The day started at a sprint. My husband likes to leave for work 30 minutes after waking to beat the traffic. This morning was no different. He had to work this Saturday and wouldn't return until noon. He would consent to carry muffins out the door. So I set out to use our dehydrated carrots by making carrot cake muffins. My favorite recipe books are The Complete Make-a-Mix Cookbook and Betty Crocker Cookbook. Beginning with these, I compared two or three versions and looked at the proportions. How many cups of flour to sugar are there? For how many eggs does each recipe call? What is the high and the low for oil? On many recipes I choose the lowest limit for sugar, the lowest for oil or cut the fat by as much as half, add extra protein by adding 3 TBS of powdered milk and an extra egg, and then add 2 TBS of flax meal to boost omega three fatty acids. By looking at the amount of carrots called for I chose to double the recommendation and put one cup dehydrated carrots which rehydrates to 2 cups, add 1 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup pineapple.
To build convenience into the product, I made 5 mixes of all the dry ingredients in quart size freezer sacks. I write what wet ingredients to add on the outside of each sack and put them in the freezer. We are better prepared than we ever have been for lunches next week and breakfasts on demand as a result of trying to use what we have.
By 9:30 we had fresh bread, a batch of yogurt in a warm water bath on the counter, granola bars baked, a cheese spread made from yogurt cheese, and the ice cream maker churning vanilla frozen yogurt. It was a busy morning but I feel victorious. This is Joy.
Breakfast: Carrot Cake muffins and chocolate milk. (Recipe in the January archive "Recipes")
Lunch: Leftover black beans with whole wheat bread
Snack: Frozen yogurt - It is scrumptious. (Recipe in the Jan. Archive "Recipes")
Dinner: Hot bread and milk. This is a pioneer tradition. It comes naturally if you make heavy brown bread and milk a cow every day as my parents did on the ranch when I was a child. The bread has to be whole wheat or it turns to glue. The children love breaking their bread into small pieces in a bowl, pouring hot milk to cover the bread as you would a cereal, adding a tsp of butter and salt to taste. This savory meal is one or our favorites for cold, dark winter nights. If I want to boost protein to balance the carbohydrates, we add grated cheese as a topping. This time we used dried milk. There were no objections.
Crystal, this is GREAT: To build convenience into the product, I made 5 mixes of all the dry ingredients in quart size freezer sacks. I write what wet ingredients to add on the outside of each sack and put them in the freezer. We are better prepared than we ever have been for lunches next week and breakfasts on demand as a result of trying to use what we have. I can't wait to try this!
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