Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Free Dinner almost

Last night while I was searching for barley (shout out to Diane) in my food preps I realized that I never did a product review of the SPAM With Bacon, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6) that I bought on amazon last month. So since it turned out that the cupboards are bare when it comes to barely but not SPAM here is last nights dinner & review. Mind you it's no foodies delight just a good hearty meal.

Feeling kinda wealthy with the house smelling like bacon frying.



Tins now open easier than the old days when you were SOL if the key went missing. I didn't notice any huge chunks of bacon but then again it's SPAM so it's better not to investigate to closely. No, I won't debate SPAM or hot dogs so please no comments about what is exactly in there. All I know is that I enjoy eating it now & then.Besides the upside of affordability, there's the shelf life & easy of preparation. The "I'm eating meat " factor that we enjoy. While we do eat like were vegan/vegetarian 3 or 4 days a week it's nice to experience not just be nostalgic about bacon.  


Everything on the plate except Woods homemade hot sauce was free.
After frying up the SPAM with Bacon, I peeled & diced what was left of potatoes that were gleaned locally then added a cup of minced onion, the last one from the garden. Hubby nixed the idea of adding a vinegar sauce (German Potato Salad) so I just seasoned with sea salt & fresh cracked pepper, fresh rosemary. The green beans were also gleaned & pressure canned by me. Daughter had a serving of warm home caned applesauce on her plate. Both of us shared a pot of green tea I bought on Amazon for free a few months back.

Woodrunner  is all Chard out, so he forbade me to add any but we could have also had a fresh tossed Swiss Chard salad from the garden with dressing. The fancy salad greens that I planted last month never took so it's all about the Swiss for now. In the 3 weeks since I planted the cold frame with mature chard it's filled out well.

The hot sauce was canned by me but made by Woods. Recipe is similar to a few of Rochester's famous - Sal's Birdland & Country Sweet only made with Splenda because of diabetic issues. All I know is that standing over the canning pot filling jars I have no sinus issues. It's that hot. I'd have to say that almost half of the ingredients in his sauce were grown by us. 

We both curtailed our carbs all day yesterday because of the white potatoes for dinner. A better choice would have been sweet potatoes but I cook with what we can afford or have on hand. Unfortunately sweet potatoes don't grow in New York otherwise I'd been gleaning them.  

I give SPAM with Bacon a thumbs up & am planning on buying another 12 tins before the price goes up anymore jumped 4 cents since the last order.

I have $ burning a hole in my digital pocket so to speak just got $60 in amazon gift cards from swagbucks.
As in years past we are planning on making holiday gifts so for now I'll continue to use my free money mostly for groceries.


~~ pelenaka ~~

9 comments:

  1. I don't understand how you earn so many swagbucks.. I've been watching the videos but you have to watch 10 to get a measly 3 points...is there a faster way?

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  2. No there really isn't a faster method just that I don't watch the whole video. I only "watch" the ad once the meter goes up then I click on a new video. Right now I'm watching the shorter health vids in a separate browser window.
    My lap top is set up either on the kitchen table while I do chores or on my lap while I read,watch tv, knit, or like now.

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  3. That brings back a lot of memories. My grandfather was a diehard fan of Spam, he claimed that was the only thing he missed about the Navy :) Originally from the South, I make a version of scrapple that satisfies my boys taste for meat but is easy on the pocket book. I heat up any rich broth, stir in cornmeal and any bits of leftover meat I have in the fridge (and I mean bits!). Pour it into a bread pan overnight, it should be quite firm by then. Slice it and then fry it....I bet Spam would be good in that. This would not win any nutrition awards but it is filling and good.

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  4. I've had scrapple when my sitter came back from PA years ago she dragged some back with her.
    Interesting DIY recipe. Maybe if we both served with whole wheat biscuits, and fruit, lol.

    Does it required allot of cornmeal ?

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  5. Pelenaka,

    The old family guffaw here relates to my childhood so lost in antiquity we will mention it no further.

    Father was MOST insistent his son was to have meat for lunch since the poor child was so scrawny and undernourished. Mother was a fundamentally lazy sort who met Father's instruction by greasing up white bread with mayonnaise and laying thick cuts of...are you ready...Spam. And nothing else. Then sending me off to school. Every day, every week, every month, every year all my days in school.

    At first I ate them, later I traded lunch with other kids, later yet I sent them to the garbage can when the other kids started to get violent about it. Finally the garbage can started vomiting the Spam sandwiches back at me.

    To this day, millennia later, I cannot look a can of Spam in the eye. Sorry girl, ALL for you, NONE for me.

    Now when I look back on those times I have to admit Moher's idea of a "hot breakfast" was milk heated on the stove and ignored until a thick skin formed on the milk. Then this was poured over a bowl of soggies like Rice Crispies.

    So I could not force that awful stuff past my lips, the inevitable Spam lunch repast, is it any wonder I was pitifully thin as a kid.

    Best thing about childhood is if you survive it, you can move on.

    Cheers,

    Winston

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  6. Winston, all in the name of love. In my home my mom would give us cough syrup @ the 1st sound of a cough. No water chaser because that would rinse away the syrup. To this day I can not even smell fake cherry flavoring, so we are kindred souls in that respect.

    I btw would never eat SPAM straight from the can. Fried a golden hue is how I dine.

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  7. I love that photo of it frying on the woodstove. I checked out swagbucks too, but so many reviews on it complained of never getting many points. I'm amazed that you do so well with it.

    Homefire's homemade scrapple recipe looks like a "must try." My DH grew up in South Jersey, so loves scrapple. I think it's okay, but that recipe sounds like an excellent way to deal with scraps.

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  8. In some ways having the stove up & running makes like easier. I can dry coats & boots, herbs, laundry, keep a cup of tea warm, besides just bake & cook. Thank you.
    I was thinking that maybe the scrapple recipe would work with poultry. We never have any left over pork, lol.

    Swagbucks is like anything else, you get what you put into it. The real value IMHO is in the value of what I am able to buy taking advantage of sales, coupons & free shipping.

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  9. I'm loving getting the extra swagbucks from videos. I'll miss them when it goes back to maxing out at 75sbs. I'm going to order a case of the bacon Spam.

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Thanks, good to know there are other's with this interest