I am bowing gracefully out of the Challenge that many of my personal chef friends and I have been doing this last week. I used up a good percentage in items in my freezer. Unfortunately, I also needed to dump too many things. My pantry shelves are cleaned out with a bag for the food pantry and unfortunately a very full bag for the trash.

I appreciate how this made me conscious about my shopping and purchasing of unnecessary items. I need to be more careful about repackaging things, such as putting my grains in glass jars, vacuum sealing what goes in the freezer. I also need to check to see what I have more often. I am not the kind of person who could manage a running list. If I go through the cupboard and freezer occasionally, especially before I go shopping, I might not end up having 3 plastic bags with bits of polenta in them. Time will tell but at least now I have some awareness.

I went shopping yesterday for some produce, eggs, cat food, mineral water, and some chicken… nothing extra. Farmers’ market tomorrow. I still have a jar of the soup I made earlier this week and plans to use the lentils and bacon from the freezer in a meal next week, as well as trying to fit those darn peas in somewhere! 

I challenge you to take a look or even a photo of your freezer and do your shopping from your own house for a week. I would love to hear from you about it.

This has been a great challenge. My freezer is empty of what should have been discarded. I am in the middle of cleaning and organizing the pantry. I have eaten really well this week without shopping until today. I needed some produce, eggs, and after tomorrow, I will be cleaned out of protein to eat this week, so I bought some chicken. Nothing went in the pantry or freezer though. I am seeing how much food I waste by either buying too much or storing it improperly. Time for me to practice what I preach to my personal chef clients!  And it has been great to see my personal chef community take on this challenge and come up with some really creative meals. At the end of the post I will list some blogs where you can read about this.

Tonights dinner was a salad even though it is really not salad weather. It is still quite blustery here in Santa Cruz, not cold but wet! But, I received an excellent recipe in my email box last week and I had enough of the ingredients on hand to make a riff on Lynn Rosetto Casper‘s Pineapple and Winter Greens Salad with Warm Chili-Coconut Milk Dressing. Sticking closer to the recipe would have been better. Having peanuts would have been better, but they are off my diet for now. Napa cabbage as Lynn calls for would have been better than arugula. I will make it again. The sauce is lovely!  Here is my version.

Shrimp with Greens and Pineapple with warm chili coconut milk dressing

a big handful of greens/lettuce

2 celery stalks

1 roasted red pepper

1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

1/2 c diced fresh pineapple ( use canned if you have to)

1/2 can coconut milk

1 tsp. fish sauce

1 T chopped ginger

2 cloves minced garlic

1 T good chili powder ( I used Rancho Gordo’s new mexican chili pwdr) or more to taste

Arrange the greens and other vegetables on a plate, along with the pineapple. In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, fish sauce, and herbs and spices. Bring to a simmer and add the shrimp. Cook until pink and firm. While still hot, place shrimp on the salad and drizzle/pour the sauce over the salad. 

Simple. Healthy. Good. The shrimp came from the freezer. The red pepper was from a jar taken from the pantry earlier in the week, as was the coconut milk. Everything else except the greens which I bought today, I had on hand. 

Check out these personal chef buddies who are blogging about the challenge and are delightful to read on any day.

Tami  of Dine in Diva

Patti Anastasia 

Amy from Eats! a personal chef service

MaryBeth Brinkerhoff of For Goodness Taste

From Ladle to Crave in Newport

Martha of Simply Delicious

I was inspired today by the challenge to actually go through the freezer and see what was in there. Not much really. Lesson revisited: My vacuum sealer isn’t just for my personal chef clients. Duh, I really should be using it often. I had to throw away a package of lamb shanks ( deciding to donate that $20 to Haiti, so it won’t be an entire waste of money) and a package of freezer burned turkey parts, as well as some soup that was just plain too old.  I did find a little package of frozen strawberries that is also very old but it is vacuum sealed ( thanks Nancy) and will taste yummy this week with some of the bag of mango that is in there. ( note to self – vacuum seal it after you open it!) There is liver – some beef liver from the farmers’ market and a container of chicken livers. I had the first container of them yesterday, so I think that is enough liver for me for the week. There is a large container of beans, undated. I have so many beans in the pantry, I may throw these beans away. Peas! we have already discussed these. 1/2 a package of corn, still ok. a mostly there container of parmesan crisps, that I threw in the freezer because I am not sure I like them ? a few bags of various nuts and seeds, quite a few ice packs, a couple of small containers of chicken broth and that is it.

