Ruminations of an ex-Oregonian

I was wondering what to make for supper last evening, and decided to go with something easy.  Beef in gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and bread and butter.  Nice and simple.  The beef and gravy is real easy.  All you need is a can of beef chunks.  I removed the large fat pieces from the top of the can.  Heat it in a saucepan, add some mixed milk and flour to thicken it.  Serve over mashed potatoes or bread.

I think this would work well with chicken, turkey or pork chunks.

This is a food storage meal that is quick (took me 10 minutes) and very tasty.

We had spaghetti for supper tonight.  I decided to try out a can of the ground beef that I got from the cannery.  I noticed that there was a good portion of fat in the can, but rinsing the beef off under hot water pretty well took care of it.  I used a can of Del Monte sauce, tomato and basil flavor.  Added 3 tbsp splenda (or sugar), 4 oz of sliced mushrooms, 4 green onions, and a tablespoon of ground parmesan cheese.  Mmmm good.  I will have to get more of this flavor sauce.

This is very much a food storage meal.  You may not have fresh mushrooms, but a can of mushrooms will work well, and you can always rehydrate some dried onions if wanted.  You can use traditional spaghetti noodles, or any other pasta that you have.  This meal made enough to feed 4 people very easily.

Mmmm…had these for dinner tonight. This recipe is well suited for food storage items, except for the meat, which is not really needed. I used dry beans and black-eyed peas. I put all of them in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes. You could soak them overnight and cook them the next day. If you use canned beans, put the juice from the can in the crock pot and don’t add water. This makes about four 1-cup servings. Weight Watchers points: 4 per 1/2 cup

• ½ cup black beans
• ½ cup kidney beans
• ½ cup great northern or white beans
• ½ cup black-eyed peas
• 1 medium onion, minced (could use dried onions)
• 1 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tbsp prepared mustard
• ¼ cup ketchup
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 – 1 ½ cups water

Optional:

• 8 oz finely cubed ham, or
• 8 oz cooked ground beef

Cook beans by either pressure cooking or soaking overnight and cooking the next day on the stove.

Place cooked (or canned) beans and all other ingredients in crock pot. Stir well and cook on low for 6 hours, stirring once every other hour.

You may need to adjust brown sugar amounts to taste.

Here’s a recipe for homemade wheat bread that I have refined pretty well. This makes 2 loaves and works very well in the Kitchen Aid mixer. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix it up and knead it by hand. It will turn out just as well. Weight Watchers points: 1 per 1/2" slice.

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
• 4 tablespoons gluten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 ½ teaspoons yeast
• ¼ cup melted butter
• ¼ cup milk
• 4 tablespoons honey (or molasses)

Mix warm water, sugar and yeast in a glass container (I use a 1 quart glass measuring bowl). Stir occasionally. Let sit until water starts to become foamy.

Meanwhile, place wheat and white flour, gluten and salt in the mixing bowl. Attach bread hook and run mixer slowly for a minute to mix the flour mixture.

Melt butter in microwave. Add milk to the butter.

When the yeast mixture is ready, pour it and the butter/milk mixture into the mixer bowl. Add the honey.

Run mixer on slow (about 3 to 4 on the lever). You may need to use a spatula to push down the flour on the sides of the bowl. Run mixer for about 10 minutes. The bread dough will mix and soon become a glob being pushed around. Add small amounts of flour if the mixture looks too wet, or water a teaspoon at a time if too dry. I like my bread dough to be slightly on the wet side. Monitor the mixer to be sure the motor does not overheat. This is hard work for it.

After 10 minutes or so, turn mixer off, remove hook from dough, remove bowl from base and place it in a warm, quiet location. Cover with a dishtowel. Allow to rise for 45 – 60 minutes, until top of dough is level with the top of the bowl. Remove towel, punch down, lift and move around until dough is compacted. Cover with towel again and allow to rise until level with bowl top again, about 45 minutes.

Punch dough. Spray hands lightly with cooking spray and rub well. Remove dough and place on a cutting board. Carefully cut into two even sizes. Shape each piece into a rectangular shape and place in a prepared bread pan. Cover pans with towel and allow to rise until dough is about 1/2” over the pan size. Heat oven to 350 degrees. When oven is hot, carefully place pans in oven and bake for 30 minutes. When done, remove pans, and coat top with butter. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Shake bread out of pans onto a large clean towel. Wrap loaves carefully, covering all surfaces. Allow bread to cool completely. Remove from towel and store in a bread bad or ziplock bag. Ready to slice and eat!

UPDATE: Baked this last evening. Turned out as fluffy as Wonder bread!