Food Storage Series

BBQ Bean Dip
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese
1 can (16 ounces) Pork and Beans
1 tablespoon barbecue sauce

Directions:

In medium saucepan over low heat, heat cream cheese until smooth.

Add beans and barbecue sauce and heat through.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers for dipping.

Makes 2 cups.

Food Storage Series

Autumn Beans

8 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup minced onion
1 cup apple cider
2 (16 ounce) cans baked beans, undrained
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
In a skillet, lightly fry bacon. Remove to paper towel to drain. Discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings.


Saute onion in the drippings until tender.

Add all remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all The Barber Bunch Readers.

On this day of thanks,

remember the 1 in 6 Americans that will go hungry today.

Learn out this problem at:

http://feedingamerica.org/

Donate some food, your time or some money

Everything helps with this worthy cause

Food Storage Series

RANCHO BEANS

2-16 oz. cans of pork and beans
1-16 oz. can of kidney beans, drained
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp. vinegar

Brown beef and drain.

In separate bowl, mix all other ingredients together.

Add ground beef and mix well.

Put in 9x13 pan and bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

A great take-along and can be doubled or tripled easily.

Food Storage Series

PORK AND BEAN CASSEROLE

1 lb. hamburger
1 chopped onion
1 lg. can pork and beans
1 can kidney beans, not drained
1 bottle small catsup ( eyeball it here. Don't make it too sloppy!)
2 tbsp. mustard
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. vinegar

Brown hamburger with onion.

Combine with pork and beans, kidney beans, catsup, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar.

Bake slowly about 2 hours or in crock pot several hours.

Food Storage Series- Pork and Beans

Welcome to the another edition of the Food Storage Series. In these Series, I pick a food storage item and find new and interesting ways to use them. Or I find some unexpected recipes for that item.

This edition is covering Pork and Beans. Great as a side but in a situation where you are eating from your food storage you may get a little tired of beans, beans and beans all the time. I found a couple unexpected recipes and a few to change it up a bit.

I hope you enjoy!

Pork and Bean Bread
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 can pork and beans (remove fat)
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup nuts
1 c raisins
Directions:

Beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pork and beans together enough to mash all the beans.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add to pork and bean mixture.
Stir only enough to moisten completely.

Add vanilla, nuts, and raisins.

Bake in a loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Sounds crazy but it's good!

Food Storage Series

Oatmeal Cake

1 1/2 cups prepared Oatmeal
1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and oatmeal and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Spread in a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes. Spread with topping and return to oven for 3 minutes.

Topping
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup coconut (or you can use 1 cup dry oatmeal)

Bring butter, brown sugar and milk to a boil. Cook slightly( 2 or 3 minutes)
Add coconut(or oatmeal) and nuts. Spread on hot cake.

Return to the oven for 3 minutes.

St. Anne's Hill Tour

"A Dickens of a Christmas in St. Anne’s Hill”

Feature Tours of Historic Dayton Homes

Dayton, Ohio – One of the most popular events of the holiday season, “A Dickens of a Christmas in St. Anne’s Hill” holiday historic home tour,will make its biennial return December 11, 12, and 13, 2009 with guided tours of some of Dayton’s most beautiful historic homes. The tours are led by guides costumed in period dress and feature live entertainment followed by a visit to the beautiful homes in the historic St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood, each decorated for the season.

The tours will conclude with a delicious old-fashioned dessert and a visit to the gift shop.Tours begin every half hour, starting from 4:30-8:00 p.m. on
Friday,December 11th; 1:30-8:00 p.m. on
Saturday, December 12th; and 1:30-6:00p.m. on Sunday, December 13th.
Tours last approximately two to three hours, including entertainment, home tours, and dessert.

Tickets this year are $18 each, and may now be ordered online at http://www.stanneshill.org/.

Due to the popularity of the event, the schedule of tours sells out quickly and advance tickets are required.The 2009 tour will begin at the High Street Gallery, located at 48 High Street. The tour will conclude with a tour of the popular Bossler Mansion, a landmark structure built in 1869. This magnificent home is considered Dayton’s best example of Second Empire architecture. Guests can snack on a classic dessert, browse Victoria’s Parlor Gift Shoppe, walk by the newly renovated Stivers School for the Arts, and enjoy a view of Downtown Dayton.


