THRIVE Mushroom Pieces

One of my very first THRIVE purchases after becoming a consultant was the THRIVE Mushroom Pieces.  And here's why:

• I love mushrooms.  A lot.
• I add mushrooms to many of my dishes:  soups, pizza, stir fry vegetables, pasta sauces
• I am grossed out by slimy mushrooms -- and by week 2, my fresh mushrooms are usually slimy :(...
•  So I either have to deal with the slimy mushrooms...  Or waste money and throw them away and go without mushrooms.

Ergo...  THRIVE Mushroom Pieces came with my very first Q shipment!

Do I still purchase fresh mushrooms at the store?  Yes, I do!  But in a much smaller quantity -- and I use them in dinners almost immediately.  Because I really love the taste of fresh mushrooms in my stir fry vegetables.

But my awesome THRIVE Mushroom Pieces are sitting right there waiting for me to use in all my other mushroom-needing dishes!  And I love that!  They have now replaced my use of store-bought canned mushrooms completely.  And my dishes now have less sodium when I do that, thanks to THRIVE!

Did you know canned mushrooms have around 15% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium just in one serving!?!  This is because preservatives, such as salt, are added to the product to give it a longer shelf-life.

But not so with THRIVE!  THRIVE Life's Freeze Dried Mushroom Pieces are just that:  mushrooms!  No added sodium or other preservatives!  And still an amazing shelf life of one year (once opened) and 25 years unopened!!

I love that I can return and return to this can multiple times over months, scoop out what I need, add it to my dish, and close the can until the next time!  This means no more slimy mushrooms.  And no more waste!

So, in a nutshell, here is why I love love love my THRIVE Mushroom Pieces:

• Awesome shelf-life which means my mushrooms don't go slimy and don't get thrown away...  And I'm not left without mushrooms in my dish!
• No added sodium to preserve!  They are just freeze-dried mushrooms!
• So convenient and so easy to use!  No need to wash or slice!  Just scoop and dump!
• Rehydrating (which I do when I use them for pizza) is super fast and easy...  But for soups, I don't rehydrate!  I just throw them in the pot!

I have used them on pizza, in pasta dishes (both white sauce and red sauce dishes), and in a variety of soups. These mushrooms truly are among my favorite THRIVE Life products, and they will be a part of my home store from here on out!

How do you use THRIVE Mushroom Pieces?  Post in the comments below!

Happy THRIVEing!

Cooking With the Q-Pon: 10 Grain Pancake Mix: Ultimate Chicken Fingers

I have made these chicken fingers for many years now.  The original recipe can be found here.  My friend Donna shared that recipe with me back in 2004 or 2005, and it's definitely yummy!

So today, I decided to try it out with my THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix! 

Definitely yummy -- and healthier, because I got 10 Grains!  (And so did my husband and toddler :)).

I love the versatility of this 10 Grain Pancake Mix!

These chicken fingers are always tasty and moist.  I've made them many times and have never been disappointed.  Today I just thought I'd try them out with my THRIVE!  I was pleased with the results :).

So here's the recipe as I made it today:

ULTIMATE CHICKEN FINGERS (a la THRIVE)
2/3 cup THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt or garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 pounds chicken breasts sliced into strips (or use chicken tenderloins)
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.

Mix THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix, cheese, salt and paprika in a large bowl. Dip half the chicken strips into egg; place in THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix mixture and coat.  Place chicken on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken. Drizzle butter over chicken.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes, turning after 6 minutes with pancake turner, until no longer pink in center.  (I usually cook mine a little longer, because I'm obsessive about cooked chicken!)

We served this up with a salad and mashed sweet potatoes!

If you want to grab your THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix at the awesome Q price, you only have a week left!  So contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com to place your order today!

Happy THRIVEing! 

72-Hour Kits: Clothing

Happy Tuesday, fellow THRIVErs!!!  It's that time again...  Time to talk about 72-Hour Kits!!

I'm actually almost done with the categories of items my family has included in our kits :).  My final category?  CLOTHES!

