Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183426 times)

nosythecat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2050 on: January 26, 2018, 09:12:50 PM »
I am down for this challenge.  I live alone but my cupboards and freezer is full of random stuff I need to get rid of before I buy anything else.  I'll still get the staples of milk, coffee, bread, butter.  I look forward to all the money I'll save and the interesting recipes and combos I'll eat to get rid of it all.  Check out http://www.supercooks.com for which gives your recipes based on the ingredients you already have.

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2051 on: January 27, 2018, 05:57:46 AM »
Silly problem today:  I challenged myself last Saturday to not buy any groceries until February.  But, today I'm making a little trip to a town an hour away to visit my coworkers' new baby (yay!).  This town just so happens to have my favorite food co-op, and I only make it there about once a year.  I haven't quite figured out my plan, but I think it might be something along the lines of 1) having most of my fun browsing, not actually buying, 2) only buying what I know I can't get at my regular stores, and 3) not eating any of it until February so I still haven to eat out of the pantry/freezer until then like my original challenge.

Parizade

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2052 on: January 27, 2018, 06:28:56 AM »
I need this challenge in my life! Starting with the bulgur that has been in pantry for so many years I can't recall when I bought it or why.
Dinner tonight will be Lebanese Bulgur with chickpeas. I have all the ingredients so no purchase is necessary.
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/lebanese-bulgur-178437?ftab=reviews

Tomorrow I will tackle the Scarlet Runner Beans, also no purchase necessary
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/styrian-gigantes-scarlet-runner-bean-casserole-466453

jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2053 on: January 27, 2018, 09:31:57 AM »
Help! What do I do with dried Italian white beans and a can of cranberry sauce?

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2054 on: January 27, 2018, 09:41:45 AM »
Fun update: I get to eat all the food in someone else's house! They were moving out and offered the contents of their fridge and freezer.  Going to be cautious, but a lot of it is unopened and condiments, so I get a bunch of new flavours to experiment with :)

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2055 on: January 27, 2018, 10:47:00 AM »
Help! What do I do with dried Italian white beans and a can of cranberry sauce?

Kale and white bean soup?

For the cranberry sauce, I had some leftover from Thanksgiving and used it as a pancake topping.  It would be a good mix-in for oatmeal or yogurt, too.

jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2056 on: January 27, 2018, 02:24:55 PM »
@horsepoor Oatmeal seems so obvious that I can't believe I didn't think of it. We eat oats often. Perfect!

And a white bean soup seems a safe bet.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2057 on: January 27, 2018, 02:50:55 PM »
@jkitiara - just noticed you're in SF. We are nearby (South Bay/Peninsula). I just noticed your blog - will be very interested to read on how others stay semi mustachian in this area. :-) It's rough!

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2058 on: January 27, 2018, 08:02:29 PM »
I was able to reorganize a bit and make my kitchen cleaner today.  I decided to start grinding coffee weekly instead of daily, because the grounds fly everywhere and it's a constant mess next to the toaster oven.  Because of using up excess ingredients, there was enough room in a cabinet near the stove to stow the canister of ground coffee and the coffee filters.    And there was enough room in the pantry cabinets to stow the container of whole beans, which used to live out on the counter.  The grinder also found a home in a lower cabinet and will only come out once a week or so when needed.  Now there's enough room next to the toaster oven to run the InstantPot or the immersion circulator out of the way of the main work space.

Down to one canister of rice after making some to stretch leftovers for last night's dinner.  I will not be buying 20# of rice at once ever again.

Fresh Bread

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2059 on: January 27, 2018, 11:01:23 PM »
Help! What do I do with dried Italian white beans and a can of cranberry sauce?

I am using cranberry sauce in slow cooker braised red cabbage with sausages in place of red currant jelly in the recipe. You can also do a nice braised cabbage with rosemary version as a side dish.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2060 on: January 28, 2018, 12:31:06 AM »
Bolognese tonight, using up mince from the freezer, red wine from the bottomless supply of gifted wine, and homemade passata a friend gave me a thank you for recoding part of her website.

jeninco

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2061 on: January 28, 2018, 11:10:35 AM »
Y'all inspired me to go through the "grains" cabinet shelf, and I found about a cup of needing-to-be used buckwheat groats. Unfortunately, we don't particularly care for kasha, and I'm not having luck finding main-dish places to use it where the flavor will be diluted with other things -- buckwheat has a pretty distinctive taste.

