Oh, dear readers - I'm sorry to have neglected you over these past two weeks or so, and now look - December's here already! Well, things continue to perk along at our house with the Pantry Project, but Thanksgiving did get in the way. We had to do some grocery shopping for grandchildren coming unexpectedly to stay - that was fun! Funny thing...you have to feed kids more often than adults...did you know that?!! I typically don't even think about breakfast or lunch very much...just help yourself to whatever's there. Dinner is the main focus for the adults. Children, however, are another story! So there were more groceries bought than would have been usual for us, on top of the larger Thanksgiving purchases. Now that we've pretty much finished everything there was at Thanksgiving, or frozen a few things, we're kind of back to our 'normal' eating down.
The other day my stepson Doug said, "You have GOT to be finished by now!" Well, not quite. We do have room on the shelves in the pantry. Aside from some condiments, quinoa, farro, and a little pasta remaining, there are just a few cans of items that I always have on hand that I am trying DESPERATELY to use up. I would like to see less of the above before going back to whatever normal will be.
Since last I wrote, we have enjoyed Quickie Chickie a couple of times, more homemade pizza, turkey soup, leftover turkey and various trimmings, and a couple of dinners of just leftover veggies and sweet potatoes. Didn't know I'd made so much, and those little rascally grandchildren talked me into allowing them ONE broccoli floret each, ONE carrot each, ONE tablespoon of sweet potatoes each...sigh... We keep trying!
We do have a freezer full of delicious turkey soup, into which I was able to put a little leftover carnaroli rice (I did cook some one night) and used up the last of some barley I had on hand. The soup is delicious, and we look forward to having more in the cold months to come.
I'll probably post only once a week or so as things slow down for us in the pantry department, and gear up for the Christmas activities ahead. If anything really exciting happens in our kitchen, though, I'll be sure and let you know.
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
I'm back...
What a long time it's been between posts...apologies to my understanding readers! Work has consumed my life these last 2 weeks or so, but I'm determined to catch up once again. I had previously tried to post every single weekday so I wouldn't forget what we'd done the night/day before. Since I obviously haven't done that, I'm going to give you some general ideas on what we've done to continue "eating down the pantry and freezer."
We continue to eat down our on-hand carbs. As friend Emilie pointed out the other day, "You must have LOTS of pasta on hand!" Actually, thin spaghetti is something we HAVE bought since this started, but at the same time we've concentrated on the other pastas already on the shelves. I now only have 1/2 box of lasagna, an unopened box of carnaroli rice, and a partial bag of curly noodles. I read about carnaroli rice about 8 months ago in a cookbook, "Lydia Cooks from the Heart of Italy", and thought it sounded good. Very shortly afterward, I picked up a box at Big Lots. Haven't touched it since. Typical, isn't it?
We have really enjoyed several creative dishes during this time. I made a delicious soup from cans of chicken broth and tomatoes with chilies, chickpeas, carrots, onions, and a sprinkling of cumin. One night Ken served pork chops, potatoes, salad, and a veg I can't remember - that was Ken getting his meat fix. Another night I intended to roast veggies and put them over couscous. My sweet husband chopped the veg, but they were too small for roasting...so I sauteed them in olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, chicken broth and a good splash of white wine. When the mixture had cooked down a bit, there was a nice sauce that we ate over either couscous or quinoa - I can't remember. It was wonderful!
There's been the ubiquitous scrambled eggs with bits of leftover things added - we do love that. One night I discovered pizza sauce in the freezer, so enlisted our grandchildren in pizza dough-making...they are very good at it! We split the dough and the sauce, and they took it home to cook with Dad. Ours had onion and cheese, I think. Yesterday we worked on some hummus I'd bought for company a few days ago, eating it with celery sticks. A nice beef stew was on the table last night, made with some on-sale chuck, and onions and carrots on hand. I'm trying desperately to use up some balsamic vinegar that's been hanging around so that went in to the stew. There's also a little bit left of the mushroom ketchup we bought in Cornwall a year ago. It adds a flavor that isn't matched by anything else I typically have on hand, so into stews it goes. There are other uses for it - friend Derrick adds it to risottos. Fresh broccoli and spinach salad accompanied the stew.
Breakfast over the weekend was Irish soda bread, one of my favorite things to bake. It's so easy if you plan ahead and have buttermilk in the fridge. I like to keep buttermilk on hand just for this reason.
