Monday night dinner!

 

Chicken and spinach orzo  (leftovers make great lunches!!!) with a caprese salad!

Tamarind Soup

In my quest to use up everything prior to the move, I'm starting to use some more exotic ingredients stashed in my pantry. Today: tamarind!

Tamarind Soup (inspired by a soup I had at vietnamese resto- La Petit Camille)

-tamarind (soaked in water to get pulpy stock, throw out membranes and seeds)
-chicken stock (you can use dashi if you prepare, I'm trying to get rid of heavy canned broth)
-fish sauce (no way I'll use up this bottle before the move, 2 tsp is plenty)
-can of bamboo shoots (normally use bean sprouts, but I had this on hand)
-carrots, sliced
-green bell pepper, sliced
-chile flakes and pods
-ginger (I had the chinese kind, the recipe calls for galang which is the thai kind)
-juice of one lime (I always have citrus on hand, so good for everything!)
-raw shrimp (I used about 1/2 pound of the big 26 ct)

-boil broth with sliced ginger, add in tamarind stock
-add in the other sliced veggies
-lastly add shrimp, cook until all tender and flavors develop

voila, serve this clear hot and sour soup on a warm day!

Shrimp Scampi and Summer Squash Salad!

What better way to end the weekend than a little cooking session. I made Shrimp Scampi with the following ingredients:
- Shrimp
-olive oil
- garlic
- red chili flakes
- parsley
- chives
-chicken broth

To make the summer squash salad you will need the following items:  zucchini, yellow squash, basil. parsley, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper, olive oil

Tex Mex Veggie Enchilada Bake

Black beans, corn, kale, onions, peppers stir fried with garlic.
Then layered veggies with tomato sauce and tortillas.

Managed to finish cooking it one hour. Success!

Used up:
Cooking oil
Black beans
Tomato sauce
Tortilla pkg

Breakfast of Champions

eggs, home fries and tomato. delish and simple!

Duo of Flavors: Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks and Chili Fries

We cook when we have time. And it ends up a fusion of flavors.

Teriyaki chicken (borrowed from Steamy Kitchen's recipe)
with mirin, honey, hoisin and pepper flakes for kick

Chili fries using some pantry goodies like hormel's chili, olives, greek yogurt, avocado.

Pantry to the Rescue!

I was invited to a potluck at work and it's tomorrow! I was too tired to go grocery shopping at work, so I relied on mostly pantry items to make what I will bring. I made two items: inarizushi, and pasta salad.

I was worried I didn't have any food to bring in the fridge.
This is mostly true.
The only fridge ingredients used were: cherry tomatoes. maybe some cheese tomorrow if I feel like it.

The quick and easy recipes:

Inarizushi "beggar's pockets"
1 day old rice (perfect to make sushi rice with)
can of inarizushi tofu skins (separate out seasoned sauce in can to flavor rice)
seaweed (I used the snack packs cuz that's what I had, but any will do)
frozen pea/carrot pkg

cook the rice with some oil, mirin seasoning, rice vinegar, and seasoned sauce from can
add in peas/carrots for color and texture
let cool, then stuff tofu skins from can
cap each "beggar's pocket" with a layer of seaweed to neatly wrap up the package
store in fridge
can be eaten warm or cool

Pasta salad
rotini
1 can palm of hearts
1 can sweet peas
1 can diced olive
garlic flavored olive oil
balsamic vinegar
cherry tomatoes

I cooked rotini in well salted water, drain and cool
then sliced palms of heart and cherry tomatoes to mix with pasta
top with combo of garlic flavored oil oil, diced olives, and balsamic vinegar
add in some fresh basil for color
voila!
also can be eaten warm or cooled

Menu Planning and Using Up the Pantry

I am slowly foraging my way through my pantry in the hopes of eating things up before we move (still TBA)

But last few nights of cooking have used up:
-pork chops that were in freezer
-bottle of soy sauce (so still have new bottle, but no more back ups to move later)
-bottle of hoisin sauce (same, no more backups)
-mapa tofu mix

last weekend I used up my tremella fungus, some asian chili/black bean sauce.

This week's menu planning:
Mon-mapa tofu
Tue-pork chops
Wed-burritos
Thr-fried rice
Fri-go out?

Lunch-P packs PBJ sandwiches mostly and various snacks
I bring left overs or salads.

A healthy and happy fourth

What does eating down your pantry mean?

Well in our case it means I used up our bag of potatoes and some frozen corn to make clam chowder for lunch.

Then we made white tilapia, arugula with beet and walnut salad, French fries, and sautéed mushrooms.

The stuff from our pantry or freezer are:
Tilapia
Walnuts
French fries
Ranch dressing
Corn
Potatoes
Canned clams

Look at what it can make!