Eat ALL the food in your house

[swick]

Took cabbage, onion and ground beef in an Indian direction tonight with coconut milk, curry powder and some other random spices I don't really know how to handle properly.  Used up the last dab of maple syrup counterbalancing the tart from the tamarind paste.

Last night, used up some pears and tahini in a jicama slaw with an Thai-inspired dressing.

Need to do something with capers as I have them almost used up, and they're really not something I need to keep on hand.

Capers are an awesome addition chopped and added to potato salad or tartar sauce. I also make a caper gravy when I serve lamb.

What spices do you have a hard time using up? I'd be happy to help you brainstorm some ideas. (In another life, I was probably a spice merchant, I love em!)

Your Indian cabbage beef meal sounds great :)

[Splendid]

I had some dip leftover from my sausage biscuits. Turns out it makes a completely amazing sandwich spread. I had a toasted sandwich with the leftover pepperoni and pepper jack cheese from last night's pizza, banana peppers, and this dip slathered on the bread. Delicious. My life is entirely too good sometimes.

1/3 cup dijon mustard
2/3 cup mayo
1 Tbsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp paprika

[nikki]

I just finished a bowl of bean chili (from dried beans) I made in the slow cooker yesterday, accompanied with a perilla leaf pesto cornbread muffin.

There are four freezer bags with large portions of chili, two cornbread muffins, and some cornbread batter in the freezer. I'm curious about freezing cornbread batter; my boyfriend said it's fine, but I'm not sure how the baking powder will be affected. It's an experiment! Also, this batter doesn't contain eggs or milk, so it's already a bit of an experiment. ;-D

The chili only got stuff I already had on hand thrown in, but it's super delicious. I also got to use up taco seasoning and ranch dressing powder packets I inherited. I still have five or so taco seasoning packets to use, and they aren't my favorite things in the world...

This continues to be an interesting challenge for me because fresh produce from my CSA boxes get "main dish" status now. I'm definitely seeing my baking ingredients and spices decrease as the weeks go on, though! Unfortunately, I have to buy more sesame oil today to continue making yummy things with my fresh produce. And some tomatoes so salads make sense :-/  ...and yogurt or milk for baking muffins. And garlic. Siigh!

Anyway--I'm having fun eating!

[horsepoor]

Took cabbage, onion and ground beef in an Indian direction tonight with coconut milk, curry powder and some other random spices I don't really know how to handle properly.  Used up the last dab of maple syrup counterbalancing the tart from the tamarind paste.

Last night, used up some pears and tahini in a jicama slaw with an Thai-inspired dressing.

Need to do something with capers as I have them almost used up, and they're really not something I need to keep on hand.

Capers are an awesome addition chopped and added to potato salad or tartar sauce. I also make a caper gravy when I serve lamb.

What spices do you have a hard time using up? I'd be happy to help you brainstorm some ideas. (In another life, I was probably a spice merchant, I love em!)

Your Indian cabbage beef meal sounds great :)

Oh, I bought all these Indian spices a while back.  I need to bust out the Madjur Jaffrey and expand my repertoire beyond daal and palak paneer.  I have, off the top of my head: mango amchur powder, fenugreek leaves, curry leaves, nigella sativa seeds, brown mustard seed, black cumin seed, asofetida (sp?) powder, tamarind paste, and a few spice blends.

[fixer-upper]

The idea of this thread has gotten me banned from several kitchens, even though the results were (usually) delicious.  Some people just can't understand the fun of tossing all the leftovers in the fridge in a stew pot to see what happens.

[tmac]

I bought quinoa to try last year, and loved it, but no one else in the house did. So last night I doctored up half the remainder with a ton of garlic, veggies, and olive oil to make a pilaf. It was great! And while the rest of the family didn't love it, they did eat it. One more round of that and we're done.

Tonight, I'll make chicken soup with also-stashed barley, served with dinner rolls I made that turned out a little hard. I'll warm them up with some moisture and see if they soften up a bit. Hate to just throw them out. They're otherwise good.

[swick]

The idea of this thread has gotten me banned from several kitchens, even though the results were (usually) delicious.  Some people just can't understand the fun of tossing all the leftovers in the fridge in a stew pot to see what happens.

