What's in Your Pantry?

A couple of days ago I posted about our October Pantry Challenge to spend $500 or less on organic whole foods this month.  It only seems appropriate to give you an idea of what's in my pantry that I'm working with. (An approximate cost of these goods was subtracted from the total budget for the month.)  This also gives me an excuse to show off my newly organized pantry.  Feel free to skim through to the update below if this bores you. ;)

 Not the greatest pictures as my pantry has no light in it and a small door that gets in the way which keeps you from seeing the entire shelf, but... 

Top shelf: White flour (way in back and almost never used), Cocoa powder, chocolate chips, flax seeds, coffee grinder for the flax seeds, baking soda, powdered sugar, Sucanat, brown sugar, Cholula hot sauce (free from Rangers game), vinegar (raspberry, apple cider, rice, white wine, red wine, balsamic)  honey, brown rice syrup (which I obviously needed seeing as how I've never opened it since I bought it over three years ago), molasses, pectin (three boxes, nonetheless), Mirin, Marsala, and extracts (lemon, almond (once again 3?), vanilla, and cherry)

Bottom shelf: brown rice puffs (similar to Rice Crispies), steel cut oats, quinoa, white rice (soon to be used up and replaced), lentils, arborio rice, garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), brown rice, elbow pasta, white beans of some sort, vegetable alphabet pasta, and the odds and ends of packages to restock the containers to the side.

To the right, top shelf: almonds, instant tapioca (for a particular recipe or two), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit (whatever I buy at the time), coconut, sesame seeds, pistachios, pecans, walnuts, raisins, cashews, poppy seeds, homemade lemon rind candy, peanut butter, pinto beans, more garbanzo beans, Great Northern beans, 11 packages whole wheat penne pasta, 11 packages whole wheat spaghetti pasta, 12 packages lasagna noodles.  Bottom shelf: 11 jars homemade chicken broth, two cans of tuna, Chipotle salsa, two cans sweetened condensed milk (once again, have owned these over three years), 7 jars roasted Hatch chili peppers, four jars homemade peach jam, 9 28 oz cans diced tomatoes, basket contains dried chilis, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, and sunflower seeds, basket for onions and garlic, basket for potatoes.

Pantry floor: Unseen to the left are my reusable grocery bags and egg cartons; the large containers hold soft wheat berries (to make flour for quick breads, cookies, etc.), rolled oats, black beans, hard wheat berries (to make flour for yeast breads).  Also lurking down there is some bottled water and a fire extinguisher, in case of emergency, although not necessarily for the same emergency.  As you can see I haven't found a good place for my freezer paper, plastic freezer bags (still working on phasing those out) and two extra boxes of plastic wrap, which I almost never use.  Up top: I chose not to take a picture of my top shelf which is kind of a catch all for items too tall to fit elsewhere such as a couple of serving items, adult beverages, and my oils: olive, canola, and coconut.

Moving right along...

I realize in a perfect world, I would be starting day one with zero food items.  That's not going to happen as October 1st was a Monday and I run errands on Friday.  And I'm not going to through away all my food.  I've decided not to include that trip in my budget, either, because at the end of the month I will be buying food that will carry over into November, so I figure it all works out or at least close enough.  Just so you know, I did keep my spending last Friday within weekly average budget guidelines.

Day One

Monday is my "cooking" day, as in, baking/cooking larger batch items to carry over into the week or month.  This past Monday, I made cheese crackers, mayonnaise,  and 40 Zucchini Muffins.  The quantity of muffins was somewhat of a happy accident as I had extra zucchini and decided to double the recipe before I realized that it already made 24 muffins.  No matter, as my children LOVED them and now we have extra in the freezer.  (Tip: Call them surprise muffins that have cinnamon and sugar in them until after they have devoured two.  Then they will be shocked and in awe when you tell them the surprise is zucchini.)  I also made some yogurt in the crock pot overnight.

Breakfast: Leftover blueberry muffins

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich, cucumbers

Snack: Cheese Crackers

Dinner: Crock pot Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken with Sesame seeds, brown rice, Stir-fried summer squash, zucchini, sweet peppers, and onions; milk for the kids

Note: I wanted to make a new sweet and sour chicken recipe from Pinterest, but I had a whole chicken, not chicken breasts.  Such is life.

Day Two

Breakfast: Zucchini muffins, cantaloupe

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich, cheese crackers

Snack: Zucchini muffins (I told you they were good.  And I almost forgot to grab something before picking up the kids.)

Dinner: Maple-Cardamom Glazed Salmon (minus the cardamom, ha!), chickpea and tomato basil salad (On my original menu plan, I had only listed the salad, and then realized that was completely ridiculous as two of my kids don't really eat chickpeas so I added salmon.  The salad turned out to be smaller than I expected anyway, so it all worked out.)

