Chicken Azteca (Pantry Recipe)

Ingredients:
14 oz chicken broth
30 oz canned chicken (undrained)
30 oz can black bean (rinsed and drained)
30 oz canned corn
16 oz jar salsa
15 oz can Mexican-style cheese (queso)
1 c long grain rice
1 c sour cream powder
1 tsp cumin

Directions:
Pour broth into pot. Whisk in sour cream powder until dissolved. Add all other ingredients and cook until rice is done, stirring occasionally.

*If you don't want to use sour cream powder and have fresh available then wait until the end of cooking and add 1 cup fresh sour cream to your pot.

**You can find cans of Mexican Queso in the Mexican section of your supermarket.

Hamburger Patties & Meatballs - Wheat Meat

Ingredients
2 1/2 c Moderately packed ground gluten (see Basic Wheat Meat recipe)
2 Eggs
2 Tbls Beef Soup Base
2 Tbls White flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c chopped onion (or 2 1/2 Tbls dried onion)
1/4 c BBQ sauce (Opt. - for hamburger patties only)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. (Only use BBQ sauce if you are making hamburgers)

For Meatballs
Form meatballs a little smaller than a walnut. The mixture will be quite moist (add another egg if it is too dry). Place meatballs on a paper plate 5 at a time and over with plastic wrap. Microwave just until set. DO NOT OVERCOOK! Meatballs should be soft still but the eggs should be set. It only takes about 20 seconds, depending on your microwave.

To cook in conventional oven, add 2 TBLS oil to the misture and bake meatballs on a cookie sheet at 300 until just set. Serve immediately or freeze for later.



Simply add the warm meatballs to your already cooked spaghetti and serve.




For Hamburger Patties
Make as above but add BBQ sauce to recipe and form hamburger patties rather than meatballs.



Place hamburger patties on a greased cookie sheet and bake until just set. You can serve immediately with all the fixins or freeze until later.






To reheat you can thaw and then throw them on the grill just like a regular hamburger. Remember though, you are only reheating, not cooking them. If desired, brush with more BBQ sauce while grilling.

Ground Hamburger - Wheat Meat

Ingredients
2 1/2 c moderately packed ground gluten (see Basic Wheat Meat recipe)
2 Tbls Beef Soup Base
2 Tbls Vegetable Oil
2 Tbls white flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Large eggs
1/4 c Finely minced onion (or 2 1/2 Tbls dried onion)

Grinding Raw Gluten
When you have finished making your basic wheat meat (raw gluten), form the gluten dough into balls about the size of an orange. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Balls will puff up considerably and brown like rolls. They will be a tough, leathery texture. Remove from oven and allow to cool.



When cool, tear balls into pieces and put through a meat grinder. When ground it has the appearance of ground beef. You can use a food processor instead of a meat grinder, but the texture will not be quite the same.

In a bowl mix 2 1/2 cups of your ground "meat" and all of the above ingredients. Then press onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 for 15-20 minutes, just until the eggs are set. DO NOT OVERCOOK! It should not seem cooked but rather it should just seem set. If you do over cook it will become hard and unchewable. If this happens you can sometimes place the "meat" in a plastic bag for a few minutes to restore the texture.

Cool the cooked "meat" and then tear into pieces to resemble cooked hamburger. Add to your recipe just before serving. It does not need to be cooked further and if you add it to your recipe too early, it will absorb too much liquid and the meat like texture is lost.

Basic Wheat Meat

Ingredients
10 c Flour*
5 c Cold water (approximate)

*Use wheat flour for beef and other red meats; white flour for chicken, shrimp, or other light meats.

Mixing
Combine flour and water in mixer. Using dough hook, knead for 5 minutes. It should be the consistency of bread dough.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a towel to keep the dough from drying out and let rest in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes. If desired it can be covered with cool water and left in the fridge overnight.

Washing
After the dough has rested, divide into 1/4ths and work with one portion at a time, keeping the remainder covered as you work. Place a piece of the dough in a strainer which is placed in a large bowl of cold water. While keeping the dough immersed at all times, stretch and compress the dough to wash out the bran and starch. The volume of the dough will diminish considerably during this process but keep your dough in one lump. In a few minutes of working your dough, it will begin to resemble over chewed bubblegum in texture. Kind of like pulling apart a well chewed piece of Hubba Bubba :)

Rinse the now rubbery glob of gluten in a fresh bowl of clean water and leave it under water while you repeat the process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough. This is a picture of all my dough completely washed.


You should NOT throw out the water you used to wash your dough. Instead, pour it into a gallon+ pitcher and place in the fridge overnight. If it is allowed to sit it will divide into 3 distinct layers. The top layer of clear water can then be poured off and used to water houseplants, pets, or used to mix your powdered milk, or make bread with it, etc. In this picture you can see mine has not yet completely separated.

