And the Winner is...

Kelly in PA!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out how the winner was picked by heading over to Double Nickel Farm.

Using Your Food Storage: Pinto Beans

Storing food that you do not know how to use is a waste of time. Storing foods that have only one use can sometimes become frustrating. For awhile now I have been playing around with recipes to create unique foods or different foods from the same old ingredients. Pinto beans are a staple in the southwest and have been in my family since I married Bill. I love refried beans, cooked pinto beans, bean burritos, bean enchiladas, bean tacos, but wondered what else can I make that may not be specifically Mexican flavored?

Here is one recipe:

Pinto Bean Bread

Ingredients:

2 packets yeast(1 packet yeast =2 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 lukewarm water
1/2 cup evap.milk(I often use goat milk or powdered milk)
1 tbsp. salt
6- 7 cups flour
1 1/4 cup water(bean juice:) from making pinto beans
1 cup mashed beans
2 tbsp. shortening
2 tbsp. sugar

Directions:
Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Warm bean juice on low heat take off heat- add milk, oil, salt, sugar, mashed beans and 2-3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add yeast and more flour until dough is easily handled. Knead until smooth(5-10 minutes). Place in greased bowls and let rise until double in bulk. Punch down and let rise again. Shape and place in 2 greased bread pans. Let rise again.

Bake 40-45 min. at 375 F.

Pinto Bean Bread

I must confess using even the water that the beans were cooked in plays into my conservation as I love using everything and having little waste.

From the website WH Foods I found a wonderful amount of information about pinto beans and if you want to check out how great pinto beans are click here.

Another bread I make from a leftover item is rootbeer bread, as I make homemade rootbeer and always seem to have a few cups leftover. So I make rootbeer bread!

By the way, I love the way cooking affords a person to be unique. One can use round pans and create round loaves of bread, square pans or even the traditional bread pans. Living a simple life is not about less but about you and slowing down. As a prepper this will help you adapt if you do not have all the items you are comfortable with in a crises, as you are already used to baking with non traditional measures!!

Food Storage Giveaway! Enter today~

Augason Farms is a family owned business that began in 1972. This company offers dehydrated and freeze dried foods for your storage convenience. Double Nickel Farm is hosting not one but two separate giveaways! One is for the Breakfast Pack~ the other is for the Dinner Pack.

For this giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment. You may comment once a day on Double Nickel Farm and once a day on New Mexico Preppers for seven days...the winner of the Dinner Pack will be announced next Thursday April 29!

I have written often about preparing for times ahead. Augason Farms offers products that will enable you to do so, with products that are delicious, nutritious and prepared for a long shelf life. Properly stored these products can last from 20- 30 years!

Vegetable Stew Blend

Sweet Corn

Creamy Potato Soup

Vegetarian Beef

Honey White Bread and Roll Mix

Potato Gems

Don't forget the contest ends Wednesday April 28 at 11:59 pm.

Please remember that poor financial management by a government can and will impact its citizens. Now is the time to prepare for the worst and expect the best.


ps...the winner will need to forward me their email address and home address!

Have a Great Week!

Using Your Food Storage: Lentils

Lentils are an amazing food, and because of two important reasons are a superb item to be stored. The first reason they are so wonderful is the time it takes from dry lentil to tasty meal is less than 30 minutes-so speed of cooking(whereas most beans need to be pre-soaked). The second reason for lentils being a great food storage item is the nutritional value they offer.

In times of crises nutrition should not be overlooked as maintaining ones health is much more critical during crises. One cup of lentils provides about 2/3 of your daily fiber needs, about 40% of your daily iron needs, and over 100% of your A, C, and K vitamins needed.

For women menstruating, pregnant, or lactating lentils provide the boost of iron needed, as they do for children and teens need additional iron too.

Oh and lentils are very inexpensive! You need to do a few things in prep to cooking them. First lay them out on a white or light table or counter top so you can remove any rocks or debris from them. Then you need to rinse the lentils in a colander in cold water. Cooking lentils for me then is filling about 3 cups of water over the one cup of lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce temp for about 30 minutes. That's it!

