Taste Test Tuesday: Chicken Rice Soup and Jello Dessert

The recipes I am sharing today come from my sister-in-law.  The first a chicken rice soup can be adapted to use even more food storage than just the rice and flour by using canned or dried foods, and dry milk, and adding cooked beans.  It was nice and creamy and yummy.  The second recipe uses frozen strawberries, so easy to make year-round without killing the budget trying to spring for fresh strawberries.  If you like sweet and salty, this is a great dessert to have with the salty pretzels and the sweet jello & cream mixtures.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Beef Stroganof

Today's recipe comes from my sister-in-law.  I've tried a few different beef stroganof recipes, and liked each, too.  So here is one of them...  Though I didn't add as many mushrooms and I used dried onion and minced garlic.  When I made it, it was a little liquidy so you will want a bowl to serve this in rather than a plate.  This can also be served with rice/wheat instead of noodles.

Enjoy!

Wednesday Why: Shelf-Stable Meals/Menu

What are some shelf stable meals?  And what is an example of a 1 month shelf stable meal menu?  When I say shelf stable I mean food items that can remain on a pantry/cupboard shelf until opened.  Also if using dehydrated foods, will need to store more water to rehydrate these items compared to their canned counterparts.

Some great meals that can be made using shelf stable food items are:  Soups, chilis, noodle dishes, rice dishes, baking mix foods, cereals/grains; all with canned/dehydrated fruits and veggies as sides.

Specifically:
Soups/Chilis:  canned soups/chilis or homemade using: broths, canned/dehydrated veggies & meats, canned/dry beans, pasta sauces, salsas, tomato sauces, jarred sauces and rice or noodles.
Noodle dishes:  Make casseroles, soups or pasta/sauce dishes.  Simply add canned/dehydrated meats, veggies, condensed soups, jarred sauces/salsas and seasonings to taste.  Like spaghetti or other noodles with pasta sauce, canned noodle dishes (like ravioli, Spaghetti O's, etc.), boxed or homemade Mac & cheese (using jarred cheese sauce or velveeta since these don't have to be refrigerated until opened), ramen noodles.
Rice dishes:  casseroles or soups using rice.  Simply add canned/dehydrated meats, veggies, condensed soups, jarred sauces/salsas and seasonings to taste, just like with noodles.
Potato dishes (using potato flakes):  Make up flakes to mashed potatoes, add canned/dehyrdrated meats/veggies/condensed soups and seasonings to make casseroles--using mashed potatoes as a crust of sorts
Potato dishes (using dehydrated potato dices, slices, shreds, etc):  make casseroles by adding condensed soups, canned/dehydrated meats or veggies and seasonings.
Baking Mix dishes/foods:  pancakes, biscuits, waffles, pot pie/pie/cobbler crusts/topping, cornbread, breads, some cakes and cookies
Cereals/Grains:  using dry milk for drinking milk and thereby the milk in cereals, oatmeals, grits, cracked wheat cereal.  Make wheat cereal with wheat berries or cracked wheat and sweetener/jam.  Crackers are a great 72 hour kit item, but also great for meals at home--use with tuna/canned chicken, PB&J or cheese.

Sample 1 month menu using shelf stable meals:

You may have other favorites that already use or could use shelf stable items in place of fresh.  When you find a meal that your family likes that uses only shelf stable items, then write it down and add it to your rotation.

When making your own menu, you can choose any number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I chose 7 different meals to rotate through, you can do more or less.  Then simply stock up on the items needed to make those meals--even though these items are shelf stable, you will want to use and rotate through them before the expiration date.

Hope this helps in giving ideas on meals that can be made when the fridge/freezer isn't working.  All of these meals can be made using an alternative cooking method if the electricity is out.  I originally put this menu together a few years back in preparation for hurricane season, knowing that if one hit, the electric could be out for anywhere between a day to a couple of weeks days.

Taste Test Tuesday: Magic Mix

Milky May:  2 recipes today:  Garlic Rosemary Chicken and Magic Mix

Garlic Rosemary Chicken:  This recipe uses Magic Mix--recipe & information below.  With the amount of chicken I used as shown in the picture, there was just enough of the creamy sauce to coat the chicken rather than having chicken in sauce to top the rice.  The amounts of chicken and sauce can be adjusted to family likes--whether you like having chicken in a creamy sauce or having chicken lightly coated by the creamy sauce.  The seasonings can also be adjusted as well as replaced with other seasoning blends.  Freezer meal alert:  this freezes well, simply reheat in a microwave--works good to make individual servings or family size servings.

