Pantry Cooking

DH was at Trader Joe's last night and they were doing a tasting demo.  He brought home the recipe and a box of the cornbread mix.  When I looked at the recipe, I discovered that I already have everything either in the pantry or freezer. I am going to divide this into 3 separate containers.  I'll freeze two and cook the other for din-din tonight. Here's the recipe:

 

Baked  Cornbread Chili

1 pkg. 80/20 ground beef (about a lb. worth)     freezer

                      1 cup diced onions *                                 food storage

           2 cans beef chili with beans                   pantry

     1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies    pantry

             1 package shredded cheddar cheese **      freezer         

                         1 box cornbread mix                 pantry

Saute beef with onions until cooked.  Add chili and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Place meat mixture in a casserole dish and top with shredded cheese.  Prepare cornbread mix according to package directions and pour over the shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until thee top is firm and golden brown.

*Dehydrated onions will keep for a long time and come in handy when a recipe calls for onions. They can be used in soups, stews, sauces, seasonings and to add flavor. When substituting dehydrated onions for fresh onions, use 1/4 cup of dehydrated chopped onions to one cup of fresh, chopped onions.
Re-hydrate the onions only when a recipe calls for a fresh onion and its other ingredients doesn't supply the necessary moisture for hydration. For example, it isn't necessary to hydrate the dried onions when adding it to soup. To hydrate dried onions, add two cups of water to one cup of dried onions and soak for almost an hour. Do this when you are ready to use the onions.  Info courtesy of eHow.com

**I buy a large 5 lb. bag of fancy shredded cheddar at Smart & Final (big box store).  I then divide the package into 8 oz. portions. (I use a kitchen scale) I place each 8 oz. portion into a freezer bag.  I take the smaller bags and place them in a larger size freezer bag.  I keep one bag out for use as needed in the fridge. 
This saves a lot of money and makes it convenient since most times the cheese is never on sale when you need that 1 cup of shredded cheddar.