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!

THRIVE vs. The Blue Box

I didn't have time to make the meal I had originally planned for tonight, so I pulled out some THRIVE. I've been wanting to try the Cheese Blend for a while, so tonight seemed like a good time to try the macaroni and cheese recipe from the THRIVE Cookbook.  I got the noodles boiling and made the sauce. The recipe called for 1/2 cup cheese blend, 1/4 cup butter powder, and 1 cup instant milk. I just used regular milk from the fridge.

I tasted it before serving it up. All I could taste was the butter. I wanted more cheese flavor, so I added an extra 1/4 cup of the cheese blend. It was better, but the butter flavor was still really strong. I ended up sprinkling some shredded cheese on it to give it even more cheese flavor. I also decided to try a little bit of salt and pepper in my own bowl.

Unfortunately, my picky kiddos did not like it. I guess we're all just used to the "blue box" variety of mac and cheese. When I make the boxed kind, I actually prefer to use margarine instead of butter to avoid the heavy butter flavor. And we only add about a tablespoon. So I think next time I make THRIVE mac and cheese, I will only use 1 tablespoon of the butter powder. I'll share the recipe on here once I've perfected it to my liking, because it is a whole lot healthier than the blue box!

Pasta e Fagioli (Olive Garden Copycat)

I found this recipe online a couple of years ago and it is still a favorite! It's super easy to make (and even easier now that I use THRIVE!) and really does remind me of Olive Garden's deliciousness. I cannot seem to find ditali pasta at my local grocery store and I don't really care about having the right shape of pasta, so I usually use rotini. If you want a really awesome Olive Garden-ish experience, check out my friend Misty's copycat recipe of their breadsticks! The perfect combo to go with this soup!

Adapted from Top Secret Recipes

Serves 8

100% shelf-stable ingredients

2 cups Ground Beef

1 cup Chopped Onions

1/2 cup Carrot Dices

1 cup Celery

1 2/3 cups water

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans (with liquid)

1 (15 oz) can great northern beans (with liquid)

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (12 oz) can V8 juice

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons Salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 pound ditali pasta, cooked al dente

Combine the ground beef, onions, carrots, celery, and water in a large pot over medium heat to rehydrate. After about 5 minutes, add the garlic and saute for another 5 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.

Add cooked pasta about 50 minutes into the simmering time.

Celebrate 5 Years with THRIVE

This sale is SO exciting! This month marks 5 years since THRIVE Life (then Shelf Reliance) started selling their products through consultants instead of retail stores. To celebrate, founders Jason Budge and Steve Palmer have hand-picked their favorite THRIVE items, and each has their own pantry can pack this month. And if you're a Q Club member, we're also celebrating with TWO Q-pons this month, one from each founder's list of favorites! All of the products on sale this month are very popular items AND the discounts are incredible: 25-50% off retail price! Important: This sale is while supplies last, so order early! This month's THRIVE It Up is especially fun because you can watch the founders Steve and Jason each make their family's favorite recipes! You can watch it by clicking here. Written recipes for what they make can be found by clicking below. Hosting a class this month is the perfect way to celebrate with us! Contact me to book your class soon so that you and your friends can enjoy these amazing sale prices! I'll even cook Steve and Jason's favorite recipes for you  :) Buy the Pack Or buy the individual items below! Budge's Faves (pantry can pack) $103.75 $70.40

Pineapple Chunks (FD) $37.19  Q Club: $18.59 Shop Now   Organic Quinoa $50.59  $37.29 Q Club: $35.49 Shop Now 9 Grain Cracked Cereal $8.99  $5.79 Q Club: $5.39 Shop Now   Seedless Grapes (FD) $36.59  $28.79 Q Club: $27.49 Shop Now   Strawberry Slices (FD) $28.49  $20.99 Q Club: $19.99 Shop Now Peach Slices (FD) $32.49  $23.99 Q Club: $22.79 Shop Now   Granny Smith Apple Slices (FD) $22.69  $15.59 Q Club: $14.79 Shop Now   Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend $8.59  $6.79 Q Club: $6.49 Shop Now Béchamel (Creamy White Sauce) $12.99  $9.49 Q Club: $9.09 Shop Now   Buy the Pack Or buy the individual items below! Palmer's Picks  (pantry can pack) $121.13  $82.18   Blackberries (FD) $34.89 Q Club: $17.49 Shop Now   Egg Noodle Pasta $9.99  $6.39 Q Club: $5.99 Shop Now Banana Slices (FD) $28.99  $22.79 Q Club: $21.79 Shop Now   Sweet Cherries (FD) $49.99 $34.29 Q Club: $32.49 Shop Now   Green Peas (FD) $19.49  $14.39 Q Club: $13.69 Shop Now Blueberry Yogurt Bites $46.49  $34.19 Q Club: $32.59 Shop Now   Ground Beef (FD) $58.29 $42.99 Q Club: $40.89 Shop Now   Sausage Crumbles (FD) $53.99  $39.69 Q Club: $37.79 Shop Now Instant Black Beans $15.69  $12.39 Q Club: $11.79 Shop Now   Quinoa Salad see recipe Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes see recipe The above is Q Club pricing. Log in to your customer account to see the pricing that is applicable to you. Not all products may be available in all regions.