Recipes from SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009

Basic Grain Mix

1 –5 parts Wheat
1 part Oat Groats or rolled oats
1 part Barley
1 part Rye
1 part Brown Rice
1 part Millet
1 part Corn

After grinding store in freezer.

Carrot Cake

1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup Honey
3 cups Grated Carrots
1 tsp Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 t sp Nutmeg
1 tsp Vanilla
3 Cups Grain Mix Flour
15 oz can crushed Pineapple
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 Walnuts (chopped)

Mix together. Bake in a greased 9”13” pan for 60 minutes at 325. Frost cake when cooled with Cream cheese frosting

Bob's Red Mill Bran Flax Muffins

1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
3/4 cup oat bran
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cup carrots shredded
2 apples peeled and shredded
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup nuts chopped
3/4 cup soy milk
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together flour, flax meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, ,salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts. Combine milk, beaten eggs and vanilla. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir until ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350*F for 15-20 minutes. Yields 15 medium muffins.

Granola (low fat)

Mix 10 cups rolled oats and bran, wheat germ, etc if desired), 1/2 lb. coconut, and chopped nuts. Mix and heat together: 1 cup honey, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup water. When hot, add 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour liquid over oat blend, and mix. Bake at 300 degrees in shallow baking pans until lightly browned, stirring a time or two during baking. Add dried fruits if desired. Variation: add one 18 oz. box corn flakes to oats.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust/Breadsticks

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ( can use 1 1/4 cups white flour and 2 cups wheat)

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, Stir in oil and salt, then mix in the flour until dough starts to come together. Knead dough until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Cover loosely with a towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Roll out dough Bake 500 degrees for 4 minutes and then put the ingredients on and baked it for an additional 6 minutes at 425 degrees. Or until cheese is melted.

Barley Burger Stew

1/4 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 1/4 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup medium pearl barley
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook beef, onion and celery until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato juice, water, barley, chili powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until barley is tender.

Cooking Oats (breakfast oatmeal)

Measure water, bring to boil in saucepan. If desired, add ¼ tsp. salt to water. Add oats, stir, return to boil. Cover and simmer until tender. Serve with milk and sugar.

Oats, rolled, quick cooking

1 ½ cups
3 cups water

Simmer 1 min. Let stand, covered, 3 min. Yield 3 cups

Oats, rolled, regular (old fashioned)

1 2/3 cups
3 cups water

Simmer 5-7 min. Let stand, covered, 3 min. Can cook in microwave, but need large container(boils over easily)

Variations: brown sugar/ bananas/peaches, berries, also:
Apple-raisin: cook diced apples, raisins, cinnamon with oats. Opt. evap. milk for some of water.
Pumpkin: add pumpkin puree, opt. replace some water with coconut milk, add flax at end. Raw oats, diced apples, shredded coconut, honey; cooked in microwave until tender

Oatmeal Packets (involve the kids!)

Blend ½ cup oats until powdery. Into each of 10 zippered sandwich bags combine:
¼ cup regular oats ¼ tsp. salt, 2 T. powdered oats.
To use: Empty packet into bowl and add ½ c. boiling water and stir until thick.

Variations: to each packet add:
Apple Cinnamon: 1 T. sugar, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, 2 T. chopped, dried apples
Cinnamon-spice: 1 T. sugar, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Raisins and brown sugar: 1 T. packed brown sugar, 1 T. raisins
Wheat germ: 2 T. any kind of wheat germ

Whole Wheat Zucchini-Oat Cookies

½ cup margarine
½ tsp. baking soda
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 ¼ cup quick oats
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
2 cups grated zucchini
½ c. coconut
½ c. chocolate chips or raisins

Beat margarine, sugar, egg, and vanilla until fluffy. Mix in zucchini, then dry ingredients. Add raisins or chocolate chips last. Peanuts are also good.

Oat Flour

Can make oat flour and substitute for part of wheat flour. Fruit crisp, oatmeal cookies, oat pie crust work well with all wheat flour substituted with oat flour. In products like fruit cookies(pumpkin, banana, etc), muffins, quick breads, oat flour by itself is gummy, dense. Best to use combination of flours (wheat/oat, or oat/rice/bean flour, etc.) Note: rolled oats not ground into flour can be used to substitute a portion of wheat flour in a recipe, just use 2 times rolled oats as wheat flour called for. Oat flour: blend rolled or quick oats(not instant oatmeal) in blender until course flour consistency.

