Saturday, February 28, 2009

30 Lunches for 2 People






So that makes 60 hearty lunches! I wanted to keep lunches simple, so I decided it would always be soup. And I came up with 30 different soup recipes! Many of them use Campbells' Healthy Request soups in cans (These kind do not have monosodium glutamate and they have half the salt of the regular Campbell's soups.
I also decided that, to go with the soup, since we -in a worst case scenario-won't have bread or enough fuel to make bread- that we would have crackers or tortilla chips. You must really rotate these out because they expire within a few months of purchase. You can still eat them, though. They will just taste stale. But, again, I recommend rotating them. I also included our favorite peanut butter and a jar of sunflower seed butter to put on the crackers. This will add more protein to the lunches that have low protein.

Here are the soups...all 30 of them. I coordinated the soups with the evening meal. For example, I would not have a soup with beans in it for lunch, if I were serving a bean meal for supper. And if I had a high protein supper planned, then I'd go easy on the protein at lunch. Note: In any of these soups, you can add water to make it the consistency you like. Some folks like a thick, stew-like soup, some like it more liquid-y.

1. Potato Chili Soup with Tortilla Chips (Can Potato soup and can of green chilis)
2. Ranch House Chili with Beans and tortilla chips (Can of Chili and can of beans)
3. Clam Chowder (Can of clam chowder, extra can of clams, can of potatoes). Dice up those potates and add to the soup. Add the potato liquid, too, if you want. Crackers.
4. Chicken Noodle Soup (Can Chicken noodle soup-Healthy Request- and can of carrots added to it.)
5. Tomato Rice Soup with crackers and peanut butter. First cook up some Minute Rice and then add an 8 oz. can tomato sauce and a 15 oz. can diced tomatoes. Season as you wish. We love black pepper. You could use Mrs. Dash..Tapatio...a touch of garlic powder.
6. Corny Chili with Olives (Can of chili, can of corn, small can sliced black olives.)
7. Sirloin Steak Soup with extra carrots (Can Campbells' Sirloin Steak soup. Add can of carrots. Season as desired.
8. Molly's Black Bean Soup (can of black beans, 1/2 can or more of low sodium chicken broth.)I add some Taco Bell Salsa in a jar (half of a small jar)
9. Fortified Chicken Noodle Soup.(Can Healthy Request Chicken Noodle Soup, add extra can of chicken chunks and can of sliced carrots.
10. 4 Bean Chili (Can of 4 Bean chili and add an extra can of beans and a can of stewed diced tomatoes. Add little bit cumin
and chili powder.

11. Beef Barley Soup with Extra Carrots
12. Italian Style Wedding Soup with extra spinach (chopped, canned) and extra white beans.
13. Chicken Curry Rice Soup
14. Tuna Noodle Soup (can tuna, cooked shell noodles-use 6 oz. dry)cream of muishroom or chicken soup with added soy milk.
15. Minestrone Ravioli Zupa (one can minestrone soup, 1 can mini raviolo, water as desired)
16. Fajita Chicken Soup with extra chicken and carrots
17. Beans and Potato Chili (can chili with beans, can potatoes, diced up)
18. Chicken Noodle soup with extra chicken and carrots
19. Wisconsin Chili (can of chili, add cooked maccaroni noodles (about one and a half cups or so, add 1/2 can of peas...and a bit more water.
20. Vegetable Beef Soup with Extra carrots and peas.
21. Polish Chicken Noodle Soup. (Add can of potatoes, cut in halves, add some dillweed)
22. Corny Bean soup (Can white beans, Can of creamed corn, can of reg. corn all undrained.)
23. Vegetable bean soup(add can of red beans)
24. Tuna Rice Soup (Can tuna, 2 cups rice, Healthy Request cream of chicken soup)
25. Frijole Soup (Can of refried beans,can of pinto beans,water, cumin and chili powder)
26. Mac'n' Cheese Chili (Prepare box of Mac'n' Cheese using 2 tablespoons olive oil instead of the butter, use can of Stagg No Bean Chili), can of green chilies
Combine.
27. Italian wedding soup with extra potatoes and white beans.
28. Meat and potato soup ( can of Campbells Beefy mushroom soup or a can of beef
gravy, and can of cooked potatoes, diced, undrained. Add water as desired.)
29. Chicken Rice Curry Soup (Jar of Curry simmer sauce, can of chicken, 2 cups cooked rice, some water as desired.)
30.Spaghetti Soup (cooked spaghetti noodles - 4 or 5 oz. dry-sliced black olives, can or jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Thirty Evening Meals From The Pantry :Summary







This is the food needed for the 30 meals. Note that I have displayed only 3 packets of the Creamy Mash in front of the box of Creamy Mash. Each packet, I figure, costs about 71 cents.
And note that I put a whole box of cornstarch, even though 1-2 Tablespoons is needed. Also I did not put a picture of the Brown Minute Rice...which I use in several recipes.

The total for 60 meals (30 meals times 2 because there are 2 of us in our household) was $120.00 including the chocolate desserts I made.I did not take pictures of the dessert ingredients in this post. They are in previous posts.

Many of the meals had lots of leftovers which were used the next day. In an emergency, it is good to have a cooler that you can keep foods cool in (assuming that you can procure ice.)If you have no means of refrigeration, invite the neighbors over to help you eat the food from the meal...or take it over to them.

This has been time consuming but fun! Now I know that in an emergency, I have the menus and ingredients all ready to go...and for 30 days we are set. I will soon post my menus for Lunches for 30 days...and ideas for Snacks.

I encourage whoever is reading this to try this project. You will probably choose many different foods than I have chosen. Maybe you love canned asparagus and couscous and Spam so will include those in your menus. I'd love to hear some of your ideas for meals from the pantry. Please leave comments! Thank you!

