Not much to report today. School. Work.
Aside from pandemic life, I’d say one of the biggest differences between this Pantry Challenge and previous years is that my kids are so much more independent. Ten years ago the typical January day would have involved me cooking meals for 7 to 8 all day long. Things are a lot different now.
Nowadays, every single person in the household can make his or her own meal, cook for the rest of us, too.
Mamas of little ones, know that it definitely gets easier!
Our meals for Day 26:
Breakfast – smoothies, oats, eggs and toast, avocado toast
Lunch – leftover pasta, Chicken Fajita Burritos
Dinner – Tacos with Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix
Tasty
Breakfast was cereal for hubby, fruit and yogurt + a muffin for me. We had hoped to have a take-out lunch (as we had to be in town for my eye appointment)but being in lockdown and a very snowy day, nowhere that we would use was open so we came home and had grilled cheese! Hubby did the necessary grocery shopping while I had my check-up so we are stocked up on fruits and veggies. Supper was the last of the turkey breast, with roast potatoes, turkey gravy,carrots (freezer) and fresh green beans. Yummy!
Lily R.
Day 26
Breakfast: I pulled out some of the bagels I made recently from the freezer and we ate them with boursin cheese.
Lunch: we had a small amounts of shrimp and scallops left in the freezer so I chopped them up and made seafood and veggie chaufa.
Dinner: I made jamaican jerk chicken and jerk fish with rice and peas. Green salad on the side.
Snacks today were grapefruit and walnuts.
Heather M
You all really eat well, Lily. I’m going to miss hearing about it after this week. 🙂
Lily R.
Thank you, Heather! My husband and I don’t do meal prep in the traditional way because we can’t eat the same things every week. I see the appeal for convenience but it’s just not for us. So I prep meal components to make cooking super easy! I am going to miss ready everyone’s posts also. I have been reminded of many dishes I need to make again by you lovely ladies!
Heather M
Lily, we are fairly similar that way, too, in that we don’t like to eat the same thing each week either. We have several meals that make regular appearances, but once a month is even a lot for us. lol. It’s been so fun with you here, giving me more inspiration too. If you’re on instagram, mine is public. I often put food pics in my stories. heatherabm
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I second Heather’s comment. I’ve never looked up so many different and tasty sounding dishes as yours! Great inspiration for the future. We don’t usually eat many of the same meals each week either. I think it’s more for my sake than my husband’s. I keep a notebook with all our menus in it (I know, kinda nerdy here) Then I go back and look at what we’ve eaten and the breakdown among the proteins each month. Of course with the challenge it’s been different. We usually eat a LOT of chicken and I didn’t have much of that in the freezer, so minimal chicken this month. Your jerk chicken sounds so good. I haven’t made that in a very long time. I’ll be sure to put that in the notebook for Feb!
Lily R.
Hi Lynn,
You’re not nerdy at all, I keep a notebook too! With the meals we eat each month and little notes on what I would change for next time. I’m glad that you understand about not repeating meals too often. Variety is the spice of life! Enjoy your jerk chicken when you get around to it.
Julie
I keep my old menus, too. We repeat meals quite a bit and I like seeing what I’ve actually cooked.
Kim
B- cereal, I can’t get anyone to steer away from the usual
L- kids and hubby had sandwiches, fruit, chips (again, creatures of habit). I finished off lots of tiny lo containers in fridge… cucumbers with tzatziki sauce, sloppy joe, steamed broccoli, apple slices, part of a chocolate bar…
I have also been trying to brew some of my less favorite tea bags.
D- dine out (well, take-out) fundraiser for the school, Raising Cane’s (chicken fingers for those not familiar). They have yummy lemonade! Back to pantry for tomorrow’s dinner
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m right there with you and the less favored teas Kim. I continue to work through them this month as well.
So glad you mentioned Sloppy Joes. I have some beef and was trying to think what I could do with it. Sloppy Joes would really appeal to my husband and his preferences of late! Thanks!
Heather M
Hahaha and I had sloppy joes planned for 1/27, and i never ever ever make them. It was great! Will miss you here after this week, Lynn.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’ll miss you as well, Heather! I always enjoy this month full of challenges, recipe inspirations and food/life conversations. It’s such a nice community here that Jessica hosts. Thanks so much Jessica!
Heather M
Tuesday 1/26:
Another quiet day, another great Challenge day. Last week I thought I’d be grocery shopping today, and I definitely don’t need to yet, so, yay!
