Vintage Recipes: Custard Rhubarb Pie, Roast Turkey in a Paper Sack, Mexican Squash and Sunday Night Waffles

This cookbook from my pantry isn't especially old, I couldn't find the publication date inside the cover pages like usual but looking it up online, it is listed as published in 1971.  

Old enough, to be called vintage?  I consider my collected books from the early 1900's to about 1940's to be vintage.  But 1971 is old enough I suppose.

This one is called Americana Cookery; An illustrated cookbook of regional America's traditional recipes. 

I'll grab a couple recipes at random to share while I sip my coffee and wait for a delivery this afternoon....

 

 

Custard Rhubarb Pie

4 c diced rhubarb
2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
3 eggs, separated
1 unbaked pie shell
1 T butter
1/4 t cream of tartar
6 T brown sugar

Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour and egg yolks in a bowl.  Stir.  Let stand for several minutes until the juice begins to form; pour mixture into pie shell.  Dot top with butter.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 250 degrees; bake for 30 minutes longer.  Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl; beat until soft peaks form.  Add brown sugar gradually; beat until stiff glossy peaks form.  Add meringue to top of pie.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Mrs. Doris Patterson, Shelbyville Jr. High, Shelbyville, IN
Notation:  I did find a Doris Patterson who lived in Shelbyville and was a retired teacher.  If this is her, she passed away in June of 2016.

Sunday Night Waffles

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c oil
2 1/2 c milk
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar
3/4 t salt
4 t baking powder

Combine eggs, oil and milk in mixer bowl.  Blend flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.  Add to egg mixture, stirring to mix.  Beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes.  Bake in hot waffle iron until golden brown and done.  

Marthanne Limehouse, St. Paul's HS, Yonges Island, SC

Mexican Squash

1 1/2 lb. yellow squash
1 med onion, chopped
2 T fat
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 c tomatoes
1 or 2 t cumin seed
salt to taste
2 or 3 hot peppers (optional)

Wash and remove seed from squash; do not peel.  Cut into 1 inch cubes.  Saute onion in fat until  crystal clear; add squash, garlic, tomatoes and seasonings with 1 cup water.  Simmer until done, adding water, if necessary.  Add the hot peppers the last 15 minutes of cooking. 

Mrs. Nan Dryer, Mission HS, Mission, TX

Roast Turkey in a Brown Paper Sack

1 16-20 lb. turkey
salt to taste
1 recipe poultry stuffing
fat or shortening

Rub inside of turkey with salt.  Fill neck cavity with stuffing; fasten neck skin with skewer or pin.  Fasten opening with skewers; lace shut.  Tie leg ends to tail.  Brush entire bird with fat.  Place in brown paper sack; seal.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 5 hours and 30 minutes.  Remove paper sack.

Frances Schneider, Menomonie HS, Menomonie, WI
I found what is possibly a match for Ms. Frances, if it is her, she passed away in April of 2023.

Pork and Lemon Ragu with Pasta

  

The photo above is when it had started to thicken upon standing a few minutes, but wasn't the finished product.  I could have taken a better 'finished' photo but honestly I was hungry, it smelled (and tasted) so good I started to eat it, and didn't really care about getting a better picture.  It's just for my personal blog - I don't make any money for posting recipes I make, and I have no income from the time I spend on this site, so... yeah.  LOL.

I would normally use a different pasta with this one, but for a number of crazy things going on in our life right now, I have cleared out the pantry except for mere basics and all I have to choose from currently is macaroni shapes and spaghetti shapes.  So, I chose spaghetti this time. 



Pork and Lemon Ragu with Pasta

Bacon, cooked and crumbled or use real bacon crumbles bought - about 1/3 cup
olive oil
1 lg onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 t salt
1 t thyme
1 t fresh black pepper
1/2 - 3/4 c cream or half and half
1 1/2 - 2 c water
1 1/2 lb. boneless pork roast
1 t dried lemon peel
1/4 c lemon juice
12 oz. pasta of choice
Romano or Parmesan cheese

In an oven proof pan with a lid, cook the bacon bits in the oil until they start to crisp up, add the onion and cook til soft and turning golden.  Add the garlic and salt, pepper and thyme.  Add the cream and water and whisk/stir.  Add the pork roast, cutting it into half or even quarters.  Bring to a boil and then remove, put the lid on and place into a 350 degree oven.  Roast until tender (about 1 1/2 hours).