Well, for the most part that's what I can remember. Sorry it's not more detailed, but that's life these days. With Thanksgiving coming up, and company coming, I did shop for groceries this weekend. It was the strangest feeling, but a good one. I enjoy grocery shopping anyway, but this time I had pictures of the fridge, freezer and pantry in my mind much more clearly than before. Not only did I buy fresh veg and fruit, cheese, oj and salad items as we've been doing over the past couple of months, I bought turkey and a couple of other dinner items that haven't been on my list for a long time. There's a plan for every single thing I bought, either specifically for Thankgiving Day, or other meals during the week. Still, with a trip to Trader Joe's, Aldi (one of my favorites), and Harris Teeter, I still only spent about $100. (Check Aldi for sweet ripe pineapples and red/yellow/orange peppers - two of my favorite things to buy there.)
I hope to keep you better informed about what we're doing, now that a couple of work projects have slowed. Have a nice Thanksgiving, and keep me posted on what you're doing in your pantry. See you tomorrow.
We continue to eat down our on-hand carbs. As friend Emilie pointed out the other day, "You must have LOTS of pasta on hand!" Actually, thin spaghetti is something we HAVE bought since this started, but at the same time we've concentrated on the other pastas already on the shelves. I now only have 1/2 box of lasagna, an unopened box of carnaroli rice, and a partial bag of curly noodles. I read about carnaroli rice about 8 months ago in a cookbook, "Lydia Cooks from the Heart of Italy", and thought it sounded good. Very shortly afterward, I picked up a box at Big Lots. Haven't touched it since. Typical, isn't it?
We have really enjoyed several creative dishes during this time. I made a delicious soup from cans of chicken broth and tomatoes with chilies, chickpeas, carrots, onions, and a sprinkling of cumin. One night Ken served pork chops, potatoes, salad, and a veg I can't remember - that was Ken getting his meat fix. Another night I intended to roast veggies and put them over couscous. My sweet husband chopped the veg, but they were too small for roasting...so I sauteed them in olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, chicken broth and a good splash of white wine. When the mixture had cooked down a bit, there was a nice sauce that we ate over either couscous or quinoa - I can't remember. It was wonderful!
There's been the ubiquitous scrambled eggs with bits of leftover things added - we do love that. One night I discovered pizza sauce in the freezer, so enlisted our grandchildren in pizza dough-making...they are very good at it! We split the dough and the sauce, and they took it home to cook with Dad. Ours had onion and cheese, I think. Yesterday we worked on some hummus I'd bought for company a few days ago, eating it with celery sticks. A nice beef stew was on the table last night, made with some on-sale chuck, and onions and carrots on hand. I'm trying desperately to use up some balsamic vinegar that's been hanging around so that went in to the stew. There's also a little bit left of the mushroom ketchup we bought in Cornwall a year ago. It adds a flavor that isn't matched by anything else I typically have on hand, so into stews it goes. There are other uses for it - friend Derrick adds it to risottos. Fresh broccoli and spinach salad accompanied the stew.
Breakfast over the weekend was Irish soda bread, one of my favorite things to bake. It's so easy if you plan ahead and have buttermilk in the fridge. I like to keep buttermilk on hand just for this reason.
Well, for the most part that's what I can remember. Sorry it's not more detailed, but that's life these days. With Thanksgiving coming up, and company coming, I did shop for groceries this weekend. It was the strangest feeling, but a good one. I enjoy grocery shopping anyway, but this time I had pictures of the fridge, freezer and pantry in my mind much more clearly than before. Not only did I buy fresh veg and fruit, cheese, oj and salad items as we've been doing over the past couple of months, I bought turkey and a couple of other dinner items that haven't been on my list for a long time. There's a plan for every single thing I bought, either specifically for Thankgiving Day, or other meals during the week. Still, with a trip to Trader Joe's, Aldi (one of my favorites), and Harris Teeter, I still only spent about $100. (Check Aldi for sweet ripe pineapples and red/yellow/orange peppers - two of my favorite things to buy there.)
I hope to keep you better informed about what we're doing, now that a couple of work projects have slowed. Have a nice Thanksgiving, and keep me posted on what you're doing in your pantry. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Winding down the week...
My days have flown by, jammed with work, meetings and projects, that I have all but ignored posting this week. Since I was gently reminded by a friend that basically I was a slacker this week, here I am again. If I don't do this every day I forget what was on the table so it really needs to be on a front burner, not a back burner.
Just as I'd hoped, Monday's dinner WAS pasta with the chunky tomato sauce...it is such a flavorful mixture of onion, garlic, canned tomatoes, and fresh basil. All this was on hand, since the basil is still standing quite tall in the garden. If there's enough, I'm going to get out there and harvest the rest to make end-of-summer-into-fall pesto and freeze it.