What's in your pantry?  Anyone care to share?

October Pantry Challenge

It's a new month!  Yay! I have been waiting for this.

Don't you just love a well-stocked pantry?

A little into last month I read a couple of blogs (here and here) about women who challenged themselves to feed their family for $100 a person for one month.  However, I intentionally place large orders to Azure in August and September to stock up my pantry for the next few months as I will be working part-time and don't know when I'll be able be able to pick up an order again in the near future.  No way could I stick to $100 a person last month.

One of my best cost-savings strategies on groceries is to buy staple ingredients in bulk at a discounted price.  (They don't typically make coupons for raw nuts and grains.)  This means that some months my grocery bill is higher than others, but it should balance out over time, provided we eat what we have on hand instead of buying other food to eat instead--not that we would ever do such a thing... (Avoids eye contact.)

Enter "The October Pantry Challenge."

We have four kids, but they are only with us half the time, so I will say $400 for groceries for our family for the month of October.  This number is for food only.  In August and September I spent bought $600 from Azure to stock our pantry.  I am guesstimating that these items will last around 6 months. Some may last much longer, while other items we may end up using up way before then.  I also ordered Salmon which I expect to last around 4-6 months.  We order beef and chicken through a coop, but that normally balances each other out as we order them every other month, respectively.

Here's a break down of the fuzzy math:

Food budget:                                     $400 500
Azure (averaged out over 6 months):      100
Salmon:                                               16
Milk and eggs:                                      40
Coop:                                                 150                                          

Balance:                                             $94 194


Hmmm.  I honestly think I could do it on $400, but it would mean a big spending month again the following month.  Plus, I wouldn't be able to order chicken this month which would create problems and higher spending later.  I'm thinking that $500 for the month is a little more reasonable and possibly sustainable over the next few months.  I also am thinking my Azure number may be on the high side as a lot of what I bought is probably going to last us closer to 9-12 months.  (Getting a better idea of how long my bulk items last is on the to-do list.)

During this month I am going to ATTEMPT to post updates more regularly--every day or at least every other day.  I'm thinking this may give more of an idea of how we eat real organic food at a reasonable price.  However, I am not going to be estimating the cost of each individual meal because I am not going to make myself that crazy.  (If you follow via Facebook updates, I am planning to post blog updates for this once or twice a week, not daily, as that seems that it may get a little annoying.  If you're interested in reading the in-between posts, you may want to subscribe via e-mail so you don't miss one.)

Over the course of this month, my goal is to be more watchful of my grocery spending and to get a better idea of what we're spending.  I also hope to prove that eating healthy food doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.  Then again, I may be coming to the realization at the end of the month that we do spend more on our food than I thought.  Wish me luck!

First Fall Recipe of the Season

This is only a slight exaggeration.  Seriously.

Okay, so after my post last week about how it doesn't really turn to autumn in Texas until the end of October, we had a cold front move in the next day bringing fall-like weather for a few days, followed by a whole week of temps in the 80's and 90's with more in the forecast next week. (This is the other thing Texas weather does.  It tricks you into and then changes and laughs in your face.)

Regardless, maybe this little taste of "fall" softened me a little bit to whipping up something more autumn-like, plus I found apples at the farmer's market yesterday.  Hence, this morning for breakfast I decided to add a twist to our Baked Oatmeal recipe and create Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal.  The words out of my husband's mouth? "You've outdone yourself this time."  Why thank you very much.  (By the way, even my non-oatmeal-eating kiddos LOVE this recipe.)

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

1 1/2 C Rolled Oats
1/2 C Honey
1/2 C Milk
1/4 C Olive Oil
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 C chopped Pecans
1 Small or Medium Apple, chopped

1. Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl. 
(Tip: Use a glass measuring cup to measure the olive oil first, then the honey.  The coating from the olive oil will help the honey pour out easily without sticking.)

2. Spread evenly in a greased 13 X 9 X 2 inch baking pan.

3. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. (You can vary the cooking time according to your preference.  Shorter cooking time 20-30 minutes will result in softer oatmeal, while 30-35 minutes will yield a chewier consistency, more cookie-like.)

Next time I think I might add the chopped apple to the top after baking to give it a fresh crisp taste.  However, this version was quite yummy as is.  Happy Fall!

Quick Go-to Dinner

Have I told you how much I love Frittata, Tortilla Espanola and all versions thereof?  It is quick, easy, requires no actual measuring or precise recipe, and calls for eggs and whatever I have on hand.  It's the perfect meal when I'm home by myself (although I make it for the family sometimes, too), or when I wrote down Calabacitas on the calendar which I read at 5 o'clock after getting home from the Chiropractor.

Ahem.