Add the lemon juice and zest.  Let it set as you cook the pasta.  When the pasta is almost done, use two large forks to pull apart the pork into shredded pieces.  Add the pasta to the sauce reserving just a bit of the pasta water in case you want to thin the sauce.  It should have a bit of liquid at this point as it will thicken as it stands.  Let it thicken about 10-15 minutes before serving.   You can stir in a bit of the pasta water to the leftovers before refrigerating, as it will absorb the liquid and become really thick by the next day. 




Stirring in the half and half or cream to the onion/bacon mixture
Adding the pork to cook
Shredding the pork
 

Add the pasta and cheese (I used quesa fresca as I didn't have Romano on hand)  It will be VERY LIQUID at this point as it hasn't thickened up at all yet.  It will in the next 10-15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Grilled Shrimp and Butter Rice

 

 

So simple and not flashy but oh so good.  

Tonight I went to the freezer and spied a bag of large shrimp.  Yes, shrimp sounds fine.  Thawed under water and rinsed, I decided to season with some olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper, ground coriander and garlic salt.  

While I let that sit and marinate for a bit, I started some rice in a saucepan on the stove.  1 cup rice to 2 cups water - (I used about 1 3/4 c rice and scooped in a quick 3 3/4 ish of water);  bring to a boil, reduce and simmer 15-20 minutes.  Because we are usually low-carb, and keto, having rice is a nice treat - a change of pace.  We are trying to 'use up' everything in the pantry and freezers, so we have been eating foods that we normally don't have.

While it simmered I grilled the shrimp, which only takes a few minutes for each side.  (I threaded them on metal skewers.)

When the shrimp was done, I removed them from the skewers, and added about 1/2 c butter to the rice, along with a heavy dose of garlic salt. 

This simple meal was so good!  Simple, filling and oh-so yum.

Just another Mexican Casserole (or nacho dip) featuring ground beef, refried beans and sausage

The plan tonight was to use up some of the homemade sausage in the freezer, the last glass jar of homemade salsa, a half round of my favorite queso that I had food sealed and in the fridge as well as some cheddar from the deep freezer that tastes great, but cheddar does get 'crumbly' after frozen.  I added to that some refried beans, black olives and was able to empty the last of the homemade taco sauce. 

I originally got this recipe when I was 14 years old and was babysitting for a woman who made it and had me bake it for her 3 kids while I was babysitting.  I loved it so much I had her write down the recipe for my Mom.  She then made it regularly as we all loved it - and I continued making it for my own family once I grew up and married and had kids.

It's a casserole and/or a dip for tortilla chips.  You can also put it in a flour tortilla.  Since I'm trying to use UP groceries and not BUY ANY... I don't have tortilla chips so we are having it as a casserole - which is my favorite way to eat it anyway!

 

 Mexican Casserole or Dip

1 lb. ground beef browned with 1 small onion, chopped
1 can refried beans
1 c ground and browned sausage
4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can green chilies, chopped
1 - 16 oz. container sour cream
1 jar salsa or taco sauce
*optional - black olives, green olives, sliced
*optional - 1 1/2 c guacamole or avocado dip


Spread the refried beans on the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish for a meal or if you are using this recipe as a dip, spread it thinly on the bottom of a larger pan of your choice - (pizza pan, 9X13, anything you wish!) Brown the ground beef and/or sausage with the onion. Place half into a greased casserole dish or if you are using for a dip, use all of it over the refried beans in the larger pan. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Add the chilies and/or jalapenos, the sour cream, the salsa/sauce and the rest of the cheese in layers. Top with olives if you love them!

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes for a thinner pan and bake 45 minutes if you have a thick casserole dish. When the cheese is melted and it's hot all the way through, remove and serve as a dip or let set for 5-8 minutes to 'set up' when serving as a casserole. It may be more runny when hot straight from the oven and it sets up (like lasagna does) when left to stand and cool a bit. We can never wait and don't care - we dig right in!