Last night we enjoyed some of the remaining crockpot chicken from Sunday's dinner. Ken added baked sweet potatoes and a wonderful salad. That was nice. Tonight we'll likely have some BBQ we'd frozen from the church affair a couple of weeks ago. There's more than enough for a dinner, so it will probably show up in a lunch tomorrow or Friday. Small amounts of some leftovers are piling up, so this might be a good night to investigate those and dish them up as well.
So here we are, two months into this project—and still surprised at how much we have on hand to work through and eat down. I looked at the freezer contents last night, and they just aren't diminishing the way they should. There are STILL packets of vegetables, oddments of things I haven't used yet, new things like cranberries because you can never have enough and they always get harder to find around the holidays...I'm not sure why it still looks full. I think I'll investigate more of the packets over the weekend. Maybe I'll just thaw something and whatever it is - that's dinner. Hmmm...a little scary, but we can always add a salad to these mystery bits. Are you considering doing something like this too? Or are you already doing it? Have we given you some ideas? Do let me know, and I'll keep letting you know. There may be a little delay till the next post, so stay tuned.
Just as I'd hoped, Monday's dinner WAS pasta with the chunky tomato sauce...it is such a flavorful mixture of onion, garlic, canned tomatoes, and fresh basil. All this was on hand, since the basil is still standing quite tall in the garden. If there's enough, I'm going to get out there and harvest the rest to make end-of-summer-into-fall pesto and freeze it.
Last night we enjoyed some of the remaining crockpot chicken from Sunday's dinner. Ken added baked sweet potatoes and a wonderful salad. That was nice. Tonight we'll likely have some BBQ we'd frozen from the church affair a couple of weeks ago. There's more than enough for a dinner, so it will probably show up in a lunch tomorrow or Friday. Small amounts of some leftovers are piling up, so this might be a good night to investigate those and dish them up as well.
So here we are, two months into this project—and still surprised at how much we have on hand to work through and eat down. I looked at the freezer contents last night, and they just aren't diminishing the way they should. There are STILL packets of vegetables, oddments of things I haven't used yet, new things like cranberries because you can never have enough and they always get harder to find around the holidays...I'm not sure why it still looks full. I think I'll investigate more of the packets over the weekend. Maybe I'll just thaw something and whatever it is - that's dinner. Hmmm...a little scary, but we can always add a salad to these mystery bits. Are you considering doing something like this too? Or are you already doing it? Have we given you some ideas? Do let me know, and I'll keep letting you know. There may be a little delay till the next post, so stay tuned.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Catching up again...
Quick update of the last few days, of which I'm pretty proud! My sweet husband greeted me at home on Friday night with the makings of dinner - hamburgers, avocado slices, onion slices, and the ubiquitous carrot sticks. He read my mind (what? you bought something??) and said, "I know, I know! I couldn't help myself! I've been dreaming about hamburgers!" Cracked me up. What a terrific combination it was, too - extremely tasty, despite its simplicity.
Saturday's breakfast/brunch was a few leftover potato chunks crisped up in oil, over-easy eggs, and toast. Yum. Saturday night saw us out for a nice dinner with friend Peggy. While grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon, I picked up some boneless chicken thighs on sale, to use for Sunday night. I sliced up onions, laid some of the thighs on top, and added a sauce mixture of a bit of leftover BBQ sauce and homemade fig preserves. It certainly didn't need the fig preserves added, but since they never really thickened up to a spreadable consistency, I'm trying desperately to think of ways to use them. It was a nice addition, I think. On a bed of rice, and with edamame and a couple of avocado slices on the side, this was a really delicious dinner. There's enough left over for at least one more dinner. I also froze 4 of the thighs for future use.
It was interesting that Ken and I both went shopping on Friday afternoon - he for dinner fixings, and me for a couple of things I knew we needed. Neither of us told the other we were stopping at the store. We each came home with 2 identical items - bread and avocados. Why avocados??? I'm not sure, but it was amusing to me. It may be Quick Chunky Tomato Sauce over pasta tonight, if things work out. We've got some fresh basil still holding on in the garden, and this recipe calls for it. With a can of whole tomatoes and some onion and garlic, it's simple and quick, and fits the busy schedule. Throw together a quick salad (I bought spinach, red onion, and green pepper) and I'll let you know what we end up with. I know it'll be good...even if it's an omelet and toast. See you tomorrow.
