Crock Pot Shepherd's Pie

This is just a simple variation on your classic Shepherd's Pie. I was stranded at home for 2 weeks without a vehicle so I was coming up with all sorts of things using my THRIVE food. My kids loved this & it was SUPER easy with freeze dried food. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Crock Pot Shepherd's Pie:

2 1/2 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Ground Beef

1 can Tomato Soup, condensed

1 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Corn

1 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Green Beans

2 cups THRIVE Potato Beads, prepared

1 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheeses (spray with a little water to rehydrate)

1/2 teaspoon Basil

First off, prepare your Potato Beads. Many people have asked me if the THRIVE Potato Beads stand up to the Cannery's Potato Pearls. I love them ten times more. I don't know what it is about them, but they are fabulous. Just follow the instructions on the can & you're set.

Boil with butter, water, salt, & milk. . .

Add potato beads & stir to soak up all the liquid. Voila, perfect mashed potatoes.

While you're making your potatoes, rehydrate your veggies & your ground beef for 10 minutes in hot water. Drain, & you're ready to go.

Mix beef, tomato soup, corn, green beans, & basil. Pour mixture into the bottom of a greased crock pot. Spread your mashed potatoes on top.

Cover & cook on low heat 5-6 hours. The last hour of cooking, sprinkle cheeses on top of potatoes.

Enjoy!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the products listed in the recipe, comment below or visit dani.shelfreliance.com

Freezy Pops

I've been having a mini-preschool here at home with my 4 year old & my 2 year old. We were talking about ice, snow, & icicles & I thought it would be fun to make some popsicles with them.

We just used 100% fruit juice in an ice cube tray. . . cranberry, grape, & orange juice. Then I thought of a great idea: add freeze dried fruit. Out came the strawberries, bananas, & peaches. The kids crunched them up & put them in the juice in the ice tray.

We froze them for a few hours & we had DELICIOUS & healthy FREEZE pops.

ENJOY!!!

If you would like to purchase some of Shelf Reliance's THRIVE Freeze Dried Fruits, comment below or visit dani.shelfreliance.com

Thanksgiving Indeed!

WOW! Boy am I grateful for my THRIVE food today. We took our 5 kiddos to Disneyland for Thanksgiving & 3 hours from our house we had a major car accident & lost our van entirely.

R.I.P. "BIG RED"

After a hectic 4 hours of waiting for a rental van with all our luggage, 5 kids, Christmas presents, etc on the side of the 101 freeway, I started counting my blessings. Nobody got hurt (other than the van) & we were still able to go to Disneyland for 4 days.

HOWEVER, coming home last night to an empty fridge & pantry is NOT fun. Today is the day I normally get groceries, but I don't have a vehicle now. I can't walk 5 kids to the grocery store & come back with $100 worth of food. It would kill everyone involved. ha ha ha.

SO THANK HEAVENS for THRIVE. I am relaxed right now as instant milk is chilling in the fridge, & a pot of chicken creole is simmering on the stovetop. Thank heavens for freeze dried chicken, veggies, & instant rice. What a life saver.

THIS is what THRIVE is for & I'm grateful to be a part of that. Thank you Shelf Reliance for saving my family during the hard times.

Halloween DINNERS!

Sorry I haven't been very good about posting anything lately. October is my favorite month of the year, so I make a special Halloween themed dinner every night for the entire month for my 5 kiddos. THEY LOVE IT!

I've been using lots of fun THRIVE Ingredients in my meals & they've never been easier! (Tonight I'm making SPOOKY STEW with THRIVE Corn, THRIVE Onions, & THRIVE Celery!)

So, you probably won't see any new posts from me until Novemberish but feel free to check out some of my SPOOKY dinners on my family blog.

Dani's Homemade Granola

Dani's Homemade Granola:

2 cups THRIVE Quick Oats

1 cup Coconut

3/4 cup Sliced Almonds

3/4 cup Chopped Macadamia Nuts

3/4 cup Cashews

1/3 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter (1/4 cup THRIVE Butter Powder + 1/8 cup Water)

3 HEAPING Tablespoons Honey

1 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Fruit of your choice: (strawberries, raspberries, mangoes,blueberries, pears, apricots, peaches, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc.)

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Mix your Oats, Coconut, Almonds, Macadamia Nuts, Cashews, Brown Sugar, & Cinnamon in a large bowl.

Melt your butter & honey in a small saucepan.

Pour your butter mixture over your dry ingredients & mix until everything is moistened well.

Spread your mixture out on a baking sheet & place on the center rack of your oven. Bake for 7 minutes. Stir your mixture & put back in the oven. Do this for

21 minutes (3 rotations of 7 minutes)

Move your pan to the TOP RACK of your oven. Bake for 3 minutes. Stir mixture & put back in the oven & repeat. You will do this for an additional 25-30 minutes. . .

stirring every 3 minutes!

Once the granola has been baking between 20-25 minutes on the top rack, I start checking the coconut. It sounds silly, but watching the coconut carefully is how I know when my granola is done. If granola isn't done enough it's too chewy & if it's overcooked it becomes burnt.

