I Dare You To Eat It

Fresh Ingredients

cilantro, chopped (optional)

Storage Ingredients

1 can beef chunks (12 oz.)

1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz.)

1 can sliced, or diced, potatoes (15 oz.)

1 can sliced carrots (15 oz.)

1 can peas (15 oz.)

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix

In a medium-sized pot combine beef chunks with broth, coconut milk, drained vegetables, flour, and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes and serve over hot rice, garnished with fresh chopped cilantro.

Prior to the General Relief Society broadcast a couple of weeks ago, my previous stake served this and two other recipes. I’ll share those next but can you believe it? (gasp!) CANNED VEGETABLES AND EVEN POWDERED MILK AT A STAKE EVENT!!!

With the Utah Food Bank begging for donations, our focus was on rescueing and goods from our food storage were the tools. Besides encouraging the women to participate in a mass food collection, we served them a simple ‘pantry meal’, and shared one woman’s personal testimony of being rescued.

What I learned, again, was that it truly doesn’t matter what we bring to a friend in need. If we don’t have time to make our mother’s famous lasagna, with homemade noodles (oh please) we can still help! We can quickly reach out, show up, share what we have, and try to lift one another. Having a few extra cans in the cupboard will help us to be ready to respond.

And if our budgets happen to be hurting, simple pantry meals can be just the help we need. A yummy curry dinner made with these basic ingredients costs less than $10.00.

One recipe makes enough to feed a family of six!

And, my favorite part is that this recipe can be ready in 10 minutes! Who doesn’t need THAT kind of help?

My mother never cooked with canned vegetables so I grew up thinking they were BAD. But because I want to have some amount of canned vegetables in my food storage, I want viable recipes for disguising using canned vegetables. Let me tell you, the sisters at this last stake event had no idea that I had contributed one of the recipes, but I heard comment after comment about the tasty curry dish. So…

If you’ve never cooked with canned vegetables, I suggest you give this a try. Don’t tell your family. Just surprise them with an interesting Indian stew, for an international treat! Marketing is everything.

You will need to purchase, LeAnn’s recipe for this little honey of a meal. Her orange chicken is absolutely the very best we’ve ever tasted. Believe me friends, this recipe is totally worth a couple bucks.

Last night’s dinner…

with Sam and Chas…

was a food storage success!

From our long term supply, I cooked piles and piles of hot white rice.

Tada!

From my three month supply I used a box of orange jello, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, and a few other ingredients to create an amazing orange glaze for the chicken.

I know what you’re thinking. Orange jello chicken? That’s what my SIL said. And we Mormons have that caaa-razy reputation for doing all sorts of wacky things with the orange, or is it green, jello. I forget. So many caaa-razy things to keep straight. But! The thing I can tell you about THIS orange chicken is that it does not taste like candy. In fact it actually tastes really lite, and fresh, and delicate, while still being rich, with a bit of heat from the red pepper flakes. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, THIS is the perfect orange chicken recipe. It’s everything orange chicken should be! At least that’s what our family thinks. My husband and kids have enjoyed meals at some nice Asian restaurants over the years, and they all agreed that this is the best they’ve every enjoyed. Am I repeating myself? Probably. It’s that good. If I could give you the recipe I would.

With green beans and mushrooms on hand I whipped up this fun side dish.

The salad was just chopped Romaine with sliced cucumbers, carrots, red grapes and Kraft’s coleslaw dressing. Close enough.

This is my husband, Mike. He loves a frosty mug of Hershey’s chocolate milk with dinner. Go figure.

Then I told him he had to look normal.

K. Something to work on. And what is the deal with his HAND???

Storage Ingredients

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!

 I love it when friends send me new recipe ideas for using both my long-term storage (rice) and short-term supply (basic canned goods) in (say it with me)

NORMAL RECIPES!

Thank you.

My dear friend Martha is the coolest grandmother I know. Today we were at the temple at 5:30 in the morning and she was sporting lime green flats that said COACH on the toes. Then Martha was off to another full day of helping her daughter recover from knee surgery, driving grandchildren here there and everywhere, faithfully attending their every scholastic and sporting event, most likely doing a little gardening and community service for the Historical Society, Daughters of The Utah Pioneers, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then she still has time to remember me and my endeavors. I wish you could know Martha. Cute as a BUTTON and remarkable in every way!

Martha found this recipe in the Deseret Morning News, thanks to Penny Ramey and Julia Maddox. I followed the careful instructions for an easy sweet and sour meal the whole family enjoyed.

