Thanksgiving Food Pantry

Thanksgiving is coming up and you guys know I love to tout your local food pantry.

Contact them to find out what they can accept. The thing about where I live is they can't take fresh meats, cheeses, stuff like that. Sad, but true; they don't have a way to store it. But it all depends on where you live.

So check... dried stuff, absolutely! Canned stuff, absolutely! Pasta, sauces, soups...powdered milk, canned condensed milk. Rice of all kinds; beans, you know the red ones, the white ones; peas, lentils...

Canned chicken broth, beef broth, veggie broth... canned tomato sauces, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes; canned beans, canned corn. The thing about donating to the food pantry (around here) is you can't donate GLbutt. Milk comes in cans and cartons.

Check with your local food pantry. I'm sorry to say mine won't accept frozen meats or veggies. But every little bit helps.

OB Food:

Canned Corn Chowder (adapted)

4 strips chopped streaky bacon or fatback, fried in a deep pot 2 cans of sweet yellow whole kernel corn, drained 6 medium white potatoes, peeled and diced 1-2 large sweet onion, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 stalks celery, minced 3 Tbs. butter 8 c. chicken stock or broth, with water as needed 1-2 -1 tsp. salt (to taste) 1-2 tsp. or more ground black pepper to taste 1-4 -1-2 tsp. dried sage a little crushing of dried rosemary 1 pint of heavy cream

Saute the onion, garlic, and celery in butter and rendered bacon fat until tender in a deep pot. Stir in the corn briefly. Add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil with the potatoes and cook about 30 minutes. Stir in seasonings to taste. Reduce the heat to low and simmer about an hour. Add the cream and let the soup cook down so that it is a nice chowder. Adjust seasonings to taste. Thicken if necessary with a slurry of 1 Tbs. cornstarch combined with 2 times water if needed.

Jill