Well, you may recall that we had "pizza bombs"--a dish in which you flatten two pieces of dough and place pizza toppings on one piece and then pinch the second piece on top of it to seal the toppings in, and then bake--because I wrote about it here. Well, the dough from my regular bread recipe was kind of heavy, so I went looking for the pizza dough recipe in my family recipe book. (Thanks, Mom!) Here it is:
Pizza Dough
Let stand 5 minutes:
1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
Then add:
1/4 cup salad oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Dough may be sticky. Spread with floured hands in greased pan. Add toppings. Bake @ 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
It worked well, and it was wonderful not to have to wait for it to rise, etc. like I do for my regular bread recipe. I used olive oil, because that was what was in my cupboard. I also just messed around with the dough like I usually have to, adding a little water, and then a little flour, etc., until it was the consistency that I wanted. Seems like I almost always (if not always ) have to do that--must be me.....
Anyway, I ended up making them too big, and there was some leaking of spaghetti sauce, but they were well-received. And hey, even if you don't want to make "pizza bombs", now you have a really easy recipe for pizza dough that uses pretty much all staple foods. Gotta love something else you can do with the flour, oil, salt, combination. :) If I put some effort into thinking about different topping combinations, I could end up with more variety--any ideas?
Showing posts with label food storage recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food storage recipe. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Gotta love crockpot chili
Or, at least I'm glad my family does... I tried this recipe for white chicken chili over at Cooking: Prepare by applying heat and a little bit of love yesterday. It was easy and it was a hit with the family. I only did a couple of things differently, mostly in the name of trying to use food storage, and because I figured it was about time I did something with navy beans (as opposed to pinto, red, or black beans :) :
--I used yellow corn, because that's what I had on my shelf. I'm not familiar with hominy, but maybe it would be a good addition to my food storage...
--I used navy beans, but not of the canned variety. I cold-soaked them for about 8 hours overnight, rinsed them, and dumped them into the crockpot as directed. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about them getting done, so I...
--Put the crockpot on high for about the first four hours, debated with myself, thought that surely they would be cooked after four hours, and then turned the crockpot down to low. I was a little worried (what, me worry? :) that the salt in the other ingredients would hinder the cooking of the beans, but somewhere around an hour before dinner I pulled one out and it seemed well-done to me. Ahhhh....ended up cooking the chili about 9 hours total, and stirred in the sour cream.
This was really delicious and was labeled a "keeper", which was especially nice since everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think I have a new addition to my 3-month storage menu, because I figure I could use some of my very valued and extremely guarded supply of home-canned chicken here, and the other ingredients are already great storage items, except for the sour cream, which I think we could leave out without rendering it inedible... :)
I highly recommend this recipe, and thanks to Kietra on Cooking... for sharing it!
--I used yellow corn, because that's what I had on my shelf. I'm not familiar with hominy, but maybe it would be a good addition to my food storage...
--I used navy beans, but not of the canned variety. I cold-soaked them for about 8 hours overnight, rinsed them, and dumped them into the crockpot as directed. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about them getting done, so I...
--Put the crockpot on high for about the first four hours, debated with myself, thought that surely they would be cooked after four hours, and then turned the crockpot down to low. I was a little worried (what, me worry? :) that the salt in the other ingredients would hinder the cooking of the beans, but somewhere around an hour before dinner I pulled one out and it seemed well-done to me. Ahhhh....ended up cooking the chili about 9 hours total, and stirred in the sour cream.
This was really delicious and was labeled a "keeper", which was especially nice since everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think I have a new addition to my 3-month storage menu, because I figure I could use some of my very valued and extremely guarded supply of home-canned chicken here, and the other ingredients are already great storage items, except for the sour cream, which I think we could leave out without rendering it inedible... :)
I highly recommend this recipe, and thanks to Kietra on Cooking... for sharing it!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tortilla Success
I have been putting off making tortillas for awhile, but I finally got around to actually making some earlier this week. I have watched tortillas being made in the past, and I thought they would be a great item to have on my food storage menu, since they take few ingredients and cook fast, so not that much fuel would be required to cook them. I looked around and looked around and looked around...and procrastinated...
I finally settled on this recipe, which I found over at the Happy Housewife.
Then I procrastinated some more.....
Flash forward to a night where I didn't feel like scrubbing potatoes and was low on ideas for blog posts, and the time just seemed right. So I tried the recipe.
High points: They tasted really good. The kids really liked them, and they disappeared almost as fast as I could make them. Even my child who doesn't really like bread was eating them. However, their popularity made it very inconvenient to get a picture, since I was hungry myself by the time I sat down, which reminds me of the single, solitary low point:
I probably wouldn't have been particularly happy with a picture, because my tortillas weren't round. They were more...glob-shaped. Yeah, entirely my fault. So they weren't uniformly shaped, but since we were just eating them with chili, there wasn't really a problem. However, there would have been some difficulty had we been trying to make tacos or something with them. Soooo, I guess I will have to practice the rolling-out methods that will lead to round tortillas. After I master that particular point of tortilla making, it will be more of a total success.
I recommend this recipe--easy, fast, and delicious. And if you can make your tortillas round, you're ahead of me already.... :)
I finally settled on this recipe, which I found over at the Happy Housewife.
Then I procrastinated some more.....
Flash forward to a night where I didn't feel like scrubbing potatoes and was low on ideas for blog posts, and the time just seemed right. So I tried the recipe.
High points: They tasted really good. The kids really liked them, and they disappeared almost as fast as I could make them. Even my child who doesn't really like bread was eating them. However, their popularity made it very inconvenient to get a picture, since I was hungry myself by the time I sat down, which reminds me of the single, solitary low point:
I probably wouldn't have been particularly happy with a picture, because my tortillas weren't round. They were more...glob-shaped. Yeah, entirely my fault. So they weren't uniformly shaped, but since we were just eating them with chili, there wasn't really a problem. However, there would have been some difficulty had we been trying to make tacos or something with them. Soooo, I guess I will have to practice the rolling-out methods that will lead to round tortillas. After I master that particular point of tortilla making, it will be more of a total success.
I recommend this recipe--easy, fast, and delicious. And if you can make your tortillas round, you're ahead of me already.... :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
More ways to use your long-term storage...
