Hepburn
06-26-2007, 10:21 AM
(http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=52063)
Cassie Mar-03-07 12:12 AM
OMC combined with a food sealer...
OMG, what a great combo. I've been doing once-a-month-cooking for years, but I never knew that I could take it another level!
MIL gave me a food sealer for xmas and I found out that the bags are fine for boil-in-bag cooking. I store stews and sauces in gallon bags (and meatballs in quart bags). All I have to do is put the frozen bag in a pot of water and boil it. No pot to clean! I'm in a happy place :)
My niece and her hubby stopped by for a night during their cross country trek and I was able to serve them pasta with 8hour sauce and meatballs in the time it took to cook the pasta with only one pot to wash :)
And when hubby gets home and has a yearn for my homemade stew, all he has to do is grab a bag out of the freezer and boil it.
Gotta love that!
Hubby is a huge fan of Hamburger Helper meals. I'm thinking of making a bunch of boil-in-bag servings of that for him as well. I haven't tried that yet though. Sure would save me a lot of time though. Not sure how well the potato meals would hold up though because I notice that the potatoes in my frozen stew gets mushy, but he doesn't seem to care at all.
moonrise Mar-03-07 01:21 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Have you ever tried making gravy, sealing it, freezing it, and then later boiling it? DH likes gravy with his biscuits, and it's such a pain to make it every single time. I wonder how freezing it would work. :chin:
For Hamburger Helper, I make my own powdered sauce mix and vacuum seal it. When I'm ready to cook, I get a bag of pre-browned hamburger meat out of the freezer, thaw it in the microwave, and toss the meat, the sauce mix, some water, and about 2 cups of egg noodles into a skillet. The egg noodles cook VERY fast, and the whole thing only takes a few minutes. I bet it could be microwaved, too, but I haven't tried it. :D
I hardly ever buy "real" Hamburger Helper any more. We like ^that^ a lot better. :D
LOVE my food sealer! :D
Cassie Mar-03-07 02:00 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonrise (Post 459040)
Have you ever tried making gravy, sealing it, freezing it, and then later boiling it? DH likes gravy with his biscuits, and it's such a pain to make it every single time. I wonder how freezing it would work. :chin:
There should be no prob with freezing gravy for a couple of months or longer if you vacuum seal it (depends on what you seal), many months I would think would be no problem for anything. Life in a fridge is weeks to a month or so for some items, but in a freezer is many months.
I love my vacuum sealer too!
ETA: if you use the gravy often, you don't have to vacuum seal it because you'll have a quick turnover.. vacuum sealing just keeps it for shelf life. I think you could just make a large batch of gravy once a month and freeze it in quart sized ziplock bags. That's basic Once-A-Month cooking.
But using a vacuuming sealer allows for boil-in-bag thawing/heating so I guess it's up to you as to what you want.
I'm embarrassed to say that I have a pound of chopmeat sitting my fridge that I vacuum sealed about 3 weeks ago and it looks as fresh as the day I sealed it.
goodworks4music Mar-03-07 11:24 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
like moonrise, I brown lots of ground beef and freeze it in smaller portions in quart bags... flattened out, not in a big lump because it freezes/thaws faster this way.
Use it for hamburger helper or whatever. It saves tons of time and messy clean-up.
Cassie Mar-04-07 06:43 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Great tip goodworks! I'll definitely do that. Great idea on flattening it out so that it thaws quicker.
larruone Mar-04-07 07:22 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Since the bags are sealed, you can drop them in cool water to thaw.
That really speeds things up too!
Cassie Mar-04-07 08:59 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
A great health-wise tip is to rinse your browned scrambled chop meat with boiled water. It rinses the grease off of it but the water has to be really hot. I can't taste the difference at all.
moonrise Mar-07-07 04:07 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Welp, I made a gigantic batch of gravy, and have sealed the extra gravy up in sealer bags. I'll put it in the freezer shortly (it's still pretty hot). We'll see how it turns out, next time I fix biscuits or breakfast pizza. :D (Well, that should be DH will see how it turns out, 'cuz I don't care for gravy.) :tongue:
DH whines ;) if I rinse the browned meat. He insists that he can tell the difference. (I bet he couldn't "tell the difference" if he didn't actually see me rinse it! :roflmao: )
I'm beat. Just made a breakfast pizza, and it wears me out! :sleep:
Flutterbees Mar-07-07 11:49 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
whats in your breakfast pizza?
moonrise Mar-07-07 06:52 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Here's my recipe. It's a bit of work, but boy is it yummy! It makes a lot, too. DH usually eats 2 slices. I can only eat one! :D He takes the rest for lunch the next day, and he and the other guys "pig out". LOL!
