The crazy world of a former homeschool mama whose babies are young adults. Come learn about baking bread, Once-a-month/bulk cooking, making soap, sewing, self-sufficiency, what food storage is and how to start your own. What a 72 hr kit is and how to create one. I'm not an expert but I have been doing most of these skills for a long time. I like to be as self-sufficient as I can. I love learning new skills or ways of doing things at home instead of having to buy at the store. Come join me.
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Making Master Mixes or Individual Prepackaged Mixes at Home
Sometimes, I like the convenience of having a master mix but I don't want all the chemicals and whatnot that are in commercial mixes. Plus, I like the taste of the recipes I normally use and they're expensive when compared to how much it costs to make it at home.
Want those $4-$8 fancy bread machine mixes? Want taco seasoning? Cinnamon toast "seasoning"? Cookie mixes? Pancake mixes? Cake mixes? Hot chocolate? Bean Dip? Baking Mix (ala Bisquick)? "Cream of whatever" soups to cook with? You know, those just add liquids, the contents of the package, mix and cook mixes? Those pricy who-knows-what's REALLY in them and has it been recalled mixes? What to do? Why make your OWN!
Make them yourself! Yes. You. CAN. Cheaper, no chemicals. Nothing but what YOU put in it. That taste like YOU made them at home - because you did! And did I mention - it's CHEAPER?!! You don't need anything special and I'll be that the ingredients are already on your shelf.
What are "prepackaged" mixes? Why nothing more than packages of (usually) dry ingredients that you add in the liquid to at home and then bake. Yeah, it's really THAT simple. You can do prepackaging of wet ingredients, but then it has to be used in a rather short period of time or frozen. For starters, stick to dry ingredient items.
"Cream of whatever" soups CAN be made dry and then the liquid added back into them. They can even be "dairy free" and even GLUTEN-FREE if you use dried beans that you've milled into flour. Don't even HAVE to have a mill. I've done it in a coffee grinder (I don't drink coffee, so I don't have to worry about imparting a "coffee" flavor to my flour. I'd use a dedicated grinder for grinding grains.) And used a small canning jar instead of my large blender jar and "blended" the grains/beans into flour. (Bet you didn't know you can do this with any US blender. Yep, the "business" end of the blender will fit onto standard mason jars. You can use it like a "Bullet blender". No need to buy one!!) AND I've used my food processor to blend things to a flour.
Really, you can do this with ANY recipe that has dry ingredients in it. Pre-measure the dry ingredients into storage bags, jars, or whatever you like and store for later. Then when you're ready to cook, you've already got a lot of the work done for you.
And you can opt to do it two different ways. You can either store them in individual, pre-measured packets or as master mixes that you'll scoop out the designated amount of mix and go from there.
Individual Packets:
It's easy to do and I do this with my favorite bread machine recipes. While I'm measuring out the dry ingredients into the ABM pan, I line up several storage bags and measure out all the dry ingredients (including yeast) into the bags as well. I roll up each bag to remove air, zip or snap close and then mix the ingredients together so the yeast doesn't end up concentrated in one spot. I then put the smaller bags together in either a larger storage bag or a repurposed #10 can and mark what's in the bag. Since I use all whole wheat, I store them in the freezer so I don't lose the vitamins in the wheat. When I'm ready to bake, I open my cabinet over where the ABM sits, look at the 3x5 card taped inside with just the liquids I need listed that I need to add to the machine. Measure those out and dump into the pan, add one bag of the mix from the freezer and start the machine. Spend about 3 minutes adjusting the flour/water ratio and you're good to go. Perfect each time - well each time the power doesn't go out - in the middle of bread making! (Take it out, finish kneading it, if needed; let the dough rest for about 15 minutes, flatten the dough out into tortilla/pita/naan size portions and cook using "alternative cooking methods" - unless the power is back on. Then you'd just let it rise, shape into loaf, let it rise again and bake. You can even let it rise once in the ABM pan and then turn the ABM to the "bake" setting. No need to heat the whole house for one loaf of bread.
"Master" mixes:
Making master mixes takes a few minutes longer the first time you convert the recipe and some EASY kitchen math, but once you've done it the that first time and WRITE DOWN the "master" recipe, it's a breeze there-after!
You need to measure out - down to the portion of a tsp, how much a single recipe makes. Next, decide how many portions you want to store. Multiply EACH item in the recipe by that number, writing down how much you'll need in total. You'll only have to do this the first time you make this "master mix". (Just WRITE DOWN that amount and there-after you'll know) Then place your ingredients into a storage container MIX THEM WELL, mark how much you need to measure out for a single recipe and store that info on the container. When you want to use the recipe measure out that amount, add the liquid for one batch and cook.
Some basic kitchen math. Remember that 1 cup = 16 Tbs and 1 Tbs =3 tsp. So...
1/4 cup = 4 Tbs
1/3 cup = 5 Tbs, 1 tsp
1/2 cup = 8 Tbs
2/3 cup = 10 Tbs, 2 tsp
3/4 cup = 12 Tbs.
And measure carefully as you go so you have consistent results. So you can scoop, but make sure you use a knife or other flat object to sweep the excess off of the top to level it out. Do this for both measuring cups AND measuring spoons. Even a little bit too much or too little will affect how most recipes will turn out. (And yes, the queen of scoop-and-shake-off-the-excess actually does this with EVERY master mix and EVERY bread machine recipe I make.)
For instance, for a single recipe of ABM bread I need 3 1/2 cups flour, 3 tbs sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbs gluten, 2 tsp yeast. Mix this together and measure how much dry ingredients you end up with. (It comes out to 3 cups, 12 Tbs, 2 tsp which converts to 3 3/4 cups, 2 tsp for one batch.) I want to have 6 batches stored. I measure out 21 cups of flour, 1 cup + 2 Tbs sugar, 2 Tbs salt, 6 Tbs gluten and 3 Tbs yeast. I mix that in a large container and when ready to use, measure out a single portion and add it to the liquid this recipe needs. (1 1/4 cup warm water, 3 Tbs olive oil). Turn on machine, adjust flour/water as needed to get the proper dough consistency. You really should do this each time you use your ABM anyway because it gives better result bread. It takes all of about 3 minutes or so to stand there and adjust it.
That's it. Yep. Not rocket science after all, though when you read the labels on prepackaged foods you'd think it was.
If you'd normally cream butter and sugar together like for making cookies and cakes, doing this will change the way the recipe comes out. But you can always opt to measure the sugar into separate bags and grab a bag out for each batch you make. However, you buy pre-measured packages of cookie dough and cake mixes and it's all mixed together for you.
Shelf life:
The shelf life of any product will depend on how hot/cold the temperature is where it's stored and whether it has oils/shortening/butter, baking powder or whole grains that have been milled in it. These items shorten the "life-span" of mixes on a shelf. That's why all the chemicals are in store-bought mixes. It stops things from going rancid, though it can't stop baking powder from losing it's "oomph" nor loss of vitamins in the food. The solution to this is to either make smaller amounts of mixes and/or store them in fridge or freezer.And know that if you use butter in place of shortening, it needs to be refrigerated.
As far as I can tell from my research, most mixes that don't have shortening in it will last for 6-9 months on a shelf in room temperature. If it has shortening in it, 3-6 months. Spices are good for a year before they start to lose their potency. (And the year starts from when they're picked, not when you make the mix.) If my spices are a little older, I just add a "tad" more to make up for the loss.
Using "food storage" items:
In some places, it's easy to find things like powdered milk, eggs and butter. It's quite all right to use these in place of the "real" thing in your mixes. I live in an area where I have to special order them and they are expensive, so I don't use them in the prepackaged mixes I make. However, to use them just substitute each item you want to use with it's DRY equivalent. Then remember to add the liquid you'd use to rehydrate it into the total liquid when you go to cook with it. So if you're using powdered egg and want to sub out 2 eggs, measure out the dry amount of egg powder (I think it's one Tbs per egg - so 2 Tbs) and mix that into the dry ingredients. Then when you go to make your mix, add in the liquid amount called for (I think it's 2 Tbs per egg, so 4 Tbs. And that 4 Tbs WILL make a difference in a lot of recipes - it's 1/4 CUP!)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Homemade Chicken Strips or Nuggets
This recipe is a starting point for making your own homemade chicken strips or nuggets. Mix and match spices and cracker types to suit your family's tastes and budget. You can use powdered Ranch Dressing instead of the spices. You can make it "taco" by adding in taco seasonings instead of the thyme, basil and marjoram. You can used an Italian seasoning instead of my spices. Or try using BBQ, fajitas, or jerk chicken spices. Try some dry teriyaki or Chinese 5 spice seasonings for an oriental flavor. You want to use about 2 - 2.5 Tbs of total spices for this amount of crackers.
*4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
**1 16-oz box Ritz crackers (4 sleeves), crushed into crumbs Or any type crumbs you want to use.
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
***1/2 - 1 cup cup olive oil (or can use buttermilk, milk, eggs or eggs and milk)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Spray a cookie sheet (really, I used a jelly roll pan - it has the edges on it.) with cooking spray and set aside.
In a gallon zip-top bag, mix together everything except the chicken and the oil (or it's substitutes) and shake it up so that the spices are distributed.
Cut chicken up into about 4 strips each or cut into nuggets. You can just quarter the breast pieces for large nuggets; cut the breasts into strips and leave half long and half short; or cut the strips into 1"-2" pieces for regular-sized nuggets.
Dip the chicken strips/nuggets about 4 pieces at a time for strips and about 10 pieces at a time for nuggets, into the oil (or it's substitute), turning to coat. When all those pieces are coated, pick each one up and let a little of the liquid drip off. When all of those pieces are in the zip bag and holding it closed, shake the bag until the pieces are coated. The chicken will slide down into the crumb mix, so you will have to dig for them. That's why having a head count makes life easier. You know if you've left one behind! Place each piece on the prepared pan. I crowded mine together so I could get them all on one pan, but you can separate them more and use two pans.
Bake at 375 deg. for about 20 minutes for strips, about 15 minutes for nuggets. (ovens vary a bit, so check on them a couple of minutes before the time is up) About 1/2 way into the cooking time, turn them over and slightly reposition them a little more apart (they will have plumped up some, so they're not taking up as much room. Finish baking them. I always look for and cut into the thickest piece that I can find to make sure it's done. If it's done, then the rest of them are done. (It won't look pink and the juices are clear when it's done.) If it's not done, then cook for another couple of minutes and check another piece.
Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce: ketchup, mustard, ranch, bbq, teriyaki, hot sauce, Sriracha, peanut sauce, you name it. Or eat them plain.
Serve with a side of rice and a salad. I made some pressure cooker chicken and brown rice (I went REALLY light on the chicken in it - I used the chicken for the strips instead.)
* I used boneless skinless because I found some organically grown on sale for .99 cents a pound. Couldn't pass that one up. Normally, I'd just debone and skin some chicken and use whatever I had. The meat doesn't have to be breast meat.
** I used Ritz crackers because I had a box that I had bought for my son some months ago. He's moved out. I tried to eat them, but they were just TOO salty for my tastes (I used to like them?? what the heck?). Anyway, I didn't want to throw them away. They worked really well in this recipe.
***About the oil. I thought it would crisp up the chicken coating more. It really didn't and made the strips a little greasy. Next time I'll go back to my normal buttermilk or milk and egg to moisten the chicken. I'll probably also flour the chicken first, then dip in the liquid and then dip in the crumbs. I think more will stick onto the chicken that way and make it crispier. The flavor was good, just a bit greasy. But then, I don't normally eat fried foods, I bake my foods - even French fries.
I've never frozen this recipe, but it should freeze well. I'd reheat the frozen strips/nuggets at about 400- 425 deg (F) for about 15-20 minutes.
This made a LOT of coating. Enough that I'm going to put the rest in the freezer for another time. You can either cut the coating portion of the recipe in half or just freeze it in the zip bag like I'm going to do.
*4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
**1 16-oz box Ritz crackers (4 sleeves), crushed into crumbs Or any type crumbs you want to use.
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
***1/2 - 1 cup cup olive oil (or can use buttermilk, milk, eggs or eggs and milk)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Spray a cookie sheet (really, I used a jelly roll pan - it has the edges on it.) with cooking spray and set aside.
In a gallon zip-top bag, mix together everything except the chicken and the oil (or it's substitutes) and shake it up so that the spices are distributed.
Cut chicken up into about 4 strips each or cut into nuggets. You can just quarter the breast pieces for large nuggets; cut the breasts into strips and leave half long and half short; or cut the strips into 1"-2" pieces for regular-sized nuggets.
Dip the chicken strips/nuggets about 4 pieces at a time for strips and about 10 pieces at a time for nuggets, into the oil (or it's substitute), turning to coat. When all those pieces are coated, pick each one up and let a little of the liquid drip off. When all of those pieces are in the zip bag and holding it closed, shake the bag until the pieces are coated. The chicken will slide down into the crumb mix, so you will have to dig for them. That's why having a head count makes life easier. You know if you've left one behind! Place each piece on the prepared pan. I crowded mine together so I could get them all on one pan, but you can separate them more and use two pans.
Bake at 375 deg. for about 20 minutes for strips, about 15 minutes for nuggets. (ovens vary a bit, so check on them a couple of minutes before the time is up) About 1/2 way into the cooking time, turn them over and slightly reposition them a little more apart (they will have plumped up some, so they're not taking up as much room. Finish baking them. I always look for and cut into the thickest piece that I can find to make sure it's done. If it's done, then the rest of them are done. (It won't look pink and the juices are clear when it's done.) If it's not done, then cook for another couple of minutes and check another piece.
Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce: ketchup, mustard, ranch, bbq, teriyaki, hot sauce, Sriracha, peanut sauce, you name it. Or eat them plain.
Serve with a side of rice and a salad. I made some pressure cooker chicken and brown rice (I went REALLY light on the chicken in it - I used the chicken for the strips instead.)
* I used boneless skinless because I found some organically grown on sale for .99 cents a pound. Couldn't pass that one up. Normally, I'd just debone and skin some chicken and use whatever I had. The meat doesn't have to be breast meat.
** I used Ritz crackers because I had a box that I had bought for my son some months ago. He's moved out. I tried to eat them, but they were just TOO salty for my tastes (I used to like them?? what the heck?). Anyway, I didn't want to throw them away. They worked really well in this recipe.
***About the oil. I thought it would crisp up the chicken coating more. It really didn't and made the strips a little greasy. Next time I'll go back to my normal buttermilk or milk and egg to moisten the chicken. I'll probably also flour the chicken first, then dip in the liquid and then dip in the crumbs. I think more will stick onto the chicken that way and make it crispier. The flavor was good, just a bit greasy. But then, I don't normally eat fried foods, I bake my foods - even French fries.
I've never frozen this recipe, but it should freeze well. I'd reheat the frozen strips/nuggets at about 400- 425 deg (F) for about 15-20 minutes.
This made a LOT of coating. Enough that I'm going to put the rest in the freezer for another time. You can either cut the coating portion of the recipe in half or just freeze it in the zip bag like I'm going to do.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Cheater Potato Cheese soup
I have the "there's nothing to eat and I'm hungry" syndrome going on here. I want something quick. I want something hot. I want something creamy and smooth. I want potato soup. I want some BAKED potato soup. I do NOT want to have to cook raw potatoes. I do NOT want to fry bacon. Besides, I don't HAVE any bacon to fry. I don't have any sour cream. I do, however, have 2 packets of instant potatoes in the 4 Cheese flavor. I DO have grease saved from cooking bacon (hey, it's a Southern thing!) and I DO have cheese. Humm....I think I have an idea. Oh, nuts.
4 cups of water
1 package Idaho 4 Cheese instant potato buds
3/4 cup plain potato buds
1 Tbs bacon grease
4 oz medium sharp cheddar cheese (four 1/4" thick slices from the end of a brick of cheddar cheese)
1/4 cup feta cheese
Put the water into a microwave safe bowl and heat until it's "boiling" temp.
Add a packet of 4 cheese potatoes. Realize that what you thought was a second packet of potatoes is actually some yellow rice that will take24 minutes forever to cook. Grab plain potato buds and dump in some - about 3/4 cup's worth, and bacon grease for flavor. Stir well. Let it sit for a few minutes to rehydrate. If it's too much like mashed potatoes and not soup, add some more water to it. If it's too watery, add some more buds.
Break up the cheddar into small pieces. Add it and the feta and stir again.
If the cheese doesn't melt, nuke the whole bowl for a minute or two. It will melt then.
Eat it. All of it. Because you haven't eaten today and it's 7pm. And you're HUNGRY.
"Why didn't you stop and fix something to eat EARLIER????"
"Because there's NOTHING to eat!"
"There are about 40 boxes that held 4 gallons of milk in EACH and they are now FILLED with FOOD! And the boxes are even LABELED with the category the food is in. What do you MEAN "there's nothing to eat?!?!"
"Ok, Ok. There's food to eat but I don't feel like cooking!"
"Since WHEN does flavored yogurt from the STORE have to be COOKED???? Since WHEN does milk and cereal have to be COOKED?? And green beans? It takes 30 seconds to walk to one of at least SIX boxes marked "Veggies" and grab a can of veggies. 30 seconds to open the can and drain them and 3 minutes to heat them. You call THAT Cooking?? And it takes 2 minutes to grab a can of green beans, corn, tomatoes and a jar of the potatoes, one of the carrots and one of the chicken that you canned, pop the tops and toss the contents into a bowl, juices and all. Another 5 minutes or so to season it and nuke it. Garlic and onion powder, Adobo, a large pinch each of thyme, marjoram, basil and oregano. Gee, 7 WHOLE minutes 'cooking'. I'm sure it would have KILLED you to have SLAVED over that meal. AND you'd have had leftovers for tomorrow AND Sunday! Oh, and it would have taken you about 5 minutes to get the bread dough out of the fridge, shape it into two boules and let them sit for 90 minutes and then baked them for an hour. You would have had 2 or 3 days' worth of bread. You have pie crusts in the fridge. You could have eaten soup for 2 meals and then thickened the leftovers and made pot pie out of them and had another 4 meals from that! Another 5 whole minutes of 'cooking'."
Sigh. I hate it when I get all logical with me.
4 cups of water
1 package Idaho 4 Cheese instant potato buds
3/4 cup plain potato buds
1 Tbs bacon grease
4 oz medium sharp cheddar cheese (four 1/4" thick slices from the end of a brick of cheddar cheese)
1/4 cup feta cheese
Put the water into a microwave safe bowl and heat until it's "boiling" temp.
