Use it Up

[Littlesister]

Lots of good ones here. Will be trying some out.

This is one I make when the kids are here.

Baked Ziti with Italian sausage

1 lb. ziti noodles

1.5 lbs. ground spicy or sweet Italian sausage

4 cloves garlic, minced

1- 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for serving.

8 oz. whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded about 2 cups

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook Ziti according to package directions for about 6 or 7 minutes. (it will continue to cook in oven so you want to undercook it just a bit. Drain and add pasta back to the pot and set aside.

 preheat oven to 425* and set oven rack in middle position

Heat a large saute' pan (preferable nonstick) over medium-high heat. Crumble sausage into pan and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned and just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked sausage to a plate. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan and set over low heat. (if you don't have enough fat in pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until soft but not browned, about 1 minute.  Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar and red pepper flakes and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Add the heavy cream, 1/3 cup of the Pecorino Romano, cooked sausage, and basil to the pan, stir until evenly combined. Carefully pour the contents of the saute pan into the large pot with the pasta and gently stir to combine. Spoon half of the mixture into a 9 x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the shredded mozzarella and half of the remaining Pecorino Romano cheese. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture on top and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese.  Transfer to oven and bake uncovered until the cheese has melted and browned. 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with more basil and serve. 

[euphrasyne]

This week has been mostly assorted leftovers.   

Tuesday I made Curried Tomato Soup and Quesadillas again.  

 

I changed up the soup by adding a can of coconut milk as some of the liquid.  Everything else was canned this time around.  

 

Quesadillas

Mix cheese, can of chicken, can of mushrooms, bit of leftover grilled onion, and some honey mustard.  Heat until cheese just starts to melt.   Fill 6  10" tortillas with mixture.   Sprinkle bacon bits on each.  Fry 3m per side.  Cut each into 3s and serve with sour cream or honey mustard.  I have no measurements since I literally just dumped the ends of jars in a bowl.

 

Yesterday, we had leftover soup and quesadillas.   I dumped the soup into a pot and added a dash of heavy cream and about 1/4 c monetary jack cheese and milk to make it enough.  Serving, I grated some aged gouda over it since we had some that needed to be used.  I had exactly half the quesadillas left so perfect since I'm feeding 3 now.   I put the triangles on a cookie sheet at 400F for 20m (no preheat).   I had some leftover scallions from the previous day, so dumped them over everything to be fancy.   I served it with a few slices of cheese.   The kid ate all hers and half of my quesadillas.  Husband had to toss some of his and my cheese back in the fridge.   Leftovers stretch.  

 

The white triangles in a circle around the soup are just where i tore up my slice of smoked gouda and dropped it in the bowl.   

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by euphrasyne

[Littlesister]

That looks good euphrasyne.  You are really good at figuring out how to use up leftovers. 

[euphrasyne]

I had an argument with my husband this weekend about space travel.   I was making fun of the US for the millions spent on a gravity proof pen while the Russians just used a pencil.   DH adamantly defended the pen saying it was protocol, all documents had to be signed in black or blue ink and nothing could be erased.   I said that spending that much on protocol NOT function was our problem.   I told him that I'd rather have a redneck with me than a rocket scientist in an emergency and that we would never colonize space until we started focusing on cost effectiveness.  The current privatized space tourism for the rich should actually give us a lot of data about what works and what is cost effective.   It may actually go further towards us expanding past this planet.   It was actually a  heated argument that focused on space but was really about....protocol vs function and cost effectiveness.  

 

20 years ago I was prepping so that I'd never have to do without and was worried about having the 3Bs (beans, bandages, bullets) because my biggest concern was doomsday.  My ideas and needs have changed over the years with many different iterations of prepping.  These days I think my biggest worry is economic and I know that going without is a minor inconvenience.  I want my focus to be on using what I have and being comfortable with the time I have.    The argument we had reflected my current mindset and focus on downsizing and completely rotating my stock down to zero.  I want to prep, but I want fewer things to clean so I'm trying to rotate the entire household down to zero over the next 5 years.  At that point, the teen will have graduated and the baby will be ready to start school.  We can reevaluate where and what we want to do at that point.   There are a few things I will need to keep buying (cheese, lettuce, etc.) but I have enough frozen and canned to last quite some time.   I rearranged the pantry and can actually get rid of one of the shelving units since we have already been eating from there.  Looking at what is left, I made a list of things I need to focus on eating:

 

Things I have too much of:

Flour

Sugar

Honey

Powdered Milk

Sweetened Condensed Milk and evaporated milk

Canned Pie filling

Canned Fruit

Canned Meat

Jelly

Tea bags

Misc Spices that I use rarely (I have every spice known to man including a half gallon of cinnamon and a lot of quarts of random)

 

Things I wish I had more of:

Pickles and pickled vegetables

Teriyaki sauce

Flavored vinegars

 

Its no wonder that this list is where it is.  I cannot eat carbs like I used to so I stopped making a lot of things.  I'm going to focus on making meals with the above items and using the bits and bobs that seem to sit in my pantry.  

 

I made chicken cakes last night.  I  used the meat patty recipe, but tried adding a bit of flour and some grated gouda to get it more pancake like so the baby could eat it.   I also  fried it on a nonstick griddle.  BLECH.   next time just the breading and fried in more fat on the stove.   Live and learn.  I think I can save the extras by cubing it into chicken parm casserole with LOTS of marinara.  

 

I mixed leftover mashed potatoes with an egg, some flour and a bit of milk.  I fried it as pancakes and cut into small cubes for the baby.  HIT!  I made a big pot of baked beans for dinner and everyone else served the baked beans over the potato pancakes.  

 

This morning I used a stick blender to puree leftover peaches and dumped it on baby's morning oatmeal.  HIT!

Since she is starting table foods, the stick blender is going to live on the counter for the next few months.  I love that thing.   This is the 4th kid and I wish I'd had it for the other 3.   Cleaning a food processor to puree 4 peach slices is a huge hassle, but it takes 10 seconds to clean the stick in the sink.  I also use it to make up half a gallon of powdered milk in a mason jar.  I love those large 2qt jars I found!

 

DD13 made a no bake chocolate cheesecake (milk used was made from powdered) then she made up whipped topping from instant powdered milk (I have multiple types of powdered milk)  and layered it on top.   She made everything by herself.  The only thing I had to do was stop her from using regular sugar and give instruction on the difference in regular sugar and powdered sugar.  

 

I will say that I purchased Land O Lakes whole milk powder and it was definitely worth it.   The consistency, fat content (richness) and taste is great.  It is currently 25% more than  I paid for it a year ago.   It will not let me paste the link but it is on amazon currently for $240 for 55lb as Dry Whole Milk

 

New Hawaiian roll recipe used up some canned pineapple juice and was husband approved

1/2c pineapple juice (room temp)

6 T brown sugar

1/2 c milk

4 T butter

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

4 c flour

2 1/4 tsp yeast

Heat the butter and oil to a warm but not hot temp.   *Microwaved in glass about 1m and stir to melt butter into milk.    Add all to beadmaker in order listed.  Dough cycle.  Alternately---mix, knead and allow to rise.   Once that is done in either method and dough has doubled in size, make 16 balls and place in greased dish and cover with dishtowel.  Allow to rise in oven.   (my house is cold.  I turn on the oven to 180F, turn it off, then stick dough in to rise.)  You can make an egg wash with 1 egg and 1T or water or not depending on how you want the rolls to color.  I wanted buns, so I let them rise on a cookie sheet not touching with no wash.  Once dough has doubled in size (30m--60m) bake 350F for 25m.   Make sure to take bread out of oven while it preheats and put it back in once it has come to temp.  It was an enormous raving hit with everyone.   I used them as hamburger buns and dinner rolls.  The milk was from shelf stable.  

 

I'm adding the original cooked meat patty here from another thread so everything is together:

  

Cooked Meat patties  (croquettes)

1 can cooked chicken (*12 oz) or any cooked meat

1 egg

seasoning of choice 

1/4 c breading of choice +extra for outside

Mix all and roll in breading.   Fry in butter or oil in skillet about 3-4m per side.  