And when I say "more ways", I mean a lot more ways, many of which I haven't had a chance to even look at yet. Thanks to a kind e-mailer, I received a message with some wonderful links to recipes, one of which contains a lengthy list of recipes. I quote from said e-mailer, who actually took the time to put some of the actual recipes in the e-mail:
"These recipes are for making instant meals for long term storage. The sites have many more.
Just mix up, measure into bags seal and put in buckets."
Here are the sites:
Soup Mix in a Jar Recipes, (I'm looking to try this one sometime, of the ones I've looked at so far... and there are even more types of mixes below the list of soup recipes)
AllFreeCrafts.Com, where you can find chicken noodle soup and minestrone in a jar recipes
This Veggie Rice Mix---I don't know if there are other recipes to find here yet, but this one looks pretty good.... :)
It's really the first link that has the most options to choose from, and hopefully you will find something that you and your loved ones would like. It's always good to have different options that are easy to make, and the recipes that I have seen in the first link so far look pretty good--I have a lot to go through on the list still, but I thought I'd give you the links so you can find what you like--gotta love variety, probably even more so when you are using your long-term supplies...thanks again, kind e-mailer!
"These recipes are for making instant meals for long term storage. The sites have many more.
Just mix up, measure into bags seal and put in buckets."
Here are the sites:
Soup Mix in a Jar Recipes, (I'm looking to try this one sometime, of the ones I've looked at so far... and there are even more types of mixes below the list of soup recipes)
AllFreeCrafts.Com, where you can find chicken noodle soup and minestrone in a jar recipes
This Veggie Rice Mix---I don't know if there are other recipes to find here yet, but this one looks pretty good.... :)
It's really the first link that has the most options to choose from, and hopefully you will find something that you and your loved ones would like. It's always good to have different options that are easy to make, and the recipes that I have seen in the first link so far look pretty good--I have a lot to go through on the list still, but I thought I'd give you the links so you can find what you like--gotta love variety, probably even more so when you are using your long-term supplies...thanks again, kind e-mailer!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Why practice is important....oh, and 2 bread recipes
Well, I haven't had that much to write about lately--still working on stocking up and actually just storing what we have properly. Except for the fact that I have been trying to increase my number of food-storage-friendly recipes, and have been concentrating on bread recipes--the mostly flour, oil, salt, etc. variety. I have had mixed results....
So, good news first--I found a "keeper" recipe for fried bread here. Highlights:
--After adjusting the temperature of the oil, the bread just got prettier and prettier--the final pieces were something to behold.... :)
--Even the more "well-done" pieces were readily eaten....
---There were varied levels of enthusiasm, but there were no left-overs, and an agreement that the recipe should be repeated in the future. (Granted, I would not make this too often, but I do think that in the midst of appetite fatigue this might be a welcome exception to the menu....It requires quite a bit of oil, as well as not being at the top of my "most healthy foods" list. But it does taste oh-so-good... :)
Um, yeah, so on to the second bread recipe, which made me realize (again) how vital it can be to try a recipe before an emergency strikes...
I found the following recipe in a family recipe collection, and we got it from a family friend, E.W., many years ago. I don't know if E.W. originally got it somewhere else, but E.W. is our source, so E.W. gets the credit here:
Angel Biscuits
5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 tbsp water
2 cups buttermilk
1 package dry yeast
Sift together flour, sugar, soda, salt, and baking powder. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add with the buttermilk to the flour. Mix well. Turn out on a floured board. Roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut out. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Ah, pretty straight forward. Except, although I added the phrase, Cut shortening into dry ingredients for your benefit and recipe convenience, it is not included on the recipe card copied into our recipe book. Nowhere to be found. So, I had done everything else, ( I used milk with a tbsp. of lemon juice per cup to substitute for the buttermilk) when right before I was going to turn out the dough onto a floured surface, something in my brain clicked, and I thought, "Didn't it say something about shortening?"
Why, yes. Yes, it did. And I did enough baking when I was a kid (nigh these many years ago :) that my next thought was that I probably should have cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. And here I stood with the sticky mound of dough in my mixing bowl, and cutting anything into it didn't look too promising. A cup of shortening with nowhere to go--my thoughts were that little pockets of shortening would show up in the biscuits like chocolate chips, if I proceeded at all.
The most dominant thought, though, was: "5 cups of flour! I just wasted 5 cups of flour!" So I decided to call my best source (Mom) to see if this little adventure was in any way salvageable. My first inclination was to say no, but there were still enough echoes of "5 cups of flour!!" to make it worth my while to find out.
Except, my best source was not available for comment. By home or cell phone. At least not at first. By about the fourth attempt, contact was made. And she suggested that I try to add the shortening now and see how it worked out. She also pointed out that experienced cooks would know to add the shortening to the dry ingredients, so that it was understood and not added to the directions.
Yeah, not so much understood here. But I decided to continue, and cut the shortening in using two knives (many thanks to whomever included this tip on their blog, because it works really well if you don't happen to have a pastry cutter handy--don't remember for sure where I read it, but the gratitude is there) and the shortening disappeared into the massive mound of dough.
Rolled it out. Cut the biscuits out. And baked them.
The results (surprisingly more positive than the previous information would lead you to believe) :
---Very flat biscuits emerged from the oven, and although they didn't rise very much, they were mostly very well-received.
---No wads of shortening masquerading as "biscuit surprise", for which I was grateful. They were a lot sweeter than I was expecting, but perhaps I should have been expecting it when I remember that the recipe does call for a cup of sugar...that "experienced cook" thing again, I guess.
---They were eaten heartily the first night. They were used to dip in gravy from crockpot chicken the second night. And they were mostly gone the third night. So they are a "keeper". I'll keep looking for a more salty version, partly because I prefer saltier, but also because it's always good to have options and variety....
From what I hear, these biscuits are supposed to rise pretty high, and will do so if not handled too much--if you want them lighter, avoid too much handling/rolling out, etc. (Yeah, I rolled that dough out several times, thus adding to the "flatness" of the final results...)
So it's kind of embarassing to relate how little I knew, but if it encourages anyone to practice their skills before an emergency, it's worth it. I can just imagine how (much more) upset I would be if I wasted that much flour when there was probably no place to replenish it easily. I might have finished the batch anyway, but it was definitely a plus to be able to contact someone with more knowledge (thanks Mom!) when a question arose, and that also might not be an option in an emergency. We might have only those in our household, or just ourselves, to turn to in an emergency situation. Better to get the questions out of the way before an emergency situation--less stress, and hopefully, smoother sailing. Or lighter biscuits. Whatever the case may be.... :)
So, good news first--I found a "keeper" recipe for fried bread here. Highlights:
--After adjusting the temperature of the oil, the bread just got prettier and prettier--the final pieces were something to behold.... :)
--Even the more "well-done" pieces were readily eaten....
