I couldn’t sleep the other night (despite the fact that Ellen had me up until 5am the night before) because I am pregnant and that’s what I do. So, what better time to organize and clean out the pantry, amiright?
I pulled out all of the ingredients and items that we don’t really use or that were about to go bad. I hate wasting food. Haaaate.
Most of the things I can find a use for at some point (dried black beans, pizza dough mix, steel cut oats, etc.), but there were a few wildcard ingredients that I’m sure I bought when I thought I might be Ree Drummond or perhaps someone that doesn’t need to buy prepackaged, convenience items at the store. Hearty laugh.
So, as I said, my mission, which I choose to accept, is to use all of these ingredients in the upcoming week or so. Here is what’s on the menu:
Lima Beans:
I’m planning on cooking these in a crock pot and making succotash and then freezing the rest in it’s own liquid to use as a side dish for other meals.
Sweet Potato Flour:
I am making a big batch of sweet potato pancakes to eat and then freeze for easy morning breakfasts. The rest of the flour will be used to make apple cinnamon sweet potato muffins.
French’s Fried Onions:
I think I’m just going to go with the recipe on the back of the container for this one: Crunchy Onion Chicken. Sounds healthy. Either that or I might make homemade party mix and use them in there. Don’t tell Mike that though. I HATE making party mix.
Coconut Milk:
I’m excited about this one. We are going to have Brazilian Chicken over rice. The rest will be used to make ice cream for dessert.
Pedialyte:
Let’s be more specific here: expired Pedialyte. It says it’s garbage after 48 hours. Is that garbage in itself? Can I water my plants with this stuff? Will it make my hair shiny? What do you do with a ton of expired Pedialyte?
And, from this moment on, I promise to never buy crap that won’t get eaten. I always say that.
Also, if you’re still reading this (and why wouldn’t you be?) and you have any better recipes for these gourmets, leave a link, por favor.
I wish I could help out! I’m always a sucker for a good recipe :) But lima beans?? It’s been forever since I’ve attempted those…but I’m not against trying.
I HAVE seen some great smoothie recipes lately using coconut milk. Healthy and yummy. Perhaps in the latest Real Simple magazine? Hmm….I think my preggo mind is gone…because I can’t remember.
This comment doesn’t help you very much, does it? So, so sorry ;) Good luck!
Hey this comment alone made me smile, so yes, it was a helpful comment :) I love hearing from readers no matter what!
Can you come to my house and do the same? You are good. I hate wasting food too but I usually just give in. I have some french friend onions too (holiday leftovers pretty much) and may have to make that chicken…
Oh, and I don’t know if that flour would work, but we had some sweet potato biscuits at our wedding (with ham on them) that were just to die for.
You know what is weird? I would totally do that. I’ve always wanted to be a professional organizer or something like that!
I was following a recipe to make a quick indian dish that used fried onions. So as far as I can tell, for any recipe that begins with sautéing onions you can just start at the next step and throw in the fried onions. I could see this being a quick way to make spaghetti sauce. Throw together tomatoes, crushed fried onions, and some herbs, and you are good to go!
Hm that might be a great tip! The only problem? After I made the chicken, I ate the rest of the onions straight from the can :/ oops.
haha, sounds like fried onions should have a permanent place in your pantry!
Oh, now that just sounds dangerous. Dangerously yummy!
I made a really tasty coconut milk curry soup. I used rice noodles, tons of veggies, some vegetable broth, curry, and the coconut milk. You could add some chicken in there, too!
um. recipe? Mike would looove that…and me too!