Pantry Minestrone

Tonight’s dinner was minestrone. I should clarify that when I say “minestrone,” I really mean some vaguely Italian soup involving beans, garlic and possibly pasta. Said soup is generally made up on the spot. Which is one of the many reasons I LOVE soup–it’s really very hard to go wrong, I think. Anyway, tonight’s soup involved using up some rather sad celery, potatoes from my parents’ garden that were nearing their realistic end, and some old cheese rinds. It was pretty yummy. And made a ton, so I will have a lot for lunch this week. For my own record, and in case you, too, are looking for a way to use up limp celery and cheese rinds:

PANTRY MINESTRONE

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 T olive oil

1 c. chopped celery (round about)

3 med. carrots, chopped

4 small-ish red potatoes

1 quart vegetable broth (I use Better than Bouillon and water)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Herbs to taste: dried basil, oregano, thyme, rosmary

1 bay leaf

2 c. frozen corn

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I used frozen beans that I had cooked earlier this month)

1 c. ditalini (or any small pasta)

Rinds from hard cheese (Parmesan or Romano)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions. When translucent, add garlic. When onions have softened and garlic is beginning to brown, add potatoes, celery, and carrots. Toss to coat with any oil left in pan. When vegetables start to stick to bottom of pot, add cheese rinds, tomatoes, vegetable broth, beans, corn, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes.

2. While soup is simmering, prepare ditalini according to directions on box.

3. To serve, spoon a small amount of pasta into the bottom of a soup bowl and ladle minestrone over top.

This is especially yummy with fresh baked bread and some Parmesan grated over top. I keep the pasta separate to avoid it becoming bloated and soggy in our leftovers.

Menu Plan Monday

Well, after all my back-patting for last week’s successes, we ended up ordering take-out last night and I had french fries for lunch today. I’ll look before I speak next time.

We’re heading out of town for a long weekend Saturday morning and looking forward to a Halloween Housewarming for a friend on Friday evening, so this week I am focused on using up pantry and fridge items that won’t survive us being gone for that long. Three days is really not a long time to be gone but I’ve learned the hard way how greatly that can affect the quality of food on hand and my ability to use it up.

Monday: Baked potatoes w/various toppings (I work late Monday evenings, so Michael is usually left to his own devices)

Tuesday: Minestrone w/Fresh Baked Bread

Wednesday: Ricotta Omelet w/Roasted Potatoes and Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

Thursday: Salmon Patties w/zesty Mayonaise and Steamed Snap Peas

TO DO: Bake fig bars to take along on the trip. Bake bread for sandwiches.

Friday: Leftover buffet before party.

TO DO: Boil eggs, cut up carrot sticks, make ranch dip for trip.

Saturday and Sunday: Out of town.

I’m pretty motivated to stick to this week’s plan because I really hate coming home to a fridge full of needy fruits and veggies.

Yumminess Wrap-Up

My menu plan for the week was a really good one–and it didn’t hurt to have all that great produce hanging around, either! We did skip one night due to a migraine on my part (and also–I think I counted peppers twice, so I would’ve run out anyway), but that worked out ok. I’m posting a quick photographic run-down for posterity and so I always have an opportunity to look back at some meals we really enjoyed when I’m feeling stuck.

Super YUM! We ate the whole bowl.

Caprese bread salad made with leftover homemade whole wheat bread, fresh tomatoes, onions, buffalo mozzarella and lots of basil. The bread soaked up all the vinaigrette and it was delicious.

Michael's new speciality.

When Michael cooks, he only gives me an outline of what he’ll need and then he uses 3 or 4 recipes that he finds online to create his own unique masterpiece. This is definitely a keeper–if he can remember how to do it again!

Oh. My. Gosh.

The mushroom stroganoff was AMAZING. If you aren’t familiar with stroganoff, this might look a little gross and perhaps blob-like to you (I did add more sour cream than I had intended). But it was a little bit of heaven on a plate. I was a little territorial over the leftovers, but Michael persuaded me to share. Not exactly a low-fat dish, but a nice treat–and one that was pretty easy to put together after a long day at work. The little cabbage hash is my favorite way to prepare Brussels sprouts. It was a nice complement to the uber-rich stroganoff.

