Again, a gift from the Ex. I had never heard of Alba Snack Shake Mix. It is manufactured by the Hain Celestial Group, Inc from Melville, NY 11747. The particular batch I have was made On Sept 30, 2006. It comes with directions for pudding and shakes. I made the pudding version.
The pudding did not gel at all. It was still fairly liquid the next morning after having been refrigerated all night. The texture was kind of, well, like snot. I still tried it though. It had a kind of chemical taste. I decided to try the shake directions to see if it would taste better, so I added milk. Still the same taste.
When in doubt add chocolate. I was at Wal-Mart and found some Ghirardelli's cocoa that was cheaper than the off brand I usually buy and snapped it up thinking I was getting a good deal. I didn't realize until I was home that it was cheaper because it was sweetened and had lots of sugar in it. But it is great for making hot cocoa with milk because you don't need to add sugar and it melts into the milk very easily.
The pudding still was not great with chocolate. I couldn't get over the slimy texture of it and the chemical taste was still in the background.
Let's see if my son will eat it.
What is in it: This package had no ingredients or nutritional information.
Update: My son wouldn't eat it either.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Repack Hummus
My Ex gets food from neighbors and friends because he is an alcoholic and has anxiety disorder. Because we live in Utah people have a lot of food in storage and like me I am sure they need to get rid of some stuff they have had around for a while and realize they are never going to use. So, instead of paying his child support my Ex brings me the food that he has left over from the food that his friends have left over.
This sort of reminds me of the birthing coach we had in Wisconsin when I was pregnant with my first son. They were dirt poor and complete hippies. They grew their own food and had a family bed which they shared with their 3 year old daughter who was named Sage. Their 3 year old daughter was still breast feeding. I was at a session when the three year old walked up sat on her mom's lap, pulled up her shirt, and started breast feeding....I just don't think that is right. I pointed out to our birth coach that sage is one of the herbs recommended for women to reduce the flow of breast milk. A bit ironic! You would expect them to be vegetarians but, no, almost their entire diet was made up of road kill. They knew someone from the county who was responsible for going around and picking up road kill when residents called in. I don't want to know how they cook any of that or what it looks like when they get it.
So, leftovers of leftovers was what I was making today. There were no mixing ingredients on the outside of the package so I was a little afraid of opening the bag. Hello, there was a card inside with directions. I made it, following the directions exactly. I put in on my homemade bread with delicious crisp romaine lettuce. The first two bites were ok but then the taste became bitter. I ate about half of the sandwich and threw the rest away. Maybe I used too much on the sandwich and it was overwhelming? I don't know but I have about 4 cups of hummus in my fridge that I will probably throw down the sink.
The hummus package ingrediants were: Garbanzo flour, sesame tahini, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, spices, sea salt, lemon powder, citric acid, expeller pressed toasted sesame oil, lemon, and lemon oil.
I have made fresh hummus and what a difference that was!
Fresh hummus from the Joy of Cooking:
2 cups canned garbonzo beans (chick peas)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
salt to taste
Puree until smooth, add liquid to create a smooth consistency.
If you use as a dip - put in small bowl and garnish with 1Tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, sprinkling of hot or sweet paprika.
This sort of reminds me of the birthing coach we had in Wisconsin when I was pregnant with my first son. They were dirt poor and complete hippies. They grew their own food and had a family bed which they shared with their 3 year old daughter who was named Sage. Their 3 year old daughter was still breast feeding. I was at a session when the three year old walked up sat on her mom's lap, pulled up her shirt, and started breast feeding....I just don't think that is right. I pointed out to our birth coach that sage is one of the herbs recommended for women to reduce the flow of breast milk. A bit ironic! You would expect them to be vegetarians but, no, almost their entire diet was made up of road kill. They knew someone from the county who was responsible for going around and picking up road kill when residents called in. I don't want to know how they cook any of that or what it looks like when they get it.
So, leftovers of leftovers was what I was making today. There were no mixing ingredients on the outside of the package so I was a little afraid of opening the bag. Hello, there was a card inside with directions. I made it, following the directions exactly. I put in on my homemade bread with delicious crisp romaine lettuce. The first two bites were ok but then the taste became bitter. I ate about half of the sandwich and threw the rest away. Maybe I used too much on the sandwich and it was overwhelming? I don't know but I have about 4 cups of hummus in my fridge that I will probably throw down the sink.
The hummus package ingrediants were: Garbanzo flour, sesame tahini, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, spices, sea salt, lemon powder, citric acid, expeller pressed toasted sesame oil, lemon, and lemon oil.
I have made fresh hummus and what a difference that was!
Fresh hummus from the Joy of Cooking:
2 cups canned garbonzo beans (chick peas)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
salt to taste
Puree until smooth, add liquid to create a smooth consistency.
If you use as a dip - put in small bowl and garnish with 1Tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, sprinkling of hot or sweet paprika.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday - French Bread
My Back of the Pantry entry for today is Gourmet Bread Base from Jakubowski Farms. This is another item I have had in my pantry for about 10 years. I bought 3 tubs ( 2lbs each) of this in Wisconsin and moved it to Utah with me. I have been in Utah for 7 years, so I am fairly sure this is about 10 years old.
I make a lot of homemade bread in my bread machine and I just ran out of bread flour. Instead of buying more flour, when I already have a bunch of All-purpose and Whole Wheat, I decided it was time to use up the Bread Base. It contains powdered milk, sugar, lecithin, salt and nutritional supplements. I bought it to use in my original bread machine but it only calls for 3 tablespoons of bread base per loaf. This is obviously why I have 2 containers still in the back of my pantry.
Bread flour has more gluten than All-purpose flour and therefore creates a stronger infrastructure to hold the air that yeast produces. The bread base adds gluten to All-purpose flour to increase the lift.
I use the bread machine recipe for french bread and then add about 1/4 cup of bread base for two loaves of bread. Yes, two loaves. I don't like the shape of bread machine loaves, especially the little belly button on the bottom, so I just use my bread machine to do the mixing and the rising. Just before the final rise, I take the bread out of the machine. I kneed the bread, let it go through its final rise in bread pans and then cook it in the oven.
I have to let my bread rise for 30 minutes in the bread pans, then cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. This makes great looking loaves and I didn't have to do anything but measure the ingredients and set a few timers.
I make a lot of homemade bread in my bread machine and I just ran out of bread flour. Instead of buying more flour, when I already have a bunch of All-purpose and Whole Wheat, I decided it was time to use up the Bread Base. It contains powdered milk, sugar, lecithin, salt and nutritional supplements. I bought it to use in my original bread machine but it only calls for 3 tablespoons of bread base per loaf. This is obviously why I have 2 containers still in the back of my pantry.
Bread flour has more gluten than All-purpose flour and therefore creates a stronger infrastructure to hold the air that yeast produces. The bread base adds gluten to All-purpose flour to increase the lift.
I use the bread machine recipe for french bread and then add about 1/4 cup of bread base for two loaves of bread. Yes, two loaves. I don't like the shape of bread machine loaves, especially the little belly button on the bottom, so I just use my bread machine to do the mixing and the rising. Just before the final rise, I take the bread out of the machine. I kneed the bread, let it go through its final rise in bread pans and then cook it in the oven.
I have to let my bread rise for 30 minutes in the bread pans, then cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. This makes great looking loaves and I didn't have to do anything but measure the ingredients and set a few timers.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday - Egg Flower Soup Mix
I got divorced in the past 3 months and my ex is an alcoholic. Not the literary type of alcoholic who is debonair and amusing but the kind of drunk who rarely has a job, gets sent to jail and lives in abandoned houses. Obviously I am not getting child support. But, he manages to get people to do things for him. One day I came home from work and found a bunch of canned and packaged foods in my kitchen. Apparently people at work and friends had given him a bunch of food so, he brought it over to my house. Some of it was fairly normal - green beans, canned pears, mushroom soup. But some of it was just weird like: packaged humus with no directions, no sugar - lime jello, broccoli soup mix (just add broccoli?).
Anyway, I just made the Chinese Style Egg Flower Soup Mix from Kikkoman. Add package to 2.5 cups of water and then add an well beaten egg. This had way too much salt. I poured it over some left over rice I had in the fridge and it was edible.
The soup has a strong Umami taste. According to Harald McGee in "On Food and Cooking", this taste was formally discovered in 1908 by a Japanese chemist. Until 2001 it was not known that humans had a specific taste receptor for umami. Like sweet, sour, salty and bitter, humans have specific taste receptors for umami. This soup does have MSG (the biggest provider of the umami taste in processed foods) but it also has dried cloud ear mushrooms which gives the umami taste and very nice chewy tooth feel.
Umami is Japanese and roughly translates to "delicious". It is funny that this fundamental taste which we all crave also has the sounds "mommy" in it.
Anyway, I just made the Chinese Style Egg Flower Soup Mix from Kikkoman. Add package to 2.5 cups of water and then add an well beaten egg. This had way too much salt. I poured it over some left over rice I had in the fridge and it was edible.