Ingredients
* Packet of Yeast
* 1-1/2 Cups Warm Water
* 2-1/2 Cups Self-rising Flour (plus extra for kneading)
* 1/4 Cup Melted Butter (cooled)
* 3/4 Cup Cornmeal
* 1 Tablespoon Sugar
* 6-7 Eggs, Scrambled (cooked completely)
* 1/2 to 1 Pound of Breakfast Meat (Bacon or Sausage ... or Both!), cooked completely and drained
* 2 Cups Shredded Cheese (whatever kind you like -- I use mild cheddar)
Instructions
Put warm water into a large bowl, and sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir slightly. Wait about 10 minutes until the yeast is bubbly.
While you're waiting, melt the butter and let it cool. Then mix it in with the bubbly yeast.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, and sugar. Mix well.
Gradually stir the dry mixture into the yeast mixture to form a soft dough.
Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding extra flour as needed.
Place dough ball into a greased bowl, and turn to coat all sides.
Let rise for about an hour, or until doubled.
Punch down, and spread onto a pizza pan (I spray my pan with Pam first).
Prebake the crust for 10-15 minutes, until it just BARELY starts to brown.
Add toppings of your choice. You can use traditional pizza toppings, or use breakfast ingredients as listed above.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
----
I've been using my new bread machine to knead the dough. Lots easier, and less messy. :)
Cassie Mar-23-07 12:01 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I now have a freezer full of my home made pasta sauce (about 5 gallons), about 50 stuffed shells and a few bags of sausage balls! Gotta love it LOL
I'm going to make up bags of browned chopmeat later on today too. I love that idea.
Hubby finished off his last bag of home made stew the other day (I made it about 2 months ago LOL!) so I guess I need to get fixens to make another 5 gallons or so, that should get him through spring :D
lakelady May-02-07 01:49 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
What brand of sealer do you guys have? We bought one from QVC years ago and it stopped functioning fairly quickly - think it was SealAMeal. I'd like to get back into forward cooking but don't want another dud.
maison rustique May-02-07 01:57 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I've got FoodSaver. I don't use it nearly as much as I used to, though I'm not sure why. :o
Cassie May-04-07 03:59 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Mine is a Seal-a-meal and it's been working fine since xmas (I use it quite often). But I find that the roll bags don't seal as well. I have to double seal them. The boxed bags are more pricey but worth it IMHO.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-04-07 12:04 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
My Food Saver broke this week. I almost cried:( I was out Monday buying a new one.
Almost anything that gets opened in my house gets put in a canning jar and sealed. Sour cream, applesauce, cottage cheese etc.
I use 1/2 gallon jars for cereal, flour, sugar, etc.
When I come home from the market strawbrries, grapes, melons, salad fixings etc. are cleaned and put in canning jars.
Here is a lady on ebay that sells bags much cheaper than the food saver bags.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZthesweetattack
She gets excellent feedback on the food saver board.
Cassie May-04-07 05:53 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks M2K, I'll give her bags a try!
goodworks1 May-04-07 07:10 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2KatieDoodles (Post 469564)
Almost anything that gets opened in my house gets put in a canning jar and sealed. Sour cream, applesauce, cottage cheese etc.
I use 1/2 gallon jars for cereal, flour, sugar, etc.
When I come home from the market strawbrries, grapes, melons, salad fixings etc. are cleaned and put in canning jars.
Why do you do this?
Does produce keep better this way?
How can you seal canning jars? Do you use the bags with them?
Elaine, who is obviously uninformed...
maison rustique May-04-07 07:59 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks for the link, M2KD!
Elaine, I'm glad you asked that--I was wondering the same, but had to go to work and forgot to ask.
Cassie May-04-07 08:07 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by goodworks1 (Post 469646)
Why do you do this?
Does produce keep better this way?
How can you seal canning jars? Do you use the bags with them?
They sell jars and attachments to run to the food sealer so that soft foods won't get crushed under the vacuum pressure.
Here is an example of the storage time examples listed in the Seal-a-Meal manual showing normal storage vs sealed storage time (and with a vacuum storage system, you don't get freezer burn).
Freezer stored:
Beef(steaks, Roasts) 6-12 months. Vacuumed: 2-3 years
Beef(ground, Stew Meat) 3-4 months. Vacuumed: 1 year
Pork Chops 4-6 months. Vacuumed:2-3 years
Poultry 6-12 months. Vacuumed:2-3 years
Soups and Sauces 2-4 months: Vacuumed:1-2 years
Veggies 6-9 months: Vacuumed: 2-3 years
Refrig stored:
Cheese 2-4 weeks. Vacuumed: 4-8 months
Deli Meats 3-4 days: Vacuumed: 7-10 days
Fruits (berries) 1-5 days: Vacuumed: 7-14 days
Veggies 2-7 days: Vacuumed: 7-14 days
Pantry stored:
Cereal 2-3 months. Vacuumed: 6-12 months
Coffee(ground) 2 weeks. Vacuumed:1-2 Years
Cookies (Homemade) 1-2 weeks. Vacuumed:3-6 weeks.
