Rice Leftover Ideas

It used to be that white rice was so cheap, if you had a cup left over after a meal, it probably went in the garbage.  With prices skyrocketing and some supplies limited, it makes sense now to stretch this pantry staple as far as it will go.  Here are a few simple ideas to avoid waste.

 1. Cover leftover rice with milk and heat through.  Serve with sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon for breakfast or a treat.  I have tried this with brown rice…but some healthier choices just can’t be converted.  I didn’t like it.

2. Make an easy Chicken and Rice Soup with broth, veggies, chicken (canned if you don’t have any other) and stir in the rice at the end to heat through. 

3.  If I have brown rice left over, I make fried rice the next night.  Or, we like Hawaiian Haystacks–rice with homemade chicken sauce over the top and then layered with your choice of toppings (cheese, celery, slivered almonds, pineapple tidbits, chow mein noodles, etc.)

 It’s fun and frugal to share ideas on how to stretch our food dollars.  I would love to hear your ideas too.  Please post!

In response to a request,  I am including directions for my easy Chicken Sauce for Hawaiian Haystacks.  I’m sorry for the delay on responding.  This is one of those recipes that varies a little each time.  I start with a roux–melt about a cube of butter, and then whisk in flour to make a paste.  Then slowly add chicken broth and one can evaporated milk to make a creamy sauce.  I add the milk first and then add the broth until the sauce is the desired thickness.  Then I just season the sauce to taste with cracked pepper, a little rosemary, maybe a little garlic powder, and salt.  Finally, I stir in 1-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken.  You can cheat and make this recipe with a can of cream of chicken soup thinned with milk, but we like the above version much better.

Posted in Gems in a Jar || 4 Comments

A Way to Rotate Your Powdered Milk

If you’ve followed the amounts on most food storage calculators, you are likely dutifully storing a lot of powdered milk.  And, possibly wondering what to do with it (because, we really don’t want to drink it unless we absolutely have to, do we?)  I try to use my powdered milk in bread recipes to rotate it in my storage.  Below is a recipe for Indian Fry Bread that uses a cup of powdered milk per batch (and you don’t have to reconstitute it).  For drinking, I prefer the taste of Morning Moo milk over the standard powdered milk, and this brand is available in chocolate and strawberry flavors as well.  Through perusing the internet, though, I have read that Country Cream brand dry milk is the best tasting…the closest to the real thing.  I am trying to order a sample so I can try it.  Since we don’t want to store what we won’t use (or don’t know how to use), it makes sense to divide our storage between dry milk for drinking and for baking.

Indian Fry Bread

4 C. flour

3 heaping tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 C. warm water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. powdered milk

Mix all ingredients.  Roll or form into flat rounds with your hands and fry in small amount of oil.  Serve with chili and cheese, or with butter and honey.

Posted in Home Storage & Preparedness Tips || 2 Comments