Garbanzo-Oat or Lentil-Oat Waffles

1 cup oats (old fashioned or rolled quick oats)
½ cup garbanzo bean flour, or lentil bean flour: grind dry in VitaMix, or blender (will be coarse)
1 ¼ cup water
1 T oil
2 tsp honey
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder

Grind oats in blender to make flour. Add other ingredients and blend. Let sit for a few minutes, then blend again for a couple seconds. Pour into heated, oiled waffle iron. You may replace the water with one egg.

Note: you can interchange several kinds of lentils (red, brown, etc) or yellow split peas.

See Melissa’s blog for more recipes using oat flour/oats at http://wheatdairyeggnutfree.blogspot.com/

Substutiting with Oat Flour (SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009)

You can make oat flour and substitute it for wheat flour. Fruit crisp, oatmeal cookies, oat pie crust work well with all wheat flour substituted with oat flour. In products like fruit cookies (pumpkin, banana, etc), muffins, quick breads, oat flour by itself is gummy or dense. For these items, it's best to use combination of flours (wheat/oat, or oat/rice/bean flour, etc.).

Rolled oats (not ground) can be used to substitute a portion of wheat flour in a recipe. Use 2 times the rolled oats as wheat flour called for.

Substituting with Flax (SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009)

Egg Substitution

1 T. flaxmeal/ground flax
3 T. warm water

Mix, let stand 10 min. to gel.

or

1 T whole flaxseed
1/2 c water

bring to boil then cook 5-7 minutes on LOW heat, until egg white consistency.

Note: Product will be chewier and less volume. You can use a combination of egg substitutes if desire more volume. See Melissa’s blog for more information.

Replacing Fat

3:1 ratio (add 3 times more flaxseed as the amount of fat you’re replacing). For example, 1 ½ cups flaxseed replaces ½ cup butter. You can substitute all or part of fat, depending on recipe. However, product browns more rapidly if using flaxseed instead of cooking oil

If substituting all of fat in recipe, increase liquid by 75% of the amount of ground flax you are adding, because flaxseed will absorb moisture.

Flour substitution

Many recipes may substitute 1/4 up to 1/3 of the flour with ground flaxseed. For example. Muffins with 2 cups of whole wheat flour would be: 1½ ccups whole wheat flour and ½ cup ground flaxseed.

For lots of recipes and more on flax meal, visit Eggless Cooking, click on the “Egg Substitutes” tab, and select “Flax Seed Meal Recipes.”

Wheat, Barley, Oats & Flax (SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009)

Wheat

• Start the day with whole grains. If you're partial to hot cereals, try old-fashioned or steel-cut oats. If you're a cold cereal person, look for one that lists whole wheat, whole oats, or other whole grain first on the ingredient list.
• Use whole grain breads for lunch or snacks. Check the label to make sure that whole wheat or another whole grain is the first ingredient listed.
• Bag the potatoes. Instead, try brown rice or even "newer" grains like bulgur, wheat berries, millet, or hulled barley with your dinner.
• Pick up some whole wheat pasta. If the whole grain products are too chewy for you, look for those that are made with half whole-wheat flour and half white flour.
• Bring on the beans. Beans are an excellent source of slowly digested carbohydrates as well as a great source of protein.

www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/

Wheat, Why is it so Good?

Wheat is packed with vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately, processing used to produce and refine white flour removes most of the valuable nutrients. Wheat kernels have three main divisions; the bran, the endosperm, and the inner embryo or wheat germ. The bran layer constitutes 14% of the wheat kernel and is removed when producing white flour. The bran is packed with vitamins A, C, and E, calcium, iron, and iodine. The bran also happens to be the best source of dietary fiber which aids in digestion and helps ward off disease. The wheat germ layer is an excellent source of vitamin E, as well as other vitamins and protein. Many important nutrients are removed when layers are separated during processing. For this reason, it makes sense to put whole wheat back into your diet. Pound for pound, wheat is one of the least expensive foods available. And, since grain products will expand in your stomach--satisfying you even if you eat less--using wheat products can help you stretch your budget by elimieliminating the need for store-bought, overpriced, and over-processed goods. If you are concerned that your food storage may be lacking in protein, a good supply of wheat and beans will form a complete protein. Just a half cup of uncooked wheat contains 8 to 10 grams of protein. So, not only will wheat give you the protein needed for muscle growth and repair, but you will have a low-fat complex carbohydrate to give your body the energy it needs to make it through the day.

