Sometimes she cooks

Curried chicken. Sauce from a jar. I "cooked" it on the stove and added some potato, cauliflower, and peas, so it technically wasn't zapping. Plus, goodbye to another obscure pantry item. We opened a new jar of chutney and I saw back there that we still have an unopened jar of "sweet mango relish" that I bought at the Indian Spices and Appliances store. Yes, that's its name. Only they tore down Indian Spices and Appliances a few years ago to build a condo tower. How old is this stuff anyway? Is it safe to eat? Am I really so cheap that I can't throw it away? Yes I am. See Economy Plan, 1.8 billion dollar landscaping. Maybe I can use it to "unintentionally" poison my enemies.

Crap. I've just lost plausible deniability.

Sometimes she cooks

More whole wheat bread. This time I upped the whole grain content by substituting whole wheat white for some of the white four. It isn’t nearly as pretty as the last batch, so I’m going back to white flour next time.

Corn bread. I adapted a corn muffin recipe from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book by baking the batter in a square pan rather than as muffins. Temperature was little too high because the crust was a little too crunchy, plus, still wet in the middle after 30 minutes. Next time, knock oven temperature down by 25 degrees, and increase baking time to 40 minutes.

By the way, this may be supremely boring to you, but it is helpful to me to write down all my test-kitchen adventures so I can remember what I did last time and see what works ad what didn’t.

Vegetarian chili: I adapted a recipe from one of Martin Katahn’s books. His recipe is fat free, but I don’t see how a tablespoon of olive oil in a giant vat of chili is going to hurt anyone. This is basically a tomato, bean, and spice stew. Sometimes I put TVP in, but there wasn’t any in the pantry. I used to buy TVP and a great many other things from the bulk bins at the Fresh Fields, but they’ve pretty much done away with them in this area in favor clamshell plastic packages of pre-measured amounts. In our two-person household, we don’t have much use for a pound of, say, kamut, although we might have occasionally bought a half-cup or so from the bulk foods bins. Bulk spices are also gone, so I’m stuck buying large bottles of stuff that goes stale instead of small amounts I can use fresh. Most of the more exotic ingredients are gone. I used to be able to choose from 20 or so varieties of dried beans, most of them organic. Now we’re down to about ten. The chain is using more and more if its square footage on prepared foods, at the expense of those who actually cook, not that I don’t zap stuff from time to time. It’s a real loss, as far as I’m concerned.

Sometimes she cooks

Curried tuna. Sounds gross, but it's not. Saute an onion in some butter, canola oil, or ghee (if you are trying to use up obscure pantry items), then stir in a can of drained tuna, about 3 cups of cooked rice, a teaspoon of curry powder, some salt, enough water (maybe 1/4 cup) to keep it from glomming together all disgustingly, and enough lightly zapped green peas to make it not so monochromatic.

Net reduction in obscure pantry items: 1
Net reduction in Things in the Freezer that Must Be Gotten Rid of: 2 containers of leftover brown rice

Sometimes she cooks.

Spanish rice from a box. Add some ground beef and a can of chopped tomatoes and it becomes a meal instead of a pointless side dish.

Quiche: Pre-made whole wheat pie crust from the freezer. Cover the bottom with a layer of cheese (emmenthaler today), then a layer of sautéed onions and mushrooms, then pour over an eggs-and-milk mixture. Bake until it is no longer soupy. If it comes out soggy because you didn't defrost the pie crust or cook out the moisture from the mushrooms or used too much milk per egg, serve with lots of white wine so no one notices.

Sometimes she just zaps stuff.

I've had a delicious-looking frozen Indian meal in the freezer for quite some time. It looks yummy, but on close inspection, it turned out to be paneer and sauce, nearly no carbs, and not even close to substantial enough for a meal. So I doctored it up. Zap the Paneer Tikka Masala, zap about a cup of frozen peas, steam a head of cauliflower, mix up all the components, and serve with brown rice, a spoonful of chutney, and a glob of plain yogurt.

Good news: Yum. Bad news: The Boys now know conclusively that they like Indian food. I spilled a little on the floor and they got a taste before I could clean it all up. I expect to be nagged a lot for Indian food from now on, but I dare not give them any for fear of the spiciness inducing dysentery-like symptoms.

Net reduction in freezer items: 1

Sometimes she cooks.

Whole wheat bread. Recipe from The New Best Recipe authored by the America's Test Kitchen people. I have made a dozen different types of WW bread. I have used the one from the bag of King Arthur traditional whole wheat flour, and I have used ones from a bunch of different cookbooks. This one uses a blend of WW flour, white flour, rye flour, and wheat germ, with honey as the sweetener. The quarter-cup of rye flour seems to make a big difference for no reason that I can fathom. I'd rather be using 100% whole grain and no white flour. I think next time I'll try a combination of whole wheat and "White Whole Wheat" and see if the texture holds.

Applesauce muffins. I wanted doughnuts or maybe a nice cheese danish for breakfast, but I "settled" for these instead. Plus I got to use up the applesauce that has been in the cupboard since whenever, AND the whole wheat pastry flour.

Bran muffins. These are the staple weekday breakfast Chez Nous. The recipe is from Jane Brody's Good Food Book. We weren't running out of these yet, but the buttermilk was about to turn and I wanted to use it up because of the Economy Plan.

Yes. The freezer is now crammed full.

Seafood pasta. I made this with canned clams, canned clam juice (why did I ever buy that in the first place?), scallions, white wine, and shrimp, and served it with whole wheat spaghetti.

Net reduction in obscure pantry items: 3

I know the formatting is hinky here, but I don't care enough to figure it out.

Sometimes she just zaps stuff.

Felafel.

Frozen from a box. Pan fried up in a little olive oil. Put it on a plate with pita bread, yogurt/tahini sauce, and a little cucumber salad.

End up with extra pita on the plate. Use pita to scoop up some hummus from a tub.

Net reductions from freezer: 1/4 box of felafel patties, 2 mini-loaves of whole wheat pita bread.

Sometimes she cooks

Sweet and sour pork.


This is a by-product of the Economy Plan. I had about a cup of pineapple chunks in the freezer, and the Economy Plan means we have to use up things in the freezer, no matter how revolting. So, I bought some boneless butterflied pork chops, weighed out seven ounces, put the rest in the freezer (uh oh. Now I have more Things In The Freezer That Must Be Gotten Rid Of), marinated the chunks in some tamari and egg yolk, stir-fried with some green bell peppers and the pineapple from the freezer, and glopped up with a sauce of ketchup, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, salt, water, and sesame oil. Serve over brown rice from the freezer.


Deletions from the freezer: 2
Additions to the freezer: 1
Net reduction in freezer contents: 1