Unforgettable Chicken Casserole

Can I just say that I LOVE Pinterest! it is the best website invention ever!! So we are tight on cash this week and I couldn't decide what I should make for dinner as I am trying to avoid the grocery store as much as possible. Well I ran across this recipe and it is DELICIOUS!! The best part is that I was able to use my shelf reliance food with it too. The recipe's original destination is HERE

Doesn't that look delicious!  I did some adjustments from the original recipe. I didn't put Chestnuts, almonds or French-friend Onion Rings in it. Partly because we didn't have any of them, okay I lied we have almonds and my hubby would be sad if he found out it was suppose to have almonds and I didn't put it in but I didn't really like the idea of them being in there. The Chestnuts and Onion Rings I don't like and we don't have them in our home :)
For the Celery I actually used Shelf Reliances FD Celery. So nice, I didn't even rehydrate them. Also I didn't have to chop them, saved me time in the kichen!! Just threw them into the mixture and they rehydrated as it cooked. I also used Shelf Reliance's Sour Cream powder to make Sour Cream. It is actually really good and has been very handy to have around as it is something we didn't normally get through and I end up throwing the last bit in the garbage. I could have used the FD Chicken instead of fresh but I have a ton of fresh in the freezer and almost out of FD so I used Fresh.Shelf Reliance also carries FD Shredded Cheese that you can use in recipe as well, but I don't have it in my storage yet so I am using store bought cheese.

This is how I made it:

3 C Chopped Cooked Chicken
1/2 C FD Celery
1 C of Shredded Cheese
1 C Sour Cream Powder (rehydrated)
1 C Mayo
1 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 C of cooked rice

Combine all ingredients except rice. Put in a 9 X 13 pan. Do not cover. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 30-35mins. Until it has started to brown on the top and bubbling around the edges. Put on rice and ENJOY!

And as I am typing this my husband looks over my shoulder and reads the part about not putting in the almonds and wasn't very happy. hehe next time he can make dinner :)

Chicken and Broccoli Casserol

This is a favorite of me and my hubby. I realized that I could make all of it from Shelf Reliance products last week so I knew that I would soon need to try it. It turned out pretty good too.

This is the recipe normal:

2C water + 2 Chicken Boulon Cubes (or 2 cups of Chicken Stock)

3T Butter

2T Flour

 1 1/2 t Salt

 1 2/3 C Evaporated Milk

1 C cooked Chicken Shredded

1 pkg of Broccoli Cooked (about 10oz)

Cook rice in Water with Boulon Cubes or Chicken Stock. 

 Sauce: Melt Butter. Then add flour and salt. Simmer for a minute and then gradually stir in Evaporated Milk over Medium Heat. Bring to a boil until thicken. 

Combine rice, chicken, broccoli and sauce and ENJOY!

So I used Butter powdered instead of normal butter. I did 3 T of Butter with 3 T water since its suppose to be 'melted'. Then I made the Evaporated Milk which I got from the Shelf Reliance Website HERE. It is 1 1/2 C water and 9 T of Powdered Milk.  

I also used FD Broccoli. Which was super easy. I just put the broccoli in water and left it set for a few minutes while I was doing something else and then dumped it into a strainer to drain out the excess water.

Overall it tasted pretty good. I won't lie I wasn't very impressed with the Evaporated Milk Recipe.  It just wasn't as creamy as regular store bought Evaporated milk is. So I am going to keep looking for other alternatives and will let you know.

You can use FD Chicken for this recipe. I have a ton of chicken in the freezer so I actually used regular chicken for this recipe. I just boiled it and then use that water to cook the rice for my 'chicken Stock'

Pancakes, Raspberry Compote & Whip Topping

My 10 Grain Pancake mix came yesterday, I was so happy and excited. I knew that Saturday Morning was definitely gonna be a Pancake morning.

The mix is super easy. Just mix the powder and water as it tells you to do so on the package. You are only suppose to mix it until it is smooth and do not over mix. It mixes together really easy. This is what it looks like mix together.

Here is one that has been flipped and one that is freshly poured. They bubble just like normal pancakes and get puffy.

Then of course I had to do a Fruit topping. The Thrive Cookbook had one that I wanted to try. Its called Berry Compote.

2 C of Thrive FD Berries (any variety)
1 C of Thrive Peach Drink or Apply Drink rehydrated
     (2T drink mix + 1 Cup water)
1/3 C of Thrive White Sugar

You combine them in a pan, bring to a boil stirring occasionally until it reaches syrup consistency. Here is a pic with it all combined

 And here is the after picture

 Yummy right? Well it was very good but I kind of was trying to do to many things at once so I kind of overcooked it so it was thick kind of like raspberry jam and when I pulled it off the heat it was still pretty runny and thickened as it cooled. So be careful to not cook it to long unless you want it really thick. My hubby loved it but I like my thinner.

