PARTY ON, RICE AND BEANS
Last Saturday, we celebrated up in the mountains at our family cabin, an early birthday for daughter number 5. Amazing as it sounds, we actually served 16 teenagers two meals made primarily from food storage.
For lunch we enjoyed BBQ chicken sandwiches, MAC N’ CHEESE, veggies w/ RANCH, grapes, CHIPS, and oven baked S’MORES.
Trust me on this one. The little bit of salt on the Ritz crackers makes all the difference.
It only takes about 5 minutes to toast these li’l pups in a hot oven and when they’re done the chocolate will be completely melted and the tops golden brown. Simple perfection and guaranteed to be gone in a flash.
Sooo good that we eventually ran out of the Hershey’s chocolate and HAD TO move up to the Christmas truffles someone left behind. We had to.
Not just for breakfast any more!
For dinner, and after the girls had spent hours outside playing in the snow, we all enjoyed what has become a family trademark. Rice and beans is a tried-and-true-crowd-pleasing-meal that’s easy to prepare ahead of time and costs pennies to serve. I would have taken a shot of the finished product but for the feeding frenzy. You already know what a taco salad looks like and this is basically the same deal, without the lettuce. Picture a serving of hot rice, topped with warm black beans, grated cheese, our favorite pico de gallo, sour cream, diced avocado, and sometimes sliced black olives.
I did hear of one comment where a cute friend said, “That’s sick. I don’t know why…
(wait for it)
(and remember, from the mouths of babes)
…EVERYONE…LIKES…IT…SO…MUCH.”
Ha! I’m totally okay with that.
So Happy Birthday Lizard! Your wacky friends made it a great party and once again, our food storage helped us do a bit more, for a bit less.
Tags: no one would have guessed it was made from food storage, provident living birthday party
January 12th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Sounds like a lot of fun! Yay for food storage, and for no one slaving away in the kitchen all day long.
When I was in Girl Scouts (about 147 years ago) one of the girls in our troop was allergic to chocolate. Our den leader, or chaperone, or whatever the Girl Scouts call the mom, had us make s’mores that were saltine crackers, a flattened Kraft caramel and a marshmallow. You’re 100% right about that salt, because those were really good and just as easy as traditional s’mores.
Happy Birthday!
January 12th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Happy birthday Lizzie!!!!!
What a yummy birthday dinner. I do recall that you liked that one very much
We served Black Beans over Rice to the missionaries a couple of Sundays ago and they LOVED it. Why am I not surprised! To bad there’s not a way to bottle the fresh pico and have it taste the same bottled as it would be fresh.
Anyway, just for fun we also served homemade guacamole and Brazilian lemonade. Can I just say “heaven”! I hope to be serving this again to another crowed of adults soon.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
What recipe do you use for your beans and rice? I have tried to make this from dry beans so many times, but I can never get it to be as good as store-bought canned beans!
January 12th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
No kidding Laura. I’m not ever interested in slaving in the kitchen. The bbq chicken, rice, and beans were each made a day or two ahead of time. Only took me a few minutes to warm things on the stove. Easy peasy.
Thanks for sharing your carmel s’mores idea. Sounds lovely! That’s a recipe I’m going to try for sure.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
It all sounds wonderful Kris. My son-in-law has made us the Brazilian limeade where he just grinds up whole limes, adds lots of sugar and water, and lets it soak. Strain, drink, and enjoy! Wow.
So far, in my experience, the rice and beans meal has been successful with both children and adults in my home, as the meal for an entire Stake Relief Society activity, and now as birthday party food. I have not fed rice and beans to the missionaries but it’s on my list!
January 12th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Hey Brett. Once you learn how to cook the dry beans you’ll NEVER NEVER EVER go back to canned. Okay, well maybe sometimes in a pinch, but you won’t be happy about it!
If you’ll enter the words “perfect pintos” in the search box at the top of the page you’ll find great instructions, and comments, to help you prepare dry beans. I substituted black beans for the pinto beans. You can also find the full instruction for the rice and beans dinner if you’ll search “rice and beans.” There is also the recipe for the pico de gallo in that post. Have fun and please let me know how it turns out.
January 12th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Did your son-in-law serve his mission in Brazil?
I made a black bean soup a few nights ago that you puree in a blender. That recipe came from someone who served in Brazil and the soup was wonderful! And I did my lemonade (which was made with limes) basically the same way. The kids love that you put the entire lime (sliced up first) in the blender.
