It was a dark and stormy night...oh, wrong lead-in - sorry. Well, the rain WAS welcome last night - we enjoyed the sounds. We also enjoyed a nice dinner of spaghetti with Ken's homemade sauce from the freezer, and a salad. Ken is having his fall cravings - potatoes and beans are high on this list, so we now have 10 pounds of potatoes to add to the mix. I love potatoes too, but my heart did sink just a little when I saw them. Oh well - creativity is the name of the game, isn't it?! Stay tuned for potato action.
I spent a few minutes this morning looking in my Oriental cookbooks for a nice recipe for our stir-fry tonight. I pulled out the can of water chestnuts and the jar of bamboo shoots from the pantry shelf, and made a mental note of the pork chop, 2 scallions, and carrots in the fridge. I've got fish sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger in the freezer - I think we're set.
Does everyone have a zillion bottles of various liquors and liqueurs on their shelf, like we do? We don't even DRINK hard liquor or liqueurs, really. I use some for cooking - dry or cream sherry, coffee liqueur, rum and brandy. But we also have Scotch and Becherovka (a Czech liqueur I only drink in the summer mixed with grapefruit juice). The other night I discovered we still had some Pimm's, that quintessentially British stuff that makes a dandy summer drink mixed with lemonade and garnished with a cucumber spear and some mint. There are at least 6 more bottles of stuff with suspect origins that we will NEVER use. Maybe I'll organize a liquor swap, like the spice swap I mentioned in an earlier post. We'll see where that goes.
I'm all about using up or giving away what we don't use. The recipient's reward is something new on hand - MY reward is empty shelves. Looking forward to that day! See you tomorrow.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
We love leftovers!
Just as I'd planned, Ken prepared the leftover curried lentils and sweet potato dish and rice, the remaining frozen corn, and made a salad. Okay, so he had a cucumber craving...he couldn't help himself, he said! Later in the evening we did our duty and polished off the remaining Luigi's ice (love those things!) and scrapings of coffee ice cream. So THAT'S out of the way. Not sure yet if finishing all the ice cream is good or bad.
We're still really enjoying this project. My husband loves meat so it remains to be seen how long he can go without it, once we finish up that lone pork chop in the freezer. There's so much more we can do with the non-meat things on the shelves, though - and my own challenge will be convincing him we don't need the meat. Neither of us wants to be vegetarian, though I tend more in that direction and am happier with non-meat dinners than Ken is. Heck, I'm happy with a bowl of cereal with raisins for dinner, but that doesn't wash most nights.
NPR reported alarming statistics this morning. About 1.5 million people in North Carolina live in poverty (I didn't catch what is considered the income level). These are people who may have to choose between purchasing vital medications and feeding their families, and the thought of children not having enough food distresses me greatly. I'll bring something to the food drive underway now at the Museum where I work, which is the very very least I can do. My pantry overflows with riches, and I can spare much for those in need. Maybe you could do the same. See you tomorrow.
We're still really enjoying this project. My husband loves meat so it remains to be seen how long he can go without it, once we finish up that lone pork chop in the freezer. There's so much more we can do with the non-meat things on the shelves, though - and my own challenge will be convincing him we don't need the meat. Neither of us wants to be vegetarian, though I tend more in that direction and am happier with non-meat dinners than Ken is. Heck, I'm happy with a bowl of cereal with raisins for dinner, but that doesn't wash most nights.
NPR reported alarming statistics this morning. About 1.5 million people in North Carolina live in poverty (I didn't catch what is considered the income level). These are people who may have to choose between purchasing vital medications and feeding their families, and the thought of children not having enough food distresses me greatly. I'll bring something to the food drive underway now at the Museum where I work, which is the very very least I can do. My pantry overflows with riches, and I can spare much for those in need. Maybe you could do the same. See you tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A week later...