Flour 6-8 months. Vacuumed: 1-2 years
Nuts 6-8 months. Vacuumed: 2 years
I highly recommend it weather you have a large family or are just a single person.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 04:23 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
It lasts so much longer when sealed in canning jars.
I have kept strawberries up to two weeks and they were as fresh as the day I bought them. Lettuce keeps wonderful in canisters or canning jars.
I try to buy mostly organic so I have to drive a little farther to go to Trader Joes or Fresh Market so I only go a couple of times a month.
You need the jar attachments, they sell them at Wal-Mart or anywhere Food Saver is sold.. You put your items in canning jars. Then you need two lids, you tuck one into the attachment with the rubber side facing the top of the jar sealer and one with the rubber side down on the jar. When your finished sealing, only one lid will be on the jar but for some reason it needs the two lids to work. The rings are not needed. I buy extra lids without the rings and always have them on hand.
Ace hardware has the ability to order ½ gallon jars for you at no extra charge if they don’t carry them in stock. I just bought two more cases and they were $9.50 each. The canisters from Food Saver don’t hold up and are way to costly. I have several of them and quite a few have developed hairline cracks on the bottom and won’t seal.
The only thing the company doesn’t recommended sealing in jars or bags is fresh mushrooms. They say they develop bacteria.
Can you tell I am passionate about my Food Saver! I hate wasting money on groceries and this thing saves me a lot of money.
I wanted to add, you can do this with any brand of sealer. They all sell their own attachments as far as I know.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 04:37 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
A couple of more tips to maximize your sealer:
I cut my bags about a foot longer than I need, label on the end you cut off before freezing. The you can wahs and re-use the bags. It helps make them more economical.
I wash mine in bleach water and then let them dry. You can also turn them inside out and stick a plate into them and run thru the dishwasher. Many people wash them and store them in the freezer without drying them so bacteria cannot form.
I have never had a problem doing it my way.
Walmart also sells their own brand of rolls. They are a little cheaper and seem to work fine for me.
goodworks1 May-05-07 07:03 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks for the info! I had no idea!
larruone May-05-07 08:41 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
They are also great for marinating food in!
The vacuum helps the flavors penetrate.
I have had success just dumping the marinade into
the bag with the thawed meat (or veggies), and
vacu-sealing it. Thought the liquid would get sucked out
but it doesn't!
Joan May-05-07 08:49 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Mom2KD, this is terrific information for me. I mostly use bags for items that are going in the freezer but I also use the canisters for a few pantry items. I had no idea that I could use canning jars; what a money saver.
My Food Saver is several years old and I've just tried it on a jar. It wouldn't work with two lids but worked perfectly with only one. Perhaps the newer jar attachments are slightly different. I now have a nicely sealed jar of garlic cloves.
Do you think it would work for onions?
I'm off to see if I can find 1/2 gal. jars and then reorganize the pantry. :)
Joan
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 10:07 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I am so happy to help everyone. I thing a food sealer is so under-utilized by most people. You spend all that money for one and then a lot of people let it sit in their cabinets (like my mom) LOL.
Joan, I do onions all the time. My hubby likes to take a salad for lunch everyday and I ust pull out my pint jars of all his fixings and it makes it so quick in the morning.
My attachemnts are about 4 years old so I don't they have changed to much from what I have read is that the company is making the lids thinner. If you get newer ones you may have to use two.
From what I understand Ball and Kerr are the same company but for some reason Kerr lids work better. I have both kinds and I do have more problems with the Ball ones.
If you find you lids are not sealing correctly you may have to recondition them. This can be done by boiling them for five minutes and it will make them as good as new.
For the ladies who worry about their nails and trying to un-seal the jars, you can put a tiny hole in the lid and cover it with electrical tape then seal as usual. When you need to open the jar just pull the tape off and it will release the seal.
larruone May-05-07 11:41 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Oh really??!!!???
I can use regular Ball canning jars and lids?
Sweeeeeeet!
What kind of device do I need to make this work?
I see "jar sealers" on the website... is that them?
Verrrry verrrrrryyy NICE!
Thank you M2KD! :D
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 11:51 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
You need the jar sealer. I have the both the large and small mouth jar sealer. Make sure you sealer has an accessories port.
