I think this would be a good place to swap out food storage recipes. My personal belief is that unless you know what to do with your food storage, then really its a waste of time and money. I also believe that food storage is imperative to have, not only for natural disasters but for job loss, so if you don't know what to do with it then do whatever it takes to learn. I don't have access to my recipe box now but will return with a few recipes that I have collected specifically for my food storage supply to get this recipe section built up.  

Any of you have any good recipes?

The cliche's are that bread is the staff of life, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so let's get started with a breakfast bread recipe.  This is from [i][/i]The Only Texas Cookbook[u][/u] by Linda West Eckhardt (who grew up in Hereford, Texas ... just north of my home town).

Sourdough Starter

1 pkg of yeast
2 cups warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix all ingredients and set in a warm place for 48 hours.  It may be refrigerated after this point.  If it is not used within a week, you will need to feed it with another cup of flour and cup of water to give the yeast something to eat.  

Sourdough Biscuits

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1   tsp  baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, shortening, lard, or bacon drippings
1 cup starter

Mix the dry ingredients.  Cut in the fat with a fork until it looks like bread crumbs.  Add the starter and mix.

Flour a board and your hands.  Turn out the dough knead just enough to make it smooth.  Pat dough out to 1/2" thickness and cut into individual biscuits.  Set aside and let rise 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 20-25 mins.

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Now, the recipe calls for a 30-minute rise, but I've gotten where I make these up before I go to bed and let them rise overnight.  The bread is NOT as good when it sits for this long, but I'm willing to trade a little quality in taste and texture for an extra 30 minutes of sleep.

I neglected to mention that when you pull a cup of starter out of the sponge, you must replace it with one cup of flour plus one cup of water and let the sponge stand somewhere warm overnight.

Alright so I'm going to seem like the devils advocate here but does anyone have any recipes that are gluten free? I am newly diagnosed with celiac disease and would love at least a couple recipes that are dummy free. simple is good, though I may have to learn to live with complex recipes if I can't do gluten and there are no simple recipes. sad.

In response to the "gluten free" post: I made the following for my family just a couple of weeks ago. You can buy gluten free oats at the store and grind them up yourself OR you can (I am sure) get some gluten free oat flour. I got this from my cookbook called "Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook" Actually, its a friend of mines book but anywhoo, its a great recipe. My only thing was that I used 1/4 cup of sugar instead of 1/2 as the first batch was too sweet for my taste the first go around but of course thats just me.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups oat flour (or get oats and grind to fine flour in a blender or food processor)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil *or* melted margarine
1 Tablespoon flax meal
1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flax meal and soymilk. Add sugar and stir, add oil and vanilla and whisk vigorously until all ingredients are emulsified (about a minute).

Mix wet ingredients into dry, fold in chocolate chips.

Drop batter by the tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet, leaving and 1 1/2 inches of space inbetween cookies.

Bake for 10 -12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for a bit (5 minutes). Using a spatula, put them on a cooling rack or plate to cool the rest of the way.

So I have a couple of fun blogs that I follow, all of which have some wonderful recipes. I will share with you one of my favorite. This is good for food storage because it has the great ingredient of oats :)
The direct link to the recipe is: http://www.eatliverun.com/a-fifteen-minute-success/
Fifteen Minute Oatmeal Scones

Makes 4 scones

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 tsp salt

2 T butter

1/2 cup milk

2/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder
Mix together the oats, salt, baking powder and flour in a large bowl. Cut in the butter and work with your fingers so the mixture resembles cornmeal. Pour in the milk and stir only until combined.

Pat sticky ball down on a lined baking sheet and bake at 475 for twelve minutes, or until golden.


I am sure that you can use whole wheat flour or even adapt it to being gluten free with some trial runs. Some gluten free flours that you may want to experiment with are: arrowroot flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, brown rice flour, and millet flour are what I know about. I am sure there are dozens more though.

Also, a couple of you have mentioned a lactose issue. The milk can be substituted with almond milk or soy milk and .. well I'm not sure what can substitute butter. I guess you can use margarine or a vegan butter.

Here is a gluten free recipe that I enjoy. Its off of the following link http://peasandthankyou.com/recipage/?recipe_id=6001072 I am not gluten intolerant but I'm all for trying new recipes :)

Ingredients (2-4 cakes)

    * 1/2 c. raw buckwheat groats ground into a flour + 2 T. whole raw buckwheat groats
    * 2 organic egg whites or 2 flax “eggs” (1 T. ground flax + 2 T. water = 1 flax egg)
    * 1 1/2 t. baking powder
    * 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
    * stevia to taste
    * 1/3 c. non-dairy or organic milk
    * 1 t. cinnamon
    * 2 t. vanilla extract
    * 1/2 t. almond extract
    * 1/3 c. frozen blueberries

Instructions

    * Using a high-speed blender, coffee or spice mill, grind 1/2 c. of buckwheat groats into a fine flour. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
    * Add remaining whole buckwheat groats, “eggs,” chia seeds, baking powder, applesauce, stevia, milk, cinnamon, vanilla and almond extract and stir until just combined.
    * Divide batter into small bowls or ramekins that have been lightly greased or sprayed with cooking spray.
    * Divide frozen blueberries between each bowl or ramekin and plop right on top.
    * Microwave each bowl for 1 minute and 30 seconds to 1 minute and 45 seconds, until cake is firm.
    * Serve cakes in dishes or plate and top with jelly, vegan or organic cream cheese or butter, nut butters.

I am new to this site, food storage, AND to cooking. I am looking for a beginners wheat bread, if there is such thing as a beginners bread recipe. I've never made bread before and I do not have any fancy smancy cooking tools like the bread machine or kitchen aid. So something that can be made with a couple of bowls and a roller would be perfect.

thanks

dallaspjohnson@rocketmail.com wrote:

I am looking for a beginners wheat bread, if there is such thing as a beginners bread recipe.  

The following is the basic bread recipe that I use all the time. I make this bread by hand, no spiffy machines necessary.

Ingredients
2.5 teaspoons yeast
1 tsp sugar
1.25 tsp salt
1 cup warm water  
1/4 cup molasses (you can play with this, I've used maple syrup as well)
1/4 cup oil  
1/4 milk of some sort (cows or plant milk. the original recipe has soy/rice milk)
3.5 cups flour (this is with wheat and all purpose mixed, I use 3cups or a little less for all wheat)

Directions
-  mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. The yeas will start to bubble. Let this sit for a few minutes, this is called proofing
- put in the rest of the ingredients with a sturdy spoon
- kneading is not as difficult as it sounds. plop the dough out on an oiled clean counter. knead for aprox 7 minutes.  
- plop the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover with a cloth for one hour or until double its size. (reminder: dough rises best in a warm place, the warmer the better. If you live in a cold area then you may need to put in a warmed oven)

- put the dough back on the counter. you only need to knead it a couple of times here. shape the dough into the size of your bread pan. make sure the pan is oiled
- let it rise for another 30min-1hr
- preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 40min-1hr  
- let the bread cool and then have at it

this was adapted from http://spoofygirl.blogspot.com/2007/02/honey-wheat-bread-recipe-vegan.html: the most simple recipe that I've been able to find ;)

I am trying to learn how to use my food storage and could use all the advise I can get. For instance does FD sweet corn tast good as a side dish alone or does everything always have to be a casserole, stew or soup?