www.beprepared.com

Whole Grains vs Refined Grains

Whole grains haven't had their bran and germ removed by milling, making them better sources of fiber — the part of plant-based foods that your body doesn't digest. Among many health benefits, a high-fiber diet also tends to make a meal feel more filling and linger longer, so you stay full for a greater amount of time. Refined grains, such as white rice or white flour, have both the bran and germ removed from the grain. Although vitamins and minerals are added back into refined grains after the milling process, they still don't have as many nutrients as whole grains do, and they don't provide as much fiber. Rice, bread, cereal, flour and pasta are all grains or grain products. Eat whole grain versions — rather than refined grains — as often as possible.

www.mayoclinic.com/health/whole-grains/NU00204

Whole Grains

• Barley
• Brown rice
• Buckwheat
• Bulgur (cracked wheat)
• Millet
• Oatmeal
• Popcorn
• Whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers
• Wild rice

Refined Grains

• Corn flakes
• Couscous
• Enriched macaroni or spaghetti
• Grits
• Pretzels
• White bread (refined)
• White rice

Barley

Unlike many grains which contain fiber only in the outer bran layer, barley contains fiber throughout the entire kernel. So whether it’s whole grain or processed barley products, dietary fiber, including beta-glucan soluble fiber, is available in amounts that have a positive impact on improving blood glucose levels. Barley also helps lower cholesterol. It is a great addition to any diet. It’s easy to include barley in a healthful and delicious diet. Choose barley flakes for a hardy cooked breakfast cereal. Add pearl or whole grain barley kernels to your favorite soups, stews, casseroles and salads. Or use cooked pearl or whole grain barley kernels as a fiber-rich addition to your favorite stir-fry or Chinese take-out entrees.

www.barleyfoods.org/nutrition.html#q1

Oats

The same soluble fiber found in oats that reduces cholesterol can also benefit those who suffer from type 2 diabetes. People who eat oatmeal or oat bran-rich foods experience lower spikes in their blood sugar levels than they could get with a low fiber food like white rice, white bread, or regular pasta. "The soluble fiber slow the rate at which food leaves the stomach and delays the absorption of glucose following a meal." One recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a low intake of cereal fiber to be inversely associated with a risk for diabetes. The authors conclude : "these findings suggest that grains should be consumed in a minimally refined form to reduce the incidence of diabetes mellitus." They also found a significant inverse association with cold breakfast cereals and yogurt and, not surprisingly, a significant positive association with colas, white bread, white rice, french fries, and cooked potatoes. The more you eat of the latter, the greater your risk for diabetes.

If you walk down the cereal aisle in your local grocery store you will probably notice many cereal boxes or instant oatmeal boxes claiming their cholesterol lowering abilities. This is bringing many consumers attention to the power of oats. The specific fiber beta glucan- in oats is the soluble fiber that seems responsible for this benefit. Many studies have shown that in individuals with high cholesterol, consuming just 3 grams of soluble oat fiber per day- or roughly the amount in a bowl of oatmeal can lower total cholesterol by 8 to 23 percent.

Oats' Powerful Phytochemicals

Oats also contain a great source of phytonutrients which help prevent disease. The germ and bran of oats contain a concentrated amount of phytonutrients, including caffeic acid and ferulic acid. Ferulic acid has been the focus of recent research that shows promising evidence of its ability to prevent colon cancer. It has been found to be a powerful antioxidant that is able to scavenge free radicals and protect against oxidative damage. It also seems to have the ability to inhibit the formation of certain cancer-promoting compounds.

www. amberharman.blogspot.com/2007/07/super-food-day-4-oats.html
Pratt, S.G., K. Matthews (2004). SuperFoods Rx Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life.
New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Flaxseed: Nutritious and Versatile

Flax seeds offer a lot of nutritional benefits in a small package. Flax seeds have vitamins, minerals and healthy poly-unsaturated fatty acids. A large amount of the essential fatty acids found in flax seed oil are omega 3 essential fatty acids which have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular risk. Flax seeds also provide fiber for healthy digestion and freshly ground flax seed is an excellent source of lignans. Lignans from flax seed can help restore hormonal balance.

www. nutrition.about.com/b/2006/01/24/flax-seed-nutrition.html

Using Flax

• Maximum nutrition: freshly ground. Whole seeds are not digested completely. Pre-ground seeds lose nutrition as they sit.
• Purchase whole, grind with coffee grinder or cereal grinder, or VitaMix Machine.
• Sprinkle on prepared foods, for flavor and nutrition: Oatmeal, granola, yogurt, smoothies, stir-fry, salads, soups, buttered bagel, applesauce
• Baking with flax gives a “Nutty” flavor. Great in waffles, pancakes, bran muffins, breads, oatmeal cookies.
• Use as an egg substitution (See Melissa’s blog at wheatdairyeggnutfree.blogspot.com)
• Excellent “binder,” holds product together.
• Use in waffles, muffins, cookies, quick breads. Try meatloaf, crumb-coated chicken tenders