---There were varied levels of enthusiasm, but there were no left-overs, and an agreement that the recipe should be repeated in the future. (Granted, I would not make this too often, but I do think that in the midst of appetite fatigue this might be a welcome exception to the menu....It requires quite a bit of oil, as well as not being at the top of my "most healthy foods" list. But it does taste oh-so-good... :)
Um, yeah, so on to the second bread recipe, which made me realize (again) how vital it can be to try a recipe before an emergency strikes...
I found the following recipe in a family recipe collection, and we got it from a family friend, E.W., many years ago. I don't know if E.W. originally got it somewhere else, but E.W. is our source, so E.W. gets the credit here:
Angel Biscuits
5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 tbsp water
2 cups buttermilk
1 package dry yeast
Sift together flour, sugar, soda, salt, and baking powder. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add with the buttermilk to the flour. Mix well. Turn out on a floured board. Roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut out. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Ah, pretty straight forward. Except, although I added the phrase, Cut shortening into dry ingredients for your benefit and recipe convenience, it is not included on the recipe card copied into our recipe book. Nowhere to be found. So, I had done everything else, ( I used milk with a tbsp. of lemon juice per cup to substitute for the buttermilk) when right before I was going to turn out the dough onto a floured surface, something in my brain clicked, and I thought, "Didn't it say something about shortening?"
Why, yes. Yes, it did. And I did enough baking when I was a kid (nigh these many years ago :) that my next thought was that I probably should have cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. And here I stood with the sticky mound of dough in my mixing bowl, and cutting anything into it didn't look too promising. A cup of shortening with nowhere to go--my thoughts were that little pockets of shortening would show up in the biscuits like chocolate chips, if I proceeded at all.
The most dominant thought, though, was: "5 cups of flour! I just wasted 5 cups of flour!" So I decided to call my best source (Mom) to see if this little adventure was in any way salvageable. My first inclination was to say no, but there were still enough echoes of "5 cups of flour!!" to make it worth my while to find out.
Except, my best source was not available for comment. By home or cell phone. At least not at first. By about the fourth attempt, contact was made. And she suggested that I try to add the shortening now and see how it worked out. She also pointed out that experienced cooks would know to add the shortening to the dry ingredients, so that it was understood and not added to the directions.
Yeah, not so much understood here. But I decided to continue, and cut the shortening in using two knives (many thanks to whomever included this tip on their blog, because it works really well if you don't happen to have a pastry cutter handy--don't remember for sure where I read it, but the gratitude is there) and the shortening disappeared into the massive mound of dough.
Rolled it out. Cut the biscuits out. And baked them.
The results (surprisingly more positive than the previous information would lead you to believe) :
---Very flat biscuits emerged from the oven, and although they didn't rise very much, they were mostly very well-received.
---No wads of shortening masquerading as "biscuit surprise", for which I was grateful. They were a lot sweeter than I was expecting, but perhaps I should have been expecting it when I remember that the recipe does call for a cup of sugar...that "experienced cook" thing again, I guess.
---They were eaten heartily the first night. They were used to dip in gravy from crockpot chicken the second night. And they were mostly gone the third night. So they are a "keeper". I'll keep looking for a more salty version, partly because I prefer saltier, but also because it's always good to have options and variety....
From what I hear, these biscuits are supposed to rise pretty high, and will do so if not handled too much--if you want them lighter, avoid too much handling/rolling out, etc. (Yeah, I rolled that dough out several times, thus adding to the "flatness" of the final results...)
So it's kind of embarassing to relate how little I knew, but if it encourages anyone to practice their skills before an emergency, it's worth it. I can just imagine how (much more) upset I would be if I wasted that much flour when there was probably no place to replenish it easily. I might have finished the batch anyway, but it was definitely a plus to be able to contact someone with more knowledge (thanks Mom!) when a question arose, and that also might not be an option in an emergency. We might have only those in our household, or just ourselves, to turn to in an emergency situation. Better to get the questions out of the way before an emergency situation--less stress, and hopefully, smoother sailing. Or lighter biscuits. Whatever the case may be.... :)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Here's a treat
Just not the kind you can hand out on Halloween. But hey, everyone loves a little treat now and then, and it gets better when the ingredients are basic. Oh, and did I mention the recipe is easy? I present to you:
Peanut Butter Fingers
Cream together:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Add:
1 unbeaten egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Blend. Stir in:
1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats
Press into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden. Sprinkle with 1 6- oz package of chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes. Spread evenly.
Topping:
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
Drizzle over cookies. Cool and cut.
I don't know who came up with this recipe, so it's hard to give credit, but thank you, peanut butter finger inventor. At the risk of shocking someone, we got a little lazy last time we made these at our house, and we skipped the topping and dived in after the chocolate chips were spread evenly. We somehow managed not to feel deprived..... :)
Our pumpkins are probably going to get carved tonight, regardless of their irregular hues. I'm sure some of them will make it into the freezer as puree as well. Those of you who may have missed my great adventure last year in finding pumpkin recipes may be interested in this one for pumpkin bread that I posted then. It's always good to take something that takes up so much room in the garden and make it take up room in the freezer.... :)
Peanut Butter Fingers
Cream together:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Add:
1 unbeaten egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Blend. Stir in:
1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats
Press into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden. Sprinkle with 1 6- oz package of chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes. Spread evenly.
Topping:
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
Drizzle over cookies. Cool and cut.
I don't know who came up with this recipe, so it's hard to give credit, but thank you, peanut butter finger inventor. At the risk of shocking someone, we got a little lazy last time we made these at our house, and we skipped the topping and dived in after the chocolate chips were spread evenly. We somehow managed not to feel deprived..... :)
Our pumpkins are probably going to get carved tonight, regardless of their irregular hues. I'm sure some of them will make it into the freezer as puree as well. Those of you who may have missed my great adventure last year in finding pumpkin recipes may be interested in this one for pumpkin bread that I posted then. It's always good to take something that takes up so much room in the garden and make it take up room in the freezer.... :)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Alleviating the self-inflicted guilt trip: made some recipes
Ah, yes--it was a good weekend for using evaporated milk. Oh, and finally getting around to using recipes from the sites I already posted about. This blog can be a good motivating factor--I said I'd get around to it, but it seems like I get around to it more quickly when I've already mentioned it...
