Today I’m joining frugal Fridays. Pictures at bottom of post…
One thing I’m incorporating into our meals is pantry cooking. It is economical and rotating your pantry items keeps you from tossing expired food. It also is an option when you don’t have fresh items on hand, but want a home cooked meal. There are so many frugal reasons to cook using your pantry items.
With couponing and getting ready for hurricane season, I have a plethora of pantry items. However, I’m not accustomed to cooking from the pantry, but have relied on fresh items for my recipes. That is changing and I will be a gourmet cook with canned items soon. One recipe that inspired me was the Prudent Homemaker’s Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. I modified this recipe for seafood enchiladas. A couple of months ago I stocked up on canned crab and shrimp at a Walgreens sale. I also purchased a large bag of corn tortillas and rebagged into smaller portions for future use -storing in freezer.
The thing I like about the Prudent Homemaker’s recipe is that it does not call for sour cream and is still creamy. Since I didn’t have any thawed meat and was out of sour cream, it was a good time to experiment.
Rating: Hubby liked it and would have this dish again. I also enjoyed the meal. Little kids who are picky would not enjoy this. It was not as good as using fresh cream and fresh seafood, but for using mostly items from my pantry it was 4 stars.
Recipe:
I combined 3/4 can of chicken soup and a can of evap milk into a bowl. I added about 2 tablespoons of dried onion flakes and a dash of garlic powder. Then I soaked 4 tortillas in this mixture. You could stretch this to make 6 enchiladas.
In another bowl combine shrimp and crabmeat (both drained). Add 1/4 can of cream of chick soup. Season with parsley, garlic and pepper.
Wrap seafood mixture with tortillas to make enchiladas. Place in baking dish. Pour sauce mixture and top with cheese. I used fresh cheese, but also have freeze dried cheese I could use if my refrig was out. Bake for about 20 minutes. It would also be good topped with fresh chopped green onions and cilantro.
Posted by Kris 