Any suggestions, other than just making porridge and eating it for breakfast? I could probably ask my DH to have it for breakfast with me, although the kids will refuse...

I also found a bottle of barley, but that's easier -- we have a freezer-load of beef and some dried mushrooms hiding in the pantry that could get tossed in. Beef-And-Barley soup, you're on the menu for next week! (I also have a recipe for barley/brown rice/bulgar/something else salad with lots of veg and a curry dressing that's quite good.)

I also found a jar of wild rice, but that's really not a burden to consume. Not sure what to do with the cup of black chinese rice ("Forbidden Rice"). I obviously used a bit more than half of it once..

Thanks for the inspiration!

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2062 on: January 28, 2018, 07:46:23 PM »
Help! What do I do with dried Italian white beans and a can of cranberry sauce?

white beans - hummus?
cranberry sauce - muffins?

I have finished the first container of laksa paste I brought back from our London trip. I am in freezer stocking mode atm because I'm about to travel for work and the SO needs food. I think overall the food situation is good, though I need to do a better job with some things in the spice cabinet (esp poppy seeds, black sesame seeds, dukkah).

I am trying an overnight chia, oatmeal, blueberry & almond milk experiment. If it works out, then I can make better progress towards finishing off these chia seeds.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2063 on: January 29, 2018, 02:15:42 AM »
I cooked a large chunk of beef that was in the freezer. We ate a few slices, will eat a few more tonight and the rest can go back into the freezer in slices for some other occasion.

Mialao

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2064 on: January 29, 2018, 11:54:47 AM »
Only three more weeks to go until our move, but I'm making progress as I plan our meals around everything the freezer has to offer. So we had quite a lot of lamb recently like chili con lamb, lamb curry or lamb meatballs.

Still have two frozen legs of lamb to use, but maybe I am going to move one, as I will allow myself to move 1 cooler box of freezer items and one cooler box of fridge items. The new apartment is only 45 minutes away so that will be ok I think.

Yesterday we had a veggie curry with smoked tofu which I've been avoiding to look at for a while and the last chick peas I cooked and froze a few weeks ago. This also used the last few of a big sack of potatoes that already looked a bit wrinkly. I'm mixing my black rice with basmati so this should also be gone soon. 

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2065 on: January 29, 2018, 03:17:01 PM »
I used up soft truss tomatoes, half a red onion, sourdough, pesto (in lieu of fresh basil) and parmesan in bruschetta last night.

Made for a quick and easy dinner with heaps of flavour.

fuzzy math

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2066 on: January 29, 2018, 08:18:22 PM »
Made chili tonight. Listing the junk that I used up: old frozen turkey, some dried black beans (that i'd soaked and cooked), some kinda wrinkly Anaheim peppers, the rest of my paprika, some cocktail sauce and 3 packets of taco bell diablo sauce to compensate for the missing extra paprika. Not too bad! Poured it on old leftover rice.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2067 on: January 30, 2018, 09:15:26 AM »
I bought a bag of frozen shelled edamame because it was on sale. There is no rice in the household.

Ideas beyond mashing with avocado for a dip?

jeninco

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2068 on: January 30, 2018, 09:47:25 AM »
Warming up, sprinkle with salt, eat out of hand?

I think you can also toss them with oil and roast them.
We use them instead of peas in a curried couscous salad (or other places where peas usually go, like pasta.)

jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2069 on: January 31, 2018, 09:25:44 PM »
@jkitiara - just noticed you're in SF. We are nearby (South Bay/Peninsula). I just noticed your blog - will be very interested to read on how others stay semi mustachian in this area. :-) It's rough!
@MaybeBabyMustache it is rough--it makes me annoyed nearly every day, despite the fact that we are doing it on a salary that would make us considered downright wealthy elsewhere in the country. For a long time I was trying to convince my DH to move, but lately I just decided to lean in. We will buy a house. It will be tiny and absurdly expensive.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2070 on: February 01, 2018, 10:07:11 AM »
@jkitiara - just noticed you're in SF. We are nearby (South Bay/Peninsula). I just noticed your blog - will be very interested to read on how others stay semi mustachian in this area. :-) It's rough!
@MaybeBabyMustache it is rough--it makes me annoyed nearly every day, despite the fact that we are doing it on a salary that would make us considered downright wealthy elsewhere in the country. For a long time I was trying to convince my DH to move, but lately I just decided to lean in. We will buy a house. It will be tiny and absurdly expensive.
The perk of a tiny, absurdly expensive house is that you can't fill it with a lot of crap.  No need for a lot of knick-knacks and no room for a huge amount of stuff. 

