A food storage smoothie

Jamba Juice anyone?  How about Orange Julius?  You can make your own at home with freeze dried fruit!

This is one of the very first things I ever made with my Thrive food.  Easy.  Delicious. Healthy.  My kids love these smoothies!


The basic recipe has 5 ingredients:

• 1 cup Fruit (be sure it is freeze dried and not dehydrated)
• 1/3 cup dairy (instant milk or yogurt bites)
• 2 T. Drink Mix
• 1 1/2 cup water 
• 1 1/2 cup ice

I change up exactly what I put in each time I make these depending on what flavor I'm craving, but the ratios are the same.  They are very healthy as the fruit has no additives or preservatives and all the same nutrients as fresh, plus the drink mixes are vitamin fortified!


For this particular smoothie, I put 1/3 cup each of mangoes, pineapple, and strawberries, 1/3 cup pomegranate yogurt bites, and 2 T. Mango Passion fruit drink into the blender:

and poured the water over it all.  I let it soak for about 10 minutes and then blended it well.  Once blended well, I added the ice and blended until smooth again.  We all enjoyed it for a great afternoon snack!

I am an independent consultant for Shelf Reliance; a company with a mission to empower others to become self reliant, prosperous and charitable.  You can learn more about Shelf Reliance, becoming a Shelf Reliance consultant ,buying their products, or earning free products, on my Shelf Reliance Consultant website.  
 

THRIVE Strawberry Sweet Rolls

These strawberry sweet rolls were great, but I think I overcooked them just a bit.  I got the recipe (and converted it to THRIVE) from My McDonald Meal  I made them the night before and we warmed them up for breakfast the next day.  I enjoy having something a bit different (and really tasty) for breakfast every now & then.

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup THRIVE instant milk powder
• 1/3 cup THRIVE butter powder
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp Active dry yeast
• 2 cups Whole white wheat flour (I ground mine from the THRIVE whole hard white winter wheat)
• 2 cups All purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Brown sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 3 cups THRIVE freeze dried strawberries, hydrated in water and drained (it took about 10 minutes to hydrate them in lukewarm water)

Glaze

• 1/4 cup THRIVE butter powder
• 3/4 cup Powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup THRIVE instant milk powder
• Water

Mix water, THRIVE instant milk, THRIVE butter powder, and sugar in large pot.  Allow to come to a boil and then quickly remove from heat to avoid scalding.  Cool for 20 minutes and add yeast.  Add 3 1/2 cups flour 3/4 -1 cup at a time.  Dough should be sticky.  Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Stir in last 1/2 cup flour,  baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Knead dough on lightly floured surface for one minute.  Pinch off small pieces (about golf ball size), flatten and add small amount of hydrated strawberries to center.  Fold roll over strawberries and pinch together.  Place in a greased 8 or 9 in round cake pan and repeat until pan is full.  Let rise for another 30 minutes

Preheat over to 375.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Let cool, then mix glaze ingredients by adding just enough water to get a slightly runny consistency.  Poor over rolls (I took the pictures before I made the glaze..oops)



I am an independent consultant for Shelf Reliance; a company with a mission to empower others to become self reliant, prosperous and charitable.  You can learn more about Shelf Reliance, buying their products, earning free products, or selling their products on my Shelf Reliance website.
 

THRIVE Banana Muffins

YUM 

is what I have to say about these muffins.

I am in love. Breakfast for days. Yum.

My kids wanted to make cupcakes.  I wanted something a bit healthier.  I was hoping these banana muffins would be sweet enough to please all of us.  I was not disappointed.  Neither were my kids.  You can find the original recipe over at Taste of Home, and see how I tweaked it to use THRIVE below (I also doubled the recipe.  I got 24 muffins total):

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup THRIVE butter powder
• 2/3 cup packed THRIVE brown sugar
• 2 T. THRIVE whole egg powder
• 5 T. water
• 2 cups THRIVE freeze dried banana slices (will not work with dehydrated banana chips.  Read about the difference between dehydrated and freeze dried here)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups whole white wheat flour (I ground mine from THRIVE hard white winter wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Add enough water to banana slices to just barely cover them.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Blend well in blender.
• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in bowl.
• In a small bowl, mix butter powder, brown sugar, egg powder and water.  Mix well.  Add vanilla and creamed bananas.
• Add flour mixture to creamed mixture until just moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
• Fill lined muffin cups three-fourths full with batter. 
• Sprinkle banana sugar mixture over each muffin (I will post recipe tomorrow).
• Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Healthy Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

My parents are coming into town and I wanted to have something relatively healthy to feed them for breakfasts. We will have these pancakes on Saturday, but I thought blueberry muffins would be a nice quick breakfast for Sunday morning.

I don't know that these are strictly healthy: they do have 1 full cup of sugar in them, but they are whole wheat, and man are they tasty!

Sorry about the picture. I was working on getting a better one when my newborn woke up from a nap needing to be fed. By the time I got back to the kitchen, my sweet 20 mo old had found her way onto the kitchen counter and crumbled them all to pieces. So, this one will have to do. I

My favorite thing about these muffins?

