Welcome back to Pantry Week, where I'm whittling my way through a pantry full of goodies while I'm waiting for my backyard garden to mature. I'm good at not wasting my veggies - eating lots of them, canning the excess. What I'm not good at is ever getting around to eating those canned foods, since the fresh ones call to me from a year-round farmers' market. What's a girl to do?
So this week has been dedicated to all those home-canned, all-local foods in the pantry (with a few fresh appearances here and there)...
Veggie Soup'ed Rice - I'm a firm believer in what was canned as soup, doesn't have to be served as soup. I started out with 1 quart of cabbage soup canned earlier this year (the cabbage and onion came from my backyard garden; the carrots and olive oil from the farmers' market; and the mushrooms from the grocery, but they're raised 40 miles from here). The rice of course, is local too, from right around Houston. All I did was pour the jar of my homemade, all-local soup in a saucepan, add a cup of brown rice, bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 45 minutes or until all the moisture was absorbed. I started this week with 21 jars of soup (most of them cabbage), so I ate this several times this week - fabulous EVERY time!
Veggie Soup and Avocado Potato Salad - Ok. Then there are times you actually serve soup as soup and this particular soup (made last August) just can't be improved upon. Another all-local delight, it contains carrots, onions, greens, potatoes, purple-hull peas, and mushrooms. Next to the cup of soup, is my second attempt at vegan potato salad, this time the mayo substitute is mashed avocado, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt. Right. So the avocado isn't local, but it tasted wonderful and at least it's a whole food (vs. buying vegan mayo or any kind of mayo for that matter). I suppose I might experiment with the whole mayo substitute more, but I have to tell you, this one is a REAL winner!
Breakfast Burritos and Steamed Veggies - Dave got the fresh goodies this week. On the side there are the carrots and snow peas from the farmers' market that have been steamed. Those burritos were my first shot at serving my homemade whole-wheat tortillas to Dave. Inside are local sauteed mushrooms and onions, mixed in with local eggs (scrambled), sprinkled with some mozzarella cheese, and (of course) wrapped up in my homemade tortillas (the wheat came from the farmers' market). Other than the little bit of mozzarella, everything was local and Dave loved it! Yes!
Now closing in on the end of the week, I'm only down 5 jars of soup. That leaves another 16 jars of soup and the same 13 jars of stewed tomatoes in the pantry. I've been thinking... this week was so tasty, I'll do it again next week (though I'll be sure to throw in some variations to make it more interesting - like a side of the "Crash Hot Potatoes" that Farmer's Daughter posted about recently...) Mmmm! Another yummy week coming my way!
Have a great day, everyone. And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!
5 comments:
Mmm those burritos look good... the idea of a breakfast burrito isn't something we generally have over here, but I think they are such a great start to the day. I like to have a good breakfast.
- Sera
Looks and sounds yummy. I have to admit that I didn't do pantry week. After the trip's dried food, I really wanted fresh so I picked up potatoes, onions, green onions, and salad greens. I'm still using preserved food from the refrigerator and a few other items from the pantry (like the chili mangoes). I'd rather just come to your house and eat your soup!
Sera - I'm not a very good breakfast eater, but making those burritos for Dave made me want a vegan version so I've started making some for me too. They're yummy and worth a shot if you like tortillas.
Chile - I can understand that. I've been sneaking in some fresh food here and there so I don't get totally bored with the pantry foods, but so far so good (other than I'll probably be doing this for a few more weeks). I really have a lot of food packed away! Swing on by - there's plenty to share!
Did you get to try those potatoes yet? I made them again with baby yukon golds and they were so good! I shredded some cheese on top and it was a whole meal.
Yep, I made this and it's part of this past week's market to table. Absolutely delicious!
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