Saturday's breakfast/brunch was a few leftover potato chunks crisped up in oil, over-easy eggs, and toast. Yum. Saturday night saw us out for a nice dinner with friend Peggy. While grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon, I picked up some boneless chicken thighs on sale, to use for Sunday night. I sliced up onions, laid some of the thighs on top, and added a sauce mixture of a bit of leftover BBQ sauce and homemade fig preserves. It certainly didn't need the fig preserves added, but since they never really thickened up to a spreadable consistency, I'm trying desperately to think of ways to use them. It was a nice addition, I think. On a bed of rice, and with edamame and a couple of avocado slices on the side, this was a really delicious dinner. There's enough left over for at least one more dinner. I also froze 4 of the thighs for future use.
It was interesting that Ken and I both went shopping on Friday afternoon - he for dinner fixings, and me for a couple of things I knew we needed. Neither of us told the other we were stopping at the store. We each came home with 2 identical items - bread and avocados. Why avocados??? I'm not sure, but it was amusing to me. It may be Quick Chunky Tomato Sauce over pasta tonight, if things work out. We've got some fresh basil still holding on in the garden, and this recipe calls for it. With a can of whole tomatoes and some onion and garlic, it's simple and quick, and fits the busy schedule. Throw together a quick salad (I bought spinach, red onion, and green pepper) and I'll let you know what we end up with. I know it'll be good...even if it's an omelet and toast. See you tomorrow.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
As I suspected, delicious leftover BBQ was on the menu last night. Neighbor Shearin gave us a bottle of pepper vinegar she'd made with hot peppers from her garden, and we tentatively poured a little over the meat, as it was a tad dry. It really perked up the flavor and was very tasty. Boiled potatoes, carrot sticks, and apple slices rounded out the simple repast. I was happy to use more carrots, some of the remaining BBQ and the apples I'd bought.
It's occurred to me that there are some things that are just staples in our house that I hadn't really thought about: peanut butter, for one. My sweet husband LOVES peanut butter. It's always on hand, and when I scrape the last bit out of a jar, I put it on the list. We (well, I) always buy whatever all-natural brand is cheapest or on sale. If it's just peanuts, or just peanuts and salt, it's in my cart. Usually we have at least 3 jars on the shelf at any one time, a combination of creamy and crunchy. I'm a crunchy person myself. We often find ourselves stopping at the grocery store separately and wondering, "Did we NEED peanut butter, or did we already HAVE peanut butter?" More often than not we didn't need it, but bought it. Hence the peanut butter shelf in the pantry. I noticed this morning we now have a jar of store brand NOT natural peanut butter on the shelf. It contains 3 kinds of oil and 2 sweeteners (I think) - I'm trying to remember what the label said, but it's vague. Anyway, it's just amusing to me that the person who eats 99% of the peanut butter, which ALWAYS has an all-natural label of some description, came home with the above.
I just heard from the homefront that the leftover Cuban black beans were delicious at lunch. So I'm not sure what's for dinner tonight. I don't think there are any other leftovers. As I've said before, I love an omelet and toast for dinner...or it could be pancakes...or baked potatoes (I'm just a tad weary of them, but if someone else makes them, I'm in). Maybe I'll actually buy something on the way home tonight just to hedge my bets. Enjoy your dinner tonight, and I'll tell you about mine tomorrow.
It's occurred to me that there are some things that are just staples in our house that I hadn't really thought about: peanut butter, for one. My sweet husband LOVES peanut butter. It's always on hand, and when I scrape the last bit out of a jar, I put it on the list. We (well, I) always buy whatever all-natural brand is cheapest or on sale. If it's just peanuts, or just peanuts and salt, it's in my cart. Usually we have at least 3 jars on the shelf at any one time, a combination of creamy and crunchy. I'm a crunchy person myself. We often find ourselves stopping at the grocery store separately and wondering, "Did we NEED peanut butter, or did we already HAVE peanut butter?" More often than not we didn't need it, but bought it. Hence the peanut butter shelf in the pantry. I noticed this morning we now have a jar of store brand NOT natural peanut butter on the shelf. It contains 3 kinds of oil and 2 sweeteners (I think) - I'm trying to remember what the label said, but it's vague. Anyway, it's just amusing to me that the person who eats 99% of the peanut butter, which ALWAYS has an all-natural label of some description, came home with the above.
I just heard from the homefront that the leftover Cuban black beans were delicious at lunch. So I'm not sure what's for dinner tonight. I don't think there are any other leftovers. As I've said before, I love an omelet and toast for dinner...or it could be pancakes...or baked potatoes (I'm just a tad weary of them, but if someone else makes them, I'm in). Maybe I'll actually buy something on the way home tonight just to hedge my bets. Enjoy your dinner tonight, and I'll tell you about mine tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Catching up...
