Canned Food Ideas for Supper

 Many people believe that canned food has a bland taste but with a little creativity and interesting ingredients it can be flavourful. Canned food is a long-lasting food item which means that you can store in your kitchen cupboard for months or years. Be sure to check the expiry label. In addition, most canned food has already been cooked and is being preserved in the can which cuts down on cooking time.

Canned lentils are great if you don't have time for shuffling through the tiny legumes and boiling them. If you have a can of lentils then you have already completed half of your supper. Great dishes to make using these legumes include curries, spinach and feta salads, and pasta sauce.

Canned tomatoes are the fastest way to make a traditional red pasta sauce. Instead of blanching the tomatoes, which requires you to soak them in hot water and then peeling them, you can simply add the already blanched tomatoes into the pot. Make sure that you fry half an onion in oil and salt before adding the tomato.

Sweetcorn is a great side dish to have with dinner. Fry the canned sweetcorn in butter and cayenne pepper to create a delicious and healthy alternative. It is also quicker to cook the sweetcorn in the microwave than cooking the whole corn cob.

Although many people are not fond of pilchards there are those that really enjoy it. Plus it is a healthy food which can easily be laid onto a slice of bread. For added flavour in the pilchards add some hot sauce for a tangy sandwich with a bite.

Many desserts are canned too. Canned fruit is the most popular and it is a delicious dessert that indulges your senses. Add some custard, ice cream or sweet ideal milk for delicious variations for dessert. Fruit meringue is a light dessert that everyone can enjoy. Fill the meringue with the canned fruit of your choice and then top it up with whipped cream. This is a simple Pavlova that anyone can make.

Lunch spreads also come in cans and it is great for making lunch or snacks for your children. Jam is one of them. Spread it on bread for tasty sweet sandwiches or take two Marie Biscuits and spread apricot jam on the one side. Close the two biscuits together to make a biscuit sandwich. It's a sweet treat that doesn't contain as much sugar as cake.

Stock up your kitchen cupboards with canned food so that you always have a quick meal solution. Wholesale suppliers will have a range of different types of canned food that you could get cheaply in bulk.

Tips For Cooking Collard Greens

 Collard greens (Brassica oleracea) are loose-leaved like kale and spinach. You can eat them raw, although they are better when cooked.

Collard greens cook relatively quickly and are best sauteed in olive oil. However, if you are not a vegetarian, you can try cooking them with bacon for added taste. This is my preferred way of cooking them. Simply heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the sliced bacon first, until it is crispy. Then remove it from the heat and crumble it before putting it back in the pan.

Next add the kale and cover it with chicken stock, adding red pepper flakes and seasoning. Simmer for about 45 minutes or less, until the greens are tender.If you want to cook the greens quickly, slice them into medium-sized pieces and add olive oil to a frying pan. When it's hot add the ingredients you intend using. You can add chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to spice up the rather bland taste of the collard greens. Add the greens to the pan and saute them for about four minutes, or until they are bright green.

If you have a slow cooker you can cook the greens with ham hocks for a southern-style dish. Use chicken stock and seasoning to enhance the flavours. It's best to cook this dish over night. Be careful when removing the ham hocks as you don't want to leave any slivers of bone in the greens. Then stir them. Let the hocks cool before attempting to handle them. You need to remove all the fat from the hocks and of course, remove the bone from each hock.

Put the meat back into the slow cooker and add the greens, stirring them so that the meat and vegetables are combined well. You may want to reheat the mixture before serving this traditional Southern-style dish.

If you are vegetarian, stick with the garlic and red pepper flakes and, naturally the greens, but add chopped spring onions, and some other greens, such as kale, and turnip and mustard greens.These go very well together and some chopped tomatoes would also help to enhance the flavour. To spice them up a little, you can add tamari, or the more usual soy sauce, smoked paprika (or a hot paprika), and seasoning. 

These green leaves are very nutritious, containing, as they do vitamins K, A, E and B complex ones. As for minerals they have iron, manganese, and calcium, to name just a few. Why not cook some and give yourself a healthy treat?