Breakfast: L had a cranberry sauce oat muffin and a hardboiled egg, then raced off for a good chunk of the day; I had the same muffin
Lunch: I had a piece of toast with homemade jam, the last of the queso with a few chips, and a hardboiled egg; L came home late afternoon and starving so I heated up the tiny bits of leftover Mexican bean and veggie soup and the mediterranean couscous. Just enough to hold him until dinner was ready.
Dinner: used up more of the lingering prosciutto and the leftover swiss cheese from our snacky Christmas Eve dinner(no one touched it from the little sliced cheese pack-typical) and made a new to me recipe that was a total winner- ham and swiss whole wheat waffles, with sauteed pears(using the last two ripe, but still solid, pears); classic french bistro carrot salad. I was stumped on how to get a veggie in us since the best option felt like baby greens of some kind and we only have big romaine lettuce left. Then the idea came to me, and it was perfect, matchstick carrots with a light lemon-dijon vinaigrette and fresh chopped parsley and chive, both of which we still have. This was a delicious dinner and we still have 8 waffles left, We’ll probably have some for lunch later this week, with some other topping(maybe sauteed apples or the pear sauce?), then freeze the rest for later.
I also hardboiled more eggs, since we do love to have them handy, and we have plenty raw still for other purposes.
Sandi
oooh, thanks! I have a lot of baby carrots around and was trying to think of how to use some up since there’s only so many raw I want to eat and I’m a little picky about cooked carrots. This sounds an excellent idea.
Heather M
I highly recommend it. I also had confirmation from a good friend who came back in 2019 from living in Paris and confirmed this is a super standard dish, with whichever fresh herbs, a vinaigrette, or even just straight lemon squeeze/olive oil, etc. It is refreshing and light and could go with so many dishes!
Jessica Fisher
Yep. Carrot salad was a regular on the menu when I was in France. I have a very non-French version here: https://goodcheapeats.com/carrot-salad-with-cilantro-and-pepitas/
Heather M
OOOOO thanks, Jessica! Carrots are so versatile, and I usually forget about them, except in salads or soups/stews, etc.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I agree, Sandi on the raw and cooked carrots. I still have carrots too and had them listed to use before the end of the month but just hadn’t figured out yet in what form. I think these recipes sound like great options. Thanks Heather and Jessica.
julie
I just used a lot of carrots up in fried rice, if that interests you.
Heather M
Yes! This is also a great use of extra carrots!
Lily R.
Yay for not having to grocery shop yet. Means you’re using all the little bits and pieces up!
Heather M
Yep! The fridge is far from full right now, which is nice! The freezer and cupboards still have plenty, though are missing a few key items like coconut milk, and we’re almost out of AP flour. I may go tomorrow(thursday) just because I have other errands to run and may as well get them all done in one outing, the way I prefer it these days. But, I’m only going to count the food I use thru the 31st as grocery purchases for January. 🙂
Jennifer
I agree on the older kid front. My kids are now 22, 20 (at college), 18 and 16. they just cook and feed themselves very often.
B – dh and I finished the chocolate chip bread, Kids had either cinnamon bread toasted or cereal. Also blueberries, grapefruit and yogurt were eaten by various people.
L – I took a random lunch . 1 leftover chicken tender, 1/2 grapefruit, 3 lone pepper slices, skinny dipped almonds. dh took a burrito, apple, granola bar. Ds ate at school and also took a can of soup with him. No idea what dd ate.
D – I made tacos. I pulled a container of black beans from the freezer that had been there a long time so that felt good. Also used clearance ground beef. Toppings included grated cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes, salsa. I also sliced up a pepper and cucumber.
Evening snack – piece of dark chocolate and wine
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Good sounding snack! 🙂
Maureen
We had french toast for lunch and homemade pizza for dinner. So, not really pantry challenge meals and not a lot of fruit and vegetables today (although there was raw prepped/cut at both meals). But, the kids thought they were fun/comfort foods, so that’s something. DD10 had fun making homemade chocolate chip muffins, too. I need to work on more balance and targeting a few things from the freezer for the second half of the week.
Sarah
It was a rough day here – got new medicine and it makes me both tired and gives me insomnia so I was up all night wired. I took the day off and slept for most of the day. Thankfully feeling better now. BF cooked again and took good care of me. Cats were even subdued for once and slept most of the day with me.
B: a few bites of fig cake; herbal tea
L: chicken congee (freezer – saved some from my last takeout order)
D: broccoli cheddar soup + potato chips
S: SF pudding (pantry)
I also joined the GCE club so I’m excited to keep this going.
Lily R.
I hope you’re feeling much better by now! You got a sweet guy there, glad he took good care of you.
