Pantry Meal – Frugal Abundance

Corned Beef Dirty Rice

Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Recipes 2 Responses »

Oct 112015

Rice 4

In this recipe, corned beef replaces ground beef, to make rice into a Louisiana style skillet-meal. It’s a tasty way to use up your vast quantities of stored rice too.

Corned Beef Dirty Rice

Ingredients

1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or other fat
12 ounce can corned beef
10 ounce can tomatoes and green chiles (Rotel)
2 or 3 tablespoons dry onion
15-ounce can mixed vegetables OR green beans OR corn, undrained
1-1/2 cups long grain white rice
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or ground red pepper, to taste
3 cups water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the corned beef and fry it up, breaking it into small bits as it fries. When the corned beef is crusty add the remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the flame to very low. Use a heat-diffuser or flame-tamer if you have one, or if your stove doesn’t have a low setting. Cover the pot with a good lid. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve hot with canned peaches on the side. Makes a good one-dish skillet meal.

If you store dried celery then add 2 to 4-tablespoons plus an extra 1/4-cup of water.

Colonial Corned Beef

Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Recipes 2 Responses »

Oct 112015

Colonial Corned Beef

Colonial Corned Beef is prepared in a deep skillet, on top of the stove. It uses canned potatoes, carrots and cabbage to turn canned corned beef into an amazing, family-pleasing meal. To make it extra special serve with stewed dried apples or applesauce an a hot bread like muffins, plain pancakes or biscuits.

I use a square can of corned beef, the kind that you open with a metal “key,” for this dish. If you use round cans of corned beef, such as Great Value brand, then you will probably need 2 of them. The meat can be sliced, or cut into pie-shaped wedges.

Colonial Corned Beef

Ingredients

1 or 2 (12-ounce) cans corned beef
2 (15-ounce) cans whole baby potatoes
1 (15-ounce) can whole baby carrots OR sliced carrots
1 (15-ounce) jar whole baby onions, optional
2 (15-ounce) can cabbage
Black pepper & Red Pepper to taste

Directions

Open up all of the cans. Drain off the liquid from all of the vegetables except the cabbage. If possible, try to rinse the potatoes and carrots. Or put them into a bowl and cover with water. Allow them to soak for a few minutes before draining again.

Pour the cabbage into the bottom of a deep skillet. Slice the corned beef and place it in over the cabbage. Arrange the potatoes, carrots and onions (if you’re using them) around the corned beef. Sprinkle the top lightly with black pepper and a bit of ground red pepper or red pepper flakes. Don’t overdo it. Place the lid on the skillet. Heat over a low flame for about 15 to 20 minutes. The vegetables and corned beef should be heated throughout. Scoop into bowls and serve. Makes about 6 servings.

If you are serving 8-hungry people then use 3-cans of cabbage and 2-cans of corned beef. I always serve cold pickled beets as a side-dish.

Corned Beef Patties

Feast & Famine, Recipes No Responses »

Oct 112015

Corned Beef Patties

Corned Beef Patties are a family favorite. When you get tired of casseroles and other combination-foods, these patties make a nice change of pace. They can be served like a hamburger–on buns or large biscuits. Or they can be eaten like a cutlet, with a fork and a bit of ketchup.

This recipe was tested with a square can of corned beef. If you use a round can, like Great Value brand, you will need 2 cans. Drain off the liquid into a measuring cup. If necessary add enough water to equal 1/2-cup. Use this liquid in the recipe in place of the fresh water.

Corned Beef Patties

Ingredients

1 cup instant mashed potato flakes
3 tablespoons dry onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup fresh water
12 ounce can corned beef
oil or shortening for frying

Directions

In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the potato flakes, dry onion and black pepper. Add the water and then scoop in the corned beef. Using clean hands, mash this mixture all together until it has the consistency of meatloaf. Divide the mixture into 4 to 6 portions. Using wet hands, form each lump of meat mixture into a thin patty. Fry in a skillet, in hot fat, until crusty on one side. Flip and brown the second side. Serve immediately.

While I usually use these as a main dish for dinner, they also make a good breakfast meat with pancakes or waffles.

To make a meal serve them with a hot bread, canned cabbage, sliced beets and canned pears. Pass ketchup and mustard at the table.

Classic Macaroni Salad

Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Pasta, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian No Responses »

Oct 112015

Macaroni Salad

If you’re making macaroni salad with gluten-free macaroni, then Tinkiyada macaroni or shells will give you the best texture. Other, corn-based, pasta products, do not work as well in macaroni salad as Tinkiyada does. If you only have corn-based gluten free pasta, then by all means use what you have. But if you have a choice, then Tinkiyada seems to have better texture when it’s cold.

