Tough Times Spam Chili

Tough Times Spam Chili



With tough times from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, many had to prepare food with modest resources. This recipe will deliver a substantial and relatively healthy meal with some canned goods and one cooking pot or dutch oven.

Ingredients

2 cans of Spam

1 large can of baked beans or two 12 oz cans

1 12 oz. can of diced tomatoes; Italian diced tomatoes are excellent and they reduce the need for additional spices.

1 can of condensed french onion soup

1 can of condensed mushroom or garlic mushroom soup

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 small, 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes and green chilies. This 10 oz. can reduces the need for additional spices, particularly if you lack the chili powder and curry powder.

4 slices of bacon if you have it. Dried bacon bits will help instead.

Heat the cooking pot and add some cooking oil or bacon, if you have it, and add the diced Spam to the pot and brown the mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir as you bring to a slow boil. Stir and slow boil for at least 30 minutes. Rice stores well. If you have some, boil and add to the Spam chili when served. You should not need to add water. The condensed soup will give the dish an excellent chili texture. With the support of the rice you should be able to serve at least six and possibly eight people.

This dish should store well without refrigeration. If there is any question, reheat and bring to a slow boil for 20 minutes. Dried potato flakes store well and can be used in place of the rice. Just mix potato flakes with some of the bottled water. Old, dry bread could be used if you place the chili  on top of the bread. You will not notice if the bread is old and dry.



If Times Get Really Tough.

Spam, canned baked beans, and canned tomatoes are the basics. Make sure you have several cans of each (for emergencies) along with bottled water. If you do not have a source of heat for cooking, the Spam, beans and tomatoes can be eaten directly from the can. Mixing the three cold ingredients in a bowl would make a more tasty dish. The acidity of the tomatoes helps with the storage of the food once the cans are opened.

Stuffed Potatoes

Stuffed Potatoes

A dish of stuffed potatoes, also called twice-cooked potatoes, is an excellent way to prepare a tasty meal with modest resources.

Ingredients

8 small to medium new red potatoes or the more traditional 4 large russet potatoes. I prefer the new red potatoes.

1/2  cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

 1 cup chopped green onions or shallots

1 cup  bacon bits

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon Paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper


Boil the potatoes in their skins until cooked. You can bake the potatoes which would require baking at 400 degrees for about 60 minutes or more for large potatoes. Cut in half and scoop out the inside until about an eighth of an inch is left.
I  add  an extra potato to replace a potato I might mess up in the scooping process. The extra potato is added to the stuffing mix.

Prepare the stuffing mix. Combine all ingredients except for 1/2 cup of bacon bits, the paprika and the cheese. Mix well by hand or with a mixer.

Stuff the mix into the shells. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

 Mix the cheese, the remaining half cup of bacon bits, and the paprika together and place on top of the stuffed potatoes.

Place the stuffed potatoes back in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Options

A range of tasty options exist. One of the easiest is to include seafood in the mixture. Use 6-8 ounces of canned crab meat, imitation crab meat, diced clams or tuna. Drain the seafood before adding to the mixture. Adding 1/2 cup of blue cheese dressing to the mixture is popular.


Campfire Stuffed Potatoes

A different form of stuffed potatoes in Australia is a simple and tasty dish. Take a potato, slice it into half-inch wide pieces and place buttered onion slices between the potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap each potato in heavy foil and bury in the campfire coals. You can rest the potatoes on top of the coals. You can also do this with sweet potatoes. In my younger days the potatoes were buried in the coals and cooked without the foil. This was a basic aboriginal cooking method. If you do not have a campfire try an oven at 400 degrees for at least 60 minutes. If I have the time I mix half a cup of olive oil with a tablespoon of bacon bits, half a teaspoon of dried basil and a half teaspoon of garlic salt and bast the onion slices and potato slices before baking.

Beef Soup

Beef Soup

This beef soup recipe has an interesting ancestor - Irish Stew. Originally Irish stew was a complete meal made from low-cost locally available ingredients. The meat was usually from sheep. It was often called lamb stew, but I doubt the meat came from lambs and was probably from sheep too old for producing wool. Cutting the meat into small pieces and cooking for some time was a necessity. Potatoes were also a major ingredient along with carrots from the home garden. The Irish immigrants changed their traditional recipe and beef often replaced lamb or mutton. If you wish to change the following soup recipe to a thicker stew dish often served on a plate rather than in dish add a few tablespoons of dried potato flakes. The Gaelic term for this dish is "stobhach gaelach."

Ingredients

3 lbs. chuck steak diced into 1/2 cubes

4 slices of bacon

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. salt

3 medium onions diced

1 8oz. can tomato paste

2 12oz. cans of Guinness stout. If you do not have stout or a similar dark beer, use beef broth.

3 cups diced carrots

1 can of peas

1/2 cup of olive oil

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon Italian spices

1 teaspoon garlic powder


Place the bacon and olive oil in the pot or dutch oven and brown. Add the beef then the other ingredients after the meat starts to brown. Slow cook for at least 60 minutes.


I often serve this dish with thick slices of sourdough bread or garlic bread.