Here are photos of what I think might be the first (1st) time I posted the recipe on An American Housewife - these were from March of 2011.  You can see what it looks like when it's not all mixed up and dished, ready to eat.

 

Stir Fry - (using a Sun Bird seasoning package)

   

I use the recipe on the back of the Sun Bird package of stir-fry mix.  

I used oil, amino acids in place of soy sauce, rice, egg powder with water, pre-cooked chicken, and used broccoli instead of peas. 

Egg powder - (I whisked with water to reconstitute).

 

Rice I made 2 days ago and refrigerated

 

The recipe - right from the back of the package.

 

Scrambling the eggs

 

With chicken and broccoli... because the only peas I have are freeze dried but I don't have any open cans right now and I'd have to dig through our storage closet to find one.  Not that important.  I used broccoli I had in the freezer.

 

My really old family favorite stand-by: Chicken and ham with mushroom sour cream sauce (lots of versions)

On days when I really don't want to cook but I want something hot, and I have chicken in mind for the main meat to use in some way, I often default to some version of this really old 'stand by'.

Chicken
Bacon
Ham
Mushroom Soup

Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper

That's it.  And I've been making this for so many years that I make it in almost any way possible using whatever versions of chicken, bacon and ham I have.  I also leave the ham out completely when I'm in a hurry and my ham options were frozen.

Here it is THIS TIME AROUND....  really fast and easy

Layered Chicken with Mushroom Sour Cream Sauce

3 boneless chicken breasts
3 slices ham
1 can mushroom soup mixed with about 3/4 cup sour cream I needed to use up
Real bacon crumbles
Salt and Pepper

Baked about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Originally I started making this one in a 9X13 pan (sometimes two (2) of them depending on how many people I was feeding).  That version was:

Rolled Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

Boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat and even
Ham slice rolled up in each breast
Raw bacon slice wrapped around each chicken rolled ham slice

Place in a greased pan

Cover with a can of mushroom soup mixed with 1 cup sour cream
Season with salt and pepper, bake in the oven until the bacon is crisp and the chicken is done (about an hour 15 minutes).

More versions I've made over the years include.........

Roll the chicken with cream cheese and mushrooms inside, continue with bacon, sauce.
Roll the chicken with no ham or filling, just wrap with bacon and bake.
Roll the stuffed chicken and wrap with bacon but do not use a sauce.  Bake until crispy and done.
Stuff, roll, cover with sauce and sprinkle cooked bacon crumbles over all.
Use Spam for the filling instead of sliced ham
Lay the chicken breasts down, layer with the ham and bacon slice - bake.
Lay the chicken breast down and layer the bacon, skip the ham or use ham, cover with sauce and sprinkle bacon crumbles.
Use canned chicken, already cooked, layer with diced ham, the sauce and bacon crumbles.

When all the kids were still home and we had to feed and fill a lot of mouths, I'd double the sauce, and make potatoes on the side and use the sauce as a gravy of sorts.  

"Burnt Ends" style chuck roast sandwiches

 'Burnt Ends' at the store are really, really expensive.  Basically just the ends cut from smoked and grilled meats, but an easy 'cheat' version is made at home in your own oven or crockpot. 

The photo above was taken before I broke the meat apart. 

Here is what I did....

 

Fake Burnt Ends

1 chuck roast (or use freeze dried or canned meat, but you'll have to allow for a different cook time)
butter
spices of choice (I used salt, pepper and Kinder's Woodfired Garlic)

In a crockpot, slow cooker or even an oven or fire safe pan for the grill if that's how you are cooking, place a stick of butter.  I used a container of home canned butter.   Place your meat (mine was frozen solid at the time and from the deep freezer storage from August).   Sprinkle heavily with spices of choice.  A hickory or mesquite flavor in your spices will give it a faked smoked/grill flavor as well.

Cook on high 6-8 hours in the slow cooker if it was put in frozen, less (2-3 if it was thawed) and even less if it's reconstituted freeze dried meats or canned meats:   or until it's dark, caramelized, and falling apart tender.  The parts around the edges that are 'burnt' looking have the best and most flavor - make sure you get the sides scraped to get all the flavor you can, then you'll probably have to soak the pan to clean as it's caramelized.