This totally made me smile. The worst though is when it turns out really good and everyone raves and asks for the recipe...and you have to change the subject or admit that you didn't keep track of what you threw in the pot :)

[horsepoor]

I bought quinoa to try last year, and loved it, but no one else in the house did. So last night I doctored up half the remainder with a ton of garlic, veggies, and olive oil to make a pilaf. It was great! And while the rest of the family didn't love it, they did eat it. One more round of that and we're done.

Tonight, I'll make chicken soup with also-stashed barley, served with dinner rolls I made that turned out a little hard. I'll warm them up with some moisture and see if they soften up a bit. Hate to just throw them out. They're otherwise good.

I haven't tried it, but have read that toasting the quinoa in a dry pan before cooking will give it a nice, butty flavor. Maybe the other people in your house would like it better that way?

[tmac]

I bought quinoa to try last year, and loved it, but no one else in the house did. So last night I doctored up half the remainder with a ton of garlic, veggies, and olive oil to make a pilaf. It was great! And while the rest of the family didn't love it, they did eat it. One more round of that and we're done.

Tonight, I'll make chicken soup with also-stashed barley, served with dinner rolls I made that turned out a little hard. I'll warm them up with some moisture and see if they soften up a bit. Hate to just throw them out. They're otherwise good.

I haven't tried it, but have read that toasting the quinoa in a dry pan before cooking will give it a nice, butty flavor. Maybe the other people in your house would like it better that way?

Butty flavor? That sounds terrible! ;) 

I'm doing that, and it does give it a nice, nutty flavor, but I think it's a texture problem for them. There's no accounting for taste. :)

[swick]

Quinoa is great cooked and added to breads and muffins and such, or pizza crust!
http://jenninterrupted.blogspot.ca/2011/06/huh-quinoa-and-pizza.html

Also,  I make quinoa where I use a can of tomatoes as part of the cooking liquid. Throw in some basil and oregano and stir in some Parmesan and mozza cheese after it has cooked and it is an awesome, quick one-pot meal - throw in a little chopped fresh basil if you are feeling fancy.

Also, there are lots of recipes out there for "Pizza Quinoa" which is the same general idea but add chopped pepperoni and other favorite pizza toppings.

[tmac]

Yeah, I rinsed it well. I wish there were some user error I could fix, but it really was fine -- they just don't like it.

I love the idea of hiding it in other things or really amping it up with flavors I know they like (i.e. pizza). Great ideas! Thanks!

[1967mama]

When I'm introducing new or unusual foods to my family, I serve a small amount as a side dish along with familiar meat and veggies.  I do it several times and ask that they try the new food, they might be surprised that they start to like it.  This exact same thing happened when we started eating lentils.  The texture was very strange for them and the flavour was different from anything else in our typical meals, but now I can easily serve a whole platefull of lentils, no problem.  Just a few thoughts -- ymmv

[aetherie]

Count me in! I have 6 weeks until graduation/moving, and I don't want to move any food. My stash only takes up 1/6 of the cupboard, fridge, and freezer space in this apartment (hooray roommates) so I will need to grocery shop a few times between now and move-out day, but I'm going to do my best to combine new food with stuff that's been sitting in the cupboards for a while so I can use it up.

[1967mama]

Eating up all the bags of raspberries I froze last year, before raspberry season arrives again. They are great thawed, on yogurt with a sprinkling of chia and hemp seeds. Yum! Glad I found them!

[nikki]

Ideas for yellow mustard? I have a bottle that's expired, but I don't want to toss it. It's still good! ;-D

But ya--I clearly don't use the stuff much. I eat it on turkey and cheese sandwiches, but turkey is only available at Costco where I live, and that's 2+ hours away now. Not gonna happen.

I made a yellow mustard vinaigrette salad dressing that was edible but too tart--perhaps sugar would make that recipe a keeper.

What else?

[swick]

Ideas for yellow mustard? I have a bottle that's expired, but I don't want to toss it. It's still good! ;-D

But ya--I clearly don't use the stuff much. I eat it on turkey and cheese sandwiches, but turkey is only available at Costco where I live, and that's 2+ hours away now. Not gonna happen.

