Food Storage Use and Recipe Project

My goal for 2018 was to use up expired/expiring foods.  I am using this thread as a project thread to track what experiments worked and what I learned.

11/18/2018  Cherry Cornbread made with an old cornbread mix; 1/4 c potato flakes as a substitute for an egg; 1/4 c sugar to make the mix a little sweet; 1/2 t baking soda and 1 t lemon juice used to give the old mix something to make it rise.  The mix called for 1/3 c water so I added a little more to make up for the lack of not using an egg.  The prepared cornbread mix was then placed in a greased pie pan.  On top I place about 8 marshmallow that were cut in half to get rid of the old marshmallow.  Then I poured a can of cherry pie filling on top and put in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.  I looks heavenly.  The marshmallow came to the top so they are mixed with the cherries.  The cornbread puffed at the edges.  The picture on the recipe that I found  showed the corn bread with the fruit sunk into it.

The purpose of this was to 1) use a cornbread mix that expired in 2009.  The result were fine.  The mix did had not rancid smell, which could be a sign of old oil.  The ingredients listed Lard.

2) A test to see if baking soda and lemon juice would produce a product that would rise since it is a given that any baking powder used in the product would be too old.  The result was that the cornbread was very cake-like.  That was maybe unnecessary as the ingredients listed baking soda, which doesn't go bad.

3)test using an egg substitute,  The results were fine so no egg was needed using the substitute.

What I learned:  It might be helpful to check ingredients first.  Egg substitute, in this case worked.  The pie filling would need to be folded into the mix rather that poured on top.  I probably misread the recipe though it does taste good, just a little dry.  The marshmallows didn't give it the desired effect.

Interesting that you started this. Ive been doing a full removal(eat/preparation) of all the canned goods at our place. Home canned food is replacing it.

Meat is another one since we buy no meat. Eveything is dated. One year we found assorted cuts of 2 year old beef. It happens. We focused on eating it til it was gone. I  have gotten very good at rotating since then. Keeping the oldest in the kitchen freezer, with newer stuff in the big freezer.

I used up all those cornbread mixes making cornbread for stuffing.

Thanksgiving was short ribs (already cooked and from the freezer) and stuffing aka dressing.

Our daughter is at our place in West Texas.  They have caught on the game cam a Bear, a Mountain Lion and a feral hog.  No deer were on the cam which is understandable due to predator activity.

She is bringing back our food storage we had there since it is all expired.  I should have thought to bring it back when we were there in Nov 2016.  3 cases of ranch style beans, 1 case of stew, 1 case of tuna, 3 or more cases of various vegetable, soups and chili.  Lots to use up.

Since there is no heat when no one is there, we can only store can goods and staples like sugar, flour, salt.

12/12/18  The wine we make is finished:  12% alcohol which makes it a dessert wine.  
I am on Day 8 of my sourdough starter.

Today I am making doughnut holes using this recipe:  Super Easy Doughnuts

and changing it:  

by rounded teaspoonfuls into the hot oil. Fry on all sides, 2 to 4 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
In a resealable plastic bag, mix 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. While still warm, place balls a few at a time into the bag, and toss to coat.

Super Easy Doughnuts    [Changes are in brackets]

2 tablespoons white vinegar
3/8 cup milk  
2 tablespoons shortening   [bacon grease]
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg  [1/4 cup potato flakes]
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract  [omit]
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 quart oil for deep frying
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting [omit: use 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon]
 

Directions
   
Stir the vinegar into the milk, and let stand for a few minutes until thick.

In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until smooth. [omit since no egg/vanilla: Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended]. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture alternating with the vinegar and milk. [omit since dropping by spoonfuls:  Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/3 inch thickness. Cut into doughnuts using a donut cutter. Let stand for about 10 minutes.]

Heat the oil in a large deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry doughnuts in the hot oil until golden, turning over once. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar while they are still warm, and serve immediately.  [I'm using cinnamon/sugar mix instead of confectioners' sugar]

Cherry cornbread? Never heard of that but it sounds amazing. Will have to try that.

Same mode here. Bought very little food lately. Eating almost entirely from aging stored food supplies. Some if it from HEB & I've been out of TX almost 4 years now. So far everything has been still good except an open package of bulk yeast. Out with the old, in with the new. Time to resupply.

Discovered paper for wrapping tamales instead of corn husks here in TN. No. That is just wrong. No sabore. Not going to try that.

Funny story... I used to freeze several dozen tamales, pack them in a cheap cooler with dry ice, & FedEX to my parents for xmas. Until the year the package was lost in transit for a few extra days. Eventually that arrived as apestoso basura.

