First, dice 3-4 peppers, in any combination of colors. I usually go for 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 orange, and 1 red. Then add maybe a quarter, more or less, of a purple onion. This picture shows sliced green onion but the purple or red onion is better. The pepper and onion mixture can be stored in the fridge for days, which saves a ton of time. Next, shred or chop about a cup of purple cabbage.

Mix about 1 cup of cabbage with 1/2 cup of the pepper/onion mix in a small mixing bowl, or simply layer on a plate if you’re in a hurry. Doesn’t that look pretty? I love all the colors in fresh vegetables!

Next step, select a protein option from your pantry storage. Some days I go for a half can of tuna and other days I go for beans. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t.

Add 2 tablespoons of your favorite salad dressing and toss.

I figure that this nutritious lunch has only about 5 or 6 Weight Watchers points. (Notice the variety of light dressing options?) This chopped salad is both filling and fun. I KNOW food is not supposed to be a reward, but this one is. Hope you like it!

3 cups chunky salsa

6 cups beef broth (or bouillon cubes and water)

1/2 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked

2 cans black beans, drained

Combine everything in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 to 5 hours or until done. Be careful to not over cook or rice will be mushy.

My ever wonderful and so helpful friend, Kris, shared this easy-yummy recipe. Thanks Kris!

With only a few optional additions, I served this soup to company that was staying with our family last week. Still simple to prepare, my good-enough-for-guests was a slightly richer and heartier version. Think ultimate Mexican slant on the classic bistro French onion soup. Got it? Good. I didn’t take pictures but I’ll try to explain.

My additions began with 2 cans of  roast beef chunks from Costco. Yeah for more short-term storage ingredients! Yeah that Costco has brought back this product. Really missed these babies. Feel like I need to stockpile. Know that I could make my own, but THEY’RE JUST SOOOOOOO EASY!

Next, I prepared and grilled CORN tortilla quesadillas filled with shredded Mexi-blend cheese I found on sale.  One per customer, I cut the whole quesadillas into bite sized squares and placed them in the bottom of each serving bowl. With the hot soup ladled on top it reminded me of croutes or baguette toasts.

To finish, I garnished the top of each soup bowl with diced avocado and sour cream. Completely forgot that I had fresh cilantro and even a couple of limes in the fridge. Oh well, there’s always next time.

A few fresh ingredients help people want to eat meals made from food storage, on a daily basis. If I couldn’t go to the store, for ANY reason, this recipe for Salsa Fever Soup would be served just as Kris suggested, and it would be great!

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots, diced

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 big box of fresh baby spinach (from Costco)

Storage Ingredients

2 cups dry lentils

5-6 cups chicken broth (or water)

5-6 cups vegetable broth (or water)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoon dried basil

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)

1-2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

At first, this recipe scared me. The list of ingredients seemed a little long and I had NEVER USED LENTILS. Can you believe it? Never! But the prep turned out to be lots easier than I expected and the results were WONDERFUL!

Here. Hold my hand. I’ll walk you through it. 

Three vegetables chopped, ready to be sauteed. Check.

Spices present and accounted for.

Cook veggies until softened. Fond is our friend. (vocab from Laura) Add spices and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes, and lentils. ***Be sure to first sort and rinse your lentils to remove any grit or rocks. Phew. That was close.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer covered, or not, for at least 1 hour.

When ready to serve stir in the whole giant box of spinach. (Don’t even ask what I was trying to do here.)

And don’t forget to add the balsamic vinegar when you stir in all those piles of spinach.

Salt and pepper to taste.

This is my new favorite soup. I love it with all my heart. Happy Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, this soup freezes well and is currently saving my life.

I came home from my happy little presentation tour through the lands of sunshine and gorgeous warm weather, sporting instead of a bronze glow, a terrible cough and cold. When I try to talk, it sounds like that kid you knew in Jr. High that thought it was funny to speak while burping . Plus, it’s 20 degrees outside! The report printed on the National Weather…something…site actually said, “Feels Like 13 Degrees”. Totally accurate description.

Mmmmmm. Good thing I made this nummy soup before I went out of town.

This recipe is for sure being added to my monthly rotation.

FINALLY, thanks to our funky Spring.