We are getting a new refrigerator in a little over a week, so we need to eat everything in our freezer.  Lots of frozen broccoli, fish, and fruit.  Ready, set, go...

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2071 on: February 01, 2018, 07:52:06 PM »
Mixed success so far.

Had a can of smoked sardines and had the revelation that I like smoked salmon and cream cheese, and this would probably have a similar taste...made a really great spread with the sardines, cream cheese, capers and lemon juice. I will be sad when this is gone!

Decided to try a "deconstructed stuffed squash" to use up a few freezer things--diced kabocha squash, cauliflower stuffing from Trader Joe's, and diced chicken sausage. The combination of flavors was OK, but the textures were a little weird. I am super-sensitive to texture, so although I did eat it all I won't be trying that experiment again.

Made a pecan-based pie to use up a pie crust I got for free from the grocery store. It tasted all right, but the filling didn't set up properly. Won't be using that particular recipe again.

Coming up this week...lemon-cranberry bars to use up a half-bag of cranberries I had around, and an invented enchilada to use up several Mexican-type ingredients and a package of crumbly corn tortillas. Note to self--do not pick recipes that involve part of a bag of cranberries. It is very hard to find recipes that will use the other half. Also planning to make sweet and sour meatballs to take to a Super Bowl party to use a jar of sweet and sour sauce I was gifted.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2072 on: February 02, 2018, 08:10:11 AM »
Mixed success so far.

Had a can of smoked sardines and had the revelation that I like smoked salmon and cream cheese, and this would probably have a similar taste...made a really great spread with the sardines, cream cheese, capers and lemon juice. I will be sad when this is gone!

Decided to try a "deconstructed stuffed squash" to use up a few freezer things--diced kabocha squash, cauliflower stuffing from Trader Joe's, and diced chicken sausage. The combination of flavors was OK, but the textures were a little weird. I am super-sensitive to texture, so although I did eat it all I won't be trying that experiment again.

Thanks for these!  Sardines are one of the things I need to keep eating - they were on sale at CostCo several months ago and I thought buying 2 6-packs would be a great idea... oh, and I had like 3 cans at home already.  This week I made sardine "tuna" salad to top my lunch salads.  I'll try your way next week.  I was slightly shocked at how many spaghetti squash I still have in the basement, and your post reminded me of a squash lasagna boat recipe I saw a few weeks ago.  Need to put that in the rotation.

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2073 on: February 02, 2018, 09:03:57 AM »
Mixed success so far.

Had a can of smoked sardines and had the revelation that I like smoked salmon and cream cheese, and this would probably have a similar taste...made a really great spread with the sardines, cream cheese, capers and lemon juice. I will be sad when this is gone!

Decided to try a "deconstructed stuffed squash" to use up a few freezer things--diced kabocha squash, cauliflower stuffing from Trader Joe's, and diced chicken sausage. The combination of flavors was OK, but the textures were a little weird. I am super-sensitive to texture, so although I did eat it all I won't be trying that experiment again.

Thanks for these!  Sardines are one of the things I need to keep eating - they were on sale at CostCo several months ago and I thought buying 2 6-packs would be a great idea... oh, and I had like 3 cans at home already.  This week I made sardine "tuna" salad to top my lunch salads.  I'll try your way next week.  I was slightly shocked at how many spaghetti squash I still have in the basement, and your post reminded me of a squash lasagna boat recipe I saw a few weeks ago.  Need to put that in the rotation.

A couple of hours after I posted that, I was browsing a cookbook and realized I had reinvented the classic French recipe for "rilletes" (smoked fish spread.) Oh, well, I guess that great minds think alike! :)

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2074 on: February 02, 2018, 09:18:11 AM »
Slow going through our refrigerator.  I did use up a small package of cheese (from a Hillshire Farms gift box we received at Christmas), a can of black beans, and a few pounds of chicken for dinner last night.  I also used up most of our open tahini in hummus.  However, we have a lot of food leftover for dinner tonight.

fuzzy math

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2075 on: February 02, 2018, 07:13:40 PM »
Used up a past its prime cauliflower head and equally gross sweet potato in a korma dish tonight.