Creole: paprika, garlic, crushed dill pickle potato chips

Hawaiian: chopped spam, pineapple, brown sugar, cooked rice

 

Vegetable Nuggets  (spinach nuggets)

3 cans vegetable 

2c breading

1c parmesan

4 eggs

1 stick butter

1/4c minced onion

pepper and spice of choice

Combine all and make nugget sized balls.  Flatten and bake 350F for 20m until firm.  Serve warm with sauce like marinara or ranch.  

I usually use spinach, stuffing mix, and nutmeg but any vegetable will do.  This goes over very well for potlucks and large gatherings.  The kids gobble them down.  The recipe is easy to scale back if needed but I tend to make it when I need a lot.

 

Bean Patties (I usually call it falafel but that is usually chickpeas)

2 cans drained beans or *3c cooked beans

1/2 c cooking liquid or water

1 1/2 c oats or other breading (oats are best)

1 clove garlic if beans are not already seasoned

salt and pepper

Mash beans and mix everything together.  Shape into burger sized patties and bake on greased pan 350F 15m.  Flip and cook another 15m.   

Notes: Seasoned beans work well.  Chickpea is the usual suspect, but I've used leftover red beans and rice, black beans, navy beans, pretty much any.  Seasoned beans are great.  Sometimes I cook them 30m without flipping and they aren't as crispy but they are still very good.  

 

[TheCG]

7 hours ago, euphrasyne said:

I had an argument with my husband this weekend about space travel.   I was making fun of the US for the millions spent on a gravity proof pen while the Russians just used a pencil.   DH adamantly defended the pen saying it was protocol, all documents had to be signed in black or blue ink and nothing could be erased.   I said that spending that much on protocol NOT function was our problem.   I told him that I'd rather have a redneck with me than a rocket scientist in an emergency and that we would never colonize space until we started focusing on cost effectiveness.  The current privatized space tourism for the rich should actually give us a lot of data about what works and what is cost effective.   It may actually go further towards us expanding past this planet.   It was actually a  heated argument that focused on space but was really about....protocol vs function and cost effectiveness.  

The real issue, I've been told, was that the graphite dust from the pencil leads accumulates in electrical equipment and can cause it to short.

[euphrasyne]

Most of the dust comes from sharpening and banging against the case.  Mechanical pencils yield almost no dust if used correctly and they come in many sizes.  You can also get solid graphite pencils which are usually wrapped or just solid and do not have to be sharpened.  They also make liquid graphite (been around since 1955) and wax based since about 2K years ago.     

 

The hilarious thing is that I hate pencils and much prefer pens while DH is an engineer and has every pencil known to man.   ^^

[Littlesister]

Euphrasyne, where did you find the Land of Lakes powdered milk? I've not seen that brand. I do like their butter.

[euphrasyne]

It will not let me post the link for some reason.  I bought it off Amazon.  It was only $200 when I bought it May 2020,  but it is up to $240 now.   They accidentally sent me 50lbs of king arthur bread flour, but when I contacted the seller he told me to keep the flour and sent me the milk I was supposed to get.  It was worth the price to me because it was whole powdered milk, not the nonfat stuff you usually find.  

[Littlesister]

Thank you euprasyne.  I am going to check it out and see if I can find it any cheaper. You made out great with the mix up on flour. The whole powdered milk is what I have been looking for. 

[Littlesister]

I found it on amazon. And yes it is $240.  I may have found it through the Land O Lakes company cheaper. Will let you know as soon as I am sure it is the same.

[euphrasyne]

I made a lot of roasted and baked things last week because we love fall.   It was mostly fancier dishes with fresh meat and vegetables.  To get some balance I went full on use it up redneck over the weekend.  I have a large decorative bowl full of unused restaurant condiments.  I'm trying to convince everyone to use it up.  

 

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Pull 3 ciabatta rolls out of freezer.  Butter, garlic powder, toaster.  

Pull out 3 breaded chicken patties.   Open 1 leftover tub of Domino's Pizza buffalo sauce and dump half over chicken.  microwave 90s.   Flip, dump remaining sauce over.  Microwave 90s + until done.  Place a slice of Munster cheese on top of each chicken patty.  Wash lettuce, slice tomato, and set out some ranch.   Allow everyone to assemble their own sandwich.  