I made a yellow mustard vinaigrette salad dressing that was edible but too tart--perhaps sugar would make that recipe a keeper.

What else?

My mom dips her french fries in yellow mustard...I usually add a squirt or two to my cheese sauce, really rounds out the flavors....ummm....ohh honey mustard sauce uses lots of yellow mustard, good on chicken!

[Rural]

Do you have access to ham? Ham, mustard or mustard sauce, and pineapple are a good combination in a lot of recipes.

[1967mama]

Honey mustard chicken in the crockpot

[horsepoor]

I have a little internal celebration whenever I finish off a container of something that's been sitting around for too long. 

I just put together a Mexican casserole of random ingredients of pretty much everything and the kitchen sink:  cauliflower rice, black beans, roasted green chile, fresh green chile and bell pepper, onion, ground beef, broccoli, olives, cheese and a can of tomatoes.  Hope it's good because there's a LOT of it.

[aetherie]

Finished off so far:

• Bag of muesli
• Frozen fish fillets

Also a loaf of sandwich bread and some ice cream, but those don't count as I go through them frequently.

Still to go:

• Baked beans
• Bag of rice
• Lasagna noodles

and more...

[swick]

yesterday i made a very tasty soup following my "no measuring - dump in a pot" Philosophy. Usually it is:  Whatever homemade stock I happen to have in the freezer, some kind of bean, some kind of starch, some kind of veggies (usually something green) boiled till it makes soup.

Yesterday's was chicken stock, red lentil, bulgar, and rainbow chard. I plopped a couple of eggs in for a light poach (still had runny yolks which you break into the soup and make it all creamy, rich and delicious)

Your Mexican Casserole sounds great, Horsepoor!

[horsepoor]

Mmm, poached eggs in soup sounds awesome.  I frequently intend to make eggdrop soup and never do. 

The casserole was a hit, as measured by the fact that about a third of it was gone by the time I got home from the stable.

[Hotstreak]

Count me in! I have 6 weeks until graduation/moving, and I don't want to move any food. My stash only takes up 1/6 of the cupboard, fridge, and freezer space in this apartment (hooray roommates) so I will need to grocery shop a few times between now and move-out day, but I'm going to do my best to combine new food with stuff that's been sitting in the cupboards for a while so I can use it up.

Perfect!  Do your roommates have extra food?  I bet they would let you eat it, too :).

As for Mustard, folks, try it with chicken.  Use it as a marinade for at least 12 hours, then grill or BBQ that chicken!  VERY good, add something spicy or sweet if you liike.

[1967mama]

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-honey-mustard-chicken/

This honey mustard chicken recipe sounds excellent!

[happy]

Finished off a few more bits and pieces, but losing focus. Pantry is much better, but there's still a few things been lurking too long. Have to make the effort to finish the job.

[Noodle]

I had a houseguest so my experiments were a bit limited, but I did get rid of some frozen roasted corn and frozen asparagus in a couple of the things I made for her. Of course, I also brought in a few new ingredients!

[swick]

some small successes, really feeling the itch to go grocery shopping - but shopping from the pantry instead.
Yesterday - Curried fish cakes made with instant mashed potato, spices, frozen peas and whitefish - all from the pantry/freezer. I busted up some old rye crackers to use for the breading and served with papadums and some homemade chutney from the pantry.

Today - made deep-dish pizza with some ham from the freezer, cheese ends, and tomato paste from the pantry.

Tomorrow - potluck board meeting. I am planning on making some skillet cornbread - since I have everything in the pantry to make it and would love to use up some of my 25# sack of cornmeal.

[aetherie]

Yesterday I used up the last lasagna noodles and a jar of tomato sauce. Also recently used up: one can of baked beans.
This morning I made progress on the oatmeal, raisins, and brown sugar.

After I eat the leftovers from yesterday's dinner, my next challenge will be the pound of ground beef in the freezer.

[swick]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

[MicroRN]

Used up this week:  Bottle of Frank's red hot (buffalo pork salads), an enormous pork loin, dried thyme, wilted mushrooms/celery/carrots I had frozen, emptied a jar of raspberry preserves into fridge oatmeal, bag of turkey burgers, leftover ham (split pea soup), bottle of avocado oil, expired but still good greek yogurt, box of frozen chopped spinach that was around for ages, wilted arugula,   

Made pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins - used up a cup of chocolate chips, 1/2 can of pumpkin puree, couple Tbsp of almond flour, ground nutmeg that was kind of old.