Tomorrow is acorn squash cooking day. Hoping to find a good recipe

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2076 on: February 02, 2018, 07:52:16 PM »
@jkitiara - just noticed you're in SF. We are nearby (South Bay/Peninsula). I just noticed your blog - will be very interested to read on how others stay semi mustachian in this area. :-) It's rough!
@MaybeBabyMustache it is rough--it makes me annoyed nearly every day, despite the fact that we are doing it on a salary that would make us considered downright wealthy elsewhere in the country. For a long time I was trying to convince my DH to move, but lately I just decided to lean in. We will buy a house. It will be tiny and absurdly expensive.

We moved here from Seattle, and as part of our relo, got a rental option for a few months. We had zero time to prep & ended up somewhere that is lovely, a short commute & insanely expensive. That was in 2013. We have now sucked it up & bought a house, because our kids are totally integrated & don't want to move. I tried to convince everyone to move back to our nice & somewhat reasonably affordable house in Seattle last year. I was outvoted. The weather was a huge factor. We are on two bay area salaries, so that makes a big difference, I'd imagine.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2077 on: February 02, 2018, 11:15:24 PM »
I found @ pack of half-baked french bread in the kitchendrawer. It has a best before date on the 8th of Jan 18. It is now the 3rd of Feb. I will open it today and sniff if it smells okay and then eat it.

halftimer

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2078 on: February 03, 2018, 10:15:46 PM »
Nice progress everyone. I had a few food successes lately with odds and ends: 1. Tortilla chicken that was a huge hit and will have to be recreated at some point in future. I coated the chicken pieces with mayo mixed with last of a creamy tzatziki salad dressing, then in a mix of crushed tortilla chips, bread crumbs and spicy shredded cheese and baked it. 2. lentil stew with lots of spices, and thickened with the last of the cous cous. I forgot we were out of tomatoes, so I substituted with a few leftover sauces and it turned out yummy.

Need solutions for pomegranate salad dressing, and pomegranate flavored honey. Not together! Any ideas?

jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2079 on: February 05, 2018, 04:37:56 PM »
Mixed success so far.

Had a can of smoked sardines and had the revelation that I like smoked salmon and cream cheese, and this would probably have a similar taste...made a really great spread with the sardines, cream cheese, capers and lemon juice. I will be sad when this is gone!

Decided to try a "deconstructed stuffed squash" to use up a few freezer things--diced kabocha squash, cauliflower stuffing from Trader Joe's, and diced chicken sausage. The combination of flavors was OK, but the textures were a little weird. I am super-sensitive to texture, so although I did eat it all I won't be trying that experiment again.

Thanks for these!  Sardines are one of the things I need to keep eating - they were on sale at CostCo several months ago and I thought buying 2 6-packs would be a great idea... oh, and I had like 3 cans at home already.  This week I made sardine "tuna" salad to top my lunch salads.  I'll try your way next week.  I was slightly shocked at how many spaghetti squash I still have in the basement, and your post reminded me of a squash lasagna boat recipe I saw a few weeks ago.  Need to put that in the rotation.

A couple of hours after I posted that, I was browsing a cookbook and realized I had reinvented the classic French recipe for "rilletes" (smoked fish spread.) Oh, well, I guess that great minds think alike! :)

I just noticed a can of sardines in my own cupboard. I like them, but at often at a loss for how to really use them. I'll try this!

In other cooking--I've decided February is the month I will use up all the random spices that we bought for one recipe one time but never use. Ras al hanout was great sprinkled on eggplant (though my husband just thought it was cinnamon). I also put ground coriander on fish fillets which was really good (it's a bit lemony). We have about 7 different kinds of chili powder based spice mixes, so goodness knows how I will go through those (I don't like really spicy food, it's all from DH! I can handle mild-medium spice.)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2080 on: February 05, 2018, 10:02:18 PM »
Yesterday we ate this week's leftover, butternut squash soup and homemade pizza.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2018, 08:15:11 AM by Linda_Norway »

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2081 on: February 06, 2018, 07:05:42 AM »
Nice progress everyone. I had a few food successes lately with odds and ends: 1. Tortilla chicken that was a huge hit and will have to be recreated at some point in future. I coated the chicken pieces with mayo mixed with last of a creamy tzatziki salad dressing, then in a mix of crushed tortilla chips, bread crumbs and spicy shredded cheese and baked it. 2. lentil stew with lots of spices, and thickened with the last of the cous cous. I forgot we were out of tomatoes, so I substituted with a few leftover sauces and it turned out yummy.