Fresh Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch strips

1 medium onion, sliced

1 green pepper, chopped

Storage Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 15-ounce can pineapple chunks

2 teaspoons, or two cubes of chicken bouillon granules

1 cup water

1/4 cup vinegar, any type

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

In a large skillet, saute chicken in oil until chicken is lightly browned. If you prefer not to use oil, just spray some cooking spray on the skillet and use the chicken’s natural juices to cook. (These gals are pros.)

Add onion and green pepper. Stir fry until vegetables are tender.

Add 1/2 cup pineapple juice from the can of pineapple chunks, bouillon, water, vinegar and brown sugar to the skillet and stir.

In a small bowl, off to the side, combine soy sauce and cornstarch. Mix well to smooth out any clumps. Stir the cornstach mixture in to the chicken, vegetables and sauce in the skillet.

Simmer until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. This should take 5 to 10 minutes, and the mixture will turn more transparent as it thickens.

Add pineapple and mandarin oranges. Serve over rice. Serves 6-8.

Thanks again, Martha!

Still on my quest to prepare anything I can ahead of time, I’ve spent the afternoon cooking 70 cups of copycat Cafe Rio cilantro lime rice. I’m mostly following Erica’s recipe (http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html) after she’s cracked the code from this local favorite restaurant.

It takes a village.

Fresh Ingredients

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon butter, diced

1 lime, zest and juice

Storage Ingredients

3 cups rice

6 cups boiling water

3 chicken bouillon cubes, crushed if possible

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon dry sliced garlic pieces 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Boil water. Spray or oil a 9 x 13 inch cake pan and pour in the 3 cups of dry rice. Sprinkle on the cilantro, butter, chicken bouillon, sugar, and dried garlic pieces. Add boiling water and cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for approximately 70 minutes. Fluff with a fork and stir in the lime zest and juice. This stuff is GOOD.

Trying to conserve both time and energy, I baked two pans at a time and increased the temperature to 375 degrees and then let them cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Each of the three batches turned out perfect, which is totally unusual for me. 

I still don’t know what happened that one time, about two years ago, when I was in charge of cooking the oven rice for a major dinner prior to Stake Conference . It seems like we were hosting not one, but TWO, visiting General Authorities, not to mention our wonderful Stake President, who just happened to be Gordon B. Hinckley’s son. Something went terribly wrong (surprise!) and my rice was not even close to being ready when it was time to serve this terrific group of leaders, and their lovely wives, an amazing salmon dinner. I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. There was either an evil hex on my kitchen that night OR I didn’t increase the oven temperature and add extra cooking time. Thankfully, the kind sisters I was serving with were gracious about my mess-up and insisted that the guests would just assume we were trying to go very “low carb”…or something.

Anyway, the rice for Rosie’s family dinner is D*O*N*E way way ahead of time.

My plan is to keep all the bags of rice frozen until the night before her farewell dinner and then microwave each as we’re ready to serve. Provident Living.

Repentance.

Meds.

Bada-bing  Bada-boom! (That’s all the Italian I know.)

This chicken was GOOD and it only took about 5 minutes to prepare. Exactly why I loooooove cooking with food storage!

Start with these: 4 frozen, boneless skinless, chicken breasts

Toss them into a slow cooker, drizzle on about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 envelope of Italian dressing mix.

(1 minute)

Then add one can of cream of mushroom soup, cover, and cook on low for about four hours.

(2 minutes)

Right before serving, stir 1 cup of powdered milk into the cooking juices…

(three minutes)

and top with fresh basil leaves!

(four/five minutes!!!)

(Note to self: Next time I’m going to remember to add a few slices of tomato to the garnish, maybe broiled.)

(Or or or! It might be fun to spoon on just a little bit of hot, from the jar, marinara. You can never have too much sauce! Words to live by.)

K. Quick question.

Does anyone else think that the fresh chopped basil leaves…look like a frog?

(I may need to be tested.)

They’re not. Try to block that image. Probably ruined it for you.

Sometimes I get very lucky when I’m experimenting/drive-by-cooking. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, may be our newest favorite food storage recipe! I couldn’t believe how great-totally creamy-don’t you dare eat it-put that fork down this instant! the sauce tasted AND IT WAS MADE FROM JUNK YOU CAN STORE IN THE CUPBOARD, FOR YEARS!

MAMA MIA, MAMA MIA, YES YOU CAN!!!

So the rice was of course from my long-term supply. The powdered milk was from my not-quite-as-long-but-10-years-is-pretty-long-supply. The olive oil, Italian dressing mix, and can of soup were from my three-month supply, even though we all know that those three ingredients will store longer than three months. And finally, the fresh basil, butternut squash, and broccoli were from my fresh or immediate supply…in my garden…theoretically. (Crossies count.)