Anyway, Brandon and I are trying a lot of new recipes while he is off track and one that he is having fun with is homemade pasta. Last week we made killer fettuccine and made the pasta from scratch, tomorrow will be regular spaghetti with homemade noodles. We are having such fun!
January 13th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
You made the pasta from scratch?
SCRATCH!
(My new word.)
That’s big Kris, real big.
Maybe you should share the black bean soup recipe! xo Liesa
January 15th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Brandon and I tried some of the little smores last night and they were wonderful! Ours didn’t turn out as nice looking as yours, the marshmallow kept trying to fall of the side of the cracker and they didn’t brown nicely. Maybe the oven wasn’t hot enough (it was at 350) and maybe we left them in a little to long trying to get them to toast more.
What ever the problem, they were yummy!!!!
January 15th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Shoot Kris. You know I feel your pain.
Glad they tasted good…even if they didn’t look great.
The tecnique that’s worked best for me is to stick the cut side of each marshmallow half down on top of the piece of chocolate. Stick it good, and prepare to re-stick because they will want to tumble off. While I’m filling the cookie sheet, I heat the oven to 350 and then let them bake in the hot oven for maybe 5 minutes, or until the marshmallows begin to puff. Then I switch the heat to broil and carefully toast the tops to that campfire-without-the-smell-and-mess-smoke-in-my-eyes perfection. Sounds tricky, but it’s really not. You’ll get the hang of it. I’m going to try the carmel on Saltine version tonight!
January 16th, 2010 at 9:36 am
I would love to hear more about the lemonade-limeade where you use the whole fruit. It sounds like I could just do it and figure it out, but a little guidance would probably be a good idea – I don’t want it to be bitter!
January 16th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Laura, we made your saltine carmel s’mores last night and they were GOOD! Very good. FYI, I found that nukeing the carmels for maybe 10 seconds helped them be soft enough to smoosh flat before layering them on the crackers. Thank you!
January 16th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Okay Laura, here’s the recipe from my SIL but it’s only his best guess. He sort of makes it up each time.
Start with 3 limes washed and quartered. Put 4 lime chunks into a blender and cover with about an inch of water. Blend on low for 10-20 seconds. Not puree! Strain pulp from juice and repeat 2 more times with fresh water and remaining lime chunks. Taste. Possibly add additional water and sweeten with sugar as desired. This drink is supposed to be mixed and served immediately to preserve the freshest flavor. Enjoy!
(I also did a quick Google search and found lots of recipes for Brazilian limeade/lemonade.)
January 17th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Thanks Leisa! I’m going to give that a try one day soon. It sounds really good! When I make lemonade I zest a lemon (I use one fresh lemon, the rest of the juice is bottled) and put the zest in a pan with some of the water and the sugar and simmer it a while – it really boosts the flavor of the lemonade, plus then I strain out the zest and add it to my recipe for cranberry scones. Yum!
I’m so glad you liked the caramel s’mores too – the microwave makes sense, but back when we ha them, I’m not sure if microwaves existed yet (eek!), plus we were camping. Hm. Now I want one!
January 18th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
“…boosts the flavor of the lemonade…and add it to my recipe for cranberry scones.”
Laura, may I please come live at your house? I will do all the laundry and scrub the bathrooms!
January 30th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Just came across your blog and recipes. Love them!
I grew up with my mom’s version of s’mores, which my kids and grandchildren love today. We use saltine crackers, peanut butter and marshmallows. They are wonderful.
I can’t wait to try your recipes for beans and rice.
Thanks!
February 1st, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Thank YOU Linda! The PB ’smores sound yummy. We’ll have to try them. I see myself being more of a s’mores grandma than a cookie baking grandma. You’ve inspired me!
February 7th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Liesa, I have enjoyed your blog so much. Mainly because it has given me a renewed sense of obedience (let’s face it, burnout in this area is common), dedication and purpose. Food storage, back in the good ol’ days, was a grim business.
It is about survival, but surviving with grace and class. That little spoonful of sugar. Keeping a brownie mix to bake with canned beans. Ritz S’mores. All a labor of love for those we love.
Just to let you know, we have worked harder than ever to be creative at getting meals and snacks based on what we have. Not only have we eaten healthier and better, I have seen how my skill has grown as a cook.
So, thank you for having such a fun blog and letting everyone know that being obedient doesn’t mean a long face. It is fun. It is good, and we are meant to have joy.
February 7th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Thank you Carolyn. You’ve understood my heart in this deal. I really appreciate hearing about your renewed focus and blessings enjoyed. You’ve shared an example we can ALL learn from!
Thank you again with love, Liesa