Yes, you use regular canning jars and canning lids.
larruone May-05-07 01:01 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks! I got a nifty hand held device with mine that
I haven't used yet. Pretty sure it will work with these.
Neato mosquito.. new toy!
wheeeeeee!
Cassie May-05-07 07:34 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2KatieDoodles (Post 469675)
It lasts so much longer when sealed in canning jars.
Yes, I noticed that even just using the bags, foods last much longer than advertised in the manual.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only true believer around. vacuum sealing food is such a great money saver and convenience.
I never gave much serious thought to getting one before but my MIL gave me one for xmas last year and I became an immediate fan. I've been doing once-a-month-cooking for years and this just took it to a whole new level. Now I'm doing once-a 6-month cooking LOL.
I also wash and reuse some bags occasionally, although I don't like how the opening becomes warped. I hadn't thought of freezing the washed bags though, great tip there! Thanks.
Another great tip someone here gave me was about scrambled chopmeat. My hubby absolutely loves Hamburger Helper but it's a pain to have to scramble/brown/drain the meat every time he gets an urge for it.
Now I buy those cheap 5 lb rolls of chopmeat or keep an eye out for a good meat sale, scramble/brown it all at once and divide it into 5 separate quart bags (flatten the bag of meat down as much as possible, so that it can be thawed in hot water in just minutes and takes up very little space in the freezer).
Now, when I make Hamburger Helper, it takes half the time since I don't have to deal with browning, straining and discarding the meat grease. Plus, sometimes hubby likes putting scrambled chopmeat on other meals too. It's just such a wonderful convenience.
Also, when I find good ground chuck on sale, I'll buy it up, take it home, season it for burgers, make the patties, vacuum and freeze em. You can grill them frozen, just keep your grill high from the heat and they will cook slow and beautifully right from the freezer. I have a ton of burgers in my freezer right now LOL
Also, vacuum sealing meats in marinades literally infuses the meat.
My sealer is one of the most important gadgets in my kitchen. If mine broke down today, I'd be buying another one tomorrow.
Cassie May-06-07 10:03 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I just want to add that tonight for dinner (and I'm home alone, hubby is on the road) I had home made stuffed shells with home made 8 hr slow cooked tomato sauce and sausage balls. And all I had to do was open three bags (stuffed shells, sausage, sauce), toss it all in a pan and bake. And it was mouth watering.
Did I mention that I love the combo of Once-A-Month cooking with a vacuum sealer? ROFL!
Once-A-Month...hell, more like once every few months!
moonrise May-06-07 11:49 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Cassie -- If I may ask, where do you find OMC recipes? I've found a few online, but not a whole lot. :)
Oh, and thanks to whoever posted the tip on inexpensive vacuum bags! I bought some just this weekend. :)
I'll have to try that canning jar trick! :D
Cassie May-08-07 11:04 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I just multiply my own recipes and adjust cooking time. I haven't tried any of the online recipes yet though.
Cassie Jun-05-07 01:50 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
After two and a half months in the freezer, we had the last of our sealed stuffed shells and sealed sauce tonight and they were fantastic.
I don't recall if I mentioned this before but I took Goodworks advice and scrambled chopmeat by the pounds, sealed them into one pound portions and froze them. It's been such a great time saver to use in sauces, Hamburger Helper, Sloppy Joes and such.
I also made seasoned burger patties which cook great on a low heat grill from frozen. Tastes fantastic!
I'm absolutely sold for life on both once a month cooking and vacuum sealing. This is a fabulous combo.
Also, my hubby is not an onion fan but I love them. I have an onion in my fridge that is over a month old which I've been slicing bits off for stuff and re-sealing and it's as fresh as the day I bought it home.
Gotta love the sealer if for nothing more than money and time saving. Fantastic kitchen gadget.
Cassie Jun-05-07 02:10 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonrise (Post 469943)
Cassie -- If I may ask, where do you find OMC recipes? I've found a few online, but not a whole lot.
I replied that I just multiply my recipes and cooking times. I wanted to expand on my reply a little.
Since you're cooking more, you want to use less heat and cook longer depending on what you're cooking.
For instance, when I do my tomato sauce, I used to cook about a quart for 4 hours. I now cook about 3 gallons or more for 8 hrs at a very low heat after bringing to a boil (the longer it cooks, the better the taste. The flavors condense during cooking). But be warned with tomato sauce...it get's more acidic as it cooks down so you'll want to add some sugar to counter that.
With stews, you have to add the taters and veggies much after the meat has stewed so that they don't get too soft. I usually add them in the last hour or two of cooking because they'll cook further while reheating.
Much of it is common sense and cooking experience.
