Monday Message

I ABSOLUTELY love these diner-style pancakes. Scroll down in this Monday Message for the recipe.

I have been called again into Provident Living… I will try to be a guide and resource to all. I want to hear from you and just what you would like for me to cover. If you feel you need a personal hands-on lesson I could work with you.

I will try to share great recipes that are budget-friendly and taste great!

I would like you to start a binder, label it My Provident Living Working Binder or something along that line.. and some dividers, divide it so it can be a working binder.

Use the front half for recipes I give you, that you tried and liked, so divide as you like. My binder has grown too large for everything so in my working recipe cookbook I have breads, breakfast, main dish, salads and soups, desserts... you get the idea.  This does not need to cost you, just look around the house for binders etc. Also, in this you could put menu ideas and have a section on budget. Go back over the blog to gather things you liked. I am a firm believer in hard copies but you could set up your computer as well.

If you choose to have another binder on food storage, in the front write what you store and an inventory, a list of what you need to get…be sure to put in things you learn so you can refer back to them and build on this. What skills do you yet want to learn? You can learn at your own rate, you do not need to wait for me. Make it your own.

Use this blog as a resource, pick out what will work for you. Picking and choosing some things you may want and others not. I try to keep a broad area so there is always something.

I do the hours of research so you don’t have to! I will also share ideas that worked for me through the years, not just now when I am seasoned. I will share ideas that others have so if you have ideas that you feel like you can share please email me - bshook@huxcomm.net

This is not about who is best at any given thing, I assure you if I were asked what I was best at nothing would come to mind. I don’t feel the best at anything but I can offer ages of things I have learned as I have lived. I can share my experiences and going from burying my first loaf of bread to now I prefer my own bread to store made. I think it only took me fifty years to get here so if I can shave off a few years for you I am only to happy to do so.

Life is tough at times but we can learn to be happy with what we have and we can continue to learn whether we feel we can do it. I am here to show you that you can do it.


Monday Message

Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. - Ezra Taft Benson

"A year's supply of food storage is beneficial in several ways: 
1. It provides peace of mind as we obey the counsel to store. 
2. It helps ensure survival in case of personal or natural disaster. 
3. It strengthens skills in preparing and using basic foods" ("Home Storage: Build on the Basics," Ensign, June 1989, 40). 

This week I tried a fantastic recipe for diner-type pancakes...

Pancakes
Sift in a sifter or wire strainer, this is a must!

Sift 1 1/2 c. flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Sift into a bowl

In another bowl melt 3 tbsp butter set aside
1 1/4 c. milk
1 egg

Just before ready add melted butter

Mix wet ingredients into dry with a whisk all at once then set aside for five minutes. You can heat your pan and then spray or oil pan. Make three pancakes, use 1/4 c. batter for each.

Do not flip till bubbles are in center.

These are the most wonderful pancakes I ever had!! And yes, just like having them in a diner, yum! ... yum is an understatement :p

This would be great to add to your food storage binder.

I am wanting to cover cooking from scratch.

http://www.glutenfreeandmore.com/resources/food-allergy-substitutions.html - for gluten free needs.

Plus, on this note I wanted to be sure to send this on... 

Banana Pancakes
Mash one banana really well.

Add two eggs mix well.

Make pancakes, serve with banana slices and syrup. These have a crepe-like quality to them.

http://iprepared.blogspot.com/2009/01/recipe-substitutions.html - great to print off for your binders.

Making Wise Use of our Time; Prioritizing Choices
"Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may, be bought at any store for any price. Yet when time is wisely used, its value is immeasurable. On any given day we are all allocated, without cost, the same number of minutes and hours to use, and we soon learn, as the familiar hymn so carefully teaches, “Time flies on wings of lightning; we cannot call it back”.  What time we have we must use wisely. President Brigham Young said, “We are all indebted to God for the ability to use time to advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of [its] disposition”

"With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another. We are well taught about priorities by the Master Teacher when He declared in His Sermon on the Mount, “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness”.  - A Time to Prepare

Let us choose to PLAN and PREPARE as we also strive to heed daily promptings and keep ourselves open to what the Lord would guide us to do.

In my own life I've found that have a daily notebook is helpful.  I list things that I need to get done, and certain appointments, but then, I leave myself open to be flexible as to guidance of the Spirit and the needs of others.  This has been more effective for me than having a rigid daily schedule.  And, I've sought diligently to remove unnecessary things and to be more efficient when I do run 'errands'.  I try to combine them and keep them as infrequent as possible.

"Simplify" is my frequent motto.  This has blessed my life and opened me up to the things that matter most.
- Heidi Allen Garvin 

I like what Heidi says.

http://tiphero.com/how-to-make-a-3-ingredient-ice-cream-with-snow/ - Ice cream with snow for those wintry family nites!

http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Prudent%20Homemaker a fun site to look around on.

http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-06-21T20:32:00-07:00&max-results=7  scroll down to see what she did on dress remake for her daughter.

Watch for upcoming frugal five minutes at your Relief Society meetings...

Keep working on your storage. You are doing great. I know... storage, how exciting is that? I will try to come up with exciting ideas. If you have some let me know I will be glad to share your ideas with the sisters.

Love,
Sister Shook