This month, we’re shopping our kitchen in order to use up what we have so we can save money and clear kitchen clutter.
Here we go with Day 12 of the Pantry Challenge!
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Today was one of those rare days when I could putter in the kitchen without interruptions or other people making messes. It was so nice!
- I made two double batches of Sourdough Rye Bread and a double batch of Sourdough Pizza Crust.
- I cleaned and organized the fridge.
- I made Carrot Ginger Dressing to go on Asian Bowls at lunch.
- I baked the last of the Christmas scones. I used this recipe as a base and stirred in fresh cranberries, pecans, white chocolate, cardamom, and ginger. So good!
What We Ate
Breakfast – Our household is such that on school/work days I have no clue what others eat. I had a vanilla skyr with blueberries and muesli.
Lunch – We have lots of leftover chicken from yesterday’s photo shoot, so we had Asian Bowls as I mentioned. I had to hunt high and low for the rice vermicelli, but was so happy when I found one small package of it.
Dinner – Friday’s are pizza night. Bryan grilled pizza and we had it with a salad I made when I was cleaning out the fridge.
How did Day 12 go for you?
Kathryn M
Lunch – the last burrito from the other day.
Dinner – Nachos. I used up a Ragu cheese sauce from the pantry that was dated 6/2023. Pulled out the fixings from the fridge – salsa, sour cream guacamole, the leftover refried beans, I also go out some pickled jalapeños that I had made during garden canning season – they turned out pretty good – first time I ever made those.
Janet
Everyone is showing signs of the dreaded winter cold. I don’t think anyone ate breakfast. I cooked up a couple of packages of chicken from the freezer and made a big batch of chicken noodle soup for lunch. We had the soup again for dinner with toast and small side salads. I think tomorrow will be another soup day. The temp is supposed to plunge with high winds. I’m thinking either ham and potato or turkey and dumplings.
Allie from Ontario
I hope everyone feels better soon!
Allie from Ontario
Jan 12
Brunch – 1st off…the farro from Thursday night. While it was okay on the night I made it, after heating up 2 bowls yesterday, we both had a spoonful, made faces & said “nope” at roughly the same time. Apparently a night in the fridge made it very smooshey (my word) or slimy (T’s word). I really didn’t want to waste it but then T asked if the the point of the challenge was to punish ourselves and with that it was discarded. I felt guilty (!) but ate some beef barley soup from the freezer with toast and T had a poached egg on a toasted English muffin.
Dinner – I had unearthed some very frosty little ham steaks, and so chopped them up to make our all time favourite soup – Cheddar, beer &, ham. We love it but I don’t make it often as it is very rich (and oh so delicious). We ate it with some rye toast and declared it a big win 🙂
The snow fell hard all night and is supposed to continue until late this afternoon, so we have hard work ahead of us today !
Allie from Ontario
I meant to ask if I’m the only one who finally uses the last of something (this time the ham steaks) and then immediately thinks of a bunch of things I could make with ham this week if only I had some more?
Heather M
Oh I am very much the same way 🙂 Also, yes, the challenge isn’t meant to punish at all. If those leftovers were gross, it is what it is. That soup from dinner sounds amazing.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Raising my hand-oh yes! 🙂
Tasty
No Allie – you’re not alone. I will puzzle with what to do with some particular leftovers. But as you say, once they,ve been used – Oh I could have made such and such or that would have been good. Oh, well, we live and learn.
Jessica Fisher
A kitchen fail is still a learning experience. I don’t advocate punishment, for sure. But, learn from it! Maybe make less next time? Maybe research how to avoid the slime smoosh? In my book, when you learn, you win!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/12
B: avocado toast for me, cereal for DH
L: made Jessica’s cranberry chicken salad, substituting turkey for chicken. It’s really good. The dressing makes it! We had that for lunch plus soup.
D: bean burritos using up beans I had in the freezer, with lettuce ,sour cream etc to go with them. We had raw carrots, cukes and pepper strips with ranch dressing also.
I think I had about 10-12cups of leftover turkey in the freezer. Thanks to our turkey marathon eating, we’re down to about 4cups with growing space in the freezer.
I’ve realized that much of the proteins that I have are large cuts-like the turkey, a ham and a pork butt. I have a few smaller options which I’ll be using as I don’t want to use those big cuts unless there is someone else here to help us eat them. So we’ll see how the rest of the month progresses.
Jessica Fisher
So glad you love the chicken salad! It’s a Trader Joe’s copycat of one my sister buys. I think it’s better homemade. ??
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
We don’t have Trader Joe’s but Publix makes similar chicken salad. One of my mother’s friends had brought her some and it was very good. But I think your dressing is what makes the hm much better. I’m deciding that I like cranberries more and more!
Jennifer
Day 2 of back to work and I was definitely tired.
