Kitchen Tip Tuesday--Pantry Meals #2

I was asked again to bring a meal to a family at my church. When I do meals for others I usually make more of what I am fixing for my family's dinner. However, today I am doing something else to take to the family. I am doing one of my pantry meals! I have talked before about pantry meals and the benefits of having items on hand.

So today I thought I would share with another one of my pantry meals!

On the menu....



Cheesy Tuna Mac

1 box Mac & Cheese dinner

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp. butter/margarine

1 6oz can tuna in water

1 can cream of chicken soup

2-3 tbsp. minced onions

2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder

Cook the macaroni according to package directions; drain. Stir in the milk, butter and contents of cheese packet. Add soup, tuna, onions and spices. Mix togther. Cook covered at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until heated through.

With taking this to the family, I will have it put altogether and cooked for the 20 minutes so that all she has to do is bake it for the additional minutes to heat it through.

To go along with the main dish, I will have a bag of frozen peas, homemade crusty rolls(do the dough up in my breadmachine and bake it in the oven) and frosted sugar cookies.

French Bread or Crusty French Rolls(2 lb loaf or 18 crusty rolls)....
11 1/2 ounces of 80° water(1 1/4 cups + 3 Tbsp.)
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast OR 2 tsp. bread machine/fast rise yeast

Add liquid ingredients to bread machine pan. Add dry ingredients. Put the butter/margarine in the corners of the pan. Set machine on dough setting. Once done, place dough onto floured surface. Let rest for 15 minutes. Shape dough into bread loaf. Let rise for 30 minutes. Put on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 15-20 minutes or til golden brown.

Notes: I didn't grease my cookie sheet, because of using my stoneware cookie sheet. I used 2 tsp. of instant yeast(some of the 2-1lb.packs that you can get at Sam's Club for cheaper than buying the 3 packs of yeast in the grocery store!)

The cookies are sugar cookies(used a cookie mix pouch that I got in my deal shopping) and about 1/4-1/2 container of store bought frosting for the whole batch of 24 cookies and then harvest/autumn sprinkles.

Just to give a breakdown on the cost of the meal...

• Cheesy Tuna Mac $2.50
• Crusty Rolls $1.00
• bag of frozen peas 50¢
• 12 frosted sugar cookies 63¢

Grand Total: $4.63
**prices are all "deal" prices!**