That's it!  Serve as is, with homemade bread or homemade buns (assuming you are cooking from food storage.  If you aren't, then use store bought buns).

A quick photo of my 'daily bread' from the refrigerator bucket plopped into a pan to bake

 

 

 

 

Fettuccini Alfredo from the Auguson Farms Italian Bucket (long term storage)

 

As I stood in the kitchen, I saw this package I had left on the counter from the day before when I had taken out the 2 pouches from the Italian Bucket storage from Auguson Farms.  

Perfect, because Mr. Husband isn't a fan of fettuccini alfredo like I am (he likes red sauces, I prefer white) and this package uses ONLY WATER.  No work. 

Not the healthiest if you had to eat them daily as in a real life emergency situation.... look at the list of ingredients!  SO LONG.  I would prefer it to simply be fresh milk, butter, Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, parsley, garlic, pepper.... 

 

This is from the Italian food long term storage bucket I bought in... the spring of 2017 I believe. 
The best by date is November, 2042.

 

It was completely as expected - you add 4 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer and stir for 15 minutes.

 

Reminded me of camping.  
The taste is... fine.  Very much a 'mix' which is never good compared to fresh but all in all was completely fine.

I liked that the spices and milk ingredients in this one were loose and did not all clump up like the tomato products in the lasagna pouch.  This was loose and exactly like the pouches in 2017, etc.  It other words, time hadn't changed it at all.   I fully suspect it will be exactly the same in 2030 or 2040.  Well packaged and assuming no holes or critters would get into the pouches, this is a storage item that seems to do well with a test of time compared to the 'tomato' powder items.

It was good enough to finish off - and I was full and satisfied but I also felt 'too' full in a 'not really healthy' dinner kind of way.  But I suppose a big dinner full of pasta does that to you anyway.  A bit gassy from it as well, but all in all, it's a good product from storage.

 

 

 

Literally a picture of my dinner, as I was eating it...  Ha ha.

Food Storage: Mexican Casserole

Yesterday morning I was putting something in the freezer when I spied the extra 'fake' taco meat I had made a couple weeks ago.  I pulled it out of the freezer and placed it into the refrigerator to thaw for 'something' today.  And that is how this recipe came to be.

The idea was to use up some of this food storage imitation taco meat - which was already reconstituted for a previous post.  I saw next to it I had a food sealed package of corn tortillas leftover from last Fall (we don't normally eat them but we had a family get together so I had some random foods on hand left).  I grabbed those, a food sealed bag of frozen diced avocados, one fresh avocado a family member left here this week, one of my few remaining packages of frozen shredded cheese, and a can of enchilada sauce.  I had to go to the 2-3 year pantry to get a can of refried beans and a can of black olives.  I had some green chilies in the pantry so I grabbed those.

Lastly, the onions were freeze dried, and you all know how I hated the sour cream powder and did actually go to the store to buy a container of sour cream.  I used that in this recipe and finished it off with some homemade taco sauce (already posted).

Mexican Casserole

Reconstituted 'taco' meat
Refried beans
Green chilies
Cut up corn tortillas
Enchilada sauce
Sour Cream
Avocado
Cheese
Black Olives
Green onions
Taco Sauce

Layer the taco meat, beans, green chilies and corn tortillas.  Bake at 350 about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with the rest of the ingredients.  Return to the oven for another 25 minutes.  Serve hot.  Goes well with flour tortillas and corn.

 NOTES:  I'm still using up the can of Auguson Farms imitation Taco Meat as I rotate out the oldest cans in our food storage - which are from 2012 ish.  Use that if you have it or use freeze dried ground beef, freeze dried diced beef, fresh or frozen ground beef or diced chuck, whatever you have.  Use freeze dried or canned chicken if you wish.

 

I happened to have some corn tortillas on hand in the freezer - which I normally don't.  What I do have however, is the ingredients to make them from scratch if I needed to, and I have one of the 'bucket' meals some of the popular food storage companies sell as a "Mexican Food" bucket that has a package of corn meal in it to make them as well.

 

Random... frozen avocado.  I also have freeze dried avocado if I need to break into that at some point.

