Day 7 Week ~Turkey, Dry Milk & Pasta=Comfort

On this last day of the last meal for the Hunger Awareness Program we certainly will not look at ground turkey quite the same. While the meals were all tasty & challenging too much of a good thing does become just that...too much!! Both Bytes from Texas & Texas to Mexico (we are Mother & Daughter) thought ground turkey would be a good choice for our "Meat" of the week on our Food Pantry grocery list. I was reminded of an old episode of M*A*S*H where the character Hawkeye Pierce throws his tray down in the mess hall complaining about the same meat item they had eaten for far too many meals. No, this was not a "river of liver" Hawkeye was complaining about but variety truly is the spice of life. Even with Help from the "Hamburger Helper"; our conceptualizing for Ground Turkey was starting to stagnate. The meatless meals were actually some of our best or maybe we just enjoy Breakfast for Dinner too much at our house. As we read the other Austin Food Bloggers entries for this Blog event we thought chicken seemed to be a much more versatile meat. We enjoyed this challenge & look forward to the next Capital Area Food Bank event. The upcoming Stamp Out Hunger event is only a week away (May 8th) but I am already setting my sights on what donations I will leave next to my mail box. Whatever we take part in a Local or Mobile Food Pantry, Food Drive or Disaster Preparedness & Relief we are helping to strengthen our community.
















This Florentine Meatball Casserole made a warm comforting meal. The creamy sauce, spinach & oven browned meatballs were able to be made in less than an hour. A pleasant spin on the standard Spaghetti & Meatballs.

Florentine Meatball Casserole
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 egg
1/4 cup minced onion
1 Tbsp fresh Oregano
1 Tsp pepper
1 cup (8 oz) wilted spinach, squeeze excess moisture out
1 cup shredded cheese, Cheddar, Monterrey Jack or Parmesean
8 oz. Spaghetti noodles, cooked & drained

To make meatballs; mix together turkey, oats, egg, pepper, oregano then form meat into 16-18 medium large meatballs (golf ball size). Bake on cookie sheet in oven at 375* for 30 minutes or till they are browned on all sides.
Make Alfredo Sauce as follows.

Powdered & Evaporated Milk Alfredo Sauce
1 (12 ounce) can Evaporated milk
2 tablespoons Powdered Milk
1/4 cup Butter
2 tablespoons Flour
3/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup milk
Shake together powdered and evaporated milks; set aside.
Melt butter in medium saucepan; stir in flour to make a roux; cook until bubbly.
Gradually whisk evaporated milk into the roux; cook sauce over medium heat, stirring, until bubbly.
Reduce heat; add Parmesan cheese and garlic salt; stir until melted.
Thin sauce to desired consistency by stirring in up to one half cup milk.

Mix together alfredo sauce, spinach & noodles. Layer 1/2 into a greased 9x13 casserole dish. Lay cooked meatballs over the top of the noodle mixture & top with the last 1/2 of the noodles. Spread Cheese over this layer. Bake 20 minutes till bubbly & cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

7 Days of Breakfast.





As part of the Austin Food Blogger Hunger Awareness program we made breakfast all 7 days which fell in the guidelines of our Food Pantry, SNAP/WIC food purchases. Eating a healthy breakfast each morning really is the most important part of the day. Whether it was Cheerios, Oatmeal, Rice Porridge or Eggs the meals were simple & used few ingredients. We were able to use all of our pantry items save a can of fruit & a few potatoes. I look forward to taking part in this project again, the challenge was both a reality check & made me think grasp the concept of walking in someone's shoes if even for a week.

Soup to Share~ Enough is as good as a feast. Day 5

What can a few cans do for someone else? Have you walked though your local grocery store & noticed an elderly person with less than a few pantry items in their cart? Have you checked out in the grocery store just behind someone who is buying meat items you did not know existed or so few items for the amount of children they have with them you are baffled? When we lived in Mexico I saw hunger & need around me each day. The government programs & volunteer organizations are over run with need versus ability to meet the needs. Here in the United States we are so fortunate to have so many volunteer organizations as well as well run government programs to meet the needs of our population. No, I am not talking government expansion, more red tape or anything radical, just neighbors helping neighbors. The issue often is matching those in need to the programs which can meet their needs. The Capital Area Food Bank will help guide & assist those in need here in Central Texas.