Add a packet of 4 cheese potatoes. Realize that what you thought was a second packet of potatoes is actually some yellow rice that will take
Break up the cheddar into small pieces. Add it and the feta and stir again.
If the cheese doesn't melt, nuke the whole bowl for a minute or two. It will melt then.
Eat it. All of it. Because you haven't eaten today and it's 7pm. And you're HUNGRY.
"Why didn't you stop and fix something to eat EARLIER????"
"Because there's NOTHING to eat!"
"There are about 40 boxes that held 4 gallons of milk in EACH and they are now FILLED with FOOD! And the boxes are even LABELED with the category the food is in. What do you MEAN "there's nothing to eat?!?!"
"Ok, Ok. There's food to eat but I don't feel like cooking!"
"Since WHEN does flavored yogurt from the STORE have to be COOKED???? Since WHEN does milk and cereal have to be COOKED?? And green beans? It takes 30 seconds to walk to one of at least SIX boxes marked "Veggies" and grab a can of veggies. 30 seconds to open the can and drain them and 3 minutes to heat them. You call THAT Cooking?? And it takes 2 minutes to grab a can of green beans, corn, tomatoes and a jar of the potatoes, one of the carrots and one of the chicken that you canned, pop the tops and toss the contents into a bowl, juices and all. Another 5 minutes or so to season it and nuke it. Garlic and onion powder, Adobo, a large pinch each of thyme, marjoram, basil and oregano. Gee, 7 WHOLE minutes 'cooking'. I'm sure it would have KILLED you to have SLAVED over that meal. AND you'd have had leftovers for tomorrow AND Sunday! Oh, and it would have taken you about 5 minutes to get the bread dough out of the fridge, shape it into two boules and let them sit for 90 minutes and then baked them for an hour. You would have had 2 or 3 days' worth of bread. You have pie crusts in the fridge. You could have eaten soup for 2 meals and then thickened the leftovers and made pot pie out of them and had another 4 meals from that! Another 5 whole minutes of 'cooking'."
Sigh. I hate it when I get all logical with me.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Spaghetti Soup
SOUP??? Spaghetti?? Yeah, that's right. Soup. Spaghetti soup.
Why soup? Well....I have a cold. The monster cold of all colds. It's gone down into my chest - like it always does. Triggers the asthma - like it always does. Now it's turned into bronchitis, hasn't done that in years.
It's 3pm. I'm just now eating "breakfast". (No, I did not just get up. Actually, I've been up since early am.) It's that now I'm hungry enough that it's worth enough to me to move and start the coughing. So I went and cooked something.
Why don't you have TURKEY LEFTOVERS, you ask? BLEEEEECCCHHHH. I eat turkey 2 times a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's it! I eat left-over turkey for 2 days afterwards. And. Then. I'm. DONE!!
I've never been very fond of turkey anyway and the older I get, the less fond of it I've become. Actually, I once broke out in hives from eating too much turkey. I quit the turkey and the hives went away. (long story, short. I lived alone, fixed a turkey and proceeded to eat it for 3 meals a day for a week - I wasn't throwing out food.) I'd say I'm allergic to it because after 2 days of turkey, I start having a sick stomach. So NO turkey!
Anyway, I left the left-overs at my DD and DSIL's house. They LIKE turkey. They both work FULL-TIME. DD is pregnant. THEY did a happy dance to have the extra food. Especially food that didn't require cooking or dirtying dishes. lol
And I'm HUNGRY. So....what's in the fridge? What don't I have to cook? Yogurt? Blech. Not today. Salad? Double blech! Not today.
Some ground buffalo that a friend picked up that was on sale. (Thanks Kathleen!) Ok. What do I want? Hamburger? Nahhh. I know, I'll fry up half of it and wing it. (proceeds to turn on eye under cast iron skillet and dumps in 2 tbs of rendered fat from some fatback. Hey, I don't want to hear that. It doesn't MATTER that I "could" DIE from heart disease because this cold is gonna KILL ME FIRST! I'm pretty sure this is my last meal! EVER!)
And step back from MY cast iron skillet. It's well seasoned. It's the heir to my fortune (sorry kids) and if you step back now, you'll live to tell the tale! Touch it and you DIE. IMMEDIATELY!
Oh, back to the food. Whoa, here's 1/2 an onion from T'day wrapped in foil and it's still good. (Chop, chop, chop. Toss, Sizzle, sizzle.)
Hummm. Probably need to add a little salt and garlic powder to this. This is a normal amount. A sane amount. Not I can taste crazy amount. I eye balled it like I normally do when I fry meat & onions.
Looking about done. What do I want to do with this? sigh Hash? Naahhh. sigh
Oh, here's some left-over cooked spaghetti - must be 2 cups of it in the bag. (Dump. Sizzle, sizzle.)
Humm....what kind of tomato products can I find? Well...here's a can of diced tomatoes and here's a can of tomato paste. (Opens can of diced tomatoes and dumps them in. Adds about 1/4 can of water.)
And now for the paste. Oh. Interesting. I don't believe the can should be shooting tomato plasma out of it when you puncture it. Must of been in food storage too long. Why haven't you bothered to DATE any of your stuff?? sigh (dumps the can of Tomato paste and washes can opener).
Man, that's some watery sauce. Ok, lets go looking for some more tomato products in a different BOX because there's still 9,005 boxes not unpacked yet. There's no place to PUT the stuff. It's in boxes with labels. Fruit, Veggie, Milk, etc. So...(dig, dig, dig) Oh, look there's some tomato sauce! SCORE! (Opens can and dumps it in, rinses out the can and used about 1/4 can water to do so.) (Looks at pan and goes; "Oh, crap! Man, that's watery!)
Hum...something missing. Oh, yeah, better season it. salt, garlic powder, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, fresh basil - ok, it's drying out on the plant. but since the plant is not yet dead, it's still "fresh", Italian seasoning, brown sugar.
Still missing something. Hum....here's some Feta cheese.
Yeah, that looks good.
Does it taste good? Did you NOT READ the first paragraph? HOW THE (mystery word) DO I KNOW?? I have a COLD! The only thing I can "taste" is the salt in the feta and the large pieces of the rosemary - which I failed to think about needing cutting UP so it didn't overwhelm my mouth.
So here's the "recipe". Note of caution. You probably do NOT want to use the amounts of herbs that I put in here. Hello, I have a COLD!
Spaghetti soup that wasn't
1/2 pound of ground something - beef, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo - not kid, it would not taste good! (You'll have to find another way to dispose of unruly children.)
2 Tbs of fat if you're using a lean meat like buffalo. Olive oil, shortening. Whatever ya got.
1/2 lg onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups left-over spaghetti (COOKED)
Sauce:
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes + 1/4 can water (rinse out can with it and dump contents in pan)
15 oz can tomato sauce + 1/4 can water (rinse out can with it and dump contents in pan)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
(Crazy amounts of the following. If I could taste, I probably would only use about 1/2 of these amounts!)
5 semi-dried out fresh basil leaves or about 2 tsp dried basil
1 TBS fresh rosemary (chop 'em up folks or they're STRONG!) or about 1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp fresh oregano. This one might be ok as is. Normally, I would used about 1/2 tsp dried oregano in something like this, so 1 tsp fresh is probably spot on.
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Directions:
Get the skillet hot, add the fat, then the ground meat. Cook over med-low heat until done. While it's cooking, chop an onion and toss it in there. Season it with the salt and garlic powder (or use 2 cloves of fresh garlic and don't use the second amount of garlic for the sauce.
When the meat is no longer pink and the onions done, add the spaghetti and let it "fry" while you find the tomato products and deal with disaster.
Make the sauce:
Add the tomato products and the water. Mix it around. Turn up heat because it looks like it's gonna be really soupy.
Add spices. Turn down heat as you realize that 1.) it's spattering all over and 2.) it's not as bad as you thought it was and you don't want it too thick. (Did I just imply that spaghetti sauce can be TOO thick?? NEVER!)
Heat until it's all hot. Don't wait for the flavors to "marry" because YOU CAN'T TASTE ANYTHING, ANYWAY!
Add feta and serve.
Eat a bowlful and write auseful blog entry.
Go back for seconds. Realize that as it's sat, it has thickened and it tastes better. Or is that because I have more feta in the second serving and THAT'S what I'm tasting?
And for theexperienced, adventurous, broke cook:
1/4-1/2 lb meat, ground, shredded, cubed. Cooked or raw
an onion
garlic if ya got it.
fat to cook above so it doesn't stick to pan
some cooked pasta, egg noodles, rice, chow mein, or rice noodles
some kind of tomato product or spaghetti sauce, watered down a bit for "broth" or whatever kind of sauce floats yer boat or cranks yer tractor.
seasonings for the meat/onion mix and more to sauce - unless you're using spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce.
Cheese, what kind? I don't know, look in YOUR fridge!
black olives, mushrooms, more/different kinds of cheese, etc
Cook/heat meat with onion and garlic. If meat is already cooked, you may want to start the onion cooking first and then add garlic and then meat. Remember to not brown your garlic as it makes it bitter. (I thought only humans got bitter. humm...wonder if it was a divorced garlic that was tested?)
When the meat is hot, onions cooked, add the pasta and let it cook for a few.
Add the sauce. Whatever kind would work. Water it down a little bit so as to make it more soupy. You want soupy. Make a white sauce if you want to instead of tomato based "soup". Add some Parmesan to the white sauce and call it "Alfredo" which is what Alfredo sauce IS! lol Season it as ya need to.
Add cheese. Add black olives. Add mushrooms, whatever's in the fridge that needs usin'. Eat it as is, or put it in a casserole and sprinkle it with cheese. Put it under a broiler or in a 350 oven until the cheese is golden.
I know there's no black pepper in this recipe. I don't LIKE black pepper, so I don't USE it. Knock yourself out. Use it if ya wanna.
And then when you're done eating. Decide that the bathroom floor can just not STAND another day without being swept. And washed.
And then get side-tracked by remembering it's trash day (at 4:30 AM!), as you collect the trash and are in the process of emptying it, notice that there are MOTHS coming from a storage box of FLOURS and RICE. OH! NO! PANTRY MOTHS.
And will someone PLEASE answer my ears? They're ringing.
Yah know, tomorrow has GOT to be better! If it's not, I'm thinking I'm gonna have to just curl up in the fetal position for a while. Maybe pull the covers up over my head. You know- HIDE. Sort of like the hog-nose snake that the minute you touch it, it plays dead. Then when you walk away, it comes back to "life" and crawls off. Wonder, if I play dead will stop beating up on me? Nah, I don't think so either, but...it was worth a thought. Ah, the fairy tales we write for ourselves. lol
Oh, my one ear just popped. YEAH! It's stopped ringing. Oh, fun. Now it sounds like the ocean. Hey, I grew up in St. Pete. I LIKE the beach. And hearing the sound of surf on the shore sure does beat the ringing! Now if only the other ear will pop, clear and perhaps I'll have the ocean in stereo. Or be able to HEAR again.
Why soup? Well....I have a cold. The monster cold of all colds. It's gone down into my chest - like it always does. Triggers the asthma - like it always does. Now it's turned into bronchitis, hasn't done that in years.
It's 3pm. I'm just now eating "breakfast". (No, I did not just get up. Actually, I've been up since early am.) It's that now I'm hungry enough that it's worth enough to me to move and start the coughing. So I went and cooked something.
Why don't you have TURKEY LEFTOVERS, you ask? BLEEEEECCCHHHH. I eat turkey 2 times a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's it! I eat left-over turkey for 2 days afterwards. And. Then. I'm. DONE!!
I've never been very fond of turkey anyway and the older I get, the less fond of it I've become. Actually, I once broke out in hives from eating too much turkey. I quit the turkey and the hives went away. (long story, short. I lived alone, fixed a turkey and proceeded to eat it for 3 meals a day for a week - I wasn't throwing out food.) I'd say I'm allergic to it because after 2 days of turkey, I start having a sick stomach. So NO turkey!
Anyway, I left the left-overs at my DD and DSIL's house. They LIKE turkey. They both work FULL-TIME. DD is pregnant. THEY did a happy dance to have the extra food. Especially food that didn't require cooking or dirtying dishes. lol
And I'm HUNGRY. So....what's in the fridge? What don't I have to cook? Yogurt? Blech. Not today. Salad? Double blech! Not today.
Some ground buffalo that a friend picked up that was on sale. (Thanks Kathleen!) Ok. What do I want? Hamburger? Nahhh. I know, I'll fry up half of it and wing it. (proceeds to turn on eye under cast iron skillet and dumps in 2 tbs of rendered fat from some fatback. Hey, I don't want to hear that. It doesn't MATTER that I "could" DIE from heart disease because this cold is gonna KILL ME FIRST! I'm pretty sure this is my last meal! EVER!)
And step back from MY cast iron skillet. It's well seasoned. It's the heir to my fortune (sorry kids) and if you step back now, you'll live to tell the tale! Touch it and you DIE. IMMEDIATELY!
Oh, back to the food. Whoa, here's 1/2 an onion from T'day wrapped in foil and it's still good. (Chop, chop, chop. Toss, Sizzle, sizzle.)
Hummm. Probably need to add a little salt and garlic powder to this. This is a normal amount. A sane amount. Not I can taste crazy amount. I eye balled it like I normally do when I fry meat & onions.
Looking about done. What do I want to do with this? sigh Hash? Naahhh. sigh
Oh, here's some left-over cooked spaghetti - must be 2 cups of it in the bag. (Dump. Sizzle, sizzle.)
Humm....what kind of tomato products can I find? Well...here's a can of diced tomatoes and here's a can of tomato paste. (Opens can of diced tomatoes and dumps them in. Adds about 1/4 can of water.)
And now for the paste. Oh. Interesting. I don't believe the can should be shooting tomato plasma out of it when you puncture it. Must of been in food storage too long. Why haven't you bothered to DATE any of your stuff?? sigh (dumps the can of Tomato paste and washes can opener).
Man, that's some watery sauce. Ok, lets go looking for some more tomato products in a different BOX because there's still 9,005 boxes not unpacked yet. There's no place to PUT the stuff. It's in boxes with labels. Fruit, Veggie, Milk, etc. So...(dig, dig, dig) Oh, look there's some tomato sauce! SCORE! (Opens can and dumps it in, rinses out the can and used about 1/4 can water to do so.) (Looks at pan and goes; "Oh, crap! Man, that's watery!)
Hum...something missing. Oh, yeah, better season it. salt, garlic powder, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, fresh basil - ok, it's drying out on the plant. but since the plant is not yet dead, it's still "fresh", Italian seasoning, brown sugar.
Still missing something. Hum....here's some Feta cheese.
Yeah, that looks good.
Does it taste good? Did you NOT READ the first paragraph? HOW THE (mystery word) DO I KNOW?? I have a COLD! The only thing I can "taste" is the salt in the feta and the large pieces of the rosemary - which I failed to think about needing cutting UP so it didn't overwhelm my mouth.
So here's the "recipe". Note of caution. You probably do NOT want to use the amounts of herbs that I put in here. Hello, I have a COLD!
Spaghetti soup that wasn't
1/2 pound of ground something - beef, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo - not kid, it would not taste good! (You'll have to find another way to dispose of unruly children.)
2 Tbs of fat if you're using a lean meat like buffalo. Olive oil, shortening. Whatever ya got.
1/2 lg onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups left-over spaghetti (COOKED)
Sauce:
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes + 1/4 can water (rinse out can with it and dump contents in pan)
15 oz can tomato sauce + 1/4 can water (rinse out can with it and dump contents in pan)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
(Crazy amounts of the following. If I could taste, I probably would only use about 1/2 of these amounts!)
5 semi-dried out fresh basil leaves or about 2 tsp dried basil
1 TBS fresh rosemary (chop 'em up folks or they're STRONG!) or about 1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp fresh oregano. This one might be ok as is. Normally, I would used about 1/2 tsp dried oregano in something like this, so 1 tsp fresh is probably spot on.
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Directions:
Get the skillet hot, add the fat, then the ground meat. Cook over med-low heat until done. While it's cooking, chop an onion and toss it in there. Season it with the salt and garlic powder (or use 2 cloves of fresh garlic and don't use the second amount of garlic for the sauce.
When the meat is no longer pink and the onions done, add the spaghetti and let it "fry" while you find the tomato products and deal with disaster.
Make the sauce:
Add the tomato products and the water. Mix it around. Turn up heat because it looks like it's gonna be really soupy.
Add spices. Turn down heat as you realize that 1.) it's spattering all over and 2.) it's not as bad as you thought it was and you don't want it too thick. (Did I just imply that spaghetti sauce can be TOO thick?? NEVER!)
Heat until it's all hot. Don't wait for the flavors to "marry" because YOU CAN'T TASTE ANYTHING, ANYWAY!
Add feta and serve.
Eat a bowlful and write a
Go back for seconds. Realize that as it's sat, it has thickened and it tastes better. Or is that because I have more feta in the second serving and THAT'S what I'm tasting?
And for the
1/4-1/2 lb meat, ground, shredded, cubed. Cooked or raw
an onion
garlic if ya got it.
fat to cook above so it doesn't stick to pan
some cooked pasta, egg noodles, rice, chow mein, or rice noodles
some kind of tomato product or spaghetti sauce, watered down a bit for "broth" or whatever kind of sauce floats yer boat or cranks yer tractor.
seasonings for the meat/onion mix and more to sauce - unless you're using spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce.
Cheese, what kind? I don't know, look in YOUR fridge!
black olives, mushrooms, more/different kinds of cheese, etc
Cook/heat meat with onion and garlic. If meat is already cooked, you may want to start the onion cooking first and then add garlic and then meat. Remember to not brown your garlic as it makes it bitter. (I thought only humans got bitter. humm...wonder if it was a divorced garlic that was tested?)
When the meat is hot, onions cooked, add the pasta and let it cook for a few.
Add the sauce. Whatever kind would work. Water it down a little bit so as to make it more soupy. You want soupy. Make a white sauce if you want to instead of tomato based "soup". Add some Parmesan to the white sauce and call it "Alfredo" which is what Alfredo sauce IS! lol Season it as ya need to.
Add cheese. Add black olives. Add mushrooms, whatever's in the fridge that needs usin'. Eat it as is, or put it in a casserole and sprinkle it with cheese. Put it under a broiler or in a 350 oven until the cheese is golden.
