Store-bought food... Jazzed up.

I've played around with food for as far back as I can remember (which is at least 3 hours😂). Most food as packaged, leaves me sad and wondering why it's missing that certain something.

care to share a few, here?

Where do I start? Soup. Depending on the soup in question, it'll need to be doctored up. This can involve adding cheese (always be sure which cheese works best with which soup), add some herbs and/or spices.

The downside of this is that I am not much for measuring, so, I rarely began exact duplicate...which can actually be a good thing.

On a less adventurous side, you'd be amazed how much life can be brought to a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich by adding a few slices of raw onion. (For those who don't eat pork bacon, try turkey bacon).

i also add cheese to most canned soups, but certain ones (ie. chicken soup) don't get any...

I make my own hummus but start with dried chickpeas from the "bean aisle". I use Alton Brown's basic recipe on Food Network, soak the chickpeas overnight (your don't have to - he just puts them in a food processor for 15 to 20 seconds, but I don't like cleaning my food processor if I can avoid it), rinse, and cook in my slow cooker. I don't add sumac, do add tahini and olive oil. I hear that peanut butter can work instead of tahini. After it's cooked, I do add garlic, a tad of turmeric, a bunch of new mexico hot or medium-hot chile powder, salt, and black pepper.

I probably need to explore different additions, but I like these so much..
Adding soy sauce and mustard sounds good (I make that too, because our old grocery store sold containers of whole mustard seeds, and making mustard ain't hard and is inexpensive.

I have more time than a lot of a2kers have, as I'm mostly a stay-at-home person having fun in the kitchen. Glad I finally bought a crock pot a few years ago. Point is, now I end up with a whole batch of hummus, and freeze it into storage containers (I use old ricotta ones). That lasts me at least two months, probably three, and I eat hummus on toast several times a week.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hummus-for-real-recipe.html?oc=linkback

This is all similar to when I used to make pasta e fagioli (that's easier, beans and pasta and sometimes meat). Those can be canned beans, natch; I just like the dried bean rigamarole & results.

I sort of avoid canned food for mixed reasons - cost, that whole business about BPA, other additives, not being local - but I violate that for some good canned tomatoes and various tinned fish for my fish patties. I'm still alive, hey!

we eat a lot of "Lean Cuisines" (Ive lost 35 pounds since last Feb).

BUT, Lean Cuisine boxes taste as good as the contents so "doctoring " goes without saying. Cant go wrong with garlic tellecherry pepper coarse ground.

Is that from Penzies?

of course, what are we , savages?

So instead of eating something that tastes like the box, why not get something that does taste good in the first place, but with the nutritional value you're looking for?


Kinda like saying, "my wife's got an annoying disposition, and is ugly...but you should see my girlfriend"

No, I'm the savage, haven't read Penzies for a while. Too much desire..

I had to lose weight quickly because of the really bad gall bladder condition. I was in almost acute sepsis ( I cn tlk bout it now).

Actually I kinda dont mind Lean Cuisines Tlingit or Mexican (we eat normally every other day.

HA, I mean Italian (I used the spell check nd didnt check the spelling.
I can honestly say, Ive never had to enjoy Tlingit cuisine

If it's like Navajo cooking, eat the box. Not sure how the tribes are related, but essentially use the same language.

Now I had to go look that up.

Some Tlingit recipes look very good - lots of salmon.

Lean Cuisine Tlingit Salmon Patties

http://nativeamericanjane.blogspot.ca/2011/12/tlingit-recipes.html

that could be a thing

or

Lean Cuisine Alaska Baked Salmon

http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=324

Um. I don't know much, just our helping designing stuff, and l was ok on varied multi tribal choices.

http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=265

excellent

we used to attend tribe EPA meetings to discuss nuclear materials (ores and "blendes") piles on Navajo (Dee'- nAY) lands. Every meeting began with a meal (e were also expeted to bring some food. My team bought big buckets of ice cream.

The food was pretty good. Lotsa sauced up beans with little nuts that tasted really smokey.
I dont remember if thre was anything that was identifiable other than the rings of cooked gourds (I think they were gourds with rice qnd lots of some kinda sauce)
There was a honeyed potato dish and some collards with meat dishes (Very well done smoked beef (or maybe bison) and smoked lamb and goat hocks with the collards. (It was a blander version of TEx-Mex in my mind. (No fried egg on top). Overall these meetings were polite, respectful, and mission driven. Each meeting they had a set of things to accomplish nd there was usually polite discussion and all the members of the Navajo EPA and the tribal leaders were heard, (It wasnt like the USSC where Thomas and Ginzburg can sleep)

I hadda edit:::. I recall that it was at a Dine EPQ meeting where I first fell in LOOOVE with sopaipillas. After the first meeting a ldy said shed send me the recipe and she did (via ARP net)

Sounds like you missed out on the Corn Stew.

I wish JLNobody would drop in from time to time. He knows lots of stuff like this.

Last time we talked, he was dealing with a lot of stuff.