Ripe olives, also known as black olives, are an odd food.  People often have either a strong like or a strong dislike for them.  One youngster I know loves them and will eat them right out of the can.  I made pizza for her the other day and all she wanted for toppings was cheese and black olives.  What was left in the can after making the pizza, she placed, as tradition calls for, on top of each finger tip and ate them just like that, plucking them off her fingers.

I, too, can sit down with a whole can of black olives and they will disappear.  However, I would prefer to find other ways to serve them.  There is a rather unique sandwich spread that I remember from some time ago, but it is a bit peculiar, so may not appeal to a lot of people.  You simply mix together some chopped black olives, chopped pecans, and cream cheese.  Spread it on small pieces of a sturdy whole wheat, cocktail rye, or pumpernickel bread.  This makes an excellent hors d’ oeuvre for a fancy gathering, but your kids probably will not like it for lunch.

One splendid dish I made the other night, however, turned out to be a family pleasing meal.  In a glass baking dish, I placed frozen fillets of tilapia fish, drizzled a little olive oil on top, sprinkled with thyme, oregano, basil, salt, and black pepper, poured on one can of diced tomatoes, added about a half clove of minced garlic, and sprinkled a generous portion of sliced black olives on top.  I covered the dish with tin foil, and baked in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  This baked fish turned out very good and had a Mediterranean flavor and look.  Very simple and very yummy!

If you’ve cooked with black olives a lot, or have used them in different salads or sandwiches, or any other dishes, I’d really like to hear from you!

Breakfast in our house is often the biggest meal of the day.  If my husband’s cooking, it’s guaranteed.  He likes to fill up a plate to over-flowing with all kinds of his favorite breakfast food staples.  Apparently, he grew up with corned beef hash for breakfast, so now it has found a regular spot on our breakfast menu.

Needless to say, I have many, many cans of corned beef hash in the pantry.  If you visit me often here, you’re aware that my husband is somewhat of a hoarder when it comes to food; especially canned food.  He can fill up the pantry with more canned goods than you can imagine.

If you’re not familiar with corned beef hash, here’s what it is.  Very simply, you’ve got corned beef, which is a salt-cured piece of beef, chopped fine, mixed with finely chopped cooked potatoes, a little onion and seasoning.  That’s it.  Typically, you take this mixture and fry it up nice and crisp in a skillet and serve it alongside some eggs, poached or fried.

Now, there’s got to be other things to make with this staple in our house other than frying it up for breakfast.  I do have one recipe that I found for a hot, oven-baked sandwich.  You just mix the corned beef hash with some onion, celery, green pepper, and chili sauce, and any other spices you like.  Top some English muffins with the mixture and put your open-faced sandwiches in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until they get hot all the way through.  Pull out the sandwiches, lay a piece of sliced cheese on top and stick back in the oven for a few minutes.  This works really great for a hungry group of kids after school.  The cheese is the selling point.

Has anyone made a whole dinner casserole out of corned beef hash?  I guess that would be my preference if I were to try and use up some of these cans.  I can’t wait to see what you’ve got to say!

Other than tomato soup, that is.  I must say, though, that since I found a sale on tomato soup and filled my pantry with a good supply of the stuff, I’ve seen several recipes that use tomato soup.  I normally find recipes that call for tomato sauce, but suddenly I see tomato soap instead.  Wonder why…

To me, canned tomato soup is very sweet.  The one recipe that this additional sweetness sort of made sense in was a recipe I saw for Sweet and Tangy cabbage soup.  It was from one of those old time recipe magazines from I don’t know how long ago, so it is really nice and simple.  This is how you make it:

1 medium head of cabbage, cut fine
2 quarts of chicken stock or broth
1 small onion, diced fine
1 small can tomato soup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything in a soup pot, bring to boil, and simmer until cabbage is tender.

You can’t get much simpler than that!  I love a recipe I can remember off the top of my head.  If you have any ideas about either how to dress up this soup, or create anything else with cans of tomato soup, I’d love to hear from you!

Almost every tomato based recipe that I turn to when relying on my old favorites, uses tomato sauce or diced tomatoes.  Very few have tomato paste listed as an ingredient.  Why is that?  I typically use only tomato sauce in my spaghetti or marinara sauces, but now I’m wondering why I’m paying for water.  Can’t you just use tomato paste and add a little extra water to make it like tomato sauce?

I’d really like to kick the tomato sauce habit for two reasons:  1) I’m paying more for tomato paste than an equivalent amount of tomato paste; and 2) I have a really beautiful new tomato paste in a tube that I’m itching to use.  I got it as a gift from one of those neat gourmet shops.  It’s so pretty and smells so good that I think I’m a convert. 

Have you switched to using a good tomato paste instead of cans of tomato sauce?  Does it take some thought to adjust your recipes, or is it just a “try it and see” sort of thing? 