I know there's no black pepper in this recipe. I don't LIKE black pepper, so I don't USE it. Knock yourself out. Use it if ya wanna.
And then when you're done eating. Decide that the bathroom floor can just not STAND another day without being swept. And washed.
And then get side-tracked by remembering it's trash day (at 4:30 AM!), as you collect the trash and are in the process of emptying it, notice that there are MOTHS coming from a storage box of FLOURS and RICE. OH! NO! PANTRY MOTHS.
And will someone PLEASE answer my ears? They're ringing.
Yah know, tomorrow has GOT to be better! If it's not, I'm thinking I'm gonna have to just curl up in the fetal position for a while. Maybe pull the covers up over my head. You know- HIDE. Sort of like the hog-nose snake that the minute you touch it, it plays dead. Then when you walk away, it comes back to "life" and crawls off. Wonder, if I play dead will stop beating up on me? Nah, I don't think so either, but...it was worth a thought. Ah, the fairy tales we write for ourselves. lol
Oh, my one ear just popped. YEAH! It's stopped ringing. Oh, fun. Now it sounds like the ocean. Hey, I grew up in St. Pete. I LIKE the beach. And hearing the sound of surf on the shore sure does beat the ringing! Now if only the other ear will pop, clear and perhaps I'll have the ocean in stereo. Or be able to HEAR again.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Cook once, four meals: Chili, chili salad, bean burritos, and enchiladas
For those days when you need something quick, I have a tasty recipe that lets you cook once and then making three or four different meals out of it. And you can make it in the crockpot if you wanted to cook it while you're gone/busy. (That how-to follows the first recipe)
First a disclaimer. ANY chili recipe would work for these recipes. I just don't have a chili recipe that I love. At least not one that doesn't require a can of "Chili Magic". I know it's only about 69 cents a can. True, I'd rather make my own. It just that none of the recipes I've tried tastes like I'd like it too. Spicy, but not too hot as the kids wouldn't have eaten it. And perhaps the "old" recipe that I concocted years ago would fill the bill, but I quit using that recipe because it had "chunks" in it and none of my kids likes "chunks" (read: chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic or mushrooms) in their food. I guess I need to go dig that recipe out and try it again.
Second: Beans are beans. In whatever form you have them, whatever kind you have. I've made this with all types of beans - canned from store, canned from home, frozen and straight from dried beans. I've used all kinds of beans - pinto, black, navy and kidney beans. Shoot, one time I even put in a can of lima beans and another time I added in a can of PORK & BEANS - cause that was all I had and I wasn't making a trip to the store to BUY the "right" kind of beans. The only beans I don't really much care for are Kidney beans. That's because to me, they are a "tough" bean. It seems like no matter how carefully you prepare them (as in Do NOT boil beans, it MAKES them tough and breaks the skins on them), the skins of kidney beans seems tough to me. Just my taste buds/texture issues. YMMV
On to the Chili: The can of "Chili Magic" says to just add tomatoes and meat. I "doctor" it so that it goes farther. When I was feeding kids, I've added as much as 2 quarts of cooked dried beans. I've added as much as 28oz can of tomato puree. Obviously, the more you add to the little can of Chili, the more diluted the taste of the canned "Chili Magic". So then we'd add more cumin and chili powder to the batch or add a second can of "Chili Magic". Since it's now just me, I add less beans and tomatoes to the little can. Add more or less "extras" as suits your family.
You can freeze leftovers or can them in a pressure CANNER. (not a pressure COOKER!)
Chili (meal one): (this recipe can be doubled or more. Just use one can of "Chili Magic" for each additional recipe you're making) . This is just how I made it yesterday. It will change tomorrow as I add what I have/leave out what I don't have.
It should take less than 30 mins to grab the ingredients, chop the onion and cook it with the meat, toss in the rest of the ingredients then let it simmer on the stove.
One can of "Chili Magic" (found near the chili and baked beans or by the canned veggies in my local marts)
4 cups of cooked beans, any type
1 1/2 cups (14 oz can) of tomatoes (diced, paste, sauce, puree, home canned..whatever ya got)
1 diced onion
1/4 lb of hamburger (opt. Sometimes I use meat, sometimes I don't)
1 tsp adobo
1 tsp garlic powder (or a clove of minced garlic)
1 tsp ground cumin (opt)
Shredded cheese, tortilla chips or Fritos or popped pop corn, sour cream, guacuamole (opt)
Brown meat and onion in pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the spices over the hamburger and onions while they are browning. It's done when the meat is cooked and the onions translucent ("see through" instead of white.) and soft. I don't drain the meat - I use a low fat hamburger that I've had ground from lean meat that I bought on sale, so there's not much fat in it.
Add the can of Chili Magic, beans and tomatoes. (ok, you DO know to OPEN the cans first?!? Right? Just thought I'd ask in case Amelia Bedelia is reading this.) Stir together can contents with cooked meat/onion mixture. Over med. heat, bring chili almost to a boil and then lower heat to simmer. STIR FREQUENTLY! Any food containing beans and tomatoes likes to stick to the bottom of the pot, so stir it every 5 mins or so to make sure the food isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot so you're not burning the food on the bottom of the pan. (been there, done that; tastes bad; can't be fixed!).
Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes - again STIRRING frequently. (The longer is simmers, the more chili taste the beans will pick up. That's why things like chili taste better the second day. The flavors have had time to "marry".)
Serve plain or with opt ingredients
OR
Crockpot:
This should only take about 7 minutes to gather the ingredients, chop the onion and put it in the crockpot.
You can put this in the crockpot and let it cook for about 4 hrs on high or 8 on low. Then you don't have to worry about browning meat/onions or stuff sticking to the bottom of the pot. Just dump it all in, stir it around, put the lid on it and walk away. I can double this size recipe and it fits into a VERY full crockpot. I think mine is 4 qts.
Chili salad (meal two):
This recipe came about because I only had about 1/2 cup of chili left, a little bit of ranch dressing left, a half head of lettuce sitting there and I was hungry, didn't feel like cooking nor did I want to toss the little bit of leftover chili nor the 2 Tbs of ranch dressing that was left in the bottle. As you can see, I made a nice meal out of what others would have just thrown away!
This should take about 5 minutes to make.
Lettuce in bite size pieces
chili, cold (I didn't drain the "juice" off of it.)
ranch dressing
red wine vinegar
There are no amounts. This is according to how much you want to eat or how many people you need to feed. Today when I made it the second time, I used about 1/2 of a head of lettuce, 1 cup of chili and enough ranch to cover the lettuce (normal amount I would put on my salad) and then a couple of "chugs" of vinegar - probably about 1 tbs, on top of it all. That made one lunch/dinner for me.
You can also use this salad "recipe" from the burritos with the "doctored" chili. Either way, it makes for a tasty salad topping!
Chili burritos (meal three):
This should take about 7 mins to gather ingredients, pop tops on cans and heat it up, unless you're cooking meat, onions or mushrooms.
1-2 cups chili, any recipe. If the one you're using doesn't have meat & onions, you may want to add some to it before adding rest of ingredients.
1 can black olives, sliced or broken up into pieces
1 can mushrooms (or fresh ones you've sliced and fried up)
1-2 cups shredded cheese - any kind you like
Flour Tortillas
Opt: sour cream, guacamole
Heat the ingredients, minus the cheese and opt ingredients, together. Heat tortillas briefly in microwave or hot skillet. Fill with mixture, top with opt items if you're using them and then sprinkle cheese on top. Roll up and eat.
Yesterday evening, I made a batch of chili using the above recipe. I fed my daughter and son-in-love for dinner (I had already eaten earlier, but made more chili for them.) I made a salad for me today and have enough left to make a second salad for me and still have 2 cups left over to make the burritos for another day. This should easily make about 8+ burritos. I haven't made burritos this way in a long time and forget how many burritos I could make. But since you only use about 1/8 - 1/4 of a cup of filling, I seem to remember that this made a LOT of burritos! And if I remember correctly, 1/4 cup of filling was too much in a "Burrito size" tortilla, it escaped the burrito and made a mess.
Make your burritos all up at once, flash freeze what you don't eat, then roll up in plastic or whatever you use instead of plastic. Place individually wrapped burritos into a plastic container/bag (0r whatever you use instead of plastic) and place in freezer. Instant snack/dinner. Just take however many you want from the freezer, unwrap from plastic, wrap in napkin, paper towel, etc and nuke for 1 minute on high. Do each one individually. Just like the store bought burritos.
OR
Enchiladas (meal four):
This should take about 8 minutes to gather gather ingredients, unwrap burritos and put into oven. It will take about 45 mins - 1 hr to bake, but you can be doing other things while it bakes.
Take frozen burritos, unwrap, place in a baking pan, cover with enchilada sauce and top with shredded cheese. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 mins - 1 hr at 350 until insides are hot and cheese is melted. Test with thermometer to make sure insides are at least 160 degrees.
You can also do this with individual burritos in the microwave. Take a frozen burrito, unwrap, place on plate and cover with sauce and cheese. Nuke for a minute. Only thing is, microwaved burritos are "chewy" from the tortilla being overheated.
Still have some leftover chili? Make Chili dip!
Chili dip:
This takes less than 5 minutes to gather ingredients and heat it up.
Chili, heated until it's warm (if cold/frozen). Don't have to preheat if from a can.
Shredded cheese or 1" cubes of Velveta
Mix together well, chili and shredded/cubed cheese in a microwavable bowl. Nuke for 1 minute and stir well. Serve with tortilla chips, Fritos, Dorritos, pita chips or veggies.
A tip to avoid complaints. Don't feed your family (or YOURSELF!) this 3, 4, 5, 6 meals in a row!
Have the chili one day. Divide whatever is left over into two parts. One part for the salad and one part for the Burritos. Freeze one part and put the other part in the fridge. Several days later, have the next meal with the chili in it. (Unless you need something for your lunch - then save some "salad"fixings out for you.) Then several days after that, make the next meal. That way they don't "burn out" on chili and refuse to eat it or complain about how often they're eating it.
First a disclaimer. ANY chili recipe would work for these recipes. I just don't have a chili recipe that I love. At least not one that doesn't require a can of "Chili Magic". I know it's only about 69 cents a can. True, I'd rather make my own. It just that none of the recipes I've tried tastes like I'd like it too. Spicy, but not too hot as the kids wouldn't have eaten it. And perhaps the "old" recipe that I concocted years ago would fill the bill, but I quit using that recipe because it had "chunks" in it and none of my kids likes "chunks" (read: chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic or mushrooms) in their food. I guess I need to go dig that recipe out and try it again.
Second: Beans are beans. In whatever form you have them, whatever kind you have. I've made this with all types of beans - canned from store, canned from home, frozen and straight from dried beans. I've used all kinds of beans - pinto, black, navy and kidney beans. Shoot, one time I even put in a can of lima beans and another time I added in a can of PORK & BEANS - cause that was all I had and I wasn't making a trip to the store to BUY the "right" kind of beans. The only beans I don't really much care for are Kidney beans. That's because to me, they are a "tough" bean. It seems like no matter how carefully you prepare them (as in Do NOT boil beans, it MAKES them tough and breaks the skins on them), the skins of kidney beans seems tough to me. Just my taste buds/texture issues. YMMV
On to the Chili: The can of "Chili Magic" says to just add tomatoes and meat. I "doctor" it so that it goes farther. When I was feeding kids, I've added as much as 2 quarts of cooked dried beans. I've added as much as 28oz can of tomato puree. Obviously, the more you add to the little can of Chili, the more diluted the taste of the canned "Chili Magic". So then we'd add more cumin and chili powder to the batch or add a second can of "Chili Magic". Since it's now just me, I add less beans and tomatoes to the little can. Add more or less "extras" as suits your family.
You can freeze leftovers or can them in a pressure CANNER. (not a pressure COOKER!)
Chili (meal one): (this recipe can be doubled or more. Just use one can of "Chili Magic" for each additional recipe you're making) . This is just how I made it yesterday. It will change tomorrow as I add what I have/leave out what I don't have.
It should take less than 30 mins to grab the ingredients, chop the onion and cook it with the meat, toss in the rest of the ingredients then let it simmer on the stove.
One can of "Chili Magic" (found near the chili and baked beans or by the canned veggies in my local marts)
4 cups of cooked beans, any type
1 1/2 cups (14 oz can) of tomatoes (diced, paste, sauce, puree, home canned..whatever ya got)
1 diced onion
1/4 lb of hamburger (opt. Sometimes I use meat, sometimes I don't)
1 tsp adobo
1 tsp garlic powder (or a clove of minced garlic)
1 tsp ground cumin (opt)
Shredded cheese, tortilla chips or Fritos or popped pop corn, sour cream, guacuamole (opt)
Brown meat and onion in pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the spices over the hamburger and onions while they are browning. It's done when the meat is cooked and the onions translucent ("see through" instead of white.) and soft. I don't drain the meat - I use a low fat hamburger that I've had ground from lean meat that I bought on sale, so there's not much fat in it.
Add the can of Chili Magic, beans and tomatoes. (ok, you DO know to OPEN the cans first?!? Right? Just thought I'd ask in case Amelia Bedelia is reading this.) Stir together can contents with cooked meat/onion mixture. Over med. heat, bring chili almost to a boil and then lower heat to simmer. STIR FREQUENTLY! Any food containing beans and tomatoes likes to stick to the bottom of the pot, so stir it every 5 mins or so to make sure the food isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot so you're not burning the food on the bottom of the pan. (been there, done that; tastes bad; can't be fixed!).
Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes - again STIRRING frequently. (The longer is simmers, the more chili taste the beans will pick up. That's why things like chili taste better the second day. The flavors have had time to "marry".)
Serve plain or with opt ingredients
OR
Crockpot:
This should only take about 7 minutes to gather the ingredients, chop the onion and put it in the crockpot.
You can put this in the crockpot and let it cook for about 4 hrs on high or 8 on low. Then you don't have to worry about browning meat/onions or stuff sticking to the bottom of the pot. Just dump it all in, stir it around, put the lid on it and walk away. I can double this size recipe and it fits into a VERY full crockpot. I think mine is 4 qts.
Chili salad (meal two):
This recipe came about because I only had about 1/2 cup of chili left, a little bit of ranch dressing left, a half head of lettuce sitting there and I was hungry, didn't feel like cooking nor did I want to toss the little bit of leftover chili nor the 2 Tbs of ranch dressing that was left in the bottle. As you can see, I made a nice meal out of what others would have just thrown away!
This should take about 5 minutes to make.
Lettuce in bite size pieces
chili, cold (I didn't drain the "juice" off of it.)
ranch dressing
red wine vinegar
There are no amounts. This is according to how much you want to eat or how many people you need to feed. Today when I made it the second time, I used about 1/2 of a head of lettuce, 1 cup of chili and enough ranch to cover the lettuce (normal amount I would put on my salad) and then a couple of "chugs" of vinegar - probably about 1 tbs, on top of it all. That made one lunch/dinner for me.
You can also use this salad "recipe" from the burritos with the "doctored" chili. Either way, it makes for a tasty salad topping!
Chili burritos (meal three):
This should take about 7 mins to gather ingredients, pop tops on cans and heat it up, unless you're cooking meat, onions or mushrooms.
1-2 cups chili, any recipe. If the one you're using doesn't have meat & onions, you may want to add some to it before adding rest of ingredients.
1 can black olives, sliced or broken up into pieces
1 can mushrooms (or fresh ones you've sliced and fried up)
1-2 cups shredded cheese - any kind you like
Flour Tortillas
Opt: sour cream, guacamole
Heat the ingredients, minus the cheese and opt ingredients, together. Heat tortillas briefly in microwave or hot skillet. Fill with mixture, top with opt items if you're using them and then sprinkle cheese on top. Roll up and eat.
Yesterday evening, I made a batch of chili using the above recipe. I fed my daughter and son-in-love for dinner (I had already eaten earlier, but made more chili for them.) I made a salad for me today and have enough left to make a second salad for me and still have 2 cups left over to make the burritos for another day. This should easily make about 8+ burritos. I haven't made burritos this way in a long time and forget how many burritos I could make. But since you only use about 1/8 - 1/4 of a cup of filling, I seem to remember that this made a LOT of burritos! And if I remember correctly, 1/4 cup of filling was too much in a "Burrito size" tortilla, it escaped the burrito and made a mess.
Make your burritos all up at once, flash freeze what you don't eat, then roll up in plastic or whatever you use instead of plastic. Place individually wrapped burritos into a plastic container/bag (0r whatever you use instead of plastic) and place in freezer. Instant snack/dinner. Just take however many you want from the freezer, unwrap from plastic, wrap in napkin, paper towel, etc and nuke for 1 minute on high. Do each one individually. Just like the store bought burritos.
OR
Enchiladas (meal four):
This should take about 8 minutes to gather gather ingredients, unwrap burritos and put into oven. It will take about 45 mins - 1 hr to bake, but you can be doing other things while it bakes.
Take frozen burritos, unwrap, place in a baking pan, cover with enchilada sauce and top with shredded cheese. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 mins - 1 hr at 350 until insides are hot and cheese is melted. Test with thermometer to make sure insides are at least 160 degrees.
You can also do this with individual burritos in the microwave. Take a frozen burrito, unwrap, place on plate and cover with sauce and cheese. Nuke for a minute. Only thing is, microwaved burritos are "chewy" from the tortilla being overheated.
Still have some leftover chili? Make Chili dip!
Chili dip:
This takes less than 5 minutes to gather ingredients and heat it up.
Chili, heated until it's warm (if cold/frozen). Don't have to preheat if from a can.
Shredded cheese or 1" cubes of Velveta
Mix together well, chili and shredded/cubed cheese in a microwavable bowl. Nuke for 1 minute and stir well. Serve with tortilla chips, Fritos, Dorritos, pita chips or veggies.
A tip to avoid complaints. Don't feed your family (or YOURSELF!) this 3, 4, 5, 6 meals in a row!
Have the chili one day. Divide whatever is left over into two parts. One part for the salad and one part for the Burritos. Freeze one part and put the other part in the fridge. Several days later, have the next meal with the chili in it. (Unless you need something for your lunch - then save some "salad"fixings out for you.) Then several days after that, make the next meal. That way they don't "burn out" on chili and refuse to eat it or complain about how often they're eating it.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
On to the Gluten, pt 1
We've made the gluten, we've dealt with the bran and starch water so on now with how to use it.
