Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Cleaning Out The Pantry


For me, Cleaning Out The Pantry entails the refrigerator and freezer as well.  At the end of the holidays it's always interesting to see what's left after the bacchanal.  I seem to move in cycles with food storage...there's the point where I think I'm Mormon and the counterpoint where I must clean it all out.  Plus, from my cooking school and Professional Cooking days, I'm a big advocate of FIFO (first in, first out).

First up, a jar of Trader Joe's Lemon Curd.  What.on.earth.possessed.me.to.purchase.this?????  No matter, we'll dispense with it.  hmmmm...filling for a cake?  Suggestions in the comments, please.

Next up, a butternut squash....soup?  risotto?  hmmmm...

An extra five pounds of flour...no knead bread?  Big, soft pretzels?

Whole wheat fettucine?  Again, what was I thinking?  ww penne - yes, ww spaghetti - yes...but fettucine??? c'mon.

Unopened bag of pretzel rods that never got dipped in chocolate...well, I can't think of anything else to do with them, so I guess I'll have to dip them in chocolate!!!

Moving on to the freezer, a box of puff pastry sheets (drawing a blank)...a polska kielbasa (dinner with cabbage in the next few weeks)....a 3 lb. top sirloin roast (Italian beef or just slow roasted for sammies I think)...tilapia filets (fish tacos tonight)...ground beef and ground pork (meatloaf later this week).

What's your pantry strategy and what the hizizzle should I do with the puff pastry and lemon curd?
Posted by suddenly sahm at 8:43 AM

7 comments:

  1. JenJanuary 5, 2010 at 9:42 AM

    Napoleon with lemon filling?

    I like puff pastry to top chicken pie, too.

    And there's always lemon bars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. noelleJanuary 5, 2010 at 11:08 AM

    Puff pastry - how about wrapping a brie round and putting pomegranite seeds on top for a late afternoon snack preceding a light dinner.

    Lemon curd - no idea, I have the same jar in my pantry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. katyJanuary 5, 2010 at 12:36 PM

    Make a Galette des Rois for Epiphany (which is tomorrow)out of the puff pastry.

    Here's a link:

    http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/01/baking-with-dorie-galette-des-rois-recipe.html

    We ate an apple one this year instead of frangipane.

    Found this for lemon curd ideas:

    http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/04/what-to-do-with-lemon-curd.html

    Let us know what you decide to do -

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJanuary 6, 2010 at 9:48 AM

    Puff pastry sounds like apple tart territory to me (not that I've ever made that before...), but if you want to use up the lemon curd, how about a puff pastry fruit pizza with a lemon curd base?

    ReplyDelete
  5. AlishaJanuary 6, 2010 at 4:20 PM

    I love lemon curd on buttered toast for breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alice C-TJanuary 6, 2010 at 9:47 PM

    I just made a note to myself to make these with some puff paste...maybe they'll work for you? http://www.jemangelaville.com/2010/01/03/puff-pastry-cinnamon-rolls/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alice C-TJanuary 7, 2010 at 10:19 AM

    Forgot to say, my fav use for extra puff pastry is to use it instead of pie crust to make quiche...decadent!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)