May: Rice and using your dehydrator!

For the month of May we met at Mikki's home near Hansville.  We explored some yummy rice recipes from everyone.  Mikki taught us the basics of dehydrating food as a preserving method.

Notes on dehydrating foods:

Mikki spent several days experimenting with her dehydrator for our benefit (Thank you!).  We tasted fruit leather made with her  jam supply.  It made excellent leather.  TO DO: She lined her electric dehydrator rack with parchment paper and spread the jam THINLY to the same thickness.  (The chunks in the jam didn't dry well, so she suggests blending and thinning the mixture before spreading onto the racks.)  The dried leather sticks to itself so perhaps it should be rolled while still on the parchment paper.  The leather needs to be stored in a sealed container (jar or self seal bag) to keep the humidity out.  You can use fresh fruit or frozen fruit to make leathers.  Mix and match to make fun flavors.

Mikki also dried some meat for beef jerky.  It did well, but she found that a meat slicer would really help get the meat thin so it would dry more quickly and evenly.

Peggy reported that Tim had dehydrated hamburger with success. 

The oils in meats can cause dried meat to go rancid, so use lean cuts.

Fruit to be dried should be ripe and clean.

Notes on Rice:  Any cereal grain (rice is one) combined with a legume, dairy, or  root vegetable provides all 8 amino acids of a whole protein!  White rice stores longer than brown rice.  Brown rice is a more complex carbohydrate so it does not spike your blood sugar as quickly as white rice.

Why soak whole grains:  IN their raw ans/or cracked stae, all whole grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer, or bran.  This phytic acid combines with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc in the intestinal tract, blocking mineral absorption.  A diet high in untreated, cooked whole grains may lead to mineral deficiencies and bone loss.  Soaking grains in warm, acidic water for as little as seven hours will neutralize some of most of the phytic acid.  The process of soaking and fermenting grains partially breaks down the difficult proteins (such as gluten) into more easily digestible components.


The recipes:

Mikki Whitworth:

Morgan Carlson:  Fried Rice

Laurie Beth Burt:  Rice Pudding

4 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup uncooked medium-grain rice (not instant)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine milk, sugar and rice in a medium-sized slow cooker. 
Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, on high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until creamy.  Stir in raisins and cinnamon.  Pudding will thicken as it cools.
Kristie Burt: Basic Soaked Brown Rice

3 cups brown basmati rice
6 cups water
6 T raw apple cider vinegar
1 T sea salt
2 T coconut oil
Place water in stockpot.  Heat until you see bubbles forming on the bottom.  Remove from heat.  Add rice and apple cider vinegar.  Stir.  Cover pot and let soak overnight (or for a minimum of 7 hours).  After soaking is done, add salt and coconut oil.  Heat on stove, bringing to a hard boil.  Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Check to see that all the water is absorbed, if so, remove from heat.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Sere right away or store in fridge for later.  (I highly recommend cutting the recipe in half unless you need a lot of rice as it makes a huge amount.!)

Peggy Bullock: Sausage and Rice Casserole (originally from Melisa Holmes)
1 pound ground sausage ( I used spicy Italian)
2 pkg. Lipton noodle soup mix (I used chicken bouillon, 3 cubes)
1 1/2 cups celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups white rice or 3/4 cup brown rice
pimentos to taste (about 1/2 small jar)
4 cups hot water (add another cup for brown rice)

Directions:
Brown ground sausage, drain; set aside. In a 9X13 pan, dissolve soup or boullion in hot water.  Stir in vegetables and uncooked rice.  Spoon in cooked sausage and pimentos.  Bake at 325 for 30 min or until rice is done and water absorbed.


Extra Tasters: Marie Johnatakis, Amber Jensen and Cheryl Whittles (and the Whitworth family!)