It was rather a quiet dinner last night, nothing extravagant or particularly creative on the Tessier table. We did, however, enjoy pork chops from the grill, 3 remaining Yukon gold potatoes, and salad with homemade vinaigrette. Remember, these are all items that we already had on hand.
When we began this adventure, I thought maybe we'd last two weeks and most everything would be gone. That was a gross miscalculation - I'm not sure WHAT I was thinking. We have enough in the pantry and in the freezer, and could really manage, for about a month - maybe even longer. It's been a week now and time has flown - but the food on hand isn't disappearing as fast as I thought it would. I have only bought milk, orange juice, and salad stuff in the past week, and that's a nice change.
October will see us housesitting for our friends for almost 3 weeks, and that might derail a lesser woman's plans - but not mine! I'm determined we will continue to feast from our pantry and freezer items - we'll bring food from our stores to use during that time. Tonight we'll enjoy leftover curried lentils and sweet potatoes over leftover rice, and salad. Tomorrow I'm thinking some form of pasta with some of Ken's yummy spaghetti sauce from the freezer, and some carrot sticks.
I've had some nice comments about what we're doing. It's fun - why not try it yourself and let me know how it goes!
When we began this adventure, I thought maybe we'd last two weeks and most everything would be gone. That was a gross miscalculation - I'm not sure WHAT I was thinking. We have enough in the pantry and in the freezer, and could really manage, for about a month - maybe even longer. It's been a week now and time has flown - but the food on hand isn't disappearing as fast as I thought it would. I have only bought milk, orange juice, and salad stuff in the past week, and that's a nice change.
October will see us housesitting for our friends for almost 3 weeks, and that might derail a lesser woman's plans - but not mine! I'm determined we will continue to feast from our pantry and freezer items - we'll bring food from our stores to use during that time. Tonight we'll enjoy leftover curried lentils and sweet potatoes over leftover rice, and salad. Tomorrow I'm thinking some form of pasta with some of Ken's yummy spaghetti sauce from the freezer, and some carrot sticks.
I've had some nice comments about what we're doing. It's fun - why not try it yourself and let me know how it goes!
Monday, September 27, 2010
More success with the pantry project
We had a great time this weekend whittling down yet more items, mostly from the freezer and fridge. Saturday's dinner was the curried lentils and sweet potatoes dish niece Jenna told me about. I used all the remaining lentils, the two sweet potatoes on hand, onion, and of course spices and olive oil always available. It was wonderful, served over rice, garnished as suggested. Here's the recipe from Smitten Kitchen in case you're interested http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/curried-lentils-and-sweet-potatoes. I used spinach instead of Swiss chard. It also makes A LOT...we'll be seeing these leftovers during lunches this week!
On Sunday I finally made PIZZA!! It was a shrimp, artichoke heart and fresh mozzarella creation - delicious! My dough recipe makes enough for two pizzas, so there's half of the dough for another pizza another time - it freezes nicely. Made enough sauce for at least three more pizzas, and that's in the freezer too. Tonight we'll have pork chops, three potatoes that need to be eaten, and some veg. The third pork chop will become a stir-fry later on, with some other items from the pantry.
It really was chance that made us decide to do this at exactly this moment...what a bounty of foods we have to choose from. It really does humble us that we have so many choices, even when we think "the cupboard is bare." My cupboard overflows even in slim times, and I am very thankful. See you tomorrow.
On Sunday I finally made PIZZA!! It was a shrimp, artichoke heart and fresh mozzarella creation - delicious! My dough recipe makes enough for two pizzas, so there's half of the dough for another pizza another time - it freezes nicely. Made enough sauce for at least three more pizzas, and that's in the freezer too. Tonight we'll have pork chops, three potatoes that need to be eaten, and some veg. The third pork chop will become a stir-fry later on, with some other items from the pantry.
It really was chance that made us decide to do this at exactly this moment...what a bounty of foods we have to choose from. It really does humble us that we have so many choices, even when we think "the cupboard is bare." My cupboard overflows even in slim times, and I am very thankful. See you tomorrow.