On Friday we had a breakfast dinner, so I made this coffee cake recipe from over at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. For the milk I used evaporated milk (with lemon juice), which made me feel even better about the whole adventure. I kept thinking I should get up earlier in the morning to make it for actual breakfast, but alas, it didn't happen. However, given the positive reception it received, I can see that happening in the future...
For dinner on Saturday, we had creamy chicken enchiladas, the recipe for which is found over at The Prudent Homemaker. Used evaporated milk, as directed. Also used cheese, which I don't have in storage, but I could have if I were to use this process detailed over at Preparedness Pro. (There's also a chicken enchilada recipe in the post for the process link that I will likely try in the future. You know what they say about variety... :) The thing I need to work on next is to learn to make my own tortillas, so that it is truly a food storage recipe that I can just make anytime. Always something more to do....
Both of these recipes were labeled "keepers", so into the emergency notebook they go. Thanks very much to the Harried and Prudent Homemakers and the Preparedness Pro for the information. Now I just have to work on getting the supplies in so that they can be part of my 3-month supply menu rotation. Slow but sure....
On Friday we had a breakfast dinner, so I made this coffee cake recipe from over at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. For the milk I used evaporated milk (with lemon juice), which made me feel even better about the whole adventure. I kept thinking I should get up earlier in the morning to make it for actual breakfast, but alas, it didn't happen. However, given the positive reception it received, I can see that happening in the future...
For dinner on Saturday, we had creamy chicken enchiladas, the recipe for which is found over at The Prudent Homemaker. Used evaporated milk, as directed. Also used cheese, which I don't have in storage, but I could have if I were to use this process detailed over at Preparedness Pro. (There's also a chicken enchilada recipe in the post for the process link that I will likely try in the future. You know what they say about variety... :) The thing I need to work on next is to learn to make my own tortillas, so that it is truly a food storage recipe that I can just make anytime. Always something more to do....
Both of these recipes were labeled "keepers", so into the emergency notebook they go. Thanks very much to the Harried and Prudent Homemakers and the Preparedness Pro for the information. Now I just have to work on getting the supplies in so that they can be part of my 3-month supply menu rotation. Slow but sure....
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A couple more recipes, if you are interested...
Well, I've actually been on a roll with making new recipes with food storage items lately (well, two is a roll for me... :) In my defense, I do continue to use most recipes once I try them, like rice and beans and making bread, it's just new ones that I don't do as often as I should...
Anyway, on Friday, I used the recipe for Spam Fried Rice found over at Preparedness Pro. My kind of recipe--few ingredients, among them Spam, which my children love--and additional instructions on how to use it with canned chicken, or make it with "non-food-storage"ingredients. Plus (this is beginning to sound like one of those "call now and we'll also include" deals in the sales commercials :) there are pointers on how to make it with less fuel, which could be crucial in an emergency situation.
Oh, yeah, and it's also pretty tasty, even if it's not all smooth-sailing (oh, yeah, things can get interesting around here even with recipes marked EZ... :)
--I used chicken-flavored Rice-A-Roni instead of fried rice flavor because, well, that's what I had. It was good, and maybe one of these times I will find the rice-flavored variety for, well, variety.
--The most likely reason that I had the chicken-flavored variety for this recipe was because of the "20% more" banner across the top of the boxes. Who can resist the siren call of "more" when it comes to food storage? However, when you read the original recipe it calls for a 6.2 oz box of the Rice-a-Roni, and apparently 20% more is 6.9 oz. (If not, just be kind, because this is not a math blog...) Fortunately, somewhere in mid-cooking, I thought, more rice means I need more water to cook it with, and checked, and indeed more water was needed. Having run into insufficient water/rice ratios previously, most notably with at least one of my rice and bean recipes chronicled elsewhere in this blog, I realized the edibility factor would be compromised without swift action and was able to react quickly by adding more water. See, experience does come in handy sometimes....and better to have that experience before you're in a tense situation with limited food supplies.
--I did buy canned peas for this particular recipe, and it was helpful, though rather annoying, to find that at least one of my children would meticulously pick out everything but the peas in an attempt to avoid them. This affects future preparation because I can always serve peas separately at another time, but for this particular recipe I will probably use green beans or corn since it is only necessary to warm the added vegetable at the end. There is always the argument that if people are hungry enough they'll eat what is in front of them and be grateful for it, and unfortunately it may eventually come down to a situation like that in a food-storage only situation. But if you know ahead of time, you may be able to avoid something like that as long as possible-- after all, added stress of disliked food + emergency situations=even more unhappiness.
Oh, and if you check out the recipe link above, you'll also be able to check out a second recipe for "Mexi-Cincy Chili" which I have not tried. And if you act now, all of this valuable information can be yours for free. Thanks Preparedness Pro!
And a big thank-you as well to HSJacobus at Jacobus Family Blogspot for her "Friday's Food Fancy" archives. I finally picked up some cornmeal and was planning to make some cornbread, and the recipe on the back of the box looked pretty simple. Simple is good. Simple plus use of food storage items to improve your rotation is better. Having really specific instructions so that you can use those food storage items to double the recipe and have enough for another day tucked away in your freezer is priceless. (Yeah, still going with commercial themes here... :)
You can find all these things in the cornbread recipe found here. I used evaporated milk, which I need to do more of pretty soon because the cans I was looking at expire in a few months. I've said before that I don't really like the fact that when I use my storage the shelves get empty, but if I let the items expire before I use them, the result will be the same---no/not enough food to eat in an emergency situation. What's on your shelf that needs to be used? Come on, I can't be the only one that has some expiration dates coming up.... :)
Anyway, on Friday, I used the recipe for Spam Fried Rice found over at Preparedness Pro. My kind of recipe--few ingredients, among them Spam, which my children love--and additional instructions on how to use it with canned chicken, or make it with "non-food-storage"ingredients. Plus (this is beginning to sound like one of those "call now and we'll also include" deals in the sales commercials :) there are pointers on how to make it with less fuel, which could be crucial in an emergency situation.
Oh, yeah, and it's also pretty tasty, even if it's not all smooth-sailing (oh, yeah, things can get interesting around here even with recipes marked EZ... :)
--I used chicken-flavored Rice-A-Roni instead of fried rice flavor because, well, that's what I had. It was good, and maybe one of these times I will find the rice-flavored variety for, well, variety.