Let's face it:  if we were in a situation in which we were living off our 72-Hour Kits, we'd probably start smelling pretty rough by day 3...  So it's kind of nice to have a change of clothes ;).  But that's not the only reason to have them.  Perhaps you live in Washington (as I do) and the odds of you getting rained on are pretty high...  Having dry clothes would definitely be beneficial.   Whatever the reason, clothing is an important addition to any 72-Hour Kit!

I didn't take a picture of all my clothing laid out.  But basically you'll want to be sure you have a few things as far as clothing goes:

• An extra pair of underwear (including a bra for ladies)
• 1 shirt
• 1 pair of pants
• 2 pairs of socks (I got this idea from Forrest Gump's Lieutenant Dan...  Protect your feet!)
• Sweater (in winter months)

You'll want to make sure you update your kit according to the weather, so you are sure to have the appropriate type of clothing to stay warm -- or keep cool.

Once again, I hope this information is helpful to someone out there!  I hope you've been able to see the value of a 72-Hour Kit and have learned how you can assemble your own kit easily at home!

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com :)!

Want to know more about 72-Hour Kits?  Follow these links:

Why a 72-Hour Kit?
72-Hour Kits: Food & Water
72-Hour Kits: Hygiene Items
72-Hour Kits: Miscellaneous Items
72-Hour Kits: Survival Items

THRIVE Potato Chunks + a Recipe!

I recently made my family sloppy joes for dinner.  And for some reason, potato salad just seems to be an appropriate side dish for sloppy joes :).

But here's the thing:  I don't always do a good job of having "good" potatoes on hand.

What do I mean by that?  Well...  Inevitably, I will buy potatoes and then not use them quickly enough.  And I'll end up with molding potatoes.  Ummmm...  Yuck.  And then I have to cut off a lot of the potato and waste it.

A friend of mine has talked to a potato farmer in the past, and apparently there are instances in which potatoes at the grocery store have been on a 6-month journey.  Yikes!  I guess that may explain why mine seem to mold faster than I use them.  (To be fair, for some reason I use potatoes very slowly...).

So THRIVE Potato Chunks were on my list of things to buy!  And, actually, they were among the items I got in my host benefits order from my first party!  And there was a very convenient recipe on the can for Potato Salad!

But, before I get to the recipe...  Just a little info on the THRIVE Potato Chunks.

THRIVE Potato Chunks are actually dehydrated instead of freeze-dried.  THRIVE Life offers both options, but I chose to start with the dehydrated potato chunks.  I definitely plan to try out the THRIVE Potato Dices as well and see which ones my family prefers!

Here's what I already love about the potato chunks:

• They have a 25 year shelf-life unopened.  Which means I can have potatoes for the long-haul and not have them go moldy!!! 
• They have a shelf-life of 1 year after they are opened!  Which means I don't have to use them up right away and they still won't be moldy ;)!  (Do you see a trend with the mold thing ;)?)
• Sodium Bisulfite is added to preserve freshness, but the sodium content of the potatoes is much lower than other wet-pack canned potatoes (THRIVE Potato Chunks have 1% of the daily recommended value of sodium while some canned potatoes have 15%).
• I saved so much time by not having to peel and dice the potatoes!  Easily 10 minutes of my time was spared by simply scooping out my chunks and putting them in a pot with water and turned on high to boil!  

Basically, I can see a lot of THRIVE Potatoes (whether they be chunks or dices) in my future!

So here's the Potato Salad recipe that is on the side of the #10 can!  (And it is husband-approved -- my last attempt at Potato Salad he said wasn't "real" potato salad -- because it was "Loaded Baked Potato Salad ;)).

POTATO SALAD
3 cups THRIVE Potato Chunks
4 1/2 cups water
1 cup dill pickles, diced
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
2 to 3 teaspoons onion, diced*
1/2 teaspoon salt*

In a saucepan, bring potatoes and 4 1/2 cups water to a boil.  Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Drain and cool.  Put potatoes in a bowl and mix in pickles.

In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.  Gently stir the mayonnaise mixture into the potatoes and pickles.  Chill for 2 to 3 hours to blend flavors.  Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Water: An Important Component of Being Prepard

As I mentioned yesterday, I had  THRIVE Party Thursday night.  There were some great ladies there, and in the last couple days, I've been in contact with a couple of them who had some questions about preparing.

