Lessons Learned from Food Storage February

This bread rose so much it hit the top rack!

1. Food storage meals usually take longer to prepare. We've been eating dinner an hour later than usual this month. 
2. I'm not a big fan of cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom soup. We will not be restocking those items. 
3. Progresso soups should definitely be in our food storage. It's an easy lunch for me, so I go through at least one a week. 
4. I am now very confident in my bread making abilities. I like baking way more than cooking. Also, I can bake in the evenings when Dash is sleeping and Matt is working, so that keeps me busy.
5. We've eaten less meat overall, but more cheese. Or maybe that's just because Dash likes to snack on cheese...

It's been an adventure this month! I don't think we'll repeat any of the 'food storage' recipes we tried for dinners, but we will be having cinnamon rolls and homemade bread again.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Fixer Upper

So I've been binge watching Fixer Upper on Netflix. One thing I really like about the show is how it make the "american dream" of home ownership possible, even for a family with a $100,000 budget. Granted, it's in Texas and house prices are different in every state, but still I can dream, right?

The part I love most is seeing how the house is transformed not only through construction but interior design. Since that is something I can control more in our rental apartment, I thought I'd post the latest pic from my ongoing wreath project:

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Food Storage Cinnamon Rolls

I made cinnamon rolls three weeks in a row and I think my recipe is ready to share! The food storage items I used were: dry milk, crisco, yeast, sugar, salt, and flour. This recipe is a combination of several recipes, with instructions taken primarily from this site.

Dough:

1c milk (1 c water + 1/3 c nonfat dry milk)

1/4 c crisco
2T yeast
1 egg

1/4 c white sugar

1t salt

3 1/2c flour

Filling:

1 1/2 T cinnamon (I used the pampered chef cinnamon plus blend)

2T butter

2/3c brown sugar

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese (nonfat)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c powdered sugar


Preparation:
Combine milk and crisco in a glass measuring cup. Microwave on high in 20 second increments (where you stop to stir) until crisco melts and mixture is hot. Let stand (stirring occasionally to release heat and keep crisco combined) until liquid becomes lukewarm. Add yeast and let set for 5-10 minutes. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add egg to wet ingredients. Mix all ingredients together until dough is no longer sticky. Knead for 7-10 min and let set for about 20 min in a covered bowl.

Roll out dough into a rectangle. Spread on butter using table knife. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle mixture evenly over butter, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Starting at one long side, roll dough into log. With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with knife into 16-18 equal slices. Spray two 9 inch pie pans with nonstick spray. Place rolls in pans and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake rolls until golden, about 15 min. Meanwhile make cream cheese frosting by beating softened cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla and then powdered sugar, 1/2 c at a time. After rolls have cooled, top with frosting and enjoy!

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Valentine's Day

We celebrated yesterday, but here are some highlights:

Nothing says "I love you" like sharing your breakfast in bed.

Watching the BYU women's basketball game. Dash made it on the jumbo-tron three times!

I did a scavenger hunt for Matt based on this Mission Valentine post. I changed all of the missions to include Dash in some way. I also gave Matt the first Toy Story on DVD, which we watched later that evening.

We enjoyed getting Valentines from family members!

And, of course, we had Cherry Yum-Yum
(graham cracker crust, cherry pie filling, and a cream cheese whipped topping).

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Dear Dash: Thirteen Months

Dear Dash,

Congratulations! You're one month older!

You LOVE to clap

And read books BY YOURSELF

Shredding tissues is a new favorite

You've joined us eating at the table!

You've already developed the habit of putting your feet up.

We still have fun going on walks!

Playdates are a must these days

You had your third haircut with clippers today!

You are walking 80% of the time these days. It's so cute to see you toddle around. You have figured out how to shut doors, but don't quite have the coordination to turn the knobs to open them again. You are finally drinking out of sippy cups. Graham crackers are your new favorite snack. You hate cold foods. You are getting so close to talking!

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Food Storage February

This is a follow-up post from my Provident Living post in 2014. As Matt and I have built our food storage, we realized that the handy-dandy sheet we used wasn't as awesome as we thought, mainly because we don't ever use half the stuff we bought (flour, yeast, powdered milk, etc). So now we have pounds and pounds of stuff that's going to expire shortly.

So, I've decided that February will be food storage month. I'm going to make bread from scratch! I'm going to try new recipes that actually use tomato soup or cream of mushroom soup! We won't be eating through everything, but hopefully we can make a dent in our storage before it's too late. Then we'll be building up a whole different food storage based on things we actually eat on a regular basis.

I started out on Sunday by making cinnamon rolls from scratch for the very first time, and they actually turned out okay! Not perfect yet, though, so I'm going to have to give it another go. Then maybe I'll post the revised recipe.

If you have any good bread recipes or ideas on how to use up 5 pounds of peanut butter, let me know.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah