Archive for April, 2010

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Curly Dock is Frugal Food?

April 26th, 2010

This bright delight soaked in the kitchen sink til Mother Connie cut the spines away and cut it into ribbons...

Oh, what fun it is to go to  “market” in your own back yard!

Since we use no pesticides  and we’re sure our neighbors don’t as well, we have the luxury of “shopping” for fresh produce right outside our door!

This bright bounty of tender, sweet and nutrition-packed Curly Dock hung out in our sink, soaking up the pure water and letting the dregs left by lawn mowing fall away.   Each leaf was folded to cut away the tough spine and the rest of the leaves were clipped into ribbons of fresh, green deliciousness.  The spines will be chopped and sauteed for another meal.

The ribbons were divided into salad bowls, sprinkled with a dash of Parmesan cheese and dressed with a bit of mayo, pickle juice and spot of sugar.

The remainder of this green goodness will be sauteed with a bit of onion and combined with a wonderful white sauce.  This will make a “comfort food” side dish for our ground beef patties that will grace our dinner table.

We're excited to finish off this lovely, leafy crop with our dinner!

If you are users of SNAP or WIC; if you are devotees of Angel Food Ministries or Farmers Market Coupons; if you just like to save money-and, have you noticed how close we are to the end of the month?-THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR YOU!  If you have food commodities or food pantry food in your cupboard and you make the opportunity to dress up your supper table with FRESH goodies from nature’s bounty, you may feel like a lottery winner!

Food is comfort.  Food is life.  Food should be FUN!  And yes, even if the Food Police are standing in your kitchen, you may play with your food!

Please share YOUR food ideas: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com     Thanks, kids!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.

 

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Program Note?

April 23rd, 2010

 

 

This little person and all his peers are not expected to outlive his parents because of the poor food choices he and his generation will make!

 

Today, Friday April 23, on ABC TV Jamie Oliver ends his series regarding the school lunch program he has been struggling to revamp.   We mention this because the truth of the matter is that his cause is noble and his timing is of the essence!

It’s important for people to understand that the generation that is having lunch at school now is not expected to outlive their parents’ generation!  Is that shocking to you?

Americans have been programmed to eat processed food and guzzle soda pop.  Because of processed foods and poor choices for dietary intake, childhood  health has been compromised.  The medical establishment cannot compensate with drugs, procedures and surgeries what real food is designed to do in the human body.

The Food Stamps Cooking Club members are strongly encouraged to look in on this final episode of the series and take heed.

Even those who depend on WIC and SNAP, food commodities and food pantries can benefit from the information Jamie Oliver has for the public.  If there are users of Angel Food Ministries and Farmers Market Coupons, or if there are folks who simply realize they MUST s-t-r-e-t-c-h their food budgets-we all can learn from the example Jamie Oliver sets.  Using public assistance to fund your grocery list is no reason to eat without wisdom.

Fresh, simple ingredients make for healthy bodies.  Learning how to cook is a skill that will serve anyone all through life.  This outlook is not unique to Chef Oliver; indeed, our own Chef Shawn Bucher and The Dinner Diva, Leanne Ely, adhere to the same philosophy, as do many of our Club Members.

Speaking of fresh, simple ingredients reminds us all that this is prime time for gathering and snipping dandelions for luscious salads.  The little violets are popping up all over the yards and if you are sure there are no pesticides, these make for wonderful, nourishing salad fixings.  They work well alone or you can add those beauties to your lettuce or vegetable salads.  Drizzle a bit of oil over all to make them glisten, add your favorite herbs or flavors and veggies and you have yourself a spectacular, easy and ECONOMICAL menu item.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Are We Stigmatized?

April 21st, 2010

 

 

Americans cannot in good conscience allow our senior citizens to be hungry nor can we allow them to feel stigmatized!

 

 

Someone who supports what we are doing on this blog sent a piece from her local newspaper about users of food stamps-SNAP.  The article was primarily about senior citizens who have desperate need but are not taking advantage of the SNAP program.  They do not wish to be stigmatized.

Seniors, more than younger people in the population, seem to be forced by poverty to choose between meat and medication.  Or they buy cheap food, full of empty calories, and their health suffers anyway.

