Wow, thanks for all of your great entries this week!!  In case you didn’t catch my little tribute to you yesterday on facebook, I’ll say it again briefly:  I was impressed.  It takes planning and (most importantly) *time* to test out a recipe made from food storage (not to mention non-electric cooking options) and this week there was truly “no fear” from those who jumped in — even in the first week!  Great job to all of you!!  Your points have been counted and even if you didn’t win this week’s weekly prize you’ve got a score going.

Amanda WINS it this week after making 3 meals and totally taking advantage of her social media bonus options!  While gaining 4 points for the meals themselves, she scored a total of 9 bonus points for sharing what she made (each recipe) on three separate outlets:  facebook, twitter and google +.

**Btw, Google + wasn’t mentioned on the initial bonus points outline, but Amanda emailed ahead of time to ask if it counted…and yes, for the future, ANY social media where hashtags are supported counts.  I didn’t hear from anyone else this week who got into sharing on social media with multiple outlets like she did, so hopefully no one else had unanswered questions about it.  

Congratulations, Amanda!!  You’ve won:

1 #10 can of Provident Pantry’s Freeze Dried Onion Flakes

1 #10 can of Shortening Powder

1 (12 oz.) can of Red Feather Canned Butter

1 Swing-a-Way Crank Turn Handle can opener

Thanks to Emergency Essentials for this great $50 package!

Also, this collage was Amanda’s idea to be able to send in fewer photos .  Each collage included all the required pictures for a single recipe. For any of you with collage “skills” (and please, don’t worry about it if you don’t) it’s an idea to think about.  I was able to see the pictures I needed to see just fine and it simplified things for her in sending it in.

And finally, to share the recipe since I’ve just shown you the picture and you’re probably wondering where it came from.  Well, it’s from her blog’s recipe file.  Maybe you’ll want to give it a try!

Divine Chicken Casserole

3 Cups Thrive Egg Noodles
1 1/2 Cups Thrive Sour Cream Powder- Reconstituted per directions
3/4 Cup Thrive Freeze Dried Mozzarella Cheese- Reconstituted
3/4 Cup Thrive Freeze Dried Cheddar Cheese – Reconstituted
1/2 Can Cream of Chicken Soup (or this alternative)
1 1/2 Cups Thrive Freeze Dried Chicken, Re-hydrated (or 1-2 12.5 oz. cans of Chicken)
1/2 Package Ritz Crackers (or make your own like here)
1/4 Cup Butter Powder Re-Hydrated
2 Teaspoons Poppy Seeds- Optional

Prepare egg noodles, and begin re-hydrating products.  In mixing bowl, add prepared noodles, sour cream, most of the hydrated cheeses (I saved back a little to put on top but you don’t have to), Cream of Chicken Soup, and chicken. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes in the conventional oven or 350 for 25 minutes in the Sun Oven.

And our Random weekly winner…

I am SO excited about this water purification kit and the fact that we’ve been given the chance to give one away every single week of the challenge!!  Having clean safe water by using this system is simple, convenient and (proven by years of tests) to be hugely effective.  And, so long as it’s kept from freezing, it has an indefinite shelf life as well. Pretty amazing, don’t you agree?

For it’s $40 retail value, the cost of the product itself turns out to be approximately 6 cents per treated gallon (!) and the water treated by this patented copper-silver ion solution has been found to be safe for drinking even years later.  Additionally, the kit includes a separate “test” solution to use at any time in testing your water’s safety.

You can learn more about this product by visiting it’s company’s site here.

Our thanks goes out to Water Pure Technologies!

Week #1 ~ Special Mentions

I wanted to highlight just a couple of moments which, to me, were stellar and brought a smile to my face from this week’s submissions.

Vicki Davis jumped right in and decided she was going to make bread using her “Cooking Pot Cozy” which is a little different design than a Wonder Oven, but uses the same idea.  She had questions half way through and tried to email me (with no help, unfortunately I missed the email) but had to figure out the answer to her problem on her own — even doing it all for the first time.  She turned out with great results!  She wrote to me afterward:

“Thanks so much…who would have thought a 62 year old could have so much fun…not baking bread…it was a hoot!”

And another one I just have to mention…

Barbara Cortopassi started straight off the bat trying out one of the most extensive recipes I’ve made, Mexican Tortilla Lasagna!  She made everything from scratch, including the corn tortillas.  She even pulled out her grain mill for the very first time (no fear in this girl!) and baked it all without electricity using her Wonder Oven.  I’m so proud of you Barbara… so proud!!

Next week’s prize…

In case you missed the announcement on facebook this week, our prize for this coming week’s race is a $94.00 package from Grandma’s Country Foods.  Remember the deadline is Wednesday night at 8pm CT and all the details you need can be found in the last two posts.  I’m looking forward to seeing more of your great entries!!

Everyone’s points have been recorded for Week #1.  We’ll continue adding up points every week through the month.  At the end of the 4th week I’ll be posting a run down of all of the participant’s accumulated points.  If you have any questions before then, just email me at my regular email address:  myfoodstoragecookbook@hotmail.com.  Keep on prepping!