Friday, September 12, 2008

What I plan to do with what I have

I have to admit I had fun going through the food I have and then going through my recipe books to decide what to do with it.

So here are some of the things I have and what I am going to make with them (as you will see, last time I shopped I did not make a meal plan or have a list so I bought too much and did not cook all of I had because I didn't have a plan and was too busy/tired come dinner time, thus - frozen pizza, and anything easy, which does not mean cheap, or healthy)

Meals I'm planning for the next couple weeks with what I have:

Please note I normally do not have this much in the freezer before shopping day (which is tomorrow. Also I do cook more then just Giada and Rachel Ray but I was going through their books last night:)

Chicken Breast - will be making chicken carbonara with turkey bacon I already have and roasting eggplant and tomatoes from the garden, using bread ends to make bread crumbs

Chorizo - Chorizo stuffed bread bites (From Rachel Rays 2,4,6,8 book)

Canned Salmon - salmon cakes using bread ends to make bread crumbs, I'm sure it's better with fresh salmon but canned is cheaper and still gets the Omega 3 in my kiddos

Ground Turkey - stuffed zuchini and peppers (which I have) with marinara sauce and spagetti squash on the side (have from the Farmer's Market) (from Giada's Family Dinners)

Bulk Sausage - Giada's Dirty Risotto (from Giada's Family Dinners)

Tilapia - "Fab Baked Fish" (from Rachel Ray's Express Lane)



I also have some canned and dried beans that I can use so I'll be making "Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup" (Rachel Ray Express Lane) and Pasta e Fagioli (Giada's Family Dinners)

For a lot of these recipes I had most of the ingredients, the other ones I will have to get (or adapt to what I already have) but it will be a shorter (and cheaper) list since I'm using what I have and not just blindly buying more food.

2 comments:

Tara the Foodie said...

Great idea - use what you have. What a concept! Sometimes I think a lot of us forget about the things we already have in our pantries and freezers and keep buying more and more stuff. You were smart to take inventory and then spend the time pouring over cookboks. An even easier way to do it is to go online to sites like Food Network and Epicurious and type in a few ingredients you have and hit Search. Recipes using those recipes fill your screen and it's so much fun to decide which one you'll use.

Oh, and I see you're a Food Network junkie like me... we're awesome aren't we? I know they should make meetings for people like us, but I wouldn't go to them. :-)

Janine said...

I'll admit I have shows on my DVR when I'm not watching live ones. Plus I buy the magazines:)

I love the internet for recipe searches. I'm about to go to Food Network for a granola bar recipe since I'm spending too much on them. We seem to fly through them at my house.