The second layer is starch. It can be used to thicken gravies, stews, sauces, etc. Just use 4-7 Tbls of raw starch for every 2 cups of liquid in your recipe. Be aware, however, that the starch will only remain good for about 2 days in your fridge. To store it longer, place in the freezer.

The final layer is bran. Rinse the bran using a strainer and cheese cloth. It will stay good, when well rinsed, 4-6 days in the fridge. To keep it longer you need to freeze it or powder it. I used it immediately to make bran muffins, but you can also use bran to make bran flakes for cold cereal.

So, in your bowl with clean water, you now have your raw wheat meat, or gluten, which can be used to make ground beef, roasts, chicken chunks, shrimp, etc. depending on how you prepare it. Look for other recipe posts of mine to find more recipes for the preparation of specific meats.

Magic Mix - Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup

1 C. Magic Mix
3/4 C. Chicken Broth (either from a can, bouillion, or liquid from canned chicken)
1 t. Dry Parsley
Dash of Onion Salt

Mix together with wire whisk over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Flour Tortillas

4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 (heaping) tsp baking powder

1/2 c oil

1 1/3 c boiling water

Mix all ingredients in food processor. Mix until it forms a ball of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Uncover and form into balls about twice the size of a golf ball. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest 15 min - 1 hour. Flatten with a tortilla press or a rolling pin. Cook on a hot skillet (no oil necessary), flipping when bubbles form.

We filled ours with refried beans from the cannery. So far they are the yummiest beans I have come across, even though I have tried multiple recipes from scratch. I added some powdered garlic and minced onion to taste. Super delicious. If you store powdered sour cream then you can add that too. Sometimes we have them with canned salsa and/or rice as well. One of our favorite meals.

Potatoes and Ham

3 C Dehydrated Potato Dices
5 C Milk
1/2 C Margarine
1/2 C Flour
1 C Cheese Powder
2 C Freeze Dried Ham
Salt and Pepper

Reconstitute potatoes and ham. Combine milk, margarine, flour, and some salt and pepper. Simmer until it begins to thicken. Mix in cheese powder and stir until thickened. Put potatoes and ham in a 9x13. Pour sauce on top and mix thoroughly. Bake in oven at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

Creamy Casserole

Double recipe of Creamed Vegetables
2 - 4 c canned or freeze dried meat
2 c cooked rice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a 9x13 and top with bread crumbs or cheese if you have it.

Bake at 350º about 30 minutes, until heated through. You can mix up this recipe by changing the vegetables and meats you use to add variety to your diet.

Hamburger Buns

1 1/8 cups warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 T sugar (you can use a little more sugar if you like your dough a little sweeter)
3 cups white flour
1 t salt
2 T nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 T oil
1/4 cup potato flakes

Add the ingredients in the order listed into a mixer bowl (like a kitchen-aid) with a dough hook attachment and mix on low for 10-12 minutes. Or mix it on the dough cycle in your bread machine.

After all the mixing is complete, if the dough still seems too gooey and you are unable to handle it, add 1 Tblsp flour at a time, and mix after each addition until the dough is manageable with your hands.

Let rise about one hour and punch down. Now divide dough into 4oz balls. This will be approximately 8 balls of dough. Spray cookie sheet with Pam, or sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape dough balls by rounding dough and pinching bottom together. To see a video on how to shape the perfect hamburgers buns copy and paste this link in a new window:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbViGbP1OQI


Shape all your buns and place them evenly on the cookie sheet. let them rest for 5 minutes. Then use the palm of your hands to flatten slightly so they are shaped more like hamburger buns and less like dinner rolls. Let rise for about 30 minutes until they are the desired size. Then, if desired, spray with water (if your rub the water on you might deflate them) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes or until tops are light golden brown.




Slice in half and build your burger!

Tuna Patties

2 cans Tuna
4 c cooked mashed potatoes
2 eggs
4 t lemon juice
Bread crumbs (opt)
Oil

Mix all ingredients but the bread crumbs and oil. When thoroughly mixed, heat frying pan with a little bit of oil. Fry potato mixture in patties like pancakes until golden brown on each side. Sprinkle with bread crumbs before flipping. Makes approximately 16 patties.

White Bean Soup

2 c. white navy beans
8 c chicken broth
1 t. dried rosemary
½ c. dried onion
½ c. dried carrots
½ t. black pepper
1 T. garlic powder
½ C. bacon bits (opt)
2 T. parsley

Put all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. This is a thinner soup. It is very good with homemade bread. Also good as leftovers.

Burritos

Homemade refried beans
2c Rice
4c Chicken broth
2 T Parsley
Sprouts
Homemade Tortillas

Boil chicken broth and parsely. Add rice. Cover with lid and simmer until done. Fill tortillas with rice, refried beans, and sprouts.

13 Bean Soup

2 c 13 dry bean mix
6-8 c chicken broth
Garlic salt

Put beans and chicken broth in crockpot on low for about 6 hours. Serve in bowls with a dash of garlic salt.