 

Still blessed to have some fresh shredded (frozen) cheese and haven't had to use any of the freeze dried so  far, although I am out of cheddar cheese so if I want that I have to go dig through food storage to find a can of it.

 

Topped with my homemade taco sauce (recipe on the site a lot of times already) - and used freeze dried green onions.  Love black olives - and I have some in the 2-3 year storage.  Leave those off (obviously) if you don't like them.

 I don't have a finished picture of it.  I sent some with Mr. Husband for his dinner at work tonight and I had a LOT of it for my lunch today.  The rest is in the refrigerator and I don't  want to get up and go to the kitchen to take a picture of it.  So you get this... prior to baking.

Food Storage: Beef Stew (made in the Instant Pot this time)

 

SLOW:  I've posted this recipe many, many times over the years.  It's my favorite beef stew and I typically make it in the crock pot and let it cook 5-6 hours.  It's a no-work recipe that tastes incredible.  However, I've never tried to make it in a 'rush' before.  I've never had to.  Yesterday... I did.  And it turned out great!

FAST:  Yesterday, time got away from us and suddenly I realized my husband had to leave for work in about 25 minutes and we needed to find him a dinner to take, as we had no leftovers to throw together this time. I looked at a package of ground beef I had taken out of the freezer that was lying on the counter, and suddenly decided to see if I could throw this beef stew together SUPER FAST by using the instant pot pressure cooker, but also because since we are using food storage, most of our foods are pre-cooked in various ways already, which would cut down time.

FOODS:  The package of ground beef was one I ground from chuck roast last Fall and food sealed for the deep freeze.  However, I could just as easily used freeze-dried ground beef, canned beef, leftover steak or hamburger, diced beef (either fresh or freeze dried), etc.  I had home canned potatoes and home canned carrots on hand (again, could use freeze-dried, dehydrated, canned, etc.).  I had sliced mushrooms in the freezer, and a package of dehydrated corn I had dehydrated myself as a 'trial' last summer when I bunch leftover from a family vacation. 

I've NEVER tried to make this 'super fast' before using a pressure cooker. But it turned out perfect and so good that I ended up going back for 3rds and we plan to have it today as well. 
 

 

Beef Stew

3 c cubed, peeled potatoes  (I used home canned)
4 medium carrots, sliced  (I used home canned)
1 medium onion, cubed  (Use dried minced or freeze dried, but I had one fresh on hand)
2 lb. steak or other beef, cubed or cut to about 1" pieces  (I used frozen ground beef, thawed in the microwave)
2 T oil  (had avocado oil on hand)
3 T flour
2 beef bouillon cubes  (used 1 1/2 tablespoons beef base)
2 c boiling water  (used cold from tap)
1/4 c white vinegar
1/4 c ketchup
1 T prepared horseradish (Horseradish Cream - the kind for sandwiches, looks like mayo)
1 T prepared mustard
1 T sugar
1 c peas  (didn't have, left out)
1 c corn  (used dehydrated - added dry)
1 c fresh sliced mushrooms  (used frozen, bought, sliced and froze last summer/fall)
I added a handful of sliced cabbage as well

Place the potatoes, carrots and onions in a slow cooker.  In a large skillet, brown the beef in oil.  Lay on the vegetables in the slow cooker.  Sprinkle with flour.  In a bowl, dissolve the bouillon cubes in the water and stir in the vinegar, ketchup, horseradish, mustard and sugar.  Pour over meat in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high about 5 hours.  Add the peas and corn and mushrooms.  Cook an additional 45 minutes.  Makes about 5-6 servings. 

Yesterdays Instant Pot Fast Version:  Heated instant pot to saute with oil.  Added partially thawed ground beef, broke up and browned in pot.  Added onions and flour, blended.  Added the potatoes, corn and carrots along with the water, bouillon base, vinegar and ketchup.  Added the horseradish, mustard and sugar, stirred gently.  Topped with the mushrooms.  Put the top on, sealed it and put the timer on to pressure cook on high 20 minutes.

_________________________________________________

The instant pot 20 minute version worked PERFECTLY.  