I could weep! Can you imagine a whole platter of those steaming little…nuggies…lovingly layered with broiled tomatoes, or a delicate red sauce, and lots of fresh basil? (carefully placed so as to NOT look like amphibians) I swear I’m going to serve this for the next 100 family parties, wedding showers, meals for neighbors, Sunday dinners, and Relief Society “additional meetings.” It was awesome! Do you know how big this is??? This almost never happens to me! Oh how I wish there were some grapes that I could stomp!

Storage Ingredients

3 cups rice

1 1/2 cups water

2 cans coconut milk (13.5 oz. each)

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine and bring to a gentle boil the water, coconut milk, sugar, and salt. Stir in rice, reduce heat to low,  and cover with a lid. Cook for 25-30 minutes. If you want to be really fancy, consider garnishing with toasted coconut and a little fresh cilantro.

Dear Linda sent me this recipe after enjoying the coconut rice at a Relief Society luncheon. I always like rice but preparing it this way transforms the normally blank canvas of a typical side dish into something special. Just because it’s food storage doesn’t mean it has to be boring.

This is my new chant. I’ve recently learned how much I**LOVE**RICE**AND**BEANS!!! There are important nutritional details about how the combination of  rice and beans provide “whole proteins”…which I don’t really understand…so I’ll just plant a flag that says they are healthy, ridiculously inexpensive, and yum-a-rama!

My conversions began months ago when dearest Kris invited our family to her home for dinner and served us a delightful meal of rice and beans. Ever since then we’ve been faithful followers and continue to enjoy this vegetarian delight on a regular basis.

All you need to do is cook some rice and beans from your long-term storage. I like to prepare both of these in large quantities so that I have them ready and waiting in the refrigerator or freezer.

I’m all about mass-production in order to save time. You could use white rice, or brown rice, or either rice mixed with wheat berries. We prefer black beans but pinto beans would also be great.

From a three-month supply I use a can of sliced black olives and bottled salsa, in a pinch.

The fresh ingredients are just the basic toppings you would normally use for a taco salad. We like grated cheese,  diced green peppers, sour cream, fresh avocado, and

Kris’s Famous Pico De Gallo:

8-10 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1/2 cup green onion, sliced

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 limes, juiced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

Mix all the ingredients and chill for an hour or two. Good luck with that.

After the fresh salsa has been made, we spoon a bed of hot rice onto each plate, add a scoop of warm black beans, and then all the other toppings as desired. This is a wonderful, healthy, lite and easy meal that everyone enjoys! No one on our team has missed the meat. Of course you could add a little grilled chicken or beef but you really don’t need to. The rice and beans combined with all the other flavors are completely satisfying and filling without being too heavy. Promise me you’ll try this!

Fresh Ingredients

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

2 green onion, thinly sliced (or 1/4 cup red onion, diced)

5 small tomatoes, chopped

5 leaves of Romaine Lettuce, torn into bit-size pieces

3 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

Storage Ingredients

2 cups cooked brown rice (mine had wheat berries mixed in)

1 cup canned corn

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

French Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

Make the French dressing right in a large salad bowl. Stir in cooled rice, corn, celery, onions, and egg. Toss with lettuce and tomatoes immediately before serving. Serves 4.

I wasn’t planning on boiling any eggs for Easter this year but then my dear friend, Kathryn, forwarded me this fun rice salad recipe. It comes via Diane at Heart-to-Heart and she originally received it from Josey and Pierre, in Paris. (Phew!) The words that have been used to describe it are: fresh, wholesome, filling, and yum. As Diane suggests, “This is a filling, full-meal salad.” “Serve it with strawberries and French bread and you can feel very French!”

We loved it because it was refreshingly different from our usual salad recipes, used a couple of canned goods combined with rice, was simple to prepare, and tasted great. The recipe also called for basic fresh ingredients that I almost always have on hand. It’s an easy way to make a delicious dish without having to run to the store. I would definitely serve this to company. It would be excellent for a summer BBQ or pot-luck dinner.

Thanks Kathryn!

Fresh Ingredients

2 lb. ground beef, or substitute 2 cups cooked whole wheat berries for one lb. of the meat

1 medium chopped onion

Storage Ingredients

1/4 c. vinegar

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. catsup

1/2 tsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 can tomato paste (6 oz.)

1 can water

Brown beef with onion and drain fat. Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over hot rice and garnish with grated cheese, kidney beans, shredded lettuce or cabbage, diced celery, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, sour cream, and corn chips.

Thank you to my friend Kris for sharing this family favorite recipe. Back in the early 70’s it won a weekly contest in the Deseret News!