Sunday, January 16, 2011

Healthy Soups, Inebriated Monks

The battle for healthy healthier meals and the war against our pantry excess continues!



Thursday night I put together most of the leftover carrots and potatoes along with the remaining turkey stock from Canadian Thanksgiving to make this potato kale soup. I cooked some garlic and onion with carrots, potato, and dried thyme before adding the turkey stock and finally the kale.

On Friday we returned to our normal routine whereby I come home and must rush to prepare dinner before Jen returns to work. For Friday the plan was to use up the sardines and pizza sauce in the pantry. I chose to do this in the form of pizza. Unfortunately this meant I needed to buy additional ingredients but, I figured, as long as I don't have any leftover after the recipe I could break even.



I tried to completely cook the pizza before I left to pick up Jen at the train station. This was a little risky as this meant I had to be done precisely at 8:50 PM to be able to get there by 8:54 PM. The pizza was done at 8:50 PM but it did not have the brownness on the cheese that I would have liked to see. That is when I took the pizza and put it underneath in the broiler to brown it up quickly so I could still get to the train on time.



You can't really tell by this photo but the result was that it was a little too close to the broiler which wound up scraping off a top layer of cheese and burning the crust. Not my finest pizza moment. On the plus side the pizza was delicious once I cut off the small burnt pieces of crust and reapplied the melted cheese.



For beer I had the Merry Monks from Weyerbacher. Unfortunately Weyerbacher tricked me by not putting on the bottle that this was 9.3% alcohol. Had I known that I would not have made this my second beer of the evening. Once I discovered the alcohol content I extended it over two hours and I was able to not feel the effects.

No I understand why they interpret the monks as being merry. I think they were more sozzled than merry.

Inventory Update

Freezer

  • ground beef
  • chopped turkey from Canadian Thanksgiving
  • flour tortillas
  • coconut cookies
  • macaroni & cheese from Canadian Thanksgiving
  • turkey stock from Canadian Thanksgiving
  • turkey stock from American Thanksgiving
  • part of a baguette
  • lemon bread
  • Antiguan run fruitcake
  • cranberry bread
  • fudge
  • Japanese noodles
  • buttermilk bread
  • stuffing from Canadian Thanksgiving
  • bacon
  • oxtail
  • homemade bread crumbs
  • edamame
  • turkey curry
  • rye bagel
  • shortbread cookies
  • puff pastry dough
Pantry
  • pumpernickel bread
  • panko
  • cellophane noodles
  • raisins
  • dried cherries
  • dried cranberries
  • dried apricots
  • dried chilies
  • garbanzo beans
  • canellini beans
  • sardines
  • anchovies
  • sesame seeds
  • cashews
  • pistachios
  • shredded coconut
  • walnuts
  • pecans
  • semolina flour
  • goldenberries
  • forbidden rice
  • candied cherries
  • powdered dried porcini
  • couscous
  • Jamaican jerk sauce
  • Jamaican rum cakes
  • Jamaican hot sauce
  • nori
  • quinoa
  • sherry vinegar
  • purple basil vinegar
  • red wine vinegar
  • apple cider vinegar
  • champagne vinegar
  • rice
  • assored dried pastas
  • lasagna noodles
  • tomato paste
  • balsamic dressing/marinade
  • relish
  • chopped clams
  • clam juice
  • piccalilli
  • fajita sauce
  • cherry jellies for barbecue
  • canned pumpkin
  • pasta sauce
  • croutons
  • assorted flours for making brown bread
  • pickled beets
  • seafood stock
  • beef stock
  • basil pesto
  • jarred roasted tomatoes
  • smoked salmon
  • stuffed olives
  • Grand Marnier mustard
  • Coco Haze spread
  • twelve jars of grapefruit marmalade
  • black cherry marmalade
  • fancy plum jam
  • Captain Redbeard's hot sauce
  • salted lime cashews
Fridge
  • eggs
  • korma sauce
  • sauerkraut
  • dates
  • shallots
  • miso paste
  • cranberries
  • pickled beets (made by Jen's dad)
  • white sweet potato
  • potatoes
  • carrots
  • celery
  • heavy cream
  • cream cheese
  • goat cheese
  • cocktail sauce
  • red pepper tapenade
  • sauces, marinades, and condiments too numerous to list
  • a million assorted beers

2 comments:

uberlours said...

Out of curiosity how many gallons of turkey stock was made for Canadian Thanksgiving? It has been the base of most every recipe since, I am guessing a small lake!

Unknown said...

I have a good technique for getting a LOT of stock out of a turkey. And I reduce it so you can freeze it and add water.