Picnic Cake

1 3/4 cup boiling water
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour boiling water over butter and oatmeal in mixing bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add sugars and mix well using a spoon (not a mixer). Add eggs and mix. Add dry ingredients and 1/2 of chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and 1/2 cup brown sugar over top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN CAKE

So, I know pumpkin is a little out of season but I had a can I had to use in the pantry and love this recipe....
Happy Baking :) - MichelleL.

Ingredients:

CAKE

1 C BUTTERMILK

*(I didn't have buttermilk so I used 1 cup of milk & 4 tbsp. vinegar - worked great!)

1 C WATER

2/3 C COOKING OIL

2 C SUGAR

2 EGGS

1 TSP. BAKING SODA

1/2 TSP. SALT

2 C. FLOUR

3/4 C UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER

PUMPKIN CREAM FILLING

1 8oz CREAM CHEESE, SOFTENED

1/3 C CANNED PUMPKIN

1/4 C SUGAR

1/4 TSP. CINNAMON

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

1/2 C WHIPPING CREAM

4 oz SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE, CHOPPED

1. Grease and flour round 9" baking pans; preheat oven to 350


2. In large bowl combine cake ingredients in order listed and whisk until well combined. Divide batter between prepared pans.


3. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes till top springs back. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.


4. Prepare pumpkin cream filling. Place one cake layer on plate and spread filling over top and top with second cake layer.


5. Make chocolate glaze. Bring whipping cream to boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate (DO NOT STIR). Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir till smooth. Cool another 15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour over cake, allowing glaze to drip down sides. Chill until set, about 30 minutes. (*watch the glaze, I always let it cool too long and it gets too thick....still works though)

Indian Food

This is for you Ang...
If you haven't ever had Indian Food try it, it's amazing and this recipe is easy to make.

Chicken Tikka Masala
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cayenne pepper (this will be hot, I only add about 1/4 tsp because of the kids)
2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger (I used bottled and it was fine)
1 tsp salt
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Combine all ingredients except chicken. Pour sauce over chicken and refrigerate for one hour. Grill or cook chicken in frying pan. Discard marinade.

*I've done it both ways, but cutting the chicken before marinading is much less messy.












1 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalepeno pepper finely chopped (I leave out)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup cream
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for one minute. Season with cumin, paprika and salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve over hot rice.

*Basmati rice is the type the Inidian restaurants use, but we have used regular rice once in a bind and it was fine. We all agree that the Basmati rice is better though. This can be a little more expensive, but I found a small bag at the Walmart Market for $3.99 and it was great!
Also if you're wondering if your family will like this, you might be suprised. My kids love it and eat a ton of it and trust me they are very picky!
Indian food is usually served with Naan. At the restaurants you scoop your chicken and rice onto the bread and it's wonderful!
I tried this recipe and it was easy enough, but it does make a lot of Naan
(by the way, Naan is like a flatbread or pita).

Naan
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 egg beaten
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup melted butter

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, intil the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. roll into balls and place on a tray. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

*no picture, sorry
I have another recipe that doesn't make as many, but I haven't tried it. If it's better I'll post it later.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Yummy....The kids loved these mini muffs they make a great snack!
1 1/4 cup oats
1 cup whhole wheat flour (or white)
1/3 cup chopped pecans (didn't have any this time)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes ( I used Pumpkin)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Topping
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. pecans ( I used chopped almonds)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
350 18-22 min
I made mini muffins and they were perfect no dry at all!

Stephanie's Kitchen

Heads up to a web site mentioned today on KSL Studio 5. Stephanie's Kitchen, what a fun site full of beautiful pictures and recipes on her blog. The items look mouth watering and yummy. Makes me want to run to my kitchen and get baking. Check her out for some fun ideas. www.stephanieskitchen.com

Getting Prepared

It's the start of a new year...time to get prepared! Each month we will focus on a different items you need to supplement your 72 hour kits, 3 month supply and long-term storage. This will be ongoing, so join in when you can. When we are finished we'll start over again. The items for the month will be posted along the sidebar (right side) and will be added to each month. If you have ideas or recipes that go along with the items focused on each month feel free to share with everyone!

Wheat

For those of you that missed the wheat class (which is pretty much everyone), here is the info we talked about along with some tried and true recipes. Wheat can be intimidating, and we may not know what to do with it if we have it in storage, but it really is easy to incorporate into our diets. Here is some info to help you get started.

• We all know the health benefits of wheat, we have discussed it at a previous enrichment activity (thanks Angie and Pepper). It is an important thing to add to our diet, but introduce it slowly if you don't consume it on a regular basis. I'll save you the details... but wheat will make you very "regular" if you know what I mean, so introducing it gradually will let your body adjust to it.
• Here is a breakdown of some of the wheat terminology so we know what some of the recipes are talking about. The wheat we buy from the store, cannery, etc is called either wheat berries or the kernel. Sprouted wheat is wheat that has sprouted from the kernel after being soaked in water. This can be used in salads, soups, in place of rice or in any other recipe you think would work. Bulgar is wheat that has been soaked and then baked to speed up the cooking time. This can also be served like rice. Cracked Wheat is a wheat berry that has been broken down into small pieces. You can crack uncooked wheat berries in a food grinder or processor.
• The flour we buy at the store has preservatives added to it so it can be stored at room temperature for a long time. When you make your own wheat flour or crack your wheat it obviously has no preservatives, so it won't last as long. If you keep it too long it will go rancid and smell bad. I don't know a definite time, but I have kept it for a few months with no problems. It just won't last years like the flour from the store. Anytime you have cracked wheat or flour and you don't use it all you can store it in the freezer in a sealed container to make it last longer. lds.org says the storage on wheat is 30 years, but it will last MUCH longer than that it will just start to loose some nutritional value after that long. Here is a rule of thumb though, anytime the outer shell is broken the 30 year rule doesn't apply any longer and must be used as discussed above.

Okay, so you have wheat now what do we do with it? There are two types of grinders: electric and manual. Both are just fine, you just need to weigh the pros and cons of each one. An electric is obviously quicker and easier and a manual is great for no electricity and quite a bit cheaper. Don't go out and buy one if you don't have one, I decided to ask for mine for Christmas because I wouldn't have been able to buy one right when I wanted it. If you don't have one there are still options to use wheat. You can soak wheat (sprout it) and make it into a hot cereal or into recipes as discussed above, you can crack it in your processor and also make this into cereal. This is similar to cream o wheat and we just add milk and either brown sugar or honey to sweeten it slightly. There are also a few blender recipes that you grind the wheat berries in. Any recipe that calls for flour would need to be done with a grinder though, so if you know someone with one go borrow theirs if you don't have one of your own.