My first attempt at homemade potato gnocchi.

I think it’s pretty hard to go wrong with gnocchi and pesto, although I was nervous about making the gnocchi from scratch. I won’t say that it’s easy, exactly, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. Mine were far from perfect (don’t look at those little pillows too closely!), but they were still a million times better than the frozen gnocchi I used to be able to buy when I lived in Pittsburgh. Plus, I have enough leftover for dinner again this coming week.

Overall, I think our meals came out to about $2.50/serving. That doesn’t really come close to the frugality that others are able to achieve (They’re amazing! I’m inspired to do better!), but it’s so much cheaper than eating out or allowing weariness to cloud our judgment about ordering take-out.  And I KNOW that my cooking is healthier than almost anything I can order at a restaurant.

This coming week is going to be more of a use it up, use what we have kind of week because we are going out of town this weekend to visit Michael’s mother. That means more old standards and perhaps some odd combinations so that nothing goes to waste.

Menu Plan Monday

Yum! This weekend's homemade bread.

Last week was the first week I participated in Organizing Junkie’s Meal Plan Monday carnival. Of course, I didn’t read the directions correctly. So…here we go again. This week’s menu features the produce I found at the Jacksonville Farmers Market. I was pretty excited by my deals! My haul: 7 softball sized tomatoes, 14 jalapeño peppers (for $1–the smallest amount she was selling), 6 limes, 5 lemons, 1.5 lbs Brussels sprouts, 1 pineapple, 3 Italian sweet peppers, 2 red bell peppers, 1 HUGE bag of basil, & 1 bunch of cilantro. Everything was so fresh and good-looking. Although not as local as I would prefer. Next time I’m dragging Michael along with me so that we can meal plan together–he does cook half the meals around here! As before, these are just evening meals. You can count on us eating leftovers for our lunches. And most likely oatmeal for breakfast.

Monday–Leftovers (Black Bean Salad, Fresh Salsa, Tofu Parmesan, etc.)

• TO DO: Bake brownies before work (work late) to take to meeting. Dry remainder of bread to use in Tuesday’s bread salad.

Tuesday–Caprese Bread Salad, Chopped Fresh Pineapple

• TO DO: Get pinto beans & cheese out of freezer to thaw.

Wednesday*–Fish Tacos, Refried Beans, Yellow Rice

• TO DO: Bake Bread

Thursday–Mushroom Stroganoff, Mini Cabbage Hash, Baked Apples

• TO DO: Make basil pesto

Friday*–Pepper and Cashew Stir-Fry, Brown Rice

Saturday–Gnocchi with Basil Pesto, Sugar Snap Peas

Sunday–Italian Peppers Stuffed with Lentils, Rice, Tomatoes, Onion & Feta

* = Michael is cooking

Stymied

One of my on-going goals is to eat food grown closer to home. This is a MUCH bigger challenge than you might think in Florida. I finally found a CSA not too long ago but haven’t figured out how to handle the pick-ups–the locations are not close to either Michael’s or my place of work. Plus, the cost per week is a little more than I feel comfortable spending right now. I imagine that our share could be divided among another couple people, which would cut down on the cost and maybe make it easier to handle. That, of course, means talking to people and making friends. It’s a little frustrating, but I’m not involved in many organizations outside of work and so my social network is pretty small. That’s something I need to continually work on as an introvert–especially as an introvert who believes that community connections are going to be integral to adjusting to the upcoming rough times (like many others, I believe that our country is headed for a depression).

Among the many things that attract me to this CSA:

• it’s almost year ’round
• you can add eggs, cheese and kefir to your weekly share
• raw goat milk can also be purchased (not sure if I’m on to the raw milk thing yet)
• you can visit the farm, they promote environmental/organic education and seem to be pretty community oriented

So…I guess that I need to call the farm and see what is the what. I also need to start getting a little more involved in some of those organizations that I believe in but have been shy about approaching. Not so I can find someone to share my CSA box–though that would be nice–but so that I can reach out and know a group of folks outside of my rather limited exposure in the library.

