Crockpot Chili

I've been playing with this chili recipe. It's a good recipe because it can be made completely from stored items, assuming you have meat in the freezer.

3 cans pinto beans and 1 can kidney beans (I drained and rinsed 3 cans).

1 quart home-bottled tomatoes AND 1 small can diced tomatoes (could use 1 lg and 1 small can diced tomatoes if you don't have any home-bottled quarts).

1 small can of tomato sauce

1 pound hamburger, cooked with onion (I used dried onions)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

4 teaspoons chili powder

1 bay leaf

more dried onions (about 1/4 cup)

water, amount to be determined once everything is in the crockpot.

Instructions: Put all ingredients in a crockpot. It will be a little thick because it won't have much fluid in it. Add water to reach desired thickness. Cook on low setting for about 6-8 hours.

Bread Pans

I've been needing to buy 2 more bread loaf pans. I chose an expensive pan (Abt $15 each) sold at my local Bosch kitchen store. I couldn't be happier with what I chose. The bread cooked evenly, browned a little on the sides and bottom (but not too much), and came out easily.

This is an aluminized steel pan, NOT a non-stick pan. It is heavy duty and has a 25-year limited warranty. And, it can go in the dishwasher.

It's called Chicago Metallic Commercial. Here are the specs on the pan from
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=112083:

(I think Chicago Metallic also makes a nonstick pan, as well as a lot of other baking items. I'm happy enough with it that I'd buy again!)

Tip Abouty Oxygen Packs

I've learned a lesson from the School of Hard Knocks, and I thought I'd pass it along.

As you know, an oxygen pack has to be used in each #10 can when dry pack canning (except in those cans which contain sugar). The last two times I have bought my dry pack canning supplies at my local LDS Cannery for use at home with the home canning machine, I have made a HUGE mistake.

The mistake is that I had the volunteer vacuum seal ALL the oxygen packets in ONE of those airtight dry pack pouches. Once that pouch had been opened, the oxygen packs needed to be used quickly or they would have been rendered useless by having been activated. Thus, I was forced to can all my stuff at one time even though I had use of the home canner for 3-4 days.

So, the lesson I learned is that when doing large amounts of dry pack canning at home, I will ask the volunteer at the cannery to divide up my oxygen packs into smaller bunches and then seal each bunch in a separate pouch. This will allow me to open each pouch as needed and spread my canning out over the 3-4 days that I have use of the at-home canning machine.

Brilliant, eh?

Vital Wheat Gluten in Bulk

I have been very happy with the way Vital Wheat Gluten makes homemade whole wheat bread very light and fluffy. Initially I started using it as an experiment, so I only purchased it in small containers. Now that I know that I like it, I'm ready to buy in bulk.

I have found two places that carry it in bulk.

50-pound bag for $78.99 from Kitchen Kneads (Ogden, Utah).
50-pound bag for $91.03 from Blue Chip Group (Salt Lake City, Utah).

I'd like to find it in a 25 pound bag, if possible, or split and order with someone. My bread recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup, so even 25 pounds will take a while to go through.

What I don't know is the shelf life of the product or how well it would can in a #10 can. I do know that milled grains have a shorter shelf life than whole grains. I may opt to put it in a bucket with a Gamma lid.

Corn Muffins & Egg Powder

I just got whole egg powder at the preparedness store. I thought it would be a nice thing to store. I wondered if it would change the quality to recipes. So far I have tried a cookie mix and corn bread from scratch. Both have turned out great. What kind of powder have you bought and do you like it?


Corn Muffins

1 cup flour

4 tbsp sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup corn meal

1 egg or (1 tbsp of egg powder with 3 tbsp water)

1 cup milk

¼ cup vegetable oil


Directions

Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in corn meal. Beat egg slightly. Add milk and oil. Combine with dry ingredients, stirring until moist.

Bake at 425’ for 10 minutes

Dry Packing with Kids

The last time we dry packed at home, the kids wanted to help a lot. That was fine, except we had sugar everywhere (that's the point at which the kids got banished from the kitchen!) I got smarter this time and planned some kid-friendly tasks!

Putting the can inside a wheat-filled bowl allowed Abby to scoop the wheat into the can without getting wheat everywhere. She was happy, and I was happy.

Abby's job was to put the labels on all the cans.

Abby was a very good box organizer. She'd line empty boxes up for her dad and hold down the flaps for me while I taped up the boxes. She really did help a lot that day and she made the job go by faster.

Sprouting

My mom has been experimenting with sprouting. She has a sprouting kit but she told me I could do it with a canning jar, a canning ring, and a clean cut-up nylon. I got online and found this site. And, I've been trying it out.

In one jar I used 1/2 cup white wheat (soaked overnight in water beforehand) and in the other jar 1/2 cup dry lentils (soaked about 4-5 hours in water beforehand). I only soaked the lentils about 4-5 hours because they started to crack open and I wondered if they had had enough water.

I've been rinsing them twice a day as instructed. The nylon assists with draining the water.

My mom told me to cover them up to limit sunlight.



Here are the lentil sprouts after 12 hours. After 2 days, their tails were about 1/2 inch long.



The wheat didn't progress as quickly as the lentils (photo at 12 hours). The wheat tails were about 1/4 inch after 2 days.

What I've learned so far:

• After 2 days, the lentils have expanded and now fill 3/4 of the canning jar. I suspect that my initial 1/2 cup of dry lentils was too much to begin with. They are not finished sprouting yet, so I anticipate that I'll have to remove some.
  
  
• The lentil sprouts taste a lot like the typical salad sprouts that you buy in the store (alfalfa?) I like the taste and want to try using them on salads or in wraps.
  
  
• Wheat sprouts taste like wheat. So far I'm not too impressed with their taste.
  
  
• Mung beans are the type of sprouts used in Chinese dishes. So, now I'm on the hunt for mung beans. Blue Chip Group sells them in bulk (in Salt Lake). I am hoping to find a distributor closer, maybe at a specialty store.