When I got married, my mother-in-law (Jodi’s mom – known as Grandma Lori around here) gave me a very special gift. She had each of my relatives and close friends fill out a recipe card or two of their favorite, most trusted recipes. I LOVE that little box of recipe cards because it contains a lot of family favorites that my husband and I both grew up loving from our aunts, grandparents etc. One of my go-to recipes out of that box has been my Aunt Debbie’s Vegetable Cheese Chowder (We call it Creamy Potato Soup). Over the years I’ve figured out a way to incorporate my food storage into this soup AND make it virtually fat free!. Through some creative cooking techniques (removing the flour, milk, and butter) I can feel good about eating this more often. I’ll share both versions with you here today!

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Original)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
1/2 cup minced onions
2 t salt
4 cups water
10 oz frozen broccoli (or 2 cups fresh)
3 T chicken bouillon
3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 T dry mustard
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
In large pot, place potatoes, carrots, celery & onions (also broccoli if fresh). Add water + salt. Cook about 20 mins until tender. Add broccoli (if frozen), chicken base & milk. Simmer 5 mins.

In saucepan melt butter, add flour and mustard. Stir to make sauce. Add to soup and stir until thick. Add cheese, stirring until melted. Keep hot, but do not boil.

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Fat free)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup minced onions (or equivalent in freeze dried onion – about 1/4 c.)
2 t salt
3 T chicken bouillon
2 cups diced carrots (or equivalent in dehydrated carrots – about 1 c.)
2 cups diced celery (or equivalent in freeze dried celery – about 1 c.)
10 oz frozen broccoli (or equivalent in freeze dried broccoli – about 1 c.)
1 T dry mustard
4 T white bean flour mixed with 3/4 c. water (any white bean ground in your Wondermill will work)
Cheddar cheese for topping – if you’re feeling naughty!

Directions:
In one pot I cover the potatoes and onions with water, and add the chicken bouillon and salt. In a different pot (there’s a reason for the 2 pots), I put all the carrots, celery, and broccoli together with very little water and start cooking about 5 mins after I start cooking the potatoes. If I am using freeze dried veggies, I add a little more water, and let them cook and hydrate at the time (meaning I don’t add water and get them hydrated ahead of time).

Once the potatoes are done cooking and are soft and tender, I take a masher, and very LIGHTLY mash them. I mash them enough that there are still quite a few chunks left, but it’s slightly creamy. This is one of the ways I get the creaminess of the soup without the flour, butter and milk! After the potatoes are slightly mashed, I add the carrots, celery and broccoli WITH it’s water. A lot of the nutrients, get into that water so I want to keep it. That’s why I cooked it in the first place with very little water.

At this point it should be a little on the liquidy side, and that’s when I add the white bean flour/water mixture to get the rest of the creaminess without the flour, butter, and milk. This will thicken the soup right up. Make sure you leave it cooking (boiling) for at least 3 minutes to get the beans all the way cooked. Add the dry mustard here too. Here’s a secret, I never have that so I usually put about 1/2 Tablespoon of real mustard, not knowing if that really has any likening to mustard seed, but it flavors it a tiny bit so I go with it.

Since the soup is still fat free at this point, I’ll usually top it with a little cheddar cheese because I deserve it (freeze-dried cheese would work for this too).

So there you have it. Soup that uses freeze dried veggies and white bean flour. I ALWAYS use freeze dried onion, ALMOST ALWAYS use freeze dried broccoli, and often use freeze dried carrots, and celery if I don’t have any on hand. Next up, I’ll try it with freeze dried or dehydrated potatoes and really be ambitious!

Country Beans New ideas for “User Friendly Beans” in a hurry by Rita Bingham

Background: Learning how to use and cook dry beans was a major journey of mine last year. I was always skeptical you could do anything with dry beans before embarking on my “learn how to use beans” journey. If you’ve followed us for awhile, you probably were there when I made the “Magical Fruit” discovery on how to use dry beans to make cream of chicken replacements, and when I finally learned how to actually COOK dry beans. Most of my bean discoveries and learnings have come from the fabulous book “Country Beans”.