 

Banana Bread  (husband and kid favorite)

2 small bananas that look way past ripe and are almost oozing when you start to peel

1 c sugar

1/4 c butter

1/2 c milk (made from powder)

1/2 c pecans

1 1/2 c flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 egg

1/2 t vanilla

Cream sugar with butter and banana.  Add remainder and mix.  Bake in greased loaf pan 350F 60m.   Turn out of pan and cool.  

 

Dulce De Leche Rice Krispie Treats  

 

Caramel part (dulce de leche)

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

Remove wrapers from cans and place unopened cans in crockpot full of water.  Submerge 1-2 inches.  Bake low 12 hours or high 8 hours.  Overnight is fine.   Allow to cool before opening or make sure you open with a knife away from you, it will be boiling hot.   Try not to 'taste' it.  You will not be able to stop and will gain 20lb.  I told my daughter that the caramel had failed and I'd just sacrifice myself and eat it so that it wasn't a waste.  She didn't believe me.  This is seriously the best way to make dulce de leche. 

 

Rice Krispie Part (you will need to make 2 layers so double it for this recipe.)

5c rice krispies (6 containers school serving rice krispie that has been in pantry way longer than it should)

7oz jar marshmallow creme/fluff

4 T butter

Melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallow and stir until melted.  Stir in a  bit of the caramel.  Dump into rice krispies  and mix.  Lightly press into greased 9x13 casserole dish.  Spread top with remainder of can of dulce and a bit of the next can.  Make a 2nd batch of rice krispies using the same method.   Do not just make a big batch and divide.  It doesn't turn out well.  Lightly press 2nd batch on top of 1st with the caramel on top.  Use any remaining caramel to either lightly ice top or drizzle decoratively.   Chill 2h+ to set.   

 

It is fall and the baby likes all things pumpkin and squash.   The Pumpkin Spice must flow!

 

Pumpkin Yogurt

Mix about half a container of yogurt (I used the oikos triple protein vanilla) with slightly more canned pumpkin and about a a fourth cup of applesauce.  Mix thoroughly.   Tastes almost like a pumpkin cheesecake.  Baby approved!  She got it on her nose and tried to lick her nose.  

 

Pumpkin Spice Cereal

Mix up a bowl of mixed grain baby cereal (gerber.)  Add in some canned pumpkin and a shake of pumpkin pie spice.   Stir thoroughly.   Yum!   baby loves.

 

Pumpkin Pancakes

Make up your favorite pancake recipe.  Use about half a can of pumpkin for every 2c flour in it.   (I used a half a can got 15 pancakes)  Sprinkle in a bit of pumpkin pie spice. Stir well and fry like normal.   Serve to everyone, cut up little sticks or squares for baby.   It was approved by ages 8months to 86 years.

 

[Littlesister]

That sounds good, euphrasyne.  Glad the baby likes it. Don't think she will be a picky eater.

[euphrasyne]

Baby Food:

Drain 1 can anything (commercial or home canned) and process with a stick blender.  Heat and season or not as to baby's taste.

Alternatively,  scoop up any part of your dinner and stick blender it to consistency.   

 

Peaches blended and then mixed with a bit of applesauce are a current favorite.  

Pineapple blended with a bit of applesauce is awesome beside porridge.  

Carrots and lemon pepper

Peas are great by themselves

 

White Chili (used an Insta pot it pressure and slow cooks)

1 lb great northern or navy beans 

1 lg onion diced

3 Bay leaf

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 T chicken bullion

Minced garlic to taste (I used a heaping Tablespoon)

2 cans tinned chicken

2 c Monterrey jack cheese

2 c sour cream

bacon bits or tvp  *1/4 c

Seasoning of choice  I used a huge sprinkle of tropical sazon.  

Original recipe seasoning was (1 t cayenne, 2 t cumin, 2 t oregano, 2 t cilantro)

Rinse and sort beans.  Add to pressure cooker with 7 cups water, diced onion, bay leaves, and a sprinkle of sazon.  Pressure cook 25m.   After natural release, add remainder and slow cook on low for 4 hours.  Serve with cornbread.  