Gluten is also called "wheat meat". When seasoned, it tastes like meat and also has the texture of meat. Gluten can be made into "vital wheat gluten", the stuff that helps whole wheat bread to rise higher and be tender - foldable even. It's all in the final processing.
Today we're making the dried gluten for adding to bread. This will eliminate our need to spend $2.00 or so for a small box of "vital wheat gluten". This procedure will allow the gluten to keep indefinitely on the shelf.
Take your raw gluten and break/tear off quarter size pieces. (For non-North Americans, that a piece of dough larger than a marble, but smaller than a golf ball.) Flatten it and place the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet or on the tray of your dehydrator. In oven, bake at 350 degrees until hard. In dehydrator, dry out dough. You can also roll dough out into 1/4" thickness and cut shapes with it. Thin shapes will dry more quickly, evenly and be easier to get to grind to a flour.
When dough is very dry, you can place it in an airtight container and place it on the shelf. As another option, you can actually put them in a jar with an oxygen absorber packet and put the lid on. Or use a vacuum sealing device and suck the air out of the jar. Anything is better than zipper bags. I've found after a while that foods put in zipper bags will pick up tastes from the pantry and get a rather odd taste to them.
At some point, you will want to use the dried gluten for bread making. You will need to grind or grate the dough balls to a flour texture. Use of a micrograter, food processor, grain mill, blender, nut/coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle will all work. Youwant a flour with this, so keep grinding the larger chunks until it's flour. Mills will be the easiest and quickest to use. Then the grinder/food processor, next the blender, the grater and last the mortar and pestle. M&P's do work, but it will be WORK to get it ground by hand. You can grind it all ahead of time or just what you need at the moment.
Tomorrow on to "wheat meat".
Gluten is also called "wheat meat". When seasoned, it tastes like meat and also has the texture of meat. Gluten can be made into "vital wheat gluten", the stuff that helps whole wheat bread to rise higher and be tender - foldable even. It's all in the final processing.
Today we're making the dried gluten for adding to bread. This will eliminate our need to spend $2.00 or so for a small box of "vital wheat gluten". This procedure will allow the gluten to keep indefinitely on the shelf.
Take your raw gluten and break/tear off quarter size pieces. (For non-North Americans, that a piece of dough larger than a marble, but smaller than a golf ball.) Flatten it and place the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet or on the tray of your dehydrator. In oven, bake at 350 degrees until hard. In dehydrator, dry out dough. You can also roll dough out into 1/4" thickness and cut shapes with it. Thin shapes will dry more quickly, evenly and be easier to get to grind to a flour.
When dough is very dry, you can place it in an airtight container and place it on the shelf. As another option, you can actually put them in a jar with an oxygen absorber packet and put the lid on. Or use a vacuum sealing device and suck the air out of the jar. Anything is better than zipper bags. I've found after a while that foods put in zipper bags will pick up tastes from the pantry and get a rather odd taste to them.
At some point, you will want to use the dried gluten for bread making. You will need to grind or grate the dough balls to a flour texture. Use of a micrograter, food processor, grain mill, blender, nut/coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle will all work. Youwant a flour with this, so keep grinding the larger chunks until it's flour. Mills will be the easiest and quickest to use. Then the grinder/food processor, next the blender, the grater and last the mortar and pestle. M&P's do work, but it will be WORK to get it ground by hand. You can grind it all ahead of time or just what you need at the moment.
Tomorrow on to "wheat meat".
Thursday, April 30, 2009
What to do with this stuff?? Gluten, bran and starch
Ok, so...we now have a container of bran and starch and a handful of gluten. NOW WHAT?
Well, if you don't want to fool with it, you can pour the contents of the fluid container down the drain. You are pouring off fiber and nutrition, but it's your choice as to what you want to do. No food police will come cart you off if you don't use it.
First off, the bran will last 4-6 days in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use. Do yourself a favor and sack it up in portion sizes. That way you only have to work with a portion worth and not unthaw the whole mess.
The starch water will spoil a WHOLE LOT quicker. It needs to be refrigerated as soon as possible.
To separate the bran from the water:
To use the bran and starch water you need to let the water settle for about an hour. I have a glass "sun tea" jar that I bought to separate some organic raw milk I was able to get. It has a large opening at the top and a small spigot at the bottom. I'm going to put my bran/starch water into it and let the bran settle out to the bottom. I'll then use the spigot to drain off the bran and some of the water. How liquid I take out much depends on how thick I want the bran or starch to be. The more water that goes with the bran, the thinner the bran will be and the thicker the starch water will be. The less water I let go with the bran, the thicker the bran will be and the thinner the starch will be. First draining will be to remove the bran. Then in another container, I will drain off the starch portion. The water that is on top will be used to water my plants with.
So you don't have a sun tea jar and don't want another do-dad in your house. If all you have are canning jars, a bowl or pot, then you will do it differently. Let it settle down so that the 3 layers (bran, starch and water) separate. The pour (or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck off) the layer of water. Pour or suck off until you start to get some milky fluid. Now you're down to the starch layer. Put the water aside in another container. Now gently pour or suck off the starch layer. When you start to see the brown bran flakes, stop. Put the starch in another container and put the bran in another container. Unless your going to use the starch right away (as in NOW), put it in the fridge and work with it later (as in another hour or more). You may find that the starch needs to be separated from the water a couple of times (3-4) for a thicker starch or just let the water sit overnight in the fridge and you can do it in one pouring.
Water:
You can water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of the water in your bread, powdered milk, soup or stew recipes.
Starch water:
You can also water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of water in your bread or powdered milk recipes with this. You can also use it to thicken sauces, gravies, puddings, soups and stews or anything else that you would use flour, cornstarch, arrow root or tapioca to thicken with - with the exception of tapioca pudding - for obvious reasons. lol You can make drinks both hot and cold with it. You can also make hand lotion, floor wax, a paste for matting or hinging art work, a paste to fix torn archival papers and artifacts, and use it to bath the baby.
Thick starch:
Gravy: 4-5 tbs to thicken 2 cups liquid
Stews: 6-7 tbs to 2 cups liquid
Other: use as you would cornstarch. It has a clearer and more delicate flavor than using regular flour to thicken foods.
Tip: After the water has been poured off and before you use it, stir the starch well.
A little different way to make and use gluten and it's byproducts:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/83/83-2/Countryside_Staff.html
I've searched for DAYS (well, since I starting this particular post) and can not find more uses for the starch - like how to use it on your floors. Perhaps someone can post that for us. So, I'm dropping the search for now and I'm going to continue on so this gets posted!
Ok, so now what to do with the bran? Well, you can freeze it to use or work with later.
Thin Bran:
Best for making bran flakes out of it. After the bran has settled, leave at a minimum 2" of the liquid on top of the bran.
Thick Bran:
Best for adding to other ingredients. Let the bran settle, then pour off as much liquid as possible or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck the liquid from the top, leaving the brown flakes behind.
Dehydrated bran:
Dry on cookie sheet or in dehydrator. Powder in food processor, blender or nut mill. When ready to use, rehydrate or mix in with rest of ingredients.
Bran is good for crackers, cereals, and drinks. It's also good when used in breads, pies, pancakes, waffles, cakes, cookies, muffins and other baked goods.
Bran is good to use if you're "bound up" or if you have the "reverse". One of my girlfriend's twin daughters had GI troubles from the time she was born. The older ladies she knew kept telling her to give the child some bran muffins or bran cereal. She kept think, no! The baby has diarrhea and the bran will make it worse. Dr. after Dr. gave her prescriptions - to no avail. FINALLY, she gave up and tried what the old ladies told her to do. Guess what? A problem that the child had had for the first two years of her life went away! In a couple of days! For free. And the child would not have suffered for the better part of 2 years if mom had listened to the grannies who kept telling her what to do.
Moral of the story, many times Mamaw knows what she's talking about. Unless they're telling you to use something toxic, give it a try, can't hurt and will probably fix the problem. Granny didn't have the money to run the kids to the MD's every time they skinned a knee or had a stomach ache. How many of you remember how you're supposed to deal with a child with measles? Or mumps? or chicken pox? Yeah, the kids are all immunized against this stuff, but what's going to happen when, as they get older, the immunity wears off? My prediction is that we're going to see a whole lot of very sick people! Hopefully, I'll be wrong. I'll be thrilled to be wrong.
Bran can be used at 1/2 cup bran to 2 cups flour without altering the recipe. If it's already wet. If it's been dehydrated, then the bran will take up some of the liquid in the water. So look at your batter/dough as you're making your product. If it looks a little dry, add a tad more water - until it looks like is "should".
Pancakes
Milk group:
1 Cup fresh buttermilk (yoghurt or kefir will probably work too!)
OR
1 Cup sour milk
OR
1 cup water (+ recommended buttermilk powder to make 1 cup buttermilk will be added to dry ingredients. Saves you the time of mixing it together.)
OR
Put 2 tsp vinegar in the bottom of a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup and add milk, evaporated milk, reconstituted powdered milk or 1/2 and 1/2 to make 1 cup and let it sit for about 5 mins to sour.
Egg group:
1 egg
OR
1 Tbs Knox unflavored gelatin + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
OR
1 Tbs ground Flax seed + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
Oil Group:
2 Tbs Oil, Melted shortening, butter, margerine (Regular Mayo NOT Miracle Whip, may work. It does in biscuits)
OR
2 Tbs applesauce
To one of the milk group add one of the egg group and one of the oil group. Add 1/4 cup thick, raw bran.
Stir in the following ingredients into the wet mixture:
If you used water above, now add in the necessary buttermilk powder
1 cup whole wheat flour (AP flour will work too)
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
Stir until just barely blended.
Cook on heated griddle.
Waffles
2 cups from Milk group above
Add to milk:
1/2 cup from Oil Group above
3 eggs or equavelent from above
1/2 cup thick raw bran
2 1/2 ww flour
1 cup powder whey (from Health food store OR use your own whey from cheese making and reduce milk choice by 1 cup)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
3 tsp baking powder
Mix all wet ingredients with electric mixer/beaters. Add dry ingerdients. Stir well but don't overmix. It should still have little lumps
Bake in preheated waffle iron.
TIP:
When I make pancakes or waffles, I use more than one pan/appliance. If I'm making pancakes or waffles, I double or triple the recipe. I cook pancakes in 4 cast iron pans (all going at one time). If I'm making waffles, I use both of my waffle irons. I cool and freeze leftovers for later breakfasts or snacks. This lets me get done faster! (Is anyone else bored to DEATH watching pancakes or waffles cook?)
Cold Cereal:
2 cups thin raw bran
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (raw, brown, white, honey, Blue Agave, whatever you like)
Mix ingredients. Pour a bit of the mixture paper-thin onto an oiled cookie sheet or on the fruit leather tray of your dehydrator. Tip cookie sheet pan from side to side to coat pan evenly. Bake 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees. Lfit sheet of bran from pan right away. Let it cool and break it into pieces. If using dehydrator, tip tray and make a thin layer of batter on it. Put tray(s) into dehydrator and let dry. Remove dried bran from trays, let cook and break it apart.
Part-way through drying times, you can sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over pan/tray, or other topping of your choice over partially dried batter. (jello would work too!)
This is good for cold cereal or for use in granola.
Well, if you don't want to fool with it, you can pour the contents of the fluid container down the drain. You are pouring off fiber and nutrition, but it's your choice as to what you want to do. No food police will come cart you off if you don't use it.
First off, the bran will last 4-6 days in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use. Do yourself a favor and sack it up in portion sizes. That way you only have to work with a portion worth and not unthaw the whole mess.
The starch water will spoil a WHOLE LOT quicker. It needs to be refrigerated as soon as possible.
To separate the bran from the water:
To use the bran and starch water you need to let the water settle for about an hour. I have a glass "sun tea" jar that I bought to separate some organic raw milk I was able to get. It has a large opening at the top and a small spigot at the bottom. I'm going to put my bran/starch water into it and let the bran settle out to the bottom. I'll then use the spigot to drain off the bran and some of the water. How liquid I take out much depends on how thick I want the bran or starch to be. The more water that goes with the bran, the thinner the bran will be and the thicker the starch water will be. The less water I let go with the bran, the thicker the bran will be and the thinner the starch will be. First draining will be to remove the bran. Then in another container, I will drain off the starch portion. The water that is on top will be used to water my plants with.
So you don't have a sun tea jar and don't want another do-dad in your house. If all you have are canning jars, a bowl or pot, then you will do it differently. Let it settle down so that the 3 layers (bran, starch and water) separate. The pour (or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck off) the layer of water. Pour or suck off until you start to get some milky fluid. Now you're down to the starch layer. Put the water aside in another container. Now gently pour or suck off the starch layer. When you start to see the brown bran flakes, stop. Put the starch in another container and put the bran in another container. Unless your going to use the starch right away (as in NOW), put it in the fridge and work with it later (as in another hour or more). You may find that the starch needs to be separated from the water a couple of times (3-4) for a thicker starch or just let the water sit overnight in the fridge and you can do it in one pouring.
Water:
You can water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of the water in your bread, powdered milk, soup or stew recipes.
Starch water:
You can also water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of water in your bread or powdered milk recipes with this. You can also use it to thicken sauces, gravies, puddings, soups and stews or anything else that you would use flour, cornstarch, arrow root or tapioca to thicken with - with the exception of tapioca pudding - for obvious reasons. lol You can make drinks both hot and cold with it. You can also make hand lotion, floor wax, a paste for matting or hinging art work, a paste to fix torn archival papers and artifacts, and use it to bath the baby.
Thick starch:
Gravy: 4-5 tbs to thicken 2 cups liquid
Stews: 6-7 tbs to 2 cups liquid
Other: use as you would cornstarch. It has a clearer and more delicate flavor than using regular flour to thicken foods.
Tip: After the water has been poured off and before you use it, stir the starch well.
A little different way to make and use gluten and it's byproducts:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/83/83-2/Countryside_Staff.html
I've searched for DAYS (well, since I starting this particular post) and can not find more uses for the starch - like how to use it on your floors. Perhaps someone can post that for us. So, I'm dropping the search for now and I'm going to continue on so this gets posted!
Ok, so now what to do with the bran? Well, you can freeze it to use or work with later.
Thin Bran:
Best for making bran flakes out of it. After the bran has settled, leave at a minimum 2" of the liquid on top of the bran.
Thick Bran:
Best for adding to other ingredients. Let the bran settle, then pour off as much liquid as possible or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck the liquid from the top, leaving the brown flakes behind.
Dehydrated bran:
Dry on cookie sheet or in dehydrator. Powder in food processor, blender or nut mill. When ready to use, rehydrate or mix in with rest of ingredients.
Bran is good for crackers, cereals, and drinks. It's also good when used in breads, pies, pancakes, waffles, cakes, cookies, muffins and other baked goods.
Bran is good to use if you're "bound up" or if you have the "reverse". One of my girlfriend's twin daughters had GI troubles from the time she was born. The older ladies she knew kept telling her to give the child some bran muffins or bran cereal. She kept think, no! The baby has diarrhea and the bran will make it worse. Dr. after Dr. gave her prescriptions - to no avail. FINALLY, she gave up and tried what the old ladies told her to do. Guess what? A problem that the child had had for the first two years of her life went away! In a couple of days! For free. And the child would not have suffered for the better part of 2 years if mom had listened to the grannies who kept telling her what to do.
Moral of the story, many times Mamaw knows what she's talking about. Unless they're telling you to use something toxic, give it a try, can't hurt and will probably fix the problem. Granny didn't have the money to run the kids to the MD's every time they skinned a knee or had a stomach ache. How many of you remember how you're supposed to deal with a child with measles? Or mumps? or chicken pox? Yeah, the kids are all immunized against this stuff, but what's going to happen when, as they get older, the immunity wears off? My prediction is that we're going to see a whole lot of very sick people! Hopefully, I'll be wrong. I'll be thrilled to be wrong.
Bran can be used at 1/2 cup bran to 2 cups flour without altering the recipe. If it's already wet. If it's been dehydrated, then the bran will take up some of the liquid in the water. So look at your batter/dough as you're making your product. If it looks a little dry, add a tad more water - until it looks like is "should".
Pancakes
Milk group:
1 Cup fresh buttermilk (yoghurt or kefir will probably work too!)
OR
1 Cup sour milk
OR
1 cup water (+ recommended buttermilk powder to make 1 cup buttermilk will be added to dry ingredients. Saves you the time of mixing it together.)
OR
Put 2 tsp vinegar in the bottom of a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup and add milk, evaporated milk, reconstituted powdered milk or 1/2 and 1/2 to make 1 cup and let it sit for about 5 mins to sour.
Egg group:
1 egg
OR
1 Tbs Knox unflavored gelatin + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
OR
1 Tbs ground Flax seed + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
Oil Group:
2 Tbs Oil, Melted shortening, butter, margerine (Regular Mayo NOT Miracle Whip, may work. It does in biscuits)
OR
2 Tbs applesauce
To one of the milk group add one of the egg group and one of the oil group. Add 1/4 cup thick, raw bran.
Stir in the following ingredients into the wet mixture:
If you used water above, now add in the necessary buttermilk powder
1 cup whole wheat flour (AP flour will work too)
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
Stir until just barely blended.
Cook on heated griddle.
Waffles
2 cups from Milk group above
Add to milk:
1/2 cup from Oil Group above
3 eggs or equavelent from above
1/2 cup thick raw bran
2 1/2 ww flour
1 cup powder whey (from Health food store OR use your own whey from cheese making and reduce milk choice by 1 cup)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
3 tsp baking powder
Mix all wet ingredients with electric mixer/beaters. Add dry ingerdients. Stir well but don't overmix. It should still have little lumps
Bake in preheated waffle iron.
TIP:
When I make pancakes or waffles, I use more than one pan/appliance. If I'm making pancakes or waffles, I double or triple the recipe. I cook pancakes in 4 cast iron pans (all going at one time). If I'm making waffles, I use both of my waffle irons. I cool and freeze leftovers for later breakfasts or snacks. This lets me get done faster! (Is anyone else bored to DEATH watching pancakes or waffles cook?)
Cold Cereal:
2 cups thin raw bran
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (raw, brown, white, honey, Blue Agave, whatever you like)
Mix ingredients. Pour a bit of the mixture paper-thin onto an oiled cookie sheet or on the fruit leather tray of your dehydrator. Tip cookie sheet pan from side to side to coat pan evenly. Bake 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees. Lfit sheet of bran from pan right away. Let it cool and break it into pieces. If using dehydrator, tip tray and make a thin layer of batter on it. Put tray(s) into dehydrator and let dry. Remove dried bran from trays, let cook and break it apart.