According to the article I read, many senior citizens don’t know how to apply for assistance.  They don’t know who to call and they are afraid to ‘ask around’ for fear of losing face, being embarrassed, or stigmatized.  THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE in the USA!  Our elders deserve the utmost respect and care.  They certainly ought not to be hungry!

In Nebraska we have the Health and Human Services Department and it is listed in every telephone book.  There are 800 numbers listed all over the map.

You can contact your public library for information about local offices in your own area; you may have the informational 211 service in your area.  The local newspaper would have information in that regard, as well.

You can contact your county’s extension service educators. They have oodles of helpful information about food, nutrition, and how to get into the loop.   People from the Salvation Army or Red Cross can link you up with the right people to get help, as can your health care provider, your pharmacy or your mail carrier!  People at your Senior Center or Action Center will know how to direct you, too.  Don’t be shy; ask around.

One of the people interviewed by the newspaper was an 82 year old woman who has vivid memories of the Great Depression and declined to ask for help with her food needs because “I think a lot of other people need it worse than I do.”

That’s noble, but quite unnecessary.

There was mention on the radio recently that Americans waste $500.00 worth of food per household per year.  Why should some waste while others do without?  Unthinkable.

If you are using SNAP or WIC or Angel Food Ministries, you may know the sting of need all too well. And perhaps you know the pain of being stigmatized.  I pray not.

Maybe we all need to become more aware of our fellow human beings.  When we ask our elderly neighbors and acquaintances ‘How ARE you?’ we need to pay very close attention to the answer.  We might be more help to them than we know.

There are so many ways to share the bounty of our lives.  We could share a bowl of soup with an elderly neighbor; we could invite them to sit with us at our  Sunday dinner table.  We could cultivate community gardens or even sprouts in a jar to share.

Hearing from you Club Members about your solutions to this dilemma many Seniors are facing will be heartwarming; I just know it! Send your ideas to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com     Thank you so much!

If you have ever visited a food pantry; if you have ever used a debit card supplied by SNAP or WIC; if you have availed yourself of food commodities or Angel Food Ministries you can surely relate with the reluctance of these senior citizens to ask for help.  The best way to remove stigma is by education. We need to teach by loving, caring example so people will understand there is no shame in need.

The Food Stamps Cooking Club is on a mission to teach people wonderful ways to use the resources they have at their disposal to be as well as possible, to make as many terrific memories as can be made, and to have fun with it all!  We hope we will capture the fancy of our visitors and they will all want to come along for the ride!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know that there are links in this post.  Should these links be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger or your guest blogger will be fairly compensated.  Always do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Only do business with those you trust implicitly.


 



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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Just Add Water?

April 16th, 2010

 

 

Sometimes, if you just add water, you create something wonderful. Other times? Not so much.

 

Long ago and far away, Mother Connie was a peddler. She went into peoples homes and kitchens and demonstrated a particular cooking technique: waterless cooking.  This was during an era where moms stayed home and prepared food for their families and people actually sat together around a table to share their meals.  It so feels like another lifetime…

One of the demonstrators who helped to train others was asked to talk about his business, which was located in Minnesota.  His area included many very large families.

John trotted out his big beef roast and the roaster like people used if they did not have the kind we demonstrated and he proceeded to cut off the end of the beef roast with a humongous knife.  Everyone in the audience gasped aloud.

Then John went on to explain that his customer always lopped off one end of the roast before it went into the pan.  When John pressed her as to why that was, we learned that “that’s the way my mom always did it.”  The customer’s mother did not have a roasting pan large enough to accommodate a large family, so Mom simply “made do” by cutting whatever roast she had to fit the pan she owned!

We all do this, you know.  We ALL do things the way we were shown.  Sometimes it’s comical, like John’s situation; sometimes it just shows lack of Yankee Ingenuity.

Another blogger sent me a recipe that your parents or grandparent and their generations may remember seeing.  It was sent out from a celebrity:

“Gracie Allen’s Classic Recipe for Roast  Beef

1 large Roast of beef
1 small Roast of  beef

Take the two roasts and put them in the  oven.
When the little one burns, the  big one is done.”

Surely the Food Stamps Cooking Club can do much better than that when it comes to recipes! For openers, we might mention Chef Shawn’s roasting tip:  He suggests cutting equal amounts of onion, carrot and celery and scattering the pieces over the bottom of the roasting pan.  The vegetables make a nice “rack” for the beef roast to rest upon as it cooks.

However, to be fair,  Gracie Allen did not have the luxury of working with somebody as caring as Chef Shawn Bucher.  And I seriously doubt that she used food stamps-SNAP-or WIC or food commodities, either.  Angel Food Ministries had not been born yet, nor had the Farmers Market Coupon.  The chance is remote that she ever visited a food pantry, unless it may have been for publicity…causes in Gracie’s day were not so politically correct.

We think our Club Members have the best, most practical ideas and they have not been shy to share, either.  Maybe they don’t comment as often as we wish-hint, hint-but our Inbox is always stuffed with great notions.  Some of those will filter into the occasional messages we send from time to time.  Others will appear on the blog.  You are welcome to send your thoughts here: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com .

Someone sent a clipping from their local newspaper about the recipients of public assistance for food.  Your humble blogger is still digesting it because it plucked at the heartstrings.  It should have come with a tissue alert.  Watch for more about that soon.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those   links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly   compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs   online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Cookbook Fever?

April 15th, 2010

This tasty salad required no recipe from a cookbook or recipe file! It's a combo of good, fresh fixings!

It’s true.  Your humble blogger has been completely “disabled” with an imaginary “handicap” and can be found poring over the pages of her new cookbook and mumbling strange phrases like “mirepoix” and such like.  Her family has thrown up their hands in utter frustration and would have left but there is all this good food to consume…

OK.  The drama is not that dramatic but the food IS that GOOD and the new cookbook has certainly captured the fancy of the Resident Cook.

You have heard that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.  Well, don’t believe it.  Mother Connie has been cooking awhile now and in Chef Shawn Bucher’s “The First Timer’s Cookbook” there are plenty of opportunities to try new ways of doing things.  How delightful is that?

Here is just one tiny example:  Chef makes  sure the reader understands that he will be required to THINK for himself.  (Now THERE’S a concept, all right!)  Furthermore, Chef Shawn goes on to explain that this is the book he wished he’d had when he was a beginner.

SIDEBAR:  Chef told me he enrolled in Culinary Arts classes so he could learn how to make ice sculptures and then a funny thing happened.  He fell in love with all things food and he discovered he’s good at it.  It is is passion, folks.  HIS PASSION. END SIDEBAR.

I’ll grant you that if you are struggling to feed your brood after a hard day at work and you are using SNAP funds or WIC you might not be following your passion.  If you are using food pantry foods or food commodities you might not see the glamor you yearn to enjoy.  But Chef Shawn understands your plight and wants you and yours to understand that by using simple foods in creative ways you can make life better for the whole family unit.   So, while food may not be your passion-YET-you can develop skills and increase your creativity by playing with your food!

Users of Angel Food Ministries, Farmers Market Coupons and those who simply micro manage their food budgets can all benefit from learning more about food preparation.

Yesterday I reviewed Chef’s book for my Book Lovers Club.  OK; it was a chance to brag that I had spoken with Chef Shawn on the phone. These women are seasoned culinary wizards and they can’t wait to receive THEIR autographed copies!

Here’s what we’ll have for lunch today:

NO RECIPE SALAD

Crisp Romaine lettuce ( use whatever greens you have on hand)

Equal parts celery, onion, red or green cabbage, peas  and cucumber

Use a handful of shredded cheese or scatter deli turkey, canned tuna or salmon over top and finish it off with your favorite dressing.

Toast points go well with this salad, too.

VOILA`!  Lunch is ready!  How quick was THAT?

Please remind your pals they can enter their name and email address to be included in our mailing list.  We make every effort to keep our messages interesting and helpful and we never mean to intrude.  You can contact us by emailing this address: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com       Oh, how we LOVE to hear from the Members!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know that there are links in this post.  Should these links be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger or your guest blogger will be fairly compensated.  Always do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Only do business with those you trust implicitly.



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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Whole Grain Rotini?

April 12th, 2010

 

Whole grain pasta-fusilli in this case-can be easy on your mid month budget and soooo delish!

 

Here we are, way too close to the middle of the month and you peer into the freezer, the fridge, the cupboard and wonder once again why the month, the money, and the food don’t all come out even?  Are there middle-of-the-night GREMLINS getting into your supplies? It makes one wonder, all right.

Just when we thought there were no more pasta recipes to be had,  The Normanator spied an interesting one on the empty bag of rotini.  As you know, we are big on cooking once and eating twice (or more) so a big pot of rotini will be convenient.

ROTINI WITH ZUCCHINI AND OLIVES

1 and 1/2 lbs plum tomatoes, chopped

1/2  cup red onion, chopped

2  cloves garlic, minced and mashed with 1 tsp kosher salt

DON’T GET WEIRD!  The Kitchen Police will not arrest you if you do not use kosher salt and do use whatever salt you use in everything else you cook!

2  tablespoons red wine vinegar  **APPLY ABOVE ADVICE to the vinegar

1/4  cup olive oil

1  1/2 lbs zucchini cut into thick slices

2/3  cup kalamata olives   *I know; our market didn’t have them either so I used black olives.  Not to worry.

6 oz feta cheese

1  1/2 cups fresh basil

1lb whole grain rotini

In a large bowl, gently stir together tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil.  Brush one side of zucchini slices with extra oil and season with salt and pepper.  Heat a well seasoned grill pan over moderate heat until hot and grill zucchini, oiled side down, in batches, brushing tips with more oil before turning.  One to two minutes on each side, or til tender but not soft.

In 4 – 6 quart pot cook passta in salted boiling water for 13 to 15 minutes.  Drain but do NOT rinse.  Add hot pasta to tomato mixture and toss well.  Stir in zucchini, olive, cheese, basil, salt and pepper to taste.

With fresh fruit for dessert, this would make a guest-worthy dinner meal!

This may be may 4 hours ahead and kept covered at room temp. Serve warm or room temperature.

For those using Angel Food Ministries food or supplies from a food pantry or food commodities this meal idea will be helpful, we hope.  If you used Farmers Market Coupons or SNAP or WIC or if you fell heir to somebody’s fridge contents cuz they were moving this could be advantageous to you.

We love hearing from you Club Members.  You are sending those in YOUR circle to join; it’s as easy as putting your name and email into our box in the upper right hand corner.  We have a little series of tips and we send out what we hope will be informative info for you once in awhile.  Your comments on the blog mean the world to us; they encourage other members AND your emails are just the best.  Please keep sending them to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com .   THANKS.

Just so you know, we are in contact with Chef Shawn Bucher, author of The First Timer’s Cookbook. He will play a pivotal role in our offline cooking class but we want EVERYbody to benefit so do stay tuned for all the latest updates!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Is This Your First Time?

April 9th, 2010

 

 

Chef Shawn Bucher autographed Mother Connie's copy of his new book! " Now," she mused, " if only we can employ him for our annual cooking class."

 

The plans and ideas for the OFFLINE cooking class sponsored by the Food Stamps Cooking Club have been rolling around in our heads for awhile now.  We like what Jamie Oliver is doing with the school lunch program.  We admire the hard work and dedication Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray have invested in feeding people who need assistance.  We also like the interest and respect that’s being directed at SNAP, WIC and other public programs.

When Twitter popped up with Chef  Shawn Bucher, Mother Connie was turning cartwheels in her office!  And when the good Chef offered Mother Connie his help with the cooking class, well, she went a little off the charts wild with excitement! The Food Stamps Cooking Club will gladly help him to promote his book because we believe in it and its ability to help any cook of any experience level.  It is really something special, just like Chef Shawn.  You can learn more here:  The First Timer’s Cookbook and you can follow Shawn on Twitter, too!

The chef’s philosophy is refreshing.  He demystifies  foods and their preparation.  He takes us out of our awe-struck fearsome place and into our comfort zone.  He relaxes the “rules” that are either in place or that we imagine are in place.  The book begins with a warning about how the reader will be expected to read and think and he assures us he can help to train our brains so we can get what we want.  How refreshing is this approach to food?

Golly.  That would work outside the kitchen, too!  We could, by learning to cook-even on a tight budget, understand how to nurture relationships or attract the kind of job we want or even the kind of life mate we would like to meet.

That’s asking a lot from a cookbook.  You’d better check it out.