--The most likely reason that I had the chicken-flavored variety for this recipe was because of the "20% more" banner across the top of the boxes. Who can resist the siren call of "more" when it comes to food storage? However, when you read the original recipe it calls for a 6.2 oz box of the Rice-a-Roni, and apparently 20% more is 6.9 oz. (If not, just be kind, because this is not a math blog...) Fortunately, somewhere in mid-cooking, I thought, more rice means I need more water to cook it with, and checked, and indeed more water was needed. Having run into insufficient water/rice ratios previously, most notably with at least one of my rice and bean recipes chronicled elsewhere in this blog, I realized the edibility factor would be compromised without swift action and was able to react quickly by adding more water. See, experience does come in handy sometimes....and better to have that experience before you're in a tense situation with limited food supplies.
--I did buy canned peas for this particular recipe, and it was helpful, though rather annoying, to find that at least one of my children would meticulously pick out everything but the peas in an attempt to avoid them. This affects future preparation because I can always serve peas separately at another time, but for this particular recipe I will probably use green beans or corn since it is only necessary to warm the added vegetable at the end. There is always the argument that if people are hungry enough they'll eat what is in front of them and be grateful for it, and unfortunately it may eventually come down to a situation like that in a food-storage only situation. But if you know ahead of time, you may be able to avoid something like that as long as possible-- after all, added stress of disliked food + emergency situations=even more unhappiness.
Oh, and if you check out the recipe link above, you'll also be able to check out a second recipe for "Mexi-Cincy Chili" which I have not tried. And if you act now, all of this valuable information can be yours for free. Thanks Preparedness Pro!
And a big thank-you as well to HSJacobus at Jacobus Family Blogspot for her "Friday's Food Fancy" archives. I finally picked up some cornmeal and was planning to make some cornbread, and the recipe on the back of the box looked pretty simple. Simple is good. Simple plus use of food storage items to improve your rotation is better. Having really specific instructions so that you can use those food storage items to double the recipe and have enough for another day tucked away in your freezer is priceless. (Yeah, still going with commercial themes here... :)
You can find all these things in the cornbread recipe found here. I used evaporated milk, which I need to do more of pretty soon because the cans I was looking at expire in a few months. I've said before that I don't really like the fact that when I use my storage the shelves get empty, but if I let the items expire before I use them, the result will be the same---no/not enough food to eat in an emergency situation. What's on your shelf that needs to be used? Come on, I can't be the only one that has some expiration dates coming up.... :)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Of cheap tools and a biscuit recipe...
Night before last I went to the local national chainstore and among other things (like soup that was $.18/can more than the last time I purchased it) bought a new set of measuring spoons. I had been pretty much using the one teaspoon that I could usually find to do the work of all measuring spoons (thinking you can measure 1/4 teaspoon just by looking, and knowing that 3 teaspoons equals one tablespoon come in handy in such circumstances) but I broke down and bought a plastic set for a reasonable (read:cheap) price. One of the reasons for needing a new set was this recipe for biscuits found at Safely Gathered In, which I was anticipating making.
A list of things that I liked/learned about completing this recipe, that was excellent, and was consumed in a single meal (and before, immediately upon exiting the oven):
--Reasonably priced (read:cheap) measuring spoons from the local national chainstore don't stand up under a lot of pressure. If, by a lot of pressure, you mean trying to dry out the well of the teaspoon. When I tried to dry it out, it snapped right off, and I ended up using the other spoons to add up to required amounts--kind of backwards from the way I was doing things previously, if you ask me...
--Don't forget the salt. I thought I had combined all the dry ingredients, but I noticed upon tasting the final product that the salt was, in fact, missing. No one else missed it, though, and as I said, the biscuits didn't last very long in this household....
---I like the milk+vinegar= buttermilk substitution. Works for me! Also, who doesn't love a recipe where you can just do very minimal kneading, pat the dough out instead of rolling it, and you get to use a pizza cutter? Plus after plus after plus.... :)
---One of my children said, upon learning what I was making, that they didn't like biscuits. I said that the only requirement was to taste the finished product, not eat the whole thing. When taking a random family poll by raise of hands about who liked the biscuits, this child's hand went up, and guess who asked for the last biscuit? Ah, sweet success.... :)
Anyway, hope that you try out this recipe--if you follow this blog, you know that I like easy, and this recipe was both easy and delicious. I have also decided that it is time for me to invest in a lot better set of measuring spoons. After all, I am cooking/baking a lot more, and that's a good thing... Now, do I get metal spoons, (I saw a set that was more expensive) or risk another set in plastic (different brand)? Decisions, decisions....
A list of things that I liked/learned about completing this recipe, that was excellent, and was consumed in a single meal (and before, immediately upon exiting the oven):
--Reasonably priced (read:cheap) measuring spoons from the local national chainstore don't stand up under a lot of pressure. If, by a lot of pressure, you mean trying to dry out the well of the teaspoon. When I tried to dry it out, it snapped right off, and I ended up using the other spoons to add up to required amounts--kind of backwards from the way I was doing things previously, if you ask me...
--Don't forget the salt. I thought I had combined all the dry ingredients, but I noticed upon tasting the final product that the salt was, in fact, missing. No one else missed it, though, and as I said, the biscuits didn't last very long in this household....
---I like the milk+vinegar= buttermilk substitution. Works for me! Also, who doesn't love a recipe where you can just do very minimal kneading, pat the dough out instead of rolling it, and you get to use a pizza cutter? Plus after plus after plus.... :)
---One of my children said, upon learning what I was making, that they didn't like biscuits. I said that the only requirement was to taste the finished product, not eat the whole thing. When taking a random family poll by raise of hands about who liked the biscuits, this child's hand went up, and guess who asked for the last biscuit? Ah, sweet success.... :)
Anyway, hope that you try out this recipe--if you follow this blog, you know that I like easy, and this recipe was both easy and delicious. I have also decided that it is time for me to invest in a lot better set of measuring spoons. After all, I am cooking/baking a lot more, and that's a good thing... Now, do I get metal spoons, (I saw a set that was more expensive) or risk another set in plastic (different brand)? Decisions, decisions....