I also worked on the pantry and took a bag of unusable or way too old items to the trash. I have a bag of very strange items to go to the food bank. I hope someone will want organic pudding mixes, a bran muffin mix, and a couple of bags of non wheat noodles. Here is one of my pantry shelves. This photo makes me proud!

Cooking today involved making some yummy soup for lunch. It is blustery, rainy, and wild weather here in Santa Cruz this week. The perfect day for soup. I used a container of stock made from this recipe that was in the refrigerator. ( oh, and there is another container of it in the freezer, I forgot to mention). I used shrimp from the freezer and I still have more in the fridge now for another meal. I have so many packages of seaweed in my pantry, it is silly, so I used some seaweed from there , some dried daikon radish that was unearthed, and some dried miso, also from the pantry. With fresh spinach added for some color and freshness, it was delicious.

Pantry Miso Soup

maybe 3 cups of pork stock

2 packages of dried miso ( was a bit too much)

large handful dulse

large handful dried daikon ( sliced fresh would be good)

2 minced garlic cloves

1/4c. mirin

1/2 bag fresh spinach

1/2 lb (?) shrimp, peeled and deveined.

I just put it all except the shrimp in a large saucepan and let it simmer for about 10 mins. I added the shrimp and cooked a few more minutes until the shrimp was nice and pink.

A successful reducing the supplies day for sure ! Tomorrow I tackle the other pantry shelves and re organize the grains, beans, and flours. eek.

It has been interesting to watch the power of social media ( i.e. Facebook) as the idea of the Cook Whatcha Got Challenge grows and begins today. The challenge went out last week and I now know around 12 people who are participating, mostly personal chefs, so far all women. We are, after an initial shopping trip for produce and dairy, cooking from our pantries and freezers. We will be donating what we save by not going to the store to aid in Haiti. It is not too late to start!  

I actually started yesterday with a dinner based on salmon from the freezer. I couldn’t find the recipe I wanted so I winged it and came up with an acceptable version of Salmon with Sherry Vinegar/Honey Glaze. This, I served with a salad made from barley and jarred roasted red peppers from the pantry. I used up a container of olives from the fridge, and fresh ingredients were celery, parsley, goat’s milk feta, and spinach, all dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.  Not a big dent in my supplies but the salmon was delicious. The barley salad, well, could have been better.

Salmon with Sherry Vinegar/Honey Glaze

3/4 lb salmon ( I love Trader Joe’s frozen wild caught Alaska)

1/4 c. honey

1/2c. sherry vinegar

1 T chopped fresh thyme

salt and pepper

butter

Combine the honey, sherry vinegar, and thyme in a small saucepan. Cook over med high heat until reduced by half. Place the salmon in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the glaze over the salmon, and dot with butter. ( how much is up to you, but don’t skip it) Bake in a 350º oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how you like your salmon. I like mine either raw as sushi or a bit more on the done side.

I had the leftover salmon for lunch today and tell you it is delicious cold as well.

Tonight’s dinner was not so picture worthy but tasty. I pulled out a container of Chicken Spinach soup this morning from the freezer. I added some fresh celery, mushrooms, and a handful of the TWO bags of frozen peas I have discovered in my freezer!  I had forgotten how delicious this soup was, made from the carcass and drippings from this recipe.  A big bowl along with a slice of flax bread ( posted earlier) smeared with almond “cheeze” made for a nourishing and comforting dinner after a long day.

Tomorrow… more peas! I will be looking for recipes. I love chicken livers ( I know, either you love them or absolutely hate them) and again, I found TWO containers. I may make some pate or just fry them up. Stay tuned.