Magic Mix Entrees--Beef Stroganoff and Cheeseburger Mac 'n' Cheese

A couple of weeks ago, one blog reader asked for more Magic Mix recipes.  I immediately tried out making a banana cream pie and posted that.  It was pretty darn good.  I'm still thinking about it and considering the purchase of more freeze-dried bananas.

As fun as dessert is, though, dinner dishes are probably a bit more important for survival.  So first up for your consideration is a recipe for beef stroganoff.

I adapted the following recipe from one I found at Store This Not That.  The original called for a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of mushrooms and cooking in a slow cooker.  I modified it to using Magic Mix for the sauce and preparing it on the stove.

Beef Stroganoff
Serves 4-6

1/4 cup dried minced onion, rehydrated in 1/2 cup warm water
1 cup Magic Mix
1 can (4.5 oz) mushrooms, undrained, plus 1/4 cup water (OR 1/4 cup dehydrated mushrooms rehydrated in 1 cup water)
dash onion salt
1-2 drops Kitchen Bouquet, optional
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 lb cooked beef equivalent (canned, fresh, or dehydrated and rehydrated)
1 cup sour cream
Hot cooked noodles or rice


After the onions have rehydrated, prepare the cream sauce by combining the Magic Mix, liquid from the mushrooms, and water in a saucepan over low heat.  Cook until thickened and then stir in onion salt, Kitchen Bouquet, garlic salt, onions, and beef.  Just before serving, stir in sour cream and heat through.  Spoon over hot noodles or rice.

Now, for our evaluation.

Honestly, I didn't really care for the result.  However, I have to admit that I really like beef stroganoff, and I am particularly fond of my own recipe for it.  I prefer my stroganoff sauce to be primarily with butter, sour cream, and bouillon, and not the starchiness of the Magic Mix.  However, the kids all really enjoyed it.  They didn't like it better than mine, but they all ate the leftovers for the next two days, and that NEVER happens unless they really liked it the first time for dinner.  So, the recipe is a keeper for me, even though it's not my first choice for stroganoff if I have options.  (I would really like to try this recipe with dehydrated sour cream to see if it can truly be all from food storage, but I didn't want to sacrifice opening a can of dehydrated sour cream.  Sorry.)

Cheeseburger Mac 'n' Cheese is another recipe from Store This Not That which I adapted to use entirely food storage ingredients.  The original recipe called for a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in addition to everything else.  Everyone agreed that the veggies would be better eaten alone, and on top of that, none of us are planning on having bags of frozen veggies available post-collapse, though we do have dehydrated options as well as some Veg-All.

Cheeseburger Mac 'n' Cheese
Serves 6
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup dried onion, rehydrated in 1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup Magic Mix
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ketchup
2 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

Cook the macaroni in boiling water until tender and then drain.  While the noodles cook, brown the hamburger and onions in a skillet.  Combine the Magic Mix and water in the macaroni pot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until thickened.  Stir in cheese, salt, ketchup, and mustard.  Add in the cooked hamburger and noodles and heat through. 

I have to admit, I was very skeptical about trying this recipe.  I'm not a fan of cheeseburgers, and the idea of making cheeseburger macaroni just didn't sound appetizing.  But I thought we should give it a try.

First off, it does indeed taste like a cheeseburger.  It cooked up pretty quickly, just like store-bought Hamburger Helper, which makes it nice for a busy day.  Every ingredient is a food storage item for us.  And with the exception of the Queen of the Picky Eaters, who objects vehemently to onions, everyone in the family liked it.  Even QOTPE admitted that she liked it, once she picked out the onions.

Links to related posts on Magic Mix:
Magic Mix
Cream Soups and Recipe Replacements
Magic Mix Gravy 
Banana Cream Pie

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com    

28 august 2021

Coconut Oil for Butter in Magic Mix

A couple of months ago as I was substituting coconut oil for butter in baking some cookies, I got to wondering whether it would work to substitute coconut oil for butter in Magic Mix.  It's one thing to make cookies and cornbread with coconut oil, but how would it work in cream soups?  Gravy?  Pudding?

The idea of it kind of even grossed me out.  It just seems like eating that much oil could not possibly taste good, even though butter is pretty close to oil.  It's a huge mental block for me.  But in the interest of trying this out before TEOTWAWKI, I finally made myself do it.  I mean, I've had the idea for this post in the line-up of articles for at least six weeks, maybe longer, and I kept pushing it out.

So here are the results:

• Magic Mix chocolate pudding--could not detect a difference, even though we knew it was coconut oil instead of butter.
• Magic Mix Banana Cream Pie--I wish I didn't have to share.
• Magic Mix cream of chicken soup--nobody noticed.
• Magic Mix cream of tomato soup--pretty tasty and the crackers don't get soggy immediately like with SOS cream of tomato soup.
• Cheeseburger Mac 'n' Cheese--nobody noticed.  

There is a con to this substitution.  When it is stored in the refrigerator, the coconut oil hardens up a bit much and cannot easily be scooped into a measuring cup, whereas Magic Mix made with butter goes right into the measuring cup without any problem.  However, the coconut oil Magic Mix combines perfectly well with water on the stove.  Of course, the solution is not to store Coconut Oil Magic Mix in the refrigerator.  There's no water in the oil, so nothing to get the milk wet and initiate conditions conducive to spoiling.  Thus, no refrigeration required.

Overall, I am now convinced that I need to store even more coconut oil.  It works beautifully in everything I've tried it in.  It's far cheaper than dehydrated butter, canned butter, ghee, and as of the end of May 2020 for me, cheaper than regularly priced butter at the grocery store.  And it has a good shelf-life--at least five years, in my experience.  With as crazy as things are getting out these and shortages of items that have historically been very inexpensive and easy to purchase for us, I really believe you just can't have too much oil right now, especially coconut oil.

Links to related posts:
Magic Mix  
Coconut Oil--Alternative Medicine
Coconut Oil--Health Uses  
Emergency Baby Formula
Basic Food Storage--Coconut Oil
Great Granola Recipes with Coconut Oil
Food Storage Items I Wish I Hadn't Bought (And What to Use Instead)
23 august 2024