Welcome to My Kitchen

Crazy weather, causing extended travel delays has cleared area store shelves of a number of often-used ingredients. Items with a short shelf life are quickly bought up and stores wait for fresh orders to come in. What can the meal planner do?

Plan ahead for grocery supply interruptions. Substitute ingredients for missing items. Keep a package of powdered milk on hand in case stores run out of fresh milk. Canned milk diluted maybe substituted in most recipes. Canned kidney or other beans maybe substituted for the protein in many casseroles.

If you don’t have abundant freezer space to store meat ahead, canned kidney beans, tuna, chicken and beef will supply needed protein for balanced diets. Canned chicken, beef or vegetable broth make the base for warm and filling soups, using up all the bits of leftovers.

Bonnie Campbell recently shared a recipe for Grands! Turkey and Dumplings. When I went shopping for ingredients, the store was out of refrigerator biscuits of any kind, so I substituted a recipe of Bisquick biscuit dough.

Grands! Turkey and Dumplings

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 carton (32 ounces) or 4 cups chicken broth

4 ounces cream cheese, cut in 1 inch cubes

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 cups cubed cooked turkey

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1 can (16.3 ounces) refrigerated Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits, either variety (8 count)

4 tsp flour

In a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add broth, cream cheese, salt and pepper; cook until cream cheese is melted and broth is boiling, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high; stir in turkey and mixed vegetables. Heat to a simmer; reduce heat to medium low. Continue to cook until thoroughly heated.

Separate dough into 8 biscuits; sprinkle with flour until biscuits are evenly coated. Roll or pat each biscuit to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 inch wide strips, tossing with flour as you go. Drop strips, one at a time, into hot turkey mixture.

Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until biscuit dumplings are no longer doughy. Don’t over stir. Yield: 8 servings.

Note: to substitute the Bisquick dough, I rolled out to 1/8 inch, then cut into 3 long strips, then cut those strips into 1/2 inch strips. Additionally, I substituted frozen peas and carrots for the mixed vegetables and 4 cups broth from cooking a turkey carcass for the chicken broth.

One tablespoon of dried onion, reconstituted could be used in place of fresh onion. Stirring 2/3 cup sour cream into the mixture just before adding the biscuit dumplings could replace the cream cheese.

Scoop Bites was one of the recipes prepared by the young cooks who took part in the cooking class held during Christmas break. Tostitos Tortilla Scoops are the base for the snacks, and the filling can be varied to suit individual tastes. Fun to make for sleepover snacks or bowl game smorgasbords.

Scoop Bites

8 ounces cream cheese softened

1/2 cup French-fried onions or chopped green onions

3/4 cup crumbled cooked bacon or diced pepperoni

1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 bag, tortilla Scoop chips or Frito scoops

Optional 1-2 seeded and finely diced jalapeno peppers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except the chips. Mix well to evenly distribute onions, bacon and jalapenos, if using.

Place 1 heaping teaspoon mixture in each scoop and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until filling is bubbly. Serve immediately, but be careful, the filling gets really hot. Yield: about 48 scoops.

I plan to try this recipe with well drained, coarsely chopped smoked oysters, maybe without the jalapenos, and all pepper jack cheese. Watch the Welcome to My Kitchen Facebook page for results.

For dessert, the kids made Snickers Scoop Pies. Again the Tostitos Tortilla Corn Chip Scoops were the base, but filled with Snickers candy and cream cheese.

Snickers Scoop Pies

Mini Snickers, 32 ounce bag (24 pieces)

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 24 pieces

24 tortilla scoops

Whipped topping

Skittles, mini M&M’s and sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place a mini Snickers and a piece of cream cheese in each scoop. Gently push the Snickers on top of the cream cheese and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until candy is melted.

Place on serving plate and top with whipped topping, candies and sprinkles. Set up an assembly line with the toppings and kids of all ages will have fun adding their choice of toppings.

Note: we could not find mini Snickers bars, so we cut Fun-sized one in half. Other soft center candies would work well in this recipe. Check your baking supplies for other specialty ingredients you may have to add to the topping selections. Toffee Bits, mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts and candied fruit are other topping ideas.

– Share your favorite recipes, substitution hints, and using up what you have recipes with your fellow readers by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159 , email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office.

Fresh cut evergreen Christmas trees, placed up against roses or other flowering shrubs on the prevailing wind side, make a great wind break, provide a little shelter for birds, and the pesky deer can nibble on the greenery and hopefully leave the roses alone.