My kids love
marshmallows. Whenever I make brownies
they want me to add marshmallows. This
recipe combines the kid’s love of marshmallows and my desire for a decadent
chocolate dessert.
Prepare the
brownie mix as directed adding 1/3 cup chocolate chips to the batter.
Spread the
brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350
degrees for 20-25 minutes. Brownies will
be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Immediately
after removing from oven, sprinkle with 1 to 1 1/3 cups miniature marshmallows,
2/3 cup chocolate chips and the peanuts. Return to the oven for 1 minuet to soften
marshmallows. Store tightly covered.
Print the Recipe for DIY Brownie Mix and all the variations
Spread the
brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Using an
electric mixer, beat together the peanut butter, vegetable oil and powdered
sugar until smooth. Dollop the peanut butter mixture on top of the brownie
batter. Swirl together using a knife or skewer.
Bake at 350
degrees for 20-25 minutes. Brownies will
be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan, then cut
into bars and serve.
Print the Recipe for DIY Brownie Mix and all the variations
Spread the
brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Using an
electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth.
Dollop the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter. Swirl together
using a knife or skewer.
Bake at 350
degrees for 20-25 minutes. Brownies will
be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan, then cut
into bars and serve.
Print the Recipe for DIY Brownie Mix and all the variations
Have you ever had an “Ah-ha!” moment? A couple of years ago I had purchased a bunch of cake and brownie mixes when they were on sale, when I went to use them I found that they were really old and would not work properly. I did what every new mother does with faced with a problem, I called my mom. As she walked me through how to add more leavening to the mix, I thought
I should just make my own mix. How hard could it be?
I’ve been making brownie mixes ever since. I’ve gone through a couple of different recipes but this one is our favorite. This mix makes gooey brownies, because that is the kind we like. I don’t really like brownies plain so I usually jazz them up a bit and make cheese cake brownies or peanut butter swirl brownies.
To print a PDF with all of the variations, click the link below the photo at the top of the post.
I'll be sharing all the variations this week.
DIY Brownie Mix 9x13 pan
Printable Recipe Make the Mix
2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Flour
2/3 Cup Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 cup shortening powder
4 tablespoons powdered whole eggs
Mix all these ingredients together with a whisk and dump them into a Ziploc bag. Remove any excess air from the bag and seal. Be sure to add the cooking instructions to the bag.
Brownie Mix should stay fresh in your pantry for up to 6 months, or in the freezer for up to 1 year.
To Make the Brownies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Vanilla.
Spray a 9 by 13 inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine brownie mix and other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Spread the brownie batter evenly in the pan.
For gooier brownies bake brownies 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
For chewier brownies bake brownies at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
This is the dilemma for hot cooks everywhere.If you
are the one in charge of cooking dinner at your house you probably have this
same dilemma.In the summer I want
something that is tasty but that won’t heat my whole house up.We often end up eating pasta with
veggies.
If you have fresh veggies on hand feel free to
substitute.
Add
noodles and seasoning to the pan and warm through. Fold in tomatoes, spinach,
and herbs. Drizzle olive oil over top to serve. Salt and Pepper to taste.
Note:
It’s best to use fresh basil, parsley, and chives, but if using dry herbs you need
⅓ less as a general rule.
Whenever
it is time to for my kids to clean their bedrooms my 5 year old says
“But
it is too much. Mom, I need you to tell me
where to start!”
She is
correct cleaning her room is too much for her.
She needs me to help her know where to start. I have to tell her that first she needs to
put the dirty clothes in the hamper. Once
that is complete, I tell her the next step: make her bed. We continue this process: breaking it down
into small, manageable steps, until her room is clean.
Breaking
a big overwhelming task into smaller, manageable items is how every big project
is accomplished, especially building your food storage.
Over the next year, I am going to break down the huge task of building up your food
storage. Each month I will highlight one
area of food storage to work on and give actionable steps for three different categories
of people; beginners, intermediate, and advanced. Each month I will be giving away items related to the post to help you build your food storage.
Where ever you are at in your food storage journey I hope you will follow along and
build up your food storage.