One of them asked if I had any advice about water storage, because her husband was very interested in that aspect of becoming prepared.  He had recalled attending a class in the past in which they spoke of things you can put into water to purify it.

So today I did some research to help her know what some of her options are!

My first piece of advice echoes what disaster-relief agencies such as FEMA advise:  You want to have at least 1 gallon of water per adult per day for at least 3 days.  I recently read in a FEMA handbook about preparing that a typical adult should drink about 1/2 gallon of water per day (it can be more for children or people who are ill).  But you would also want some water for other uses, such as brushing teeth, sponge-baths, and cooking.  That is why a full gallon is recommended for each day.  A 3-day water supply per person is a bare minimum, of course. 

I referenced how we handle our water storage in our home while I spoke of our 72-Hour Kits and having water included with them.  What we do is store our water in clean gallon jugs.  In order to make sure our water is rotated and stays fresh, We use this water for cooking (when we make soup or pasta or rice).  We then re-fill the jug when it is empty and it goes back into the rotation.  We currently have 7 gallons of water on-hand.  But this really isn't a long-term store of water.  This is actually very minimal for us -- and not quite sufficient since we have a toddler. 

That said, there are many ways to store larger amounts of water for the long-term storage.  Jugs are still an option.  However, having 50 gallon jugs sitting around and finding a place to put them (especially in our apartment) would be a challenge.  So what are my options?

One option is to have a very large water barrel, such as this one.  And if you want to have the whole kit to easily access that water, it's available here.  The large barrel will hold a large quantity of water to help you survive for a while until you could find another source of clean water again.

Another option is to have water filters.  This is probably the direction my family will go.  I like the idea of being able to get water from a stream and then filter it to make it potable.  This is one of the filters I am considering because it is rated to filter so much water.  I also like that it can remove 99% of viruses in addition to other bacteria and pollutants.

A third option is to have either drops to treat water such as these or tablets such as these.  The drops don't seem to purify as much as water filters or even the tablets, though.  So just a heads-up on that. 

I definitely plan to do more research to determine what will be the best option for our family.  And when I decide, I'll let you know!

Thanks for the question, Andrea!  I really appreciate the opportunity to research more and learn!

Do you have any questions or want to get prepared yourself?  Just contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!

Berry Banana Smoothie

I know I post a lot of smoothie recipes!  I can't help it!  I love them.  And with THRIVE on-hand, I always have what I need to whip up a delicious one -- and it can be different every time!  Plus, I don't have to spend time washing or slicing!  (The banana gets frozen already sliced :).)

I feel like I hit pay-dirt with this recipe, though.  My niece helped me create this one by telling what she thought should go in it, and I decided on amounts :).

BERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE
1 cup frozen sliced banana (about 1 banana)
3 tablespoons THRIVE Instant Milk Powder
1 cup water
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt
1 tablespoon THRIVE Simply Peach Drink
1/3 cup THRIVE Raspberries
1/3 cup THRIVE Strawberries

Place all ingredients in a blender (water last) and blend until smooth.  Takes me no more than 2 minutes!

I served this smoothie up at a THRIVE Party last night and had several people tell me they really enjoyed it!  So I say it's a keeper :)!

Happy Friday -- and Happy THRIVEing!!

THRIVE Golden Cornbread Mix

On Sundays, my family tries to keep dinner prep to a minimum.  This often means we eat leftovers for dinner on Sunday evenings.  This past week, however, we had my nieces joining us for dinner; and I knew we wouldn't have enough food!

THRIVE came to the rescue once again!  I had some of the delicious THRIVE Golden Cornbread Mix, so I whipped up a batch of cornbread to accompany all the other things we had leftover.  It was so easy and so fast!  Just add water, mix, pour, and bake!

This is a very moist and delicious cornbread!  My nieces gobbled it up -- and so did we!

And the cornbread freezes well!  My mom bakes up a batch and freezes all but what she needs, since it is just she and my grandma at home.  Then she is able to take out a couple pieces at a time and enjoy them with dinner for several days!

If you want a quick, no-fuss side-dish that is delicious as well, this THRIVE Golden Cornbread is definitely something you want to try!  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com to order some!