Friday, October 6, 2006

Weekend Challenge

I thought this might be something fun to try. Depending on the response I get this weekend, I may try this every weekend. Get ready for...

The Weekend Challenge!

You only have the following ten items in your kitchen:

  • Canned or frozen corn
  • Canned or frozen beans (your choice)
  • Canned tomatoes
  • Canned pineapple
  • Canned or boxed broth (your choice)
  • Long grain rice (white or brown)
  • Frozen cubed potatoes
  • Frozen broccoli
  • Frozen carrots
  • Frozen chicken breast
You're hungry. Maybe you have friends coming over. Maybe you just need to feed your family. You don't have to use everything on the list, but you do need to make something and you don't have the means to go out and buy any more food. Fortunately, you also have your spice cabinet handy and even a little cooking fat (again, your choice). What are you going to make?

You're welcome to use any cooking method you would normally use. You could even use the deep fryer if you thought it would do you any good. You have this weekend to come up with something and send the recipe back to me. On Monday morning I will compile the recipes and post them here. If there are too many, then I will choose my favorites and post only them.

For now, go ahead and use the comment form to send me your recipes. Good luck to you all!

7 comments:

  1. 1 Pkg Frozen Corn
    1 Pkg Frozen String Beans
    1 Pkg Frozen Baby Carrots
    1 Large Can Stewed Tomatoes (peeled)

    1 Large Can Cubed Pineapples

    1 Large Box Beef Broth

    Rice
    Cooked Diced Chicken Breasts (1/4" cubes)

    Kosher Salt
    Coarse Ground Black Pepper
    Minced Garlic
    Minced Onion
    Chopped Cilantro
    Bay Leaves

    Strain the pineapples, saving the juice for later use. Set aside the pinepapple in the fridge.

    Empty the can of tomatoes into a pot big enough to hold all the vegetables and crush them.

    Turn the stove to medium high and dump the corn, beans and carrots in with the tomatoes. Cover with just enough broth to cover the vegetables completely (if you need to you can make up the different with water). Season with a little each of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cilantro and one (1) bay leaf. Bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes.

    Strain the vegetables saving the broth for later use. Remove and throw away the bay leaf. Set aside the vegetables.

    Using the broth you just strained from the veggies and the pineapple juice make your rice as you normally would. Make up whatever difference you need with water. Season some more with a *little* bit of each of the spices mentioned above.

    While the rice is cooking, turn your oven to 325.

    When the rice is done spread it into a casserole dish or a 9x12 pan, spread the chicken cubes on the rice, then the vegetable mix, cover with aluminum foil and warm in the 325 oven for 20 minutes.

    Sprinkle the chilled pineapple on top and serve from the dish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hawaiian-style kabobs with carrots

    I used:
    Canned pineapple
    Chicken broth
    Long grain white rice
    Frozen carrots
    4-6 Frozen chicken breasts
    plus butter and assorted spices

    Thaw chicken breats and cut into 1-2" pieces. Brown in frying pan. Drain pineapple juice from one can of pineapples over chicken. Add chicken broth and a pinch of ginger. Cook over medium heat probably for about 15-20 minutes or so (I'd play it by ear, I'm guessung here).

    Dump pineapples pieces into large saucepan along with 3-4 cups carrots, a few tablespoons of water, a tablespoon butter and some salt, pepper and orange zest (yes, I keep it in my spice cabinet). Leave on medium heat for about the same time as the chicken stuff.

    While all that's cooking, steam enough rice to feed 4-6 people.

    Alternate cooked chicken and pineapple pieces on skewers and serve over rice and carrots.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Entry 2 - Mexican Hash
    (your ingredients are just too much fun to resist)

    This time I used:
    Canned corn
    Canned beans
    Canned tomatoes
    Frozen cubed potatoes
    Frozen chicken breast

    Thaw chicken breasts and cut into strips. Put in crockpot with corn, beans, tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, chili powder and a little baking cocoa (why not?). Cook on low until chicken is done. (estimate: 3-4 hours?)

    Serve over potatoes browned to liking.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Are you trying to trick us into making a stew with pinneapple in it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I made chili with none of those ingredients. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. i accidentally fulfilled this challenge during the course of the school year, when my cupboard contents were rather surprisingly similar to the contents of this list.

    1) cook the rice. i used a rice cooker for this.

    2) while the rice is cooking, add a can of black beans, a can of corn, a can of tomatoes (all drained) and a taco seasoning packet to a pan and start them cooking.

    3) when everything's cooked, mix it all together in a bowl.

    cheats:
    i'll admit. when i actually made this, i cheated a bit because i also had an avocado in the apartment, so i sliced it and put a slice on top of my bowl of rice stuff. It would also be good with guacamole, salsa or sour cream. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's hard to imagine chili without corn bread, but tough times call for tough measures. Still, this collection doesn't seem all bad.

    Chili

    Grill (or smoke if you've got a few hours) the chicken and shred. Toss it in a pot with canned diced tomatoes, frozen corn and canned chili beans (call it cheatin' if you want). Season with chili powder and all the cayenne pepper you can stand.

    Broccoli

    Drop 2 tablespoons of butter, a tablespoon of water and frozen broccoli into a sauce pan. Add a pinch of salt for the heck of it. Steam broccoli until nice and green but not limp.

    Korokke

    These are called croquettes, but I learned them in Japan. Mash the frozen potatoes according to the directions. Mix in any of the leftover vegetables. I would prefer the corn, but maybe the pineapple would be interesting. A little cooked chicken wouldn't be bad either. Wash in egg (let's say I'm french and I keep my eggs at room temperature, in the spice cupboard no less). Roll in bread crumbs. Fry until the exterior has a nice brown color. Serve with your choice of dipping sauce.

    ReplyDelete

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