If you are using SNAP, WIC, or food pantries, you are the Guest of Honor here.  The same is true if you utilize food commodities, Farmers Market Coupons, Angel Food Ministries, or every sale your local market offers.  We are all here to support and encourage one another, gang.  Let’s give it our all.

YOU may have ideas about the offline cooking class.  We would love to hear from you.  Seriously.  Send us your thoughts at foodstampscookingclub@gmai.com .

Thank you for stopping.  Please leave your calling card in the form of a comment, won’t you?  It won’t hurt a bit, we promise.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.


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Food Stamps Cooking Club: SNAP to Life With Vegetable Gruel?

April 8th, 2010

 

 

 

We served dinner in the good china soup plates and called it vegetable gruel. Sounds unappetizing but it was so delish!

 

Sometimes you just don’t know what to make for dinner.  You have made a plan, you bought the foodstuffs but when Thursday arrives you don’t FEEL like eating noodles.  Or whatever you had in mind when you made your menu.  Can anybody relate?

That’s the situation we faced at our house.  So there was a can of black beans on the shelf.  Mother Connie found a good supply of broth.  This meal held promise.  Then Mother Connie remembered the toasted organic barley she’d been hoarding.  There was just the right amount of organic brown rice on hand as well.  Now things were getting interesting.

The onions and celery were sauteed while the grains boiled.

SIDEBAR:  Have you bought onions lately?  It felt as if the produce manager was holding a gun to everybody’s ribs when we surveyed the generous  pile of onions on display, along with the ginormous price tag.  There was a fine array of red, white, yellow, and sweet onions but the price was obscenely high. I guess that’s what happens between crops.   Sigh.  END SIDEBAR.

By the time the grains had become properly cooked there was a generous potful of tomatoes, freshly sauteed veggies, and some rich broth simmering.  This meal was filled with protein and nutrition and it satisfied those man sized appetites TWICE.  They did not even inquire about the home made brown bread or the applesauce that waited in the wings.

OK.  We got off the track a little with a food plan.  It happens.  At least we could report a happy ending.  Best of all, this dish is loaded with life itself and lends itself to eating well and wisely in a big way.  AND IT IS CHEAP!

If you are using food commodities, food pantry foods or if you avail yourself of SNAP or WIC or Angel Food Ministries or if you just operate with frugality this idea would no doubt be your little kitchen helper.  Mother Connie thinks YOU have great ideas about how to make interesting meals from the supplies you have on hand.  We hope you’ll take the time to share by posting your comment and/or sending along an email:  foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com   Thanks, oodles. kids.

What kinds of dishes do YOU make when you create something for your loved ones?  What are your go-to seasonings?  Have you ever thrown something together that was such a hit your family asked for a “re-run” and you couldn’t remember what you put into your magnificent meal?  We’d love to hear from all of you.

Have you been out planting your early garden crops?  We’d love to hear about your gardens, you know.  We are interested to hear from those who participate in community gardens, too!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should those links be clicked and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.




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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Fighting High Cholesterol?

April 7th, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

This dinner plate got rave reviews from The Normanator and The Kid! That means it was certainly fit for human consumption. AND THERE WERE NO LEFTOVERS!

The Clubhouse has a temporary boarder.  Seems the cholesterol count of one of our offspring has skyrocketed.  In lieu of statin drugs, we opted to bring him from his group home and put his toes under our table.  Mother Connie believes wholeheartedly that cholesterol does not rise because the body is lacking in prescription medication.   Bodies need real food to nourish and support every system optimally.

The fun is not only having him with us but in counting the veggies and fruits and discussing what we might prepare for any given meal and even how we’ll use the leftover food!  Our new star boarder has  favored his peeps at his workshop with a video he made, talking about his foods.  He has gone to the extreme of  taking out bragging rights for his high vegetable count!

After choosing and washing and preparing 18 pieces of produce for his consumption in one day, our resident character was pretty sure we could HEAR the cholesterol number tumbling.  We even thought we had FOUND a pile of cholesterol in the guest room.  But we soon learned it was only his soiled laundry.

The plate pictured above is loaded with lots of goodness.  The potatoes have their jackets on and were drizzled with olive oil before they went into a hot oven.  The fish, cod, was baked and topped off with a mixture of buttermilk, mayo and pickle relish with a touch of lemon.

