March 30, 2020 - J.J. just called me with a request to start back with “Vickie’s This and That” with some recipe suggestions due to COVID-19 impacting our normal lives and limiting supplies. I have been thinking how I might share with you how to cook a meal with a limited grocery pantry. Before being quarantined, if I wanted to cook something and I didn’t have all the ingredients in my pantry, I would have just made a run to the grocery store. That might not be the wisest thing right now.
I have always said a recipe was a suggestion and that is exactly what I did for supper last night. Most recipes can be modified to fit your family’s likes or dislikes.
I am going to give an example of what I mean by cooking from what you have available. Last night for supper I cooked the following:
I took 1½ lbs of hamburger meat and browned it, then seasoned according to your likes. For me that was chopped onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Once the hamburger was browned, I then drained the fat off and added 1 can of cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken (whatever you have in your pantry). I usually would have added 2 cans of soup but to help save my pantry items, I only added one can using milk to make up the differences. I then looked in the refrigerate to see if I had anything to add to the mixture to improve the taste. I was going to add about 4 ozs of cream cheese when I noticed I had a package of Laughing Cow spreadable wedges with garlic and herb. So, I decided to add that instead of the cream cheese. I blended the Laughing Cow snack packages well before adding the 3 cups of cooked egg noodles. If you desire, you can top with shredded cheese. I served this meal in a skillet with green peas.
I am going to include a recipe for Pizza Crust which doesn’t have yeast in it since yeast is hard to find right now!
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
1 cup milk
3/8 c. oil
Heat oven to 425 degree. Combine all the above ingredients stirring until mixture leaves side of bowl. Press into ball, knead 10 times. On lightly floured board, roll out to form pizza crust. Crust does not have to rise. (Will make 2 crust if rolled out thin.) For toppings: browned hamburger, sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, variety of cheese (such as parmesan, Monterey, provolone, etc). Any type of spaghetti sauce (I prefer Prego). To assemble add pizza sauce on crust, then meat topping, vegetables of choice and top with grated cheese. Bake in hot oven until done. (Then call me when it’s done).
When my children were home, I would have these topping in the refrigerator so they could make their own pizzas. For a crust safe and easy for kids - toast bread, both sides, then add sauce, toppings, and cheese then brown in oven to melt cheese. Great way for quick and easy snacks.
