4 Syrup recipes: coconut, peach, Nauvoo, maple

Coconut Syrup

Go to http://allrecipes.com/recipe/108969/coconut-pancake-syrup/

Note: I've tried this and it's fabulous! I don't like sharing it at the table. Such a great reminder of home.

Peach Syrup
1 can peaches w juice - place in a pot and mash up.
Mix in the following:
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Bring these three ingredients to a boil.
Thicken with cornstarch (2 T cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 c cold water).
Take off heat. Serve hot or lukewarm.
Store in refrigerator.
(shared in TB's 42 recipe booklet, p.2)

Note: Very good - we all liked it!


Note: I haven't tried these two below, but imagine they're good:

Nauvoo Syrup
1 c. butter
1 c. buttermilk
2 c. sugar
Mix above ingredients and bring to boil in LARGE pot (syrup will foam up when baking soda is added) for 2 min. Remove from heat.
Add following:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp maple flavoring (extract)
Mix well and serve. Store in refrigerator
(shared by AD in Favorite Holiday Recipes booklet, 2013, p.19)

Maple Syrup
Homemade syrup can be made as thick as store-bought by replacing 1/2 of the water with corn syrup. You may also add butter flavoring purchased from the store. Both of these will increase the cost.
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 tsp maple extract
Bring water and sugar to a slow boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat before it comes to a rolling boil (to keep crystals from forming) Add flavoring as it is cooling. Store in refrigerator.

Cost Analysis (24 oz): Homemade - 20c       Mrs. Butterworth's - $3.19

(source: Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy, p. 105)

Processing Pears

After getting a bushel of pears on Friday Oct. 2, I didn't really know how long it would be before they were ready to process. I've worked with peaches a lot, but not pears. Surprisingly to me, I needed to start working on them by Tuesday. I started out by doing what I usually do - the hot bath method in quart sized jars.



Thankfully, I was able to enlist JO's help for a little over an hour. This made it possible to get 20 qts done. It was so nice to have someone to chat with while we did the work - especially at the beginning while I was getting my stride. I also ended up doing some jam.
See http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-pear-jam-71486 for that recipe.

After doing pears from 12:30-4:30, I needed a nap! That's too much work for me. I know people who can for days. For some reason, the pears seemed harder than the peaches. Oh well. I took a break on Wednesday and tackled then them again. At that point, I could refrigerate the ones that were left.
I got the help of some family members on Thursday and today. We used recipes from the 1989 Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook - making Poached Pears yesterday, then Pear Sauce and Pear Crisp tonight. Whew.

Thank goodness that's done.

Note: 11/1 - we've already had one of the jars of Pear Sauce - so good!

Explanation of recent posts

Now that the month is almost over and I have a little more time to put all of this on the blog, I will start sharing what I've learned and the spreadsheets I used to get ready for this month.

First of all, I spoke with everyone who lives here and got their input. Each person who was cooking - especially dinners - chose the meals they would prepare. I wanted to be sure everyone was on board with this.

Secondly, I started making my spreadsheets that I've just shared, getting exact amounts for each recipe and ingredient, and figuring out what I already had in stock. Then I moved on to putting my master shopping list together. This all took a lot longer than I anticipated, but now that it's done, I have it to refer to for the future (and so do you).

Because I have so much food storage already, I wasn't too concerned with running out of certain things - especially anything outside of the produce, meat and dairy categories. As you can see, I spent a lot on stocking up on those three categories just mentioned. I knew if there were complaints and feelings of shortage, it would land in one of those.

All in all, I'd call it a success; even though I got braces on a month earlier than anticipated, I've been able to enjoy meals with my family, get the veggies I need and help my family do the same.

What will I continue to do?

#1 - Freeze Dairy:
*  Keep 2 gallons of whole milk in the freezer and rotate them.
*  Keep a lb of butter and a lb of marg in freezer
*  Keep 2 - 8 oz cream cheese in the freezer
* Keep a 5 lb block of cheddar cheese in the freezer
These have been so easy to do and really would be a life saver if we ever have a break in services.

#2 - Shop less:
Now that I know I can shop on Monday, I'm feeling a little weird. I don't really want to. It seems like a lot of work to do this over again, but the benefits are huge. I don't plan on going without food shopping like this again for awhile, but I do want to put together a more exact menu like this.

#3 - Use more variety for Breakfast and Lunch:
Doing this month, I feel like I've expanded my options for breakfast and lunch and can go longer without shopping as well as bringing variety to those other meals. All positives in my book. I've done 3 weeks of dinner menus many times in the past. It's the other two meals that seem to get away from me and send me to the store more than 2x per month.

#4 - Continue to have others bake the fun, sugary snacks:
I really like not doing this; which surprises me. I feel like I have better control over my diet and am helping those that like certain treats learn how to make them themselves. When they see that I'm not going to do it, they will jump in.

#5 - Keep all of these recipes and menus in a binder, adding to it as I continue to learn more.