The freeze dried blueberries don't bleed!

• 1/2 cup THRIVE Butter powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 T. THRIVE Whole egg powder
• 2 T. THRIVE Instant milk powder
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups THRIVE Whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup THRIVE freeze dried blueberries
• Water (see instructions below for amounts)

Cream butter, sugar, salt and 2 Tablespoons water

Add eggs, vanilla, milk and 1 c. water Add flour and baking powder. Fold in blueberries. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min.

If you are interested in purchasing the THRIVE foods used in this recipe at a discounted price, you may do so directly on my Shelf Reliance Website. If you would like to lower the prices you see there by 1%-4%, you can attend or host a party or create a Q.

Pacos: A Fun THRIVE Breakfast

I saw this idea on another food blog that I follow: Pantry Eats. Rachelle comes up with some great recipes that you can make from the food you have stored in your pantry (or, as I call it, your own home store). I loved this one and had to try it with THRIVE products. She is actually going to try it with THRIVE as well. Watch her site for the next few weeks to see how she likes THRIVE.

Anyway, she came up with the idea to make "pacos" or in other words, pancake-tacos. My kids loved them: thought they were so fun.

I used this pancake mix and filled them with THRIVE freeze dried mangoes, peaches and strawberries that I hydrated. TASTY and SO healthy: just as healthy as the fresh product with no chopping or slicing required! We then smothered them with THRIVE yogurt (which is very sweet...almost too sweet). They sure were tasty and made for a fun breakfast!

If you are interested in purchasing the THRIVE products listed above at a discounted price, you may do so directly on my Shelf Reliance Website. If you would like to lower the prices you see there by 1%-4%, you can attend or host a party or create a Q.

Pancake Mix

I want to share with you some of the mixes I create using THRIVE ingredients. I will start today with my pancake mix.

I found this recipe a few years ago while looking for a whole wheat pancake recipe. I wanted a way to incorporate whole wheat into my family's diet so that if we every had to live on it, our bodies would be used to it. Did you know that if you don't regularly eat whole wheat and then suddenly start consuming a lot, you will likely get very sick? I wanted to avoid that for my family.

I found this recipe on the King Arthur website. They have many incredible recipes. I highly recommend their website if you are looking for ways to incorporate whole wheat flour into your diet.

I've adapted it to use THRIVE powders:

4 c. whole wheat flour (I use whole white wheat)
1 c. all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
3 T. sugar
3 T. baking powder
1 T. salt
1 T. baking soda
1 c. shortening powder
1 1/4 c. whole egg powder
1 1/4 c. powdered milk

Grind the oats in a food processor or blender until they are very fine (almost a powder), then mix will all other ingredients.

You can stop there for just a basic, healthy & tasty pancake mix. My kids love them!

Or, you can add your favorite THRIVE freeze dried fruit for fun. When I do add fruit, I usually add about 1 1/2 cup. You can add it whole if you want the chunks of fruit in your pancakes (I do this with blueberries or raspberries), or you can crush it to a powder if you just want the flavor (I do this with bananas)

When ready to make pancakes, add 1 cup water to 1 cup mix and blend. If you did add the fruit, add an extra 2 T. water. Batter will seem very thin at first, but the oats (and fruit) will soak it up and it will thicken as it stands. Let it stand for about 20 minutes before cooking.

Cook as you would any other pancake. 1 cup mix should make 7-9 4-inch pancakes.

These are also great topped with raspberry sauce!

The mix will have a shelf life of 6 months (the shelf life of the eggs) if left sealed in your cupboard or on your counter. If you store it sealed in your freezer, it should last for a few years!

Total Cost for #10 cans required for this recipe: $113.82**

• You will get: About 300 4-inch pancakes and have $77.92** in sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, shortening, milk and eggs left over.
  
• Cost per pancake: $0.12 using all THRIVE ingredients**

You can lower that cost by 5% by purchasing each ingredient in a case of six.

If you are interested in purchasing ingredients at the above discounted prices,** you may do so on my Shelf Reliance Website.

**Prices based on the Spring 2011 price list. You can contact me or visit my Shelf Reliance website for the current discounted pricing**

Raspberry Sauce

I love the THRIVE freeze dried raspberries. I love to eat them straight out of the can. I love them hydrated over ice cream. I especially love this raspberry sauce. It is divine:

1 Cup THRIVE freeze dried raspberries
1/4 Cup THRIVE apple drink mix powder
1 Cup cold water
1-2 T THRIVE granulated sugar (to taste, you may not use any)
Pinch of cinnamon (if desired, it taste great even without it)

Place berries and juice in blender. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon and blend until smooth. Makes six to eight 3 oz servings.
**Note: You can replace the apple drink mix and water with 1 cup apple juice if you want**

I use this sauce over cheesecake, THRIVE brownies, and ice cream! Can you think of anything else it might be tasty with?