Your coconut is the key.

You want your coconut to be the perfect shade of golden brown, & you want it to

stand straight up

when you hold it between your fingers. If it leans or falls even slightly, it's not done yet. But if it's strong & stands perfectly straight up in the air, you're ready to go.

My Daddy wanted to demonstrate my coconut trick for ya. (I love my dad!)

Taste the coconut if you have to. It will taste absolutely FABULOUS & will have a perfect little crunch to it.

Once your coconut is done, remove the pan from the oven & cool on your counter. Once the entire mixture is cool to the touch, you can add your freeze dried fruit. This batch I did strawberries, raspberries, & pears. Pineapple, mangos, & strawberries is another favorite mixture in our house.

My dad absolutely LOVES my granola. He told me that's what he wants for Christmas this year. . .

a HUGE BOX full of granola.

He loves his in strawberry yogurt.

This visit was my grandmother's first time trying my granola. She's allergic to fruit so we left the fruit out of hers & added Freeze Dried Yogurt instead. She loved it.

I hope you enjoy this granola as much as everyone in our house does. It does require you to stand in your kitchen for a good 40 minutes, but it's 40 minutes well worth the wait. The granola stays good in an airtight container for about a month. Enjoy!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Best Sugar Cookies EVER!!

This is a staple recipe in our house. These are the BEST sugar cookies you will ever eat. I don't know if it's the shortening or the sour cream, but SOMETHING in them makes them SO SOFT & they will literally last WEEKS. We make these for friends at Christmastime & we had a few friends say they ate theirs 3 weeks after I made them & they were still soft & delicious. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Grandma Cherry's Sugar Cookies:

2 cups THRIVE White Sugar

1 cup THRIVE Shortening Powder reconstituted (or 1 cup Shortening)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

3 teaspoons THRIVE Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Iodized Salt

4 Eggs (or 4 Tablespoons THRIVE Egg Powder + 8 Tablespoons Water)

1 cup THRIVE Sour Cream Powder reconstituted (or 1 cup Sour Cream)

6-8 cups THRIVE White Flour

Cream sugar & shortening.

Add soda, salt, eggs, & sour cream & mix well.

Add 6 cups of flour & mix well.

Keep adding flour until the dough forms a large ball & is no longer sticky. . . similar to bread dough. Knead the dough a minute or two & form into a ball.

Roll the dough out & cut with cookie cutters & bake cookies at 375 degrees for 5-8 minutes. The softer the better. But I guarantee these will stay soft for a VERY long time if you cook them just right. I usually cook mine 7 minutes.

This batch I decided to roll 1/2 of my batch onto a pizza stone & baked a GIANT cookie the size of a pizza.

Once my giant cookie cooled, I spread some strawberry cream cheese on top. . . mmmm.

Then added fruit for a FABULOUS fruit pizza.

If you are interested in purchasing any ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Goulash

Here is another recipe that's been in my family for generations. My kids LOVE this. It's basically a "healthier" version of Hamburger Helper. My husband always asks me to make a TON of it so he can eat it for lunch at work every day. Enjoy!

Goulash:

4 cups THRIVE Macaroni

1/2 cup THRIVE Red & Green Bell Peppers (or 1 fresh bell pepper)

1/4 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Onions (or 1/2 fresh onion)

2 cups Tomato Sauce (or 1/4 cup THRIVE Tomato Powder + 2 1/4 cups water)

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 1/2 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Ground Beef (or 1 lb. ground beef)

If you're using Freeze Dried foods, rehydrate your peppers, onions, & ground beef in water for 10 minutes.

If using fresh, cook your ground beef, peppers, & onions in a saute pan until done.

Drain, & add tomato sauce. Boil your macaroni until tender & drain.

Mix everything together & add salt & pepper to taste. It's SO EASY & you will have a nice warm, comforting dinner to fill your family up with. YUM.

If you'd like to purchase any of the ingredients listed in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup

I was looking for a recipe for buttermilk syrup for pancakes & found this recipe on the allrecipes.com website. It made the yummiest CARAMEL SAUCE ever! It wasn't really a breakfast syrup (way too sweet!), but it would be GREAT on ice cream. Anyhow, it was just yummy so I thought I'd post it on here so you can make it at home too.

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup:

1 1/2 cups THRIVE White Sugar

3/4 cup Buttermilk (learn how to make your own butter & buttermilk on my homemade butter post)

1/2 cup Butter (or THRIVE Butter Powder reconstituted)

2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Vanilla

I used homemade buttermilk for my recipe & it was SO SO SO good!

Mix your sugar, buttermilk, corn syrup, butter, & baking soda together in a TALL pan. Boil for 7 minutes & stir constantly. It boils up REALLY high & WILL boil over if you're not careful.

As your syrup is cooling add your vanilla. Stir well & you've got some yummy caramel syrup.

If you'd like to purchase any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com

Homemade Butter - Super EASY & Super YUMMY!