As I said above, there isn't a real recipe to this.  Once you know the method, you can tweak it as you see fit.  

Step One

Chop up your veggies of choice. (I used a new potato and a little red onion tonight.) Heat some olive oil in a ovenproof skillet and saute the veggies until they're cooked and a little soft. (For potatoes, I cook them until they're soft, but not too brown.)

 Step Two

Beat eggs and a splash of milk together in a bowl.

Step Three

Add eggs to pan.  Add a little cheese of choice if you want.  Let the eggs cook until they're mostly set.  Put the pan in the oven under the broiler to finish cooking. (2-7 minutes depending on how long you let them cook in the pan.

That's it.  Enjoy your yummy, easy, inexpensive dinner.  This is one of those dinners I consider a "free" meal.  I know it's not really free, but you're using up odds and ends in the kitchen so it feels like it's free.

P.S. I am not posting a finished product picture because it broke on the way out of the pan, and I don't want you to laugh at me.

Extended Summer Menu

I know, the title is disappointing.  You were hoping for great "fall recipes" weren't you?   But I live in Texas, and although the temperature has dropped considerably (85-95 feels like heaven after 100+), it won't be fall here for a while.  So far we've gotten off pretty easy this year, though.  Last year at this time we were in the middle of a drought and trying to keep first graders from falling into huge cracks that had formed around the school playground, never to be seen or heard from again.

In spite of the multitude of fall decorating ideas and recipes on Pinterest, I absolutely refuse to decorate my house for fall until after October 1st, usually closer to mid-October.  One year I dutifully hauled out scarecrows, pumpkins, and hay September 22nd as the calendar dictates only to be ready to rip it all down all before Halloween.  When the trees don't even change color (if you can call it that) until November, it feels terribly foolish to have decorations up for over a month prior.  (To all of my friends out of state who are happily making soups and apple-type desserts and decorating their house for fall, just wait until March when that snow has long lost it's beauty, and we're close to enjoying the first tomatoes of the season.  Texas rules. Winter drools.)

But enough of all that.  Below is what's cooking in my kitchen for the next month--some of which I precooked and stashed in the freezer over the past few weeks. (Those recipes are linked to onceamonthmom.com which has links to the original recipes as well.)  I realize I provided two different options per night.  I like to have a myriad of choices so that I don't get bored with the same old-same old, and so I can pick and choose from what I have on hand and can buy at the Farmer's Market.  Although these recipes still include summer veggies, there are some "warmer" recipes for the cooler days.  Enjoy!

Week One

Saturday- Veggie Panini/Eggplant Parmesan

Sunday- Simple Stuffed Peppers/Chipotle Burgers

Monday- Ginger Peach Chicken/Sweet and Sour Chicken (I would use arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch.)

Tuesday- Chickpeas and Tomato Basil Salad/Summer Veggie Pasta (Use less pasta or more veggies than the original recipe.)

Wednesday- Calabacitas/Zuni Stew (Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

Thursday- Veggie Stirfry/Frittata

Friday- Homemade Pizza 

Week Two

Saturday- Steak Fajitas/Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Sunday- Caprese Lasagna with Spicy Turkey Sausage/Grilled Pork Chops

Monday- Vegetable Tian/Quinoa Salad

Tuesday- Teriyaki Chicken Thighs/Orange and Honey Chicken Drumsticks (Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

Wednesday- Heirloom Tomato Tart/Tomato Basil Soup (both new recipes to try!)

Thursday- Chicken Wrap/Chicken Pesto Pasta

Friday- Ginger Cilantro Baked Tilapia/Out

Weekend Lunches

Our tradition is to eat out for lunch on Sunday, and I typically eat leftovers during the week.  However, I am adding weekend lunches to my meal plans because somehow lunchtime on Saturday rolls around (as it does every week), and I am consistently shocked and surprised that we need to eat lunch.  Of course I have absolutely nothing at all planned, and all leftovers have been consumed as of the night before. Somewhere out in Chicago my husband is cheering and possibly dancing a little jig out of sheer joy as he loves my lack of planning for Saturday lunches.

Okra Cornmeal Cakes

Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta

Hummus (I use less lemon juice.) and Pita Bread (I used all whole wheat pastry flour.)

Sweet Summer Corn Chowder

Any others have a favorite "not quite fall/end of summer" recipe to share?

Not so "once a month" cooking

I’m not even going to mention the fact that I haven’t blogged here in a while.  (Oops, I just did.)  I have come to accept the fact that I am an inconsistent blogger.  We all have our shortcomings.

A blogger friend of mine is doing the “500 month” on her blog--100 dollars per person for food for the entire month.  I have seriously considered joining her, but alas, this is not the month to do it.  I need to order both beef and salmon and place a large order to Azure as I am not sure how often I will be able to order from them when I start working part time.  Sooooo, we’ll try it next month.  I think.

