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