Entries Tagged 'basics' ↓

I’ve been making up recipes for years. I think it all started when it was my job to have the family dinner on the table by the time mom came home from work. Ah nothing like the pressure of cooking everyday with limited store bought ingredients, but plenty of frozen & canned meats, fruits & veggies from the garden to get those creative juices flowing.

Here’s one I made up in college, flexing my skills on the fast, easy, available, pre-made foods. I gotta say it became a favorite among my friends. This one also works wonders for those last minute potlucks too. Just double the recipe to 6 cans & 2 boxes & use a larger cake pan. Guys at potlucks love this stuff & clean the plate every time! Go figure…

Three Cans & a Box

1 Can Tamales
1 Can Chili
1 Can Corn
1 Box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix + milk & egg

Pre-heat oven 350°

Open can of tamales & dump into 9×9 pan. Remove the pieces of paper surrounding each tamale & chop into bite size pieces. Open can of chili & add the pan. Open can of corn, use lid to drain juice & add to the pan. Mix ingredients together. Make corn muffin mix by following directions on the back of the box. Spoon batter over the top of the chili mixture & bake until the top is golden brown.

You might have noticed by now that here at Made Up Food we are not afraid of pre-packaged items. But they have to be good - at least as good as the “real thing”.

One that I am a huge fan of is Trader Joe’s frozen rice - both the Jasmine and Brown varieties are (almost) better than I can make from scratch and zap in the nuke-o-matic in 3 easy minutes. Sounds too good to be true, but so far its been great every time.

Stock up when its in the store cuz its so popular they can’t seem to keep it in stock.

Here’s a recipe I want to try from over at Table for Two: Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole that also happens to use one of my favorite condiments, Sriracha.

* Careful you don’t burn your fingers opening that hot package the way some people have.

Lately we like to have some hot cereal to get things started in the morning. Normally my husband cooks up a pot which takes about 20 minutes. Too long? I think so too, well more to the point I think that when I look up from my computer mid morning and realize I forgot to eat and am starving that I want something NOW.

So although its not quite as good as the “real thing” I have created a shortcut that might be handy to have around that is definitely way better than packaged instant oatmeal.

Take a nice jar or other container and dump in the following:

Couple of cups of quick cut dry oats, couple of handfuls of walnuts or almonds crushed up a bit, some dried cranberries (or raisins if you like them) and if you like sweet I suppose you could even add some brown sugar to the mix itself although I haven’t tried that. Shake really hard to evenly distribute the goodies in the mix.

When you are ready to eat grab a half cup or so in a bowl, add some hot water ( I boil it up in the electric kettle first) and pop in the microwave for 1 minute. You can add some frozen berries during or after and the heat will warm them up.

I like to stir in a spoonful of plain yogurt or some soy milk and start chowing down.

Since we just stocked up on all kinds of goodies there won’t be the impetus to get super creative with limited ingredients. So I thought I’d share one of my favorite keep on hand ingredients - Café Yumm! Sauce.

We here in Oregon are lucky to have this local and it looks like you can buy it by phone too, but so many have loved it so much that there are scads of “hacked” recipes - try here: http://mpchickchat.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html
(about halfway down the page, I like her substitute on the fly style too!)

It’s basically (from the jar and the myriad of times my neighbor and I tried to recreate this)

Canola oil, lemon juice, almonds, nutritional yeast, garbanzo beans, soybeans, garlic and secret herbs and spices - and the process and proportions are part of the secret.

Plus check out their menu for meal inspiration ideas - just about everything we’ve had there is delightful.
And of course if you’re in Oregon find one of the restaurants and eat there.

Here are a few of the ways I use Yumm! sauce:

• Dip for those bitty carrots or chips or crackers or anything else I can fit in the jar.
• On rice with salsa for a faux Yumm bowl
• On nachos
• As a salad dressing
• With leftover chicken or meat in a pita with whatever is green (but not moving) in the fridge

If you’ve used this fantastic fattening condiment let me know what else you’ve made with it.

I asked my friend Nzinga to write some blog posts too because although she is always VERY busy she actually knows how to cook! Add in an adventurous streak and you know we will be seeing some excellent made up food. Thanks for adding your voice Nzinga!