Take Advantage NOW !


The stores have food now, but the time will come when this image will be but a memory.

Stroll the aisle of you favorite store and pick up some extra rice (2-3 dollars for a 5 lb. bag), some extra canned beans (79 cents a can) some cans of chili ($.99) a can, a bag of lentils (99 cents a bag). There..now you have a couple days meals. Yes, you can have beans and rice for breakfast..I do all the time.

This is such a fun task! (At least it was for me.) It was gratifying because I always like to spend money, but I knew I was doing something very important. I was obeying the counsel of the prophets and insuring that I could feed my family in an emergency.

You can do it!

I have completed the menus for 30 evening meals and I have purchased all the items. There are 30 different meals...in other words, 30 evening meals for one month. I am working toward the goal of 3 months worth of food for all meals. So far I have 30 days of breakfasts for 2 people and the 30 evening meals. Now I need to do lunches.

This is all in addition to the basic dry canned goods from the cannery that I have (Wheat, rice, diced carrots, dried refried beans, dried onions, etc.)

I encourage everyone to do this: it is fun and you get to identify what canned and packaged goods you do like or could like. You can be so creative with all the ingredients now available at our grocery stores. May I implore you to imagine a time when those store shelves will be empty. Will you feel happy and secure knowing YOUR shelves at home are full??? That is my hope!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Good prices at Food4Less this Week..






These prices run until and including Tuesday night (Feb. 24). Prices change Wed.
If you are going to get Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup, get Healthy Request. It has less sodium and no monosodium glutamate! $1.00 a can. Rarely will you see this cheaper. At the moment it varies from 1.29 to 1.99 a can in other stores.

DelMonte Ketchup is 97 cents a bottle at Food4Less now...and Chef Boyardee canned products (most kids love)are 88 cents a can. You will never see that cheaper. Trust me! Canned peaches (big can is 1.25)and napkins (package of 200) are 98 cents a package! Good deals!

Next Time You Go To Walmart....


..pick up some spices for your food storage...These(my favorites) were 50 cents each. They had more kinds. In the food aisle. I also like to buy my canned carrots there for 50 cents a can~!

Friday, February 20, 2009

60 Breakfast Ready To Go....



FOOD SECURITY IS HAVING YOUR PANTRY STOCKED WITH ENOUGH FOOD FOR 3 MONTHS!

Here are the ingredients for 30 breakfast each for my husband and I(we are "empty nesters-just the 2 of us.)

We eat oatmeal almost every day anyway. To be "Food Secure" for 3 months, then, I will just triple these items.I will have to watch the expiration dates and rotate these items into use, and replace with fresher items.

If oatmeal is kept in too warm of a place for too long, it will develop weevils.

SO...do not store in your hot garage during the summer!

The quick oatmeal is 1.78 at WinCo...(Quaker Oats is more expensive)

30 1/2 cup dry servings in each canister.
1/2 cup dry equals 1 cup cooked oatmeal.

I cook the oatmeal in a cooking pot: 1/2 cup oats per 1 cup water per serving. I add 2 Tablesp. raisins to the cooking pot and some cinnamon..this sweetens it up nicely without sugar. I use soy milk to cool it off once it is in the bowl. Soy milk adds more protein to this meal and thins it out a bit. I do not like thick "gluppy" oatmeal. I serve nuts with this meal because you
should have some oils (or fats)with each meal (nuts have good, healthful oil) and nuts add more protein to the meal.

What is great about this meal? Costs about 31 cents for breakfast (including the nuts, soy milk, raisins)The oatmeal has good fiber that absorbs cholesterol from your intestines and flushes it out of the body.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Depression Survivors Remember...




"The pot was never empty, and nothing in the kitchen was ever wasted."

This is from the following article which I have copied in full from today's LA Times.
It tells about folks who have survived really tough times. If you go to the LA times website...(cut and paste the following address into your browser)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-on-the-edge15-2009feb15,0,2273147.story?page=1

you will see a slide show and hear 91 year old Thelma Beets say, among other things, "If you've got any money, be careful. Spend it wisely . Don't blow it. If you need it, get it," she said. "If you don't need it, forget it. You find that you don't need a lot of things you think you do."


Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Depression survivors remember hope
February 15 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-on-the-edge15-2009feb15,0,2273147.story?page=3

In the early hours before dawn, Thelma May Beets shuffled across the cold linoleum floor for a weekly inspection of the trunk next to her bed.

Her husband built the rust-colored tool chest when he came home from World War II. Now it is full of food: sugar, pasta, soup, oats, crackers, creamer.

Nearly blind, she reviewed her inventory by touch -- peanut butter jars with ridged lids, ground coffee rustling inside a can like dried oak leaves blown in the wind.

"If you like to eat, you better save some," said the 91-year-old widow, her fingers spotted with age and curled by arthritis.

Thelma has long kept some food in the chest, but as the latest recession has deepened, she's made a point of keeping it full. It's a compulsion she learned as a child of the Great Depression, the period of epic hardship that began with the stock market crash in 1929 and lasted for a decade.

Her memories of that time have come flooding back lately. The survivors of the Depression are approaching the ends of their lives, and their tales flow freely -- of countless injuries and precious joys. They experienced humiliation and unexpected generosity, moments of fear and times of laughter.

The privation left scars that have lasted a lifetime. Thelma still smarts from the looks that other children gave her worn checkered dress, her only one. The bare walls of the abandoned home her family moved into, and snowflakes that sneaked in through broken windows, still linger in her memory.

"My age group, the older people, we came up the hard way," she said from her home in Sedalia, Ind., about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

But many survivors of the Great Depression say that their youth eventually became a time of triumph for them. The country, ever resilient, learned to adapt to this society of wanting and embraced a cooperative spirit that would carry it through another world war, the Cold War and a dozen recessions to come.

