I'm a big fan of tweaking pre-made food to make it kinda homemade. Last night, we had Dinty Moore Beef Stew for dinner. I added some leftovers from the pot roast I made a few days ago. And I made homemade drop biscuits* to go along with it. I never use jarred spaghetti sauce without adding stuff - meat, mushrooms, olives, etc. depending on mood and always extra seasonings. (Plus a pinch of sugar to cut the acid.) I put stuff on frozen pizzas, tweak canned soups, etc.
The fishing has really sucked lately. I mean, the game fish are biting more even if they aren't keepers, but the big, fat panfish have moved and I can't find them. As a result, I have no fish in the freezer right now. The air/water temperature really needs to do something one way or the other and stick with it, so the fish find a happy spot I can cast into.
We had a raccoon in the yard yesterday afternoon. Hubs and I were both like 'oh, crap, sick raccoon' because they're like nocturnal and junk. Before it got too hairy, I used my Google-fu and educated myself. According to several independent sites, raccoon are for the MOST PART nocturnal, but they do venture out in the daytime occasionally. The important cues to watch for are the raccoon's behavior. If it's not acting sick - staggering, drooling, not eating, etc. - then chances are it's just out in the sun for some other reason. This one wasn't acting sick and it sat here eating corn for about an hour before it wandering back into the woods. We think it was a young coon - probably from this past Spring's litter.
The secret to Google-fu is not trusting one site to give you correct information. Verify it with reputable other sites. And if it still doesn't sound right, look some more. I think I went to like four different sites to make sure the raccoon info was correct. I did the same thing when we saw a bobcat out during the day, and a fox out for a stroll in the afternoon. It also helps with reading the news. Jus' sayin'.
Okay, that's all I got today. Well, except for the recipe below. What kinds of this n that do you have today?
*Drop Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease baking sheets. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add shortening and cut together with fork until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in milk until well incorporated. (It'll look like a big sticky ball.) Drop by generous tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until bottoms of biscuits are golden brown. These are pretty bland by themselves, but they are awesome with butter or jam or dunked into soup or stew.
That's smart to customize pre-made food. We always use spaghetti sauce as a base. Greg's almost taken over that job! He adds sausage, ground beef, onions, mushrooms, seasonings, and wine. (A little for the sauce and a little for himself.)
ReplyDeleteWe love Banquet's Chicken and Biscuits mix. It's basically a pot pie mixture with drop biscuits on top. I add a package of steamed mix veggies and diced chicken (also packaged). Makes it thick with lots of good stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I use "bottled" Alfredo sauce, I always add meat, mushrooms, and often fresh spinach.
I'm all about the easy but make it taste good. Two things I refuse to use pre-bought for is spaghetti sauce and chili. Those are from scratch. Always. :)