Friday, August 5, 2011

Food Storage Friendly Friday – Meal Idea and Tip of the Week


Yesterday while waiting in line to buy a few things at a small variety store, I was visiting with a woman who noticed I had a few packets of clearance garden seeds in my basket. She commented that she always keeps a garden journal. She keeps track of all the varieties of seeds she plants and how much of each, as well as where she got them and how much she paid. Then as soon as her garden starts to produce each year, she starts keeping track of the yield and then compares it with her previous journals. She said she has found her favorite seeds and most generally can find them on end-of-the-year clearance each year, thus saving lots of money. I asked her if she worries about dates and she told me that she has never had a problem with seeds being too old.

I did the square foot gardening this year, for the first time and loved it. I have grown quite a bit in not much space. I also planted taters in a barrel, actually 2 barrels and they seem to be doing well. I’ve been intrigued by how much you can grow without actually having a garden spot. I started with good soil, lots of water and sunshine and had a lot of fun without too much weeding. I love the not too much weeding part.

I have learned a bit this year that will help me to make some changes next year and so I’m going to write everything down so I won’t forget by the time next year’s planting time comes. I even got my husband excited about building me some more gardening boxes. He builds them and I paint them. Love it. I was glad to visit with the lady who told me about the gardening journal. What a great tip. I’m going to do it too!

This recipe for Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns should have been posted on Whole Wheat Wednesday, but I was too excited to tell you about my canning bacon project so I’m posting it today. This uses vital wheat gluten. If you don’t have any yet, you can buy it in bulk from Winco or canned from any preparedness place. It is a great idea to get some and experiment with it until you get your whole wheat bread recipe perfected. Grab some to have on hand while we are experimenting with whole wheat flour.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
1 ¼ c. warm milk (try powdered milk)
1 beaten egg (try reconstituted powdered eggs)
2 T. melted butter
¼ c. sugar
¾ t. salt
3 ¾ c. whole wheat flour (Hard red or hard white wheat)
4 t. vital wheat gluten
1 ¼ t. active dry yeast
2 T. more melted butter
Optional: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, finely minced onion –sautéed and drained on paper towels
*Note: This recipe uses a bread machine or mixer but can easily be mixed by hand also.
Put 1st 8 ingredients in order in your bread pan set your machine to the dough setting. When complete, dump the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough in half, and roll each piece out into a 1″ thick circle. Using a large drinking glass, biscuit cutter or wide-mouth canning jar ring, cut each half into 6 rounds, re-kneading and re-rolling the dough as needed to make your pieces. Place on greased baking sheet about 2″ apart; brush tops with melted butter. If you want to sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds or cooked minced onion on top, do it now. Cover and let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled. Bake at 350* for about 12 min, or until tops are browned. Allow to cool completely before slicing buns in half.

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