The children of those times learned things that they would remember for the rest of their lives. They discovered how to make endless pots of soup, how to use corncobs for fuel, how to make undergarments from bleached feed sacks. They learned the value of a wild imagination and honest neighbors.

They were good lessons.

BERTHA GREENSTEIN

It all began for Bertha Greenstein when she couldn't get a new pair of shoes.

Good shoes were everywhere in New York in the late 1920s -- T-straps, Mary Janes, slip-on boots, soft leather pumps. Nothing said style like shoes.

Her father, Jacob Greenstein, was an immigrant from Romania and co-owned a tailoring shop in Lower Manhattan. He spent his days surrounded by bolts of fine cashmere and the sharp, rich scent of hair tonic. His nimble fingers smoothed the cloth across the shoulders of stylish stockbrokers and other businessmen.

Bertha was not quite 11 when the stock market crashed in 1929. Still, she was old enough to navigate New York's streets alone. On weekends, she delivered her father's lunch and watched the customers pass through the glass double doors of Tress and Greenstein.

In the weeks after the crash, she heard people on the street talking about wealthy men who had lost their fortunes. Some drank poison or hanged themselves, the newspaper hawkers bellowed on the streets. She became aware that her father, now pale and drawn, was spending more time at home.

"He never talked about the business to the kids or when we were present," said Bertha, the youngest of seven. "He would say, 'Well, we'll have to look for something else to do.' "

Eight months after the crash, Jacob sold his share of the tailoring shop and bought a bakery on 110th Street, a block from Central Park. It was a deep and narrow storefront with a faded green awning. People lined up for dense loaves of rye and horn-shaped rolls covered in salt.

Every couple of weeks, as customers' debts grew, her father sent her to collect. She would crisscross the neighborhood, climb flights of stairs and politely ask for the lady of the house. Everyone recognized her as the baker's daughter.

She loved to walk -- to school, to basketball games, on dates strolling through Central Park. She found jobs along the way -- tutoring children, selling paper flowers, folding bolts of cloth in a fabric store.

There was a beauty to never standing still, even though it was hard on her shoes.

When holes in her soles grew to the size of quarters, she cut off a chunk of the tan cake boxes in her father's bakery and slipped them inside her shoes, over and over again.

"If the cardboard was thin, we'd put two layers in," said Bertha, 90, who still arches her tiny feet when she walks on a cold day, as if trying to get away from the memory of wet snow.

LEMUEL ARTHUR LEWIE JR.

It took time for the Depression to settle into the minds of children whose parents had jobs, a precious commodity at a time when the national unemployment rate would eventually hit 25%.

Arthur Lewie's father, Dr. Lemuel Lewie Sr., was the only African American dentist on Main Street in Columbia, S.C. For years, patients -- black and white -- came to him with aching jaws and throbbing teeth.

Arthur began to notice that things were different when patients stopped paying cash. "They'd bring hams, chickens, things like that, for us," he said.

Arthur was 10 at the time, the eldest of three, and he had never known hard times. Unlike many of their neighbors, the Lewies owned their wood-frame home, with a wraparound porch so wide that the children could race their tricycles on it. It sat on 4 acres of rich soil with corn, flowers and grapevines running along the side of the house.

His mother, Ophelia, heard the news of banks collapsing in the North. She suggested to her husband that they pull their money out of the black-owned bank in Columbia and invest in postal bonds. "My father left all his money in the bank and, of course, he lost it all," Arthur said.

He realized that life was changing. Trips to buy clothes became less frequent. There were fewer visits to family in other parts of the South.

He began spending more time with his parents, turning the land into a working farm. Sections of lawn were replaced with rows of tomato plants, cabbage and collard greens. Pits were dug into the ground to store potato slips and vegetable seeds.

His father, who had a passion for automobiles, worked on his own car to save money. He showed Arthur how to fit piston rings, adjust valves and replace crankshaft bearings.

Each vegetable picked and engine repaired impressed the boy with the importance of self-reliance. "I knew the value of being able to make things, and do things yourself," said Arthur, 89. "I could be self-sufficient. . . . I could live off the land.

"I wouldn't ever have to beg," he said.

REVA GOODWIN

Reva Goodwin remembers lots of strangers showing up on her family's back doorstep, asking for something to eat. There was always a bowl of soup waiting for them.

In northwest Baltimore, she grew up with the constant smell of stock simmering from the blackened cast-iron pot that sat on the stove's back burner.

Her mother, Edith, would add whatever was available to the pot, depending on the season and the amount of money that Reva's father, William, made from the auto repair shop he owned.

Bunches of kale, winter squash and ruby-red stewed tomatoes went into the pot. In the summer, ears of corn were shelled to join onions, potatoes, rice and celery.

Meat joined the soup whenever available: ham hocks, chicken chunks, stew beef, bacon grease -- anything to make each spoonful more satisfying.

Visiting friends would cross the kitchen's gunmetal gray linoleum, carrying a gift for the pot. A couple that worked for a caterer in the city routinely arrived with boxes of leftover chickens, extra beans, even sweet rolls to enjoy after a bowl of Edith's soup.

That pot was never empty, and nothing in the kitchen was wasted. Ketchup bottles were turned upside down to coax the last few drops.

My mother "had everything imaginable in that soup, all of the vegetables that were nourishing," said Reva, the eldest daughter of six children. There was always something to share.

Her father complained that she was giving away food, but Edith shrugged it off. Theirs was a tight-knit African American neighborhood, a line of brick row houses filled with schoolteachers, chauffeurs and city workers.

As children grew older, winter jackets and summer dresses were passed down from home to home, until the cloth was too thin to wear. After that, they became rags for quilts and washing.

