Well if this isn’t a plate of classic bbq food. I don’t know what is!! We’ve got a hamburger, milk shake, baked beans, chips, and some corn on the cob. Perfect for a hot summer day…and perfect for using your food storage. If you have a big day planned, get as much done in the morning so all you have to do when you get home is finish a couple of things. If you leave the prep work until you get home, you’ll never do it and you’ll spend a lot of money eating out to re-create this meal. Get your baked beans ready to just re-heat, cut up all your hamburger fixings and put in the fridge, lay out everything you’ll need to make your milk shake, schuck your corn, and so on. When I made this meal we had the whole family over and went swimming. When I got home it took 15 minutes to have dinner on the table, much faster then getting take out!
THE BURGER
I love In-n-Out burgers (animal style of course) with the sauteed onions. Although, when I think of sauteeing onions I get tired…all that chopping, crying from the onions, extra pan to clean, etc. HA HA! This is where your food storage comes in to play (see, it really does save you time AND money!!). Remember those dehydrated onions you have? They make PERFECT sauteed onions with no cutting. So now that we already have our onions cut with out lifting a finger and in no time we need to saute them. So are you ready to wow people with little effort? Here we go…
1. Re-hydrate your onions in water that equals double the amount of onions you are using. Remember that 1/4 dehydrated onions will equal one cup chopped onion once hydrated.
2. After letting your onions sit in water for about 10 minutes, drain off any excess water.
3. Wrap in aluminum foil with a little butter and put on your grill for 5-7 minutes.
4. VOILA! Sauteed onions with no mess, no chopping, and in no time…thanks to food storage!
If you want to solidify a In-n-out animal style burger then make sure you stack your burger correctly:
Bottom Bun, thousand island dressing, tomato, lettuce, beef patty with cheese, brown mustard (put on lightly), sauteed onions, pickles, top bun.
Baked Beans
Okay, here you have two options: 1) you can use a can of beans from your 3 month supply (a great way to store and eat beans) I had a roommate in college that taught me you can always dress up a can of bbaked beans by adding 1-2 T of bbq sauce to them Try it, it makes a world of a difference. 2) if you have a large group coming, it becomes cheaper and easier to make your own. Plus a great way to use those dry beans you’re storing! I’ll be sharing a couple of baked bean recipes but this is the one I used for the picture above.
1 lb. dried white beans
1 quart water
1/2 t. salt
1 medium onion, chopped (You know I’m going to say used your dehydrated onions!)
2 T. yellow mustard
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. molasses
1 C. bbq sauce
Follow the instructions on your can of white beans to get them cooked in just a couple of hours. Save 2 cups of the water you used to cook your beans.
Once they are cooked place in a 9×13 pan and combine the beans, onion, mustard, brown sugar, molasses, bbq sauce, bacon, and 1 C. cooking liquid. Cover and bake at 400 for 45 minutes or until the beans have reached the desired thickness, stirring occasionally. You may need to add some more of the water you saved if you think it is too thick.
(I baked mine in the morning and re-heated when we got home.)
Milk Shake
Okay, if you’re still gun shy about drinking your powdered milk or you really think your kids won’t eat it…put it in a milk shake! Who is going to turn down a nice cold and creamy milkshake? Another great way that using food storage saves you money! For the amount of money it takes to buy ONE novelty milk shake you could make your whole family milk shakes of their own! We really like Oreos so we made our oreo milk shakes but you could add anything in. I’ll show you some other shake ideas in future posts.
12 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
1-1/2 cups milk (4-1/2 T. dry powdered milk +1-1/2 C. Water)
1 pt. (2 cups) vanilla ice cream, softened
2 Tbsp. chocolate syrup (I used the hot fudge sauce cold…if you missed that post click HERE)
CHOP or coarsely break cookies.
PLACE milk, ice cream and chocolate syrup in blender container. Add chopped cookies; cover. Blend on high speed until smooth.
POUR into 4 glasses. Serve immediately.
For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
For all of you going to parties tomorrow (or hosting one) I’ve made a video to show you how easy it is to make your own cheese ball (and inexpensive…they sell for $5! at least at the stores) and of course I’ve incorporated some food storage. You can also use this same trick to make your own “Garden Variety” cream cheese for bagels and spreads.
For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
Doesn’t this soup look delicious? I’ve always been on a hunt for a GREAT pumpkin soup and it looks like my search is over! I hope you enjoy this recipe submitted by LesliAnn. (Doesn’t her picture look so professional?!) Anyway, give it a try!
Pumpkin Soup (Adapted from Rachel Ray)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 fresh bay leaf (I used 2 dried bay leaves)
2 ribs celery, finely chopped (*Note from Crystal…you know I’ll be using my dehyrated celery)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (or substitute dehydrated onions from the cannery- Combine 2 Tbsp dried onions with 8 Tbsp hot water and let sit 15 minutes)
Salt & Pepper
3 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp poultry seasoning (or 2 tsp thyme)
2 Tbsp hot sauce
6 cups chicken broth
29-oz canned pumpkin puree
2 cups half and half (or heavy cream) (*Note from Crystal: Make your own substitute by using 3/4 C. Milk + 2 C. Water)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Directions: Heat oil, butter, bay leaf, celery, onion, salt and pepper over medium-high heat in a soup pot. Cook 6-7 minutes until tender. Place celery and onion mixture in a food processor or blender for just a few seconds until mixture is smooth. (This part is optional- but I don’t like chunks of onion or celery in a smooth pumpkin soup) Place back in soup pot and make sure the mixture is hot. Add flour, poultry seasoning and hot sauce; cook 1 minute. Whisk in chicken broth and bring liquid to a bubble. Whish in pumpkin in large spoonfuls, incorporating it into the broth. Simmer 10 minutes to thicken a bit. Add half and half or cream and nutmeg. Keep warm until ready to serve. Yields-16 cups
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For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
This is my favorite homemade chicken noodle soup when I don’t have a lot of time. It is a little creamy, full of flavor and looks so rustic with the chunks of chicken in it…plus it uses food storage. Soups are a great place to use food storage since most call for vegetables, beans, or milk! Remember if you’re using dehydrated vegetables you don’t need to hydrate before you add them to something like a soup because they will hydrate as it simmers.
Lion House Chicken Noodle Soup
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
6 cups chicken soup stock
2 C. chopped carrots (1 1/2 C. Dehdyrated Carrots)
2 C. chopped celery (1 1/4 C. Dehydrated Celery…you know I used this because I never keep fresh celery on hand because I don’t like it in anything but soups!)
3/4 C. chopped onion (1/4 C. Dehydrated Onions)
2 Cans cream of chicken soup (want a great sub for this…I’ve figured out how to make your own condensed soups with Magic Mix! Check back next week for more information on it!)
1/2 C. milk (1 1/2 T. Dry Powdered Milk + 1/2 C. Water)
2 C. Cooked Chicken
4 C. uncooked noodles
salt/pepper to taste
Boil chicken in water. Pull out and pull chicken into chunks (I refrigerate first and add this in later..it’s easier to pull when it isn’t hot). Add veggies, cream of chicken soup, and noodles to stock. Cook until veggies are tender. Add Milk. Serve with whole wheat bread.
For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