 

Carne Asada Marinade (for street tacos) and the different LEVELS of food storage has paid off

 

 

There are some days I go to the kitchen pantry and see exactly what I need to pull off a meal and say "Oh Thank you God for this stocked pantry!", but then the next day I will need a couple items and go to the 2-3 year pantry and 'grocery shop' and come into the kitchen with 3-4 items I needed and "Thank you God you put it so strongly on my heart to prepare... and I had these exact items I need!"     And yet, this week I've been ever-so-thankful for my freezers.  Oh thankyouGod for my stocked freezers.... what a blessing they have been over the past 4 months!!!

And that is why I'm thankful this week because yesterday I was craving 'street tacos' - made with grilled, marinated steak.  

Great on thin sliced pork and chicken.  Great on steak too.  And normally I would have sliced these steaks thinner or into strips to get more marinade on them but I was in a serious hurry/rush to get this done ASAP and get out the door to the library to story time with the 3 year old so I got it together as fast as I could and left. Leave your meat/poultry thick if you wish for a mild flavor, but slice and marinade a long time for an intense flavor.

I grilled these last night, served with a sauce I whipped up from ingredients in the fridge and cupboard, pulled out a food sealed package of corn tortillas I had saved from 'leftovers' from when we had family visiting last July (?)  August (?). 

Carne Asada Marinade

1/2 c soy sauce  (Used liquid Aminos)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 T vinegar
1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
1/3 c lime juice (from the freezer, squeezed and froze last Fall)
1/4 c lemon juice (used all lime juice this time, no lemon)
1/2 t either chipotle seasoning or cayenne
1 T (scant) chili powder, cumin and paprika
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 c fresh parsley (you can use cilantro)
1/2 c oil (preferably olive oil)
pepper (about 1/2 t) but not salt as the soy sauce is very salty

Place all in a ziploc baggy (double bag) or in a ceramic or glass container, and add about 2 pounds thin steaks or other meat.  Let marinade overnight.  Grill until done, slice across the grain and serve.  I opted to serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocados and lettuce.   

 

Here is a picture of one of the many (many) times I've made this recipe - this time with pork.  I use this same marinade on beef, pork and chicken - and love them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not too Spicy Chicken and Spinach

 

I've posted one of our family favorite 'go to' recipes more than a few times on An American Housewife - the Spicy Chicken and Spinach one.  But it's not actually spicy unless you want it to be by adjusting how much of a couple ingredients you use.

Basically it's really just a chicken and spinach dish - and not really a casserole either unless you choose to bake it.  AND sometimes I make it 'creamy' by adding some cream cheese or sour cream and other times I don't. 

Sounds confusing, but basically it's such a simple, quick and easy recipe, you can play with the ingredients and whether or not you feel like baking it. 

Food Storage Options:
Chicken - Freeze-dried (reconstituted), vegetarian chicken flavor, canned, home canned, or fresh
Spinach - dehydrated, fresh or freeze dried
Onions - freeze dried, dehydrated or fresh
Peppers - freeze dried, dehydrated or fresh
Butter - you can leave it out and not saute the peppers/onions if using dried or use canned butter or fresh
Cream Cheese - leave it out if you don't have it, or use some powdered if you wish
Tomatoes - canned, fresh or freeze-dried
Jalapenos - leave out if you wish, or use canned, fresh, dehydrated or freeze dried
Mushrooms - optional - fresh, frozen, freeze dried or dehydrated
Cheese is optional - fresh, freeze dried or frozen, thawed

 

 

 

 

Spicy Chicken and Spinach Casserole

3 cups cooked, diced chicken  (I used pre-cooked turkey I had froze)
10 oz. spinach (frozen, thawed or use fresh and cook just enough to wilt it)  (I used dried, from #10 can)
Peppers - green and yellow (I had fresh, frozen and dehydrated pieces)
Onions - about half a medium yellow onion or about 5-6 green onions, diced/chopped (I used dried, minced)
Butter to saute' the peppers and onions ( I used home canned butter with water to reconstitute, cook onions & peppers)
8 oz. cream cheese  (I still had a block in the fridge as, unopened, lasts for months  in your fridge)
14 oz. diced tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups prepared salsa  (I used canned diced tomatoes)
1/3 cup jalapeno slices or mild yellow peppers depending on your spice level of choice (I used from a jar)
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (left out)
Mushrooms (I used a pack I had in the freezer I had food sealed last Fall)

In a sprayed/greased casserole dish layer the spinach.  Top with the chicken.
Saute' the peppers and onion in butter in a pan until tender and add the cream cheese. When melted, layer over the chicken.
Top with the salsa or the diced tomatoes, add the jalapenos or yellow peppers and spices.
Top with the cheese.
Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is all melted.  Can serve with sour cream if you wish or you can add the sour cream to the dish with the cream cheese.  