Need solutions for pomegranate salad dressing, and pomegranate flavored honey. Not together! Any ideas?

I'd probably use the salad dressing in a spinach/feta/roasted nut/chicken salad. I have a similar pomegranate vinegar from Trader Joes, and that's how I use it.

lizi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2082 on: February 06, 2018, 07:30:17 AM »
I recently found out that my SO and I might be doing a big move for his work, so with 6 months to go I am determined to get through as much of our pantry as possible. On the bright side, I have excellent, non-fussy friends who will happily accept any weird leftovers we donate to them when we leave (like endless half full bottles of hot sauce). But I may as well use what I can instead of buying other stuff, so challenge accepted!

jeninco

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2083 on: February 06, 2018, 09:42:58 AM »
Does anyone have an easy recipe to cook fish (I think tilapia)?  My DH bought a huge bag of frozen filets, and I don't have a clue how to cook them.

Google "recipe frozen tilapia" and see what looks good to you. (I see mostly baking recipes, which are easy.)
I'm not a fan of super-mild fish, so I'd sprinkle with olive oil, lemon juice, and some selection of olives/capers/ripe tomatoes/crushed garlic/spices (like a jerk blend, or an old-bay-type blend) and serve with rice and salad and/or cooked veg.

You can also use it for fish tacos, with tortillas, black beans, shredded cabbage with a little vinegar, guacamole or avocado, spicy salsa....

Serendip

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2084 on: February 06, 2018, 10:34:02 AM »
My SO found a huge bag of borage leaves from last summer in the freezer (from our garden) so I've used half of it by making a batch of vegan saag paneer (with tofu)
I've previously made the same recipe with radish greens, or any extra greens that need to be used up.
It's an easy & tasty recipe.

https://www.veganricha.com/2013/10/palak-tofu-tofu-in-spinach-curry-vegan.html


MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2085 on: February 06, 2018, 11:56:06 AM »
Does anyone have an easy recipe to cook fish (I think tilapia)?  My DH bought a huge bag of frozen filets, and I don't have a clue how to cook them.

4alpacas, I made these last week (I'm a low carber) using cod and served them with zucchini fritters and sauteed shrimp.  They turned out to be one of my most successful recipes in recent history!  I used a Cajun spice mix.

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2502735


Fresh Bread

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2086 on: February 06, 2018, 01:07:22 PM »
We don't have tilapia here because it's a pest species, but I use chunky white fish in Tom ka Gai in place of chicken. Or bake it, flake it and mix with mashed potato and veg for a fish pie

Serendip

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2087 on: February 07, 2018, 09:58:46 AM »
We found a bag of bananas in the freezer that had been forgotten--so I made a cocoa oatmeal bake with them (from budget bytes) and will eat that for breakfast for the rest of the week with hemp milk
(also made from a big jar of hemp hearts I would like to work through)

I like the creative cooking aspect of this challenge :)

next on the list is using up some millet and wild rice.

aetherie

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2088 on: February 07, 2018, 10:29:19 AM »
We're planning to move in 3-4 months so... it's time. There are some things in the pantry and freezer that I'll need to put effort into using up. The rest we're likely to eat anyway. Off the top of my head (I'm not at home right now so can't check):

Pantry:
- Italian-style breadcrumbs
- can of salmon
- pancake mix
- wild rice blend
- 1/2 bag of nutritional yeast
- 2.5 lb of pitted dates
- various expired spices
- 2 bottles of soy sauce

Freezer:
- 3 quart bags of blackberries from last summer
- broccoli
- various fish
- meatballs
- ham
- hot dogs
- 3 loaves of frozen bread dough
- 2 tubs of pesto
- random pack of frozen cookie dough that I keep forgetting is in there

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2089 on: February 07, 2018, 11:54:52 AM »
@aetherie I'm impressed how useful your stockpile of food is...I frequently have random stuff that I "needed" while throwing things in my cart at the grocery store.