The Soup we made from our Food Pantry items was rather like the proverbial Stone Soup. Once we added the canned Spaghetti Sauce, Garbanzo beans & the H2O the soup seemed to grow. The veggies from the Austin Farmer's Market & my garden it just seemed to be more than a meal for our family alone. By the end of the meal we were making up containers of soup for Bytes from Texas boyfriend & trying to find a place for our leftovers. Isn't it all about sharing? Grandmother used to talk about giving out food to strangers who came to the door during the Great Depression. She taught us a long time ago to use our resources wisely & take care of others along the way. Next time there is a can for donations at your local grocery store or your mail carrier puts a note in your box saying they will collect donations make sure you make an effort & help others help themselves. Let's Stamp out Hunger.


















Italian Veggie Crock Pot Soup
1 Can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce + 2 cans of water
1 cup of sliced fresh Carrots
1 Parsnip, sliced
1 small Onion, diced
1 can of Garbanzo Beans (chick peas)
1 cup of fresh green snow peas, garden peas or green beans (frozen is okay)
3 zucchini, sliced
1 small cabbage, sliced = 3 cups of cabbage
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh Oregano
1 Tbsp fresh Thyme
1 cup pasta, uncooked

Put the Spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, mix in 2 cans of water. place all the vegetables in the crock pot but not the pasta. Stir in the herbs, pepper & celery salt. Cook on low in the crock pot for 5 hrs. in the last hour I placed the uncooked pasta noodles into the pot. Once the pasta is cooked serve the soup with a slice of crusty bread & garnish with Parmesan cheese.

For a simple desert we had canned pear halves with cottage cheese. A very sweet ending to our Soup Feast!

Breakfast for dinner, Day 4

Day 4 of the Hunger Awareness Blogger Project. Some of the comfort meals I remember most from childhood were those meals which my mother made which were designed to stretch the budget. As kids we loved the entire concept of breakfast for dinner. Never realizing that it was a great way to be economical & fill the belly at the same time. Generally speaking we begged for something like pancakes or biscuits. When our family moved from San Antonio Texas to Alaska in 1969 a loaf of bread in Texas was .10-.20 cents a loaf. When my mother realized a loaf of bread in Alaska was over $1.00 a loaf then she began stretching her food budget & getting creative. Moose meat & wild berries made it into our meals & she also became an excellent bread baker. Kids do not realize the budget is tight when the meals are creative. As an adult I still enjoy a simple meal of an omelet or an otherwise "breakfastie" type meal when I am needing comfort food. This Frittata is really an Italian style Omelet. Easy & inexpensive, it is fabulous for any meal.

For very little money anyone can make this simple Frittata. Any veggie will do & day old pasta is fine.

The Capital Area Food Bank has seen a 60 percent increase in usage compared to a year ago. Wonder how you can help fight Hunger? Contact Capital Area Food Bank here:

















**If the Days seem out of sequence the rest of Hunger Awareness week is here*** at Bytes from Texas.

Zucchini Frittata
6 eggs
1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. water
3 Zucchini squash, trimmed & sliced
1 small onion, halved & sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups whole grain pasta, cooked, (leftover best)
2 Tbsp. Butter
Cooking Spray
1 green onion, sliced & reserved for garnish
Salt & Pepper to taste

Place eggs in a bowl with the flour, water & beat well till smooth. Spray skillet with cooking spray, melt butter. Saute onion, garlic & zucchini 2 minutes. To the vegetables add the pasta. Stir the pasta/vegetable mixture blending all ingredients well. Over this pour the egg mixture tilting the skillet so it covers the base & is around all veggie pasta blend. Once the bottom is set & edges of frittata are lifting from the edge of the skillet well gently make certain that the bottom will lift out of the skillet in once piece. Briefly remove skillet from heat, place a dinner plate over the top of the skillet & invert the frittata onto the plate. Then gently slide the frittata (Uncooked side down) back into the skillet & cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat & place onto clean platter & slice into wedges. Garnish with green onion tops & shredded cheese.
Serves 4

**This meal uses the Pasta from our Food Blogger Hunger Awareness provisions. Fresh eggs & produce from the Austin Farmer's Market. Eggs are a wonderful protein packed value which are packed with vitamins & high in lecithin--the emulsifier that keeps fats and cholesterol from clumping together in the blood.