Let me
introduce the first post in our new Food Storage Building Blocks: a month by
month approach to building your food storage.
The water
supply is easily contaminated or disrupted, and without it we are going to be
in big trouble. The lack of water will
cause death faster than the lack of food.
Your body can start showing signs of dehydration after only a few hours without
water. Drinking contaminated water (which
we would all do without another option) can cause serious illness. Having a safe source of clean water is
critical.
Good
News: Storing water can be easy and
affordable.
Water Basics:
In an
emergency, you should have a minimum of 1 gallon of water per person per day
for drinking,
Plus ½ gallon of water per person per day for basic hygiene.
If you plan on doing much bathing, toilet flushing, cleaning or any other water intensive task be sure to store much more water.
My family of 5 needs at least 23 gallons of
water for our 72 hours. 15 gallon
for drinking and 7.5 gallons for hygiene.
This Months Tasks
Ideas for how to accomplish each task
Beginner: Store 72 hours’ worth of water.
·Buy cases of
bottled water. A case with 32 - 16.9
ounce bottles (standard Sam’s Club size) has 4.2 gallons of water. I buy one case per person so we have a little
more than the minimum (and we just go through them fast). Bottled water should be rotated every 6
months. So buy it and store for 6
months. Buy some more and drink the old. I store my water under my 72 hour kits. In the case of an evacuation I know where it is and can easily load it in the car if needed.
Intermediate: Add low
volume water filtration or purification tools
The aqua pail will filter water from any river source. It immediately kills harmful toxins, bacteria
and viruses. Good News: It has an indefinite shelf life. If you want to buy something and put it away
and never deal with it again. This is
the filter for you.
·Steri Pen $59.99 Uses ultraviolet light to purifies 200 half liter servings of water.
Does not filter. Eliminates over 99.99% of bacteria, viruses,
and protozoa. This product uses
batteries so be sure to keep extra on hand and check them regularly.
·Water
filtration bottles These filter as
you drink. Perfect for 72 hour
kits. Filter is replaceable. Filter 100 gallons of water. Removes 99.99% of bacteria , virus,
contaminants, and pollutants. Uses
adsorption Micron filtration system ·Sterilization
chemicals (liquids or tabs)
Throw this in
your 72 hour kit to cover water for your family. Comes with Camelback and water bottle
connectors. You can purchase an optional
water heater attachment.
Advanced: Add long term
water solution & high volume purifying tools
One of the lowest $/filtered gallon costs
available, replaceable filters make it an even better value. My husband is in LOVE with this filter it is by far his favorite.
This Month's Give Away One lucky reader will win the Frontier
Pro Water Filter. It will filter up to 50 gallons of water and is perfect for your short term water needs. It is compact and will easily fit in any 72 hour kit.
How do you enter? Just leave a comment on this post letting me know what you did to build up your food storage this month. I want to know specifically what you did in regards to your water storage, but I'd love to hear about any progress you have made. For an additional entry you may share this give away (facebook, pinterest, twitter, blog). Please leave an additional comment for sharing the post.
Do you know about bountiful baskets? It is a produce co-op that is in many places
across the country. Baskets are $15 and you get a ton of fruits
and veggies. Many pick up sites also offer extras like bread, granola, and
tortillas. Sadly the granola is $10.00 for a
2 pound bag. I can’t bring myself to pay
that much when I have all the ingredients in my food storage to make my own
granola. In my search for a great granola
recipe I have made (and thrown away) a lot of granola. It was kind of surprising how hard it was to
find a great recipe. I was looking for a
simple and delicious recipe, and I love how this one turned out.
3 cups old-fashioned oats* 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/3 cup honey 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup chopped almonds
Preheat oven to 350º.
Mix all ingredients, together in
a mixing bowl.
Line a cookie sheet with
parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Spread mixture evenly on the cookies sheet.
Bake mixture for 15 minutes,
stirring once in the middle of cooking. Remove granola from the oven, and
stir, and allow it to cool. Place cool granola
in an airtight container. Granola will
keep in your pantry for 2-3 weeks, to extend shelf life store in the
freezer. Serve over homemade yogurt, or on top of
oatmeal.