I’m looking forward to reading your responses! 

We had a chili cook off at work this Fall, and I was left with an abundance of kidney beans.  Making more chili to use up the kidney beans is out of the question, so I’ve been trying to create some different uses for kidney beans… and failing miserably. 

The classic bean soups just aren’t working for me right now.  If I add black beans, the kidney beans just sort of disappear.  Black beans do tend to take-over any dish of which they are a part; both in color and flavor.  So, avoiding black beans, I’ve tried navy beans, butter beans, and pinto beans, which were all okay with my kidney beans, but I still haven’t come up with an idea in which to use JUST kidney beans, and use them up in a big way. 
 
I do, however, remember a really fantastic salad that my daughter used to make when she lived on the West Coast.  She mixed up a salad of kidney beans (drained and rinsed well), some finely shredded medium cheddar cheese, chives or green onion, a little salt and pepper, and mix it all together with either taco sauce or her favorite salsa.  Then she peeled and halved nice, ripe avocados and sprinkled them with a little lemon juice and set them on small plates. To serve she just spooned the kidney bean salad mixture into the avocado halves.  That was yummy, indeed!  

There is also a fabulous Three-Bean Salad that I’ve enjoyed many times at potlucks, but, to this date have not gotten a recipe.  I would love to have a really great recipe for a Three-Bean Salad that I could call my own.  Any suggestions?

Back to my dilema… are there casseroles, soups, or salads that use a good amount of kidney beans?  I’d love to surprise my family by cleaning out the stack of cans of kidney beans that are piled in my pantry.  Your input is greatly appreciated!

When we enter the months of hurricane season, we make sure our cupboards are stocked with non-perishable supplies of all sorts.  Unfortunately, my husband’s idea of a hurricane survival-kit is a case of Vienna Sausages.  As interesting as I find that concept, it isn’t something that I can really wrap my head around.  The thought of eating those little sausages for countless days while we wait for the power to come back on is a little unnerving, to say the least.  But, now that I have numerous cans of Vienna Sausages in my cupboard, I’m thinking I will need a way to cook and eat them.

I’ve seen a few recipes for appetizers using Vienna Sausages, or other types of little sausages, but I’m wondering if there isn’t some kind of recipe that is more of a main dish.  I’m having trouble picturing such a meal, but I hope you good folks will be so kind as to share any recipe you might have  for using this unique sausage product.  Thank you!

I accidentally grabbed a can of crushed pineapple instead of pineapple chunks. I like to use the chunks on pizza or in fruit salad, but the crushed pineapple just doesn’t work with either one of those. Now that I’m stuck with a large can of the stuff, I’m wondering what I can make with it.

I thought about possibly throwing it into a smoothie. Has anyone tried that? Mixed with some coconut milk and yogurt it might make for a nice tropical treat. Any other ideas, suggestions or recipes that include crushed pineapple?

I look forward to reading your ideas in the comments below.

Susanne

We like to make tuna salad sandwiches for lunch every once in a while. For the past few weeks we had been out of canned tuna, so I stocked up on the them and bought 10 cans. Then hubby came home from grocery shopping with quite a few more (he didn’t notice that I already bought some last week). So we now have a pantry full of canned tuna.

I usually drain the tuna well, mix it with a little mayo, a splash of pickle juice, some shopped pickles, salt and pepper. Then server it on bread or rolls.

What else can I make with canned tuna? I’d love to hear some of your favorite recipes.

The Halloween candy is about gone and now it is time to focus on Thanksgiving! I love this holiday because it is so traditional. The family meets, we eat, we relax, watch football and skim the papers for the big sales for the following day.

Thanksgiving dinner is planned a week before the big day with my mother calling everyone to tell them what they are expected to prepare and bring. My dish for the last three years has been a recipe I received from a coworker.It is simple to make and is obviously delicious or she wouldn’t ask for it three years in a row!

Corn bread Casserole

1 can (12 oz) creamed corn
1 can (12 oz) sweet corn, drained
1  8.5 oz. Jiffy Corn muffin mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 stick melted butter
1 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

Heat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients and place into a casserole dish. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove and layer with cheddar cheese. Return to oven until cheese is melted.

I double the recipe for my larger family. The double batch feeds at least 12 and more if there are various other side items to eat.

Other than the obvious — make a pumpkin pie!

When I lived in Oregon, there was a place that made Pumpkin Pie Shakes. I wonder if they used the Pumpkin pie filling to make those? Any ideas? A pumpkin pie shake recipe would be wonderful!

I’ve also had pumpkin pie where they made it with cool whip and vanilla pudding instead of baking it in the oven.

Lay it on me. I’m craving some pumpkin pie filling. Help me or I’ll be eating it right out of the can!