 

Italian Beef

16 oz beef cut in 4 oz strips

lemon pepper

flour

1/2 c dehydrated bell pepper rehydrated

1 can mushrooms

1/4 c dehydrated onion rehydrated

1 can tomato paste

1 can diced tomato

1/4c tomato pesto

1/8 c basil pesto

1/4 c cooking wine

1 t  celery seed

1t basil

2 T Worcestershire sauce

Rub beef strips with lemon pepper and dredge in flour.   Brown in oil to sear.  Place in bottom of cassarole.   Combine remainder and spoon over beef.  Bake 350F 60m.  Serve over rice or pasta.  *To rehydrate dump items in a bowl of water while you do remainder and drain just before use.   They can all be rehydrated together. 

It is a heavy flavor and makes a very tender beef.   I used some I had frozen almost 2 years ago in the dish and it came out amazing.  

 

[euphrasyne]

Kroger had top round london broil on sale for 2.99lb so I got several.   3 into freezer and 1 for dinner.

 

Happy Husband Beef Tips

*2lb top round cubed small

1 onion chopped small (used a red one b/c that is what I had)

1 qt beef broth

8oz canned sliced mushrooms (2 cans)

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 can golden mushroom soup

1 T minced garlic

Italian seasoning to taste  *2T

Worcestershire sauce to taste * 1/4c

Dump in crockpot and cook on low 7 hours.   Make a slurry with about 1/3 c cornstarch and pot liquid.  Stir in and add more as needed to gravy consistency.   Cook 1h on low.  Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.  

 

Leftovers can be reheated, mixed with sour cream and served over egg noodles as stroganoff.  

[Littlesister]

I took advantage of that also Euphrasyne.  Great buy.  My freezer is over flowing. It is going to be fun taking all that food out and getting it defrosted. 

[Dee]

Our Fareway store had arm roasts for $3.99 lb. this week.  Today I bought 5 packages with between 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.  each.  I am watching for more sales on meats.  Wow, haven't the prices really gone up! 

[kappydell]

I always grumbled about throwing away the excess home made shake and bake crumbs after making chicken.  Now I make Jo-jo potatoes with them, and they are a favorite at my house.  Plus the homemade shake and bake is a great way to use up old bread before it goes moldy (as homemade bread is wont to do without all the additives, LOL,)

 

HOMEMADE SHAKE AND BAKE for CHICKEN, PORK, AND JO-JO POTATOES

3 c dry bread crumbs (from old bread dried in oven and tossed in blender to make crumbs)

1 TB salt

1 TB paprika

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp pepper

4 TB vegetable oil

Mix until oil is incorporated into crumbs evenly.  Store in jar.  To use, pour some (I use about 3/4 cup) in a plastic bag, add a piece of chicken or pork, and shake away until coated.  (You may need to dampen pork with some water, shaking off excess).  Place on nonstick oven sheet and bake. 

Chicken bakes at 400 F, bone in for 45b min, boned 20 min.

Pork chops bake at 425 F.  for 15-20 min, I do pork steaks for 30 min.  

Potatoes: slice in 1/4 inch strips for crispier fries, slice in 1/8 potato wedges for mealier/larger steak fries.  Place potato pieces in a plastic bag, pour in 1 TB or so of vegetable oil (of choice) and work the bag to coat all the potato pieces, then remove them and shake a handful at a time in some of the "shake and bake" crumbs left from shaking the chicken or pork (if you over estimate like I do) or adding a little more to suit your needs. 

Coat the potatoes, spread out in a single layer on a nonstick sheet, and bake alongside the chicken or pork at the same temperature and time.  For the two of us I only need to use one baking sheet, half for the meat, half for the single cut up potato.  Ta=da!  A one pan oven dinner.  Add a salad if you want and you are good to go. 

 

This makes a nice crispy, baked crumb crust and is modified from the "wise woman's diet" or "prudent diet" from the 1960s.  (Yes, I know.... I'm old....).

