Green Bean Salad (with Wheat Berries!)

picture from Food Network Magazine (taken with my iPhone)

Simple Green Bean Salad 
by Alex Guarnaschelli

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup wheat berries, soaked in water overnight, drained and thoroughly dried
Salt
3 1/2 cups water
1 pound small green beans, washed, tips snapped off by hand or cut off
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper

Put a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, remove the pan from the heat and add the wheat berries, then put back over the heat. Add a pinch of salt and allow the berries to toast. Add the water and cook until they start to break apart, about 45 minutes. Taste. They should be chewy but firm. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pot large enough to hold about 6 quarts of water, to a boil over medium heat. Add salt until the water tastes like mild seawater. How will you know? Taste a drop of water.

Prepare an ice bath by filling a bowl, large enough to hold the green beans, with cold water. Add some ice cubes and line with a strainer. Stir the green beans into the ice bath to awaken any beans that are limp. Strain and add them to the boiling water. Cook the beans for 2 to 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove them from the water, transferring them immediately to the same ice bath. Allow them to sit in the ice bath for a few minutes, swirling them gently in the water to assure they are all cooling in the cold water.

Transfer the green beans to a kitchen towel and pat dry. Transfer them to a serving bowl and refrigerate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sherry and balsamic vinegar. Season the dressing with salt and pepper, to taste, and set aside.

When ready to serve, add the wheat berries to the beans and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve immediately.

Dress to Skirt Refashion

Finished skirt with purchased top.

I bought the dress (below) from Savers, a local thrift store.  The top was a little immodest for our taste, but I knew it would make a super cute skirt!

$3.99 with 50% off, made it only $2.00!!

Here is the back

I cut off the entire top...

folded over the edge to make a casing for the elastic.

Holly suggested using the top as a pocket on the skirt. 

I think it turned out darling.

Stephanie's Pasta Fazool

This is my little Italian great-nana's recipe. In standard Italian, it is called pasta e fagioli, which means "pasta and beans". Fasul is the Neopolitan Italian pronunciation. In America, it became "fazool". It is a peasant dish and makes a filling hot lunch or dinner for your 3 month pantry supply.

2 T. vegetable oil
2 T. fresh chopped onion or 1 t. dry chopped onion
1 t. minced garlic or 1/2 t. dry minced onion
Crushed hot seed pepper, to taste
15oz can pork 'n beans
8oz can tomato sauce
2 cups dry macaroni noodles
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese, to taste

In saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and add onion, garlic and hot seed pepper. Fry until golden. Add tomato sauce and pork 'n beans. Heat until hot, adding salt, pepper and Parmesan to taste.

Boil macaroni according to box directions until al dente. Drain.

Combine macaroni with bean sauce and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

Beans & Tortillas (Repost)

Here is Tonya with her video on how to make Beans, Tortillas & Refried Beans.

Mexican Pinto Beans
A tasty way to use the dry beans in your food storage!

1 lb (2 cups) of dry pinto beans
1 can of roast beef, not drained
1 small can of tomato sauce
½ can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
¼ of a bell pepper, diced
2 TBSP dehydrated onions
1 tsp "Better Than Bullion" paste in beef flavor (beef bullion cube also works)
1 tsp ground cumin, or to taste
Mexican oregano, to taste
garlic salt, to taste

Garnish
Chopped cilantro
Diced green onion
Diced white or yellow onion
Diced tomatoes
Cotija cheese

Rinse and sort beans, discard any foreign objects or suspicious beans. Place beans in a large bowl and cover with 3-4 inches in water, soak over night (6-8 hours). Pour out soaking water and rinse beans again. Place beans in a large pot (with a lid) and cover with 2 inches of water; bring to a boil not covered, stirring occasionally. Cover with lid askew to vent, turn down heat, and let beans simmer for 1 ½ hours, occasionally stirring.

Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to simmer and stir until beans are very tender and water has boiled off to the desired consistency, about 1-2 hours. As a note, water can be added or scooped out to reach desired consistency. Spoon beans into bowls, top with garnish and sprinkle with cotija cheese.

Refried Beans

1-2T chorizo, to taste
1-2 cups of beans from Mexican pinto beans
Juice from Mexican pinto beans
milk

Brown the chorizo in a sauce pan over medium heat. With a slotted spoon scoop out some of the beans, about 1-2 cups depending on how much you want to make. Turn heat down to med-low. Use a potato masher to mash beans and incorporate chorizo. Stir in juice from beans and milk in small amounts till beans become smooth and are just beginning to simmer. You can make beans as thick or smooth as you like.

Homemade Tortillas

Put the flour in your food storage to good use by rolling out your own tortillas. Some of the flour in this recipe can be substituted with wheat flour.

2 cups white flour*
1t salt
¾ t baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
¾ cups warm water

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Slowly stir in water and fluff with fork until dough forms. Turn out onto floured surface. Kneed dough until it is smooth (about 10 times). Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Pinch off a small ball of dough and roll out on floured surface. Tortillas should be thin and elastic about 10 inches in diameter. Cook on stove top, in un-greased iron skillet, nonstick pan, or electric grilled. Cook on one side until just barely brown, flip once and brown other side. Keep a tooth pick near by to poke out any large air bubbles.

* or 1 1/3 cups white flour and 2/3 cups whole wheat flour

Lets Eat!

Winco - Bulk Storage Items & Containers!

.88 spice containers to fill with bulk spices

Many of you know that Winco foods just opened in Henderson!  Tonya went to check it out was sweet enough to take these pictures of their bulk spice and container section!

The water containers are $5.98 each and below those are the spigots, openers, etc for the water containers & buckets.

2 gallon buckets are $2.48 each and 5 gallon are $4.38 each.

Gamma lids for $6.98 each

The prices for these items are cheaper than Emergency Essentials, but not sure how they compare to Industrial Containers located in Utah.  Make sure to check it out!!

Tour The Prudent Homemaker's Garden!

Want a beautiful, edible landscape here in the desert?  Learn how! 

 Garden Tour and Class! 

 Come tour The Prudent Homemaker’s Garden!

 www.theprudenthomemaker.com 

 Saturday, March 10th 

 10 am to 12 noon 

 Cost: $10 

 To reserve a spot, send an email to brandy (at) theprudenthomemaker (dot) com 

Class is limited to 35 adults. As we tour the garden, you will learn about dirt, drip irrigation, watering times, growing food year-round, pruning fruit trees, getting rid of bugs, mixing food and flowers to create an edible landscape, fruit tree selections for the desert, how to make use of the walls for growing space, and more.

Double the Value Coupons!!!

***Please note these pictures are from the June ad***
***Current Double Coupons run from 2/1 to 2/14***

In this weeks grocery ads, Albertsons has a "Book of Savings".  

On the back cover are two "Double the Value" coupons!!  

Sarah from A Thrifty Mom shows her Albertsons "Double Deals" on her website.  Although her deals are only for the Idaho area and from weeks previous, this is a great idea of what you can do.  Towards the bottom on the post are the "Doubling Guidelines" that apply to all Albertsons.  She also lists Albertsons Coupon Policy as well.

Double Coupons are valid from 2/1 to 2/14