The people asking for food were often white. It didn't matter to Edith. In her eyes, having food to share meant the difference between being rich and barely surviving.

"In the neighborhood, everyone looked out for each other," said Reva, 79. "We had to mind everybody in the neighborhood. . . . People have forgotten that."

RICHARD HARDING

Even with the help of family and friends, there were sacrifices, many of them beyond the understanding of children.

In the depths of the Depression in 1933, Richard Harding's mother found a job as a nurse's aide at Whidden Memorial Hospital, just outside Boston. The pay was decent and there was a spare room in the hospital's nursing home where she could live for free. There was, however, no room for children.

Richard was 7. His father, a fisherman from Newfoundland, had drowned when he was 10 months old. His mother, Temperance Anne, had struggled to raise him and his sister, Margaret.

Anne asked two of her brothers to take care of her children, and they agreed. Earlier in the Depression, she had helped them. "I have to work and I'm sorry," Richard remembered his mother telling him.

His uncle reminded him that he was "the extra kid in the family," said Richard, who resented the chores he had to do that his four younger cousins didn't have to.

Across town, Margaret was included in most family activities, but knew she too was a burden.

Both uncles were carpenters who were struggling to find work in Boston. They rose early each morning and headed to a nearby union office, waiting for jobs that came sporadically.

Anne and the children spent weekends together. They wandered along the downtown square's shops, gazing at window displays of the latest fashions. "We never talked much about how we felt about how we were doing," Richard said.

For nearly four years, they lived apart from their mother. Richard thought of running away. Margaret grew withdrawn.

Then Anne met Andrew Hillier, a Newfoundlander 12 years her senior. He was a good man with a steady job, and they wed in 1937. Anne told her children years later that she remarried to bring them home.

Long after the Depression, Richard said, his uncle reached out and they slowly developed a friendship. Richard, after raising his own family and facing his own worries, came to understand his uncle's words.

"A lot of his abrasiveness was this constant on edge of 'How am I going to provide for this family?' " said Richard, 82. "He gave me a roof to live under and enabled my mother to work."

That was worth forgiveness, he figured.

JUDY KYSER

After years of the Depression, the hardships gradually began to ease as federal spending boomed, factory jobs grew and prices slowly rose.

The changes, however, were hard to notice on the farm outside Jonesville, Mich., where Judy Kyser grew up.

She was an avid reader, sneaking away from the battered metal washtub to curl up on her feather bed with a stack of movie magazines about faraway Hollywood. At dusk, when the wagonload of hay had been harvested, she sat next to the family's oil lamp with murder mysteries and dreamed of solving crimes.

But as the Depression wore on, she set aside the books and magazines from the school library once the sun set. Coal oil was too expensive to waste.

She was left to her own imagination at night. "I can remember as a teen going to bed early because then I could dream," said Judy, now 84. "I dreamed about the movie stars and the different lives and how it would be to meet these people."

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act, which promised to install electrical distribution systems to rural areas. It was one of many government efforts to pump cash and technology into the country.

It took two more years for electricians to arrive at Judy's family farm. On a summer day, they came with rolls of cabling the size of a tractor and began planting wooden poles along the road.

Judy was the youngest of seven and the only girl. Her father had passed away. Her mother and two brothers were running the farm. Crop sales were rising. So was the price of milk.

That first night, after the workmen left, she raced to her bedroom. There it was: a light fixture, with a single bulb. She tugged on its metal chain and a warm light bathed the room.

Within months, the family bought an electric iron, a washing machine and a radio. "It was all the things that made life easier," she said.

World War II was coming, and the country's impending burst of production would eventually catapult the U.S. out of its economic malaise.

But at that first moment, a lightbulb was enough for Judy. The dark days of her childhood would never seem so dark again.

Who they are:
Judy Kyser briefly attended Michigan State College and, under the stage name Judy Perkins, became a country music performer, starring in the "Midwestern Hayride" television show in the 1940s. She married Robert Sinclair in 1949 and had one child. Her husband died in 1965. The 84-year-old lives in Springdale, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.
*
Bertha Greenstein met David Gold„© at a dance when she was 17. He courted her over the counter of her father's bakery and they married in 1941. She played on the Manhattan Co-Eds exhibition basketball team in the late 1930s and later worked as a secretary. The couple traveled the world, pursuing their hobby of learning new dances. David died last spring. Bertha, 90, lives with her eldest daughter and son-in-law in Watsonville, Calif.
*
Arthur Lewie, 89, served as a first lieutenant with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. After the war, he earned a master's degree in biology from Atlanta University and taught science and math at George Washington Carver Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore. He met Reva Goodwin at a funeral and they married in 1948; she is now 79. They live in the Baltimore suburb of Windsor Mill, Md., and have kept a vegetable garden at home for 50 years.
*
Richard Harding, 82, served in the Navy in World War II, graduated from seminary, married in 1948 and had four children and seven grandchildren. A Methodist minister, he served as pastor of the historic Old West Church in Boston. Harding, now a part-time minister in Sudbury, Mass., established a group of retired United Methodist Church pastors in New England who perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. He and his wife, Shirley, live in Concord, Mass.
*
Thelma May Young graduated from high school and married Paul Beets in 1936. The mother of six became a prolific writer of historical short stories and, until her eyesight began to fail, and was one of the most successful Tupperware salespeople in Indiana. She lives in the same house in Sedalia where she raised her children.

p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com

The 30 Evening Meal Project Explained





Put yourself in this scenario. Will you panic? Or will go home and say, "Oh well,
It would be nice to have fresh salad tonight, but that won't happen. At least I have my 30 Days of Evening Meals all planned out and the ingredients for them."

I have just finished posting 30 different evening meal menus (with menu ideas to spare still sitting in my file--I will post them later as Bonus Menus)!