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The "neighbor plates"--the easy (food storage supply) way
I don't know if the same thing happens where you live, but around this time of year, the doorbell will ring occasionally and when you open the door you are given a plate of scrumptious goodness that you get to enjoy compliments of your neighbors' hard work and good will. Well, we delivered our plates around the neighborhood last night. Thing is, we used food storage recipes that we found compliments of our internet neighbors. To give credit where credit is due, my husband made the treats with the kids (hey, I found the recipes) and great fun was had by all.
We actually gave treats made from two recipes--the Chocolate Cereal Snack Mix over at Safely Gathered In, and the Extremely Easy Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe over at the Jacobus Family Blog Site. Yeah, you sure gotta hope that our neighbors like peanut butter--we do, and we just wanted to share the joy. We didn't have any of those nifty little bags like we have seen out and about and one of which we received this year--you know the kind, clear and shiny and filled with wonderful treats and tied with a bow. I didn't know where to find them, and sandwich bags didn't quite seem festive enough. So when we were out shopping, we got the holiday themed plates, and I saw cupcake papers, also with a holiday theme. We filled about 4 of those cupcake papers per plate with the cereal mix, (and we added the green and red M&Ms--probably wouldn't have those in storage, but they looked and tasted really good :) placed them on the plates, and put the pieces of peanut butter fudge in the remaining space. The plates were covered in plastic wrap and delivered promptly. We overestimated on the cereal mix, so have plenty to munch on for ourselves, but we didn't have enough for family consumption (except for taste-testing, naturally :) of the peanut butter fudge, so I wouldn't be surprised if another batch of that were forthcoming... I was very happy with the outcome of the whole venture, and am very grateful to my internet neighbors for supplying such wonderful ideas for gift-giving cheer--thank you!
Yes, you can make yummy goodies with food storage supplies. If you look on Safely Gathered In, they have their recipes available if you hit the link near the top of the page. On the Jacobus Family Blog Spot, (truly one of the best sources of food storage recipes I have found) you can link to the Friday's Food Fancy posts by clicking on the beautiful button to the right with that label. I highly recommend that you check those recipes out. I'm glad I did.
Oh, and even though I haven't asked my neighbors, I don't think in a million years that they would look at the plates we gave them and think "food storage". However, I do think there's a very good chance that the plates just screamed out, "festive". Either way, I do have a wish for my neighborhood neighbors and my internet neighbors: Merry Christmas!
We actually gave treats made from two recipes--the Chocolate Cereal Snack Mix over at Safely Gathered In, and the Extremely Easy Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe over at the Jacobus Family Blog Site. Yeah, you sure gotta hope that our neighbors like peanut butter--we do, and we just wanted to share the joy. We didn't have any of those nifty little bags like we have seen out and about and one of which we received this year--you know the kind, clear and shiny and filled with wonderful treats and tied with a bow. I didn't know where to find them, and sandwich bags didn't quite seem festive enough. So when we were out shopping, we got the holiday themed plates, and I saw cupcake papers, also with a holiday theme. We filled about 4 of those cupcake papers per plate with the cereal mix, (and we added the green and red M&Ms--probably wouldn't have those in storage, but they looked and tasted really good :) placed them on the plates, and put the pieces of peanut butter fudge in the remaining space. The plates were covered in plastic wrap and delivered promptly. We overestimated on the cereal mix, so have plenty to munch on for ourselves, but we didn't have enough for family consumption (except for taste-testing, naturally :) of the peanut butter fudge, so I wouldn't be surprised if another batch of that were forthcoming... I was very happy with the outcome of the whole venture, and am very grateful to my internet neighbors for supplying such wonderful ideas for gift-giving cheer--thank you!
Yes, you can make yummy goodies with food storage supplies. If you look on Safely Gathered In, they have their recipes available if you hit the link near the top of the page. On the Jacobus Family Blog Spot, (truly one of the best sources of food storage recipes I have found) you can link to the Friday's Food Fancy posts by clicking on the beautiful button to the right with that label. I highly recommend that you check those recipes out. I'm glad I did.
Oh, and even though I haven't asked my neighbors, I don't think in a million years that they would look at the plates we gave them and think "food storage". However, I do think there's a very good chance that the plates just screamed out, "festive". Either way, I do have a wish for my neighborhood neighbors and my internet neighbors: Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Oh, yeah--why I bought that allspice
Remember how after Chris over at Johnson Family Farm was kind enough to explain with clear explanations and pictures how to get the food out of the pumpkins (here), we went at pumpkin harvesting with a vengeance and ended up with a bunch of bags of pumpkin puree? Well, the next step was to do find ways to use that puree, and true to form, sometimes you don't have to look very far to get the information you need, if you think about it. I asked my grandmother if I could put her recipe for pumpkin bread here, so I will share it with you:
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1 and 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/3 cup water (cold)
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup raisins or dates
Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in a greased loaf pan.
3 things I would add:
1) I made this before the week of Thanksgiving, and did not realize until after my little baking project was in the oven that I needed to grease the pan. That is a mistake that experienced bakers do not make, but I am only in the process of trying to become experienced in this kind of baking, (hey, cookies I do fine :) so please learn from my mistake. The bread turned out fine anyway, it was just a little hard to get out of the pan. That, and it was not as beautiful as some loaves I have seen. Good thing it wasn't a beauty contest.... :)
2) It took my loaf considerably longer than an hour to finish baking. I wish I had kept better track of the time that it did take, but I don't know at this point. At the hour mark, I checked it and it was not done. I kept checking it periodically, and when a knife came out clean I knew it was done. The timing difference may be because of the difference in altitude between where I am baking the bread, and where my grandmother has mostly made it, so it may differ where you live as well, if you try to make it. Checking it wasn't that big of a deal, and in the end the bread tasted great.
3) A tip from my best source (Mom) about using the raisins that I put into practice here: pour boiling water over them and let them set for a little while to soften them up before you add them. I did this and everything tasted great.
Well, just wanted to share. Thanks to Grandma for sharing the recipe. If I can make pumpkin bread, anyone can--and if you have bags/cans/whatever of pumpkin to use, you might want to give this one a try...
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1 and 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/3 cup water (cold)
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup raisins or dates
Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in a greased loaf pan.
