I Dare You To Eat It

Fresh Ingredients

1 c. milk or buttermilk

2 eggs

Storage Ingredients

3/4 c. whole wheat kernels

2 Tbsp. honey or sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

4 Tbsp. oil

Pour milk into blender. Add wheat kernels and blend on high for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and continue to blend for an additional 10 minutes. If the batter is too thin allow it to sit for about 10 minutes to thicken. Cook pancakes as usual and serve with 100% pure maple syrup from your food storage, of course.

Last year, in November of 2007, the Young Single Adults of the Salt Lake Bonneville Stake, participated in a terrific service project. Early one Saturday morning, they met at the dry pack cannery and quickly canned white wheat. Our Stake Relief Society President, Laurie Little, printed this pancake recipe, with permission from President Clark and Kathleen Hinckley, on adhesive labels and had the Y.S.A.s place the recipe right on the side of each individual can. Then, following the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference, a can of wheat with the blender pancake recipe was given to each family in attendance.

This proved to be a great activity and gift. The young people in our Stake learned how easy it is to use the dry pack cannery and they contributed a much needed service. The families in our Stake received a fresh can of wheat with an easy recipe for using it. If you’re looking for something to share at Christmas time that encourages the principles of provident living, you might consider giving this activity a try. It would also make an excellent neighborhood present.

My visiting teachers are coming in the next fifteen minutes so I thought I would quickly tell you about my visiting teaching field trips to the dry pack cannery. I totally believe in preparing the message each month, having a prayer before as a companionship, and praying together as sisters in the home. I also believe that visiting teachers can offer to help lift a bit of the load. I actually think it’s fun and interesting to work together. So, in addition to doing the monthly sit-on-the-couch thing, sometimes I invite all the sisters I visit teach to join me at the cannery. The work is easier when there are many hands and besides that, everyone looks great in a hairnet.

Fresh Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

15 10″ tortillas

toppings: baby spinach leaves, grated cheese, diced tomato, avocado, cilantro, and Ranch dressing

Storage Ingredients

2 c. cooked whole wheat berries

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. chili powder

* 1 packet of taco seasoning may be used as a substitution for individual spices

Brown ground beef and drain fat. Stir in the cooked wheat berries and spices. Spoon meat mixture onto warm tortillas and top with fresh baby spinach, grated cheese, diced tomato, avocado, cilantro, and Ranch dressing.

During one of my food storage presentations a woman shared how she substitutes cooked whole wheat berries for ground beef. She seasons it just as you normally would for tacos to create a very healthy vegetarian alternative. If that sounds too hard core, consider giving this recipe a try. I made them for my daughter that lives in Oregon and she thought they were amazing. Hippie tacos is her name for our little culinary invention. Guess she’s in the zone.

Everywhere I go I see more and more of these take and bake kitchens popping up. I get that having recipes organized with all the necessary ingredients on hand is a huge convenience but why not do the very same thing with our own kitchens? Why is it more convenient to have the kitchen we use for our meal preparation located off site? I don’t get that part.

Designing a three-month supply is the best way I know to create your very own take and bake kitchen. Just think of the easy meals from your family’s favorites and start buying the dried, canned, or bottled ingredients in groups of three. Hopefully the recipes will call for, or could be laced with, a little wheat, rice, beans, pasta, or potatoes from your long-term storage so that those ingredients naturally get rotated. If you design your family’s selection of meals you eat regularly and enjoy and then purchase all the short-term storage ingredients in groups of three, you’ll automatically be building a three-month supply of every-day meals. And you don’t have to wear mascara or boots to cook dinner. What’s not to love?