Classic Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

2-cups dry macaroni or small shells, cooked according to package directions & well-drained
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts
1 (4-ounce) jar pimento
8 ounce can green peas, optional (to make it pretty)

Dressing

8 ounce jar mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons dry onion flakes
1/4 cup pickle relish
1/2 teaspoon celery seed (optional)

Directions

Begin by preparing the macaroni according to the package directions. After draining it, rinse with cool water to cool it quickly. Open the water chestnuts. Drain and rinse with fresh water if possible. Chop the water chestnuts into small bits. If you’re using the peas, drain them too. You can try to drain the pimento, but you dont’ have to.

While the macaroni is boiling, prepare the dressing. In a medium-sized bowl, big enough for mixing the salad, combine all of the dressing ingredients. Mix well. Add the well-drained macaroni, water chestnuts, pimento and optionally, the peas. Mix well. Try to be gentle with the peas.

If possible, allow the salad to sit for 30-minutes before serving to blend the flavors.

To make a meal, serve with ham or SPAM and cheese sandwiches or baked ham or fried SPAM and green beans. Add canned peaches to cover all of your nutritional bases.

Classic Potato Salad

Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Potatoes, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian No Responses »

Oct 112015

Potato Salad

Quick and easy, this classic potato salad is yummy enough for any occasion. I add water chestnuts for crunch and texture. They have very little flavor on their own, so no one is ever quite sure what they are. They just make the salad extra tasty. My family gives this recipe 2-thumbs up. Or 4-paws up, if you ask the pets, who don’t actually eat it, but for whom Fred often speaks as their union representative when it comes to meal-requests.

Classic Potato Salad

Ingredients

Dressing

8 ounce jar mayonnaise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed (optional)
2 tablespoons dry onion flakes
1/2 cup pickle relish

Vegetables

3 (15-ounce) cans diced potatoes, well-drained
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, well-drained
1 (4-ounce) jar pimento, optional (for looks)

Directions

First drain potatoes and water chestnuts. If possible, rinse them or place them in a bowl, cover with water and allow them to stand for a few minutes to rinse off the salt and the flavor from the can. The pimento, if you use it, doesn’t need to be drained, but you can try to do it if you like.

While the vegetables are soaking in the water prepare the dressing. In a medium-sized bowl, big enough to mix the salad in, combine all of the dressing ingredients. Mix well with a fork. Add the drained potatoes. Gather up the drained water chestnuts and chop them into small pieces. Add them to the bowl with the dressing and potatoes. Also add the pimento if you are using it. Stir well. If possible, allow the salad to sit for about 30-minutes before serving, for the flavors to blend. Serve cold. Makes 8 to 10-servings, or enough for a hungry family of 6 as a large part of the meal. Great for potlucks and picnics.

NOTE: If you have eggs, you can add a couple of chopped, hard-boiled eggs to the salad. If you have fresh onion, omit the dry onion and add 1/2-cup of chopped onion along with the potatoes.

To make a meal, serve with SPAM burgers or SPAM kabobs and pickled beets.

Beef Stroganoff

Feast & Famine, Recipes No Responses »

Oct 112015

Chef Beef Stroganoff

Author Laura Karr shared a similar recipe in her book The Can Opener Gourmet. If you do much cooking with canned foods, you will really enjoy her book and it’s companion Pop It, Stir It, Fix It, Serve It: Can-Do Cooking.

Beef Stroganoff is Fred’s absolute favorite storage meal in the whole wide world. We serve it over rice, but you can serve it over cooked spaghetti or egg noodles instead. Also good on popovers, biscuits, mashed potatoes, or pretty much any cooked grain.

I always add a splash of wine to Beef Stroganoff because it masks the slightly gamey flavor of canned beef in gravy. You can leave it out if you like, or replace it with a teaspoon of vinegar or a splash of grape juice. Since this dish uses canned soup, it is not gluten free.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or alternative of your choice
8 ounce can mushrooms, drained
2 (12-ounce) cans roast beef in gravy
1 (10-ounce) can condensed mushroom soup
1 or 2 tablespoons dry onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 or 3 tablespoons dry white OR red wine OR sherry OR vermouth
About 1/2-cup sour cream OR homemade yogurt OR canned cream soured with lemon juice (see below)

Directions

First put the rice or noodles or grain on to cook. While your starch cooks prepare the stroganoff.