Friday, September 24, 2010
More pantry musings
So...when last we talked, plans had been made for dinner last night - no pizza. We found a few dribs and drabs of things in the fridge, and a nice light dinner ensued. I cut up the leftover pasta, about a cupful, and added it to the last of our gorgeous organic free-range eggs from Meadowbright Farm friend Sheryl. Ken discovered a little leftover salad, the last pitiful tomato from the garden, and about 1/2 cup of leftover refried beans. With the last slices of Irish soda bread on the side, this really was a delicious meal.
On a PBS special last night I heard about a farmer living above the Arctic Circle, who talked about his REALLY short growing season - from end of May to beginning of August. His garden was spectacular! He grows lots of greens, onions, beets, cabbage, and the like. During the winter, he says, "I dream about greens." Well, I'm beginning to long for salads too. Given that we now have no "salad makings" in the fridge, I may have to capitulate and buy a little lettuce or peppers or cukes or something. That wasn't in the plan, but as you know - I always have a Plan B. So we'll see. I think the 'heavy on the carbs' makeup of our pantry shelves will work better, and last longer, and we'll be healthier, if I plan on buying some greens throughout our journey.
Have you read any of Dean Ornish's books? He's the NO FAT guy. I have one of his cookbooks from which I've made several dishes in the past. My notations in the margins all say "this is great!" or "fabulous!" Since his ingredients are few, and we seem to have many of them on our shelves, I think I'll give Dean a try while we're "eating down."
Again, this is forcing us to be creative, and that's a good thing. Plans for the weekend include pizza (if Ken buys yeast today) and that curried lentil and sweet potato dish I mentioned. Close inspection of the pantry last night revealed bamboo shoots and water chestnuts - that says stir-fry to me!
I'll report back on Monday, after a nice dinner out tonight with family, and some fun cooking over the weekend. I'd love to hear from you too on this adventure of ours.
On a PBS special last night I heard about a farmer living above the Arctic Circle, who talked about his REALLY short growing season - from end of May to beginning of August. His garden was spectacular! He grows lots of greens, onions, beets, cabbage, and the like. During the winter, he says, "I dream about greens." Well, I'm beginning to long for salads too. Given that we now have no "salad makings" in the fridge, I may have to capitulate and buy a little lettuce or peppers or cukes or something. That wasn't in the plan, but as you know - I always have a Plan B. So we'll see. I think the 'heavy on the carbs' makeup of our pantry shelves will work better, and last longer, and we'll be healthier, if I plan on buying some greens throughout our journey.
Have you read any of Dean Ornish's books? He's the NO FAT guy. I have one of his cookbooks from which I've made several dishes in the past. My notations in the margins all say "this is great!" or "fabulous!" Since his ingredients are few, and we seem to have many of them on our shelves, I think I'll give Dean a try while we're "eating down."
Again, this is forcing us to be creative, and that's a good thing. Plans for the weekend include pizza (if Ken buys yeast today) and that curried lentil and sweet potato dish I mentioned. Close inspection of the pantry last night revealed bamboo shoots and water chestnuts - that says stir-fry to me!
I'll report back on Monday, after a nice dinner out tonight with family, and some fun cooking over the weekend. I'd love to hear from you too on this adventure of ours.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Well...once again...the best-laid plans have gone awry. Oh, not seriously awry, just a slight wobble from the original. It occurred to me that the recipes for what we have on hand seemed to call for items I don't usually buy unless FOR a recipe - like parsley, cilantro and scallions. So I decided to stop at the store and get those to augment what's on the shelves, for a couple of specific recipes. Took a little time off work yesterday to run some errands and pick up a few things. At the top of my list was YEAST - remember the pizza dough I was making last night for tonight? I KNOW you can relate to this - I got all 6 items on the list - EXCEPT YEAST. Don't know what I was thinking when I walked right past it, but I wasn't thinking of picking up yeast, obviously!
