Stretching Your Stock

Times are still hard. There are more closings and layoffs thanks to spikes in the Corona virus. Pantry staples and fresh produce go all too quickly. How can we make our food last? By stretching it into several different meals and a variety of different ways for one product. It's an easy and economic way of saving what we have.

By now everyone has beans in their pantry. They're one of the cheapest to buy yet are possibly the most versatile.Try them as burgers as a nice breakaway from beef. Bean burgers are easy to make. You can make them without egg and dairy too for a really inexpensive meal. It's taking black beans, walnuts and rolled oats, the last too, equally as economical and mixing them with soy sauce, scallions and a variety of different spices. There's also maple syrup added along with paprika to give the savoriness balance. You can add garlic if you want along with red wine vinegar. Can beans be made into a loaf?Yes! Again black beans come to the rescue along with their versatile cousins, chickpeas!. Pulse and mix the two with cornmeal and liquid smoke. Save the chickpea liquid or aquafaba for binding.It's then adding sauteed onions along with different spices, and then molding a loaf. It's put into a parchment lined load pan and baked. Of course chili is  a must make. It can easily be made in a crockpot and eaten just with crackers or polenta. Use the leftovers for chili dogs or even poured over nachos for a treat.Go the English route and have beans on toast, a really cheap way to enjoy them.

Always remember that veggies as just as versatile as beans. Take advantage of when your grocery stores have a two for one or buy one, get the other half price. This is starting to happen with broccoli and cauliflower right now. Both veggies are good as soups and best of all you can double the batch for freezing. Broccoli proves to be a great ingredient for quiches and omelets too, adding color and nutrition. It's great by itself as a salad, giving your family one last taste of summer. Cauliflower makes for surprisingly good steaks. The recipe is easy.It's removing the leaves and cutting the head into large slices then drizzle with olive oil. This gives the steaks a lovely golden hue as well as making them crispy.Sprinkled on sea salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder for more flavor. The good for you veggie is also good riced or creamed. Potatoes have sustained generations for decades. It's also one of the least expensive veggie than can be made into all sorts of dishes. A fun twist are loaded baked potatoes. Fill them with leftover chili or leftover chicken and broccoli. Have healthy ones filled with beans and tofu and a light salsa. Try them twice baked, loaded with cheese and bacon or in a creamy soup. Freshly mashed potatoes are always a plus because the leftover can be fried into tasty puffs.

There will probably tough days ahead. Learn to stretch your pantry during these times. You'll still be able to have nutritious dishes along with the variety you and your family want.

It's All Baloney

One of the classics of the American lunch scene is bologna or baloney.It's graced many a sandwich and has been on many a picnic. This also fed many an office worker  and school kid too over the decades.

Baloney or bologna is as many cold cuts, from, no surprise - Bologna Italy. It's derived from mortadella, the delicately flavored larded and pistachio-studded sausage. America bologna or baloney does not have this, instead it is finely ground pork, although now it can be made from beef,  and even chicken and turkey. There are also soy and venison versions too. It's distinctive flavor comes from a melange of such spices as black pepper, nutmeg, coriander, allspice and myrtle berries.Most Americans are used to eating German bologna or fleischwurst which only has garlic in to season it.There is a polony type, eaten in Britain and South Africa, which is made with a mix of beef and pork. The cold cut is big in Central and eastern Europe too, where it is called pariser and made with either, poultry , beef or pork. Not surprisingly, there is also a halal version made with turkey, chicken or ham. Home chefs can also get a ring version of bologna. This is a smaller ring and usually used in making hors d'ouevres. Many Yanks had their first taste thanks to Oscar Mayer, the famed meat company started by Oscar and his brother Gottfried in the late 1880;s Now they even have a jalapeno (!) baloney for some interesting eating.

Many love a simple baloney sandwich. Nothing beats it, fresh cut, from Boarshead or packaged from Oscar Mayer on a Kaiser roll that's been slathered with a good mustard.It's good on white bread, such as Pepperidge's Farms; but even better on their pumpernickel and rye.Of course, there is fried bologna which many people love Try slicing it into strips and then add barbecue sauce for a take on pulled pork. Serve on Hawaiian rolls with a side of pickles or cole slaw. You could also try it the way great Cajun chef, Emeril  Lagasse , baked with Dijon mustard and brown sugar. This involves a six and a half pound bologna ( the ones you see hanging in a deli or butcher shop) and baking it for five hours ,plastered with the sugar and mustard.These give it a nice crust and makes for a tasty sandwich after, which is what Chef Lagasse recommends.Bologna can be made at home, using chuck roast or ground beef along with liquid smoke, garlic, and onion powder. everything is gorund together with ice water and then formed into a log.Afterwards, it's wrapped in plastic wrap and put into the fridge for twenty-four hours. The wrap is then removed and baked in a 300 degree Farenheit oven for  half an hour. The heat is then reducue to 250 and slow baked for an additioonal two and half more hours.


Baloney or bologna is the classic cold cut.It's delicious any way , from fried , baked or just cold from the container. Slap it on a favorite bread or roll.,  Add  a lick of mayo or mustard, then enjoy, it in a tasty sandwich.