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Cassie Mar-03-07 12:12 AM
OMC combined with a food sealer...
OMG, what a great combo. I've been doing once-a-month-cooking for years, but I never knew that I could take it another level!
MIL gave me a food sealer for xmas and I found out that the bags are fine for boil-in-bag cooking. I store stews and sauces in gallon bags (and meatballs in quart bags). All I have to do is put the frozen bag in a pot of water and boil it. No pot to clean! I'm in a happy place :)
My niece and her hubby stopped by for a night during their cross country trek and I was able to serve them pasta with 8hour sauce and meatballs in the time it took to cook the pasta with only one pot to wash :)
And when hubby gets home and has a yearn for my homemade stew, all he has to do is grab a bag out of the freezer and boil it.
Gotta love that!
Hubby is a huge fan of Hamburger Helper meals. I'm thinking of making a bunch of boil-in-bag servings of that for him as well. I haven't tried that yet though. Sure would save me a lot of time though. Not sure how well the potato meals would hold up though because I notice that the potatoes in my frozen stew gets mushy, but he doesn't seem to care at all.
moonrise Mar-03-07 01:21 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Have you ever tried making gravy, sealing it, freezing it, and then later boiling it? DH likes gravy with his biscuits, and it's such a pain to make it every single time. I wonder how freezing it would work. :chin:
For Hamburger Helper, I make my own powdered sauce mix and vacuum seal it. When I'm ready to cook, I get a bag of pre-browned hamburger meat out of the freezer, thaw it in the microwave, and toss the meat, the sauce mix, some water, and about 2 cups of egg noodles into a skillet. The egg noodles cook VERY fast, and the whole thing only takes a few minutes. I bet it could be microwaved, too, but I haven't tried it. :D
I hardly ever buy "real" Hamburger Helper any more. We like ^that^ a lot better. :D
LOVE my food sealer! :D
Cassie Mar-03-07 02:00 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonrise (Post 459040)
Have you ever tried making gravy, sealing it, freezing it, and then later boiling it? DH likes gravy with his biscuits, and it's such a pain to make it every single time. I wonder how freezing it would work. :chin:
There should be no prob with freezing gravy for a couple of months or longer if you vacuum seal it (depends on what you seal), many months I would think would be no problem for anything. Life in a fridge is weeks to a month or so for some items, but in a freezer is many months.
I love my vacuum sealer too!
ETA: if you use the gravy often, you don't have to vacuum seal it because you'll have a quick turnover.. vacuum sealing just keeps it for shelf life. I think you could just make a large batch of gravy once a month and freeze it in quart sized ziplock bags. That's basic Once-A-Month cooking.
But using a vacuuming sealer allows for boil-in-bag thawing/heating so I guess it's up to you as to what you want.
I'm embarrassed to say that I have a pound of chopmeat sitting my fridge that I vacuum sealed about 3 weeks ago and it looks as fresh as the day I sealed it.
goodworks4music Mar-03-07 11:24 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
like moonrise, I brown lots of ground beef and freeze it in smaller portions in quart bags... flattened out, not in a big lump because it freezes/thaws faster this way.
Use it for hamburger helper or whatever. It saves tons of time and messy clean-up.
Cassie Mar-04-07 06:43 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Great tip goodworks! I'll definitely do that. Great idea on flattening it out so that it thaws quicker.
larruone Mar-04-07 07:22 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Since the bags are sealed, you can drop them in cool water to thaw.
That really speeds things up too!
Cassie Mar-04-07 08:59 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
A great health-wise tip is to rinse your browned scrambled chop meat with boiled water. It rinses the grease off of it but the water has to be really hot. I can't taste the difference at all.
moonrise Mar-07-07 04:07 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Welp, I made a gigantic batch of gravy, and have sealed the extra gravy up in sealer bags. I'll put it in the freezer shortly (it's still pretty hot). We'll see how it turns out, next time I fix biscuits or breakfast pizza. :D (Well, that should be DH will see how it turns out, 'cuz I don't care for gravy.) :tongue:
DH whines ;) if I rinse the browned meat. He insists that he can tell the difference. (I bet he couldn't "tell the difference" if he didn't actually see me rinse it! :roflmao: )
I'm beat. Just made a breakfast pizza, and it wears me out! :sleep:
Flutterbees Mar-07-07 11:49 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
whats in your breakfast pizza?
moonrise Mar-07-07 06:52 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Here's my recipe. It's a bit of work, but boy is it yummy! It makes a lot, too. DH usually eats 2 slices. I can only eat one! :D He takes the rest for lunch the next day, and he and the other guys "pig out". LOL!