Simply pour the lentils out to make sure they are free of debris

I love lentils as is with a bit of salt on them and this makes the storage, the prep, the cooking, and the eating as simple as pie!!

Even a simple serving of lentils can be elegant

1 Cup lentils uncooked

Equals this much cooked lentils!

Here are some lentil recipes for you to look over if you have not used lentils before:
Lentil Burgers
Different recipe Lentil Burgers
Curried Lentils
Mediterranean Lentil Salad
Barbeque Lentils
Pomagranate Lentil Soup
Dry Bean ABC Soup mix
and heres a link to many more

Winner Announced

The winner of the Breakfast Pack food combo held on Double Nickel Farm was Peggy. Click over to Double Nickel to see what to do next!

Thank you all for participating and stayed tuned later this week for the Dinner Pack combo giveaway!
Jennifer

Prepper's Rewards

Prepping to prepare for any situation does not mean that life is frantic and without relaxation and peaceful pleasures.

In fact, on my journey I discovered something enjoyed by many that have lived before me- the County Fair. Seems like nearly everywhere in the nation sometime from May to October a county fair is held.

In 2007 after raising our simple in town garden my daughter entered one item. She won Reserve Grand Champion, and I saw potential recognition for my efforts to live a more simple, humble life(which coincides with prepping).


Last year I entered many items in many categories. I entered canned food items, dried foods, baked goods...

Some received blue ribbons, some red ribbons, some white ribbons, and a few received no ribbons

My kids have entered for two years now, some baked goods, some hand crafted items.

Simple items

Items unique to our region grown in our tire garden

Roma tomatoes

Squash of many varieties

You see prepping in my opinion, and in my experience does not need to go with fear. I live my life each day prepping for many scenarios-weather related, health related, finance related and what ever, all the while staying focused on the path my family is on.

If one preps without living, what life has been traded for preparedness?
If one preps without the skills to utilize the items one has accumulated, how will one fair in a real crises?

The county fair has been where I have found that all the skills I am learning are recognized as important things. Every month I make things or learn new things to enhance my life on the farm. By late July I have a box of items that I save to enter in the fair. My work and my simple life has value of old. No trophy for everyone, no perfect crafting items that one picks up from a craft store. Nope, just items hand made by residents of the county. The neat thing is that your simple item with crooked lines may be displayed next to a seasoned seamstress, yet when you meet the seamstress she delights in your skill! Your canning skills most likely are new found if you are a prepper, so why not enter the food in the fair. You will be reassured that you on track and doing just fine. If you dried items/dehydrated items enter them in that category.

Oh and for those with animals, you can enter them in the fair. Depending on your county population depends on if you have adult divisions. No matter, find a local neighborhood kid and allow him or her to share in your entry. Many people come to the fair to see the animals, the crafts, the vegetables, and never make it to the rides or snack booths. Don't disappoint your fellow county residents, enter some of your prep items this summer in the fair. You'd be amazed at how that ribbon will bring out the kid in you once again!
Jennifer(30 plus years from kidville but loving life and the simplicity that a county fair blue ribbon offers)!

Making Flavored Coffee

Pecans- crack open, grind into fine powder.

Store crushed pecans in container...(an old coffee container works fine)
(don't you love my Art Deco period coffee canister?)

then when it it time to make the coffee, add a teaspoon or two to the coffee and enjoy!

*to store the ground pecans, I keep them in the freezer as it keeps them fresh for a long time.

Cooking With Food Storage: Powdered Milk

When storing food products one must understand how to use them. One product I had never used until about ten years ago was powdered milk. I never understood why one would use it, let alone need it. In baking milk is a necessity yet in a crises obtaining fresh milk may not be a possibility.

I store my powdered milk in food grade plastic bins and since they had directions on the original packing, I leave the directions inside. I also mark the contents on the outside of the bucket with a permanent marker(and also the expiration date).

To make I use a fruit juice container, and add a bit of water to the bottom before I add the powdered milk~ this makes mixing so much easier!