So home I go - without the yeast. No pizza dough last night. We did, however, really enjoy the dried mushroom soup and Irish soda bread - it was delicious. Some leftover soup will probably make another appearance for lunch tomorrow. I think tonight we'll have egg pancakes, which we haven't had in a long time. There's a little leftover pasta from the other night, which I'll cut roughly into smaller pieces, then scramble it in with a few eggs. More of the Irish soda bread on the side and some carrot sticks will make a nice supper. We have LOTS of carrots. I'm working those in to something over the weekend.
This plan of 'eating down the pantry and the freezer' is really for our benefit, but might turn out to be a wakeup call. In future, instead of buying, say, a big bottle of ROSEWATER in order to have that 1/2 teaspoonful for a new recipe, I think I'll ask some friends what they have on hand. Then I can hope to offer something in return for a future experimental recipe of theirs. A few of us have talked about doing a spice swap - friend Becky said she has tarragon, but NEVER uses tarragon. I think I have 3 jars of ground cumin...you get the picture. Friend Bea asks what the goal of this experiment is...it's really just being tired of the same old stuff that doesn't change, and trying something new. If you try this yourself, set your own rules and post a comment about how it goes. I think I feel some new synapses forming...what about you?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
I couldn't WAIT to get back to you this morning with an update on day 2 of the pantry project. We had spaghetti with some frozen leftover sauce, the last shavings of some nice Parmesan I'd bought awhile back, and carrot and celery sticks. Yum.
My plan was to make enough pizza dough last night for tonight's dinner, with a portion to freeze for another night. Proofing the yeast revealed that there would be no pizza dough last night. With an expiration date of October 27, 2010, my yeast had bit the dust early. Putting the ingredients aside, plan B went into effect. (Whether it's cooking or travel, I ALWAYS have a plan B.) In the back of my mind were some lovely dried mushrooms from Slovakia that had been on the shelf for years - since about 2002. We had visited my dad's cousin Alzbeta in Kosice, Slovakia, with my niece Jenna, and this was Alzbeta's gift to us. Seeing those mushrooms in the empty instant Nestle's coffee jar brought back the memory of my dad receiving a package in the mail when I was a young girl - Alzbeta's gift to him, her American cousin. I marveled that any mushrooms remained in the torn and tattered box. But I digress.
With a recipe for dried mushroom soup from one of my tried and true soup books, I made a yummy-smelling, simple soup with onions, milk, evaporated milk in place of light cream, and the mushrooms. Since buttermilk is one of my staples, we'll have homemade Irish soda bread with it - how international. Looking forward to tonight.
You know, this is proving even more interesting than I thought it would be. It appeared at first that I'd just making boring old stuff with what's on the shelves. But I'm finding that it's spurring creativity, and that's a lot of fun.
There's another side to this experiment. It is keeping me mindful of those who don't have the luxury of being creative with interesting things on hand, but are forced to create the bare subsistence minimum with not much at all on hand, and no extra anything. My heartfelt thanks and admiration go to organizations like the Interfaith Food Shuttle and Meals on Wheels, who care about food getting to those in need.
Picking up yeast today - pizza dough tonight - more on how it's going, when I see you tomorrow.
My plan was to make enough pizza dough last night for tonight's dinner, with a portion to freeze for another night. Proofing the yeast revealed that there would be no pizza dough last night. With an expiration date of October 27, 2010, my yeast had bit the dust early. Putting the ingredients aside, plan B went into effect. (Whether it's cooking or travel, I ALWAYS have a plan B.) In the back of my mind were some lovely dried mushrooms from Slovakia that had been on the shelf for years - since about 2002. We had visited my dad's cousin Alzbeta in Kosice, Slovakia, with my niece Jenna, and this was Alzbeta's gift to us. Seeing those mushrooms in the empty instant Nestle's coffee jar brought back the memory of my dad receiving a package in the mail when I was a young girl - Alzbeta's gift to him, her American cousin. I marveled that any mushrooms remained in the torn and tattered box. But I digress.