Also froze chicken stew and extra pork before it could go bad. 

[4alpacas]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/16/chocolate-frosting-shots/

[horsepoor]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

Use the thick part as coffee creamer, or you can whip it into a "whipped cream."  I also have been making a ground beef dish with Indian spices and coconut milk that is really good.  Based off of this recipe, but with a little more coconut milk:  http://nomnompaleo.com/post/57975313761/deconstructed-samosa-spiced-keema

Good in smoothies, too, if you do those.

[Splendid]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

I like to use it in oatmeal. I still cook the oatmeal with water, then dump a ton of coconut milk on top. Especially delicious with bananas and brown sugar.

[Freckles]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

We love it in place of water when making rice.  Basmati is yummiest, but it makes any rice better.  Or half water and half coconut milk.

[CommonCents]

Anyone have any ideas for canned coconut milk? We occasionally make curries, and use it as a milk base when we make chia seed pudding...but I have a ton to use up. How do you use it?

Maybe modify tri layer bars?  Has a graham cracker base, coconut flakes+condensed milk, topped by a chocolate/peanut butter layer.  Maybe switch out the condensed milk?

[swick]

Thank you all for the suggestions!

I have made oatmeal a couple of times with some coconut milk - super yummy, Thanks Splendid!

Will definitely try it the next time I make some rice, I forgot when I made dinner last night...but I made a totally awesome coconut milk based curry which was a lot like a butter chicken just without the cream/yogurt and had coconut milk instead. I was really lucky to come across a single package of fresh curry leaves at our store for the first time ever - the employees had no idea what they were.

So I roughly used Jamie Oliver's recipe and Hubby said it was better then the Indian place we go to occasionally - and saves us a 4 hour drive!

http://www.annsrunningcommentary.com/jamie-olivers-favorite-chicken-curry/

Added bonus - got to use up some mustard seeds! I would definitely take extra  time in the first steps to really caramelize the onions, it makes a huge difference to the end of the dish.

[Hotstreak]

I have been adding stray cans of food to large dishes.  A 5 quart soup or casserole is not effected much by a 16oz can of anything, but it removes that food from the cupboard.  I don't eat many beans because of farting, but I put a can of garbanzo in stew recently and it went fine.

I think I'm packing a few stray cans still.  Not enough to bother me, but I want to ditch it on principle.

I want to consolidate the kitchen and have half my cupboards completely empty (then MOVE to a smaller place).  One can at a time!

[horsepoor]

If this challenge was DRINK ALL THE WINE in your house, I'd have it licked.

Probably going to do a major shopping trip tomorrow, as we're down to one pack of ground beef in terms of protein. So, challenge is sort of off, but it's gone a long way towards opening up pantry space, saving money and preventing stuff from expiring and going to waste.  I've also identified several ingredients I plan to use up and not keep on hand in the future, such as too many kinds of vinegars.  Ought to be making my own herbed vinegars instead.

[Freckles]

If this challenge was DRINK ALL THE WINE in your house, I'd have it licked.

Yes, yes absolutely!  I can rock that challenge too.  :)

[1967mama]

Pulled the following out of the deep freeze today to contribute to meals to feed the family today and tomorrow: 1 whole chicken, 1 lb of ground beef, 4 cup bag of black beans, 1/2 bag of fries, 1/2 bag of chicken strips, package of tortillas and 4 cup bag of raspberries. Feels great to use things up!

[Thegoblinchief]

Staying with friends while on vacation. They have SO much food laying around. I could probably go grocery free for a few months just raiding their freezer and pantry. I don't get it.

[Splendid]

For the next 15 weeks, I'm going to modify this challenge to Eat ALL the food in your CSA. I'm pretty horrible about getting unusual vegetables, and not knowing what to do with them, then they go bad and I throw them out. This week we got lettuce, tatsoi (similar to spinach), spinach, and bok choy. I ate some of the lettuce with shredded pork and homemade salad dressing last night. The rest is on the menu for lunch today. I'll be sauteeing some, maybe all, the spinach and tatsoi in bacon fat for dinner tonight. But what to do with the bok choy? Any suggestions? Recipes?