Ingredients
* Packet of Yeast
* 1-1/2 Cups Warm Water
* 2-1/2 Cups Self-rising Flour (plus extra for kneading)
* 1/4 Cup Melted Butter (cooled)
* 3/4 Cup Cornmeal
* 1 Tablespoon Sugar
* 6-7 Eggs, Scrambled (cooked completely)
* 1/2 to 1 Pound of Breakfast Meat (Bacon or Sausage ... or Both!), cooked completely and drained
* 2 Cups Shredded Cheese (whatever kind you like -- I use mild cheddar)
Instructions
Put warm water into a large bowl, and sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir slightly. Wait about 10 minutes until the yeast is bubbly.
While you're waiting, melt the butter and let it cool. Then mix it in with the bubbly yeast.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, and sugar. Mix well.
Gradually stir the dry mixture into the yeast mixture to form a soft dough.
Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding extra flour as needed.
Place dough ball into a greased bowl, and turn to coat all sides.
Let rise for about an hour, or until doubled.
Punch down, and spread onto a pizza pan (I spray my pan with Pam first).
Prebake the crust for 10-15 minutes, until it just BARELY starts to brown.
Add toppings of your choice. You can use traditional pizza toppings, or use breakfast ingredients as listed above.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
----
I've been using my new bread machine to knead the dough. Lots easier, and less messy. :)
Cassie Mar-23-07 12:01 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I now have a freezer full of my home made pasta sauce (about 5 gallons), about 50 stuffed shells and a few bags of sausage balls! Gotta love it LOL
I'm going to make up bags of browned chopmeat later on today too. I love that idea.
Hubby finished off his last bag of home made stew the other day (I made it about 2 months ago LOL!) so I guess I need to get fixens to make another 5 gallons or so, that should get him through spring :D
lakelady May-02-07 01:49 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
What brand of sealer do you guys have? We bought one from QVC years ago and it stopped functioning fairly quickly - think it was SealAMeal. I'd like to get back into forward cooking but don't want another dud.
maison rustique May-02-07 01:57 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I've got FoodSaver. I don't use it nearly as much as I used to, though I'm not sure why. :o
Cassie May-04-07 03:59 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Mine is a Seal-a-meal and it's been working fine since xmas (I use it quite often). But I find that the roll bags don't seal as well. I have to double seal them. The boxed bags are more pricey but worth it IMHO.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-04-07 12:04 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
My Food Saver broke this week. I almost cried:( I was out Monday buying a new one.
Almost anything that gets opened in my house gets put in a canning jar and sealed. Sour cream, applesauce, cottage cheese etc.
I use 1/2 gallon jars for cereal, flour, sugar, etc.
When I come home from the market strawbrries, grapes, melons, salad fixings etc. are cleaned and put in canning jars.
Here is a lady on ebay that sells bags much cheaper than the food saver bags.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZthesweetattack
She gets excellent feedback on the food saver board.
Cassie May-04-07 05:53 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks M2K, I'll give her bags a try!
goodworks1 May-04-07 07:10 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2KatieDoodles (Post 469564)
Almost anything that gets opened in my house gets put in a canning jar and sealed. Sour cream, applesauce, cottage cheese etc.
I use 1/2 gallon jars for cereal, flour, sugar, etc.
When I come home from the market strawbrries, grapes, melons, salad fixings etc. are cleaned and put in canning jars.
Why do you do this?
Does produce keep better this way?
How can you seal canning jars? Do you use the bags with them?
Elaine, who is obviously uninformed...
maison rustique May-04-07 07:59 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks for the link, M2KD!
Elaine, I'm glad you asked that--I was wondering the same, but had to go to work and forgot to ask.
Cassie May-04-07 08:07 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by goodworks1 (Post 469646)
Why do you do this?
Does produce keep better this way?
How can you seal canning jars? Do you use the bags with them?
They sell jars and attachments to run to the food sealer so that soft foods won't get crushed under the vacuum pressure.
Here is an example of the storage time examples listed in the Seal-a-Meal manual showing normal storage vs sealed storage time (and with a vacuum storage system, you don't get freezer burn).
Freezer stored:
Beef(steaks, Roasts) 6-12 months. Vacuumed: 2-3 years
Beef(ground, Stew Meat) 3-4 months. Vacuumed: 1 year
Pork Chops 4-6 months. Vacuumed:2-3 years
Poultry 6-12 months. Vacuumed:2-3 years
Soups and Sauces 2-4 months: Vacuumed:1-2 years
Veggies 6-9 months: Vacuumed: 2-3 years
Refrig stored:
Cheese 2-4 weeks. Vacuumed: 4-8 months
Deli Meats 3-4 days: Vacuumed: 7-10 days
Fruits (berries) 1-5 days: Vacuumed: 7-14 days
Veggies 2-7 days: Vacuumed: 7-14 days
Pantry stored:
Cereal 2-3 months. Vacuumed: 6-12 months
Coffee(ground) 2 weeks. Vacuumed:1-2 Years
Cookies (Homemade) 1-2 weeks. Vacuumed:3-6 weeks.