Melt the butter or other fat in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the drained mushrooms. Fry the mushrooms for about 5-minutes, or until lightly browned. This improves their texture. Add the roast beef in gravy, mushroom soup, dry onion and garlic powder. Mix well. Bring to a boil. Simmer for several minutes to heat everything completely and allow the flavors to mingle a bit. Stir in the wine. Simmer a couple of more minutes. Stir in the sour cream or alternative. Mix until creamy. Heat through and serve over rice or noodles.

To Sour Canned Cream: Shake a 7 or 8-ounce can of Nestle Table Cream briskly before opening it. Open the can; add 2-tablespoons of lemon juice or 2-packets of True Lemon (lemon juice crystals). Stir with a chopstick until the cream is thickened and sour. Stir about 1/2 of the can into the stroganoff. The remainder of the cream is good if you stir in a spoonful of brown sugar and spoon it over canned fruit. Yum!

To make a meal serve rice or noodles, Beef Stroganoff, peas and carrots and fruit cocktail.

Classic Tuna Salad

Feast & Famine, Fish & Seafood, Low Carb, Lunches, Recipes, Sandwiches, WIC Friendly No Responses »

Oct 112015

Tuna Salad Sandwich

I serve tuna salad with potato chips or spread on rice cakes, since they’re gluten free. It makes good sandwiches too, especially on homemade bread. In my experience, this recipe makes enough for about 10-sandwiches, or 2-days worth of packed lunches. That’s assuming you are storing it in the fridge. If you don’t have a fridge or an ice chest, then eat it all at once, or maybe choose a different recipe that is not reliant upon mayonnaise.

To make a very pretty luncheon place a scoop of tuna salad on a plate, or spread it on a rice cake and place in the center of a plate. Surround it with mandarin oranges alternating with cut green beans. Arrange them like spokes on a wheel, with the tuna as the center. Serve with potato chips. This is a pretty and easy gluten-free luncheon. Also, kids like to arrange the oranges and green beans, so it will keep them busy for a while if you’ve got bored kids and the power is out.

If you’re having a community potluck, or serving a large group of scouts, and need a quick and easy dish to share, simply prepare a lot of tuna sandwiches and then cut them all in half, diagonally. Arrange the triangles on a serving platter. It makes an impressive display. You will be amazed at how fast they disappear.

In this recipe I’ve used canned water chestnuts instead of the celery I usually put in tuna salad. Water chestnuts have a good crunch, similar to celery, and vague enough flavor that they don’t stand out as “weird” in tuna salad. Their main purpose is to add crunch since they have so little flavor themselves.

Classic Tuna Salad

Ingredients

4 (5-ounce) cans tuna, drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh onion OR 2-tablespoons dry onion
1/2 cup pickle relish
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) jar mayonnaise

Directions

Open the tuna and drain off the juice. Give it to the cats (the juice, not the tuna). Scrape the tuna into a small mixing bowl. Chop 1/2 a fresh onion if you have it. If you don’t, then measure the dry onion. Add the onion to the tuna. Measure the relish and add it to the tuna. Drain the water chestnuts. Rinse them in cool water if you can. Or put them in a cereal bowl and cover with fresh water. Allow the to sit in the fresh water for several minutes. Drain again and chop them into small, crunchy bits, about the size of your chopped onion. Add the water chestnuts to the tuna. Finally scrape in the contents of an 8-ounce jar of mayo. Mix it all together. Serve immediately or chill until needed.

Vegetarian Five Can Bean Soup

Dried Beans, Peas & Lentils, Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian, WIC Friendly No Responses »

Oct 092015

5 Can Bean Soup

This recipe is so easy and so good. You can make it with canned tomatoes, which are cheap and easy to find. Or if you feel very fancy you can add 1 or 2 cans of zucchini and tomatoes. Cut the zucchini into bite-sized pieces before adding if desired. However you go, this is a delicious soup.

Be sure to look no-salt-added vegetables when possible. It does a great job of reducing the sodium content of this soup. If you use all low-sodium vegetables then you may add 2 or 3 bouillon cubes for salt and flavor. Additionally, if you must add meat–beef, SPAM, vienna sausages and ham would all be good choices. I leave quantities to your discretion. I prefer it to be vegetarian, as written. Fred likes SPAM in his.

Vegetarian 5-Can Bean Soup

Ingredients

15 ounce can kidney beans
15 ounce can chickpeas OR black beans
15 ounce can white beans
15 ounce can green beans
15 ounce can tomatoes, OR, better yet, 1 or 2-cans of zucchini and tomatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons dry onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon basil
Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Directions

Get out a nice big pot. Open up all of your cans. Do not drain them. Add their contents to the pot. Stir in the dry onion, garlic, and basil. Heat over medium heat until the mixture simmers. Simmer for about 20 minutes and serve. Add water if the soup seems to thick. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to your liking. I also like to add a dash of red pepper flakes, not enough for heat, but enough for a little extra flavor. Makes about 6 big servings. Serve with hoecakes or cornbread on the side. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast before serving for a cheesy flavor boost. Or if you eat dairy then you can sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese.