What I Liked: What I liked most about this book is how all-inclusive, and simple it is. Rita doesn’t assume that you’re an expert chef and gives you a lot of background information. Most of the time, when I get cookbooks I think to myself “Oh that recipe looks good, but I’ll have to go grocery shopping for half those mystery items”. When I opened the book and started looking at the recipes, I had a ton of them immediately tagged as recipes I could make right away. Rita also includes hundreds of GLUTEN-FREE recipes in this book. Using bean flours is a great way to replace gluten in a lot of recipes.

Sections: This book has more than recipes. It is full of information about using, storing, and cooking beans as well. Here are the sections the book contains. There are so many sections I’m going to do a screen shot of them because typing them out would take forever! Notice all the fabulous sections at the end! When I got this book I really needed education, not just recipes so it was great!

Feedback: The only drawback of this book is that there aren’t pictures for the recipes. Some people will only get books with pictures, but I felt like I didn’t really need the pictures with this book.

Summary: Quit being afraid of using your beans and get this book! “Country Beans”

We have been so busy, and since we already published ALL of the recipes at once in our Shelf Stable Recipe Book back in April, we haven’t felt as urgent about posting them each week. However, we DO know that it is a great reminder to cook something, and fun to see all the recipes posted on the blog every week … so we promise to do better going forward. In the meantime, I am giving you a bonus recipe today because I love it so much If you are on our Facebook page you may have seen this last week. Yes it’s THAT good. This came from a lady we met at one of our classes. She was so awesome, and we learned a thing or two from her.

Texas Caviar (Black Bean Salsa)

Mix:
½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper
¼ C. olive oil
¾ C. Vinegar
1/3 C sugar

Rinse and Drain:
1 can each: black eyed peas, pinto and black beans
1 C. corn (reserve liquid)
1 small jar pimento or roasted Red Peppers
1 Green or red pepper dehydrated (reconstitute in juice from corn)

Directions:
Mix all Ingredients. Make 4-6 hours ahead of time. Serve with tortilla chips.

The Process

The CAST

REHYDRATING the veggies in corn juice

The CHUNKY mixture (drained)

The LIQUID mixture

The glorious FINAL RESULT

“Jodi, there is no way I will ever use beans in my Food Storage, so I’ll just store a lot of Tuna for protein”

“Jodi, I decided I actually like black beans now, so I’ll just store a lot of cans of beans”

“Jodi, I was thinking MAYBE I should try to learn how to cook dry beans”

“Jodi, that was a DISASTER, I’m never trying to cook black beans again – they took forever and didn’t even turn out good”

“Jodi, pressure cooking those dry beans was way faster by they turned out WAY mushy”

“Jodi, I got the texture right… I finally got the texture right- but the beans are tasteless”

“Jodi – I GOT IT!”

So I’m proud to declare, I’ve switched over from team canned, to team dry, but I’m also very sympathetic to the team canners. I know that often times you may be in a hurry and just need to open a can of beans, or maybe you have had some bad luck with trying to cook dry beans, or maybe you just haven’t given it a chance yet. Dry beans have plenty of advantages that I’m sure most of you are aware of. They are cheaper, can be healthier, and you can store them longer. So – whether you’re ready or not, I’ll show you how to cook dry beans – and if you’re not ready – remember this post and come back to it one day.

Pressure Cooking Dry Beans

I’ll tell you EXACTLY how I do mine. I cook them in my electric pressure cooker, and LOVE how fast and easy it is. I usually make a seasoned black bean and use it in burritos with brown rice, throw them on salads, put them in any recipe calling for black beans. You can alter the seasonings or bean type. I found putting MORE spices than I thought it needed was when it actually started tasting good. I think I didn’t realize how many beans I was actually cooking, so I under-seasoned them for a long time. Do not add salt as that will slow the cooking process. Also- as a side note, often times I’ll cook chicken in my pressure cooker first, then use the leftover broth as the water for cooking the beans. This gives it a REALLY great flavor.

Cooking Beans Instructions

Add 5 cups of water in pressure cooker
Add spices ( 1 Tablespoon of cumin, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 2 Tablespoons of dehydrated onions, 2 Tablespoons of dry cilantro)
Add 2 cups of black beans

Cook on high pressure. Set pressure cooker for 30 minutes. After the pressure cooker beeps, do quick pressure release… and ENJOY how EASY THAT WAS!

