Hearty Minestrone Soup

I was in the mood to "play with my food," so I decided to give minestrone a try. It's very good, but if you have time for it to simmer for awhile, it's even better as the flavors blend and meld.

6 C water
4 TB THRIVE Tomato Powder
1 can beef broth
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 Bay leaf
1 tsp parsley
1/2 C small shell pasta OR THRIVE elbow macaroni

1/4 C each of the following THRIVE freeze-dried products:
Onions
Celery
Carrot
Mixed bell peppers
Sausage crumbles
Sweet corn
Green beans

1 tsp olive oil


Heat water and stir in tomato powder. Add remaining ingredients except olive oil. Allow to simmer for at least an hour (the longer the better!!) Stir in olive oil, remove bay leaf, and serve hot. Top with parmesan or romano cheese, if desired. This recipe makes 4 decent-sized, fill you up, bowls of soup.

"Gee, I wish we had nacho cheese"

I'll be honest. Today I feel awful. I just want to sleep on the couch and have the world go away. Evidently, my kids feel the same way. The problem is, even when they feel bad, they still want to eat. So my oldest says, "Gee, I wish we had some nacho cheese. I'd really like a burrito." Well, knowing that I had leftover taco meat from last night (made with my THRIVE ground beef, of course! All I did was reconstitute and add a pouch of taco seasoning) I said, "Let me see what I can do." I went into the kitchen and mixed up the following, and voila! Burritos with nacho cheese!! And Spencer's response? "These burritos are amazing!" Now THAT puts a smile on a mama's face!

1/4 C THRIVE Monterey jack cheese
1/4 C THRIVE Cheddar cheese
2 TB your favorite brand of salsa in a jar (I always have some in my pantry)
1 tsp milk or water

Reconstitute cheeses in warm water and drain. Place in a small pot and melt, adding salsa and milk or water to thin a bit. Serve in a burrito with taco meat and refried beans. This recipe makes about 1/3 C of cheese sauce- just enough for 3 burritos for my 3 boys :)

Terrific Taco TVP Dip

I was playing around to make a dip to serve at an upcoming party, and my 15 yr old stole the bowl after it was made! I think it's a hit!

1/2 C THRIVE Taco TVP, prepared
1/4 C THRIVE onions
1 clove minced garlic
1/8 C THRIVE mixed bell peppers
1/4 C THRIVE sweet corn
1/4 C THRIVE cheddar cheese

Prepare Taco TVP and set aside to cool. Rehydrate all vegetables and drain if necessary. Rehydrate cheese and drain. Mix all ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips.

Great food storage article!

I'd like to thank my friend, Rochelle Crews, for sending along this great article! Be sure to check out the photos of her food storage room. I want one!!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695242364/Can-do-attitude--Book-offers-tips-on-using-food-storage-items.html

Chicken Tetrazzini- YUM!!

Here's one that will be sure to please a crowd- even your kids! Have company showing up and need something easy? A neighbor who's sick and needs a meal? This is perfect!!

Chicken Tetrazzini

1 ¼ cup THRIVE chicken dices, reconstituted

¼ cup THRIVE celery, reconstituted

¼ cup THRIVE onions, reconstituted

¼ cup THRIVE mixed bell peppers

1 ½ C THRIVE Monterey Jack cheese, reconstituted

1 can cream of mushroom soup

½-1 lb spaghetti (I like mine exceptionally creamy, so I use less spaghetti)

Pepper

Garlic powder

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, drain and set aside.

Place reconstituted bell peppers, celery and onions in a small pan with 2 TB margarine. Sautee. Add chicken, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Add soup and cheese and mix well. Add spaghetti. Place mixture in a casserole dish and bake at 350 until hot and bubbly.

My kids can't stand bell peppers, so I either reduce the amount or leave them out completely.

ENJOY!

Whole Eggs- Indespensible and a GREAT value!!

I made cinnamon rolls last weekend. They were fabulous. The only problem was I didn't have any eggs, and I was too lazy to go to the store. Luckily, my little guy ran next store and borrowed some from the neighbor. The first thing I thought was, "DANG! I wish I had some THRIVE eggs on hand!" Then today while I was at the store, I bought some eggs. I paid $2.69 for 18 eggs at Walmart, which is cheaper than my grocery store. Then I got to thinking....

"Gee, that seems expensive for eggs. I wonder how much THRIVE eggs work out to per dozen?"

So, I walked to the computer and did some quick math.

First thing I realized was HOLY COW! There are 236 EGGS in a #10 can of whole egg powder! That's 19 dozen!! And at $19.65 per #10 can, that's only $1.00 per dozen!! That's actually CHEAPER than what I paid at Walmart! And even better- they have a 5 year shelf life unopened, or 6 months once opened. That gives you roughly a dozen eggs a week, for less than HALF of what they cost at the grocery store. I'll never buy fresh eggs again!

What's in YOUR Storage?

Okay, here's an exercise for you. Right now, tell me 3 meals you could make from your food storage. Ready, set, GO!!!

*crickets chirping*

Is it that hard? If you're like most of us, yes, it's that hard! The "traditional" method of emergency food storage involved storing the following items: Wheat, Beans, Rice, Oats, Powdered Milk, and Sugar. Then you would try to supplement that storage with canned vegetables and basic baking items like baking powder and yeast. At times, I've had thousands of pounds of food storage, but I still couldn't really EAT anything.

That's one more thing I love about THRIVE. I no longer think about storing individual commodities. I think about storing MEALS. With all the foods available through THRIVE, I can have breakfast, lunch, snacks, and even desserts in my storage! I can easily make breakfast burritos or omelettes, spaghetti, beef stroganoff, and all sorts of breads and muffins. I can make blueberry pancakes in the middle of winter, or a peach-berry smoothie in April. I can make tacos, soups, casseroles- just about anything you can think of, you can make with THRIVE. How exciting is that?!

If you're going to spend the time, thought, and money on storing food for your family, make sure you can actually EAT it. This is especially important if you have kids, because believe it or not in an emergency situation, kids WILL choose not to eat instead of eating the same thing over and over. Plus, storing a variety of foods ensures that you will have the nutrition you need to remain healthy. We'll cover the emotional stresses of emergencies another time, but you'll definitely feel more comfortable if you have a variety of foods at your disposal.