School Lunches and Snacks :)

Here is what I’ve been up to lately.  I haven’t been blogging about food because I’ve been in the kitchen making food—a. lot. of. it.  And the kids started school.  And I’ve been painting while the hubby put together IKEA furniture for two kids rooms.  Which means I’ve been living in a black hole for the past month.

Over the summer  onceamonthmom.com has been our go-to for cooking and menu-planning.  For some reason effective summer menu planning escapes me, so it has been nice to have someone else kind of tell me what to do.  I also used their back-to-school mini menu to put some food in the freezer for school lunches, which the kids have been loving!  Variations of peanut butter, cream cheese, and tuna sandwiches/roll ups gets boring after a while.  I’ve been loving the daily simplicity of lunch-making, too.

Homemade Spaghetti-O's and Mac and Cheese

In this process of giving once a month cooking another shot, I have discovered some things about myself, which I will share with you for your reading pleasure:

1. I love making bread, chicken broth, breakfast items, school lunches, snacks for the freezer.

2. I am thrilled to make a double batch of whatever I’m making for dinner on occasion to put in the freezer as an “emergency” meal.

3. I hate once a month cooking, because somehow or another one day turns into three, and as much as I really do love to be in the kitchen and cook, I don’t want to live there all day every day.  (I’ve tried to break it down into a few recipes per week, and that hasn’t really worked out so well either.)  I also think I prefer using my favorite recipes and adding in one or two new ones per week.

That being said, I’m not gonna do the once a month thing.  I still like the website for the school lunches, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of their recipes.  I’m thinking I’ll still use them, just not for a whole day-long cooking session.  Maybe someone with a different personality type could do it in one day and be done and would love it.  And maybe I will end up using it in the future when I know a busy season is coming up, and I want to have some meals prepared in advance.  As for right now, I’m going to spend the rest of my day putting together the August meals as I have already bought all of the ingredients for them but I'm not even going to worry about doing the September cooking session.  Be on the look out for a new menu plan for September/October next week!

Local foods in New Hampshire

Blogger is so good to let me know that it has been a month and a half (nay, almost two months) since my last post to this blog.  Thank you, blogger, I'm on it, okay?


We have been up to the usual busy nothingness of summer: moving, water parks, free bowling, kids' dollar movies, etc.  The first week of July we got to sneak away just the two of us for a week to New Hampshire, and I think I'm in love.  However, my dear husband tells me I haven't experienced a New England winter, and we have four kids who are required to live in a small area of Texas, so maybe we'll stay put for a while.

My DH hiding in the shadows in front of part of the farm

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast on a farm that practices sustainable farming.  If you ever find yourself wanting to get away up north, I would highly recommend The Inn at Valley Farms. Our hostess, Jackie was wonderful, (and no, she didn't pay me to say that.) 


Our first full day there, after a delicious three course breakfast, we ventured down to nearby Keene to pick up some goodies at the Farmer's Market and do some window shopping.  In the afternoon we stopped by an alpaca farm and learned about alpacas and maple syrup from the farmer.  (And yes, we bought some goodies.)

Community Pizza Night-the oven is in front of the building on the right

That evening, we drove out to a bakery which hosts community pizza night every Tuesday night, donating all the profits to a local charity each week.  Everyone brings toppings to share and for five dollars you are given a lump of dough to stretch and form into a crust which you then take to the sauce table, the  cheese table, and finally the toppings table.  After this point they cook your pizza in a large outdoor fire oven, and you find a place to sit on the benches or the grass.  I would so love to do this with my church group, but I don't know how we'd cook all the pizza!


The following morning we went to a small town's Fourth of July parade over the border of Vermont.  Their local Farmers' Market marched in the parade and passed out carrots!  After the parade, there were different merchant tents set up and food vendors.  I found a lady selling jewelry made from beads through beads for life, a nonprofit organization that benefits impoverished women in Uganda, which I had just read about before our trip.  How cool is that?


Our final day on the farm Jackie, the innkeeper (how often do you get to use that word in everyday conversation?), took us on a tour of the farm.  She discussed how they garden, without tilling to preserve the layering of the soil, rotating crops, adding compost, and how they now use high tunnels to extend their growing season.  We saw their baby chicks that grow to be egg layers and that grow to be used for meat.  She discussed how they pasture the animals, rotating them on a timetable to get the most benefit for the soil, plants, and themselves out of the animals, and to provide the healthiest conditions for the animals.

Yes, I am holding a baby chick.

We left dreaming of becoming farmers.  Who knows, maybe when we retire that dream will become a reality.  For the present time we have a renewed interest in eating local foods, knowing our farmers and where our food comes from, and growing what we can in our little corner of the 'burbs.