Magic Mix can be used for sauces, gravies, puddings, cream soups, etc.  I have made all of these using Magic Mix in the past, including making homemade fudge-cicles-mmm.  It is really a nice mix to have on hand for making quick meals that need white sauces, gravies, soups, etc.  It works really great with recipes that use cheese--parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella--things like chicken alfredo, macaroni and cheese, casseroles that use cream soups and cheese.

Enjoy!

Here are some websites with more information on Magic Mix and recipes to use them:

http://www.theideadoorfiles.com/index.php/self-reliance-food-storage-prepardness/161-preparedness/food-storage/203-basic-food-storage-booklet --this leads to a recipe booklet for items sold by LDS home storage centers, it includes recipes using dry milk and Magic Mix.  Love this recipe booklet, many useful recipes.

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/pub__3295363.pdf --Utah State extension Magic Mix pamphlet, uses instant powdered milk

http://extension.usu.edu/duchesne/files/uploads/FCS/Freezer%20Meals/freezer%20meals%20agogo_packet.pdf--includes a recipe or two that uses Magic Mix

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/em4693/em4693.pdf  --Washington State’s extenstion Magic Mix pamphlet

Taste Test Tuesday: BBQ Rice & Wheat

This recipe is a great one for adding in wheat, whether you are trying to hide it or not.  If trying to hide the wheat, instead of adding it to the rice, add it in with the ground meat--after browning the meat, add cooked cracked wheat to it, mix and heat then it is nicely hidden, simply add it to whatever recipe you are going to use ground meat for.  Otherwise, by combining the cracked wheat with the rice, you are able to cook them together saving some time and energy.

Here is a picture of when I cooked rice with wheat:  I used 1 1/2 c rice, and 1 1/2 c sifted cracked wheat.  I love rice cookers when it comes to cooking both rice and cracked wheat!

In the recipe above, I used equal amounts of rice and cracked wheat.  I also used dried onion and celery, so no butter.  But I did add a little soy sauce just for fun to the sauce.  As far as the ketchup (and water) goes, this time I didn't measure it, I started with half a bottle of ketchup and ended up using it all, then filling the ketchup bottle half full, swishing it around to get all remaining ketchup out and using that for my water, a great way to use up any ketchup!  As far as the amounts of onion and celery go, use whatever you like, I like a little more, but it is good with less too.

This was normally a rice only dish, without any wheat.  I have added it to the meat mixture, and as above, to the rice as well.  I think it tastes great with or without wheat, but why not add the little extra health benefits of wheat?

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Fried Rice

I learned the basics of making this fried rice on a mission I served for my church.  You can vary it to suit your own tastes--adding or subtracting ingredients and amounts.  This is also a good recipe to cook a little cracked wheat in with the rice for added nutrition.


Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Teriyaki Chicken

MMM...  I got this recipe from a wonderful friend of mine, Mika.  She is a wonderful cook, and this recipe proves that!  The picture above I made a little differently than listed:  I made the sauce without the seeds (but I have made it in the past with seeds and it is delicious either way), I froze the marinade sauce with whole chicken breasts, then within a month or so, I threw the frozen chicken with sauce into the crockpot (cloudy so couldn't use the sun oven, but I have done this same procedure using a sun oven and it works great).  After cooking several hours, the chicken was very moist and shreddable.  At that point, I simply combined it with the cooked rice/cracked wheat, without making a separate batch of sauce, I also opted to leave out the veggies this time.  MMM!  Enjoy!

I did cook a mixture of rice and cracked wheat together, you can't tell with the sauce making up for some of the coloring of the cracked wheat.  This time I used about 2 cups of rice with 1/2 to 1 c of sifted cracked wheat, it is just a way of sneaking wheat into a rice meal.  I put them both in the rice cooker together and cook it like normal.  After cracking wheat, I sift it to get out the smaller flour-like particles, using that for bread or something.

Cracked wheat is a great addition to rice dishes if you don't want to replace the rice completely.  Other uses for cracked wheat:  add cooked cracked wheat to cooked ground meat to extend not only the amount but the nutrition, add cooked cracked wheat to salads--lettuce, chicken salad, etc., use as a cereal--top with your favorite sweeteners or mix with yogurt and fruit.  There are really many ways to enjoy the benefits of wheat in delicious ways.