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by kappydell

[euphrasyne]

People have been sick and lots of school functions lately, so my fridge is overflowing with bits and bobs.  In the spirit of use it up, we had a Clean Out the Fridge Dinner.  Its important to use how to cook knowledge more so than using how to follow a recipe knowledge.  

 

Quesadillas

last 2 large tortillas from pack, 1 from new pack, and 2 small ones leftover from a kit used a awhile back.   total 3 lg, 2sm

Leftover minced pork carolina BBQ from school fundraiser.   maybe 1 1/2c?

BBQ sauce to taste

Shredded cheddar

Mix pork and BBQ sauce, heat till warm.  Spread on half tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.  Fold over and fry on griddle about 3m per side.  Serve with sour cream.

 

Hot German Potato Salad

Remainder of sliced potatoes from school fundraiser *1c

1 can whole baby potatoes sliced

Bacon bits to taste *1/8c

about 1/8c dehydrated onions

small handful frozen celery

Place all in pot and heat through.  Drain and add some butter *1-2T, *1 T sugar, powdered mustard 1 T,  and apple cider vinegar to taste * 1/3 c.  Serve hot.

 

Cheese Dip

Remainder of spinach dip from outback takeout

remainder of outback 3 cheese steak dip from outback takeout

remainder of panera onion chive cream cheese

(prob about 1c total of above items)

remainder of pack of shredded cheddar used in quesadillas * 1/3 to 1/2 c

1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce

sprinkle garlic powder

sprinkle paprika

Mix all together and serve cold like a creamy cheeseball or heat through and serve as a gooey dip.   Used triscut like crackers.  I preferred it uncooked, but kid liked it cooked better.  

 

This morning I made sweet potatoes for baby/adults

1 can sweet potato

1/2 can mandarin oranges

2 T powdered sugar

1 T cinnamon

Puree all together.   Bake with pecans and a sprinkle of brown sugar 350F 45m for adults or just heat through without nuts for baby.  Everyone loves it.   Baby even likes it cold unheated.  (mamma does too)

[Mother]

The hot German Potato salad sounds easy and tasty.  Yum!  Thanks.

[euphrasyne]

Last week brought us a lot of leftovers and some eating out.   Things I did make included:

 

Meatball Subs

Take leftover meatballs and mix with copious amount of marinara.  Heat through on stove or microwave.   Lightly toast hoagie buns.   Spoon hot meatballs and marinara over it and top with provolone.  Microwave 20-30s to melt cheese if sauce isn't hot enough to melt it.  

 

Roast 2 days:

Day 1 roast with baked potatoes, asparagus, and carrots.

Make veg to desired methd.

Roast into crockpot 8h on low

Roast:

2.5lb top round london broil

1 onion sliced

2 c beef broth (2 c water, 2 cubes bullion)

1 envelope brown gravy

1 envelope onion soup mix

Worcestershire sauce to taste *maybe 3T?

 

Day 2 French Dip Subs:  

Shred leftover beef.   Put in pot on stove with broth and onion.   Add a can of mushrooms.  Heat through.  Toast Hoagie buns.  Spoon meat over, top with provolone.   Spoon broth into ramekins and serve as french-dip subs.  I served it with defrosted and reheated soup I'd made awhile back.  It was mexican chicken.  

 

Green beans

1 can green beans

4 slices thin cut bacon

salt & pepper

garlic powder

handful dried onion

handful dried mushrooms

extra water *3/4 c

Place all in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 45m.  

 

Pistachio Mushroom Rice

world's easiest recipe.  can be made with fresh ingredients on stove if you want something harder to make.  

1 c rice white or Jasmine 

2 c milk made up from powder

small handful dehydrated onions

1 can sliced mushrooms

handful or more of shelled pistachios (i use the salted type)  

Dump all in large bowl and microwave 10m.  Stir.  Add water if needed.  usually need 1/2c at this point.  It should look slightly soupy still.   Microwave 10m.  Add salt & pepper to taste.   Mix in a very large spoon margarine or butter to taste.  Stir well and Serve.    