Flour 6-8 months. Vacuumed: 1-2 years
Nuts 6-8 months. Vacuumed: 2 years
I highly recommend it weather you have a large family or are just a single person.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 04:23 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
It lasts so much longer when sealed in canning jars.
I have kept strawberries up to two weeks and they were as fresh as the day I bought them. Lettuce keeps wonderful in canisters or canning jars.
I try to buy mostly organic so I have to drive a little farther to go to Trader Joes or Fresh Market so I only go a couple of times a month.
You need the jar attachments, they sell them at Wal-Mart or anywhere Food Saver is sold.. You put your items in canning jars. Then you need two lids, you tuck one into the attachment with the rubber side facing the top of the jar sealer and one with the rubber side down on the jar. When your finished sealing, only one lid will be on the jar but for some reason it needs the two lids to work. The rings are not needed. I buy extra lids without the rings and always have them on hand.
Ace hardware has the ability to order ½ gallon jars for you at no extra charge if they don’t carry them in stock. I just bought two more cases and they were $9.50 each. The canisters from Food Saver don’t hold up and are way to costly. I have several of them and quite a few have developed hairline cracks on the bottom and won’t seal.
The only thing the company doesn’t recommended sealing in jars or bags is fresh mushrooms. They say they develop bacteria.
Can you tell I am passionate about my Food Saver! I hate wasting money on groceries and this thing saves me a lot of money.
I wanted to add, you can do this with any brand of sealer. They all sell their own attachments as far as I know.
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 04:37 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
A couple of more tips to maximize your sealer:
I cut my bags about a foot longer than I need, label on the end you cut off before freezing. The you can wahs and re-use the bags. It helps make them more economical.
I wash mine in bleach water and then let them dry. You can also turn them inside out and stick a plate into them and run thru the dishwasher. Many people wash them and store them in the freezer without drying them so bacteria cannot form.
I have never had a problem doing it my way.
Walmart also sells their own brand of rolls. They are a little cheaper and seem to work fine for me.
goodworks1 May-05-07 07:03 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks for the info! I had no idea!
larruone May-05-07 08:41 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
They are also great for marinating food in!
The vacuum helps the flavors penetrate.
I have had success just dumping the marinade into
the bag with the thawed meat (or veggies), and
vacu-sealing it. Thought the liquid would get sucked out
but it doesn't!
Joan May-05-07 08:49 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Mom2KD, this is terrific information for me. I mostly use bags for items that are going in the freezer but I also use the canisters for a few pantry items. I had no idea that I could use canning jars; what a money saver.
My Food Saver is several years old and I've just tried it on a jar. It wouldn't work with two lids but worked perfectly with only one. Perhaps the newer jar attachments are slightly different. I now have a nicely sealed jar of garlic cloves.
Do you think it would work for onions?
I'm off to see if I can find 1/2 gal. jars and then reorganize the pantry. :)
Joan
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 10:07 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I am so happy to help everyone. I thing a food sealer is so under-utilized by most people. You spend all that money for one and then a lot of people let it sit in their cabinets (like my mom) LOL.
Joan, I do onions all the time. My hubby likes to take a salad for lunch everyday and I ust pull out my pint jars of all his fixings and it makes it so quick in the morning.
My attachemnts are about 4 years old so I don't they have changed to much from what I have read is that the company is making the lids thinner. If you get newer ones you may have to use two.
From what I understand Ball and Kerr are the same company but for some reason Kerr lids work better. I have both kinds and I do have more problems with the Ball ones.
If you find you lids are not sealing correctly you may have to recondition them. This can be done by boiling them for five minutes and it will make them as good as new.
For the ladies who worry about their nails and trying to un-seal the jars, you can put a tiny hole in the lid and cover it with electrical tape then seal as usual. When you need to open the jar just pull the tape off and it will release the seal.
larruone May-05-07 11:41 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Oh really??!!!???
I can use regular Ball canning jars and lids?
Sweeeeeeet!
What kind of device do I need to make this work?
I see "jar sealers" on the website... is that them?
Verrrry verrrrrryyy NICE!
Thank you M2KD! :D
Mom2KatieDoodles May-05-07 11:51 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
You need the jar sealer. I have the both the large and small mouth jar sealer. Make sure you sealer has an accessories port.