In case anyone is interested, here's my salad dressing recipe (also used as the dressing for Greek pasta salad):
1/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. mayo
1/2 c. oil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together. Makes 1 cup of deliciousness.

[horsepoor]

I like bok choi in a simple stirfy with soy sauce, chile paste and sesame oil, with or without meat.  Cut the thick part of the stems separately from the leaves and cook them longer, then just a minute or two for the leaves at the end.  Also good in miso soup.

[ViragoStache]

This is a really great idea, even in modified versions as I know people that have spices from 30years ago :)

I will be doing this to get the pantry down (and reconfigured) and make sure we cycle things in the (small) deep freezer.  I also need to start pulling the meals I froze that they kids don't like and get the hubby and I to eat them up (not a hardship, they were so good - dang picky kids).  We also have a lot of things that I've probably tried to move the family off of (white pasta) so I will have to weight the financial/health benefits there in using the items up (unfortunately items would be too old to donate).

Love to see all the ideas!

[nikki]

For the next 15 weeks, I'm going to modify this challenge to Eat ALL the food in your CSA. I'm pretty horrible about getting unusual vegetables, and not knowing what to do with them, then they go bad and I throw them out. This week we got lettuce, tatsoi (similar to spinach), spinach, and bok choy. I ate some of the lettuce with shredded pork and homemade salad dressing last night. The rest is on the menu for lunch today. I'll be sauteeing some, maybe all, the spinach and tatsoi in bacon fat for dinner tonight. But what to do with the bok choy? Any suggestions? Recipes?

In case anyone is interested, here's my salad dressing recipe (also used as the dressing for Greek pasta salad):
1/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. mayo
1/2 c. oil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together. Makes 1 cup of deliciousness.

Thanks for the dressing recipe! I've been wanting one to use up some of my mayo, and I have most of this stuff on hand (fresh garlic exchanged should work, eh?).

As for your CSA, I highly recommend making sure you're using a variety of cooking techniques so the greens don't seem so tiresome. Sauteeing or stir frying all the time would get pretty boring to me, even if there were different seasonings.

Spinach is super versatile--you could make any of these in the future:

http://www.food.com/recipe/spinach-balls-146371
http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.kr/2010/07/spinach-squares.html#.U0p0lPnZVNt
http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/saladsandsidedishes/r/mallow_salad_bakoula_khoubiza.htm (sub spinach for mallow, of course)
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/01/easy-white-spinach-pizza/

I even throw a handful into scrambled eggs.

I like bok choi in a simple stirfy with soy sauce, chile paste and sesame oil, with or without meat.  Cut the thick part of the stems separately from the leaves and cook them longer, then just a minute or two for the leaves at the end.  Also good in miso soup.

I always stir fry bok choy, too.

[nikki]

This is a pretty hardcore eating-all-the-food question.

Any salad dressing recipes utilizing the leftover bits in the jam jar I can't scrape out? It seems like a potential thing in my mind.

It's strawberry, if that matters.

[sunnyca]

Nikki- Maybe a strawberry basalmic-type of dressing? 

[Worsted Skeins]

Last week's CSA box became numerous salads, quiche with leeks and spinach, braised baby bok choi...

This coming week:  more salads, probably sauted spinach or arugula with beans on pasta, and ???  We do get lots of greens this time of year.

[nikki]

Nikki- Maybe a strawberry basalmic-type of dressing?

On it. I found this link after posting, too: http://livinghomegrown.com/2014/02/leftover-jam-salad-dressing-recipe.html

I knew it had to be a thing! I just wasn't searching for the right terms.

[tariskat]

This is a pretty hardcore eating-all-the-food question.

Any salad dressing recipes utilizing the leftover bits in the jam jar I can't scrape out? It seems like a potential thing in my mind.

It's strawberry, if that matters.

So this seems random but I think I saw it elsewhere in the thread - if you're a coffee drinker, swish your coffee around in that jar.  It would probably be like using a flavored syrup.