I had assigned our Relief Society sisters, through our little preparedness calendar and at the first meeting of our Preparedness Club on Jan. 29th, to come up with meal ideas for 30 evening meals using only pantry items. You can repeat meals within the month, of course. You may find some ideas so appealing, you will want to have them more than once a month!

The conditions for this assignment were:
No refrigeration
No electricity
No gas
Limited water.
No grocery stores with any stock left
.

This is a worst case scenario. It could happen for a variety of reasons,including forced quarantine during a severe epidemic. It could be biological warfare. Complete loss of anyone's ability to travel on the roads (due to extreme weather, damaged roads, no fuel for the trucks, etc.)

I wanted you all to think about how you would feed yourself and family if you could not even step out of your house to get something from your garden or to even search for dandelion greens. (It may be the dead of winter or there may be unhealthy, even deadly air outside.)

The menu ideas and recipes involve as little use of fuel as possible. The food is being heated in a cooking pot, or stir fried in a skillet, on a camp stove and you have limited propane canisters. So instead of cooking dry pinto beans from scratch (which takes 3-4 hours with a flame under it), you will use canned beans which are already cooked..and which can be heated in less than a minute.

If you have not yet finished this project, or have not yet even begun, I challenge you to do it. It is fun and it will stretch your mind and imagination. Your meals will be different from mine because everyone has different tastes. Notice I did not include any recipe with Spam. My husband and I do not eat items that have sodium nitrate in them (which Spam does have).

This is a great project and you will be so pleased when you finish it. You will experience what is called food security.

Menus #27 #28 #29 #30







Menu #27 Lemon Herb Shrimp with Brown Rice

1 cup instant rice
2 cups water
1 can shrimp, drained
1 can peas, drained
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. lemon juice ( reconstitute lemon juice crystals)
1/2 teaspoon dried dill (or more to taste)

Cook rice in water according to package directions.
Combine olive oil, lemon juice, dill. Set aside.
In skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Saute the shrimp, then stir fry in the peas, and rice. Cook 2 minutes.
Add lemon juice mixture. Serve immediately.


#28 Menu Garlicky Chickpeas with Potatoes and Tomatoes
Cooked Spinach



Garlicky Chickpeas with Potatoes and Tomatoes
1 Tablesp. olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 16 oz. can potatoes, drained and diced.
one 15.5 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained (and rinsed if possible)
one 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
Freshly ground pepper.

Heat oil in cooking pot. Add potatoes,garbanzo beans, tomatoes, garlic powder, and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until flavors are blended and tomatoes broken up and saucy, about 10 minutes.
Serve with spinach on the side. (Or you can chop the spinach and mix it into the main dish.)



Menu #29 Easy Southwest Spaghetti

This is the easiest meal in the world!
Open can chili...heat it in cooking pot.
In another pot, cook 4 oz. spaghetti in water according to package directions. we like to use whole wheat spaghetti. It looks the same as regular only it has a lot more fiber! Drain the spaghetti and serve on plates. Put 3/4 cup chili (1/2 can) on top of each pile of spaghetti. Serves 2.


#30 Stove Top Cheddar Crab Casserole

1 can chicken broth
3/4 cup instant rice
1 can crab, drained and flaked
1 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained (Bits and pieces OK)
1/2 cup cheese sauce
1/4 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup cracker crumbs sauted in 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil...to sprinkle on top.

Cook the rice in the broth. That takes about 5 minutes. Add the crab, mushrooms, the cheese sauce, the slivered almonds. Stir and heat through. Serve on plates, sprinkle with the fried cracker crumbs.

Menus #23 #24 #25 #26








Menu #23 Cream of Salmon Stew

1 can salmon, drained, and bone and skin removed
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can potatoes, drained and diced
1 can peas, drained
1 can carrots, drained and diced

....or....if you have a can of peas and carrots (sometimes the carrots are already diced)use that.
Combine all ingredients in cooking pot. Heat and Serve.

Note: I like to reserve the drained water from the vegetables and see if I can use it to thin out the stew, if need be. You can save the water in a lass jar and use it when cooking noodles or rice. That is, if you have a wya to keep this liquid cool.

You can also buy salmon that has now skin and bones...in that case, use 2 cans because they are much smaller cans.


#24 Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chicken


1 can chicken including liquid
1/2 cup store-bought sweet and sour sauce (I use Kikkoman)
1/2 can pineapple chunks in juice, drained (The cook gets to drink the juice)
1 can carrots, drained
Combine ingredients in cooking pot. Heat thoroughly. Serve over rice (or ramen noodles or other Asian style noodles)


#25 Pasta e Fagioli

"Fagioli" is "Bean" in Italian. There are many versions of this popular Italian dish. Here is mine:

1 cup uncooked noodles
2 cups water

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can white beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 6 oz.can tomato paste
1 can water (use tomato paste can)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or 1 teaspoon from the good seasons envelope
or 1 teasp. oregano)
Black Pepper to taste


Parmesan cheese
olive oil

Directions: Cook the noodles in the water first. Drain and, to these noodles in the cooking pot, add the rest of the ingredients. Serve in wide shallow bowls, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and a bit of olive oil. 3-4 servings




Menu #26 Mushroom-Spinach-Chicken Stir Fry

1 can chicken,drained
1 can spinach, chopped, drained
1 4 oz. can mushrooms, sliced (bits and pieces OK)
2 Tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 cup raw rice

Cook the 1 cup rice in 2 cups water according to pakage directions.
(One tip: Bring water to boil. Add rise, stir. Turn heat to low. Put lid on and cook like this for 5 minutes. Then...take off heat. DO NOT LIFT LID. Wrap cooking pot with thick bath towel and let sit 15 more minutes. This should cook the rice completely.