Cooking
tip: Measure the vegetable oil and add
to the bowl, use the same measuring cup to measure the honey. This will help the honey flow smoothly out of
the measuring cup.
This
is the best bread. The first time I made
it I ate almost the entire loaf by myself. (don’t tell.)
Have
you ever seen a recipe and thought “I should make that” and then you don’t? I saw this recipe over on the Prudent
Homemaker about 3 years ago, and I thought
“I should make that” and then I didn’t.
I
finally made this recipe for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had made it sooner.
When I
bake round loafs I often have a hard time determining when to take them out of
the oven. I recently learned that you
can use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature. For white loafs 195 degrees for whole grain loafs 210 degrees.
In
your mixing bowl, proof the yeast by adding the yeast into the warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes until nice and
bubbly.
Add sugar,
olive oil, salt and rosemary. Mix well,
add flour 1 cup at a time mixing between each cup. You have added enough flour with the dough
sticks together scraping the side of the bowl clean.
If
using an electric stand mixer knead 5-6 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead 10 minutes on a
floured surface, turning and folding well.
Pull
all sides of the dough into the center, making a big ball. This stretches the
gluten and makes a higher loaf. Put the dough in the bowl with the smooth side
on top. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray. Cover with a clean damp
cloth over the top for 1 hour, or until double in size.
Take
dough out of the bowl, and punch down. Pull the edges into the middle all the way
around to make a ball. Cover let rest
for 10 minutes.
Form
dough into the loaf shape you desire. Put loaves on pan and allow to rise again
covered for about 40 minutes.
Preheat
the oven to 400º so that it is ready to go at the end of the second rising.
When
second rising is done, take a serrated knife and quickly and lightly slash the
loaves.
This
helps the loaves raise more in the oven.
Put loaf
in the oven and cook until a nice browned and reaches an internal temperature
of at least 195 degrees.
Small
Round loaves: 30-40 minutes
1
Large Round Loaf: 1 hour
2 Sandwich
Loafs 40-50 minutes
Take
loaves out of the oven. After a couple minutes, turn loaves over on the cookie
sheets so the bottoms can dry (or else they stay wet on bottom, even after an
hour).
Sun Oven
Directions:
It is difficult to tell when bread is ready to be removed from the sun oven. The easiest way is to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature. 195 degrees and this bread is finished baking.
Prepare
dough following the directions above until the second rising.
Preheat
your sun oven to 350 degrees.
When
bread is cooked in the sun oven it rises more than regularly so cut the time of
the second rising down to about 15 minutes, or until the dough has filled the
pan and rounded on the top. Be sure to
use a dark colored pan (or one that is metal and NOT shiny).
After the second rising ready to put in the sun oven.
Using a serrated knife slash the top of the
loaf.
Quickly place your bread in the sun oven. Close glass door and secure with the
latch.
For 1
large round loaf bake 1 hour or until the internal temperature of the bread
reaches 195 degrees.
I often hear from my readers that they would like to be more
prepared but that food storage and emergency products can get pricey and seldom
go on sale. Does that sound familiar?
Well here is your chance to create your own
sale.
In July, when you host a Shelf Reliance party you
will get more than just host benefits—you’ll also be eligible for an additional
product at half price, up to a retail value of $500!
What could you buy this July at half off?
ASun Oven for $164.99 (retail
price is $329.99). That is a screaming good deal!
The Goal 0 Adventure Kit Plus for
$199.99 (retail price is $399.99)
Party Options · Host a traditional
party—invite friends over, try some samples, learn a little about food storage
and emergency preparedness. I am available
for in home parties in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. · Host a
catalog party—take catalogs to your workplace or around to your neighbors,
collect orders and turn them in. · Host an
online party—I’ll supply you with an e-mail/blog post
telling them about Shelf Reliance and explaining how to order from your
party. You can also post on your blog,
facebook, and twitter.
If you are excited to build up your emergency supplies at ½ price
contact me (heather@teamshelfreliance.com or
435-535-1470) and schedule a party
today.