Part-way through drying times, you can sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over pan/tray, or other topping of your choice over partially dried batter. (jello would work too!)
This is good for cold cereal or for use in granola.
Vital Wheat Gluten aka "wheat meat", bran and starch
Back in one of my first posts I have a recipe for "foldable" whole wheat bread. I mentioned Vital Wheat Gluten as a component of the bread - the one that lets the bread rise higher and lets it fold without crumbling. I'm just now getting around to giving you the recipe to make your own gluten, also known as wheat meat. By making your own, you also get bran and starch to use. Yes, this is the same bran as in what you buy in the stores. You can add some sugar to it and make a cereal out of it, if I look around, I can probably find a recipe for Grapenut Flakes.
Homemade Vital Wheat Gluten aka Wheat Meat
Ingredients:
Flour: Whole wheat is best. You get brown gluten, bran and starch from it. AP white flour works and you get a larger yield of white gluten. BUT you don't get any bran with it AND you lose the vitamins that come with whole wheat. Other flours don't work - they don't have much gluten, which is why, for instance, you can't make bread that rises out of all barley or all rye.) Remember to leave out 1 cup of flour and mix the dough well. Then look at the dough. Does it NEED the extra flour. I live in a very humid area (Georgia). I usually need more flour than the recipe calls for. The flour has absorbed the humidity in my house, so it can't absorb the water in the recipe. HOWEVER, if I pop a #10 can of wheat that was canned out west and then immediately grind and use it, I don't always need all the flour a recipe calls for. Since it's easier to add flour than water in a dough. I err to the side of leaving out some of the flour. Then I can always add more flour. This is true for whatever type of baked good I'm making, not just for making gluten.
Water: if it's safe to drink, it's safe to cook with.
Methods: There are several methods for making gluten. Mixing with a bread mixer, portable mixer, bread machine, by hand or by letting the water and wheat flour sit for several hours after mixing it together. I'll touch on all of these methods.
Bread Mixer: Tried this method years ago, works great. (Yields 2-5 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
This is nice if you have a Bosch, Kitchenaid, etc. Can't use it if there is no electricity to power the machine.
11-14 cups flour
7 cups of water
Using dough hook, you can either put all the water in and then dump all the flour in the bowl at once, or add the flour in increments. Turn on, knead for 10 mins. When all of the flour has been added and is moistened, knead another 5 mins. Or knead for 15 total mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Portable mixer: Tried this method years ago, worked great, BUT...since then, they have cut the power of portable (hand-held) mixers down. If you have a wimpy mixer, it's not going to work very well for you. There is a work-around that I haven't tried, but logic says should work. (Yields 2-3 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
Saves you some work, but again, if power is out, you can't make it this way.
9 cups flour
6 cups water
Dump in bowl, turn on and mix at med. speed for 5 mins. Let the machine rest for a few minutes and then mix another10 mins. You may have to keep stopping and letting the machine rest. You don't want to burn up your mixer, so if it starts smelling hot. STOP and let it cool off! Rest of instructions will follow.
WORK AROUND for wimpy mixers: Put all the water and about 1/2 the flour in the bowl. Start mixing the flour and water together on medium speed. It should be fairly soupy at this point. Let the mixer work for a few minutes and then start adding in more of the flour. Keep adding flour until the mixer starts to slow down a bit. Kick the speed up to high. Do not add any more flour, just let the mixer run for about 5 mins or until it starts to "smell hot". Let the mixer rest for about 10 mins to cool off. Mix for another 5-10 mins by machine. You may have to let it rest some more. Then remove the beaters and start adding flour by hand. You want a bread dough consistency dough. Too wet and it's a sticky mess, to dry and it's too stiff to knead well. From the time you finish putting in the last of the flour, knead about another 5 mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Bread machine:Trying this today as it's my invention. (Not sure of yield)
Again, the electricity is an issue. Also, my machine will allow 4 cups flour. Other machines have less capacity. CHECK YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL before trying this so you don't burn out the motor of your breadmaker! If you can't use 4 cups flour, then half the recipe and make more batches until you have the amount of gluten you want.
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Set machine on dough cycle. Let it knead until it goes to the first "rest" period in the cycle. This should be about 15 minutes. If it's not, then let it rest and knead again so you have about 15 mins total kneading time. (I would reset my machine to start, rather than waiting the 30 or so mins that the machine rests before starting to knead again. Rest of instructions to follow.
By Hand: Think I did try this some years ago, don't remember how it worked out. (Yield 1-2 cups raw gluten.)
This is time consuming and more work for you. You're basically kneading it like you would bread and for the same reasons - to activate the gluten. This is nice to know because if the power is out, you can still make gluten.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
Make a dough that is neither sticky nor too dry. You really are shooting for a bread dough consistency. So put all the water and 1/2 the flour into a bowl and then start adding more flour from there. You will need to flour the dough, your work surface and your hands to work the resulting dough.
Once the dough is a bread-dough consistency, you will either knead or pound the dough. You can use your fists, a rubber mallet or a rolling pin to pound the dough flat. (DO NOT use your good marble rolling pin on this one it WILL break!) Keep pounding the dough, turning it over from time to time and adding a bit more flour to your surface so it doesn't stick. It will take 15-20 mins to work the gluten, just like when you make bread. Rest of instructions to follow.
No-Knead: Not tried this yet. (Yield unknown)
No fuss, no muss, no worries if power goes off method.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
more water to cover dough
Mix flour and water into a dough. Cover with cold water and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Pour off water and mix until smooth.
Rest of instructions:
First, test dough to make sure that it's been kneaded enough. To do that simply take a small ball of dough (marble-size is good), flatten it out and then stretch the center of the ball out. If it just tears, it's not kneaded enough and you need to knead it some more. If it stretches and thins out, and you can start to be able to see through it before it finally tears, then it's ready to use. (Same as for kneading bread!)
Now that you have a lump of dough that has been well kneaded, your ready to wash it. You want to wash the dough to extract most of the bran and all the starch from the remaining gluten. We can save the bran and the starch for other purposes. That will be another post as will what to DO with all this goodness you're making.
Washing the gluten:
You need:
water
Colander
Clean pot, dishpan, large bowl, etc to set the colander inside of so you can catch the bran and starch. It needs to be large enough to hold the colander inside it and allow you to cover dough with water.
In the olden days of the 1960's and 70's, when we didn't think about "wasting" water, people just washed the gluten under running water. I reckon ya still can, but it will waste a lot of water. So I'm going to tell you how to do it with less water.
Put the colander in your chosen vessel. Then taking as much of the gluten as you can easily work with, put it into the colander. Cover the dough with warm (not HOT) water. Work the dough with an in and out movement so that you loosen the bran and starch. Keep working the dough in the same water until it toughens up and becomes the consistency of bubble gum. Repeat until all the dough has been rinsed. (Remove the worked dough from the colander before you put in the next piece.) When all of the dough has been washed, set the pan of bran/starch water aside.
Next, hold pieces of dough under a small stream of water and rinse until water is clear and dough is elastic and rubbery. You won't get out all of the bran. That's fine, don't bother trying.
Now you have gluten to make into flour or wheat meat. You have bran to use in recipes calling for bran and starch to thicken and add nutrition to foods, plus to use for pets, household cleaners, etc.
Whoops:
If the gluten doesn't collect or falls apart to the point of going through the colander, you have one of a couple of potential problems.
1.) Your wheat may have been soft wheat for pastries; or a "biscuit" flour like White Lily. You have to use hard red or hard white wheat. The gluten is the protein in the flour. Lower protein, lower gluten. All Purpose (AP) flour works too - if you know your brands. Anything that is touted as making biscuits tender is a pastry flour, not a hard wheat flour. The best way to get tender biscuits, muffins, pastries, etc. is to not over-handle the dough. But since too many people today have not learned how to cook from the older generation, they end up having a "heavy" hand. To fix that the baking supply industry has given us "biscuit" flour. That way, when people over-mix their dough, they don't activate the gluten as easily as in regular flour. The only problem is, most people don't realize that certain brands are using a pastry flour blend instead of regular flour. Then they have all kinds of trouble with any of the bread-stuffs that NEED to be kneaded. Low protein, low gluten = low rising of the dough. The sad thing is, they think it's their fault not the fault of the type/brand of flour they're using. So either grind your own wheat from known wheat types or read the bag of flour. You want to look at the protein content. High protein is about 11 to 18%. (Do I really need to tell you how I learned THIS fact. sigh) Bread flour will work, but it's more expensive. You may as well use bread flour to begin with and save yourself an hour or so of work.
2.) The pounding procedure was not hard enough or long enough. Both will cause the gluten to be underdeveloped. Do the window test to make sure it's been pounded long/hard enough.
3) The dough was not stiff enough (this happens when you use the mixer method or hand method.) You don't want a sticky dough. Add some more flour
4.) The dough was too stiff. This can happen when you mix by hand. You can add water into a formed dough, but it's a pain in the tush to do so. You have to really work it to get the water to incorporate. The best strategy is to not put in too much flour to begin with. You need just enough flour to make a dough that isn't sticky. No more. And if you're doing this by hand, make sure to take it out of the bowl when it's still a little sticky. The flour on your hands and kneading/pounding surface will incorporate into the dough.
5.) It was not kneaded enough. (Do the window test, even with machine kneaded dough!)
If you can, pound or knead the dough longer and test it again. Keep kneading/pounding until it stretches instead of rips. If you've already put the whole thing in water and it's falling apart, then let the mixture rest 4-8 hours and then try washing it again.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you what to do with the gluten, bran and starch.
Homemade Vital Wheat Gluten aka Wheat Meat
Ingredients:
Flour: Whole wheat is best. You get brown gluten, bran and starch from it. AP white flour works and you get a larger yield of white gluten. BUT you don't get any bran with it AND you lose the vitamins that come with whole wheat. Other flours don't work - they don't have much gluten, which is why, for instance, you can't make bread that rises out of all barley or all rye.) Remember to leave out 1 cup of flour and mix the dough well. Then look at the dough. Does it NEED the extra flour. I live in a very humid area (Georgia). I usually need more flour than the recipe calls for. The flour has absorbed the humidity in my house, so it can't absorb the water in the recipe. HOWEVER, if I pop a #10 can of wheat that was canned out west and then immediately grind and use it, I don't always need all the flour a recipe calls for. Since it's easier to add flour than water in a dough. I err to the side of leaving out some of the flour. Then I can always add more flour. This is true for whatever type of baked good I'm making, not just for making gluten.
Water: if it's safe to drink, it's safe to cook with.
Methods: There are several methods for making gluten. Mixing with a bread mixer, portable mixer, bread machine, by hand or by letting the water and wheat flour sit for several hours after mixing it together. I'll touch on all of these methods.
Bread Mixer: Tried this method years ago, works great. (Yields 2-5 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
This is nice if you have a Bosch, Kitchenaid, etc. Can't use it if there is no electricity to power the machine.
11-14 cups flour
7 cups of water
Using dough hook, you can either put all the water in and then dump all the flour in the bowl at once, or add the flour in increments. Turn on, knead for 10 mins. When all of the flour has been added and is moistened, knead another 5 mins. Or knead for 15 total mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Portable mixer: Tried this method years ago, worked great, BUT...since then, they have cut the power of portable (hand-held) mixers down. If you have a wimpy mixer, it's not going to work very well for you. There is a work-around that I haven't tried, but logic says should work. (Yields 2-3 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
Saves you some work, but again, if power is out, you can't make it this way.
9 cups flour
6 cups water
Dump in bowl, turn on and mix at med. speed for 5 mins. Let the machine rest for a few minutes and then mix another10 mins. You may have to keep stopping and letting the machine rest. You don't want to burn up your mixer, so if it starts smelling hot. STOP and let it cool off! Rest of instructions will follow.
WORK AROUND for wimpy mixers: Put all the water and about 1/2 the flour in the bowl. Start mixing the flour and water together on medium speed. It should be fairly soupy at this point. Let the mixer work for a few minutes and then start adding in more of the flour. Keep adding flour until the mixer starts to slow down a bit. Kick the speed up to high. Do not add any more flour, just let the mixer run for about 5 mins or until it starts to "smell hot". Let the mixer rest for about 10 mins to cool off. Mix for another 5-10 mins by machine. You may have to let it rest some more. Then remove the beaters and start adding flour by hand. You want a bread dough consistency dough. Too wet and it's a sticky mess, to dry and it's too stiff to knead well. From the time you finish putting in the last of the flour, knead about another 5 mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Bread machine:Trying this today as it's my invention. (Not sure of yield)
Again, the electricity is an issue. Also, my machine will allow 4 cups flour. Other machines have less capacity. CHECK YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL before trying this so you don't burn out the motor of your breadmaker! If you can't use 4 cups flour, then half the recipe and make more batches until you have the amount of gluten you want.
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Set machine on dough cycle. Let it knead until it goes to the first "rest" period in the cycle. This should be about 15 minutes. If it's not, then let it rest and knead again so you have about 15 mins total kneading time. (I would reset my machine to start, rather than waiting the 30 or so mins that the machine rests before starting to knead again. Rest of instructions to follow.
By Hand: Think I did try this some years ago, don't remember how it worked out. (Yield 1-2 cups raw gluten.)
This is time consuming and more work for you. You're basically kneading it like you would bread and for the same reasons - to activate the gluten. This is nice to know because if the power is out, you can still make gluten.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
Make a dough that is neither sticky nor too dry. You really are shooting for a bread dough consistency. So put all the water and 1/2 the flour into a bowl and then start adding more flour from there. You will need to flour the dough, your work surface and your hands to work the resulting dough.
Once the dough is a bread-dough consistency, you will either knead or pound the dough. You can use your fists, a rubber mallet or a rolling pin to pound the dough flat. (DO NOT use your good marble rolling pin on this one it WILL break!) Keep pounding the dough, turning it over from time to time and adding a bit more flour to your surface so it doesn't stick. It will take 15-20 mins to work the gluten, just like when you make bread. Rest of instructions to follow.
No-Knead: Not tried this yet. (Yield unknown)
No fuss, no muss, no worries if power goes off method.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
more water to cover dough
Mix flour and water into a dough. Cover with cold water and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Pour off water and mix until smooth.
Rest of instructions:
First, test dough to make sure that it's been kneaded enough. To do that simply take a small ball of dough (marble-size is good), flatten it out and then stretch the center of the ball out. If it just tears, it's not kneaded enough and you need to knead it some more. If it stretches and thins out, and you can start to be able to see through it before it finally tears, then it's ready to use. (Same as for kneading bread!)
Now that you have a lump of dough that has been well kneaded, your ready to wash it. You want to wash the dough to extract most of the bran and all the starch from the remaining gluten. We can save the bran and the starch for other purposes. That will be another post as will what to DO with all this goodness you're making.
Washing the gluten:
You need:
water
Colander
Clean pot, dishpan, large bowl, etc to set the colander inside of so you can catch the bran and starch. It needs to be large enough to hold the colander inside it and allow you to cover dough with water.
In the olden days of the 1960's and 70's, when we didn't think about "wasting" water, people just washed the gluten under running water. I reckon ya still can, but it will waste a lot of water. So I'm going to tell you how to do it with less water.
Put the colander in your chosen vessel. Then taking as much of the gluten as you can easily work with, put it into the colander. Cover the dough with warm (not HOT) water. Work the dough with an in and out movement so that you loosen the bran and starch. Keep working the dough in the same water until it toughens up and becomes the consistency of bubble gum. Repeat until all the dough has been rinsed. (Remove the worked dough from the colander before you put in the next piece.) When all of the dough has been washed, set the pan of bran/starch water aside.
Next, hold pieces of dough under a small stream of water and rinse until water is clear and dough is elastic and rubbery. You won't get out all of the bran. That's fine, don't bother trying.
Now you have gluten to make into flour or wheat meat. You have bran to use in recipes calling for bran and starch to thicken and add nutrition to foods, plus to use for pets, household cleaners, etc.
Whoops:
If the gluten doesn't collect or falls apart to the point of going through the colander, you have one of a couple of potential problems.
1.) Your wheat may have been soft wheat for pastries; or a "biscuit" flour like White Lily. You have to use hard red or hard white wheat. The gluten is the protein in the flour. Lower protein, lower gluten. All Purpose (AP) flour works too - if you know your brands. Anything that is touted as making biscuits tender is a pastry flour, not a hard wheat flour. The best way to get tender biscuits, muffins, pastries, etc. is to not over-handle the dough. But since too many people today have not learned how to cook from the older generation, they end up having a "heavy" hand. To fix that the baking supply industry has given us "biscuit" flour. That way, when people over-mix their dough, they don't activate the gluten as easily as in regular flour. The only problem is, most people don't realize that certain brands are using a pastry flour blend instead of regular flour. Then they have all kinds of trouble with any of the bread-stuffs that NEED to be kneaded. Low protein, low gluten = low rising of the dough. The sad thing is, they think it's their fault not the fault of the type/brand of flour they're using. So either grind your own wheat from known wheat types or read the bag of flour. You want to look at the protein content. High protein is about 11 to 18%. (Do I really need to tell you how I learned THIS fact. sigh) Bread flour will work, but it's more expensive. You may as well use bread flour to begin with and save yourself an hour or so of work.
2.) The pounding procedure was not hard enough or long enough. Both will cause the gluten to be underdeveloped. Do the window test to make sure it's been pounded long/hard enough.
3) The dough was not stiff enough (this happens when you use the mixer method or hand method.) You don't want a sticky dough. Add some more flour
4.) The dough was too stiff. This can happen when you mix by hand. You can add water into a formed dough, but it's a pain in the tush to do so. You have to really work it to get the water to incorporate. The best strategy is to not put in too much flour to begin with. You need just enough flour to make a dough that isn't sticky. No more. And if you're doing this by hand, make sure to take it out of the bowl when it's still a little sticky. The flour on your hands and kneading/pounding surface will incorporate into the dough.
5.) It was not kneaded enough. (Do the window test, even with machine kneaded dough!)
If you can, pound or knead the dough longer and test it again. Keep kneading/pounding until it stretches instead of rips. If you've already put the whole thing in water and it's falling apart, then let the mixture rest 4-8 hours and then try washing it again.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you what to do with the gluten, bran and starch.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
No money to eat
One of my ezines has an ongoing forum for people asking what to do when they have already pared down their budget.
