Thursday, April 2, 2009

Food Storage Auditions- Coconut Curry Chicken and Garbanzo Bean Soup

In order to build our list of 15 dinners to help us on our goal of having a 3 month supply of food we actually eat, we decided to "audition" 2 recipes a week for the next little while.



The first one we tried was Coconut Curry Chicken and rice courtesy of  Safely Gathered In

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 This one was a total winner.  It was our first time ever using canned chicken in any way, and we were suprised at how good it was, and how the texture worked with this recipe. The sauce turned out kind of salty, but it was OK when you mixed it with the rice. I think the saltiness could have been the cheap-ish spice mixes we used- we'll have to try another. 

I think the "eatability" of this dish outweighs the fact that coconut milk is kind of expensive and it uses some "uncommon" spices that, from a food-storage perspective, will likely only be used for this recipe (vs garlic, rosemary or other more universal stuff). But one bottle of each of the spices will likely see us through the 6 times we are planning to make it.  Since we were "rotating" (internet food storage blog speak for just making something to use up your supply, I've learned) we added peas and the sweetness, color and texture really made this extra-yummy and added some more veggie power.  This one also got a high "kid rating". EJ gobbled it up and asked for seconds (something she never does).  Birdy was just ticked that I "sprinkled" her rice and "ruined" it so it is hard to say what she would have thought if she had decided to try it.

Next we made the Pasta and Garbanzo Bean soup, also from Safely Gathered In

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This one is probably a keeper, but less of a slam dunk than the Coconut Curry Chicken.  since we were "rotating" and I love to add veggie power wherever I can, we dumped a bag of frozen peas and carrots in and it turned out nicely.

It was nice to have the convenience of a crock-pot recipe, and the taste was awesome, but I think before we add this to the "keeper" pile, we'll make a few changes.  First, the texture wasn't that great- part of that was our fault because the garbanzo beans were undercooked- but I think that the water-to-stuff-that-soaks-up-water is low- the soup was thick the day we made it, and the next day it was about the texture of refried beans.  Not really the best, but we added some water and that made it work again.

I think I'd like to try this one again and substitute lentils or barley for the orzo- just to give it more of a nutritional boost.  I think we'll also try canned garbanzo beans- I think they will make for a better and less grainy texture.  So I think after one more try, this one will be a keeper because the taste really is great!  The "kid" rating on this one was also high- EJ asked if we could "eat it every day" and Birdy ate most of her bowl- unheard of for soup.

So we basically have 2 down, and 13 to go!  I'd love any recipes you might have that are "shelf stable" or easily adapted. We are focusing on main dinner dishes first, and then we'll stock up on canned fruit and veggies and lunch and then we'll probably work on breakfast stuff last. I think it would be fantastic to have a full 3 month supply- breakfast, lunch and dinner including sides- but I think it is more realistic to focus on small goals first :)

2 comments:

  1. Wal-Mart is the cheapest place I have found for coconut milk. It's about $1.20 a can.

    I laughed out loud about you "sprinkling" birdies rice and "ruining" it.

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  2. Hi, interesting post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for posting. I'll certainly be coming back to your site.

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