Using skillet, heat oil then add chicken and stir fry. Add mushrooms and spinach. Stir fry. Add the soy sauce, stir. Serve over the cooked rice. Sprinkle soy sauce on, as desired.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Menu #19 #20 #21 #22






Menu #19 (One Dish Meal) Chicken Ala Corn

1 1/4 cups instant rice (I used brown)
1 1/4 cups water
1 12.5 oz. can chicken chunks
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can corn
1 can gren chilis (optional-but so delicious!)

Put the water and rice in cooking pot, bring to boil and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir and heat through. Serve. 2 big servings for 2 hungry folks.

You'll be so satisfied with this, you won't want dessert!


Menu #20 Tuna with Rice

This is fancy.
Again, a one dish meal.

1 cup basmati rice (or whatever kind of rice you want.)
2 5 or 6 oz. cans tuna
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar or lemon juice (I have instant lemon packets)
Freshly ground pepper
Garnishes: If you have fresh cherry tomatoes, watercress, baby salad greens, thinly sliced red onion, finely chopped parsley or basil, any of these can be used. Canned garnishes: capers, olives, artichoke hearts. (I would slice the whole black olives)

Cook rice according to package directions. Divide rice among plate. Arrange tuna on top of the rice. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice. Season with pepper (salt if you want). Garnish with those garnish ingredients mentioned above.
You can substitute drained cannelini beans or boiled potatoes (canned potatoes) for the rice.


Menu #21 Lean and Mean Kidney Bean Hash
(Another one dish meal)

2 Tablespoons dried onion flakes soaked in 3 Tablespoons hot water.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cans potatoes, drained and diced
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1/2 cup water
dash pepper
dash garlic powder
dash Tabasco sauce (Tapatio is OK)
dash of Mrs. Dash seasoning
small jar diced pimentos

Heat olive oil in frying pan. drain excess water off the onions and saute the onions in the olive oil. Add the diced potatoes and pimentos and mix well, cook and turn with spatula often...about 5-8 minutes. While potato mixture cooks, rinse beans well to remove the "Goo". Mash 1/2 to 2/3 of the beans with a potato masher or fork. Mix this and the remaining beans into the mixture in the frying pan, add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Season to taste. Serve and enjoy.

Dessert could be canned fruit. I'd have peaches with this.




Menu #22 Beef Paprika
noodles
green beans
peas



Ingredients: Medium egg noodles ( 1/2 bag)
can of green beans
can of peas

You will cook these separately.

Making the Beef Paprika is the time consuming part, but it is worth it.

Beef Paprika
1 can Roast Beef chunks, including liquid
3 Tablespoons dried onion reconstituted with 4 Tablesp. hot water (soak for 15 min.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Tablesp. Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup water
Combine all in cooking pot and bring to simmer.
Simmer 5 minutes, then add...

1 Tablespoon cornstarch (not pictured) dissolved in 1/2 cup water.

Cook until gravy thickens. Serve hot with the cooked noodles, and the heated green beans and peas.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Menu #17 Menu #18





Menu #17
Chicken Fried Rice
Carrots



For the Chicken Fried Rice:
1 1/4 cups uncooked rice
2 Tablespoons dried onion flakes
water
1 can chicken chunks, drained (give juice to pet or use in cooking)
3 tablespoons olive oil

soy sauce to taste
Mrs. Dash (optional for you maybe, but not me)



1st...Cook the rice. One and 1/4 cups rice to two and 1/2 cups water.
This will give you about 3 cups of cooked rice.

Heat oil in skillet. Add the reconstituted onion flakes. Stir fry for several minutes. Add the cooked rice. Stir. Add the chicken chunks. Stir. Add the soy sauce to taste. Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash. Serve on plate.
Serve the heated canned carrots next to it. The carrots add color and Vitamin A. Enjoy!





Menu #18
Sassy Baked Beans
Corn
Fried potatoes
Oat 'n' Nut Balls


The reason this is called "sassy" is because you put some pineapple into the beans, and a bit of dry mustard and some diced tomatoes...and it just is so much better than the plain beans. So it is up to you...do you want them plain?..if so, just open the can and heat. If you want them "sassy", well..read on...

Sassy Baked Beans

1 large can Bush's baked beans (any variety)
1/2 can pineapple tidbits, drained (drink the yummy juice!) (you can use sliced pineapple and then just cut upp the rings into tidbit size)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 can diced stewed tomatoes

Combine in cooking pot. Stir and heat through.

Serve on plate with sides of corn and potatoes. To do the potatoes, just open the can, drain off the water, slice each potato in half, fry in skillet in olive oil. Season as desired. we love black pepper, and Mrs. Dash.
You need a dessert! The grain in these Oat 'n' Nut Balls complement the protein in the beans. The nuts add even more protein.



Oat 'n' Nut Balls

* 2 cups rolled oats
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1/3 cup peanut butter
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup almonds or walnuts or pecans or hazelnuts or any other nuts or a combination of any kind nuts, roasted and chopped

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Moisten your hands slightly, and mix all ingredients thoroughly.
3. I do this with my stand mixer instead of my hands.
4. Moisten your hands with oil (or water) to prevent sticking, and form the mixture into equal sized balls.
5. Enjoy!

Menus #13, #14, #15, #16







Here we have FISH - BEAN - BEEF - FISH

Menu #13 Tuna Clam Chowder
1 15 oz.can Snow's New England Condensed Clam Chowder
1 5 or 6 oz. can tuna
1 15 oz. can potatoes, drained and diced

Crackers (I have pictured our personal favorite-The Black Pepper Triscuits. And some fancy ones -various shapes-that are easier to chew for children.)