Yes, you use regular canning jars and canning lids.
larruone May-05-07 01:01 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Thanks! I got a nifty hand held device with mine that
I haven't used yet. Pretty sure it will work with these.
Neato mosquito.. new toy!
wheeeeeee!
Cassie May-05-07 07:34 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2KatieDoodles (Post 469675)
It lasts so much longer when sealed in canning jars.
Yes, I noticed that even just using the bags, foods last much longer than advertised in the manual.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only true believer around. vacuum sealing food is such a great money saver and convenience.
I never gave much serious thought to getting one before but my MIL gave me one for xmas last year and I became an immediate fan. I've been doing once-a-month-cooking for years and this just took it to a whole new level. Now I'm doing once-a 6-month cooking LOL.
I also wash and reuse some bags occasionally, although I don't like how the opening becomes warped. I hadn't thought of freezing the washed bags though, great tip there! Thanks.
Another great tip someone here gave me was about scrambled chopmeat. My hubby absolutely loves Hamburger Helper but it's a pain to have to scramble/brown/drain the meat every time he gets an urge for it.
Now I buy those cheap 5 lb rolls of chopmeat or keep an eye out for a good meat sale, scramble/brown it all at once and divide it into 5 separate quart bags (flatten the bag of meat down as much as possible, so that it can be thawed in hot water in just minutes and takes up very little space in the freezer).
Now, when I make Hamburger Helper, it takes half the time since I don't have to deal with browning, straining and discarding the meat grease. Plus, sometimes hubby likes putting scrambled chopmeat on other meals too. It's just such a wonderful convenience.
Also, when I find good ground chuck on sale, I'll buy it up, take it home, season it for burgers, make the patties, vacuum and freeze em. You can grill them frozen, just keep your grill high from the heat and they will cook slow and beautifully right from the freezer. I have a ton of burgers in my freezer right now LOL
Also, vacuum sealing meats in marinades literally infuses the meat.
My sealer is one of the most important gadgets in my kitchen. If mine broke down today, I'd be buying another one tomorrow.
Cassie May-06-07 10:03 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I just want to add that tonight for dinner (and I'm home alone, hubby is on the road) I had home made stuffed shells with home made 8 hr slow cooked tomato sauce and sausage balls. And all I had to do was open three bags (stuffed shells, sausage, sauce), toss it all in a pan and bake. And it was mouth watering.
Did I mention that I love the combo of Once-A-Month cooking with a vacuum sealer? ROFL!
Once-A-Month...hell, more like once every few months!
moonrise May-06-07 11:49 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Cassie -- If I may ask, where do you find OMC recipes? I've found a few online, but not a whole lot. :)
Oh, and thanks to whoever posted the tip on inexpensive vacuum bags! I bought some just this weekend. :)
I'll have to try that canning jar trick! :D
Cassie May-08-07 11:04 PM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
I just multiply my own recipes and adjust cooking time. I haven't tried any of the online recipes yet though.
Cassie Jun-05-07 01:50 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
After two and a half months in the freezer, we had the last of our sealed stuffed shells and sealed sauce tonight and they were fantastic.
I don't recall if I mentioned this before but I took Goodworks advice and scrambled chopmeat by the pounds, sealed them into one pound portions and froze them. It's been such a great time saver to use in sauces, Hamburger Helper, Sloppy Joes and such.
I also made seasoned burger patties which cook great on a low heat grill from frozen. Tastes fantastic!
I'm absolutely sold for life on both once a month cooking and vacuum sealing. This is a fabulous combo.
Also, my hubby is not an onion fan but I love them. I have an onion in my fridge that is over a month old which I've been slicing bits off for stuff and re-sealing and it's as fresh as the day I bought it home.
Gotta love the sealer if for nothing more than money and time saving. Fantastic kitchen gadget.
Cassie Jun-05-07 02:10 AM
Re: OMC combined with a food sealer...
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonrise (Post 469943)
Cassie -- If I may ask, where do you find OMC recipes? I've found a few online, but not a whole lot.
I replied that I just multiply my recipes and cooking times. I wanted to expand on my reply a little.
Since you're cooking more, you want to use less heat and cook longer depending on what you're cooking.
For instance, when I do my tomato sauce, I used to cook about a quart for 4 hours. I now cook about 3 gallons or more for 8 hrs at a very low heat after bringing to a boil (the longer it cooks, the better the taste. The flavors condense during cooking). But be warned with tomato sauce...it get's more acidic as it cooks down so you'll want to add some sugar to counter that.
With stews, you have to add the taters and veggies much after the meat has stewed so that they don't get too soft. I usually add them in the last hour or two of cooking because they'll cook further while reheating.
Much of it is common sense and cooking experience.
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