October Specials

Jump into Fall with October Specials! October is all about fall foods. We've got lots of great fall items on sale. The THRIVE Ground Beef is already cooked and can be prepped in minutes, so it's the only kind I use now. The THRIVE Tomato Dices are brighter and have a stronger flavor than regular grocery store tomatoes. Plus they're already washed and chopped! We're also launching a new seasonal product: Spiced Apple Cider! Watch Chef Todd make tasty fall recipes like taco soup, wassail, and caramel apple fritters on our October Thrive It Up broadcast! Autumn Harvest Pack #25269 Spiced Apple Cider, Ground Beef (FD), Green Onions (FD), Hearty Chili with Beans, Instant Pinto Beans, Monterey Jack Cheese (FD), Peppercorn Seasoning Blend, Seasoned Chicken Slices (FD), Tomato Dices (FD), and Red Bell Peppers (FD). Pantry cans only. Available through 10/31/14. $150.40 $127.99 Q Club: $123.19 Shop Now Spiced Apple Cider Enjoy this exclusive in-house blend made from THRIVE Apples, great both hot and cold. Get it while supplies last! Gluten-free and non-GMO No articial colors, flvors, or preservatives Vitamin fortified, with 100% daily value Vitamin C Add your own sweetener 1 can makes 14 gallons of cider Pantry Can Only: $20.99  $20.59 Q Club: $19.99 Shop Now

Instant Pinto Beans $14.89 Q Club: $10.49 Shop Now Green Onions (FD) $15.49  $12.99 Q Club: $12.39 Shop Now Monterey Jack Cheese (FD) $51.99  $43.39 Q Club: $41.59 Shop Now Ground Beef (FD) $58.29  $48.59 Q Club: $46.69 Shop Now Tomato Dices (FD) $39.99  $35.29 Q Club: $33.99 Shop Now Hearty Chili with Beans $9.49  $8.69 Q Club: $8.19 Shop Now Chicken Slices (FD) $55.59 $49.09 Q Club: $47.29 Shop Now Red Bell Peppers (FD) $36.99 $30.89 Q Club: $29.59 Shop Now Peppercorn Seasoning $8.59 $7.19 Q Club: $6.89 Shop Now

Chicken Roll-ups

My kids L-O-V-E these chicken roll-ups! They are perfect for little hands to hold and super creamy and cheesy. I like that it gets a little bit of protein into their diet, too. My college roommate made these a few times (but hers were much fancier), and I have since seen similar recipes online. This is one that I have just created/adapted over time to fit our families' tastes.

Makes 16 rolls

2 packages crescent roll dough (16 rolls)

1 1/2 cups Chopped Chicken, rehydrated

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (any kind will do)

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter/margarine, melted

bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, cheeses, salt, and pepper. 

Spoon onto crescent rolls, roll them up and seal the edges. 

Brush melted butter over tops, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month! 
There are lots of ideas of ways you can "celebrate" National Preparedness Month: get your 72 hour kits up to date, make an emergency evacuation plan, create a list of recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, and stock up on emergency prep supplies and food! I plan to work on all of these things this month. Follow along with me right here on the blog!

You can save BIG on three types of products this month with THRIVE Life!

The THRIVE Foods this month are all about breakfast! The pancake mix makes great waffles and I just got a new Belgian waffle maker yesterday, so I'm really excited! The scrambled eggs, sausage, instant milk, and potato chunks make a delicious casserole. Check out some of Chef Todd's recipes from this month's THRIVE It Up!

Breakfast Casserolesee recipe

Honey Cinnamon Fruit Dipsee recipe

Vanilla Puddingsee recipe

Also, don't forget about our two new products, Greek Yogurt Bites and Pure Vanilla Powder. We love breakfast foods at our house, so this sale is a BIG deal for us! Click on the image below to see all of the September THRIVE Food Specials:



The Emergency Prep Supplies on sale this month are pretty awesome. I highly recommend the Sawyer Mini Water Filtration System and the Quickfire Stove. I've been wanting a couple of the Deluxe Backpacks to use for 72 hour kits, so this sale is a BIG deal for me! Click on the image below to see all of the Emergency Prep supplies on sale:



The Food Rotation Systems on sale this month are fantastic for organizing! I have several of the cansolidators in my pantry that help me store more and keep it all organized. I think I need one more, so this sale is a BIG deal for me. Click on the image below to see all of the Food Rotation Systems on sale:


That is a TON of information, so please contact me if you have any questions!!

