Quick Ideas

This Gluten Free: Easy Millet & Veggie Salad is a great summer treat.

Commonly used in gluten free diets, I’ve found this grain is even more versatile when used whole rather than milled into flour.  I like the simplicity of it and the texture. It rivals the texture of couscous (which is not a grain at all but a small durum wheat pasta) holding it’s form and shape well even after over cooking. It is an excellent option to replace rice and other whole grain side dishes.

For those warm summer nights and easy summer lunches, this recipe is both filling and cool to keep the kitchen from becoming a hot spot.

First be sure you are using food grade millet. Be sure it is fit for human consumption and not bird seed.

To cook basic, plain millet:

Rinse and drain 1 cup of millet. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/2 cups water and the 1 cup millet to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 15 minutes, much like rice until liquid absorbs. Remove from heat and let sit covered with a towel for 3-5 more minutes. This will be approximately 2.5 Cups in volume when done.

Once the millet is cooked and cooled, the opportunities for use are almost endless…
This easy recipe is my very favorite millet recipes used as a side, as a quick lunch or rolled in Nori as veggie sushi:

Millet and Veggie Salad

Ingredients:
1.5 Cups Cooked Organic Millet
1/4 Cup Cubed Cucumbers
1/4 Cup Diced Onions (red, scallions or white)
1/4 Cup Frozen Peas/Carrots
3 TBS Low fat Italian Dressing

Optional:
1/4 Cup cooked Organic Black Beans (pictured above – making this a complete meal with protein)
1/2 an Avocado Cubed*
1/4 Cup Cubed Tomato**

Mix all together in a large bowl or a container that can be covered and refrigerated for several hours.  Overnight is best.

Serve chilled.

Lasts for almost a week in the fridge.

*Avocados added separately before serving, due to oxidation.

**Add Tomato separately upon serving due to easily spoiled.

Take a little trip with me, if you will, down memory lane…

The first crock pot that I ever owned looked quite similar to the one pictured here that I saw for sale on eBay.  I really don’t know the year, make or model but I do know the sentimental attachment to it.  It had two settings – high and low.  No automatic turn off time, no warming option if we came home later, no removable crock (this puppy was all one piece) and only one compartment for food.

The one thing it did do was a realistic LOW setting.

There were several models like this that seemed to be like our right  hand in the kitchen when the kids were little, work was late and family was busy that helped many of us put a hot home-made meal on the table!

Then, enter the idea that we could improve on the one chamber simpleton that we reminisce about with fondness and we opted for one with more variations….like this one pictured here .  The singular interior crock came out making it much easier to wash and could be replaced with an equally easy to clean dual chamber ceramic crock, thus allowing two different items to be slow cooked at the same time. Also there were multiple time and temp settings with a warming time if we perhaps were a bit delayed getting home to avoid over cooking.

This seemed to be a great improvement on the one-pot wonder from years gone by.  I did move to making many a meal in the larger crock pot both for the ease of wash up and the need for larger meals – the kids were in fact growing, as kids will do.  But one flaw I never quite overcame puzzled me until just recently.  Even when set on low, this crock pot got too hot!

All the kids are grown and gone now – but I finally figured out how to make a too-hot low heat work better.  Now please note,  this will not work if your crock pot turns off with the break in electrical current (such as the one above does)…but if you have one that is too hot but stays on a simple setting, you can fix it this way.

Plug it in to a lamp timer.

Chances are you have something like this or you can find them at thrift stores and garage sales for pennies.  Simply set it to go on an hour and off the next all the way around the timer.  Plug in the crock pot (one that stays on even if the current breaks) and set it on low.

This will work well if you are hoping to warm soup that has pasta or rice (which can become obliterated in too high of heat) or you simply want to make sure you don’t scorch the sides of a smaller serving while keeping it on the lowest possible simmer all day.

I found this to work well for heating food that had already been cooked and keeping things hot enough to avoid spoilage without over cooking them.

Here’s a confession:  I still have and frequently use my old, one pot wonder…it still works fine!

Best Blessings!

Donna Miller

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You know that phrase made famous by the Vikings in the Capital One commercial? “What’s in Your Wallet?” – Well, let me ask: “What’s in YOUR Fridge?”

On any given day that may be a scary question for some – but for most of us after Thanksgiving, it’s not only scary, it’s a downright daunting and overwhelming question!

The answer is a resounding LEFT OVERS!

When faced with a myriad of foods that you don’t normally eat during the year, left in odd amounts hiding or sliding around after Thanksgiving, some of us may be tempted to toss the left over food, given the turkey coma we have just induced.  But do not despair… There are many things you can do with left over Thanksgiving goodies so you won’t waste your food budget by feeding it all to the dog.

Mashed Potatoes:

Portion them out into one cup servings, into baggies and freeze.  When you need to thicken a soup, top a pot pie or simply have a quick side dish (seasoned with cheese, chives, garlic, etc) – these are quickly thawed and used.

Sweet Potato Casserole:

Portion this out into one half cup servings, into baggies and freeze.  These make great additions for muffins and can be added in to winter squash soups. Again they are a stand alone side dish at a far later date.