 

[Littlesister]

Euphreysne, Everything sounds so good.  I don't have any leftovers right now. I finished those off yesterday.  Now I am wanting some rice. Guess I will be cooking some for tomorrow. 

[euphrasyne]

I made some club sandwiches and soup for dinner last night.  It went over very well and I used up more of the frozen school veggies.  

 

Country Chicken Noodle Soup

2 cans chicken noodle soup

8c water

sprinkle chicken bullion

large sprinkle garlic herb steak seasoning

1 tray mixed frozen vegetables 

1c frozen peas

1c diced frozen carrots

1 can chicken 

1/2 c frozen diced celery

sprinkle dehydrated onion

Dump all in a pot and bring to a boil.  Turn down to low and simmer about 45m.  

[euphrasyne]

Lots of Thanksgiving leftovers which we have mostly been just heating up.  I did end up with a bunch of leftover gravy and nothing to put it on.

 

Smothered Pork Chops

3 large bone in pork chops

leftover gravy * 1 1/2 c (mine was onion gravy)

1 can cream whatever soup (I used mushroom or maybe chicken.  i forget.)

1 can mushrooms

splash of milk

Season meat with salt and pepper and brown in skillet.   I had to do mine in batches because mine were too big.   Dump gravy, can of soup, mushrooms into skillet and mix well.  Add a bit of milk till consistency.   Maybe 1/4c?  Put pork chops back in skillet and poke down under sauce.  Simmer and turn down heat.   Cover and let simmer for about an hour.  I used a dutch oven.  This could easily have been done in the oven or over a campfire with the same result.    Serve over rice or noodles or potatoes.   Lots of gravy.  We served it over buttered rice.    If my gravy had not been onion gravy with lots of onions, I would have added an onion.  

Edited December 1, 2021 by euphrasyne

[euphrasyne]

It is chilly today and I'm tried so I put on a big crock of pantry potato soup this morning.   Mostly I was trying to use up the dairy and bacon bits that were left in the fridge for the last 2 weeks.  Everything was still good, but only 'use it today or toss it' good.    

 

Pantry Potato Soup--all amounts are approximate

1 lb processed cheese (half a brick of leftover aldi velveta)  or any melty cheese

3c potato flakes

1 carton dehydrated hash browns

2 T minced garlic

1/3c chicken bullion

3 cans evaporated milk

7-10 c water (depending on how thick you want it to be)

half a bag of real bacon bacon bits from aldis

pepper to taste

1/2 c dehydrated soup vegetable mix with seasoning (basically dehydrated mixed veggies and Italian seasoning heavy on the thyme.)

Dump everything in the crockpot and cook on high 4 hours.  Puree a bit with a stick blender to break up hashbrown shreds, but leave some chunks.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream, shred cheddar, bacon bits, and some cut green onion.  

[euphrasyne]

Yesterday was collards and today I had a craving for cabbage rolls.  I'm going to need some air freshener after the family gets done tonight.

 

Cabbage rolls (makes 2 casserole dishes worth)

1 head cabbage

1 c rice

1lb ground beef

1 can diced tomatoes

1 sm onion diced (used vidalia)

2 eggs

1 lg jar ragu (i used tomato, garlic, onion flavor)

worcestershire

paprika

minced garlic

brown sugar

Cut a V to remove cabbage core and boil for 10m.   remove leaves with tongs as they are done.  Cool.

Cook rice with 2c water until done.  Cool.  (can use leftover rice if desired.  Amounts do not really matter.)

Combine cooked rice, ground beef, tomatoes, eggs, onions, and paprika & garlic to taste (I used a lot.  Maybe 1/8c)

Combine Ragu with desired amounts of worcestershire, paprika, and brown sugar.  I didn't measure, just add and taste.  Prob 1/8c of each.

Spoon a bit of ragu mix in bottom of 2 lg casserole dishes.  Put 1/4c beef/rice mix into each cabbage leaf, roll up, and place in casserole on top of sauce.  When done, pour remainder of sauce over top of cabbage rolls.  Bake 350F 60m.   

 

You can also just shred cabbage combine all as an 'unstuffed cabbage' casserole.   Cooking times remain the same.