One poster was only eating bread and eggs. Here is my reply to her:
It is hard, isn't it? I'm a single mom, so I understand when there is no food budget. I work 2 part-time jobs, plus homeschool. I have kids in church and scouts, so I'm pressed for time as well.
One of the things I've just started doing is using sprouts. It only takes 2 tbs of seed to make a couple of cups of sprouts. I find seeds to sprout in many different places. I bought some mung bean seeds at the health food store. They were $7 for about 2 1/2 cups of seeds. There are 16 Tbs in a cup, so that's about 40 batches of sprouts for that money. Mung beans when they are eaten under 1/2" taste like sugar snap peas!
I have wheat. Whole wheat sprouts. Again, 2 Tbs makes up to a quart jar full of sprouts. They are a little chewier than mung bean, with a sweet taste to them.
You can also sprout raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, broccoli seeds, rye, oat groats, any type of dried beans, peas or lentils, etc. Many seeds can be found in the grocery store. As long as the seeds haven't been heated/roasted, etc, you can make sprouts from them. Even in my rural area, the regular grocery stores have a "gourmet" section where you can by grains. Remember, you don't need to buy a pound at a time. Buy a smaller amount so that you can afford it. Even at $8 a lb, a 1/4 lb is only $2. and 1/4 lb will be about 1/4 - 1/2 cup. This amount will make 2-8 cups of fresh veggies for $2.
Make SURE you use FOOD SEEDS, not garden seeds. Garden seeds are usually treated with some sort of chemical to prevent problems with sprouting and to keep them fresh.
Look up sprouts on the net and you will see how easy it is to use grow them, the flavors of the different sprouts and the HUGE nutritional advantage to eating them. Even if you only used them for 2-3 meals a week, at least it's SOME fresh veggies. Also, even people who are "allergic" to a food can many times eat the sprouts. Wheat loses all of it's starch when sprouted for a few days.
Use dried beans/peas to cook with. It doesn't take as long as people think to cook beans/peas. For the price of a dozen eggs, you can buy a 16-24 oz bag of dried beans/peas and they are much more filling than eggs, for the same cost.
1 lb dry beans = 2 1/2 cups dry beans = about 7 1/2 cups cooked beans
1 cup dry beans = about 3 cups cooked beans
14 oz/398 ml can beans = about 1 1/2 cups drained beans
19 oz/540 ml can beans = about 2 cups drained beans
That bag will make 7 1/2 cups of beans. Beans are much more filling than eggs! I cook mine by dumping the bag of beans out onto my table, sorting through the beans and removing any broken, moldy-looking or shriveled beans or stray rocks or dirt clumps. I scoop the good ones into a pot, doing a bit at a time while I sort. I fill the pot 1/2 full of water, swish the beans around, and drain them - to remove dust/dirt. I then refill the pot with water (about 3 cups for each 1 cup of beans, though I don't measure it.) and put on stove on high. Bring to a boil, boil for 1-2 mins. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 1 hr. At this point, some people drain the beans and refill pot with water. I just turn the heat back on and bring beans to a boil again. Lower heat and simmer for 45 mins to an hour, or until tender. I don't add salt to the beans until they are cooked, as the salt can make them tough. You can season them after they are cooked.
If you won't be home, then either soak them the night before, or do the quick soak in the morning. Then plop them into a Crockpot and let cook.
If you have a pressure cooker, it only takes a few minutes to cook dried beans and you don't have to presoak them.
DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA. Yes, it will make the beans soften quicker. BUT it also kills the vitamins in the food. And if you're not eating them for the nutrition, they WHY are you bothering to eat them at all? No nutrition = a packet of sugar or cardboard. (Ever thought of food that way before?)
You can grow a lettuce "garden". On a patio, in the house or in the yard. All you need is some food grade soil (potting soil for veggies, dirt from your yard, unless you use chemicals on the yard.), and some containers. See Dollar Stretcher for the instructions on growing a lettuce patch in containers.
If you're buying bread, start making your own. Look at "Artisan bread in 5 mins a day". It's wonderful bread, VERY inexpensive to make and you do NOT need a "pizza stone". I went to the local big box home improvement store and bought a 12"x12" unglazed Terra cotta tile for $1.50. Wash it off and plop it in the oven. Use as you would a pizza stone. I actually bought 2 of them, but when I measured my oven, I forgot to allow for the spot where the rack sits. I should have gotten them to cut about 1" - 1 1/2" off the side of one tile and then it would have fit my oven and I could do French bread. But for now, the single tile is working well. With this same easy to make dough, I make pizzas, calzones, rolls and more. I use whole wheat that I grind myself, but I do have a flour mill I got used for $50. The recipe uses flour, yeast and water. That's all. Takes longer to get the ingredients out than it does to make the dough. Dough lasts for a week or two in the fridge. Buy the yeast at a large big-box store in 1lb mylar packages. Bring it home, put in freezer. I had a friend with a Sam's membership bring me two packages that were twin packed (so I had 4 1lb packages of yeast) about 7 years ago. I put them straight into the freezer and I'm still using them. They are WAY past the "expired" date. Total cost then was $4. I'm sure yeast costs more now, but it's still cheaper to buy it in large quantities than the little foil packets or the only slightly larger jars from the grocery store.
Rice. Rice is also your friend. A 2 pound bag costs under $2. Even brown rices is under $3 for a large-ish bag. 1 cup of uncooked long-grain white rice = 3 cups cooked so that's about 6 cups of a very filling grain.
To cook rice the easy way in 24 minutes: MEASURE out 2 cups of water or stock for each 1 cup of rice you wish to cook and bring it to a boil. Add seasonings - salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Adobo, etc. (or cook plain and season when ready to use). Add your premeasured rice. Bring back to a boil. Cover pot, turn down to simmer and let cook for 14 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another 10 minutes. DO NOT remove lid at any time between time you put lid on and the 24 minutes until it's done! Most recipes I just "eyeball", but this is one of those things, like making bread in a bread machine where you do need to measure carefully to have it turn out well. Also, you want the rice doing a slow boil, without boiling over for the 14 minutes that heat is applied.
Rice, beans and bread all freeze well. So if you work outside your home, making and freezing these basic items will make fixing dinner so much easier. It will take time to fix these recipes, but do it in large portions. It takes no longer to cook 2 loaves of bread at a time or 4 cups of dried beans/rice than it does to make 1 cup at a time. (Well ok, it will take 8 cups of water longer to come to a boil, but that's a few minutes, not hours.) Put cooked items in a zip bag or freezer container in portions that YOUR family needs or that you normally cook with. Then just pull out what you need for that meal. So I freeze my rice in either 1 cup or 3 cup portions. I freeze my chili in 1 cup portions, then take out the number of bags/containers I need for that meal.
Shop sales and look at the reduced meats and produce. Also, don't pass by larger cuts of meat when they are on sale. The only store that I've had NOT willing to cut or grind sale meat is my local Food Lion and they're weird anyway. (I think it's the local manager's decision, not a franchise-wide decision.) Every other store I've ever been to will grind a large on-sale cut of meat to hamburger for me. Make your own "stew" meat. Any roast can but cut up into cubes by you and then stored in 1lb packages for soups/stews/casseroles. When chuck or top sirloin go on sale, have the butcher run them through the cuber 2 times. Tender meat, low cost. Repackage into smaller portions. Google "cube steak" for recipes that don't require frying.
When you come home, repackage any meat products in recipe or serving size packages. Know that 3 oz of cooked meat is the size of a deck of cards! I package 5lb of ground whatever in 1lb zip bags by dividing the package in 5 portions, putting a portion in a zip bag and zipping bag closed. Remove air and then flatten bag out. Makes it easier to store when they are flat. (Flatten all freezer bags and you can stack them more easily or store them upright. Use an empty cereal box like you would a magazine holder to keep them in groups.)
One poster was only eating bread and eggs. Here is my reply to her:
It is hard, isn't it? I'm a single mom, so I understand when there is no food budget. I work 2 part-time jobs, plus homeschool. I have kids in church and scouts, so I'm pressed for time as well.
One of the things I've just started doing is using sprouts. It only takes 2 tbs of seed to make a couple of cups of sprouts. I find seeds to sprout in many different places. I bought some mung bean seeds at the health food store. They were $7 for about 2 1/2 cups of seeds. There are 16 Tbs in a cup, so that's about 40 batches of sprouts for that money. Mung beans when they are eaten under 1/2" taste like sugar snap peas!
I have wheat. Whole wheat sprouts. Again, 2 Tbs makes up to a quart jar full of sprouts. They are a little chewier than mung bean, with a sweet taste to them.
You can also sprout raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, broccoli seeds, rye, oat groats, any type of dried beans, peas or lentils, etc. Many seeds can be found in the grocery store. As long as the seeds haven't been heated/roasted, etc, you can make sprouts from them. Even in my rural area, the regular grocery stores have a "gourmet" section where you can by grains. Remember, you don't need to buy a pound at a time. Buy a smaller amount so that you can afford it. Even at $8 a lb, a 1/4 lb is only $2. and 1/4 lb will be about 1/4 - 1/2 cup. This amount will make 2-8 cups of fresh veggies for $2.
Make SURE you use FOOD SEEDS, not garden seeds. Garden seeds are usually treated with some sort of chemical to prevent problems with sprouting and to keep them fresh.
Look up sprouts on the net and you will see how easy it is to use grow them, the flavors of the different sprouts and the HUGE nutritional advantage to eating them. Even if you only used them for 2-3 meals a week, at least it's SOME fresh veggies. Also, even people who are "allergic" to a food can many times eat the sprouts. Wheat loses all of it's starch when sprouted for a few days.
Use dried beans/peas to cook with. It doesn't take as long as people think to cook beans/peas. For the price of a dozen eggs, you can buy a 16-24 oz bag of dried beans/peas and they are much more filling than eggs, for the same cost.
1 lb dry beans = 2 1/2 cups dry beans = about 7 1/2 cups cooked beans
1 cup dry beans = about 3 cups cooked beans
14 oz/398 ml can beans = about 1 1/2 cups drained beans
19 oz/540 ml can beans = about 2 cups drained beans
That bag will make 7 1/2 cups of beans. Beans are much more filling than eggs! I cook mine by dumping the bag of beans out onto my table, sorting through the beans and removing any broken, moldy-looking or shriveled beans or stray rocks or dirt clumps. I scoop the good ones into a pot, doing a bit at a time while I sort. I fill the pot 1/2 full of water, swish the beans around, and drain them - to remove dust/dirt. I then refill the pot with water (about 3 cups for each 1 cup of beans, though I don't measure it.) and put on stove on high. Bring to a boil, boil for 1-2 mins. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 1 hr. At this point, some people drain the beans and refill pot with water. I just turn the heat back on and bring beans to a boil again. Lower heat and simmer for 45 mins to an hour, or until tender. I don't add salt to the beans until they are cooked, as the salt can make them tough. You can season them after they are cooked.
If you won't be home, then either soak them the night before, or do the quick soak in the morning. Then plop them into a Crockpot and let cook.
If you have a pressure cooker, it only takes a few minutes to cook dried beans and you don't have to presoak them.
DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA. Yes, it will make the beans soften quicker. BUT it also kills the vitamins in the food. And if you're not eating them for the nutrition, they WHY are you bothering to eat them at all? No nutrition = a packet of sugar or cardboard. (Ever thought of food that way before?)
You can grow a lettuce "garden". On a patio, in the house or in the yard. All you need is some food grade soil (potting soil for veggies, dirt from your yard, unless you use chemicals on the yard.), and some containers. See Dollar Stretcher for the instructions on growing a lettuce patch in containers.
If you're buying bread, start making your own. Look at "Artisan bread in 5 mins a day". It's wonderful bread, VERY inexpensive to make and you do NOT need a "pizza stone". I went to the local big box home improvement store and bought a 12"x12" unglazed Terra cotta tile for $1.50. Wash it off and plop it in the oven. Use as you would a pizza stone. I actually bought 2 of them, but when I measured my oven, I forgot to allow for the spot where the rack sits. I should have gotten them to cut about 1" - 1 1/2" off the side of one tile and then it would have fit my oven and I could do French bread. But for now, the single tile is working well. With this same easy to make dough, I make pizzas, calzones, rolls and more. I use whole wheat that I grind myself, but I do have a flour mill I got used for $50. The recipe uses flour, yeast and water. That's all. Takes longer to get the ingredients out than it does to make the dough. Dough lasts for a week or two in the fridge. Buy the yeast at a large big-box store in 1lb mylar packages. Bring it home, put in freezer. I had a friend with a Sam's membership bring me two packages that were twin packed (so I had 4 1lb packages of yeast) about 7 years ago. I put them straight into the freezer and I'm still using them. They are WAY past the "expired" date. Total cost then was $4. I'm sure yeast costs more now, but it's still cheaper to buy it in large quantities than the little foil packets or the only slightly larger jars from the grocery store.
Rice. Rice is also your friend. A 2 pound bag costs under $2. Even brown rices is under $3 for a large-ish bag. 1 cup of uncooked long-grain white rice = 3 cups cooked so that's about 6 cups of a very filling grain.
To cook rice the easy way in 24 minutes: MEASURE out 2 cups of water or stock for each 1 cup of rice you wish to cook and bring it to a boil. Add seasonings - salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Adobo, etc. (or cook plain and season when ready to use). Add your premeasured rice. Bring back to a boil. Cover pot, turn down to simmer and let cook for 14 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another 10 minutes. DO NOT remove lid at any time between time you put lid on and the 24 minutes until it's done! Most recipes I just "eyeball", but this is one of those things, like making bread in a bread machine where you do need to measure carefully to have it turn out well. Also, you want the rice doing a slow boil, without boiling over for the 14 minutes that heat is applied.
Rice, beans and bread all freeze well. So if you work outside your home, making and freezing these basic items will make fixing dinner so much easier. It will take time to fix these recipes, but do it in large portions. It takes no longer to cook 2 loaves of bread at a time or 4 cups of dried beans/rice than it does to make 1 cup at a time. (Well ok, it will take 8 cups of water longer to come to a boil, but that's a few minutes, not hours.) Put cooked items in a zip bag or freezer container in portions that YOUR family needs or that you normally cook with. Then just pull out what you need for that meal. So I freeze my rice in either 1 cup or 3 cup portions. I freeze my chili in 1 cup portions, then take out the number of bags/containers I need for that meal.
Shop sales and look at the reduced meats and produce. Also, don't pass by larger cuts of meat when they are on sale. The only store that I've had NOT willing to cut or grind sale meat is my local Food Lion and they're weird anyway. (I think it's the local manager's decision, not a franchise-wide decision.) Every other store I've ever been to will grind a large on-sale cut of meat to hamburger for me. Make your own "stew" meat. Any roast can but cut up into cubes by you and then stored in 1lb packages for soups/stews/casseroles. When chuck or top sirloin go on sale, have the butcher run them through the cuber 2 times. Tender meat, low cost. Repackage into smaller portions. Google "cube steak" for recipes that don't require frying.
When you come home, repackage any meat products in recipe or serving size packages. Know that 3 oz of cooked meat is the size of a deck of cards! I package 5lb of ground whatever in 1lb zip bags by dividing the package in 5 portions, putting a portion in a zip bag and zipping bag closed. Remove air and then flatten bag out. Makes it easier to store when they are flat. (Flatten all freezer bags and you can stack them more easily or store them upright. Use an empty cereal box like you would a magazine holder to keep them in groups.)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving, pt 5 Turkey and stuffing
Turkey and stuffing:
Stuffing, yes, stuffing. As in I stuff my bird. My family has stuffed turkeys for generations and we've never gotten sick. However, we don't leave the turkey out, we don't prestuff the bird and then put it in the fridge, we don't slow cook the bird. In fact, we wash the cold bird inside and out with cold water, make the stuffing, IMMEDIATELY stuff the bird with it, season the bird and then IMMEDIATELY put the bird into a large enamel roasting pan, put the lid on the pan and put the pan into the preheated 325 degree oven. If I vary from this in the slightest, then all bets are off. You're on your own with stuffing your bird! I'm just telling you how I cook my turkey. YMMV THE FOOD POLICE SAY; "DO NOT STUFF TURKEY". SERIOUS ILLNESS MAY RESULT. It takes about 2 - 2.5 hrs to cook a 14 lb bird to 170 degrees this way.
1 turkey any weight
stuffing
Adobo
onion powder
garlic powder
poultry seasoning
For a 14 lb bird (add or subtract ingredients as bird weight goes up or down):
7 slices of white bread (yes, you may substitute your bread - whole wheat)
1/2 lb regular sausage (yes, you may use country sausage or hot sausage if you want)
1/2 large onions, diced
1 celery rib, diced (one stalk, piece, etc. just one, not the whole plant.)
1 tsp olive oil, oil, bacon grease or grease from cooking the sausage.
1/2 tsp salt (opt. I don't use much salt, so I don't use salt in my stuffing)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (opt)
1/2 tsp Adobo (opt)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (opt)
1. Cook the sausage on med-low heat. When no longer pink, remove from pan, place on paper towel that is on a plate and allow to drain. Pour off any excess grease. I buy "Jimmy Dean Sausage". I found that even though it's more expensive, I don't have a pan full of grease when I'm done cooking, but YMMV. In fact, as there was no grease in the pan, I had to add a little bacon grease to cook my veggies in.
2. While the sausage is cooking, dice the veggies. When the sausage is done, cook veggies in that pan, still set to medium low. After putting the veggies on to cook. Toss the bread onto the oven rack to toast and set oven to preheat (325 degrees.Bread doesn't need to be "browned", just dried out.
3. Also while the veggies cook, rinse out your roasting pan and dry it (to get rid of any dust that may have settled in it since it's last use. When I remember, I will spray the pan with a little cooking spray or olive oil.
4. When the veggies are done, remove the bread from the oven and break them into little chunks. In a bowl, mix the bread, sausage, veggies and any spices you want to use. Be careful, the sausage will be warm and the veggies hot!
5. THEN, take turkey out of fridge, open turkey bag, remove the ends of the legs from the little leg holder thingy, take neck, and giblets out of the body cavity. CHECK THE NECK AREA, sometimes they put part of the giblets in there! Wash your turkey inside and out with running water. (don't use soap! One day, when I was about 9, my mom told me to "wash the chicken". So I proceeded to pour dish soap on it and soap it up. lol She caught me and asked what I was doing - to which I very innocently replied; "Doing what you told me to. You told me to wash the chicken".) That's when I learned that "washing" a chicken/turkey was nothing more than rinsing it off well and looking for pin feathers. Check for pin feathers and remove if you find any. Remove the very inaccurate pop-up thingy. We're going to use a thermometer to see when the turkey is done! Turn turkey on end in sink so the water can drain out. This should all take no more than 3 minutes.
