Sunday, October 30, 2011

I need some recipe ideas!

Okay, so for various reasons, the plan for the next couple of months is to go totally minimalist on grocery shopping, and to make use of some of the things in our pantry that we have in excessive quantities.

I would love some ideas.
  • Tomato Soup.  We have the heat and serve type, not condensed.  I love soup... but I have never liked tomato soup.  I'm cooking up a crockpot porkchop thing right now, that hopefully will be edible.  But I need other ideas.
  • Tomato Juice.  I've started using it instead of water in a lot of things... but there HAS to be something else I can do with it.
  • Canned corn.  I have lots of things I do with it... but we have SO MUCH right now.  I'd love additional ideas.
  • Cheddar Cheese Soup.  Again, this just isn't something I can eat as soup.  And for whatever reason, everything I try to make with it tastes funny.
Other things I have a lot of, just fyi.  So you get bonus points for making suggestions that use the above stuff and some of these things.  And no, those bonus points don't have any monetary value:
  • Potatoes.  I have lots and lots of potatoes.
  • Rice.  Oh, yeah, lots of this around too.
  • Dried beans -- particularly great northern and pinto, but have at least some of quite a few other kinds too.
  • Broccoli.  Frozen.  I have no idea how I accumulated so much broccoli.
So... any tried and true ideas for me?  Anyone?

5 comments:

Tess said...

Corn as a starch instead of rice or pasta or potatoes. Corn as a side dish to mexican or texmex style dishes such as tacos, burritos, enchiladas.

I know of a recipe for a potato casserole that calls for cream of something soup and shredded cheese. Maybe try making a potato casserole with the cheddar cheese soup instead of the cream of something and shredded cheese.

My MIL has this very forgiving Lasagna Hot Dish recipe (um uses egg noodles but maybe you could just break up lasgna noodles or try it with rice instead?) It calls for cheddar cheese soup and pizza sauce but I bet you could substitute the tomato soup and add some spices. I usually use cheap spaghetti sauce.

Tomato juice-- how about cooking some rice in the rice cooker with some tomato juice instead of water and then mix in beans and other things to make something mexican flavored like a rice and beans.

Pinto Beans--- how about home made refried beans? Mix them with the corn and rice and the cheddar cheese soup, the tomato soup and some mexican or taco type seasonings. Put a layer of tortilla chips and then a layer of the rice/bean mixture. Keep layering until pan is full. Maybe end with the crunched chips and some real shredded cheese or drizzle with more cheddar cheese soup.

Unknown said...

Tomato Soup and Tomato Juice. Mix one can of each together. Brown some pork chops quickly in a skillet and then place in a ceramic pot. Pour the tomato juice mixture on, and then top with onion rings (homemade or frozen store bought). Bake for 30 mintues. This is one of husband's favorites. My mother-in-law used to add green peppers to the sauce as well but we leave those out.

Unknown said...

Broccoli cheese soup? I'm not sure what kind of cheddar soup you have canned. Is that the campbells version? If so, I think you could add the broccoli, and some broth if you have it.

Unknown said...

Also, I just used a recipe for crockpot tortilla soup and it has beans, corn, tomatoes in sauce which you could sub tomato juice, and you can add rice at the end too.

You could make your own tortilla chips with a recipe for tortillas that you then bake or fry.

You could leave out the chicken.

I can send you the link for the recipe if you want, I didn't want to link it in a comment. Just email me :).

Jennifer said...

Just this morning while digging through the refrigerator I had that reminder again that we need to use what we have. I wasn't a tomato soup fan until I had some on a buffet a few years ago. It was called bisque, and was creamy and seasoned. I've tried to replicate that so many times, and now enjoy drinking it (from a mug!) I add milk or condensed milk, cayenne pepper (just a smidge,) seasoned salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, cardamom, and sometimes even vanilla. I almost always add something different just to try it. You can also add tomato soup or tomato juice to dry beans as they cook in place of part of the water, and in vege soup.
I have a delicious corn casserole recipe I'll share with you. We always run out of corn faster than anything else. I put it in taco soup, tortilla soup, corn chowder (sometimes with chicken, sometimes with potatoes.)
We call great Northern beans goody beans. I don't use a recipe, so will have to find Mamma's to share with you for that. Dried beans can be fun in crafts, too.
Just now reading Cheddar Cheese soup. Where oh where did you find a surplus of that? Add it to noodles and veges and serve instead of mac n cheese as noodle surprise.
I could go on and on about potato dishes. One simple one- cut small/bite size pieces. Sprinkle with olive oil then dry ranch or onion soup mix. Stir, bake till done- these disappear every time.
E-mail me if you want more ideas or recipes. :)