Did you all just gasp and say ARE YOU SERIOUS, NO PRE-SOAKING AND 30 MINUTES? Well you should have! It’s awesome. To learn more about pressure cookers – see Jodi’s post last week.

For more about Bean’s Do’s and Don’ts and links to cooking dry beans without a pressure cooker, visit our BabyStep 6: Legumes page.

My favorite recipe I’ve made since venturing into cooking with Food Storage is an Enchilada Pie recipe. I told you all about it back in my cooking challenge post.

Since then, I’ve added another twist on the recipe. I realized I was out of enchilada sauce MID RECIPE a few weeks ago. I had gotten far enough that there was no turning back, but I DID not want to run to the store. Does that EVER happen to any of you? I somehow got confused about how much enchilada sauce I had stored (My husband forgets to tell me we’re down to 2 or 3 left when I get him to get one out of the basement for me).

Anyways, I found this recipe on allrecipes, and to my amazement it turned out great, and used ingredients I always have on hand. Now I wont need to bother buying Enchilada Sauce.

Ten Minute Enchilada Sauce
(anything with the title “ten minutes” in it, is my kind of thing)

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons self-rising flour (I used regular)
1/4 cup New Mexico or California chili powder
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion salt
salt to taste

Directions
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour.
Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, and onion salt into the flour and chili powder until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.

So go ahead, give yourself a challenge! Try this out with the NEW twist!

So I really had no idea why so many people fussed about this bread, I was just excited to try something new… I looked it up and found this:

Ezekiel bread in it’s earliest form can be found in the Holy Bible in the book of Ezekiel chapter 4, verse 9 which says: “Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel and make bread of them.” (Amplified Bible) In this verse the prophet Ezekiel is told by God to make bread in a certain way and then he lives on water and this bread for 390 days while he resides in the desert.

Ezekiel bread is a bread made from four grains and four beans. Typically it contains wheat, spelt or rye, barley, millet, lentils, great northern beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans ground in a grain mill. The specific mixture of grains and beans has been tested by food scientists and found to be complete nutritionally.

Combined the wet ingredients and got all my grains out. I bought the ones I didn’t already have at the bulk section of a store called Winco here in Utah. I think most health food stores, or stores that sell grains in bulk should have all the ingredients.

Layered the grains in legumes in this clear measuring cup (for no reason other then to take a cute picture…) Isn’t it decorative and beautiful?

Threw all the grains and legumes into my WonderMill wheat grinder that I LOVE and ….

Out came a beautiful flour. I mixed the flour with the wet stuff and kept mixing. The consistency is more like a batter then a doughy bread-

Let the loaves rise, then I baked them and tested it by taking a glob of bread out of the middle…

Ingredients
• 2 1/2 cups wheat berries
• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 cup barley
• 1/2 cup millet
• 1/4 cup dry green lentils
• 2 tablespoons dry great Northern beans
• 2 tablespoons dry kidney beans
• 2 tablespoons dried pinto beans
• 4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions
1. Measure the water, honey, olive oil, and yeast into a large bowl. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Stir all of the grains and beans together until well mixed. Grind in a flour mill. Add fresh milled flour and salt to the yeast mixture; stir until well mixed, about 10 minutes. The dough will be like that of a batter bread. Pour dough into two greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.
3. Let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until dough has reached top of the pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown.

12 Bean Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:
2 c. 12-bean soup mix*
1 ham bone (optional)
4 T. bulls eye BBQ sauce
1 chopped onion (can use dehydrated)
1 T. sugar
1 small clove garlic
3 stalks celery, diced (can use dehydrated)
¼ tsp. lemon pepper
2 carrots, diced (can use dehydrated)
2 T. ketchup
28 oz. can whole tomatoes
¼ tsp. salt and ginger
1 pinch red pepper flakes

*You can buy this as a mix or make your own with a variety of the legumes in your food storage

Directions:
Wash 2 cups of bean mix. Soak in a large pot overnight. Drain. Add 8 cups water, ham bone, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. ginger. Bring to a boil and cook until beans are tender (about 1 hour). Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer 2 ½ to 3 hours. Stir and add water as needed. For more zest, double all spices.

