Plentiful Pantry




















What is a PANTRY?
I consider my pantry to be the heart of my kitchen. Keeping it well stocked with the basic, storable foods, allows me to be ready to whip up a hearty meal at a moments notice, or be assured that my family will be well fed during emergency situations like winter storms. Over the past years, I have been ridiculed many times by many people about my "hoarding" of food stuffs. I find this laughable. I usually am only able to keep about 2-3 months worth of food in my pantry at one time due to money, and space. If I am ever able to get the full year of stored goods that I would like to have, they would probably have me committed to a well padded room somewhere.

Cream of Rice Cereal
2 cups uncooked rice
1 cup boiling water or milk
Dash of salt

Measure about 1/8 of a cup of rice and put into a blender or food processor. Cover and blend at medium speed for about 1 minute. Then adjust speed to high and blend 2 - 3 minutes more. (Food processor works better as you can do all the rice at once and blend it into a powder). Put powdered rice in a large frying pan. Stir over medium heat (in order to remove moisture from the cereal) for a few minutes. Be careful not to brown the rice. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

To prepare:
To rapidly boiling water or milk, add salt and 6 Tbsp of rice for each 1 1/2 cups of cooked cereal. Stir continually for 30-40 seconds. Remove from heat, and allow to stand, covered, for 3 minutes. Serve with sugar, honey, jam, fresh fruit or syrup.

You may make cream of wheat cereal in the same way by substituting cracked bulgur wheat for rice. Use 1 1/2 cups liquid for 3 Tbsp of processed wheat. Allow to simmer 8 minutes, stirring often.

Oatmeal Cup
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 ice cream cone

Cook oatmeal as normal but with a little less water. Let cool slightly and put in cone like a scoop of ice cream.

Great on the way to school breakfast!

Baby's Granola
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened banana chips

Process oats and rice in blender into a fine powder. Add wheat germ and banana chips and process until texture is uniform.

To Prepare:
Combine 2 Tablespoons granola and 1/3 cup milk in saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve in bowl with milk to taste. This can also be used as a great topping!

A Gallon of Granola
8 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups coarsely chopped nuts
2 cups raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup sunflower oil
2 cups chopped dried fruit

Toss together oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, & salt. Warm up syrup and oil in saucepan. Pour over dry ingredients, and mix until everthing is damp. Spread on on baking sheets, no more than 1/2 inch thick. Roast for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden. When granola has cooled, stir in dried fruit. Store in air tight containers.

Gelatin Dessert
1/2 tsp unsweetened Kool-Aid type powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin

1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water

Store dry ingredients until needed. To prepare,  mix dry ingredients with boiling water. When dry ingredients have dissolved completely, add cold water. Stir and pour into serving dishes and chill until set.

Radish Jelly
2 cups radishes, finally chopped
2  1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp prepared horse radish
3/4 cup water
1  3/4oz pkg pectin

In a large stock pot combine radishes, sugar and water over medium-high heat, stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring to a rolling boil. Add pectin; stir until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil again and boil a minute longer. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Stir in horseradish. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Store in refrigerator.

Chokecherry Jelly
1 gallon chokecherries
5 qts water
2 X 1oz pkgs powdered pectin
7 cups sugar

To prepare fruit:
Wash cherries. (It is not necessary to remove stems). To 1 gallon of cherries add 2 1/2 quarts water, bring to boil, and boil for 15 minutes. Drain juice off through strainer. Add rest of water, mash berries well, and boil for 5-10 minutes. Press through strainer, working through all pulp possible, but not seeds or skins.

To make jelly:
Pour 5 cups cherry juice in a large kettle, add pectin and bring to a boil. Add sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into hot sterilized jelly jars, and seal with paraffin wax.
(Substituting 1 cup of unsweetened apple juice for 1 cup berry juice, jelly will be firmer).

To make waffle or pancake syrup:
Use double the juice  and sugar but only 1-1oz pectin pack. Boil for 5-7 minutes depending on how thick you want your syrup.

Dandelion Jelly
1 qt yellow dandelion blossoms (no stems)
1 qt water
1 X 1 3/4oz pkg powdered fruit pectin
1 tsp lemon extract
3  1/2 cups sugar
Paraffin (optional)

Wash dandelion blossoms and boil in water for 3 minutes. Strain, reserving 3 cups liquid. Discard blossoms. Combine reserved liquid, pectin and lemon extract in a large heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until almost boiling; blend in sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Boil 3 minutes. Pour into sterilized 1/2 pint jars. Seal at once with paraffin or cover and refrigerate to store.

Cinnamon Jelly
1 X 1 3/4oz pkg powdered fruit pectin
1 qt apple juice
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon imperials
Paraffin (optional)

Combine pectin and juice in a 2 qt saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and add sugar and imperials. Stirring constantly, return to a boil; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Skim off foam. Pour into sterilized 1/2 pint jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal with paraffin at once or process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Rhubarb Jam
5 cups chopped rhubarb
4 cups sugar
1 large can crushed pineapple
1 large family size pkg strawberry Jell-O
1/4 cup water.

Cook rhubarb with sugar and water. Add pineapple and Jell-O. Cook until bubbly. Pour into sterilized jars. Seal.

Violet Jelly
1 qt violet blossoms
1 qt boiling water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 X 1 3/4oz pkg fruit pectin
4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp butter or margarine

Fill a 1 qt jar with violet blossoms and cover with boiling water. Steep for 24 hours; strain. To 2 cups of this strained liquid, add the juice of 1 lemon and the fruit pectin. Bring to a boil. Add sugar and margarine (this will keep it from boiling over and will eliminate foaming on top). Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Ladle into sterilized jars and seal with paraffin or freeze.

Zucchini Jam
6 cups raw zucchini, peeled and ground
6 cups sugar
1/2 lemon juice (can use reconstituted)
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
6oz pkg orange gelatin

Drain zucchini; then boil until clear (6 min). Add sugar, lemon juice, pineapple. Boil 6 minutes. Remove from heat and add orange gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Seal in clean jars.

Rhubarb-Blueberry Jam
6 cups rhubarb cut up
3/4 cup water
4 cups sugar
1 lrg can blueberry pie filling
6oz pkg of raspberry gelatin

Cook rhubarb in boiling water until tender. Add sugar and boil about 5 minutes. Add blueberry pie filling. Cook for 5-8 minutes longer. Stir in gelatin and cook about 5 minutes more.
Pour into clean, dry jars and seal.
(Works well with cherry pie filling also).