Homemade Rice Mix

I am all about convenience foods.  I don't have a lot of time for cooking during the week, so I appreciate being able to fix something quickly.  And the people who blend the seasonings for convenience foods are much better at it than I am.

Some of my favorite convenience foods are the Farmhouse Rice mixes.  I eat a lot of grilled chicken, and these go well with that.  Before I start grilling the chicken, I dump the box of rice, 1 1/2 cups water, the seasoning packet, and a pat of butter into a 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish and microwave it for 18 minutes.  Then I just need to steam some veggies while the chicken is grilling, and dinner is served!  When I don't have fresh food on hand, I make a casserole out of a box of Farmhouse Rice, a can of chicken, and a can of green beans.  Or I go Hawaiian and add a can of pineapple. 

But like all convenience foods, these can be pricey.  And they take up a lot of room in the pantry.  And I'd refer it if it made just a little more rice.  So I've been keeping an eye out for an alternative.  I've been looking for something that would be just as easy to fix, and be cheaper and easier to store.  I believed I've found what I was looking for.

While browsing through the Make-A-Mix book again, I came across a recipe for Chicken Continental Rice Seasoning Mix.  This book has a lot of great recipes in it, and this one does not disappoint.

Chicken Continental Rice Seasoning Mix
2 Tbsp instant chicken bouillon granules
1 Tbsp dried parsley leaves, crushed
2 tsp minced dried onions
1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder

As you can see, this recipe is for making individual packets rather than a spice jar full of seasoning that you would measure out (each packet about 1/4 cup).  At first, I wanted to make up a full jar of this mix so I didn't have to make up the mix 10 times for 10 packets.  However, after making it the first time I realized that this really is the best approach.  This mix has fine powders and chunky herb leaves, and it would be difficult to keep the ingredients properly mixed in a spice jar.  The powders would want to fall to the bottom, while the leaves would migrate to the top.  So, individual packets it is!

Making the rice was just as easy as making the Farmhouse rice.  Put 1 cup of long-grain rice, 2 cups of water, 1 packet of the seasoning mix, and a pat of butter (if desired) into a 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish and microwave for 16-18 minutes.  I was worried it might boil over in the 1 1/2 qt. dish, since it's more rice than in the Farmhouse box, but it didn't.  So I was happy about that.

Obviously, the rice didn't taste just like the Farmhouse rice, as it's a different recipe.  But I really like it.  It has a lot of chicken flavor, with the flavor of the herbs in the background.  The night I made it I hadn't thawed out any chicken, so I made a casserole with this rice, a can of chicken, and a can of green beans.  It was very good.  I took the leftovers to work the next day for lunch and one of my coworkers said it smelled like chicken soap.

It's nice that I can make up several packets and use them with rice from my food storage.  This raises the question, though...what is the best way to make the packets.  I could use the snack-sized zip-lock bags.  Or I could experiment with making packets from larger mylar food-storage bags.  You can also buy small heat-seal mylar bags.  But I decided to make my own--I'll make a separate post about that.

So I'm good to go.  I can purchase my rice in bulk and store it in #10 cans (for 3-month storage), keep a few packets of the seasoning mix on hand, and make a quick dinner whenever I want.  All for less money than I was paying for the Farmhouse rice.  Now, I just need to find more seasoning mixes for variety...

Two Versions of a Cookie Mix

I invented a cookie mix for one of my favorite cookies--and I just have to share it with you.  I like to have a mix like this on hand just to make cookie making quicker.  But it's also nice to know that if you're snowed in for a week you have quick, easy-to-make cookies from your food storage.  As long as you can boil water, you can make these cookies.

This is a cookie recipe that I got from a friend when I was in the fifth grade.  Boy, THAT was a long time ago!  The name of the cookie on the recipe was "Penny Cookies".  I have no idea where the name came from, but I changed it to "Summer Cookies" because I make them in the summer.  I've seen versions of this recipe on various cooking websites, usually called something like "Chocolate No-Bake Cookies".  Yes, "no-bake" is the reason I make them in the summer, when it's too hot to have the oven on.

Here's the original recipe:

     Boil for 1 minute:
     2 cups sugar
     3 Tblsp cocoa
     1/2 cup milk
     1/2 cup butter or stick margarine

     Add:
     1/2 cup peanut butter (I like to use crunchy)
     1 tsp vanilla

     Pour over:
     3 cups quick oats (I use regular rolled oats)

     Drop by teaspoon over waxed paper. Refrigerate (I usually just leave them on the wax paper on  the counter)


The first version of the mix (we'll call it Version A) is not a food-storage version.  It just combines the dry ingredients from the "boil" part of the recipe, and uses powdered milk instead of fresh milk.

     Mix together and put in quart zip-lock bag:
     2 cups sugar
     3 Tblsp cocoa
     1/2 cup instant non-fat dried milk (this adds more milk solids for richer cookies)

     Boil 1 minute:
     1 package Version A cookie mix
     1/2 cup water
     1/2 cup or stick margarine

     Continue with the recipe above, starting with Add:

But I decided to try creating a mix from all food storage items--keeping in mind that vanilla, peanut butter, and rolled oats are part of my food storage.  This version (Version B) uses powdered margarine in addition to powdered milk.

     Mix together and put in quart zip-lock bag:
     2 cups sugar
     3 Tblsp cocoa
     1/2 cup instant non-fat dried milk
     1 cup margarine powder

     Boil 1 minute:
     1 package Version B cookie mix
     3/4 cups water

     Continue with recipe above, starting with Add:

The cookies made from Version A mix taste no different than cookies made from scratch.  The only real difference is using instant non-fat dried milk, and that is not noticable.