I’ve been using the little sweeties to make lots of fresh pico de gallo. The leftover pico went into bottles of black beans. It gives the beans just a little…extra…kick in the pants. (In a good way.) Most of you already know how to do this but in case you’re interested in the step by step, I used: 

1/2 cup pico or salsa 

1 cup of rinsed and sorted black beans

hot water to the neck of the jar, stir to release air bubbles

wipe clean, top with heated lids and rims, and fill pressure canner (mine is only an 8 quart cooker so it will can four quart bottles at a time)

allow to vent for 10 minutes before adding weight on top at 15 pounds PSI, and can for 90 minutes

cool naturally and *carefully remove jars

So. You might notice that I have an odd number of bottles. That’s because something *odd happened.

I

EXPLODED

ONE!!!

But this is what I learned. DO NOT take a BOILING-BOILING HOT bottle out of the pressure canner and immediately try to wipe it off, in the sink (thank heavens) under a stream of warmish water. BAAAAAAM!

You should have seen my husband’s face. Makes me laugh just remembering, but it totally scared the dump out of us. Oh my gosh. It sounded like a shotgun.

Bean wars.

As I turned these little wheat-and-beaners, I topped the cooked side with grated cheese so that it was melted as they came hot off the griddle.

Then we topped them with the usual favorites of diced avocado, salsa, and sour cream…curds? Hmmm

Then we rolled them in half, taco style. Sorry about the picture. Here’s what the picky 12 year old had to say about them:

Yummy!

This is good!

It tastes like something gourmet…from a hippy…Mexican restaurant…in Arizona! (K, this one’s never even been to Arizona so…)

I thought the recipe was a really nice variation on the vegetarian theme. The bean pancake reminded me of a tamale, and a very happy, flavorful, tamale at that. We each gobbled down three. It’s an economical and fun way to enjoy pancakes for dinner without all the butter and syrup. (Nothin’ against butter and syrup.)

Fresh Ingredients

1 egg

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Storage Ingredients

1 15 oz. can of beans, rinsed, drained, and mashed (I used black beans that I had bottled myself. Woohooo!)

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour  (I just threw about 3/4 a cup of whole wheat kernels into the blender and ground them with the evaporated milk.)

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

2 tablespoons of canola oil

couple shots of Tabasco

dash of lime pepper (Didn’t have it and didn’t miss it.)

Mix all ingredients and cook into pancakes. Top with grated cheese, diced avocado, salsa, and sour cream as desired.

Back in December, and thanks to the combined suggestions and ideas from a number of generous readers, I recycled some of my food storage cans, quickly covered them with a little bright red wrapping paper, and filled each with hot soup. Hopefully enough to feed a  family, this neighbor gift was uncharacteristically healthy and came from my food storage.

Fresh Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

8 carrots, diced

8 celery stalks with tops, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup pico de gallo (This is where I love to use the frozen pico in my freezer.)

Storage Ingredients

2 cups pinto or pink beans (I’m sure that other beans would also work well.)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup powdered milk, dry

2-3 teaspoons salt

Sort beans for debris and rinse. Cover with 2 quarts of water and soak for 12-24 hours. If possible, change the water two or three times during the soaking process in order to draw out and reduce the indigestible sugars that cause digestive discomfort. Before cooking, drain and thoroughly rinse beans.

Fill crock-pot with 2 quarts of fresh water and beans. Then add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, olive oil, oregano, cumin, and pepper. Cover with lid and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours, or until the beans are soft. (My beans are…more mature…so I let this soup cook overnight.)

Then add powdered milk, salt, and salsa. Puree the soup, using a stick blender or regular blender, until smooth. Serve with warm tortillas, corn muffins, or garlic toast on the side. Very yummy.

We’ve easily doubled the use of our rice and beans, and because those dry ingredients are already on hand and in my home as part of our long-term food storage, we’re saving money every time we serve this meal.

Big thanks go to Kris for sharing the recipe last Spring. All summer long we enjoyed our home grown ‘maters’ garnishing rice and bean taco salads. When the change in seasons forced me back to buying the not-so-sweet-little-nothings sold at the grocery store, I decided to experiment with substituting petite-cut canned tomatoes. As the family tasted the food storage friendly salsa Lizzie asked, “Is this the salsa from the Rio Grande restaurant?”