Peaches for dessert (adds color to this somewhat
colorless meal)

Directions:
Combine first 3 ingredients in cooking pot along with 1 15 oz. can water (or a bit less if you like your chowder thick)and heat.
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Menu #14 Heiner Family Favorite Bean Dish

1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can No Bean chili
(Heiners use a pound of ground beef, but what if you do not have canned ground beef? I find that the no bean chili can be a good substitute.)
1 envelope Taco seasoning

Combine all ingredients in cooking pot and stir. Serve on plates with a dollop of something cheesy on top. Heiners sprinkle grated cheese on top.This is optional, but kids love cheese. Here I have a jar of cheese sauce. Maybe a dollop of this on top would suffice? Have ketchup on the side for your ketchup lovers.

Menu #15 Roast Beef Meal


Roast Beef
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Carrots
Green Beans

Dessert:
Raisins and canned diced pears.


What an easy meal! All these meals are easy! Just open cans and warm up the foods. I think it would be best to heat the beef chunks separately and serve them alongside of the mashed poatotes and gravy.
The potatoes: Follow direction on box or package. Usually you are directed to add water, milk and butter (I use soy milk and olive oil)
The best instant mashed potatoes on the market (has only 2 ingredients: potatoes and butter) are the Honest Earth Creamy Mash packets, sold in boxes of 14 eight serving pouches at Costco. Made by Idahoan Foods. Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Menu #16 Salmon Noodle Stove Top Casserole with Dark Chocolate Raisin Nut Clusters for dessert

Directions:
1 14.75 oz.can salmon, drained, bone and skin removed (or you can buy smaller cans of salmon already boned and skinned. Use 2 cans of these.)
7 oz. shell or ribbon noodles
1 can peas, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup

Cook noodles first. Drain. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir and heat through. Add a bit of water to get the consistency you want.

The dark chocolate cluster add a nice color contrast.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Meals #9, #10, #11, #12








Here are FISH - CHICKEN - BEAN - CHICKEN .....

#9 Menu (FISH)
Norwegian Platter
Seasoned pan fried potatoes (canned potatoes, cut in half,
fried in olive oil and seasoned with spicy Mrs. Dash)
Kippered Herring
Pickled beets
Greens Beans

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Menu #10
Company's Coming Chicken Curry
(CHICKEN)
OOPS...I forgot to put a package of rice in the picture! You WILL need rice!
This is one of my top favorite things to make and eat!
Serves 4.

Recipe for the "Curry Gravy":
1 4 oz. can Masaman Curry Paste
1 14 oz. can coconut milk (Shake it first before opening)
1 12.5 oz. can chicken chunks, drained
1 can cooked carrots, drained

2 cups rice

Side dishes of...
peanuts or cashews
raisins
pineapple tidbits. (I often just have rings, so I drain the can and drink the juice and then I cut the rings into "tidbit size". Canned pineapple chunks just seem too big for this meal. If you have that, just cut the chunks in half.

Combine coconut milk and masaman curry in pot and stir. Add drained chicken chunks and the carrots and heat through thoroughly.


Meanwhile, cook 2 cups rice in 4 cups water.(Bring to boil, stir, turn heat to low, put lid on and cook at this low temperature 15 minutes or so- until rice is soft and fluffy.)

Have side bowls of pineapple chunks or tidbits, peanuts or cashews, and raisins.

Serve plates by first putting rice on the plate. Cover the rice with the chicken curry "gravy" you have made. Sprinkle the pineapple, nuts and raisins on it. Enjoy!
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Menu #11 Molly's Bean Salsa Dip (BEANS)
Rice pudding for dessert


2 cans black beans, drained
1 can corn kernels, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
Packet of Good Season Italian salad dressing and follow
the directions on the envelope (calls for water, oil and vinegar)
Pour dressing over all.
Original recipe calls for 2 avocados cubed. In emergency you may not have fresh avocados, so do not put all the dressing on (Perhaps, save half of prepared dressing in a glass jar....or better yet, make half a recipe from the envelope.)Original recipe calls for fresh lime juice and cilantro to taste...but, again, you may not have that.
Serve with tortilla chips. Use as dip with the chips.

Mary Norton's Rice Pudding Recipe:
2 cups cooked rice
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar (I would use 1/4 cup)
1 teasp. vanilla
Cinnamon to taste

Bring to slow boil, stirring constantly the rice, milk, sugar for 10 minutes. Add cinnamon and vanilla. Serve warm or chilled.

Rice will complement the beans and make a complete protein
and then you have milk in this, too, so good protein source.
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Menu #12 Chicken and Stuffing (CHICKEN) Mashed Potaoes and Gravy
Chicken
Green Beans


Use Stovetop Stuffing Mix and follow directions on box, using olive oil (only a tablespoon) instead of butter.
Make mashed potatoes form the packets you have (Or whatever Instant Potatoes you use), using olive oil instead of butter and not as much.
Open a can or jar of chicken or turkey gravy to put over the mashed potatoes. Open the chicken chunks (from 12.5 oz. can) and warm them up. Serve alongside the stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. Open can of green beans and heat and serve with blackpepper. If you have canned cranberry sauce, it would add color and taste to this "almost like Thanksgiving Day" meal.

The 30 Evening Meal Project !






I have been revising my 30 evening meal menu plan so that it is more balanced.
For example, I do not want to serve chicken 2 nights in a row. I know we all should eat fish twice a week for good health. I do not want to have beef more than once a week. I know we should include beans often for its fiber and protein.

Here is what I have come up with...a 7 day cycle...
Day 1 - Beef
Day 2 - Fish
Day 3 - Chicken
Day 4 - Beans
Day 5 - Chicken
Day 6 - Fish
Day 7 - Beans


Then I repeat the cycle..but make different recipes for them. The more you think about this and use your creativity, the more ideas you will have...surprisingly!