3 things I would add:
1) I made this before the week of Thanksgiving, and did not realize until after my little baking project was in the oven that I needed to grease the pan. That is a mistake that experienced bakers do not make, but I am only in the process of trying to become experienced in this kind of baking, (hey, cookies I do fine :) so please learn from my mistake. The bread turned out fine anyway, it was just a little hard to get out of the pan. That, and it was not as beautiful as some loaves I have seen. Good thing it wasn't a beauty contest.... :)
2) It took my loaf considerably longer than an hour to finish baking. I wish I had kept better track of the time that it did take, but I don't know at this point. At the hour mark, I checked it and it was not done. I kept checking it periodically, and when a knife came out clean I knew it was done. The timing difference may be because of the difference in altitude between where I am baking the bread, and where my grandmother has mostly made it, so it may differ where you live as well, if you try to make it. Checking it wasn't that big of a deal, and in the end the bread tasted great.
3) A tip from my best source (Mom) about using the raisins that I put into practice here: pour boiling water over them and let them set for a little while to soften them up before you add them. I did this and everything tasted great.
Well, just wanted to share. Thanks to Grandma for sharing the recipe. If I can make pumpkin bread, anyone can--and if you have bags/cans/whatever of pumpkin to use, you might want to give this one a try...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Don't forget those lentils...
You may recall that lentils is one of the basics listed for a year supply of survival food--you can see in this post that the amount listed for one person is 2 lbs. I decided that I needed to find out how to use lentils, so when I saw this recipe over at The Barber Bunch, I decided to give it a try. The night we had the lentil stew I also made the tuna fish sandwich recipe mentioned in an earlier post.
The biggest difference that I made in this recipe is that I used a can of tomatoes that already had garlic and onions in it. I didn't use the optional basil. That made the main ingredients the partial bag of lentils I used and the can of tomatoes, so pretty easy, with very few ingredients. It was received with different levels of enthusiasm--one child really liked it and called for a vote by "thumbs up." We didn't get any "thumbs down," but among the family members who voted there were "sideways thumbs" and only "one thumb up" reactions. I can work with that--the rice and beans took a little getting used to as well. There was a hefty snack of frozen pizza later that evening--we'll see what happens next time we have it. Personally, I liked it. I would maybe add more garlic and onions if I use the same kind of tomatoes the next time, but the fewer things added, the more I like it as a food storage item.
On the pumpkin front, turns out that we ended up with 10 cups total of pumpkin puree from our first pumpkin--the cup we used in the pumpkin soup plus the 9 cups we now have in the freezer. Good times. :) Now to try another recipe with it....
The biggest difference that I made in this recipe is that I used a can of tomatoes that already had garlic and onions in it. I didn't use the optional basil. That made the main ingredients the partial bag of lentils I used and the can of tomatoes, so pretty easy, with very few ingredients. It was received with different levels of enthusiasm--one child really liked it and called for a vote by "thumbs up." We didn't get any "thumbs down," but among the family members who voted there were "sideways thumbs" and only "one thumb up" reactions. I can work with that--the rice and beans took a little getting used to as well. There was a hefty snack of frozen pizza later that evening--we'll see what happens next time we have it. Personally, I liked it. I would maybe add more garlic and onions if I use the same kind of tomatoes the next time, but the fewer things added, the more I like it as a food storage item.
On the pumpkin front, turns out that we ended up with 10 cups total of pumpkin puree from our first pumpkin--the cup we used in the pumpkin soup plus the 9 cups we now have in the freezer. Good times. :) Now to try another recipe with it....
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuna--another canned meat
Ok, true confessions. I have never really cared for the taste of tuna fish. However, the practical side of me likes tuna fish. It's cheaper than canned chicken. It has wonderfully far-off expiration dates on the bottoms of its little cans. It comes out of said little cans fully edible. In terms of food storage, what's not to like? So I've had some cans of tuna in my storage room for awhile. Not a lot--after all, there is that whole not-liking-the-taste thing. However, today I figured that there was no time like the present, and we had tuna fish sandwiches for dinner.
First, I found this recipe online, and amassed all three (tuna fish, cream of mushroom soup, and potato chips) ingredients needed. Granted, I don't think I'll have potato chips immediately available in an emergency, but there were a couple of key things that I wanted to succeed at with this recipe, and those were a) actually use tuna fish in a meal, and b) have it not taste like tuna fish. The recipe linked here is called "mock chicken sandwiches," it required tuna, it was easy, and it promised a different flavor. So I mixed it up, baked it, toasted some bread, and served it up.
The verdict: Those who tried it liked it. (That includes me.) My husband gave it a 6 (not a resounding score, but respectable) and said it was a keeper. So I have one recipe in my win column.
It did taste a little like chicken--point is, it tasted good. There's a bug going around our house so we didn't force the issue with those who aren't feeling well, and they got a more familiar meal. I think that the next time we have it, and they actually try it, they'll probably like it. Ahh, it's nice to have children who aren't usually overly picky about food... :)
So, do you have any recipes that use canned tuna combined with other food storage items? I really just need to have a few easy alternative recipes for using this handy little canned meat, and maybe I'll learn to like it more... :)
First, I found this recipe online, and amassed all three (tuna fish, cream of mushroom soup, and potato chips) ingredients needed. Granted, I don't think I'll have potato chips immediately available in an emergency, but there were a couple of key things that I wanted to succeed at with this recipe, and those were a) actually use tuna fish in a meal, and b) have it not taste like tuna fish. The recipe linked here is called "mock chicken sandwiches," it required tuna, it was easy, and it promised a different flavor. So I mixed it up, baked it, toasted some bread, and served it up.
The verdict: Those who tried it liked it. (That includes me.) My husband gave it a 6 (not a resounding score, but respectable) and said it was a keeper. So I have one recipe in my win column.
It did taste a little like chicken--point is, it tasted good. There's a bug going around our house so we didn't force the issue with those who aren't feeling well, and they got a more familiar meal. I think that the next time we have it, and they actually try it, they'll probably like it. Ahh, it's nice to have children who aren't usually overly picky about food... :)
So, do you have any recipes that use canned tuna combined with other food storage items? I really just need to have a few easy alternative recipes for using this handy little canned meat, and maybe I'll learn to like it more... :)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sometimes the brand does matter...
Yeah, the title of this post almost makes me want to say, "Shallow. That is so shallow...", but in terms of canned food, sometimes the brand does matter. I was reminded of this last night, when I went about trying to add a "food storage meal" to my meal rotation. I have done ok adding in the rice and beans, but sometime last week, I thought about the fact that I am adding food slowly but surely to my food storage, but if I had only food storage to rely on, how would I really use it? So I made out a week's worth of meals that would use only food storage items, and some of the meals we have never tried before. They won't be eaten every day, but they will be eaten before we go long-term shopping again.
