Pantry Challenge Update

The challenge is going great! Somethings I’ve used and made; 

Sweet potatoes. I bake these, allow to cook, wrap in tin foil and freeze in a freezer zip lock bag.  They’ll last for months this way.  To eat, remove foil and microwave. They taste like you’ve just baked them.  I like taking these camping. 

 

Back on Sept or October, several grocery stores had 5 lb bags of russet potatoes for $0.88-0.99 each. I bought a couple of bags. I ate them for lunches with cheese and butter and I made some into potato soup. I might have used them another way. This is what I had left and they were beginning to look bad. I baked them, cooled them, cut off the skins and made twice baked potato casserole, which I froze for another day. 

I baked 3 packages of bacon. I hate frying it and rarely do I make bacon that isn’t the fully cooked kind you can microwave, but these packages had been on sale. I froze the cooked slices between wax paper overnight and then filled freezer quart bags with slices to use for future recipes. 

I made crock pot teriyaki apricot pork chops. The apricot preserves were best by October 2022 and the pork chops were frozen in February 2022. I made a box of Rice-a-Roni fried rice (best by 7/22) and added a small can of peas and carrots (best by 12/22) to eat along side the pork chops. 

With the remaining pork chops, I made Swiss Pork Chop Casserole. This was SO good! I’ll make it again, but alter the recipe some. I thought it was too salty. I think I’d spray the casserole, rather than melt the butter. I would not season the pork chops. And I’d probably top each pork chop with a TBSP of crushed croutons, rather than use the entire bag. Oh, and I subbed sliced from a block Mozzarella cheese as I didn’t have any Swiss cheese. My slices were thicker than sandwich slices as the recipe calls for, but cheese is never a bad thing! Click on the link below for the recipe  

Swiss Pork Chop Casserole

I had a large tub of sour cream to use up and made my families sour cream sugar cookies (sorry no picture) and Pryaniki or Russian Sugar Cookies (shown in picture). The recipe calls for a glaze that called for powdered egg whites. I debated making a different type of glaze as I didn’t have powdered egg whites, but decided to leave them unfrosted. My sour cream sugar cookies call for frosting, but I prefer them unfrosted too. Pryaniki link below; 

Pryaniki

With that sour cream, I made a chicken casserole with two boxes of Stove Top (one of the boxes was best by 10/22) and a taco casserole that used taco meat I had prepared and froze in August 2022 (sorry, forgot to take a picture).

I made an apple crisp using apple pie filling I made and froze in September 2021.  I used up several items and made a batch of breakfast burritos.  I’ve been enjoying them for breakfast. 

Using crescent rolls that were best by 12/22, pepperoni I had frozen from a Managers Special at Dillons last fall and am open bag of mozzarella cheese, I made pepperoni roll ups. The idea came from Mama Sue’s YouTube channel;  

Pepperoni roll ups

Not bad, if you ask me! I cleaned out the refrigerator last week. I have enough blocks of cheese to last me a long while! I have two more cans of crescent rolls that I need to use (best by 1/23). Oh and I found a snack pack of applesauce, the six count cup size package, in the fridge that is best by 1/23 that I need to eat or use. The fridge freezer is next. Haven’t been to the grocery store all month, but have gotten lettuce and tomato at Sam’s. 

Muffin Mix Review

This happened to fall from the shelf and land in my cart during a recent visit to Sam's Club! Things do that when I'm shopping, magically land in my cart. It's an issue that is going to be addressed in 2018! 

 

If shown muffin mix magically finds its way into your shopping cart at Sam's, fear not! This is good stuff! Just add water for plain muffins or stir in fruit, nuts or chocolate chips. Additional recipes can be found on the box. I stirred in a cup of frozen raspberries I bought and froze last September when on sale. With the addition of fruit, it made 15 muffins. These are great and I plan to make them again the same way. 

Leftovers, it's what's for dinner

This isn't healthy for you, just getting that out there now! 

The other evening, my mother and I got Boss Hawgs BBQ to go and took it out to the lake to eat. 

It was a beautiful evening with a few pop up thunderstorms. 

 

We both got pulled pork with a side of fries. You get more than you can eat. Their meat is good, but I love them for their cornbread and honey butter! Yum!

 

Normally I'd throw the leftover fries out, but I decided to try a recipe I saw some time ago. I dont recall the source and I didn't print the recipe, so I'm going from memory. 

 

Cube fries. 

 

Cook and crumble bacon. 

 

Mix bacon, fries, some shredded cheddar cheese and 2 eggs. The recipe, if I recall correctly, said to make patties and the egg was to hold them together. Fry in a non-stick skillet, flipping to brown both sides. 

 

I tried the patties and decided just to mix them up. 

 

This turned out really good. I think you could easily add seasonings, opinions, peppers and/or a different meat to this dish. You couldn't tell that there was two eggs mixed in. I think you could add more eggs to make it a All-in-one-breakfast-dish. Start saving those fries and let me know if you ever try this recipe. 

Strawberry Banana Muffins

I've made these muffins before. They freeze great. 

 

I was wishing Friday night for snow, not ice. I didn't get my wish, but rain is still better than ice. 

 

I store my muffin liners in a wide mouth Mason jar.  Pinterest idea! 

This recipe makes 12 muffins. I'd suggest and hope I remember next time to make more than 12. I might try stretching it to 18 muffins next time. 

 

Strawberry Banana Muffins

1 egg

2/3 c sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 bananas

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 c strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with liners. 

Beat egg and sugar until combined. Add butter and vanilla. 

Squish bananas into egg mixture and mix until bananas are broken up and well mixed. 

In a seperare bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add strawberries and toss to coat. 

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir just until combined. 

Bake until golden brown, 20-25 min, until toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool 2 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe source; 

Melanie Makes

Breakfast Casserole

Apple Market recently offered 18 ct large eggs for $0.69 and they're nearing their expiration date. I had planned to make egg muffins. Have you had them? They're very good, can be healthy, made ahead of time and reheated or frozen. To make you can use whole eggs, egg beaters, egg whites or a combination. They're baked in muffin tins. 

I was tired the morning I planned to make them and decided to make a breakfast casserole instead. The idea came from Simple Green Mom's Hillbilly Breakfast Bake. I had a bag of crispy crowns for several months now. I like tator tots, but not so much that I ever make them and it was good to use them. 

 

I threw them in a greased 9x13 pan frozen and topped them with the candian bacon I had planned to use in the egg muffins. 

Next I added cheese. 

 

 

When I'm making egg muffins, I get veggies off of the Dillons salad bar. This time I had bell peppers, spinach, broccoli and carrots. I diced them and added them to 12 beaten eggs. 

 

I baked it for ??? At 400 degrees. I wish I had kept better notes. It baked longer than I imagined it would need. 

 

 

 

A commenter on Simple Green Moms blog said her husband hated this dish as it had too much potato. I'd agree. I didn't hate it, but it was a lot of potato. Maybe had I used sausage instead or maybe next time