oddball ingredients turned into good snacks and fun play dough

I recently did some organizing in my freezer space and pantry and found a few ingredients that were not getting used.  One was a big bag of whole plain unblanched almonds.

Another was 2 boxes of store brand crackers that just don't taste as good as name brand crackers. 

 

I try to avoid food waste-     

though sometimes it really can't be helped, 

if you cook most all your meals at home like we do,  you will just overbuy occassionally, or forget something that spoils or you will overcook and-

 

Still,  I wanted to use up those almonds and crackers if possible. 

So here is what I made.

On the right are the candied almonds made from a 3 pound bag of whole almonds that had been in the freezer for too long.  I found a number of complicated candied almond recipes online but chose this simple one at Owl Haven.    It is basically 2 pounds of almonds mixed with 1 well beaten egg white,  then coated with 1 cup of sugar and some cinnamon, and baked on low for hour.  They are really good and got the thumbs up from my husband and 3 grown children. 
I think these would be a good gift - all nuts are expensive but almonds seem lower priced than the rest of their nut friends. 

On the left are Fire Crackers- a delicious snack made with crackers, then coated with oil and lots of spicy hot spices including 3 tablespoons of red chili flakes. - these are a great snack when watching football games and are don't forget a cold drink while you eat them. 
The recipe does call for a lot of oil and you can cut it back some but the oil is what makes the seasonings stick to the crackers and also adds that rich cracker taste. 
For this batch,  I used 3 tubes of saltine type crackers and 2 tubes of ritz type crackers. 

My stepson and daughter in law currently have 3 milk cows and not enough milk customers so I can get just about all the milk from them I can use.  Milk straight from the cow also has rich cream that settles on the top. 

I used about almost 2 quarts of that cream to make 6 batches of freezer biscuits.

I like this recipe from the King Arthur Flour site. 

It is pretty basic biscuit flour recipe except instead of cutting in the butter or shortening and then adding milk,  it just uses cream for the fat and liquid. 

Skipping that cutting in part saves lots of time and the cream makes really delicous biscuits. 

I freeze them on a cookie sheet,  then bag them up when frozen solid. 

When we want biscuits,  I just bake a few in the toaster oven-  so so good!

 

I plan on trying a yogurt recipe this week and potato sausage in on the menu for later this week too-

and I will still have plenty of milk~ 

 

 

 

Play Dough at the grand children's request

made with pantry ingredients

I put it in a plastic bag and in a plastic container,  just to be sure it does not dry out in between uses. 

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups cold water
Food coloring
cutting board
Plastic bag or container

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the flour, salt, vegetable oil, cream of tartar, and water.

2. Cook uncovered over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Stir constantly until the dough is the consistency of mashed potatoes.

3. Divide the dough into four equal portions.

4. Add approximately 6 to 8 drops of food coloring to each portion and knead the color into the dough to distribute it evenly.

5. store the play dough in a plastic bag or airtight container,  and I don't know if it is neccessary, but I keep it in the fridge. 

 

After I had already made this traditional batch,  I read on Mary Ann's blog where she made Pumpkin Pie Play Dough,  doesn't that sound good? 

 

 

I love it when I end up with so many useful things using items on hand and no special trips to the store! 

 

 

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