The soup has a strong Umami taste. According to Harald McGee in "On Food and Cooking", this taste was formally discovered in 1908 by a Japanese chemist. Until 2001 it was not known that humans had a specific taste receptor for umami. Like sweet, sour, salty and bitter, humans have specific taste receptors for umami. This soup does have MSG (the biggest provider of the umami taste in processed foods) but it also has dried cloud ear mushrooms which gives the umami taste and very nice chewy tooth feel.
Umami is Japanese and roughly translates to "delicious". It is funny that this fundamental taste which we all crave also has the sounds "mommy" in it.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The start
The impetus for this blog were two fold. First, I cleaned out my pantry and found out that I have a lot of stuff in my pantry that I have not used for a long time. Second, I found out my hours are going to be cut back at work and I will have to get by on half of what I was earning.
I put two and two together and decided that I really need to figure out how to use all the stuff in my pantry.
When I was cleaning out my pantry I found some authentic wild rice that was about 10 years old. I know that because I bought it in Wisconsin prior to moving to Utah and I moved here 7 years ago. I know I had it in my pantry for at least 2-3 years when I was in Wisconsin.
I decided to cook it and find out if it was still good. It was. I don't really like the taste of wild rice very much, but I did once make a wild rice stuffed cabbage that was pretty good. I was a vegetarian at the time and wanted to make a stuffed cabbage that did not contain meat.
Wild Rice Stuffed Cabbage
Filling
1 cup of uncooked wild rice (not brown rice, but the real wild rice)
2-3 tsp. dry basil
1/2 white onion chopped
3 med tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves - minced
2 Tblspoon Olive Oil
Sauce
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tblspoon lemon juice
1 medium cabbage
Directions
Bring large pot of water to boil for cabbage to be completely submerged. Cook cabbage for 20 minutes. Remove the cabbage from the water and remove 8- 10 leaves. Store remainder for other use. Boil 2 1/2 cups water for wild rice, add pinch of salt and rice. Cook for 40 minutes or until most grains are split.
Filling - Mix wild rice, chopped tomatoes, onion, minced garlic and olive oil together for filling.
Sauce - Mix the sauce ingrediants together in a pan and cook until slightly thicker.
Assemble - put 4-5 Tablespoons of filling in a cabbage leave, fold over ends and roll. Place seam side down in a greased oven proof casserole dish, (9x13). Pour sauce over all. Cook for 3 hours at 300 degrees.
I didn't make the wild rice stuffed cabbage but I did make an egg roll filling with the wild rice. I can't remember all that I put in it but it included some frozen peas, grated carrots other stuff. It was pretty good, but a little too wild ricey.
I put two and two together and decided that I really need to figure out how to use all the stuff in my pantry.
When I was cleaning out my pantry I found some authentic wild rice that was about 10 years old. I know that because I bought it in Wisconsin prior to moving to Utah and I moved here 7 years ago. I know I had it in my pantry for at least 2-3 years when I was in Wisconsin.
I decided to cook it and find out if it was still good. It was. I don't really like the taste of wild rice very much, but I did once make a wild rice stuffed cabbage that was pretty good. I was a vegetarian at the time and wanted to make a stuffed cabbage that did not contain meat.
Wild Rice Stuffed Cabbage
Filling
1 cup of uncooked wild rice (not brown rice, but the real wild rice)
2-3 tsp. dry basil
1/2 white onion chopped
3 med tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves - minced
2 Tblspoon Olive Oil
Sauce
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tblspoon lemon juice
1 medium cabbage
Directions
Bring large pot of water to boil for cabbage to be completely submerged. Cook cabbage for 20 minutes. Remove the cabbage from the water and remove 8- 10 leaves. Store remainder for other use. Boil 2 1/2 cups water for wild rice, add pinch of salt and rice. Cook for 40 minutes or until most grains are split.
Filling - Mix wild rice, chopped tomatoes, onion, minced garlic and olive oil together for filling.
Sauce - Mix the sauce ingrediants together in a pan and cook until slightly thicker.
Assemble - put 4-5 Tablespoons of filling in a cabbage leave, fold over ends and roll. Place seam side down in a greased oven proof casserole dish, (9x13). Pour sauce over all. Cook for 3 hours at 300 degrees.
I didn't make the wild rice stuffed cabbage but I did make an egg roll filling with the wild rice. I can't remember all that I put in it but it included some frozen peas, grated carrots other stuff. It was pretty good, but a little too wild ricey.
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