Santiam Cannery

I've blogged about Santiam Cannery before. 

http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/04/santiam-cannery.html

My grandparents were farmers near Stayton.  They grew beans, corn, wheat, peppermint, strawberries and other crops.  Every year, Grandpa negotiated a contract with the "cannery man."  Grandpa agreed to plant certain numbers of acres of the crops they wanted and the cannery agreed to buy the entire crop at an agreed upon price per pound. 

When the crop was ready, they hawled it in two ton farm trucks round the clock to a cannery in Stayton owned by Santiam Cannery.  I drove some of those trucks a couple years.  The Santiam Cannery brand is still out there, but now it is owned by Norpac.  Norpac has its corporate offices in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  Norpac also owns Flav R Pac. 

So there you are.  My brands for frozen and canned vegetables through the winter.

Tater Tot Casserole

The hamburger from the 1/2 cow we bought is awesome, lean and pretty.  Clearly a quality improvement over grocery store hamburger. 

Click here for that story.
http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/08/local-meat.html

Tonight I'm cooking one pound of my hamburger, a chopped shallot and a good tablespoon of my elephant garlic from Diane's Produce Market 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Into the cooked hamburger, I'm adding 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of Santiam brand green beans, drained.  Salt and pepper to taste.  You can turn it into a big casserole dish or start with a large oven safe skillet. 

Arrange 1 package (28 oz) frozen tator tots on top.  Bake 60 minutes or until the tator tots are hot and crispy.  Okay, so it's not gourmet, but it smells good and reminds me of happy things.  Husband comes through the kitchen saying he is looking forward to eating it. And just tell me that the kids won't eat that!  I wouldn't tell on you if you put catchup on it.

Remember to play with your food.

Linked with Simple Lives at Sustainable Eats

http://www.sustainableeats.com/2010/10/14/simple-lives-october-14-2010/