Couponing 101

For those of you interested in couponing, here are some helpful blogs and websites. These are all FREE sites! Please DO NOT sign up for any paying site or subscribe to the newspaper until you have researched this for yourself and want to pay the extra money for someone to tell you what to buy and when to buy it. Remember not to buy anything that you don't use. Even if it's on sale, it's still wasting money if you don't ever use it! One mom paid $85 for multiple subscriptions to the newspaper for 3 months! That would require a LOT of couponing to make up for this cost!

If your grocery bill is high, I would recommend shopping sales (such as the Case Lot sale at Smith's) and price matching at Walmart FIRST. After mastering these, I would try couponing :)
Try just buying a single Sunday paper for a couple of weeks. A lot of the Sunday coupons that come aren't for food items, so keep that in mind. Most of the grocery coupons are found online at Grocery Smarts. These are also FREE to print!

Kira from the Greenway Self-Reliant Sisters says:

"I would like to point out one thing, a lot of the coupons & great deals mentioned on the shop smart in Vegas coupon really aren't always good deals. Sometimes it takes rolling lots of transactions & lots of coupons to get the same kind of deal that I normally go for (ie - 10 cents an ounce on cereal) and sometimes a lot of the things that they are buying aren't things I normally would want to stock up on a ton of in the house (warm delights/brownie mixes, pre-made chex mix, etc.)."

Here is a great article called "How Much Are Your Coupons Costing You". It gives great ideas on how to get coupons, not just from the Sunday paper.

At Coupon Mom she has 3 FREE e-books that you can download to explain that basics of couponing.

Couponing/Frugal Websites

• Living on a Dime
• Like Merchant Ships
• A Thrifty Mom
• Frual Living (About.com)
• Shop Smart in Vegas
• Couponing 101
• Coupon Mom
• Northern Cheapskate

Printable Coupon:

• Grocery Smarts
• Betty Crocker
• Pillsbury

Most coupons can be printed twice. If you have multiple computers, you can print these twice from each computer!! Be smart with your money & good luck!!

Menu Planning with Food Storage (SRS Meeting - March 5, 2009)

Dinner? It's in the Bag!

Rachelle planned a months worth of meals using Pantry & Food Storage items. Here are some of her forms to share with you! Decide how many times a year you will serve each recipe. To avoid appetite fatigue, choose at least 2 weeks of different main dish options. Input your options on the options page. Then use your options page to complete your monthly menu page.

• Monthly Menu - Food Storage Rotation (Sample)
• Monthly Menu - Food Storage Rotation (Blank)
• Meal Options (Sample)
• Meal Options (Blank)

Meal Planning and Food Storage Recipe Books:

• Emergency Food In A Nutshell
  By Leslie D. Probert and Lisa L. Harkness
  Amazon.com


• Pantry Cooking by Laura Robins
  Amazon.com


• Dinner? It’s in the Bag! ($12.00)
  By Christine J. VanWagenen
  Printed by: Help U Mail
  10291 South 1300 East
  Sandy, Utah 84094
  (801) 571-1441
  *There are a few fresh ingredients in these recipes that must be converted to food storage items.


• Menus At A Glance (Downloadable book)
  By Shanna L. Christ
  1 - Dividers
  2 - Menus
  3 - Grocery List
  4 - Canning
  5 - Sprouting
  6 - Cooking Helps
  7 - Entrees
  8 - Supplemental Foods


• Bee Prepared ($10.00)
  By Christine J. VanWagenen
  Printed by: Help U Mail
  10291 South 1300 East
  Sandy, Utah 84094
  (801) 571-1441

Meal Planning and Food Storage Recipe Websites:

• The Prudent Homemaker - Brandy features recipes for each season of the year.


• Everyday Food Storage
• Food Storage Made Easy - Decide how many times a year you will serve each recipe. To avoid appetite fatigue, choose at least 2 weeks of different main dish options. Input your options on the options page. Then use your options page to complete your monthly menu page. You can use the forms included or reference forms found here. This website also features forms you can print out, or an excel spreadsheet that helps you inventory your ingredients and multiplies it and computes your shopping list for one to three months.