The cookies made from Version B mix took a little longer to harden, but they did harden up just fine.  They tasted slightly different when I first tried them, but by the third cookie I could no longer taste a difference.  I don't know whether it's because the flavors blended or whether I just got used to the different taste. 

It's easy to make up a couple batches of one of these mixes to keep on hand.  Then you can whip up a batch of cookies in no time.  It is quicker to user the Version B mix, but Version A works well when you don't have powdered margarine.

I Can't Believe I Didn't Think Of This Before!

I use freezer bags a lot.  Sometimes I use gallon-size, but mostly I use quart-size bags.  I often use them to freeze smaller portions of food I buy in bulk, such was walnuts or those family-packs of meat. Or I'll buy a big bag of frozen berries and break it up into smaller bags for freezing (so I have to open each bag less often and it gets fewer ice crystals). 

But filling the freezer bags can be awkward:  they don't stand up by themselves, and they don't stay open.  This is particularly troublesome when I'm puting chicken or other meat into the bags.  I don't want to touch the outside of the bags and possibly contaminate them with any salmonella I may have on my fingers (from the meat--I don't walk around with salmonella on my fingers--not often any way).

But a couple days ago I thought of a simple solution to both problems, and tonight I got a chance to test my idea.

First, I washed out an empty #2 can, and used a can opener to remove the bottom.

Then I simply stood the bottomless can up in the freezer bag I wanted to fill, and put the contents into the can.

The can is shorter than the bag, so as I filled up the can I shook the contents down into the bottom of the bag, and slid the can up to finish filling up the bag.

It worked great.  I filled the bag with no problems.  Now I'm ready for the next time I buy a big package of chicken!

Couponing Webinar

A couple weeks ago I took a couponing Webinar (don't you just LOVE these made-up words?) from Kellene Bishop at Preparedness Pro.  Wow!  Did I learn a lot!

I had no idea you could save so much money with coupons.  Of course, I was ignorant of the strategies involved.  You can stack manufacturer's coupons on top of store coupons on top of a store sale.  Who knew?   Well, Ms. Bishop did.  And, as you might imagine, organization is the key to successful couponing.

I'm getting all my stuff together (store cards, coupon binder, etc.) and I'll start saving money very soon.  I have $350 in my monthly budget for groceries.  If I can use Ms. Bishop's strategy well, I should be able to save $200 a month on groceries.  Or maybe more.

I'll report back in how I'm doing.

Kellene Bishop has several blogs, including Women of Caliber -- one of my favorites.

Oh, I almost forgot.  There's another blog that uses the same strategy as Ms. Bishop:  The Krazy Coupon Lady. It's run by two women who've been couponing for ages, and they update daily with sales and hot coupons.  Their blog, by the way, is included in the list of links provided by Ms. Bishop in her webinar.

You are probably wondering what sweet peas have to do with couponing.  Well...absolutely nothing.  But I couldn't have a post with no pictures, now could I?

I Got My Can Organizers

I received my Can Organizers, and boy are they nice.  My shelves are spaced so I could stack my vegetable cans 2 high, and that turned out to be just the right height for the Can Organizers.  You can see them at http://www.thecanorganizer.com/.

I should admit that with the Can Organizers ("C.O." from now on), I can't squeeze as many cans on the shelf as when I was stacking them.  However, the C.O.s solved two problems I was having:  the cans didn't stack very well because they don't have rounded bottoms, so they were always falling down;  it was really hard to put my newest purchases behind my previous purchases, because I had them crammed so tightly on the shelf.

So, with the C.O.s, I need more shelf space, but it's incredibly easy to put the new cans behind the old cans:  simply put the new ones in the top of the box, and they'll roll down to the bottom.

I got the shorter "cupboard" version, which is 10"-11" long.  They fit perfectly on my 12" shelves.  Each C.O. holds 7 cans of vegetables.  So far vegetables, chili, and refried beans are all I have in mine.  I will be getting some more for the rest of my stuff.

Cheap and Cheezy Deer Cage Update

I've had my deer cages around my fruit trees for some time now and I'm happy to report that, with one minor exception early on, they have kept the deer out of my trees.  Whew!

Here's one of the cages around my gravenstein apple tree:

The gravenstein is on a full-size root stock, so it will be a few years before it comes into production.  But when it does, it should produce a lot of apples. 

OK.  I have to make a confession.  This was the last of the deer cages I made, and it's by far the best looking.  On most of them, the piece of fencing I cut off the roll was way too small and doesn't reach around the tree very well.  It takes a lot more fencing that you might think it would.  Hmmm....  Maybe I should have measured first...Naw!

And here's one of the wiley beasts--still eating from Bonnie's Buffet--but just eating clover in the grass this time. 

How Cool Is This?

I was just reading the most recent post from the Totally Ready Blog (the link is on the right), and saw an ad for cardboard can organizers.  They look like they work similarly to the Shelf Reliance Cansolidators, but they're made from cardboard, so they're much cheaper.

Paraphrasing Captain Steve Hiller from Independence Day, 'I have GOT to get me some of these!'

Here's the link, in case you're interested:  http://www.thecanorganizer.com/ .

I shamelessly stole an image from their website so you can see what they look like:

You put your recent purchases in the top, and it rolls around to the bottom.  When you want to use a can, you take it from the bottom.  So you're always using the oldest can, thus rotating your storage easily.  Of course, you'd have to get one for each type of food you're storing.   But at $12.00 (US) or $16.00 (US) for a 4-pack (depending on which size you get), that's not too bad. 

It looks like they don't have them for #10 cans yet.  But they'd be great for storing store-bought canned foods.