Classic Three Bean Salad

Dried Beans, Peas & Lentils, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Recipes, Salads, Vegetables, Vegetarian, WIC Friendly No Responses »

Oct 092015

3 Bean Salad

Look for beans canned without added sodium if possible. If you can’t find yellow or wax beans you can use a can of carrots instead. This makes the salad very pretty. If you know your family will never eat this much 3-bean salad, then look for canned 3-bean salad in the vegetable section of your supermarket. Each can holds about 3 to 4 servings, and there’s no prep-work involved.

Classic Three Bean Salad

Ingredients

15 ounce can green beans
15 ounce can yellow or wax beans
15 ounce can kidney beans
1 fresh onion, coarsely chopped OR 2 tablespoons dry onion flakes
3/4 cup vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Black pepper to taste

Directions

First drain and rinse all of the canned beans. I do this by dumping them all into a colander and running cold water over them. After draining off the rinse water, transfer the beans to a large bowl. Add the thinly sliced onions or onion flakes. Meanwhile, in a quart-sized saucepan combine the vinegar, sugar and oil. Bring it to a boil on the stove. Remove it immediately, and pour it over the beans and onions. Add a bit of black pepper if you like. Chill and serve. This recipe makes about 8 servings. It keeps for several weeks in the fridge, so serve it once a week for a month if desired. It’s also great for picnics because it won’t go bad in the heat.

To make a Vegetarian Main Dish Salad, you can replace the yellow wax beans with canned Chickpeas or Black Beans. In this case it serves 6 as an entrée.

Cheesy Tamale Chili Bake

Feast & Famine, Gluten Free & Dairy Free, Recipes No Responses »

Oct 092015

Tamale Chili Bake

I honestly thought Tamale Chili Bake would be disgusting. I am happy to admit to you that I was absolutely wrong. It’s pretty darned good. To me it tastes like Super Bowl Man-Food, not something I’d want to eat every day. But now and then, it’s absolutely worth making. It’s easy too. Easy enough for non-cooks and kids to learn to prepare themselves. Another thing, this is extremely kid-friendly, which is always nice in a food-storage meal.

I prepared it with Hormel canned tamales and Hormel canned chili with beans, both of which are gluten-free and dairy-free. I used dairy-free Daiya as a topping, but you can use storage-friendly Velveeta instead with good results.

If you prefer to “bake” your dish on top of the stove in a skillet then see the easy variation after the main recipe. It makes a very pretty stove-top dish.

Tamale Chili Bake

Ingredients

2 (15-ounce) cans chili with beans OR 1 (25-ounce) can
2 (15-ounce) cans of beef tamales OR 1 (28-ounce) can
2 cups crushed corn tortilla chips or corn chips
1/2 cup chopped fresh onion (optional)
1/2 to 1-cup shredded cheese OR 3 to 4 ounces Velveeta type cheese, chopped

Directions

Start off by chopping your onion (if you’re using it), and shredding your cheese. If you’re using Velveeta-type cheese then cut off a 3 or 4-ounce hunk and plop it in a bowl. Use a fork to mash it into bits. Set the cheese aside.

Open up the beans. Pour them into a 9-inch square pan or an 8 by 11-inch baking dish. Open up the tamales. Drain the juice into the pan, over the chili. Unwrap the tamales. This is important. They will be wrapped in waxed paper. Do not eat the paper. Throw it away. Arrange the unwrapped tamales over the chili. Scatter the crushed corn chips over the tortillas. Sprinkle on the onion and then the cheese.

Bake at 400° for 25 to 30-minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve hot.

To make a complete meal serve with sweet pickles, macaroni salad and hot spinach. Applesauce is nice for dessert.

VARIATION

Stove Top Tamale Chili “Bake”

Use a large, deep skillet for you pan. Coat it lightly with oil or no-stick spray. Pour in the chili. Add the juice from the tamales. Lay in the tamales like spokes in a wheel. Top with chips, onion and cheese. Place a good lid on the skillet. Place it over a low flame. Allow it to cook for 10-to 15-minutes, depending on how hot your stove is. Check it now and then to make sure it’s not burning. Try not to stir it unless you absolutely have to. Stirring it will break up the tamales. When the mixture is steaming hot and the cheese is melted turn off the stove. Serve immediately.

Before Baking

After Baking. Just look at that cheesy chili goodness.

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