About St. Anne's Hill
“A Dickens of a Christmas In St. Anne’s Hill” is the Miami Valley’s oldest continuously running historic home tour, having debuted in 1983. Proceeds from the tour will benefit the St. Anne’s Hill Neighborhood Association,and are used to maintain the neighborhood’s historic character.
The St. Anne's Hill Historic Society is celebrating their 35th Anniversary, commemorating the evolution of the neighborhood since it became a registered historic district in 1974. The St. Anne's Hill Historic District neighborhood relies on the efforts of the volunteers in St. Anne's Hill Historic Society, its residents and the community to insure its continued success and growth.The neighborhood of St. Anne's Hill is a historic community within the City of Dayton, located one mile east of the downtown area just beyond the Oregon District. The area was part of the original out-lots of the City of Dayton, which were plotted in 1815 by Daniel C. Cooper, an early settler of the City. Although not settled for several decades, by the1830's the first documented use of the name "St. Anne's Hill" for the area is found in newspaper advertisements promoting the sale of nursery stock from a greenhouse in the area.

Please help us spread the word!
http://www.stanneshill.org/

Food Storage Series

No Bake Oatmeal Cookies:

2 C. Sugar
2 Tblsp. Cocoa
1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Milk
1/2 C. Peanut Butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla
5 C. Instant Oatmeal

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter, milk and peanut butter and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add vanilla and oats. Stir until combined.

Drop by tsp. on wax paper or spead in a pan, cool and cut in squares.

Food Storage Series

Use you instant oatmeal packets as instant pancake batter.

Use any flavor that you like. My favorite is maple and brown sugar.

Just mix until it has that unmistakeable pancake consistency. If you add too much water just add more mix...

Food Storage Series

The next Food Storage Series is using Instant Oatmeal Packets.

Oatmeal Packet Cookies

Ingredients:
1/4 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c butter, softened
1 tbsp milk
1 egg
6 packets flavored instant oatmeal
1 c flour

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except flour and oatmeal packets. Stir in flour and oatmeal packets. (The mixture will be sticky due to the milk. If you prefer crisp cookies to chewy ones, eliminate the milk. If you like your cookies chewy and cakey, add an extra tablespoon of milk.)

Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2" apart. Smash the balls down to a thickness of about half an inch.

Bake until light brown, about ten minutes.

Allow to cool on cookie sheet briefly, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

A Deal!!

Need a Gift Idea?

I found one at www.wisteria.com

Dress up your wardrobe with these scarves that look great on anyone.

They’re soft to the touch and a perfect accessory for any season.

Get all five for only $29

Get the bright set or the dark set......or both!

The Ready Store

Deals and Steals

Now through the end of December is a great time to stock up great items for your food storage. Grocery store ads are full of sales for fixing holiday dinners. These items are also great for stocking your food storage shelves.

Look for deals on canned goods like vegetables, gravy, and pumpkin. Watch for sales on stuffing mixes and baking ingredients like nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, evaporated and sweetened condensed milk. Butter is also on sale now, and it can be stored in the freezer to prolong its shelf life.

Buying these items during holiday sales helps you to replenish your food supply at a significant savings.

What I am Watching

This movie comes out today. We are planning on seeing it. I imagine that it will a Hollywood-ized version of Survival with no real survial tips or skills revealed but a bunch of people running away from inferno's and falling buildings. But we will see.............

2012

Disaster movie maven Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) crafts this apocalyptic sci-fi thriller following the prophecy stated by the ancient Mayan calendar, which says that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) joins the race to ensure that humankind is not completely wiped out.

What I am Watching

The 100 Mile Diet

Based on the book "100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating'' and hosted by its authors, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, this series challenges the citizens of one Canadian town to survive for 100 days on food that originates within 100 miles of that town. The part-docusoap, part-social experiment unfolds chronologically and focuses on the personal story lines that develop as the townsfolk weather the ups and downs of the 100 Mile Diet.

Homemade Brownie Mix

Homemade Brownie Mix

2 cups Sugar
1 cup Flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well

Cut in vegetable shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal

Store in airtight container in a cool dry place

and now for the Brownies........

2 1/4 cups brownie mix, well packed
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( optional)

Mix first 3 ingredients to form smooth batter, add nuts if desired.

Spread in greased 9 inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted off center comes out clean

Storing Comfort Foods

Comfort foods can help ease your stress during rough times

While not considered “life sustaining” foods, we consider them “sanity-sustaining” foods. This is especially important if you have young children. A few normal foods or delicious snacks now and then can really help a difficult situation.

Our advice to use what you store, and store what you eat applies to comfort foods as well. Try a new thing each week or month. Some of our ideas may not be your normal treats but they are great food storage items.

