Where's the Beef?

Sorry about the little lapse in posts there. I promise I'm still committed to this blog (for all three of you who read it besides me). Today I thought I would post about the wonder that is canned beef chunks. Has anyone ever tried these things? They're awesome! (Note: this is not the same as canned ground beef, which I've heard is kinda scary and dog food-ish. Please tell me if I've been misinformed.) Aside from frozen meat, it's the best way that I've come across to add meat to your long-term food storage. (Again, any other ideas are welcome!) It comes in 12-ounce cans of cubed, fully-cooked roast beef packed in beef broth. Okay, so I guess I don't really have any information to add to what the front of the can says, except to say that they taste really good! Here is what it looks like out of the can in all of its beefy splendor:

*Please don't let the poor photography in this post deter you from ever trying this meat. I'm not the Pioneer Woman, okay? I've come to terms with that. Just believe me when I say that it tastes better than I make it look.

The meat is really tender and flavorful and it's very versatile, too. Here are some of the things that I've done with it:

-BBQ Beef Sandwiches: Just drain off about half of the liquid, shred it up, and simmer it with your favorite barbecue sauce. Serve it on a toasted bun and you have dinner in about five minutes.

-Taco/Burrito meat: Shred it up with a little bit of the liquid and combine it with a can of pinto or kidney beans, a can of green chilies, and a can of diced tomatoes. Simmer it on the stove for 5-10 minutes (remember, the meat is already cooked) and it's ready to go. I think it tastes really good as is, but if you want, you can add additional seasonings like cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, or whatever you want. Just spread it on a tortilla and top it off with whatever you have on hand--cheese, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, guacamole... you know what you like. We've also eaten it nacho-style over corn chips. It may not look like much but I promise, the flavors will pleasantly surprise you.

-Soups and Stews: This meat is awesome for making your favorite beef stew recipe more food-storage friendly. And again, the meat is already cooked, so it saves you a lot of cubing and browning time. Sorry I don't have a recipe to post; I'll be on the lookout for a good one.

-French Dip Sandwiches: I tried it out in this recipe from The Essential Food Storage Cookbook and it turned out great! The au jus in this recipe is the best I've ever had. Here is the original recipe (fabulous as is) with my adaptations in blue:

Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients:
-1 to 3 lb. beef roast (or 1 to 3 cans of roast beef chunks, drained)
-2 cups water
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-1 teaspoon dried rosemary
-1 teaspoon dried thyme
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon pepper
-1 bay leaf
-10 hoagie buns
-10 slices Swiss cheese (or provolone, if you prefer a milder flavor) -I also like to add 1 or 2 (4-ounce) cans of mushrooms, drained or if you wanted to get really fancy you could saute 6 oz. sliced mushrooms in a little butter to go on top. Mmmmm.... butter.

In a crockpot, stir together water, soy sauce, and seasonings. Place roast in crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 5 hours). [If you're using the canned beef, you only need to cook it for 2-3 hours, just so the flavors can all blend together.] Remove meat from broth and thinly slice or shred with fork. Keep warm. Strain broth and skim fat. Pour broth into small cups for dipping. Slice through buns and lay open on baking tray. Line one side of each bun with a slice of Swiss cheese. Broil 2 minutes or until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Fill each sandwich with beef and cut in half on a slant. [My husband and I also like to slather some dijon mustard onto the bun.] Serve hot with dipping broth.

Canned roast beef chunks are a wonderful food storage item. The only problem (which I know, I probably should have mentioned at the beginning of this post) is that I don't know where to buy them anymore. I used to buy the Costco brand from the aisle where they keep their canned tuna and chicken, but then I moved and now I shop at a different Costco where I haven't been able to find them. The last time I bought them was about a year ago. I'm not sure if Costco stopped selling them globally or if for some reason my Costco just doesn't carry them. Does anyone have any idea? Does your Costco have my beef chunks? Are there any other companies that sell this product? Am I going to have to buy a pressure canner and start canning my own? (Please say 'no.') Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

To Bread or Not To Bread

As I mentioned before, I grew up not really liking whole wheat bread or for that matter, whole wheat in general. So the decision to start making my own whole wheat bread was a tough one for me to make. It took a lot of evidence to convince me that homemade bread 1) was not difficult to make 2) was not time-consuming 3) did not taste like cardboard (I know, I'm childish). Here are some reasons why I made the change from store-bought to homemade:

-Making bread is the easiest way to rotate through long-term food storage items. For example, the recommended amount of oil to store for one adult for one year is 10 qts. So for my husband, my kids, and me that amounts to 40 qts. (We count our kids as adults when we calculate our amounts. Better to be overprepared than underprepared.) I know you can count things like mayonnaise and salad dressing toward that amount, but even then it seems like a lot to rotate before it goes bad.
-Homemade whole wheat bread is delicious. And I don't just mean delicious for health food. It's moist, soft, spongy, and I would take it over white bread any day. And even my picky kids like it!
-Making your own bread is cheaper. To make one batch of bread dough according to the recipe below (which makes 4 loaves) costs a little over $4. That amounts to just a little over a dollar a loaf. You can't beat that, especially for high-quality whole wheat bread.
-Whole wheat bread is infinitely more nutritious. If you've studied nutrition at all, you know that eating white flour is basically just eating empty carbs. Bread made from freshly ground whole wheat retains its nutrients. And it's more filling, so you don't find yourself overeating as much.
-Making bread can be easy, fast, and fun. The recipe I use takes a little more than two hours (and that includes a significant amount of time when you're not actually doing anything) from start to finish and it makes four loaves of bread. That's enough for my family for about a month. (I know, a lot of families eat more than a loaf a week.)
-Eating bread that you made yourself is extremely rewarding. It's like eating vegetables that you grew yourself (not that I've ever had that experience). And for me, it helps to absolve some of the mom guilt that I feel when I let my kids eat Cocoa Puffs.


This is my favorite whole wheat bread recipe. It's from The Essential Food Storage Cookbook. (Have you noticed that I like this cookbook?) I'll put my comments in blue.


Whole Wheat Bread

6 c. hot water
2/3 c. oil
2/3 c. honey
1 to 2 tbsp. vital wheat gluten [I know they sell this at Macey's; I haven't looked anywhere else]
1/2 c. powdered milk (optional)
6 c. whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. yeast (my favorite is SAF instant yeast)
2 tbsp. salt
10 c. whole wheat flour
butter
[I also like to add 1 heaping tablespoon dough enhancer]

Mix hot water, oil, honey, [and definitely measure the oil first so the honey will just slide out of your measuring cup]vital wheat gluten, powdered milk, and flour [and dough enhancer]. At this point the batter should be lukewarm so it doesn't kill the yeast. Add yeast. Gently mix to blend and then let it sit to sponge about 10 minutes. Add salt.

While stirring, gradually add additional whole wheat flour until the dough begins to "clean" the bowl. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the the bowl, continue to add flour. You can test for enough flour by gently touching the dough with your finger. If dough sticks to your finger, add flour and keep kneading. When the dough barely does not stick to finger, stop adding flour.

Knead on low speed for 8 minutes. [When you are done, it will look about like this:]



Turn dough onto an oiled surface (do not use flour). Turn dough a couple of times to coat with oil. Cut dough into quarters. I like to weigh each quarter so they are all 32 oz (2 lbs.) each. [I've never done that, since I don't have a kitchen scale, but I find that using dental floss to quarter the dough makes for fairly even loaves.] Shape each quarter into a loaf and place in a bread pan that has been sprayed with oil. Cover and let dough rise 1 hour to 1-1/2 hours [until it looks about like this:].

A good place for bread to rise is under the lights on your range.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake 26 to 28 minutes or until internal temp reaches 190 degrees. You can gently push a meat thermometer through the side of the loaf into the middle for a temperature reading. Remove from oven and brush tops with butter. Let loaves sit 5 to 10 minutes before gently removing from pans. Cool on a wire rack.

[Now, I know I probably should have come clean before now, but I have to confess that I've never actually made this bread before without the aid of my Bosch mixer. The Bosch is easily my favorite kitchen appliance of all time and it kneads bread effortlessly to perfection. But the Bosch is a post for a different day. I guess what I'm saying is that I can't tell you what kind of an experience you'd have making this without a good mixer like a Bosch or a Kitchenaid. I know that pioneer women kneaded their bread by hand, so it can be done. If I knew for sure that anyone was interested, I would give it a try, but if not I'll continue to cheat with my Bosch.]


This dough is amazingly versatile. I've used it to make cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, breadsticks, cheddar onion bread, and caramel pecan pull-aparts. I'll post the how-to's later. If anyone else has any tips, questions, or complaints about making bread, please feel free to share!