Then I had to try whip topping which recipe is also in the book.

1/2 C of Ice Water
1/2 C Thrive Instant Milk, Dry
1/2 C Thrive Powdered Sugar
1t Vanilla Extract

Combine the water and Instant Milk. Beat at high speed for about 15-20 mins. Then add pwd sugar and vanilla extract and continue to mix until it it is thoroughly blended. Then it has you put it in the fridge to chill.

This is my artwork

 Yes not very impressive huh..Well it does recommend putting it in a stand a lone mixer which I totally would have done BUT there was really wasn't much there for my kitchen aid to do it so I had to use my hand mixer. I totally should have made it last night because it was the thing I started last and didn't realize until I started the recipe that it had to be mixed for at least 15 mins. and I had to flip pancakes and mix it at the same time...So it wasn't very stiff and I gave up at the 13 mins mark but it could have used a few more minutes. But I thought it turned out pretty good. If you plan on doubling the batch then I would put it in a Kitchen Aid.


 Here is my masterpiece for breakfast! All of it made from Thrive Foods except the powder sugar because I do not have that product yet but working on it.

Oh and my 9 month old really like the pancakes, and I loved it because I could tare them into pieces and let her feed herself and not have to worry about the mess to clean up afterwards :)

Killer May Sale through May 21st

Apple Puff Pancakes

 We love to have breakfast for dinner so when I saw this recipe I had to try it. I found it on the Shelf Reliance Website HERE.
 

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 c thrive apple slices, rehydrated
• 2 T butter
• 2 T thrive brown sugar
• 4 T thrive whole egg powder, prepared with 1/2 c water
• 3⁄4 c thrive white flour
• 3⁄4 c prepared thrive powdered milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 3 T thrive white sugar
• 1⁄4 t cinnamon
• 1⁄2 t thrive iodized salt

Instructions

*Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
*In a saute pan, saute apple slices with butter, sugar, and cinnamon until tender.
*In a blender or food processor, whip eggs, flour, milk, and salt on high for 1 minute.
*Transfer hot apples to a greased 8x8 baking dish. Pour batter over apples.
*Bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with powdered sugar and maple syrup, if desired.

 I did not actually use FD apples as I am almost out and didn't want to use all of them when I have a party on Thursday. So I did use real apples that I pealed and sliced.

This is what it looked like out of the oven, it does look a little funny on the top..I kind of expected it to be all puffy like regular pancakes but it was more...ummm thick..fuller..I can't think of the word..They taste a lot like a Apple Pie. My hubby who isn't an Apple Pie type liked it, but I think I will definitely try it with other fruit minus the Cinnamon on another day. Definitely a keeper recipe.

This is my hubby's artwork with the powder sugar and put a couple of the apples of the top of it as a 'garnish'.

This is my plate afterwards..it was yummy!

So in my adventure of making this I totally screwed up the prepared powder milk. You would think that growing up drinking powder milk my whole life I would remember what I am doing..but yeah that and I have no idea how to read. So the recipe calls for 3/4 C of it. The canister gives you directions on how to make exactly 3/4 C. Well it says 3/4 C of water and 2 1/2T of Milk pwd...well I read it the other way around...yeah I was wondering why it wasn't very runny :) Yes I realized it while I was trying to mix it and threw it out and started it over and made it right this time :)

It also calls for regular butter but I decided to try my butter powder for the first time in place of regular butter. It will take me a bit to get use to it and learn how to rehydrate it. It is basically 1 part powder and 1 part water. Well I used 2 parts butter and 1 part water and it was still pretty runny. You can also add Veggie Oil to add flavor but since it was going into the sauce with other ingredients for cooking the apples I wasn't to worried about that part. I am excited to find more recipes to learn how to better use it.

Powdered Egg Whites with Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake
Nicole here-
I made Angel Food Cake mix whith the Shelf-Reliance egg whites and this is what it looked like when it turned out. I used my mom's Bosch mixer though, and it whipped up the egg whites and other ingredients super fast, which may have been the cause of the flat Angel Food Cake. I reconstituted the strawberries and made whipped topping with the non-instant powdered milk, which was another mistake. The recipe calls for instant powdered milk in order to make the whipped topping fluffy. Overall, the flavor tasted just like Angel Food Cake with strawberries and whipped cream.