Green Bean Casserole:

Given that this is usually laden with mushroom soup and fried onions – it usually doesn’t keep well for too long.  Plan on tossing this into your turkey pot pie as an added green veggie and cream soup base.  The onions will soften and blend with the other ingredients…no one will know that you used it there.

 

Cranberry Relish/Jelly:

Also another great add-in for muffins. It turns your muffins a sweet pink and you don’t have to add as much sugar as the usual recipe.

 

Turkey:

I’m not sure why we always have way more turkey than I think we will.  After days of turkey sandwiches – it’s still HERE!  So here are some thoughts…

Break the bones with the meat on them, boil and make broth that can be frozen or canned.

Then de-bone all the meat you can glean (we ended up with a gallon bag of bits) and make any number of things such as turkey and rice soup, turkey pot pie, turkey salad for wraps or sandwiches, turkey tacos (use taco seasonings), turkey barbeque on a whole wheat bun.  Yes, all of these are on the menu for the next few weeks at our home.  Simply label and freeze portion sizes to make the specific meal.

Once you’ve tended to the left overs and they are in their proper place (not hiding in the fridge or trashed) you can move on to some more ‘normal’ meals and enjoy the fact that you can give Thanks for having this other food on hand!

 

Donna Miller is a teacher, author, sought-after speaker and trainer. She has been a both guest and host on internet and broadcast radio talk-shows and in television interviews. She enjoys teaching online and local classes & ladies retreats for people to learn whole food cooking, budget friendly techniques and preparedness skills. Donna is happily married and has three adult children, and a daughter in-law. She and her husband (Joseph) are the founders of both Millers Grain House , Your Preparation Station and are on the board of PREPARE Magazine.

Typically a cold weather food, Split Pea Soup is a hearty meal that can be made entirely from foods that are stored for long term. Split peas last for a year or more in the pantry. Dehydrated carrots, onions and spices are also long term food storage items. If you can your own veggie or chicken broth, or purchase granules or bullion cubes then you’re set.  Nothing has to be “in season” to make this filling soup.

Here is the recipe and the steps.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup shredded or diced dehydrated Carrots
• 1/4 Cup diced dehydrated Celery
• 1/4 Cup diced dehydrated Onions
• 1/2 Cup dehydrated Potato Cubes(optional)
• 2 Cups Split Green Peas
• 1 TBS Olive Oil
• 1 TBS Garlic Salt
• 1/8-1/4 tsp Cayenne
• 1/4 tsp Cumin
• 2 Quarts of Soup Stock (veggie or chicken or water/bullion equivalent)

 

First – soak 2 Cups of Organic Split Green Peas over night

Don’t worry.  They will likely look a little ‘frothy’ in the morning, but this is normal.

Just be sure before you go to sleep that you have covered the Split Peas with more than double their height in water.  For example, if the peas are about 4 inches in depth, put 8 inches of water ABOVE THE TOP. Twelve inches all together.  Because the peas will soak up a LOT of liquid over night making them easier to cook to smooth the next day.

After soaked, drain them before moving on with the rest of the recipe.

Mean while, back at the soup pot:  Add about 1 Cup of the liquid to the base of the soup pot, put in all of your dehydrated veggies and let soak for a little while (approx 30 minutes).

Now add remaining liquid/broth, Drained Split Peas and spices.  Cook on low heat for 2-4 hours. Stirring occasionally.

Either use a stick blender and put in the pot whirring until creamy or transfer by one cup at a time to a blender to blend most of the soup to creamy.  For a chunkier soup, blend only half of the soup and leave the rest as is.  Combine.  For a smoother soup, blend it all.  Serve hot.

Serve with freshly baked bread for a real treat.

This can even be pre-made with the dry ingredients in a cute little gift jar.  Simply put the Split peas as the base and a small decorative bag full of the other dehydrated foods combined with the herbs as a topper inside the jar.

EnJOY!

Home-made Whole Wheat (freshly milled!) Pizza Crust can be made easily ahead of time to make even the most hectic evening meals both fast and healthy.  With variety and choices of toppings it can be a great family pleaser!  I mean, who doesn’t like to choose their own toppings on pizza, right?

From fresh herbs to your own simply made tomato sauce (ground tomatoes) there are endless possibilities to toss on top of this crust and have dinner in a flash.  The secret is making several of these healthy crusts ahead of time and freezing them!

Here’s the simple way to do it.

First use freshly milled whole wheat in your favorite recipe.  You can see mine on our VIDEO ARCHIVES.

Second, buy the large turkey roasting bags at the grocer.

Third, when making these only par-bake them at 350 for between 8-10 minutes until lightly cooked.

Then cool completely, bag and put in the freezer.  Stack them inside the turkey roasting bag, twist tie and freeze!  Ready to be used when you’re short on time, but don’t want to short change your family on healthy food!

Then when you have only 15 minutes to have dinner on the table – pull one out, decorate as you like and bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  Within  less time than it takes to drive to the take-out pizza place you’ve got a far healthier and budget friendly dinner ready to go!

By using freshly milled whole wheat – you also enjoy the flavor of the pizza without the over powering taste of the bagged whole wheat flour ruining the sauce, cheese and toppings!  So if you’ve not thought of a mill you’d like yet…please view our GRAIN MILL COMPARISON CHART to get started!