2 if you skip the essential oil, which I did.  Basically its a mix of one part aloe vera gel and two parts rubbing alcohol.  I threw it together in an empty pump bottle that originally had hand sanitizer in it.

At first I thought that it was too much rubbing alcohol, but I think the consistency is about right.  So how does it compare to the store bought stuff?  Well, the aloe vera has a bit of a residue when you rub it in.  It doesn't dry as quickly as the store bought sanitizer.  But it's aloe vera so it can't be bad for your skin!

Considering that the aloe vera was something I had around the house (I had to buy enough rubbing alcohol to match what I had) it was cheap.  I like cheap.  Will I use it?  Yes, definitely.  Will I do it again?  Eh.

This post is linked at Project Pinterest:

Pin Reviews

I was looking at some of my old pins and realized that there a few that I have tried and never bothered to blog about.  I always like reading other bloggers experiences with testing pins, so I hope you find these helpful.

I saw this pin and knew it would help clean up my sink.  I could have been crafty and made my own cake stand, but I just used my glass cake stand instead.  It works wonders to have a place to stick sponges and soap.

Source: lehiwrights.blogspot.com via Katherine on Pinterest

I used this pin to hang a trivet in my kitchen.  Instead of a safety pin I used a paperclip.  Just hot glued the paperclip in place.  Perfect!

Source: craftaholicsanonymous.net via Katherine on Pinterest

I thought this pin was so clever since I am a canning nut.  The next time I used up a salt container I cut the top off.  The only problem?  I didn't know what to store in the jar!  Lol.

Source: instructables.com via Katherine on Pinterest

I also thought this pin was clever because I have toddlers.  The problem?  Toddlers don't like to have something in between their hand and the popsicle.  Perhaps they like to have it drip down to their elbows . . .

Source: realsimple.com via Katherine on Pinterest

What pins have you tried out lately?

Lemon Cubes

You might remember when I zested a bunch of limes and froze the juice.  Well, I decided to do the same with some lemons.  Only this time I just froze the juice and the zest together.  Why not, right?  These cubes will be perfect to use in this lemon chicken or anything else that needs a little brightening up.  What do you like to use lemons for?

Ableskivers

I didn't even know what an ableskiver was until I got this funny pan for a wedding present.  It was from my cousin and his wife.  Fortunately, she included a recipe with the pan.  It was a really thoughtful gift.  I have only made these pancake balls a few times but my kids loved them on this last go round.  I am still a bit of an amateur when it comes to flipping them, but I discovered a trick.  Keep reading for my secret.

These might taste so good because you melt a little butter in the holes.  Wait a little bit and you can have brown butter ableskivers.  Yum.

Next, pour in your batter.  Don't fill them too much, they are harder to flip because they do rise a little.

Make sure you pan it not too hot.  

Don't flip them too soon.

They might look a little wonky the first few tries, but don't give up.

Making progress.

And even more.

See, I knew I could do it.  

So here is my trick: a fondu fork!  It really helped flipping those little suckers.

I also highly recommend a pair of rubber gloves to keep your toddler occupied while you are trying to make these.

Here is the recipe from my cousin:

Ableskivers

2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/3 c. sugar

1 T. baking powder (yup, a whole tablespoon)

2 eggs, separated

2 c. buttermilk (I used milk with lemon juice and it worked fine)

Whip egg whites to peaks.  (I pretty much skipped this step because first try I couldn't get the egg whites to peak and then I spilled egg down my dishwasher while trying to separate more.  Sometimes the food wins at our house.)  Mix other ingredients then fold in egg whites.  Heat pan on medium heat.  Melt small dab (that's a measurement, right?) of butter in each hole.  Cook until bottom is brown.  Turn with fondu fork (or regular fork, or chopstick, or whatever works).  Cook until brown on alternate side and cooked through.  Server with jam or powdered sugar or syrup.

Photo Album and Recipe Cookbook

A few months ago I wanted to organize my recipes better so I could find things easier.  I use 4x6 cards and didn't want to have to type or rewrite everything.  I thought about using a three ring binder with some plastic sheets that hold 4x6 cards.  But then I found this cute photo album at TJMaxx.

It holds 4x6 photos.  In other words it makes the PERFECT recipe holder.  It's a whole lot smaller than a binder and works wonderfully.  If you need a way to keep track of recipe cards go find yourself a cute album!

What I did with a bunch of limes

I got a bunch of limes with my Bountiful Basket last Saturday.  I didn't think I would be able to use them all before they went bad so I zested them up and sqeezed them good.  I put 1 Tablespoon of zest in individual bags in the freezer and put the juice in an ice cube tray.  Now I can throw lime zest or juice in small amounts in different recipes.

Happy Discovery

I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight and I had a little trouble.  I couldn't find the lid to the peanut butter.  I looked in the fridge and look what I found.  My Honey had put the lid on a regular mouth mason jar of apple sauce!  I never knew that they would fit.

You can see just behind the apple sauce that there is a jar of peaches with a white lid.  This is a Ball brand plastic lid for wide mouth jars.  You can buy them for regular mouth too, and I was planning on picking some up, but now I don't have to.  Yay for serendipitous lid discoveries.  My Honey just saved me about $5.  Hey, 5 bucks is five bucks.

Cornbread from Popcorn: Yes, It Can Be Done!

I read somewhere on the Internet that you should store popcorn in place of cornmeal because it will keep longer.  The popcorn can then be ground into cornmeal.  I decided to test this advice and make cornbread from ground popcorn.

Here is my awesome Mill & Mix.  It was my grandma's.  It's cool because you can adjust the space between the stones for grinding.

I thought I would try and make the cornmeal more coarse than my wheat flour, so I opened the stones a bit to grind the popcorn.  Next time I might keep it pretty fine because there were some hard chunks in the final product.

I used my same cornbread recipe and it came out great.  I forgot to take a picture of the baked bread because I just jumped right in.  So, there you go.  You can get cornmeal from popcorn.  Fancy that.

Making Butter from Cream

I'm not sure this could be any easier.  The hardest part was skimming the cream off the top of the milk.

1.  Place cream in mixer.  Turn mixer on.

2.  Mix at a high speed and wait for it.

3.  Wait for it.

4.  Wait for it.  (I confess there was a point that I thought it might not happen.  My friend I got the milk from told me that if there was any milk in the cream it wouldn't turn to butter.  I thought I might have been a poor skimmer  . . . but . . .)

5.  Butter!  I tossed the water that was produced, technically "buttermilk."  However, buttermilk today is a fermented skim milk and not really the same thing.  I didn't salt the butter, but I suppose I could have.  I worked out a little extra water when I put it in a jar.  Bryce thinks this is the best butter he has ever tasted.

Baby Food from Food Storage: Strawberry Applesauce

Last night I used up the last jar of fruit baby food.  So today I needed to make something that Stanford could eat.  I figured out a month or so ago that you could make apple sauce from dehydrated apple chips.  Today I added some dehydrated strawberries.

All you need to do is add enough water to cover the fruit, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover the pan.  Let it simmer until the fruit looks like mush.

Put the mush in a blender and blend well.

Then put the contents in ice cube trays.  Once frozen you can transfer to a freezer bag.  Alternatively, if you are not making baby food, you can simply refrigerate the apple sauce in a air tight jar.