Close enough! 

Fresh Ingredients

8-10 Roma tomatoes, diced or substitute with 2 cans, petite-cut tomatoes (1 lb. 12 oz. each can)

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1/2 cup green onion, sliced

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 limes, juiced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Storage Ingredients

2 cans petite-cut tomatoes (1 lb. 12 oz. each can) substituted for fresh tomatoes

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

Mix all the ingredients and chill for an hour or two. So good! And because I’ve been preparing this recipe again and again, for a year, I’ve also discovered that it freezes well.

Sort of like raspberry freezer jam…but different. The point is, IT’S ALL GOOD, and I hope you’ll love it as much as we do.

Hello again!

Probably more than any other food storage item, people are always telling me that they don’t know how to cook dried beans. (I obviously can’t take a good picture. Here’s hoping that  ’soft edges’ might give a boudoir effect, making a bowl of pintos  even more appealing.)

With thanks for patient coaching and encouragement from my friend, The Amazing Cozette,  I’ve finally learned how simple it is to prepare the least expensive protein.  I’ve also learned that died beans, freshly cooked at home, taste so much better than the precooked canned beans from the grocery store. (Think freshly cooked vegetables vs. canned vegetables.)

Right now, I’m working on serving beans at least twice a week. My twelve-year-old and her friends have enjoyed the after-school bean burritos. I’ve enjoyed serving a healthy snack that comes from food storage. We’re saving money and improving our diet…but don’t tell the kids.

Fresh Ingredients

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

Storage Ingredients

2 cups dry pinto beans

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 1/4 cups water

Sort beans for debris. Rinse. Cover with 2 quarts of water and soak for 12-24 hours. If possible, change the water three or four times during soaking process in order to draw out and remove indigestible sugars that cause digestive discomfort. Drain and thoroughly rinse beans. Add all ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low for approximately 10-12 hours, until beans are tender. Add 1-2 teaspoons salt to taste, and serve.

Storage Ingredients

1 box brownie mix (19 oz.)

1 can black beans (15 oz.)

Rinse and drain the black beans. Then spoon the beans back into their can and fill the can with fresh water. Pour beans and water into a blender and puree until smooth. Add puree to the brownie mix and stir. Pour into a sprayed cake pan and follow the directions for baking as printed on the back of the brownie mix box.

I of course, felt obligated to sample these lovies, okay a few times, and can now say with confidence that they are good hot, cold, and one day old. My personal favorite is to enjoy them with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and banana slices. Very happy!

With families here, there, and typically everywhere during the month of July, I decided that Black Bean Brownie kits might be a fun visiting teaching gift. For my drive by, I assembled a copy of the recipe, a brownie mix, one can of black beans, a few bananas, and a little pint of ice cream for each of the sisters I visit. Hopefully this will be a message that the whole family can enjoy.

Thanks for the great idea, Linda!

Fresh Ingredients

Leaf lettuce, washed and torn

3 tomatoes, cut in wedges

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

1/2  red onion, sliced

Feta cheese crumbles

Storage Ingredients

1 can olives

1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Dressing: Equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil. Start with about 1/4 cup each and a little fresh minced garlic. I used a store bought dressing that I already had in the cupboard.

This is one of those friend of a friend of a friend’s recipes–specifically from Laurie, to Lynda, to Liesa. From the first time I tasted it, I was immediately reminded of the wonderful deli salads we enjoyed so much while living in New York. Plus…I may have reached critical mass on Craisins, but that’s just me. 

Most of my food storage is based on main course dishes but setting aside 3 each of olives, artichoke hearts, kidney beans, and salad dressing means I’m that much closer to having a tasty salad ready whenever it’s needed. In terms of another emergency meal, those same storage ingredients could be enjoyed with ANY combination of beans, wheat, or rice that’s been substituted for the lettuce and cucumbers.                   

Noticing what we enjoy eating and then making the necessary preparations in order to have those items in our storage means I can expand my three-month supply with a few side dishes added here and there. Having these ingredients on hand simplifies my daily routine and provides greater options in an emergency. Nothin’ scary about that.