At first I made this recipe with store bought tortillas, canned beans, and canned cream of chicken/mushroom soup – but I promised myself bit by bit I would make it using all the “advanced” techniques. Now that I have had a lot more experience using my food storage, I make it the real way and it tastes so much better – I wont make it any other way.

So here’s to sharing it with you and to giving you a special cooking challenge.

Ingredients:
1 can of black beans (*see below)
1 lg onion (*see below)
1 can of cream of chicken (*see below)
1 can of cream of mushroom (*see below)
¾ cup of milk (*see below)
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 (8 oz) can mild enchilada sauce (see updated post how to make from scratch)
1 pkg soft tortillas (*see below)
½ lb cheddar cheese, grated
½ lb monterrey jack cheese, grated

Directions:
Wash and cook beans. Mix next 6 ingredients with beans (Optional: add 3 chicken breasts shredded). Place tortillas in greased 9 by 13 inch pan. Top with half the bean mixture and half the cheese. Repeat the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and cut in squares.

Try each of these techniques one at a time or all at once. They are things that used to scare me and now I love doing them this way in all my recipes.

1 can of black beans with 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans from your food storage. Need to know how to cook them? Check out this post

Onion with dehydrated onion. These are not only a time saver, but are great to store to have added flavoring in your food storage.

1 can of cream of chicken, 1 can of cream of mushroom, and the milk with the bean flour cream soup recipe found here.

Store bought tortillas, with homemade tortillas made from scratch using recipe found here.

Again if you’re new – don’t get overwhelmed by these “weird” techniques – try them one at a time and one day you’ll be amazed at how much you have learned!

Homemade Mac ‘N’ Cheese (w/ grains and powdered milk)

Ingredients:
1 lb macaroni noodles (BabyStep 5 : Grains)
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour (BabyStep 5 : Grains)
1 c. milk (or 1 c. water, 3 T. powdered milk)
1 tsp. seasoned salt
cheese cubes (optional)
ham cubes (optional)

Directions:
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Melt butter in large saucepan. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Slowly stir in milk until well mixed in. Add seasoned salt. Let cook for a little while until it starts to thicken. Add in the macaroni noodles. Add in a little more milk if it seems too thick. Can add more seasoned salt according to your family’s tastes. Add ham and cheese cubes right before serving.

Homemade Mac ‘N’ Cheese (w/ legumes and powdered milk)

Ingredients:
3 c. of macaroni noodles
5 T. of lima or other white bean flour (BabyStep 6 : Legumes)
1 c. of water
3/4 c. milk (or 3/4 c. water 2 T. powdered milk)
2 tsp. seasoned salt
cheese cubes (optional)
ham cubes (optional)

Directions:
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Grind 1/4 c. of white beans in your wheat grinder to make about 5 T. of bean flour. Put 1 c. of water in large saucepan. Slowly whisk in ground bean flour. Continue to whisk frequently until starts to thicken and bubble. Slowly stir in milk until it’s a nice thickish liquid consistency. Add seasoned salt (the bean version tends to need more than the flour/butter version). Add in the macaroni noodles. Add in a little more milk if it seems too thick. Add ham and cheese cubes right before serving.

Confession time … While the bean flour version is still good (and my kids snarfed it up just like usual), I could actually tell a difference in this recipe. I prefer the fattening version, surprise surprise. hehe. But the bean flour version is a very good substitute and can save a TON of calories and fat!

Chow Mein Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger, browned with 1/2 an onion chopped
(can use canned ground beef and onion flakes)
1/2 c. brown rice (white rice is great too)
2 cans cream of chicken soup (try the low-fat bean flour variety!)
1 ½ c. hot water (if using homemade cream of chicken, skip the water)
1/8 c. soy sauce
¼ tsp. ground pepper
½ can chow mein noodles (about 3 oz)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º. Mix all ingredients together (except chow mein noodles). Bake in serving bowl covered with foil for 45 minutes. Take off cover. Pour 3 oz. (1/2 can) of chow mein noodles over top. Cook uncovered for 15 more minutes. Let set for 5-10 minutes after cooking.