We have been doing the same. I realize my rotation skills especially in the freezer have been horrible. We have multiple freezers so I have been making it a project to work on one shelf per week using stuff up and then trying to better organize what is still there.  

I had a freezer burnt chunk of venison (i think 4 yr old😳) that had gotten buried.  Cooked it in the crockpot for about 15 hours. Kept adding extra spices until it didnt have that freezer smell any more.  It turned out so well that I may intentionally go hide more from myself in the freezer for another 4 years...

Thanks everyone for the replies.  The donuts turn out well.  I love finding out that I can make things without the eggs.  My knee gave out so I only fried about 1/3 of the mix and ate way too many. The rest I am going to bake.

Mike, I love that you make tamales.  For years, I wanted to make them though I finally gave up on the idea.  Our daughter makes venison tamales, problem is I only like pork tamales.

When I lived in Mexico, we wanted some tamales so we went to the "Tamale Shop".  They had tamales in every flavor you can image and not a single one made with meat ... they were all fruit.  They said they only made meat tamales at Christmas.

Mike, this is the recipe that inspired the cherry cornbread though I did not use a recipe:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228585/blueberry-cornbread/

Tamales are fairly easy to make. Time consuming & messy though. I usually use meat but sometimes do a veggie version. Have also eaten the fruit tamales in Mexico but never made them. I do a baked sourdough empenada-ish thing with fruits.

Corn bread with cherries & blueberries. Who knew? This opens up entirely new worlds:)

I thought today, 1/1/2019, would be a good day to post an update.

While looking through the notebook where I keep my inventory, I notice that it said we had 8 lockers before we moved.  We did not get here with 8 so I asked my daughter to check to see if she had them.  My husband said we did not leave any.  Then where are the eight?  Our daughter checked and yes we did leave two.  Unfortunately, somethings inside the lockers had busted and ruined everything.

Back to my project, here is a recipe that I made.

Stew (I did not make the big pot)

1/2 lb venison
1 6 oz can tomato sauce
1 can mixed vegetables
1 bullion cube
1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste.

Brown venison, add other ingredients and cook until hot.

I made cornbread to go with it.

We had two meals and I put the last of it in my gumbo.

 

I make a similiar stew - sometimes venison, sometimes chicken. I like to stretch the leftovers by adding chopped celery and cubed potato. Layer some mashed potatoes over the top and bake. Recycles it into a shepherd pie type dish.

So I am making Hummus today from a can of Garbanzo beans  that I have looked at many times.

I looked at recipes on allrecipes and mixed a bunch of them together to come up with this:

1 can garbanzo beans; drained,  reserve the liquid and mash the beans.
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 oz fresh jalapeno pepper (I picked this because I don't like the cumin in most recipes and I plan to use some jalapeno juice that I have instead of the fresh or the peppers.)

I have never had Hummus so I don't know what it is supposed to taste like so after mixing, I plan to taste and maybe add other ingredients to suit my taste.  

I thought it was Middle Eastern but most of the recipes talked about Greek.  A google search didn't help as one said "Greece is neither European nor so-called middle eastern" and a search for Hummus said "the word hummus means chickpea in Arabic."  

This morning I fixed grits that were from 2001.  It was not stored in any special way.  Just a plain container with a screw on lid.  I thought when I opened the lid it was going to smell rancid.  It had no particular smell.

So after cooking the grits, I tasted just a little ... tasted just fine!  I ate a serving with my eggs.

I want to make Bran Muffins.  I buy big bags of raisin bran cereal when we go to the big city.  I found lots of recipes that I like.  Some use sourdough starter which I like.  I just can't make up my mind if I want to make a small batch that only uses 1 egg or a big batch that uses 4 eggs.  Or if I want to substitute the potato flakes for the eggs?

Here are the recipes that I am considering, for future reference:

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/sourdough-recipes/sourdough-oat-bran-muffins/

www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sourdough-bran-muffins-16330

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/258916/refrigerator-bran-muffins

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/159466/roxies-bran-muffins/  I like this one as it only uses 1 egg though I would have to leave out the apple and banana

Hi Anne, how did your hummus come out? I'm a hummus fan, and was just thinking of making some the other day.

I am sad to say that like always, life got in the way of making that hummus.  I am still looking at that can.

Before I could make it, I had a filling fall out of one of my teeth.  A really big filling that left my tooth feeling like it was just a front and back with no sides. I have been so proud that I beat the dentist on all the dental work that he wanted me to have.  Rather than replace the filling, he pulled the tooth.  

I have been eating soft foods since the filling fell out and of course hummus is soft though I think I would want crackers or chips to go with it.

And unfortunately eating on the side of my mouth where the dentist wanted to do all that expensive dental work is also taking a toll.