Yesterday flew by in a heartbeat so I couldn't even think about posting here. I'll catch up today. Tuesday night's supper was nice and simple - baked potatoes and salad again. We splurged with a little sour cream which, because I never use sour cream on baked potatoes, tasted almost too much. I typically use a little butter and ground pepper - that's my favorite. Anyway, it was most enjoyable, followed later on by popcorn. Yum. Last night I tried to get us out of the baked potato rut, and succeeded nicely. Remember the lone can of tuna that I've been trying to use? I picked it up and studied what else was on the pantry shelf. Okay, a small can of sliced black olives would do, and two boxes of thin spaghetti. I've been using half white and half wheat pasta, and have finally found the wheat one we actually enjoy. It's Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti, and blends right into the white stuff so you don't really even see it. I chopped up an onion (always on hand) and a couple cloves of garlic (always on hand), sauteeing them in olive oil (always on hand). Once they were soft, I added a blob of butter for a little richness, and about 1/3 cup of white wine (usually on hand). Once the spaghetti was done, I blended the whole thing together. We enjoyed the combination very much, and will definitely use it again. We had carrot sticks on the side (no, not that pitiful early bag of carrots I couldn't seem to get rid of - this is a new bag, which is dwindling at a satisfactory pace.)
Now, what's for dinner tonight? Not sure, though it could possibly be barbecue, from our church's BBQ sale this weekend. We bought extra and froze it, but I suspect my husband has been eating it for lunches. If so, we won't have it for dinner. I'm always up for an omelet and toast, so perhaps that'll be it. Of course, as my sweet husband is wont to say, "There's always popcorn." See you tomorrow.
Now, what's for dinner tonight? Not sure, though it could possibly be barbecue, from our church's BBQ sale this weekend. We bought extra and froze it, but I suspect my husband has been eating it for lunches. If so, we won't have it for dinner. I'm always up for an omelet and toast, so perhaps that'll be it. Of course, as my sweet husband is wont to say, "There's always popcorn." See you tomorrow.
Monday, November 1, 2010
There has been a definite paring down of our pantry and fridge over the past few days. Friday night brought us the broiled stuffed mushrooms and spaghetti with Ken's sauce, with a salad on the side. What a yummy dinner! All of it was either freshly bought produce or already on hand. Sunday was one of those pickup dinners...baked potatoes and Halloween candy. Yep - it was good. Last night I prepped for tonight's dinner, and made a family favorite - Cuban Black Beans - from "New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant", a dog-eared friend. I didn't buy a thing - garlic, onions, diced tomatoes, black beans (I added a can of navy beans because I didn't have enough black beans), and spices...of course, now I have to buy more garlic and onion. That just needs to be heated tonight, some rice or quinoa added, and a little salad.
The best thing is - there is a TON of space on our pantry shelves! Well, maybe not tons - but much more than there was last week. I'm VERY excited - it was a great feeling to see so few cans of various beans and tomatoes. I also threw away a couple of things from the freezer over the weekend, having no idea what they were OR realizing they were freezer-burned. Actually, it's into the compost bin they go, so it's not a total loss.
This week we'll augment with some barbecue from our church's annual barbecue lunch over the weekend. I foresee some more baked potatoes too, and it looks as if I'll have to cave in and buy some meat and/or fish. If I do, I'll try to plan for each of the aforementioned items making do for 2 meals, to continue the quest to use up things on hand.
As you can tell, this is taking so much longer than I had thought it would...but it's working. My husband is even saying, "Hmmm...what do we already have in the fridge?" and "I know, I know, don't buy anything till we look on the shelves." Looks as if this is one habit we've been able to pick up pretty easily. I'll keep you posted - and let me know if you're trying anything too! See you tomorrow.
The best thing is - there is a TON of space on our pantry shelves! Well, maybe not tons - but much more than there was last week. I'm VERY excited - it was a great feeling to see so few cans of various beans and tomatoes. I also threw away a couple of things from the freezer over the weekend, having no idea what they were OR realizing they were freezer-burned. Actually, it's into the compost bin they go, so it's not a total loss.
This week we'll augment with some barbecue from our church's annual barbecue lunch over the weekend. I foresee some more baked potatoes too, and it looks as if I'll have to cave in and buy some meat and/or fish. If I do, I'll try to plan for each of the aforementioned items making do for 2 meals, to continue the quest to use up things on hand.
As you can tell, this is taking so much longer than I had thought it would...but it's working. My husband is even saying, "Hmmm...what do we already have in the fridge?" and "I know, I know, don't buy anything till we look on the shelves." Looks as if this is one habit we've been able to pick up pretty easily. I'll keep you posted - and let me know if you're trying anything too! See you tomorrow.
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