Uniting & Helping to Stamp out Hunger Day 2

Every community has activists & those particular activists have those they help. The Austin area is full of such people. Anyone who picks up the Austin American Statesman each Wednesday very likely reads the Life & Arts as well as take in the weekly food column Relish Austin by Addie Broyles. Addie is indeed one of those community minded people who brings concerns to the hearts & minds of fellow Texans helping to make Austin a better place. More often than not I find myself jotting down or clipping a recipe out of the Statesman from the Wednesday paper. This week she has extended an invitation for a group of fellow bloggers to come together for the Hunger Awareness Blog Project.

Austin Food Bloggers met this past week to discuss blogging as well as cooking with food the Capital Area Food Bank Recipients would receive if they were a client at a food pantry in an effort to raise awareness of the hunger crisis in Central Texas.

The face of hunger in Central Texas & across America would surprise many. There are many folks out there working, trying to make ends meet & living on a fixed income, elderly or simply needing a stop-gap to fill a short term need. In helping those around us we ultimately help ourselves.
Average Food Bank offerings for a week that we will be cooking with are as follows:
2 cans spaghetti sauce
4 canned veggies
4 canned fruits
1 meat selection example: 1 lb. of ground beef (the Capital Area Food Bank said they receive everything from hams, chickens to pig trotters)
3 drink items (choice of lg. bottle of cranberry apple juice & or powdered milk
1 bag spaghetti or egg noodles
1 bag of beans
1 bag of white rice
1 package of jalapeno slices
1 ready-made dinner (example: Hamburger Helper)
1 bag/container of oats
1 bag of cheerios
5 lb. bag of potatoes
This list can be offset by many of the food bank recipients being able to use Lonestar/WIC to help modestly augment the food at local grocery stores or even the Austin Farmer's Market.

What could you do for your family for a week with this same food? How can you get involved in the Capital Area Food Bank?

My daughter & fellow blogger Bytes from Texas: One Longhorn's Adventures agreed to do this project together since our numbers are the same as a family unit. We shopped the food pantry items & made small Fresh Vegetable/Dairy WIC selections based on the guidelines for the WIC & SNAP food benefits program. We will be posting a weeks worth of Meal choices based on the Hunger Awareness Project list.


Any spice used can be altered or omitted. Spice & flavors can be so individual.

I am posting a main meal made with Rice, Spaghetti Sauce, a Meat portion *I use Ground Turkey, it was served with mashed potatoes. Our family makes potatoes with the skin on for more nutrition. We also used a portion of a large Cabbage & Onions purchased at the Austin Farmer's Market.


















STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
1 lb Ground Turkey
1 cup Rice, uncooked
1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 celery salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp.cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 Mexican oregano, Italian is fine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 med. Onion, diced, reserve a few slices for onions
large cabbage leaves***
1 1/4 cups canned Spaghetti Sauce
Grind day-old bread in a blender(or break it up finely with fork before blending into meat), and add seasonings.
Mix bread crumbs, onion, rice & turkey well, combine all ingredients other than the cabbage.
Remove the core of the cabbage & then cut off while carefully removing the outside leaves, approximately 14-18 large leaves
Fill a large stockpot with salted water and bring to a boil & then reduce the water to simmer. Place the cabbage leaves into the Simmer for a few minutes and remove as the outer leaves begin to turn a bright green. (save the liquid as it can be used to thin sauce or add veggies & make stock for another meal.)
The object is to cook the cabbage for as little time as possible, but long enough to tenderize the outer leaves. Remove from the water and allow to cool on a dish until the outer leaves are still hot but are cool enough to handle.
Remove as many outer leaves as you can by cutting them or tearing. Reserve the rest of the leaves for other dishes or lining the pot when cooking.
NOTE: As you remove leaves, some will tear and otherwise not be suitable for using as a wrapper. Do not discard these, as they can be used to line the pot, or you can shred them to add to the filling mixture.
At the bottom of each leaf there will be a thick stem; sliver a slice off this to thin it out (I cut a V-notch to help with the roll process). The purpose is to make the base flexible so that you can roll it up.
Stuff each leaf with a healthy serving spoon of the filling mixture. Starting at the bottom of the leaf, roll up one turn, then turn in the sides of the leaf to cover the filling, then roll up some more until you reach the top of the leaf and have a little bundle.
You can now either place the rolls a slow cooker or dutch oven pan.
Layer the bottom of the Crockpot or pan with broken cabbage leaves (the ones that weren't complete or too small to use for rolling). Stack the filled cabbage leaf bundles on top of the bed of leaves, a single layer at a time. Top each layer with a few spoons of sauce or even tomato paste, and repeat with another layer of leaves, another layer of cabbage rolls, etc.
Stack the bundles in their layers carefully with the end of each leaf underneath (some people fasten with a toothpick but this is not really required). Finish off the final layer with any remaining filling.
Alternatively, you can bake these in the oven. Prior to baking I mixed in an additional pinch of cayenne pepper with my Spaggheti sauce & thinned it out slightly with the liquid I blanched the cabbage leaves in.
To bake, stack bundles over cabbage leaves in a casserole dish, pour on the tomato sauce, cover with foil, and bake in a slow oven, 300 degrees F., for about 2 hours.
Cover and simmer on the low heat setting of your stove top for 2-3 hours or in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours.
Whichever method you use to cook the cabbage rolls, be sure not to overcook, so test often and remove when the cabbage leaves are tender.