Finished powdered milk to milk. It does not taste exactly the same and must be chilled to kind of taste good...but to bake with it is perfect! Now to flavor the milk for wee ones(or not so wee ones) have powdered chocolate milk, powdered pink milk or even the liquid flavorings-although they do not have a long shelf life.


I made Chicken Pot Pie off the Bisquick box the other day. I used from my food storage powdered milk, canned peas, canned carrots, cream of chicken soup, and also thanks to living on the farm had farm fresh eggs, and fresh chicken.

I love that even a simple recipe from Bisquick can utilize your food storage.

Lunch on the farm: Chicken Pot Pie!

As I use powdered milk almost daily here are a few things that I have made this past week or so.

Braided Easter Bread(click for recipe)

Instant pudding

Do not be intimidated because you have not used the product...take the time this week to increase your knowledge on using powdered milk! I cannot stress enough that knowledge and skills are as important or more important as having food storage. One needs to know how to prepare food, store food, grow food long before a crises occurs!!

As a side note, once you are comfortable cooking from scratch, utilizing items from storage etc, then it is as easy to make pudding from the box, as it is to make Braided Easter bread. Now is the time to prep for any situation and one way is to master using items that can be stored for a long time.

Contest Begins~Good Luck

Go to Double Nickel Farm to enter to win the Breakfast Pack!

Stay tuned to recipe ideas and storage suggestions.
Jennifer

Major Food Storage Contest

Double Nickel Farm will be hosting 2 food storage giveaways in the next few weeks. Check in the next few days to see the rules and enter.

Prize 1 Breakfast Pack - 6 number ten cans of freeze dried strawberries, creamy wheat cereal, buttermilk pancakes, imitation bacon bits, and scrambled egg mix.

Prize 2 Dinner Pack- 6 number ten cans of Creamy potato soup, Imitation beef bits, potato gems, honey white bread and roll mix, freeze dried corn, and vegetable stew blend.

Check over the next few days...for the breakfast pack it is a $78.28 value and for the dinner pack it is $80.20 value!
Jennifer

Need More Proof Why You Need to Prep?

6.4 Billion dollars allocated to 440 Phantom Congressional Districts: Thanks Moe Lane for the video and work put in showing the citizens of the US what is going on in DC.

By the way this time in the video, the idiocy of our elected official is shown when the monies wasted , jobs lost and taxpayer dollars skimmed are all simply explained away because of clerical errors.


Don't you think that once the clerical error was noted, that the funds would be given back to say, you know, the taxpayer?

I have written much about what to prep, how to make homemade items such as deodorant, shampoo, breads, shared gardening, cooking from scratch, and animal tips. Now it is time to really get serious as to the why's one should prep.

We should prep because those who are running the show have banked on Americans remaining ignorant to their blatant theft of our money. No longer are there any shadows in Washington. Everything is out in the open and no one cares one iota what we the citizens think. With that I believe that they have tipped the scales so far that it will take years(if ever) to reset the weights. I also believe that the elected officials smell the sinking(perhaps are willingly complacent in bringing the destruction) and are stuffing their pockets with every grimy bit of coin that they can- American Citizen be damned.

For the record, I claim no political party anymore. I believe EVERY sitting member of Congress should be voted out when they come up for re-election. I also believe that term limits should be applied, as well as the removal of life time benefits(life insurance for one) be removed. This is the same as the job bank the Big Three Unions have...

Most Important Video Proof for the Need to Prep

This is one of the 535 that make all the decisions over you, me and the rest of the Americans-Rep. Hank Johnson is seen below questioning Adm. Robert Willard about the relocation of 8,000 troops and their families to Guam.

We are in more than a world of hurt as Rep. Hank Johnson D-4th district of Georgia shows us...through his incredible understanding of an island.

This man is not fit to be an elected official, and if I attended the university that he graduated from(with a degree in geology) I would burn my diploma.

Preparing takes on a whole new meaning when you factor in that some are not progressives trying to swoop in communism. No, some are so stupid that we are at risk of harm because of their stupidity.

Take serious this video, as you need to prep in earnest. Now is almost too late to prepare.

Jennifer