B – muffins for dh and ds, I had breakfast at school for free
L – leftovers for dh with fruit, I took another snacky lunch – where I just threw randomness into my lunchbox and called it good – yogurt, fruit leather, mini beef stick, mini peppers
D – I was so not wanting to cook. But bus duty was a wild weather one and I was drenched when all was said and done. I was not going back out into the weather. So I made a homemade pizza and sliced up a pepper
Heather M
Great job cooking even though you didn’t want to. The weather left a lot to be desired here late yesterday, too.
Tasty
January 12
B:hubby had yogurt and toast. I had fruit, yogurt and granola and a Nutella bun
L: chicken fingers
S:tomato soup I made and canned back in the fall with cheese bread. The plan had been to make a turkey pie with turkey from the freezer but we were out in the afternoon and it was fairly late when we got home so time to change the plan.
Heather M
You made and canned tomato soup! So awesome! Great pivot. It does help when needing to pivot having all sorts of things in our cupboards and freezers 🙂
Tasty
Heather, I have always liked tomato soup – even the bought stuff in tins. About 20 years ago I came across a recipe for said soup that really has very little else in it other than some seasonings. The flavour is out of this world and at that time we always were looking for something to do with garden tomatoes. A match made in heaven!
Eve tho I have to buy the tomatoes now that we have moved into the condo, I still make the soup.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Tasty, re: your turkey pie…with all of our turkey eating, we’re about turkey-ed out! But our son called and asked us to come and help baby sit the grand baby. (Couldn’t say yes fast enough!)
So, I pulled out a bit more of the LO turkey and made a turkey pot pie for next weekend. The high is going to be 32, so I figured that would be a warm comfort food. By next weekend I’ll be ready to eat more turkey! I’ve got some soup in the freezer that I can take with me as well. His wife likes soup a lot so I can take that to leave for when she gets back in town. It will make a dinner/lunch easier for them and get a quart out of my freezer.
Tasty
Lynn, have a great time babysitting. Is your son far from you? We enjoyed the turkey pie tonight. We didn’t cook a turkey at Christmas this year and I suspect the turkey we ate tonight could have been from Christmas 22 or maybe I cooked a turkey in the spring! But we certainly were not turkeyed out this year. We have enough for supper on Monday or Tuesday. It really was a win/win – it used turkey from the freezer, bought pastry, some leftover peas in a white sauce, fresh carrot from the fridge and a can of cream soup from the pantry.
Karen J
I am down to about two meals with leftover turkey in the freezer. I found a box of stove top stuffing in the cupboard so plan to make a second Thanksgiving of sort. And since I have some frozen mixed vegetables and more crescent rolls I think a turkey pot pie will finish it off. Thanks for the idea!
Tasty
Enjoy a mini Thanksgiving dinner in January, Karen. Not so much work this time around.
Heather M
Jan 12: another quiet day for me, a little cleaning, reading, etc. The vertigo is way way better. Finally. Resting as much as possible. has been the right move. But I’m done with that, lol. L last minute was stuck late at work again(this world….too much happening and it keeps him working). Just got home about 11:15pm. I did cook what I had planned to for the 11th cuz I had to cook the defrosted chicken. And I used my brand new, and first, Le Creuset pot I got for christmas. I was very excited 🙂
B: L skipped; I had a couple of Christmas cookies (oops)
L: L took another salami/lettuce sandwich, apple, veggie sticks, and a Kind bar; I dug around and realized we only have one can of refried beans left(!! this is something I try to keep on hand) but I really wanted a bean burrito and wanted to save the lone can for later so I mashed a can of pinto beans with some enchilada sauce, used some small lo carb tortillas, a few diced onion bits, and cheddar and it was like mini Taco Bell bean burritos but better. Really hit the spot.
D: tried making arroz con pollo y gandules (a mashup of arroz con pollo and arroz con gandules, 2 Puerto Rican dishes), and it turned out really tasty, but I want to tweak it a bit more. Gandules are pigeon peas. I have a strong favorite food memory from when I was a kid and we lived in Puerto Rico- I loved arroz con gandules. This wasn’t that exactly, but it was tasty.
For the day, I got 5 things out of the cupboards, 1 and 1/10th things out of the freezer(1/10 being some frozen green bell pepper slices from a ziploc of mixed bell pepper I froze before traveling unexpectedly in September) plus used things from the fridge. Felt very successful.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, when all the news breaks I think of your husband. Glad you are much improved!
Heather M
He’s been back at work from being off for the holidays (though it ended up mostly being sick days) since a week ago Thursday and it’s been crazy busy. Anything to do with military, war, national security and he’s toast. It’s been too much already.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, I try to do what you did. Before we head out of town-as Jessica always recommends staying on top of your fridge-I check and try to freeze anything that might not still be good when we return. Sometimes I’m more successful at it than others, but I do hate to waste food.