Heather M
Oh I’m sorry you had that reaction to a new med. And glad your kitties were sensitive to it-imagine them sleeping with you made it easier to rest. And glad your BF takes good care of you. Hopefully you’ll adjust soon and be back to yourself.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Glad you are better as well.
Sandi
B: h/m mocha
L: quesadillas
D: chicken & mushrooms with l/o pasta in the kale white cheddar pasta sauce – not a huge fan of the sauce, I doctored it a bit, but we liked the final outcome. It was still sauteed chicken and mushrooms, after all.
Kari
Is everyone good about cleaning up after themselves? We’re working on that here. You should show us a picture of your pantry 🙂
Jessica Fisher
They’ve all had “kitchen jobs” since they were in preschool, so pretty much someone will get it cleaned up.
Pat
Day 26 was an easy cooking day!
Breakfast and lunch were the usual.
Dinner turned into leftover protein night. Hubby and I has salisbury steak with baked potatoes and roasted veggies that I made. Son had l/o burgers and the last of the mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Julie
We had eggs, yogurt and blueberries for breakfast
Smoothies or leftovers for lunch
Sesame chicken, roasted cauliflower, rice for dinner.
We are ending the month under $200 . I plan to continue next month because I barely got to cook with the remodeling. We are still working on it but we have water and that’s so nice.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Good that you are making some progress on your kitchen. I remember doing a kitchen remodel in our first house. It seemed it took twice as long as predicted and cost twice as much as well! Good to have water for sure.
Julie
Thank you! We’ve been well within budget since my husband has done everything himself, and we’re very budget conscious (maybe to a fault, but I can’t help it, I have to have everything balanced to the penny) but I could see outsourcing things getting really expensive. I am hoping for a productive weekend on the kitchen project. Water has been so nice.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
That’s great your husband has been able to do the work. Our remodel was in a 1930s bungalow. The kitchen (and the whole house actually) needed new wiring, new plumbing–new everything. (It was our adventure back when we were young!) We did a lot of cosmetic work on the house ourselves, but the kitchen was way past our knowledge and skill set. It was so nice when it was finished, though, to have an updated, fully functional kitchen. I’m sure you’ll enjoy yours as well, especially since y’all will have done it yourselves!
Janet
Breakfast: everyone had either chocolate bread or waffles from the freezer along with blueberries
Lunch: we finished up a package of hotdogs, also from the freezer, with baked beans on the side
Dinner: we pulled a very small roast from the freezer and cooked it in BBQ sauce in the slow cooker all day and had shredded BBQ beef sandwiches, corn-on-the-cob and the last of the frozen strawberries.
I have really been working on emptying the freezer. We have lots of one or two serving items that need to be used up.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/26/21
B: toast, fruit, coffee DH: scrambled egg sandwich
L: 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich, turkey rice soup
D: As Jessica says, Fend For Yourself. Leftovers-DH: turkey pot pie, fruit Me: red beans (freezer) with LO rice, fruit
S: apple and peanut butter
Finally able to use up a few of the one serving items (red beans) from the freezer.
Jessica the new layout of the site looks really nice! And I couldn’t help but notice how much better your avocado looked in your tacos than the one I rescued earlier in the week! LOL. But at least it was eaten and out of the refrigerator!
Jessica Fisher
Ha! It was actually a really gross avocado. I had to carve away most of it in order to find something edible.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Well, that makes me feel a bit better! Seems like my avocados are always either under ripe or over ripe!
Jessica Fisher
And thanks about the site!
Julie
What did you have with your red beans? Is that just beans or is an entire recipe?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Julie. Yes, its a recipe for New Orleans Red Beans and Rice. I made it from dried red beans with andouille sausage, peppers, celery, onions and spices served over rice. It’s good, but it makes a lot for the two of us, hence the extras in the freezer.
Kathy in Denmark
Day 26:
B: Oatmeal/rye porridge/yoghurt/roll 🙂
L: Packed lunch for DD2. Rye bread with different toppings. The three of us at home had a late lunch, so DD2 actually also had a piece og rye bread when she came home from kindergarten.
D: Tikka Masala with rice and naan.
I finally got around to using up one of the jars of Tikka Masala in the pantry. I fried up some boiled potatoes, red pepper, onion and garlic. Poured the sauce over and added some heavy cream to make it a bit milder. I fried a chopped up chicken breast for DD1 and myself to top with.
I thought this was pretty good and so dig DD1 and DH. DD2 not so much. In fact, she refused to eat anything on the table, so basically skipped dinner. It happens and that’s ok. There’s breakfast in the morning 😉