Reconstituted the onion and spinach along with cooking the frozen peppers in a pan with some avocado oil and butter and a little water.  Added the chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms.  When it was all softened and simmering, added the rest of the ingredients.  Warmed and served.

Didn't get a 'final' photo... I was hungry, it smelled great and I was ready to eat.  Here is me heating it through.

 

Jalapeno and Cheese Smothered Pork Chops

 

One of our regular favorite recipes (posted a few times already) is the pork chops, marinated in salsa, grilled and topped with a mixture of cheese(s), crumbled bacon and jalapeno.  So, so good... and this was a quicker, easier, oven version similar to that.

Pork Chops
Cheese of choice (I used queso fresco)
Jalapeno slices
Bacon 
Spices - salt and pepper and a chipotle mixture (use what you wish)

Laid a strip of bacon down, topped with a pork chop, layer of cheese, a sprinkle of your spices, top with jalapeno slices and lay a slice of bacon across it all.  Bake at 375 or 400 until it's crispy and golden brown.  Flip them over carefully as the bacon strip on the bottom for moisture and non-stick needs to be crisped up.  Hit the 'broil' and let them cook a few minutes until crisp.  Remove them from the oven, flip back over and serve.

Food Storage: A 'vintage' style chicken stuffing casserole, topped with my favorite pot pie filling

 

 

Again, I almost didn't take ANY photo of dinner, but at the last second, grabbed my phone and got one picture right before I finished dishing some up to eat.  :)

This is a mixture of two different recipes I've made for years.  I knew I wanted to use up a bunch of bread I had in the freezer (more on that in a second).  I also had some packages of cooked chicken mixed with the vegetarian chicken from the #10 cans I posted about previously.  The first thing that comes to mind when I want to use up our leftover bread is a simple 'comfort' casserole that is a stuffing/chicken casserole.

Bread from the freezer

Ever since my husband and I were very first married, I've taken the ends of the bread, or bread that is starting to get hard or stale, and popped it into a Ziploc in the freezer to use later in recipes. You should never throw our or waste any food - because you can always make something else from it.

 

This time we have all kinds of bread to use. And I decided to make a triple batch.  I tripled the batch and then put 2 of them back into gallon sized Ziploc baggies in the freezer for future meals.

 

This is a spice/herb mixture for the stuffing.
We've never, ever been one to buy the 'Stovetop Stuffing' brand mixes from the store - but that's basically what this is, as the original recipe most people use starts with a box or two of Stove Top.

 

Choices for chicken

Fresh, frozen, freeze-dried and reconstituted, canned, home canned... whatever you have to work with.

 

The original grandma recipe is simple:

Stove Top Stuffing Mix(es)
Chicken breasts - boneless
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 empty soup can of water per box of stuffing used

Mix the stuffing mix, spices and the water and soup.  Place in a greased casserole dish.
Lay the chicken breasts on and salt and pepper or even add cheese to top.
Bake until the chicken is done.

Serve.

 

SUBSTITUTIONS I USED TO MAKE IT FROM MY FOOD STORAGE

For the 'stove top' stuffing spice mixture, I threw together a mixture from 3 different 'recipes' of sorts.  It's really just parsley, thyme, poultry seasoning, chicken bouillon, etc.  You can do a quick internet search to find one you like.  I used all dry spices from the cupboard along with some 'chicken base' instead of dry, crushed bouillon cubes or powder.

My bread was of course, from the freezer.  You can also just cut up or tear up your daily homemade bread.  I don't bother drying mine out in the oven, I always use it fresh.

The chicken was reconstituted 'vegetarian' Auguson Farms fake chicken, mixed with some precooked chicken.