#6 - Buy a bunch of produce at the beginning of each month, then process some of it for later in the month. This can help not only in case of a break in services, but the more likely storm that may keep me from the grocery store in the winter months.
*  Make vegetable stock, then bottle or freeze
*  Make green juice and freeze in multiple 16-20 oz containers
*  Cook carrots and spinach, then freeze

Ingredients for Lunches to go

Lunches To go		Perishable	Freezer or
		Ingredient	Other
		Breakdown	Ingredients
5	PBJs	12 slices bread		6x
		8 T jelly
			6 T pb
	Milk	24 oz	24 oz pwd milk	2x	school milk
	Apples	2
	Carrots	4
	Chips		1/2 bag
6	Tunafish	6 T mayo		4x
			2 cans tuna
		12 rolls
	Mand OJ		1 can
	Dried Apple Slices		4 oz
	Carrots/Celery	3 ea
7	Hmde Lunchables	10 oz cheese		4x
			40 crackers
		10 oz ham
	applesauce		1/2 container
	carrot wedges	4 carrots
	zucchini sticks	1/2 zucchini
	Chicken Salad Sand	12 slices bread
8		1/2 c mayo		4x
		4 oz cream cheese
			1 1/2 cans chicken from Costco
			dill, garlic
	Mand OJ		1 can
	Dried Apple Slices		4 oz
	Carrots/Celery	3 ea

Ingredients for Lunches to eat at home

Home Lunches
		Perishable	Freezer or
		Ingredient	Other
		Breakdown	Ingredients
1	Veg Soft Taco		2 c. Ref beans	3x
			8 tortillas
		10 oz cheddar cheese
		16 oz sour cream
	Apples	2
	Carrots	4
	Tortilla Chips		1/2 bag
	Salsa	6 oz
2	Ramen		2	2x
	Pear	2
	Frozen Peas		1/2 bag
	Canned Corn		1
3	Loaded Baked Potato		6 potatoes	3x
		6 oz sour cream
		8 oz cheese
		4 oz butter
	Brocolli (frozen)		1/2 bag
	Pineapple		1 can
	Carrots - cooked	4
		1 T butter
			1 T honey
4	Cream of Potato Soup		4 c potato flakes	3x
			1 T onion flakes
			29 oz chicken broth
		2 T olive oil
			pwd milk
			dill, salt, pepper
	Peaches - canned		1 can
	Frozen Peas		1/2 bag
	Cornbread	1 egg	1 pwd egg
			1 c pwd milk
		1/4 c butter
			cornmeal, sugar, flour
			salt, bkg soda & pwd

Breakfast Ingredients and where to find recipes

	Breakfasts
		Perishable	Freezer or
		Ingredient	Other
		Breakdown	Ingredients
1	Cold Cereal		Cereal Box
	Sausage		10 Sausage links
	Milk	24 oz milk	24 oz pwd milk
2	Yogurt	1/2 gallon Milk
		1/4 c. Yogurt
			2 T jam
	Deanna Granola		7 c. Oats
			3/4 c Honey
			1 c coconut
			3/4 c coconut oil
			1/2 c sliced almonds
			cinnamon, salt, vanilla
		zest of 2 oranges
	Oranges- sliced	2 oranges above
3	Waffles		pwd milk, eggs
			oil, vinegar
	Syrup		2 c syrup
	Milk	3 c	2 c pwd
4	Sausage		10 sausage links
	Em's Choc Chip		2 pwd eggs
	Banana Muffins	1/2 c butter
		1 c greek yogurt
			bananas
			1 c chocolate chips
5	Hashbrowns		1/2 bag frozen potatoes
			3 T marg
	Bagels		6 bagels
	Cream Cheese	6 oz Cr Cheese
6	Fat Free Granola		Oats
			Honey
			Brown Sugar
			1/3 c apple concentrate
	Brown Sugar Muffins (12)		1/4 c olive oil
			1/4 c applesauce
			1 c pwd milk
			1 pwd egg
			1 c brown sugar
			flour, soda, salt, vanilla
	Milk for cereal	10 oz milk	10 oz pwd milk
7	Eng Muffins		5 Eng Muffins
		3 T butter
	Scrambled Eggs	5 Eggs	2 pwd eggs
			1/4 c. pwd milk
	Apple Juice		apple concentrate (remaining from ff granola)
8	Pancakes		pwd milk+ eggs
			oil, vinegar
	Apple Pie Filling		1 can filling
	Dream Whip		1/4 c. pwd milk
			1 pkt Dream Whip
9	Oatmeal/Cheerios		Oats
			Cheerios
	Milk	24 oz milk	24 oz pwd milk
	Cinnamon Rolls		12 oz pwd milk
			1/2 c oil
			2 T yeast
			brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger
			salt, baking soda
			5 c flour (1/2 and 1/2)
10	Make Ahead Breakfast Cake
			2/3 c pwd milk
			1/4 c shortening
			1 pwd egg
			flour, sugar, salt, spices
			1/2 c oatmeal
		4 T butter
	Orange Delight		12 oz orange juice
			1 c pwd milk
			1 c sugar
			vanilla, ice cubes
11	Black Bean Sausage		1 1/2 c ea: cooked black beans & rice
			1/4 c oats
			2 tsp whole fennel seeds
			4 tsp ea: dried onion, sage
			1 tsp ea: oregano, sea salt
			1/2 tsp ea: onion pwd, garlic pwd, cayenne
			1 T + 1 tsp canola oil
	Biscuits		see mixes
			1/2 c pwd milk
	Gravy		Country mix + water