So now that I have figured out the cycle I want to have, it is easier to plug in menu ideas. You will want to vary the side dishes also. For example, do not have rice 2 days in a row. Have rice, for your carb in one meal, then the next night, have potatoes, the next night noodles, then corn, etc.

Meal # 8 Spaghetti and Meatballs





I have been asked: What if your family eats lots of ground beef? You can't store that in your pantry. Well, maybe you can! I have talked to veteran canners and they report that they have canned beef chunks, fish, and yes, even ground beef. However, at this point in time, you cannot get canned ground beef in the stores. But it is included in cans of chili, especially the No Beef variety. And you can get it in Franco-American spaghetti and meatballs in a can. I picked up a can of Franco American Spaghetti with Jumbo Meatballs so I could see how many meatballs were actually in it. The answer (and you can see proof in the picture...4 meatballs.

To stretch out this can, I cooked 4 oz. of regular spaghetti noodles in a pot of boiling water until done. Then I drained them and added a 26 oz. can of Spaghetti sauce and the contents of the Franco American can. I gave each of us 2 meatballs. There was leftover sauce and noodles (but no meatball, since we each had our 2)for one person the next day.
This was a hearty meal for 2 hungry adults. The fruit dessert was especially refresh
ing.


Menu
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Fruit bowl (pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, raisins)

Meal #7 Chicken Chili with Geen Salsa




This meal has 5 ingredients (4 for the chili and one for the side dish)

Menu
Chicken Chili with Green Salsa
Popcorn


Chicken Chili with Green Salsa

1 12.5 oz. can chicken chunks, drained (give fluid to pet or save for other meal)
1 16 oz. La Victoria Thick'n Chunky Salsa Verde ( or 1 3/4 cup any brand mild or
medium or hot grren salsa)
2 cans (15 to 19 oz. each) white kidney beans (Cannellini), drained.
1/2 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes,for the topping. If you have real cherry tomatoes, that is beter. Quarter them and place on top the chili. Sprinkle with cilantro if you have it.

Combine all ingredients into cooking pot and heat, stirring until all is hot and well combined. Ladle into bowls. Top with a spoonfull or 2 of canned diced tomatoes. I used Mexican Style (which has chili and onion) When you stir it into your soup, it makes a better tasting chili.

Serve with a side bowl of popcorn.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Meal #6 Beef Stew



Time for some beef!

I never can get enough vegetables in my beef stew unless I add more potatoes (cut them up a bit) and carrots. This will be a hearty meal for 2 hungry adults. I like to have a side of cooked rice with my stew, how about you?

Dark Chocolate Nut Fruit Cluster




Dessert, anyone?
I definitely have to have dark chocolate chips (63 %)in my storage, as well as raisins and raw nuts. Raw foods, like raisins and nuts, are very healthful. And everyone likes a treat. You can use semi sweet chocolat chips, of course. Chocolate chips have an expiration date. Make sure you use them up within 8 months from
the time you buy them, or check the expiration date. If you store them for a couple years, they become not only unappetizing but uneatable. It also depends on the temperature. They degrade faster in heat.
If you like dark chocolate, your children will too. It has lots of healthful properties.
(The raisins in this make the treat sweeter.

Dark Chocolate Nut and Fruit Cluster

1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts, chopped


I melt my chocolate chips by putting them in a stainless steel bowl nestled in a pot of boiling water on the stove. There are many other ways to melt them. Add the raisins and nuts(I like to use walnuts or pecans) and stir. Then drop by teaspoonfuls onto a plate covered with wax paper. Chill. Yield: 18 clusters. These are way better than Chunky Bars.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Meal #5 Chili-Chicka-Roni




Menu:
Chili-Chicka-Roni


I just made up this name! I think it is cute.
This is a nice hearty meal for 2. All these menus I have been posting (except the Tallerone-which feeds about 8)feeds 2. That is because currently in our household there are 2 people: my husband and myself.

Chili-Chicka-Roni

1 box mac and cheese
1 can diced green chilis
1 12.5 oz. can chicken chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 cup milk or a bit more to get to the consistency you like.
milk

Your favorite seasoning (we like Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy, black pepper, Pico de Gallo powder)

This meal does have a vegetable: the green chilis. Next time I make this I will use a bigger can of green chilis. I did chop the chicken chunks up. Put the liquid from the canned chicken into the water you use for cooking the macaroni.

By the way, you do not need a lot of water to cook macaroni, only to drain off the water down into the sink drain. Just use twice the amount of water than there are noodles (like in how you cook rice.)After the macaroni has boiled until it is almost done, you can put a lid on the pot and turn off the heat (thus saving fuel) and finish cooking with the residual heat...takes about 5 minutes.

This is a nice warm comforting nourishing one dish meal with its creamy cheesy base, high protein chicken, and the delicious green chilis. I used olive oil instead of butter that the recipe on the box calls for (I used only 1 tablespoon of olive oil) and then I used about 1/8 cup of soy milk, because I saw that the green chilis had some thick liquid.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Meal #4 Creamy Bean Soup and Sides




Menu:
Creamy Bean Soup
Popcorn
Pineapple Tidbits and Craisins


Maybe you can think of a cute name for this meal. I love popcorn so much, I sometimes serve it with a meal. It goes perfect with the Creamy Bean Soup...it is a whole grain, to complement the protein in the beans. The dessert is a nice contrast with its red and yellow colors. Dessert is pineapple tidbits with craisins sprinkled on top.

Creamy Bean Soup

Put 1 cup water in pot and bring to boil. Add (Slowly while stirring)...
1/4 cup instant potatoes (taken from my packet)
Take off heat for 10 seconds. Return to burner and add
2 1/4 cups water
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, (including the liquid)
1 16 oz. can refried beans )
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper
Stir until contents of the pot are well blended and nice and hot.

Makes about 6 cups of delicious soup!
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