6. I start by lightly stuffing the neck area. I then fold the wings back on themselves (so it looks like the turkey is on it's back with it's "arms" behind it's head. Then I proceed to lightly stuff the body cavity. DO NOT PACK EITHER CAVITY! If you don't use all the stuffing (and I rarely do), then throw it away, give it to the dog or bake it with the turkey in a separate pan. Usually, it's only a handful that's left for my normal 14lb.something oz. bird. I then put the legs back into that little leg holder thingy that they put into the bird. The bird is now on it's back, centered in the pan.
7. Now I season the bird with Adobo, onion powder, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning. I put it on a little heavier than I would if I were putting the seasonings on food on my plate. Insert a thermometer into the breast, about 1/2 way, making sure it doesn't touch the bone. (I use a quick read thermometer, so it doesn't go into the bird until I'm ready to see if it's done.)
8. Immediately place the lid on the roasting pan and put the whole thing in the oven. Turkey usually needs about 15 mins per pound of bird. So a 14 lb turkey should take about 3 hrs to cook. Mine usually cooks faster. I think it's the covered, dark enameled pan that is the culprit. I've check the oven temp with an oven thermometer, and the temp is accurate. So the only other thing is could be is the pan.
9. Bake at 325 degrees until internal temp reads 165 to 170 degrees.
10. (I just used the thermometer to check my almost 15 lb bird. After two hours, the temp is 150 degrees.) It took 2 hrs 45 mins to cook this bird today.
Stuffing, yes, stuffing. As in I stuff my bird. My family has stuffed turkeys for generations and we've never gotten sick. However, we don't leave the turkey out, we don't prestuff the bird and then put it in the fridge, we don't slow cook the bird. In fact, we wash the cold bird inside and out with cold water, make the stuffing, IMMEDIATELY stuff the bird with it, season the bird and then IMMEDIATELY put the bird into a large enamel roasting pan, put the lid on the pan and put the pan into the preheated 325 degree oven. If I vary from this in the slightest, then all bets are off. You're on your own with stuffing your bird! I'm just telling you how I cook my turkey. YMMV THE FOOD POLICE SAY; "DO NOT STUFF TURKEY". SERIOUS ILLNESS MAY RESULT. It takes about 2 - 2.5 hrs to cook a 14 lb bird to 170 degrees this way.
1 turkey any weight
stuffing
Adobo
onion powder
garlic powder
poultry seasoning
For a 14 lb bird (add or subtract ingredients as bird weight goes up or down):
7 slices of white bread (yes, you may substitute your bread - whole wheat)
1/2 lb regular sausage (yes, you may use country sausage or hot sausage if you want)
1/2 large onions, diced
1 celery rib, diced (one stalk, piece, etc. just one, not the whole plant.)
1 tsp olive oil, oil, bacon grease or grease from cooking the sausage.
1/2 tsp salt (opt. I don't use much salt, so I don't use salt in my stuffing)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (opt)
1/2 tsp Adobo (opt)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (opt)
1. Cook the sausage on med-low heat. When no longer pink, remove from pan, place on paper towel that is on a plate and allow to drain. Pour off any excess grease. I buy "Jimmy Dean Sausage". I found that even though it's more expensive, I don't have a pan full of grease when I'm done cooking, but YMMV. In fact, as there was no grease in the pan, I had to add a little bacon grease to cook my veggies in.
2. While the sausage is cooking, dice the veggies. When the sausage is done, cook veggies in that pan, still set to medium low. After putting the veggies on to cook. Toss the bread onto the oven rack to toast and set oven to preheat (325 degrees.Bread doesn't need to be "browned", just dried out.
3. Also while the veggies cook, rinse out your roasting pan and dry it (to get rid of any dust that may have settled in it since it's last use. When I remember, I will spray the pan with a little cooking spray or olive oil.
4. When the veggies are done, remove the bread from the oven and break them into little chunks. In a bowl, mix the bread, sausage, veggies and any spices you want to use. Be careful, the sausage will be warm and the veggies hot!
5. THEN, take turkey out of fridge, open turkey bag, remove the ends of the legs from the little leg holder thingy, take neck, and giblets out of the body cavity. CHECK THE NECK AREA, sometimes they put part of the giblets in there! Wash your turkey inside and out with running water. (don't use soap! One day, when I was about 9, my mom told me to "wash the chicken". So I proceeded to pour dish soap on it and soap it up. lol She caught me and asked what I was doing - to which I very innocently replied; "Doing what you told me to. You told me to wash the chicken".) That's when I learned that "washing" a chicken/turkey was nothing more than rinsing it off well and looking for pin feathers. Check for pin feathers and remove if you find any. Remove the very inaccurate pop-up thingy. We're going to use a thermometer to see when the turkey is done! Turn turkey on end in sink so the water can drain out. This should all take no more than 3 minutes.
6. I start by lightly stuffing the neck area. I then fold the wings back on themselves (so it looks like the turkey is on it's back with it's "arms" behind it's head. Then I proceed to lightly stuff the body cavity. DO NOT PACK EITHER CAVITY! If you don't use all the stuffing (and I rarely do), then throw it away, give it to the dog or bake it with the turkey in a separate pan. Usually, it's only a handful that's left for my normal 14lb.something oz. bird. I then put the legs back into that little leg holder thingy that they put into the bird. The bird is now on it's back, centered in the pan.
7. Now I season the bird with Adobo, onion powder, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning. I put it on a little heavier than I would if I were putting the seasonings on food on my plate. Insert a thermometer into the breast, about 1/2 way, making sure it doesn't touch the bone. (I use a quick read thermometer, so it doesn't go into the bird until I'm ready to see if it's done.)
8. Immediately place the lid on the roasting pan and put the whole thing in the oven. Turkey usually needs about 15 mins per pound of bird. So a 14 lb turkey should take about 3 hrs to cook. Mine usually cooks faster. I think it's the covered, dark enameled pan that is the culprit. I've check the oven temp with an oven thermometer, and the temp is accurate. So the only other thing is could be is the pan.
9. Bake at 325 degrees until internal temp reads 165 to 170 degrees.
10. (I just used the thermometer to check my almost 15 lb bird. After two hours, the temp is 150 degrees.) It took 2 hrs 45 mins to cook this bird today.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Your gonna kill me for this recipe!
Ok, here's just what we need.
Cake in a cup (or bowl)
1 regular cake mix, your choice of flavor
1 box instant pudding (NOT sugar free), 4 serving size. Flavor to compliment the cake flavor
Open both boxes and place contents in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. I used a whisk and I got a not quite 10 half cup full each, from my chocolate cake/choco pudding and just over 9 half cup full from the carrot cake/vanilla pudding (coconut would have been better, but...my kids won't eat coconut anyway other than fresh). (I mixed the choco and carrot leftovers together and had just short of 1/2 cup. But it worked, I ate it and it was good. lol)
This will make about 9 packages of carefully measured mix.
What I did was spoon the mix into a 1/2 cup measure, level it off and then pour it into a snack size zip bag. Squeeze out air and close. I choose to use the more careful spoon and level method rather than my normal use-the-measure-to-scoop-the-mix-into-the-cup-and-shake-off-the excess. I did this because I was able to make more mixes from it and they will all be exactly 1/2 cup. If you scoop and shake, you can get more than 1/2 cup quite easily. It took me probably 2 minutes longer to bag them this way than the scoop and shake method.
To use:
My instructions said to spray a 1 1/2 cup mug with Pam. Well, we tried the cup method and it looks cute, but the cake was tough on the outer edges and too deep to eat easily. Besides, the little bit of frosting didn't cover the cake well.
So on the next batch, I tried putting it into a cereal bowl. I was out of Pam, so I just didn't grease it. Truthfully, I couldn't tell a difference between the mug that was greased and the bowl that wasn't. Both had stuff stuck a little bit to the sides.
I poured one cake packet into a bowl, added 1 TBS olive oil and 1 Tbs water. Then added 1 egg WHITE. Stirred well and nuked for 2 mins.
I frosted it with some chocolate frosting I had purchased. Next time, I make my own frosting!
To make a glaze:
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp of Koolaid, Lemonade, Tang or other powdered, unsweetened drink mix, cocoa, or use some of the coffee creamer that comes in flavors.
(While you have the sugar out, make up 9 packets to save yourself the trouble of having to haul out, then clean up after each "glaze making" session. Then package the cake mix and glaze mix together in a larger sandwich size bag. Put all the sandwich bags into a large zip bag. When you use each sandwich bag packet, replace it into the zip bag. Next time, reuse the "kit" bags.)
To use the Glaze, place it in a cup, add 1 1/2 tsp of water (or Hershey's syrup) or other liquid (lemon juice would be good!). Stir together well. You can do this while the cake is cooking.
BE AWARE. The cake is HOT when it comes out of the microwave!!!
We've been playing with the recipe for several days. I've been mixing two packages at a time, one for me and one for Thang #2, each in our own bowl. This evening, instead of feeding the dog the egg yolks, I beat one large egg together and split it between the two bowls, 2 1/2 tbs to each bowl. I think it tasted better, but just the egg white does work. And you can probably use ground flax seed or gelatin to get out of using an egg at all. Could also probably get away with 1 tbs applesauce instead of the oil too.
Next project - when I finish the massive job of reorganizing my kitchen/food storage stuff, is to see if homemade cake works the same way. In theory it should, but you never know until you try it. If YOU try it, post and let me know.
Now you know why I said you're going to kill me. Hot cake on demand. Just what we all need. NOT!
Cake in a cup (or bowl)
1 regular cake mix, your choice of flavor
1 box instant pudding (NOT sugar free), 4 serving size. Flavor to compliment the cake flavor
Open both boxes and place contents in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. I used a whisk and I got a not quite 10 half cup full each, from my chocolate cake/choco pudding and just over 9 half cup full from the carrot cake/vanilla pudding (coconut would have been better, but...my kids won't eat coconut anyway other than fresh). (I mixed the choco and carrot leftovers together and had just short of 1/2 cup. But it worked, I ate it and it was good. lol)
This will make about 9 packages of carefully measured mix.
What I did was spoon the mix into a 1/2 cup measure, level it off and then pour it into a snack size zip bag. Squeeze out air and close. I choose to use the more careful spoon and level method rather than my normal use-the-measure-to-scoop-the-mix-into-the-cup-and-shake-off-the excess. I did this because I was able to make more mixes from it and they will all be exactly 1/2 cup. If you scoop and shake, you can get more than 1/2 cup quite easily. It took me probably 2 minutes longer to bag them this way than the scoop and shake method.
To use:
My instructions said to spray a 1 1/2 cup mug with Pam. Well, we tried the cup method and it looks cute, but the cake was tough on the outer edges and too deep to eat easily. Besides, the little bit of frosting didn't cover the cake well.
So on the next batch, I tried putting it into a cereal bowl. I was out of Pam, so I just didn't grease it. Truthfully, I couldn't tell a difference between the mug that was greased and the bowl that wasn't. Both had stuff stuck a little bit to the sides.
I poured one cake packet into a bowl, added 1 TBS olive oil and 1 Tbs water. Then added 1 egg WHITE. Stirred well and nuked for 2 mins.
I frosted it with some chocolate frosting I had purchased. Next time, I make my own frosting!
To make a glaze:
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp of Koolaid, Lemonade, Tang or other powdered, unsweetened drink mix, cocoa, or use some of the coffee creamer that comes in flavors.
(While you have the sugar out, make up 9 packets to save yourself the trouble of having to haul out, then clean up after each "glaze making" session. Then package the cake mix and glaze mix together in a larger sandwich size bag. Put all the sandwich bags into a large zip bag. When you use each sandwich bag packet, replace it into the zip bag. Next time, reuse the "kit" bags.)
To use the Glaze, place it in a cup, add 1 1/2 tsp of water (or Hershey's syrup) or other liquid (lemon juice would be good!). Stir together well. You can do this while the cake is cooking.
BE AWARE. The cake is HOT when it comes out of the microwave!!!
We've been playing with the recipe for several days. I've been mixing two packages at a time, one for me and one for Thang #2, each in our own bowl. This evening, instead of feeding the dog the egg yolks, I beat one large egg together and split it between the two bowls, 2 1/2 tbs to each bowl. I think it tasted better, but just the egg white does work. And you can probably use ground flax seed or gelatin to get out of using an egg at all. Could also probably get away with 1 tbs applesauce instead of the oil too.
Next project - when I finish the massive job of reorganizing my kitchen/food storage stuff, is to see if homemade cake works the same way. In theory it should, but you never know until you try it. If YOU try it, post and let me know.
Now you know why I said you're going to kill me. Hot cake on demand. Just what we all need. NOT!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Amish Friendship Bread
Hey, it's your lucky day. Two post for one!
Amish Friendship Bread
Starter:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
Bread:
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 small box instant-vanilla-pudding mix (opt)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (opt)
1 cup raisins, chocolate chips, coconut, mashed bananas, cranberries, etc and/or nuts, (opt)
Cinnamon sugar: (opt)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
For starter:
Mix yeast, flour and sugar together. Add warm water and milk. Mix together with a plastic or wooden spoon until smooth. Place in a plastic, ceramic or glass bowl; or put in a gallon zipper bag. Squish the air out of the zip bag and close it. If in a bowl, just leave it open, or cover lightly with cheesecloth. Let sit on counter. Don't worry, there's enough sugar to prevent spoiling. Don’t refrigerate or use a metal spoon or bowl. The fridge will slow down the process and throw off the yeast cycle. Metal will kill the yeast. (Metal baking pans are ok. The dough isn't "raw" in it long enough to do serious damage to the mix.)
Day 1: begin or receive starter
Day 2: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 3: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 4: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 5: add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk
Day 6: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 7: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 8: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 9: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 10: add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk, then:
Put 1 cup of starter in each of three containers. Give two away and keep one. This will begin their day 1. (Actually, I either put one in the freezer for a spare or give it away, use one and keep one for my next batch. When the next batch is done, then I have 2 to give away or make a triple batch of the bread.) Caution, eventually everyone you know will have too much of this stuff and will run when they see you and it will be sort of like trying to give away zucchini! lol
When tired of fooling with it everyday or are going on vacation, put it in a covered container or zip bag and put it in the freezer. Remember to mark where you are in the cycle and then just pick it up where you left off. I've had some in the freezer in a zipper bag for a couple of months and it worked just fine. It is best to freeze it on either day 1, day 5 or day 10 - when it's just been "fed". That way, the yeasties have something to eat. But for a couple of weeks, it won't hurt it to just toss it in the freezer anytime.
For bread:
To the remaining batter, add vegetable oil, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, milk, vanilla-pudding mix, cinnamon and salt. Beat until well blended. Add 1 cup raisins, chocolate chips and/or nuts if desired. Grease two loaf pans well, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, coating bottom well. Pour batter into bread pans, and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar onto tops of loaves. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour. If you don't want the cinnamon/sugar mix, you can grease well and sprinkle with regular or powdered sugar and not put sugar on top unless you want it.
This stuff is SO good. And it's probably got 500,000 calories per slice. sigh
What to do with extra cukes
Well after 6 weeks or so of being brain-dead and not being able to think of a thing to write about that would be interesting, I finally thought of something.
I hope everyone's had a nice summer. My poor garden is just NOW producing tomatoes on the plants, but it seems that I'm not the only one around here with tomatoes that haven't bloomed until the last 2 weeks. It was just too cool at night for them.
I have been given a nice selection of cukes. Too many to eat in a couple of days, too few to make it worthwhile making pickles. What to do with them. Cukes don't freeze well at all. Canning them is even worse, unless you make pickles. Here's what I do with them.
I take about 4 cukes, peel and slice very thin - about 1/4" rounds and place them in a bowl.
I peel and thinly slice an onion into rounds. (I prefer my onions then cut in half so I have half-moons - easier to eat that way.) I place these in a bowl too.
I then add 1 part red wine or apple cider vinegar to 1-2 parts water (I like my cukes sour, so I go 1/1) to just barely cover the veggies. Add some salt to taste and mix it all together. Let it sit for a while in the fridge (or not lol). This will last for a week or so in the fridge - if no one eats it all first.
If you wanted you could also add some pickling spices to it and let it sit overnight before eating. Add some sugar and you'd have sweet/sour pickles.
I haven't given exact measurements because you can make this with however many cukes and onions you have. Sometimes, I just add more veggies to it and it's still good.
Because I like the vinegary foods, I take the peeled cukes and a fork and run the tines down the cuke from top to bottom, all the way around it. It causes the cukes to pick up more of the vinegar dressing. After scoring the cukes, I will then slice them thinly.
I hope everyone's had a nice summer. My poor garden is just NOW producing tomatoes on the plants, but it seems that I'm not the only one around here with tomatoes that haven't bloomed until the last 2 weeks. It was just too cool at night for them.
I have been given a nice selection of cukes. Too many to eat in a couple of days, too few to make it worthwhile making pickles. What to do with them. Cukes don't freeze well at all. Canning them is even worse, unless you make pickles. Here's what I do with them.
I take about 4 cukes, peel and slice very thin - about 1/4" rounds and place them in a bowl.
I peel and thinly slice an onion into rounds. (I prefer my onions then cut in half so I have half-moons - easier to eat that way.) I place these in a bowl too.
I then add 1 part red wine or apple cider vinegar to 1-2 parts water (I like my cukes sour, so I go 1/1) to just barely cover the veggies. Add some salt to taste and mix it all together. Let it sit for a while in the fridge (or not lol). This will last for a week or so in the fridge - if no one eats it all first.
If you wanted you could also add some pickling spices to it and let it sit overnight before eating. Add some sugar and you'd have sweet/sour pickles.
I haven't given exact measurements because you can make this with however many cukes and onions you have. Sometimes, I just add more veggies to it and it's still good.
Because I like the vinegary foods, I take the peeled cukes and a fork and run the tines down the cuke from top to bottom, all the way around it. It causes the cukes to pick up more of the vinegar dressing. After scoring the cukes, I will then slice them thinly.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Sauces, white, otherwise and gluten-free sauces
We make "white sauces" quite a lot and sometimes don't even realize that this is what we're doing.