I have stored lots of soup--what I term "meal soups," that would stand on their own, or which could be easily supplemented with my one successful roll recipe (yeah, I have to work on the variety in that area) and many cans of the "cream of" soups, that in a rough spot could be eaten on their own, but ideally would be mixed in with rice or pasta at least. Tuesday was the last day of a sale that had Hormel items on sale for a good price, at least around here, so I picked up some Dinty Moore Stew. I had picked up some Dinty Moore Stew at a previous sale at the same store months ago, but we hadn't eaten any of it--it's a "meal" type that is easy to heat up, and I tend to guard those jealously--but they were on the menu plan for this rotation.
I had planned to use the stew in a little concoction that I labeled on the menu as "stew on potatoes." We have quite a bit of mashed potatoes in storage, so add water, stew, and heat, and everything should be wonderful. I was a little worried about this particular meal when it came to my husband, because I had tried "stew over potatoes" when we were first married, and it wasn't a big hit. In fact, my husband hated it. When he reads this he will say that he didn't hate it, but I knew enough to not make it more than once or twice. Thing is, we shopped at a grocery outlet type store at the time, which has since gone out of business, and we got our stew there. It was not Dinty Moore--it was another brand, and the "stew over potatoes" did not go over well.
When I got the recently acquired Dinty Moore Beef Stew home from the store, I saw that it had a recipe for shepherd's pie similar to this one. I decided to make it with a few alterations, and left off the cheese, which I found to be an unlikely addition in times of emergency. I also threw in a couple of baked potatoes that would be ready at the same time, a) because my husband likes baked potatoes b)I didn't know how filling the shepherd's pie would be, and wanted extra food if needed and c) I didn't know if my kids would like the shepherd's pie, and this would be something else to offer in the case things didn't go well.
Well, the food wasn't exactly pretty when it emerged from the oven, and my children weren't wild about that. I told them to just try it, and only one only "kind of" liked it. The others really liked it. My husband--drum roll please--said it was a "keeper" and gave it an 8 or 9 on a 1-10 scale. The baked potatoes weren't really needed, but they tasted good. So...sweet success.
My husband would have eaten it anyway, but the brand did make a difference in this case. Hence, my poll this time. I hope no one thinks that I'm terribly shallow, but little things in an emergency can mean a lot, and if you can get something that suits everyone tastes, why not? I only got the original cans of Dinty Moore because they were on sale. I only got the larger cans with the shepherd's pie recipe on them because they were on sale. (Now I wish that I had bought more...) Soups don't seem to make that big of a difference at my house, but with items like canned ravioli and spaghetti I will only buy one brand--the others seem too sweet to me. So I wait for a sale, and then I stock up. Canned items are handy in an emergency (remember to store a manual can opener with them) and can be used more easily if there is a loss of power, or as a comfort food. So my answer to my own poll question would be "sometimes." Well the cat's out of the bag for me--for the rest of you it's still anonymous... :)
If it came to the point where there were no sales, I would stock up on what I could afford, because we still have to eat. But knowing what tastes suit you and your family could make for less of a struggle when you need to use your food storage. No one here, and actually no one that I know of, works for Hormel or Dinty Moore. We sure do like their recipe for shepherd's pie, though... :)
I have stored lots of soup--what I term "meal soups," that would stand on their own, or which could be easily supplemented with my one successful roll recipe (yeah, I have to work on the variety in that area) and many cans of the "cream of" soups, that in a rough spot could be eaten on their own, but ideally would be mixed in with rice or pasta at least. Tuesday was the last day of a sale that had Hormel items on sale for a good price, at least around here, so I picked up some Dinty Moore Stew. I had picked up some Dinty Moore Stew at a previous sale at the same store months ago, but we hadn't eaten any of it--it's a "meal" type that is easy to heat up, and I tend to guard those jealously--but they were on the menu plan for this rotation.
I had planned to use the stew in a little concoction that I labeled on the menu as "stew on potatoes." We have quite a bit of mashed potatoes in storage, so add water, stew, and heat, and everything should be wonderful. I was a little worried about this particular meal when it came to my husband, because I had tried "stew over potatoes" when we were first married, and it wasn't a big hit. In fact, my husband hated it. When he reads this he will say that he didn't hate it, but I knew enough to not make it more than once or twice. Thing is, we shopped at a grocery outlet type store at the time, which has since gone out of business, and we got our stew there. It was not Dinty Moore--it was another brand, and the "stew over potatoes" did not go over well.
When I got the recently acquired Dinty Moore Beef Stew home from the store, I saw that it had a recipe for shepherd's pie similar to this one. I decided to make it with a few alterations, and left off the cheese, which I found to be an unlikely addition in times of emergency. I also threw in a couple of baked potatoes that would be ready at the same time, a) because my husband likes baked potatoes b)I didn't know how filling the shepherd's pie would be, and wanted extra food if needed and c) I didn't know if my kids would like the shepherd's pie, and this would be something else to offer in the case things didn't go well.
Well, the food wasn't exactly pretty when it emerged from the oven, and my children weren't wild about that. I told them to just try it, and only one only "kind of" liked it. The others really liked it. My husband--drum roll please--said it was a "keeper" and gave it an 8 or 9 on a 1-10 scale. The baked potatoes weren't really needed, but they tasted good. So...sweet success.
My husband would have eaten it anyway, but the brand did make a difference in this case. Hence, my poll this time. I hope no one thinks that I'm terribly shallow, but little things in an emergency can mean a lot, and if you can get something that suits everyone tastes, why not? I only got the original cans of Dinty Moore because they were on sale. I only got the larger cans with the shepherd's pie recipe on them because they were on sale. (Now I wish that I had bought more...) Soups don't seem to make that big of a difference at my house, but with items like canned ravioli and spaghetti I will only buy one brand--the others seem too sweet to me. So I wait for a sale, and then I stock up. Canned items are handy in an emergency (remember to store a manual can opener with them) and can be used more easily if there is a loss of power, or as a comfort food. So my answer to my own poll question would be "sometimes." Well the cat's out of the bag for me--for the rest of you it's still anonymous... :)
If it came to the point where there were no sales, I would stock up on what I could afford, because we still have to eat. But knowing what tastes suit you and your family could make for less of a struggle when you need to use your food storage. No one here, and actually no one that I know of, works for Hormel or Dinty Moore. We sure do like their recipe for shepherd's pie, though... :)
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