Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sneaky Spinach

I am usually looking for ways to sneak add extra veggies to my kids' meals.

And I am usually, OK always, looking for something quick and easy for dinner.

I had some left over Rice-a-roni (Cheddar Broccoli) from a few nights ago. I also had the rest of the rotisserie chicken from another night's dinner. Sounds like the makings of a casserole bake.

So, I got out a pie plate, put in chicken. Now is when a veggie comes into play. I put some FD Chopped Spinach in hot water for a few minutes to soak. 


Since I don't have a fine strainer, I just grabbed some by the hand and squeezed (Is squoze not a word?) the water out. Next time, I think I will try just adding it as is, and then add a splash of water to the dish to help rehydrate it.


Layer on top of chicken. Then add rice and finally some cheese! Bake until warm and melty!


Doesn't get much easier than that! And healthy too!

I am planning to try all sorts of dishes with this awesome spinach. That can is packed full of goodness!

Party Prices:
# 10 Can -  $15.99
Pantry Can -  $6.49
Pouch - $5.89

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Dehydrated Sweet Potato Experiment

With Easter Sunday came the perfect excuse to make sweet potato casserole. So, I thought what better time to try an experiment and see if Shelf Reliance's dehydrated sweet potatoes would pass as fresh.

My family has added it to the list of favorites, especially on the holidays. I have no clue where my mom got the recipe, but it's a good one!


Measure out your sweet potatoes and boil them in water until tender. Maybe like 20 or so minutes. I admit, I forgot was multi-tasking and didn't pay attention.


Drain the water, then mash, mash, mash. 
Add the butter, eggs & sugar. The spread into a casserole dish. 
Top with the crumb topping of butter, brown sugar, flour, and pecans.


Bake.

Eat!

I admit, you can see a difference if you are used to seeing this dish with fresh sweet potatoes you'd notice that these are a lighter color and you don't get the stringy-ness that you usually get from sweet potatoes.  So, while I was hoping to do a blind taste test, everyone knew something was different just from looking at it.


In the end, everyone said that it still tasted great. If I had done half and half, I probably could have fooled them passed this off like nothing was different. Either way, it was fun. And when you don't have sweet potatoes and you want some, but don't want to go out to the store, these are super awesome! 

#10 Can - $18.69
Pantry Can - $7.09
Pouch - $6.99

Sweet Potato Casserole
Preheat oven to 350
Peel & cube 3 cups worth of sweet potatoes (Or, make it easy and use these)
Boil until tender, drain.
Add 2 eggs, 1/2 c. butter, 1/2 c. sugar.
Spread into 9x13 dish.
Mix 1/2 c. soft/melted butter, 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. flour (I use whole wheat, it works great), & 1/2 c. chopped pecans. 
Crumble mixture on top of potatoes.
Bake for 30 (or so) minutes.
Enjoy!

Monday, April 18, 2011

First In, First Out

"First In, First Out" always reminds me of my college days. Though I should, I can't remember at this moment which business class taught me about this obvious principle first! But, that's beside the point. 

So, while freeze-dried foods may not be your thing, surely being organized is!

I just returned from a quick weekend trip to visit family and friends and saw some of these in action! Talk about much improved way to store and use food!

The very first time I heard about Shelf Reliance was when I saw a sales flier with their shelving units food rotation systems. I thought, "Boy, would those be awesome to have?"


When I get home from the grocery store, I basically completely have to unload my canned goods cupboard and put all the new stuff in and then the old stuff back, so it gets rotated properly. Can you say PAIN in the...? 

While I don't have space to put a large shelf, I did buy some cansolidators to solve my cupboard trouble. 
 No more unloading everything!


If you are having issues keeping your pantry or cupboards organized and your food rotated, you should seriously look into this! I can't tell you how many cans I have thrown out because I didn't get to them before their date! 

The party prices on these are very impressive! Some marked down more than 50% off retail prices!
Whether it's the large Harvest system or the smaller cansolidators, you're sure to find something to help you out!