Ever made gravy? That's a browned white sauce. Ever thickened soup with flour? Make cheese sauce? Same principle.
Sauces in general are nothing more than a fluid that has been thickened and has had some spices, for flavor. Then you can brown it or not. You can add other ingredients such as eggs, cheese, mushrooms, or other herbs.
Before I make my sauce/gravy I make sure I have what I need on hand. Yeah, ok, so that's a no brainer. But is your cheese already grated, measured out and ready to be dumped into the sauce? Are the mushrooms cleaned, sliced or chopped, cooked, measured and ready to be dumped? Are your seasonings out, lids off and ready to go? Gottcha. Once the sauce is ready to have the add-ins added in, you don't want to have to leave it to go do these things. You risk the sauce scorching on the bottom. You want to be able to stir with one hand while adding stuff with the other. That way it won't scorch and you won't get popped with hot gravy - and it DOES pop when it cooks - unless you keep stirring it, and even then sometimes you get popped.
Traditional basic sauce: (can be doubled, tripled or more)
2 Tbs Fat source - butter, margarine, rendered fat(chicken, beef, bacon, etc) or oil
2 Tbs thickener - flour, cornstarch, tapioca, arrowroot, bean flour, etc
1 cup liquid - milk, cream, water, stock, broth, liquid from drained veggies, pan drippings or a combo of these
This is made into a medium thick sauce by melting/warming the fat source over a medium low heat. If you want the sauce to stay white, you need to use milk and not let the fat brown. When the fat is melted/warmed, add the thickener to it and stir it around. The best thing to use is a wire whisk, but in the days before I owned a whisk, I used a spoon or fork.
Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add in the liquid, stirring in a bit of liquid at a time and thoroughly incorporating it into the flour before adding more. This takes a bit of patience, but it will keep lumps from forming. You want a smooth mixture.
After the liquid is completely mixed in, return the pan to the heat and keep stirring it. Truthfully, I turn the heat up to med-high and stir it constantly. It will thicken as it comes to a simmer. Turn the heat down and keep stirring it. Let it cook for about 3 minutes. You may want to keep the heat down so you don't scorch it, especially if you're using milk or cream.
Now you need to make some decisions. If you want to freeze it, this is the point to do so. Freezing changes the flavors of sauces, killing some of the taste. It's best to freeze it and then add the seasoning to it when you're ready to use it. You can divide the sauce up into portion size servings or put it into ice trays and then, when it's frozen, pop those into a zip bag. Oh, and don't freeze this if you've used cream for the liquid. If you do, the sauce breaks down upon thawing.
Season your sauce with whatever rings your chimes. Around here it's Adobo (without pepper), some salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. (Part of me will be glad when I'm only cooking for me again and can use the "real" stuff. Kids, gotta love 'em but I'm sure gonna miss 'em.) Here is where you'd add any special ingredients you'd like to use - herbs, mushrooms, cheeses, etc.
Variations:
Thinner sauce:
1 Tbs fat
1 Tbs thickener
1 to 1 1/2 cups liquid
Thicker sauce:
4 Tbs fat
4 Tbs thickener
1 cup liquid
Cheese sauce:
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded cheese, tightly packed, for each cup of sauce. That's about 1/8 to 1/4 pound of cheese. If it's too thick, thin with milk.
Mushrooms:
1 cup mushrooms, sliced or chopped to each cup of sauce
Cook in butter, bacon grease or olive oil and add to the white sauce.
To make cream of mushroom soup, use a thin white sauce and the mushrooms.
Bechamel sauce:
Reduce the flour to 1 1/2 Tbs. After making the sauce, beat either on egg or just the yolk of an egg to a froth. Stir in a 2 tbs of the hot mixture into the egg and mix that well, add another 2 Tbs and mix that well (temper the egg) and then add the egg mixture into the sauce and stir well. This will not freeze well either.
Alfredo sauce:
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated, per cup of sauce
1 Tsp garlic or garlic powder (opt)
Yep, that's all it is! Too easy for something so expensive.
Now in a total departure from "rules", this is how I make gravy. When I cook my meat, there is usually some "drippings" left in the pan. If you fry meat, stuff sticks to the bottom of the pan. Unless you've cooked the meat in a LOT of fat, you don't need to strain off the fat. We tend to not use much fat when frying. I use cast iron pans and we keep them well seasoned so that only a Tbs or so of fat is used. When the meat is done, I will add water to the pan and "deglaze" it - stirring the water around until it picks up the bits of meat and the "fried on" stuff. It adds flavor to the water and you get "free" gravy. I then use this water to make the gravy. If I want more meat flavor, I sometimes will add a bouillon or two to the water.
When I make a roast, I use the pan drippings, add water and deglaze the pan just like I would with fried meat (if anything has stuck to the bottom of the pan). When I make a turkey, I will simmer the neck, gizzard, and the heart with an onion, rib of celery, some poultry seasoning, salt and I use a 3qt pot. I add water to cover the ingredients, refilling as needed. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer, cover and let it cook while the turkey cooks. When the turkey is done, I strain out the veggies and add this to the pan drippings to make my gravy. (I remove the giblets, but you can dice them and add them back to the gravy. Again, kids) I don't use the liver in the pot as it's too strong. I cook it with the meat and either eat it or give it to the dog.
Measure out how much liquid you want to end up with. If you want 3 cups of gravy, then you need to start with 3 cups of liquid. (I know: well duhhhh)
2 cups of that liquid will go into a pan, turn the heat to med and start warming it up. Take the remaining 1 cup of liquid and add it SLOWLY, to 1/2 cup thickener (we like thick gravy), stirring after each addition, so that it makes a smooth paste. Then add just a little more liquid to it so that it will pour - you want a slurry(we're not making dumplings, lol). Slowly add the flour mixture into the pot with the warm liquid in it, stirring constantly. Bring it to a slow boil and KEEP stirring it. Let it cook for about 3 minutes on low while you add the seasonings to it. Keep stirring it frequently while you do this! Again, our personal cast of reoccurring characters are Adobo, onion and garlic powder and salt. Though I do use sage, thyme and other herbs depending on what meat I've used. I will sometimes add a tbs of bacon grease to the pot too.
Notice that I make the gravy without added fat. You don't HAVE to have fat to make gravy, any more than you HAVE to use flour to make it.
What you DON'T want to do is to try and add the thickener TO the liquid. Always add liquid to the thickener. Add a bit and stir it up, then add a little more liquid and stir that up, until you have a slurry. A slurry is thinner than a paste. This is the secret to lump-free gravy.
Oh, and if like me you fail to measure your liquid, you just eyeball it and then it turns out too thin; just add some more thickener to a cup, bowl, measuring cup, whatever will hold liquid/thickener and add enough liquid to make a slurry - just like we did before. (Great run on sentence!) If your slurry doesn't have lumps, your gravy won't have lumps, so make sure the slurry is smooth.
Ok, so now it's TOO thick - add more of your liquid to thin it out. But JUST a LITTLE at a time and stir it well!
For those that need gluten-free sauces or gravy, select the gluten-free thickeners. I believe that the list would include the cornstarch, rice starch, arrowroot, bean flour, and tapioca. Since no one I personally know needs gluten-free, I'm not positive about this list. As always, read the label on the package. Also, there may be more choices, but I don't know them.
Ever made gravy? That's a browned white sauce. Ever thickened soup with flour? Make cheese sauce? Same principle.
Sauces in general are nothing more than a fluid that has been thickened and has had some spices, for flavor. Then you can brown it or not. You can add other ingredients such as eggs, cheese, mushrooms, or other herbs.
Before I make my sauce/gravy I make sure I have what I need on hand. Yeah, ok, so that's a no brainer. But is your cheese already grated, measured out and ready to be dumped into the sauce? Are the mushrooms cleaned, sliced or chopped, cooked, measured and ready to be dumped? Are your seasonings out, lids off and ready to go? Gottcha. Once the sauce is ready to have the add-ins added in, you don't want to have to leave it to go do these things. You risk the sauce scorching on the bottom. You want to be able to stir with one hand while adding stuff with the other. That way it won't scorch and you won't get popped with hot gravy - and it DOES pop when it cooks - unless you keep stirring it, and even then sometimes you get popped.
Traditional basic sauce: (can be doubled, tripled or more)
2 Tbs Fat source - butter, margarine, rendered fat(chicken, beef, bacon, etc) or oil
2 Tbs thickener - flour, cornstarch, tapioca, arrowroot, bean flour, etc
1 cup liquid - milk, cream, water, stock, broth, liquid from drained veggies, pan drippings or a combo of these
This is made into a medium thick sauce by melting/warming the fat source over a medium low heat. If you want the sauce to stay white, you need to use milk and not let the fat brown. When the fat is melted/warmed, add the thickener to it and stir it around. The best thing to use is a wire whisk, but in the days before I owned a whisk, I used a spoon or fork.
Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add in the liquid, stirring in a bit of liquid at a time and thoroughly incorporating it into the flour before adding more. This takes a bit of patience, but it will keep lumps from forming. You want a smooth mixture.
After the liquid is completely mixed in, return the pan to the heat and keep stirring it. Truthfully, I turn the heat up to med-high and stir it constantly. It will thicken as it comes to a simmer. Turn the heat down and keep stirring it. Let it cook for about 3 minutes. You may want to keep the heat down so you don't scorch it, especially if you're using milk or cream.
Now you need to make some decisions. If you want to freeze it, this is the point to do so. Freezing changes the flavors of sauces, killing some of the taste. It's best to freeze it and then add the seasoning to it when you're ready to use it. You can divide the sauce up into portion size servings or put it into ice trays and then, when it's frozen, pop those into a zip bag. Oh, and don't freeze this if you've used cream for the liquid. If you do, the sauce breaks down upon thawing.
Season your sauce with whatever rings your chimes. Around here it's Adobo (without pepper), some salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. (Part of me will be glad when I'm only cooking for me again and can use the "real" stuff. Kids, gotta love 'em but I'm sure gonna miss 'em.) Here is where you'd add any special ingredients you'd like to use - herbs, mushrooms, cheeses, etc.
Variations:
Thinner sauce:
1 Tbs fat
1 Tbs thickener
1 to 1 1/2 cups liquid
Thicker sauce:
4 Tbs fat
4 Tbs thickener
1 cup liquid
Cheese sauce:
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded cheese, tightly packed, for each cup of sauce. That's about 1/8 to 1/4 pound of cheese. If it's too thick, thin with milk.
Mushrooms:
1 cup mushrooms, sliced or chopped to each cup of sauce
Cook in butter, bacon grease or olive oil and add to the white sauce.
To make cream of mushroom soup, use a thin white sauce and the mushrooms.
Bechamel sauce:
Reduce the flour to 1 1/2 Tbs. After making the sauce, beat either on egg or just the yolk of an egg to a froth. Stir in a 2 tbs of the hot mixture into the egg and mix that well, add another 2 Tbs and mix that well (temper the egg) and then add the egg mixture into the sauce and stir well. This will not freeze well either.
Alfredo sauce:
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated, per cup of sauce
1 Tsp garlic or garlic powder (opt)
Yep, that's all it is! Too easy for something so expensive.
Now in a total departure from "rules", this is how I make gravy. When I cook my meat, there is usually some "drippings" left in the pan. If you fry meat, stuff sticks to the bottom of the pan. Unless you've cooked the meat in a LOT of fat, you don't need to strain off the fat. We tend to not use much fat when frying. I use cast iron pans and we keep them well seasoned so that only a Tbs or so of fat is used. When the meat is done, I will add water to the pan and "deglaze" it - stirring the water around until it picks up the bits of meat and the "fried on" stuff. It adds flavor to the water and you get "free" gravy. I then use this water to make the gravy. If I want more meat flavor, I sometimes will add a bouillon or two to the water.
When I make a roast, I use the pan drippings, add water and deglaze the pan just like I would with fried meat (if anything has stuck to the bottom of the pan). When I make a turkey, I will simmer the neck, gizzard, and the heart with an onion, rib of celery, some poultry seasoning, salt and I use a 3qt pot. I add water to cover the ingredients, refilling as needed. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer, cover and let it cook while the turkey cooks. When the turkey is done, I strain out the veggies and add this to the pan drippings to make my gravy. (I remove the giblets, but you can dice them and add them back to the gravy. Again, kids) I don't use the liver in the pot as it's too strong. I cook it with the meat and either eat it or give it to the dog.
Measure out how much liquid you want to end up with. If you want 3 cups of gravy, then you need to start with 3 cups of liquid. (I know: well duhhhh)
2 cups of that liquid will go into a pan, turn the heat to med and start warming it up. Take the remaining 1 cup of liquid and add it SLOWLY, to 1/2 cup thickener (we like thick gravy), stirring after each addition, so that it makes a smooth paste. Then add just a little more liquid to it so that it will pour - you want a slurry(we're not making dumplings, lol). Slowly add the flour mixture into the pot with the warm liquid in it, stirring constantly. Bring it to a slow boil and KEEP stirring it. Let it cook for about 3 minutes on low while you add the seasonings to it. Keep stirring it frequently while you do this! Again, our personal cast of reoccurring characters are Adobo, onion and garlic powder and salt. Though I do use sage, thyme and other herbs depending on what meat I've used. I will sometimes add a tbs of bacon grease to the pot too.
Notice that I make the gravy without added fat. You don't HAVE to have fat to make gravy, any more than you HAVE to use flour to make it.
What you DON'T want to do is to try and add the thickener TO the liquid. Always add liquid to the thickener. Add a bit and stir it up, then add a little more liquid and stir that up, until you have a slurry. A slurry is thinner than a paste. This is the secret to lump-free gravy.
Oh, and if like me you fail to measure your liquid, you just eyeball it and then it turns out too thin; just add some more thickener to a cup, bowl, measuring cup, whatever will hold liquid/thickener and add enough liquid to make a slurry - just like we did before. (Great run on sentence!) If your slurry doesn't have lumps, your gravy won't have lumps, so make sure the slurry is smooth.
Ok, so now it's TOO thick - add more of your liquid to thin it out. But JUST a LITTLE at a time and stir it well!
For those that need gluten-free sauces or gravy, select the gluten-free thickeners. I believe that the list would include the cornstarch, rice starch, arrowroot, bean flour, and tapioca. Since no one I personally know needs gluten-free, I'm not positive about this list. As always, read the label on the package. Also, there may be more choices, but I don't know them.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tamale Pie
Tamale Pie
This makes a nice meal that is VERY low cost, and for vegans, just use the veggie bouillon and forgo the sour cream or get soy "sour cream".
If you don't have access to a wheat grinder - sometimes you can get a used one for about $50, you can use a coffee grinder. I bought one at Wallyworld for $10. I use it to grind flax seeds, but before I bought the used wheat grinder, it's what I used to grind my beans and peas into a flour.
Adobo is a seasoning that is also found in most Mexican sections of the store, though my local Wallyworld doesn't carry it. Masa Harina is a type of flour found in the Mexican section of the grocery store. The masa does have a slightly different flavor than regular ground corn flour. You can make your own masa by soaking corn in lime, washing it, and cooking it, then drying the corn and powdering it. There's a little more to making masa than that, but that's the quickly typed version. If anyone's interested, I can post a how-to on it.
On to the Tamale Pie recipe.
Base:
2 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup masa harina or corn flour (not corn meal, flour is ground finer than the meal is, if corn meal is all you have, grind it in your coffee bean grinder to a finer texture.)
1/2 cup pinto bean flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Adobo
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Gravy
2 cups warm water
2 Tbs pinto bean flour
2 Tsp masa or corn flour
2 Tbs chili powder
1 1/2 Tbs cumin
1 chicken or veggie bouillon or 1 tsp bouillon powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Adobo powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Topping:
1 cup cheese
For each serving:
chopped green onion and tops
sour cream
lettuce
diced tomato
diced hot peppers, fresh or canned (opt)
To make the base:
In a 3 or 3 1/2 cups sauce pan, whisk together all of the base ingredients and then bring them to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down the heat to low, cover and let cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and add 1 cup of the gravy, and place in a greased 9" x 13" pan. Let this cool about 5 minutes or so, then spread with the remaining gravy. Top with the cheese and place in 350 degree oven for about 20 mins to let the cheese melt.
Remove from oven and serve with onions, sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes.
To make the gravy:
Whisk all the dry ingredients into the water, Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. lower heat, cover pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This should freeze well, though I've never frozen it.
This makes a nice meal that is VERY low cost, and for vegans, just use the veggie bouillon and forgo the sour cream or get soy "sour cream".
If you don't have access to a wheat grinder - sometimes you can get a used one for about $50, you can use a coffee grinder. I bought one at Wallyworld for $10. I use it to grind flax seeds, but before I bought the used wheat grinder, it's what I used to grind my beans and peas into a flour.
Adobo is a seasoning that is also found in most Mexican sections of the store, though my local Wallyworld doesn't carry it. Masa Harina is a type of flour found in the Mexican section of the grocery store. The masa does have a slightly different flavor than regular ground corn flour. You can make your own masa by soaking corn in lime, washing it, and cooking it, then drying the corn and powdering it. There's a little more to making masa than that, but that's the quickly typed version. If anyone's interested, I can post a how-to on it.
On to the Tamale Pie recipe.
Base:
2 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup masa harina or corn flour (not corn meal, flour is ground finer than the meal is, if corn meal is all you have, grind it in your coffee bean grinder to a finer texture.)
1/2 cup pinto bean flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Adobo
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Gravy
2 cups warm water
2 Tbs pinto bean flour
2 Tsp masa or corn flour
2 Tbs chili powder
1 1/2 Tbs cumin
1 chicken or veggie bouillon or 1 tsp bouillon powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Adobo powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Topping:
1 cup cheese
For each serving:
chopped green onion and tops
sour cream
lettuce
diced tomato
diced hot peppers, fresh or canned (opt)
To make the base:
In a 3 or 3 1/2 cups sauce pan, whisk together all of the base ingredients and then bring them to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down the heat to low, cover and let cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and add 1 cup of the gravy, and place in a greased 9" x 13" pan. Let this cool about 5 minutes or so, then spread with the remaining gravy. Top with the cheese and place in 350 degree oven for about 20 mins to let the cheese melt.
Remove from oven and serve with onions, sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes.
To make the gravy:
Whisk all the dry ingredients into the water, Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. lower heat, cover pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This should freeze well, though I've never frozen it.
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