Diinaus
Managed to badly hurt my back so the days as may have mentioned have been a real blur of survival think since last post.
Day 11 kids made more nachos and rice bowls for brunch. I grabbed some hot chips as forgot to grab food to take.
Dinner : kids mix and match skillet using random fridge ingredients. Cabbage,carrots,Salad dressing pouches, cheese and 2 sausages and rice. Hubby had pita pocket pizza/nacho open grilled sandwiches. I made a mash up of leftover caserol,leek and potatoe soup and red capsicum and cooked pumpkin. Not tasty but Was food and cleared out some of the freezer odds and ends
we have made sone head way . Day Yesterday i skiped lunch and breakfast as forgot to take with me to work.
to use up some frozen capsicum, stewed fruit and soup portions this last week.
Day 12: b:I managed to skip breakfast and lunch again.kids made cheesy rice and corn chips with tomato sauce.
D: skillet noodel Dish with ham,pasta, carrots mixed herbs.
I pulled out a venison. Roast to defrost for Sunday. Ideal is to por roast it with Thai curry paste and coconut milk.
I’m observing that when mum is out of action the veg and fruit intake decreases dramatically. Praying that next week I’m on the mend and better nutrition will be more easily available.
Diinaus
Looks like mum can’t spell either… too many to go fix but I’m sure you can understand most of it
Kathy in Denmark
I am so sorry you hurt your back 🙁 Hope you recover soon!
I completely agree re the veggie/fruit intake when mum is sick. It’s exactly the same in our house.
Diinaus
Thanks Kathy in Denmark:)
Karen J
B-eggs, bacon, toast
then I had to pick up a sick little grandkid from school so we just basically grazed
L- GK really felt that nutella and ritz cracker “sandwiches’ would make him feel better so he had that and we also later had apple slices with cheese
D-I made bread dough in the bread maker, then baked it in a loaf pan (my preferred way) I had a leftover meatloaf/fresh bread sandwich, husband had leftover soup and bread. We are close to eating all of this week’s leftovers.
I also had a months old package of phyllo dough in the freezer so made an apple strudel using canned apple pie filling. The phyllo did taste a bit stale but we did manage to eat it. And I did get rid of two older items.
Kimberly
Work day for me which means I am gone 13 hours and hubby is in charge of feeding all the people. I saw pots and pans out so he must’ve cooked something, lol.
I had yogurt parfait…I think we have enough granola for another month’s worth! Then mid-morning a LO breakfast pastry-something from the Korean bakery…it had cheese, eggs, and onion for sure but not really sure about what else.
LO chicken rigatoni and a cookie for lunch.
Dinner was sliced cucumber with balsamic vinaigrette and a cookie.
Karen J
Yay-another cookie lover! I totally am with you on your lunch and dinner menu 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jan12
B: coffee, toast DH: egg, toast, sausage
L: DH: sandwich with ham, cheese and chicken, me-soup, LO enchilada
D: LO chicken cordon bleu casserole, LO slaw, LO enchiladas, LO green beans, LO fruit
S: nuts, mandarin
Jennifer
Our fridge is empty! Or so it seems. Lots of space.
B – bagels for all – I had 3 open bags and lots of partial cream cheese containers. Served with strawberries – on their last leg for sure, but we keep finding good enough to eat anyway
L – I had a salad, dh had leftovers – still home sick though. Dd had a veggie/lunch meat wrap
D – kids were gone and I had a 6 pm appt. I put a frozen pizza in the oven and ate quickly at 5 before leaving. I also sliced a cucumber up
Heather M
Catch up from days 11-12.
Day 11:
I have no idea what L ate all day; he did eat with the family after a funeral he attended-he’s dealing with several deaths of people he was close to from different periods in his life, also people I didn’t know at all or had only met a few times.
I ate that lime jello I unearthed, drank a lot of water, etc., then started the icky prep at dinnertime.
Day 12:
No idea what L ate until dinner, when he finished the soup I made the other night and snacked on ice cream and the last of a box of Trader Joe’s peppermint joe-joe’s.
I continued prep in the morning, spent the afternoon having the oscopies, then we picked up a subway sandwich for me on the way home. I only ate about half of it and had a little ice cream
Definitely saw things in both oscopies. It’s going to be a while before an official diagnosis since I can’t even see the doc again until later Feb. But it was enough, along with other recent history, to have an idea of where it’s headed. Luckily nothing like cancer. But not awesome, either, if it does prove out. Eh. At least I have time to get used to the idea before it’s real and more meds/changes are needed. And at least it’s not all in my head (even though not absorbing nutrients is kind of a big clue it’s not all in your head lol).
Danielle L Zecher
I’m glad you’re getting some answers, even if it’s not the best news. Good luck with everything!