June: Powdered Milk and making yogurt at home

We gathered at Marie's for our June meeting to explore some new uses for powdered milk.  It was great to taste such a variety of yummy things to eat!  The kids even gave their thumbs up!  Machelle Epperson and Peggy Bullock explained how they both make yogurt at home!  Their methods start out the same, but Peggy uses her crock pot and Machelle uses an cooler (ice chest) for the fermenting process:

• Start with either cow's milk (whole, 1% or 2%, I have never tried skim)  or powdered milk
• Heat the milk to about 180 degrees F.  You can do this on the stove or directly in the crock pot (crock pot on high for about 2 hours).  This step kills off the unwanted bacteria in the milk and keeps your yogurt taste uniform over time.
• Let the heated milk cool to about 120 degrees (too hot will kill your starter bacteria, too cool and the starter will not grow.)
• Crockpot method: use 2 heaping tablespoons of a starter yogurt culture from the store (one with live cultures, no flavoring, no gelatins or thickeners added--Peggy's starter beganas Nancy's Organic Plain Nonfat Yogurt) per 8 cups (1/2 gallon) of milk.    Cooler method:  use 1/4 cup starter yogurt per gallon of cooled milk.  Once you make your own yogurt you save out this amount in the fridge to start your next batch, much like you do sour dough starter.)
• To inoculate your milk: remove a small bowl of the warmed milk, add the starter yogurt, blend gently but thoroughly, then add that mixture to the other warmed milk and stir. 
• Crockpot method:  Replace the crockpot lid, unplug the pot and wrap the crockpot in one or two bath towels and leave on the counter overnight or 8-12 or so hours.  Then carefully place the crockpot liner or entire crockpot into the fridge for several hours to help it thicken.  Your yogurt should be nice and thick with perhaps a layer of milk whey which can be spooned off.  (You can feed this whey to live stock or use it to soak your whole grains.)
• Machelle's cooler method:after adding the starter culture to the milk as described, divide inoculated milk between sterilized quart jars.  Place jars into a cooler.  Add hot water up to the bottom rim of the jars.  Close the cooler, let sit undisturbed for 3 hours. 
• You have yogurt!
• Before you forget:  take out your starter yogurt and set aside in a clean jar in the fridge so you don't eat it all!  (I think it will stay good for about a month, although I make yogurt more frequently than that so I am not sure!).  If you eat it all you have to go and borrow or buy more starter! 

FYI:  The more fat in the milk, the thicker the yogurt.  The longer the culture time, the less lactose will remain in the yogurt.  Need more?  Just google diy yogurt! 

The recipes:

Peggy Bullock Sweetened Condensed Milk: (costs pennies compared to store bought!)

• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1cup powdered milk

Combine water, butter, sugar in a bowl and mix well with an electric mixer.  When combined well, add powdered milk.  That's it!  Makes 14 ounces. Use it in any recipe that calls for a 14 ounce can of  sweetened condensed milk!  I have stored up to a week in the fridge.

Peggy Bullock:  Fruit and Nut Bars

3.4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1  cup flour
1 cup oatmeal

Mix until crumbly.  Press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan.  Bake 350 for 10 minutes.  Let cool a bit.  Spread 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk on the cool crust.  I topped mine with sliced almonds, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and pressed the toppings into the crust a bit. Baked 25 minutes more.  When cooled, cut into bars, drizzle dark chocolate over the top, (but hubby likes it plain).  Any nut or dried fruit (apricots! cherries!) you have on hand tastes great on this bar and looks awesome!

Kristi Burt:  Chocolate Pudding
1 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/3s cup cocoa powder
good dash salt

Combine and put in a bag or container until you need to make pudding.

To finish pudding :  Pour ingredients into a sauce pan.  Add 3 cups water and stir until smooth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until boiling.  Boil 1 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add 3 Tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.  Stir well then let cool before serving.

Laurie Beth Burt:  Butter spread

3/4 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup oil (coconut, olive, sunflower, etc)
You can add salt and/or butter flavoring if you want.

Mix milk, water, and oil in food processor for a few minutes.  Keep blending until desired consistency.  Then add optional ingredients.  Laurie added basil and dill weed for a savory butter.  (This spread was yummy on her home-baked bread!)

Marie Johnatakis:  Healthier Peanut Butter Balls
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter
1/3 cup raw honey
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Blend together peanut butter, honey and powdered milk.  Form into bit size balls.  Place chips and cocoanut oil in microwave for 1 minute, stir.  Micro another 30 sec.  When completed melted, dip balls in chocolate.  Place on waxed paper and freeze 30 minutes.  Store in air tight container in fridge.

Mikki Whitworth and Cheryl Whittles: Almond Milk Smoothie