In the meantime, as I have been working out what to do for local food procurement, I have been paying attention to where the food in my local Publix comes from. I wish there was a more standardized method of labeling food origin. Most produce labels only say that they are grown in the US. Occasionally the state is mentioned, usually as the result of a statewide “branding” movement–Washington Apples, California Peaches, etc. Berries labels usually include the city and state, probably because unlike much produce, they are packed in boxes big enough to fit an informative label. If I check the circular before going to the store or as I’m shopping, they usually promote “Fresh from Florida” produce so I have some idea of what to look for. BUT–there is no Fresh from Florida label on the produce shelves! So I’m often left wondering if I’m getting the right thing. It’s a little infuriating. I should write a letter to Publix letting them know about my interest in food origins. That will be my activist goal for the week.

This weekend I checked out the Jacksonville Farmers’ Market. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? It is, to an extent. You have to realize that none of the folks selling the fruits and veggies here are likely to be local. i don’t doubt that some of the produce is from Florida. But it’s all commercial, I’m pretty sure. Really, its more along the lines of buying your produce from the back of the truck before it gets to the grocery store. I think that is pretty accurate. I’ll have to ask around the next time I’m there (& I will be back–the price and selection are pretty great). I do feel that purchasing at the Jax Farmers’ Market is better than the grocery store–the vendors are all local folks and there are many ethnic stalls that showcase produce I hadn’t seen since I left Pittsburgh!

My other activist goal for the week is to call the county extension office to find out more about the community garden that I’ve heard is located near my library branch. Our current apartment is not well-suited to even container gardening due to excessive shade. We will probably move when our lease is up and we would most definitely like to find a house with an open area to put in a garden. Meanwhile, if the community garden truly is around the corner from my library, I’m going to seriously pursue getting a plot there.

Weekly Meal Plan

The Happy Homemaker says, “Plan Ahead!”

I’ve been following the Menu Plan Monday carnival that Organizing Junkie hosts every week, but haven’t gotten around to posting our own plan. I do generally make a plan, so that is the easy part. Remembering to post is another thing entirely! The last few weeks have been hectic, but this weekend signaled a slow down and finally a move into what we call normal. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this to happen (much as I have enjoyed some of the activity of the last couple of months [it hasn't been all bad]). So, without further adieu–

Monday

• Lasagna
• Broccoli w/Garlic & Pine Nuts

—To Do: Make pumpkin walnut bread for tomorrow’s work meeting. Bake bread.

Tuesday*

• Crab Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (special per husband’s request)
• Snap Peas
• Carrot Salad

—To Do: Make tomato sauce for Wednesday and Friday meals.

Wednesday

• Eggplant & Mushroom Pasta Sauce w/Feta Cheese
• Whole Wheat Spaghetti
• Garlic Toast

—To Do: Make pie crust for weekend dessert. Freeze one crust for next week’s quiche.

Thursday*

• Scrambled Tofu
• Roasted Potato Medley
• Pickles

—To Do: Prepare dough for Pizza Pockets, thaw mozzarella

Friday

• Pizza Pockets
• Veggie Sticks w/Ranch Dip

Saturday

• (Breakfast) Poached Eggs over Home Fries
• Baked Potato Bar
• Homemade Apple Pie for Dessert!

Sunday

• (Breakfast) Warm Apple Pie & Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Tortilla Casserole

—To Do: Prepare bread dough.

*=Michael cooks!

I don’t plan breakfasts or lunch–we both have certain habits for the morning and we almost always eat leftovers for lunch. The only exception is on weekends I do make a “special” breakfast, really more of a brunch. We usually spend the rest of the day picking at whatever’s around the house. Anything I plan for weekend dinners is subject to change! Actually, that’s kind of true for the whole week, depending on where we are with leftover consumption, etc. I like to plan for the whole week, though, so I have an idea of what’s coming and to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Robot for Big Bro

In addition to the new baby, our friends have a nearly three year old as well. We couldn’t leave him out of the gift giving extravaganza! This time it was the Robot pattern from the Space Boy and Robot Put-Together Book. I think I mentioned how much I LOVE all the Wee Wonderfuls patterns. This was no exception. Mr. Robot was very easy to put together and very well-received by his new master. Also included Hedgie Blasts Off ’cause I can’t resist the opportunity to give someone a book.