Multiplying A Recipe

We invited some friends over for dinner tonight, two adults and three children. I decided to make spaghetti and asked my husband to be in charge of cooking the noodles while I started on the sauce. I got the ground beef, onions, mushrooms, and water in the pan when he started to add the noodles to his pot. He asked if he should do two packages of noodles. I hadn't considered the need to make more than usual, but suddenly worried that one recipe wouldn't be enough. So at the last minute I decided to multiply my recipe by 1 1/2, just to have a little extra.

Now, with a regular recipe, this would be really difficult to do halfway through because I would have needed to possibly thaw and cook another half pound of meat, chop more onions and mushrooms, and saute everything together. Not so with THRIVE! I just dumped another 1/2 cup ground beef, 1/2 tablespoon onions, 1/4 cup mushroooms, and 1 1/2 cups water into the pan. And then continued with the recipe as normal, adding 1 1/2 times more of the rest of the ingredients.

The ease of use and versatility of THRIVE still amazes me.

P.S. Dinner was fabulous, and we did end up having quite a lot of leftovers, but we're okay with that.

Hawaiian Haystacks

We really love Hawaiian Haystacks (especially my friend Sarah's recipe over at Redhead Recipes). But I do not make them very often because I think it is too much work to cook the chicken. I don't like handling raw meat, and I don't like the smell that permeates the house when I boil it. And I always worry that the chicken is not fully cooked and will make my family sick. And then I have to spend all that time shredding it.

THRIVE Chopped Chicken has changed my life. I don't have to worry about any of those things anymore. Tonight I made Hawaiian Haystacks in less than 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes! I made the sauce and prepped all of the toppings before the rice had finished cooking. It. was. AWESOME!

Also, I didn't have any cream of chicken soup so I decided to substitute the THRIVE Bechamel, and oh my word, it was delicious! And I just threw the THRIVE Celery on dry. Seriously, put this on your menu for next week.

Adapted from Redhead Recipes

Serves 4

Sauce can be made with 100% shelf-stable ingredients

4 cups water + 4 teaspoons Chicken Bouillon

1 cup Bechamel Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups Chopped Chicken

salt & pepper to taste

cooked rice

desired toppings (examples: cheese, chow mein noodles, craisins, pineapple, tomatoes, celery)

Bring 2 cups of chicken stock to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and whisk in the Bechamel. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken.

Stir in the remaining chicken stock, sour cream, chopped chicken, salt, and pepper. Keep it warm for about 10 minutes while the chicken rehydrates and to heat through.

Serve over rice and top with desired toppings.

Like they do on those cooking shows...

Tonight I tried a recipe that we've enjoyed before. I really like this recipe for Sweet Potato Enchiladas from my friend's vegetarian blog. Tonight I tried experimenting with THRIVE Sweet Potatoes.

These sweet potatoes are dehydrated instead of freeze-dried. So they are a little trickier to rehydrate. I put them in a bowl and covered with warm water for about 15 minutes. The recipe calls for mashing the potatoes with the cream cheese, but my dehydrated potatoes did not mash very easily. I just mixed them as well as I could and put them in the tortillas.

We bit into the enchiladas and they were still crunchy. The sweet potatoes had not hydrated fully. I apologized profusely and my husband said, "Do you taste your food as you go? You know, like they do on those cooking shows..."

From now on, honey, I think that's what I"ll be doing.

I'll share the recipe for these enchiladas with you later once I've figured out how to do it correctly.

THRIVE Waffles

I made waffles for breakfast this morning. These are a favorite at our house. Dad and M like peanut butter and maple syrup on theirs, L likes maple syrup and "snow" (powdered sugar) on his, and I like strawberry jam with maple syrup and snow on mine. I still use our small waffle maker from when we got married that only makes 2 at a time. It takes a long time. A large waffle iron is on my wishlist for Christmas!

This recipe comes from Jeff and Lisa Warnick. They have been such great friends and mentors to me and I have learned a lot from them. I love how easy this recipe is with the THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix. Only 3 ingredients and no messy eggs!

From Jeff & Lisa Warnick

Servings depend on your waffle iron, but I made about 1 dozen

100% shelf-stable ingredients

2 1/4 cups 10 Grain Pancake Mix

2 cups cold water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix all together in a large bowl (I found it easier to get all of the lumps out when I used my immersion blender, but a whisk works too!). Use the batter on your waffle iron. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!