What's left in the pantry

We certainly don't live an extravagant life. I take it as a personal challenge to "make do" with limited resources — using free pallets for crafts, finding old chairs to makeover and rummaging through my pantry to create meals for the last week of the month, when our food budget has run dry.

It's laughable really. But sometimes frustrating when you realize your taste buds control more of your decision-making than you desire.

Last night I was forced to serve up a generous portion of Shepherd's Pie. I can't say that it would ever be my first meal choice. But when you're down the wire and the only meats you have left in your freezer are ground beef, ground venison and ground turkey, well you do what you can.

Ground meat meals are never my preference. Luckily I had a bag of frozen mixed veggies (carrots, peas, beans) and a box of instant mashed potatoes.

Now I will have to admit that I was quite disappointed when I found out that the half of onion and green pepper I had in the fridge had gone bad (I think it's the best way to sauté meat). I chose the ground turkey and resorted to a blend of dried seasonings — celery seed, onion salt, red pepper, Lawry's seasoning, paprika and basil (you really can't go wrong at this point unless you over salt).

After mixing the seasoned meat with chicken stock (it's all I had), the steamed mixed veggies and a little flour (for thickness), I topped the poor-man's meal with the cooked potatoes and shoved it all in the oven for a bit.

It was more than edible. It was actually pretty good, which was a good thing considering the casserole-dish sized portion I made for just the two of us. We'll be eating on that for a while.

And of course that sweet tooth came nagging pretty quickly. I try to keep my pantry stocked with general baking necessities — chocolate morsals, one cake mix, a box of brownie mix, flour, sugar, rolled oats, brown sugar, powdered sugar, well you get the idea. I've been eyeing that can of Eagle Brand on my pantry shelf for some time now. I love Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. I mean truly love it. I wish I could use it in every recipe just so I can scrape the last of it off the spoon with my finger and enjoy that little piece of heaven. It's so unique and tasty!

So my creativity went to work. I pulled out the chocolate chip muffin mix (the add-milk-only type — this is the way to go when you have no eggs) and a few odds and ends here and there to create what I am calling Creamy chocolate chip bread with banana crisp topping. It was amazing. The moist bread topped with the creamy yet crisp banana-flavored goodness sent chills to my toes.

Step into my kitchen...

---------------- Do It Yourself ----------------

The Recipe

Items:

Chocolate chip muffin mix

3/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup Cream cheese

1/2 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

2 sliced Bananas

3/4 to 1 cup Rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut

To do:

Mix muffin mix and milk as instructed on package (my mix was Martha White). Add in 1/4 cup (or 1/2 cup depending on flavor you want) cream cheese. 

Pour into bread pan and bake at 425* for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat Eagle Brand in small sauce pan until slight boil. Add sliced bananas and let Eagle Brand cover until bananas are softened. Fold in rolled oats and coconut. Keep this mixture simmering on stove top until bread is done. 

Remove bread from oven and top with banana mixture. Return to oven for an additional 8 minutes to allow bread to continue cooking and topping to crisp.

Remove and enjoy!