Comfort Food Ideas:
*Home-made popcorn in a pot (recipe coming soon)
*Mashed potatoes with instant potatoes and GRAVY
*Hard Candy
*Chocolate
*Pudding (made using dry milk)
*Granola bars
*Fruit snacks for children
*Chicken noodle soup in a can
*Kool-aid
*Condiments (ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, salsa, pickles - store a spare or two of each)
*Spices (inventory what spices you use and store an extra one or two of each)
*No-bake cookies ingredients

These are all just ideas- Obviously they aren’t all that healthy, necessary to sustain life, or totally “food storage” types of foods - but hey, everyone needs a little comfort food sometimes!

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http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

What's for Dinner- Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp each salt, cinnamon and allspice
1/2 tsp ground pepper
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
baked pumpkin seeds for garnish
(I added a tablespoon of brown sugar too)

1. Place oil, red onion, garlic and seasonings into large pot

2.Cook on medium low heat until red onion and garlic are brown

3. Puree the beans, tomatoes and half of the vegetable broth. Add pureed ingredients, pumpkin and the rest of the broth to the pot

4. Simmer uncovered until thick, about 45 minutes

5. Stir in Balsamic Vinegar.

6. Garnish with baked pumpkin seeds and serve

4

What Matt is Reading

Emergency Preparedness Basics

Emergency Preparedness Basics

The most essential items to have prepared in an emergency situation are:

1. WARMTH & SHELTER: In extreme conditions, an individual will survive only around three hours without any protection from the elements. If you don’t have adequate shelter, you won’t have a chance to get thirsty or hungry before you start to suffer from hypothermia or extreme heat exposure.

2. WATER & HYDRATION: Your body can only survive around three days without access to water in extreme conditions. We recommend that you have at least 3 different ways to access water. Large barrels can store a large amount of water, but are obviously not portable since fully loaded they can weigh over 400 lbs. You need portable water containers in case you need to evacuate your house, like the 5 gallon stackable water containers. You also need a way to purify water if you have access to water, but it is unsafe to drink.

3. FOOD & NUTRITION: Depending on the conditions of your environment and level of activity, an individual can survive about three weeks without food. In extreme cold the lack of food can be dangerous, and in other situations, (like gradual dehydration), hunger can bring about many consequences long before it causes death. These problems can include irritability and low morale, weakness, loss of mental clarity, poor judgment, weakened immune system, and increased difficulty maintaining body temperature.

4. SANITATION & HYGIENE: During periods of emergency or disaster, sanitation levels can deteriorate rapidly and disease can spread and even cause death in a matter of days. Maintaining good hygiene will prevent disease and illness from spreading. You will need a way to use the bathroom, a way to keep your living environment clean, and a way to keep your hands, mouth, and body clean.

5. First Aid: First aid can help a person survive and function with injuries and illnesses that would otherwise kill or cripple him/her. It’s important to have a first aid kit in almost any emergency situation to treat any type of trauma like lacerations, which may become infected, bites or stings from venomous animals, bites leading to disease, infection through food, animal contact, drinking contaminated water, bone fractures, sprains, burns, poisoning from consumption of, or contact with, or poisonous plants or fungi.

6. TOOLS: In an emergency or disaster situation, tools and supplies are not one of most basic essentials, but they can greatly increase your ability to effectively provide yourself and others in an emergency situation. A pocket knife, a shovel, some pliers, or a compass could greatly improve your chances of survival if one finds themselves in a fleeing situation.

7. LIGHT & COMMUNICATION: As with tools, light and communication are not essential to your immediate survival, but they are invaluable tools in helping to protect yourself from greater danger and assisting you in acquiring safer and more stable living conditions.

You can get everything you need at The Ready Store. Click the link below or the Widget in the left side bar.

What I am Reading

The Ready Store

Check out my new Widget for The Ready Store.

I am an affiliate and will make 10% off of any sale made thru my website.



So go ahead............click it and shop!

Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe

With Holiday Baking ahead of us all, I wanted to share Cookie recipe I found.

It makes 7 to 8 Dozen Cookies and they say the Dough can be frozen for later use!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sugar Cookies

1.1 lb (500 grams) Butter
1 can Condensed Milk (390-400 gram)
1 cup Sugar
5 cups Self Rising Flour (or plain flour and baking powder)
toppings like choc chips, smarties, jam, cinnamon and sugar

Cream butter and sugar, add condensed milk.

Stir in flour.

Roll into balls and flatten or Roll out with rolling pin and cut with cookie cutter

Top with toppings of choice...... Choc chips, Sprinkles, Sugar or thumbprint and add jam for jam drops.Bake at 350 degrees for approx 10 min until golden brown.

Cool on racks.

Makes 7 to 8 Dozen