That salad was the show stopper.  I saw SOMEONE take third helpings of that nutrient laden offering.  Here’s how that went together:

MOTHER CONNIE’S VERSION of BROCCOLI SALAD

3  cups fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2  white onion, chopped (red onion would make it prettier)

1  cup raisins

1/2  cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

DRESSING:

1  cup salad dressing or mayo

1/2  cup buttermilk or sour cream

1  tablespoon sugar

rice vinegar-just enough to thin the dressing to the consistency you like.

Mix everything together and drizzle dressing over the vegetables, nuts and raisins.  Allow to chill.   Gently mix again before serving so as to coat every vegetable with the dressing.

This kind of salad is often made with bacon and that’s yummy, too, but this is so quick and easy and economical that you really can’t go wrong.  I see that the grocery store circulars are advertising broccoli for $1.28 per bunch.  That’s a good buy in this neck of the woods.

If you depend on Angel Food Ministries, WIC, or SNAP or even if you use Farmer’s Markets Coupons you are interested to know how to stretch every single dollar meant for food.  Similarly, if your family has food commodities or food from a food pantry you still want to be frugal with your supplies.  It is our aim to help you in this regard.  Everybody wants comfort foods, after all; not uncomfortably high prices!

No doubt you Club Members have food ideas galore.  You are most welcome to share them here.  We love hearing your stories, especially your SUCCESS STORIES and we relish the thoughts of your sending recipes and tips you have found workable in your own kitchens.  We are all in the trenches, kids.  We can help one another if only we reach out.  Our email address is foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  and we can’t WAIT to hear from YOU.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know that there are links in this post.  Should these links be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger or your guest blogger will be fairly compensated.  Always do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Only do business with those you trust implicitly.


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Food Stamps Cooking Club: What’s in the Fridge?

April 6th, 2010

Unless your kitchen is as modest as this one, you probably have a 'fridge...

Have you ever come home after a hectic day, realized you did not thaw the beef you meant to use for dinner and hung on the door of your fridge, making every effort to find something that would please every palate at your table? If you can’t relate to this scenario you must have servants!

Here’s what happened at our house.  LIFE.  We got so busy with whatever it was we were so busy with and when our tummies growled-THAT’S when I realized I was so busted.  I had to come up with something and I had to do it in a teeny, tiny time frame.

Here’s what I made: A Rice and Veggie Dish

I’m a big fan of cooking once and eating twice so I grabbed the container full of already browned and seasoned ground beef  ‘n onions.  I put broth on to boil so I could cook rice.  You could use any kind of rice and you could cook it in water, but I was blessed to have wild rice and broth on the shelf.  My second choice would have been brown rice.  As the rice cooked I chopped some carrots to add to the mix.  Next came the frozen peas.  The kitchen was smelling divine by this time and I had inquiring minds poking their heads in, wanting to know.

So the veggie count was way up:  Onion, carrots, peas, and a green salad with lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and a sprinkle of fresh corn.

It all came to the table with home made brown bread and real butter.  It made for a very nice meal.  Tabletop conversation was top notch, too.  Makes for ideal meals and wonderful memories.

It’s a funny thing about good food.  It just ruins your appetite.

Even if you are using food pantry foods or food commodities, you want to bring zest and excitement to your family table!  Same is true if you use SNAP or WIC or Angel Food Ministries or if you use none of the above!  Some people simply enjoy squeezing the buffalo on every nickel til the buffalo bellows.  Cool.   Whatever your motivation, we are here to support you and let you know someone cares and that you matter.

Club members are thoughtful and some of you have emailed foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  to express your views.  Some of you actually post your comment in our comments section.  We love both and encourage you to continue to share your tips, recipes, ideas and experiences.

If you enjoy this blog, you may enjoy Mother Connie’s rants about health and healing on Mother Connie Sez or The Healthy and Wealthy You.  If you are in the market for some additional income to your family’s coffers you might be interested in what appears on Work At Home Freelancing or Rapid Cash Marketing.

In any case, we hope you are well and happy and will pop in whenever you can.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know that there are links in this post.  Should these links be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger or your guest blogger will be fairly compensated.  Always do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Only do business with those you trust implicitly.

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