***My husband's Grandmother was one of the premiere cooks in a large family of fabulous southern cooks. She always said to buy or ask the produce manager for the leaves from the outside of the Cabbage which people often discard or pulled away from the Cabbage back years ago in order to only pay for a compact head of cabbage. Cabbages are full of Vitamins K & C as well as an excellent source of dietary fiber. Avoid the wilted or limp cabbage leaves. This combined with the nutritional goodness from the protien & the portion of mashed potatoes make up an excellent & healthy meal.

Cooking Shepherd's Pie for the masses or the family!

Childrens homes in Mexico are a place of both great blessing & great need. More often often than not they operate on little more than Faith & Hope. The opportunities to help & be of service at these homes can be endless for Expats right here in Northern Mexico. The Newcomer's Group here helps with food, clothing & educational needs. It is a great pleasure to help on Saturdays when the group provides a Saturday meal for the kids which we both prepare the food as well as actually serve it. Saturday meals give the house parents & over burdened workers a chance to rest & be served along side the kids. There is always enough for second helpings & of course desert is a must. This past Saturday we served Shepherd's Pie, Salad, Bread & homemade Brownies. The smiles were thanks enough even if it was hard not to have a lump in the throat when the blessing was said. Last Friday several of us met in my friend Tresa's kitchen to mix, stir, chop & blend the many Shepherd's Pies we served the following day. Feeding 100 isn't so hard when friends are doing the work. Not only was it satisfying but the food tasted great & interested me in cooking a repeat version for less than 100....in my own kitchen. I've scaled it down but kept the same seasons & flavors alive in my version of the Tresa Amrani's Shepherd Pie. *I have to say she did surprise me by telling me how many recipes of meals for crowds are offered online.










Cottage Pie, also known as Shepherd's Pie, refers to a meat pie with a crust made from mashed potato. Cottage was a term referring to modest working class dwelling.

The term Cottage Pie or Pye is known to have been used as early as 1791, when potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for common people. Although the potato was introduced to Europe in 1520 by the Spanish from the New World it wasn't mainstream for several hundred years. Shepherd's Pie can be made with endless meat & vegetable varieties & even with only vegetables. In the 1990's my children were more than likely worn out on my vegetarian version of Shepherd's Pie...






Tresa's Shepherd Pie
4 large potatoes, peeled
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 med. onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 pound ground chicken
2 large carrot, shredded
8 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Tabasco
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chicken or beef bouillon powder
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey jack & or cheddar cheese
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender, drain.
Mash potatoes with butter or margarine and milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Add as little or more milk to get the potatoes rather soupy since they dry slightly as they cook on top of the Shepherd Pie.
Saute onion & bell pepper in olive oil until soft. Stir in ground chicken, carrot, mushrooms, parsley, Worcestershire sauce,Tabasco, garlic, and chicken bouillon. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir until meat is broken up and cooked through. Drain. Stir in flour.
Transfer meat mixture to a casserole dish sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle cheese over meat mixture. Spread potatoes over meat, don't pack potatoes too hard, keep fluffy.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown on top.