I used a lot of bread this time around, but only one can of soup so I decided to make my favorite pot pie filling and top it with that.  That is the creamy filling with some carrots and peas you see in the photo above. 

The filling is from a recipe I've posted many times over the years - my favorite pot pie.   This time I used 1/3 of a can of peas from food storage, along with 1/2 a jar of home canned baby carrots.

 

 

Old Fashioned Turkey Pot Pie

1 10 oz. package mixed carrots and pea's or all veggies
1/4 c butter
5 T flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t poultry seasoning or sage
1/8 t pepper
2 c chicken or turkey stock (or use 2 cups water and 2-3 boullion cubes)
1 c milk
3 c chicken or turkey
1/3 c chopped onion or 4 green onions, chopped completely and cooked until tender in a bit of water
1 c cooked and diced potatoes (or use canned or dice and cook them with the onions)


Prepare the pea's and carrots (or mixed veggies). I like to cook them in the microwave while I prepare the rest. Melt butter in saucepan. Blend in flour, salt, poultry seasoning or sage, and pepper. Gradually add stock and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and smooth. Add vegetables, turkey and cooked onions and potatoes. Pour into a greased shallow baking dish. Make a biscuit topping and top the vegetable mixture. Bake at 425 degree's for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown. About 6 servings.

Biscuit Topping;

Mix

1 1/3 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Cut in
2 T butter
3 T shortening

Add 1/2 c milk (scant) and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. If it's too wet and sticky add one or two more tablespoons of flour. Pat down on a lightly floured surface and roll out to the shape of your baking dish. If you prefer you can cut into wedges or squares and simply top the vegetable mixture that way too. (Up to you!).

 

 

 

 

 

#10 can Auguson Farms vegetarian beef - Chili and Sloppy Joes

 

Previous post was re-hydrating the imitation (vegetarian) beef and this post is a quick fly-by post of two of the things made with it.  The chili was for now and the Sloppy Joes were put in food seal bags and vacuum sealed for the freezer for dinner later this week.

 

Starting to mix in spices and ingredients to make Sloppy Joes

 

I've posted my regular Sloppy Joe recipe in 2008 and 2014 - maybe another time or two as well. Here it is again but this time I used food storage.  The ground beef - use frozen or freeze dried, or imitation vegetarian.  You can leave the turkey or sausage out and just double the beef.  Minced dried onion and using dry powdered milk or evaporated milk.

Sloppy Joes

1 lb. ground beef
3/4 lb. ground turkey (or mild sausage)
1/2 large onion, diced
4 T chili powder
6 T bbq sauce
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 c ketchup
2 T sugar
1 c milk
4 t vinegar
1 1/2 T flour
salt and pepper


Brown the ground beef and turkey with the diced onion. Add the rest of the spices and simmer 5 minutes. Serve on buns. 

 

And... chili!
I posted the recipe just a couple years ago in 2022 - here:  https://www.housewifebarbie.com/2022/01/homemade-chili-best-one-ive-ever-found.html

This time around I used the imitation beef from food storage.  I did use a package of homemade mild sausage from the deep freezer.  Minced dried onions and the very last 1/2 fresh onion I had.  Green pepper was diced and frozen previously.  I had a can of black eyed peas to use in place of the refried beans and I used regular black beans, with some extra chili powder and cumin.  Diced tomatoes were in the pantry and I had a little bit of tomato paste in the fridge to use up so I added a few tablespoons of that as well!

 

Homemade Chili

4-5 slices bacon
1/2 lb. mild Italian sausage (crumbled)
1/2 lb. ground beef
2 medium onions
3 t minced garlic (fresh)
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 can medium green chilies, diced
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T chili powder
2 cans (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 can (15.5 oz.)  Bush's Black Chili Beans
1 can (16 oz.) refried beans
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy and break up with your spatula.  Add the sausage and ground beef and brown it - adding the onion towards the end.  During the last 2 minutes of cook time, add the garlic. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients to a crock-pot or slow cooker of choice; or you can slow cook the chili on the stove all afternoon too.  Up to you.  But in the crockpot or a large pot, put the green peppers, green chilies, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, tomatoes and beans.  Add the meat and onion mixture.  Stir.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slow cook all day or at least 3-4 hours if you can wait that long.