Bare Cupboard Rescue!
by Michele Young

Description: Dinner ideas using what you have on hand in your pantry.

Have you ever looked into your pantry or cupboard and realized you have "nothing to cook?"  Either there are only a few ingredients remaining until shopping day or maybe you have several items that don't seem to match?  What do you do now!?

Here are some recipes that don't require many ingredients to make and your family will love them!  Enjoy!

Keegan's Delight

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 small cans tomato sauce
• 1 green pepper (chopped)
• 1 1/2 c. cooked pasta
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Brown ground beef with bell pepper and seasonings in a skillet.  Stir in pasta and tomato sauce.  Serve with biscuits or any bread of your choice.

Chicken Spaghetti

• Leftover shredded chicken
• 1 can cream of chicken, cream of celery, or cream of mushroom soup (or you can make a white sauce and add chicken boullion and a little butter and cheese)
• Cooked spaghetti
• (optional - diced celery or bell pepper)

Warm soup and mix with chicken and vegetables.  Serve over spaghetti.

Kitchen Sink Pasta Salad

This is a recipe I invented and it's great for when you feel like you have nothing to fix for dinner.  I named it this because I throw in everything except the kitchen sink!

• Any small pasta (I cook about 1/2 - 3/4 c. per person).
• Meat (can be a drained can of tuna, leftover shredded chicken, diced lunch meat such as ham or salami or pepperoni)
• Cheese (any kind of cheese diced of grated such as cheddar, Provolone, Swiss, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, mozzarella or whatever you have on hand).
• Salad dressing - I prefer Italian or ranch or a mixture of both.  You can also use oil and vinegar.  You want to add enough to make a nice moist pasta salad otherwise when you refrigerate the leftovers they will become very dry.
• Veggies (any combination of chopped vegetables such as tomato, bell pepper, mushrooms, grated carrot, broccoli, etc.).
• Extras (I like to add any of the following if I have them on hand): diced pickles of pickle slices, chopped black or green olives, bacon bits and croutons.

Cook the pasta then rinse in cold water until it is no longer hot. Add salad dressing.  Mix in the rest of your ingredients.  Serve and enjoy!

Posole

This is a traditional Mexican recipe that is easy and delicious. I like this recipe because just about everyone has the ingredients on hand.

• 2 quarts of water
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 lbs. of cut up stew meat or any kind of lean beef cut into small pieces
• 3 whole cloves of garlic
• 1/2 onion sliced
• 1 c. nixtamal (this is fresh hominy and can be found in the fresh meat section of your grocery store.  It is yellow in color and comes in a plastic bag.  If your grocer does not carry this item you can substitute a large can of hominy)
• 1 c. dry pinto beans
• Salt to taste

Rinse and place chucks of meat in boiling water with garlic.  When pieces are brown, add salt.  Then mix in beans and hominy (nixtamal) and onion and cover.  Cook 3 hours or until done.  Add more water as needed.  Salt to taste.  The rule of thumb to making posole is usually   1 cup of nixtamal to 1 cup of beans to 1 cup of meat more or less.  You can also add a little red chile powder if you like.  That is New Mexico Style!

Reprinted with permission.