I just thought I would post this because

#1: It's FUN to do with the kids

&

#2: It tastes FABULOUS!!!

You can do this in a jar quite easily with some serious shaking, but sometimes it's just nice to put it in a mixer & let it go. I make homemade butter all the time now. It's SO easy.

All you need is some

HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM.

Yup, that's it.

Pour your whipping cream into your mixer & start mixing. Just let it go (it will take 10-20 minutes for it to turn into butter so be patient.) First you'll get a bowl of beautifully fluffed whipped cream. You'll want to eat it up with a spoon right then & there, but keep it going.

After it whips REALLY fluffy, it starts to get clumpy. Pretty soon it doesn't look so appetizing anymore. The clumps will start to turn yellowish in color. You're getting close when you hit this point.

Then out of nowhere, you'll hear a "CLUNK" & a bunch of "SWISH SWISH" noises. All of a sudden your butter will clump up into a ball & you'll have a LOT of "milk" at the bottom of your bowl. That is FRESH BUTTERMILK. Yum!

The best way to deal with fresh butter is to strain it.

Get all that delicious buttermilk left over into a container & save it in your fridge for some homemade ranch dressing or some buttermilk pancakes. It's the freshest buttermilk you can get! YOU MADE IT!

This sounds disgusting, but it's fun, especially for kids. You are going to need to knead that butter ball. Get every last drop of buttermilk out of it. It holds a TON so keep squeezing. If you can get that buttermilk out, it will last longer & won't spoil. In fact, I rinse my butter in the sink to make sure every last drop of milk is out of it.

Once it's all rinsed, add salt & knead it really well. Just taste it & keep adding salt until it tastes good to you. SIMPLE. Then it's ready to eat. Just put it in a container, bake some homemade bread, & you're set.

Chicken Chili Chowder

This is another family favorite in our house. I've had this recipe for so many years that I don't even remember where I got it. I've added things to it over the years & it is now the soup my kids request on cold days. And you want to know the best part? Now I don't have to run to the store if I'm out of veggies because I can just pull them from out of my food storage. Wahoo! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. (You can substitute fresh or canned for any of these ingredients)

Chicken Chili Chowder:

1 pound Turkey Bacon, diced (or use 1 1/2 cups THRIVE Bacon TVP)

1 cup THRIVE Carrots

1/2 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Onions

1 can of diced Green Chilies

1 Serrano Pepper, seeded & diced

1 teaspoon Cumin

3 cloves of Garlic, pressed

4 cups Chicken Broth (4 cups water + 4 teaspoons THRIVE Chicken Bouillon)

3 cups THRIVE Potato Chunks (or 5 fresh potatoes peeled & diced)

THRIVE Iodized Salt to taste

4 Chicken Breasts, diced & cooked (or 1 1/2 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Chicken)

1/4 cup THRIVE White Flour

2 1/2 cups Milk (or 2 1/2 cups water + 1/3 cup THRIVE Instant Milk)

2 cups THRIVE Cheddar Cheese

2/3 cup Green Onions, sliced

First thing you want to do is cook your chicken (if you're using fresh.) Sprinkle it with some salt & pepper & saute it in a frying pan with a little bit of oil. If using our wonderful Freeze Dried Chicken, just soak it in water for 10 minutes & drain. Season with salt & pepper & Voila! you're done! Set aside.

Next cook that bacon until it's nice & crispy in your soup pot. Then set it aside with your chicken. I love the Bacon TVP, but I'm just a total sucker for fresh turkey bacon. I can't get enough of it & if you've never tried it, GO OUT & BUY SOME! You'll never go back to the other stuff. It's better for you & has a LOT more flavor! If you're using the Bacon TVP, just set aside because it doesn't need to cook. EASY!

Now get your veggies ready! When using our veggies, there's no peeling or chopping at all! Simply measure & pour. (Cooking doesn't get much easier than this!) If you're using fresh, peel & cut up all your veggies for the soup.

A small warning about Serrano Peppers. You may want to wear gloves when seeding & chopping these puppies. They may be small, but they have a punch! I wasn't wearing gloves & I wound up wiping my poor little 2 year old boy's dirty mouth with my finger & he started screaming because it burned him. I never even thought about it. The rest of my kids got a kick out of licking my fingers to see who could keep a straight face the longest without getting a drink of water. They're hilarious. These add just the right spice to the soup.

Start off by stir frying your onions, carrots, chilies, peppers, garlic, & cumin in the leftover bacon grease. Cook for about 5 minutes or until your onions are translucent. Add your chicken broth & deglaze your pot.

Add your potatoes & salt, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, & simmer for 15 minutes.

Add your chicken & cook an additional 10 minutes. Combine flour & milk to make a smooth paste. Add it to the soup mixture & stir until thick (about 5 minutes.) Remove from heat. Stir in bacon & cheese until melted.

When you finish you want to see if a wooden spoon will stand straight up in your chowder. I like my chowders THICK & YUMMY. If your spoon stands up by itself, you know it's going to be DELICIOUS!

Serve hot with sliced green onions on top. Enjoy!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com