With a recipe for dried mushroom soup from one of my tried and true soup books, I made a yummy-smelling, simple soup with onions, milk, evaporated milk in place of light cream, and the mushrooms. Since buttermilk is one of my staples, we'll have homemade Irish soda bread with it - how international. Looking forward to tonight.
You know, this is proving even more interesting than I thought it would be. It appeared at first that I'd just making boring old stuff with what's on the shelves. But I'm finding that it's spurring creativity, and that's a lot of fun.
There's another side to this experiment. It is keeping me mindful of those who don't have the luxury of being creative with interesting things on hand, but are forced to create the bare subsistence minimum with not much at all on hand, and no extra anything. My heartfelt thanks and admiration go to organizations like the Interfaith Food Shuttle and Meals on Wheels, who care about food getting to those in need.
Picking up yeast today - pizza dough tonight - more on how it's going, when I see you tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Pantry Project
Last night my husband and I began an experiment. We have vowed to "eat down" the existing food and staples in our pantry and freezer, until we're forced to do a major grocery shop.
It occurred to me that our shelves don't change much, and some things stay on the shelf for long periods of time. Witness the bottle of rose water I bought some years ago for some long-forgotten recipe. How often can you possibly use rose water???
We usually keep 5-6 boxes of different types of pasta in the pantry. When we go through all the vermicelli, say, I buy another box or two - ignoring the 4-5 boxes of ziti, rigatoni, and shells.
Surely everyone has partial bags of veg in the freezer? We're no exception, but you know how they migrate to the back and underneath the bigger stuff. They get freezer burn or become unrecognizable, and out they go. They DO end up in the compost bin, so I can pat myself on the back for that, at least.
We're determined to do this and will keep you posted on our eat down journey. Last night we had a delicious dinner of corn tortilla quesadillas with fat-free refried beans and cheese. Adding a tomato chopped up to some of them before cooking, and a salad of the last of the lettuce, a cuke and a couple of chopped olives rounded out the meal. It was yummy!
I'll certainly be buying what are staples in our house: milk, orange juice, olive oil, cheese - that sort of thing. I am envisioning some dinners coming up this week, all made with what we have on hand: carrot soup, a curried lentil and sweet potato dish my niece told me about, homemade pizza with a few shrimp and homemade pizza sauce - that's what's in store for us this week.
Maybe you'd like to try this too - let me know how you do, and I'll fill you in on how we do.
It occurred to me that our shelves don't change much, and some things stay on the shelf for long periods of time. Witness the bottle of rose water I bought some years ago for some long-forgotten recipe. How often can you possibly use rose water???
We usually keep 5-6 boxes of different types of pasta in the pantry. When we go through all the vermicelli, say, I buy another box or two - ignoring the 4-5 boxes of ziti, rigatoni, and shells.
Surely everyone has partial bags of veg in the freezer? We're no exception, but you know how they migrate to the back and underneath the bigger stuff. They get freezer burn or become unrecognizable, and out they go. They DO end up in the compost bin, so I can pat myself on the back for that, at least.
We're determined to do this and will keep you posted on our eat down journey. Last night we had a delicious dinner of corn tortilla quesadillas with fat-free refried beans and cheese. Adding a tomato chopped up to some of them before cooking, and a salad of the last of the lettuce, a cuke and a couple of chopped olives rounded out the meal. It was yummy!
I'll certainly be buying what are staples in our house: milk, orange juice, olive oil, cheese - that sort of thing. I am envisioning some dinners coming up this week, all made with what we have on hand: carrot soup, a curried lentil and sweet potato dish my niece told me about, homemade pizza with a few shrimp and homemade pizza sauce - that's what's in store for us this week.
Maybe you'd like to try this too - let me know how you do, and I'll fill you in on how we do.
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