I do like things organized! How about you?

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Confession: I eat cookie dough!

Since I was a kid I can always remember eating the dough when cookies were being "baked". All through college my friends and I would eat more dough than cookie. As a "responsible" parent, I don't let my kids eat (or SEE me eat) cookie dough. Everyone knows that raw eggs are dangerous to eat! 
Well, one product that sold me on Shelf Reliance was the powdered eggs! They sounded weird nasty, but when I tried them out, I was amazed! 

The only thing my kids like more than FD Strawberries is cookies! 
I don't know where they get it from!

Back to the eggs,... 
Rather than adding "real" (as my DH says) eggs, you add 1Tb of egg powder per egg and cream that with the sugar and butter. Then when you add your vanilla, add 2 Tb of water per egg. And the rest goes as usual!
Add your home ground whole wheat flour... (More on that later!)
I usually do tiny teaspoon cookies, but every once in awhile I like to get crazy change it up and use a tablespoon!
And ta-da! Delicious chocolate chip cookies made with REAL whole egg powder! 

A #10 can of eggs contains 236 eggs. That's 19.6 dozen eggs! At $20.99, that's about $1/dozen. With the way prices are going these days, you'd be lucky to find eggs at that price anymore. And with all the recalls and salmonella issues, these powdered eggs are sounding more and more delicious! I have made omelets, scrambled eggs, breads, cookies, etc and every time had great results! 

And I eat cookie dough and don't worry about it making me sick.



Saturday, April 9, 2011

Freeze-dried Strawberries on SALE!

My family really likes LOVES the FD Strawberries! 

You know, the ones mentioned here.

So, I was super excited to hear that the Q-Club special this month is FD Strawberries! YAY! 
If you are interested in getting in on this awesome deal, let me know before the end of April. 

#10 Can (45 - 1/4 cup servings) 
Sale: $20.02  
Retail: $26.69
Reg. Party: $24.09

Full Case (6-#10 cans)
Sale: $102.98 
 Retail: $140.16
Reg. Party: $137.31

You can call or email me at perkins.sarah5(at)gmail and I will get you all set up!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Even the crumbs are awesome!

One of the things I love about the Home Party program Shelf Reliance launched about a year ago, was that people could finally try the THRIVE foods -before- they ordered anything! 

I know some people don't feel the need to -try- something before they buy and just base their decision on product reviews. I've done that myself. 

So, I thought since I have tried so many things SR offers, I should put my 2-cents worth on their website and do some product reviews. 

When it came down to it... I could describe everything just by saying
"Even the crumbs are awesome!"

Saturday, April 2, 2011

It's granola! I can not tell a lie...

So, this morning, I thought I would make some granola bars. I found a recipe that I thought was good and thought I would make a few substitutions!

In our house, we like LOVE freeze-dried strawberries! I put them in the highest spot in the kitchen, and still the kids got to them! I was left with strawberry crumbs powder! Waste not, want not right? 

So... I substituted coconut for FD strawberry powder. Really, what goes better with chocolate than strawberries anyways?! 

Because I knew I would be eating some most of them, I also traded out the brown sugar for Truvia and skimped a little on the honey (which probably explains the results). 

They smelled and looked great once I got them mixed up.


When they came out of the oven, they smelled even better and looked pretty good! So I scored them and left the kitchen while they cooled. 

When I came back to cut them...


Looks like I made granola non-bars!


 See, I should stick to recipes! I did not inherit my families magic cooking skills apparently! 

At least my accidental granola tastes awesome!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Welcome to my blog!

Yikes! I have been talking about starting a blog for awhile a long time. 

Well, here it is! 

It's not a personal blog. ...or a craft blog. Those will may come later. This is a place for my thoughts on all things food and preparedness! Please be patient as I learn the ropes of blog-land. :) 

And no, this is no April Fools! I'm really going to blog... about food mostly! So make sure you check back often for some exciting stuff! 

In the meantime, check out this website if you haven't already! perkins.shelfreliance.com