- Italian-style breadcrumbs
So many options! I use breadcrumbs on chicken (my fave) and in meatballs.
- can of salmon
Maybe partner with the breadcrumbs to make some sort of fishcake.
- pancake mix & 3-quart bags of blackberries from last summer
YUM!!! I love pancakes!  Cook down your frozen berries as a topping.
- wild rice blend + broccoli
Make big batches and use it as a side (would be tasty with salmon cakes)
- 2.5 lb of pitted dates
I love to make date-sweetened brownies
- 2 tubs of pesto
I put pesto on EVERYTHING!  On a sandwich, on eggs, on pasta.
- random pack of frozen cookie dough that I keep forgetting is in there
I do not understand people who can forget about cookies or cookie dough.  :)

aetherie

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2090 on: February 07, 2018, 12:20:27 PM »
Awesome, thanks for the suggestions!

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2091 on: February 07, 2018, 10:20:51 PM »
 The enchilada bake worked out great! Cleared out leftover barbacoa, leftover fajita vegetables, frozen black bean chili, the tortillas, some random cheese...it had too much liquid at first but then set up better in the fridge.

Tried a bag of frozen pelmeni from Trader Joe's. Only managed to eat half the bag--the dill flavoring was way too strong for me.

Haven't gotten to the lemon cranberry bars yet. Due to various issues, I ended up making up a cookie mix from Trader Joe's that had been hanging around my cupboard for awhile. Good to get it out the door!

jeninco

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2092 on: February 08, 2018, 11:12:00 AM »
Made beef and barley soup with dried mushrooms. Used up half the dried porcini we'd put away a few years ago, and most of the barley that was hanging out in the cupboard. Also tossed in (at the very end) most of a bag of kale that was an over-purchase last weekend. (thought I'd need two, only needed one.)
One kid liked it, hubby and I thought it was decent, the other kid had a complete snitfit because he'd told me earlier in the week that he didn't care for barley period. He didn't even taste it because he was so torqued.

I narrowly avoided pointing out that the barley looked almost exactly like protein-filled maggots mixed in with the beef chunks.... (Tasty maggots!)

I'll eat the rest as cereal in the next few days, then that'll be gone. Next up: another sweep through the pantry!

halftimer

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2093 on: February 08, 2018, 01:19:26 PM »
...Need solutions for pomegranate salad dressing, and pomegranate flavored honey. Not together! Any ideas?

I'd probably use the salad dressing in a spinach/feta/roasted nut/chicken salad. I have a similar pomegranate vinegar from Trader Joes, and that's how I use it.

Thanks MaybeBabyMustache - that sounds like a good salad to try. Do you think it would work in a marinade as well?

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2094 on: February 08, 2018, 01:31:55 PM »
Italian spaghetti squash boats were a big success last night.  Easier cleanup because the shells contain most of it. Used yucky wine, canned tomatoes and a big squash that was going soft a bit.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2095 on: February 08, 2018, 01:33:04 PM »
...Need solutions for pomegranate salad dressing, and pomegranate flavored honey. Not together! Any ideas?

I'd probably use the salad dressing in a spinach/feta/roasted nut/chicken salad. I have a similar pomegranate vinegar from Trader Joes, and that's how I use it.

Thanks MaybeBabyMustache - that sounds like a good salad to try. Do you think it would work in a marinade as well?

I've never tried it, but expect it would work well with chicken

jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2096 on: February 11, 2018, 04:03:50 PM »
Because of losing my mind (apparently) at a farmer's market, I now have a surplus of veggies that the clock is ticking on. I think I should make a big veggie soup:

broccoli shoots
swiss chard
brussel sprouts
2 half onions (oops)
half can diced tomatoes

Maybe throw in some cracked wheat and squash to heft it up? How can I make a soup like this NOT bland (and I don't eat spicy)? Lots of lemon?

Dollar Slice

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2097 on: February 11, 2018, 04:22:58 PM »
I make veggie soups with a base of 50/50 mix of homemade chicken stock and tomato puree. It's very flavorful. You could also do something minestrone-ish with some Italian herbs and a sprinkle of parmesan or drizzle of olive oil on top...

chasesfish

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2098 on: February 11, 2018, 04:30:44 PM »
Dang I wish I could pull this off....I struggle just to put out the oldest food once a month to commit to eating it

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2099 on: February 11, 2018, 04:42:08 PM »
-Used the last of a giant, Costco sized bag of potatoes. Caught the potatoes just before they went bad
-Ate the last of a lemon cookie that was part of my birthday treats. It would have been rude not to, because it was incredible.
-Ate leftover soup for lunch