Price Matching & Case Lot Sale (SRS Meeting - March 5, 2009)

Price Matching Rules

• Walmart is the only grocery store (currently) that will Price Match.
• You must have your ads with you.
• Walmart will price match grocery ads & Sunday newspaper ads (Best Buy, Walgreens, CVS, Office Max, etc).
• Item must be identical to the sale item in the ad (meaning same brand, size, type, etc).
• Walmart WILL price match Store Brands. For example - Walmart will match Kroger/Smiths bread on sale for Walmarts "Great Value" Bread.
• Walmart will only price match printed (not online) ads.
• Walmart will take manufacturers coupons, but not other stores coupons.
• If a printed ad says (limit 2), then you will only be able to price match 2 of that item. Of course you can always buy 2 more the next day...
• Walmart will not price match "Buy one get one Free" or any other type of BOGO sales.
• Walmart will not price match items that come with an instant rebate/savings, or other such item.
• Walmart will not price match meats and chicken if it comes from the Smiths/Albertsons butcher shop. Well, sometimes (very rarely) they will, but I wouldn't count on it!
• Each Walmart manager sets the limits on which stores they will price match from. Walmarts will NOT price match ads from stores that are MILES away. So don't expect to bring an ad from Utah (to Nevada) and get those prices :)

Price Matching Guidelines

Holly is the queen of price matching. Here she shares her tips on price matching.

• Go when the lines are not busy and without children if possible.
• Shop on the same day and try to go to the same cashier.
• Price match at the end of the order & let the cashier know you will be price matching. Separate them with a bar or a space on the grocery belt.
• Tell the person behind you that you will be price matching. This way they won't get irritated if you take a little longer than normal. (hopefully)
• Many Walmarts are MUCH friendlier at price matching than other Walmarts. Know your stores. The neighborhood Walmart at Stephanie/American Pacific & Warm Springs/Eastern are great to price match at. The Super Walmart is much stricter (and not as friendly).
• Bring your ads & have them ready!! Holly circles the items that she is price matching, so she is able to show the checker quickly if needed.
• Be Organized! On my grocery list I circle the items that I am price matching in green. That way, when the checker asks me what the price of milk is, I can quickly check my list for the correct price. I'm sure Holly doesn't need to do this, she has all prices memorize :)
• Be courteous! Don't demand that an item be price matched. If they say no, you can either buy it at regular price or try again at a different Walmart or another day with a different cashier.
• Know what dates the ads start and end.

Nevada's Grocery Ads run:

• Albertsons, Food 4 Less, Fresh & Easy, Kmart, Smiths & Vons: Wednesday - Tuesday
• Kings Ranch: Tuesday - Monday
• Sunflower Market: Wednesday - Wednesday

Price Matching Prices

Each week I feature our "Grocery Deals of the Week". These are a basic price guideline to follow on things like chicken, ground beef, fruits and vegetables. It is not a complete list of all the good deals that week, although I wish I was grocery savvy enough to do that for you. SO, here are some guidelines for YOU to follow in order to get the best deals with price matching.

• Know your prices. Sometimes the "Everyday Low Price" at Walmart is cheaper than the sale price at other stores.
• Know your price point. Holly will not pay more than .50 for fruit, .08 oz for cereal and $1.50 for boneless skinless chicken breasts & ground beef. My price point is higher than that, so set your price point and watch for your items to hit that price.
• Stock up when the items you regularly use hits it's lowest price. I usually buy 20 lbs of chicken/ground beef when it goes on sale. For dry/canned goods, I will buy as much I think we'll use before it hits the expiration date.
• Sales usually run in a 12 Week Cycle. So about every 12 weeks chicken/meat/etc. will be on sale again. If you can't afford to buy a ton of a sale item, try to buy enough to last you for 12 weeks.
• Seasonal Items. There are certain times of the year that items will hit their lowest price. Thanksgiving - turkey & baking items, August - back to school items, etc. For a more detailed list click here.
• Don't buy something just because it's on sale. At one of the Smiths sales I bought 45 cans of Campbell's Chunky Soup because it was on sale for .66 cents a can. We don't even eat Campbell's soup, so I ended up donating it to the food bank.

The Smith's (grocery store) has a case lot sale twice a year. This usually happens right around General Conference (April and October). The case lot sale has deep discounts on different grocery items when you buy them by the case. When the case lot sale comes out, we will be posting what the great deals are. Sometimes a few of the items on sale are a not a good deal.

CASE LOT SALE GUIDELINES

• Buy what your family will eat.
• Just because an item is featured in the case lot sale, does not mean it is a great price.
• Set extra money aside each month for the case lot sale.
• Be aware of your limits. (example: Limit 2 cases)
• Do not plan on rain checks. Go early and take friends.