Recipe: Stone Soup

I love soup! It is so yummy and tasty and soothing! Best of all, soup in easy to make & freezes & reheats well!

Hillary posted a great recipe for 'Stone Soup' from your food storage!

STONE SOUP

Stone (optional ;)
4-5 Cups water
3-4 tsp beef bouillon
1/2 cup FD corn
1/2 cup FD peas
1/2 cup FD green beans
1/4 cup FD celery
1/4 cup FD onion
1 potato, diced (or potato dices)
1/3 cup carrot dices
1 1/2 cups FD ground beef
1 cup instant rice

1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Clean the stone and place it in your pot (optional of course).  Add water and bouillon and bring to a boil.  Add all other ingredients and simmer about 10 minutes or until all ingredients are heated and rehydrated.  Enjoy with cheese sprinkled on top.

This could be a great food storage meal in an emergency.  Keep the book Stone Soup with your food storage and in an emergency you can read the book together and then have kids help assemble their own stone soup and have a great time eating their creation.  It would be a great diversion from whatever crisis is at hand and also help get the kids to eat their veggies! 

I love that Hillary admits in her post that she "didn't exactly measure the ingredients". I habitually 'don't exactly measure' and throw things together! I would love to hear from my readers: Are you a measure-er or do you throw things together?

I was always a big fan of the story of Stone Soup. Some of my favorite memories are reading the story with my mommy and recreating our own stone soup! I think this week the Wee Ones and I will read Stone Soup and make this yummy dish! This would also make a great homeschool activity! Or provide some great entertainment and yummy food on a rainy day! I think I may also use this recipe to create a meal in a jar! Just put all your dry ingredients in a mason jar! Add water and you have a quick easy meal that is ready to eat! What a great addition to your Home Store! (Would make a great gift too!) When you are working with freeze-dried yummy Thrive foods, the possibilities are endless!!

~ Go to TawnysThrivingHome.com to shop products and get the best deals on food storage and emergency preparation products.~

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Recipe: Homemade 'Helper' Recipe

We love easy around here. And we have all been brain washed into believing those boxed 'helper' recipes are as easy as it gets.

With a whopping 110 Calories in the mix alone and a lengthy list of unhealthy ingredients and preservative, there must be a better way!

Making homemade hamburger helper could not be easier!! You make up a basic 'mix' and add noodles and meat as you see fit. You could easily layer noodles, mix and spice into mason jars to give as gifts or as a quick meal. With options such as freeze dried meats or TVP, quick 'helper' style meals have never been easier!!

Homemade 'Helper' Mix

• 1 1/4 tsp. black pepper


• 1 Tbs. garlic powder


• 2 Tbs. dried parsley


• 1/3 cup Thrive Freeze Dried Onion


• 1 Tbs. salt


• 1 2/3 cup Thrive Powdered milk


• 3 1/2 Tbs. Thrive beef bouillon

Mix this all up and store in a glass jar or other sealed container.

Use 1/2 cup for each pound of ground meat.

The Nutrition Info for this basic mix comes to about the following: 41 Calories, less than 1g of fat
Basic Preparation:

• 1 pound meat (Thrive Freeze Dried Beef, Thrive Beef TVP, or seasoned browned ground beef)


• 1/2 cup of  'helper' mix (above)


• 1 to 2 cups noodles (elbow macaroni for example)


• 1 1/2 to 3 cups water

Stir in meat, dry mix, then add 2 cups hot water and 2 cups noodles. You can add more or less water and noodles, proportionately, depending on much you need to stretch that pound of beef. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook until noodles are tender, about 20 minutes.

This Recipe is easily adaptable to what you have on hand and what you are hungry for. Looking for a cheese burger? Add Thrive Cheese Blend or Shredded Cheddar Cheese. Throw in some Bacon TVP for a bacon Cheese burger! With Thrive Freeze Dried vegetables, its easy to add corn, green beans, or other yummy veggies to your helper meal. Just dd them when you add the noodles. Looking for a comfort food: Instead of macaroni, add 2-3 cups very thinly sliced potatoes. Simmer 20-30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Uncover and simmer until liquid has evaporated.

This recipe is easily adapted to your families dietary needs. Use whole grain pasta. Or gluten Free Pasta. Season and adjust the recipe to your needs and taste.

When you do the math this recipe is an incredible money saver!! You could easily take the $2 or so it takes to buy one preboxed 'helper' meal and buy enough pasta to make this recipe 2-3 times! The 'Helper' Mix cost about $2 to make & makes about 6 servings, so this mix is going to cost you about $.30 per serving!

With this mix you are going to save time. You can easily customize it to what you have. You are going to save shelf space, all those 'helper' boxes take quite a bit of room. You are going to save money, preboxed foods are expensive, and you are going to save your family's health.

Ready to start making your mix? Go to my online store to get the very best in freeze dried and shelf stable foods. Contact me about making the most of your 'home store', or book a 'make a mix' party and share this and other great mixes with your friends while earning free products!

 

~ Go to TawnysThrivingHome.com to shop products and get the best deals on food storage and emergency preparation products.~

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