The Pantry Game

No pics today. Bubby got shots today and he was just not his happy self.

I have been fortunate to not have to cook much lately, thanks to my mom, neighbors, friends, and people from church. It has been SO great. But that is slowing down, and I have almost used up my freezer meals also. Last night my goal was to fix a meal out of just what was on hand...because I really haven't done much menu planning and my shopping has been kind of disorganized. (Todd asks me what I need from the store, I scramble around trying to think of what we need in about 15 minutes, then he goes out and buys it.) 

This is a pretty fun thing to do. You can come up with some great recipes just by using what is on hand. Last night I made chili and potato salad. Here is what I used for the chili:

1 lb. hamburger meat
1 med. onion, diced
1 clove garlic
A little veg. oil to brown those things.
16 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/3 c. ketchup (because that was not enough tomatoes and I didn't have another can)
1 can ranch style beans
Chili powder and salt to taste (I don't know how much I used!)

The potato salad was easy. I didn't use a recipe here, either. I just tried to think what might be in a good potato salad.

1 can sliced new potatoes (then I chopped them a little smaller)
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. Miracle Whip
Chopped roasted red pepper, out of a jar that we use for sandwiches
1 tbsp. pickle relish

The potato salad was really good. It would have been nice with a chopped boiled egg, I think, but I didn't have time for all that. The reason I had a can of potatoes was because I had seen a recipe for potato salad in Quick Cooking that used them, and I had meant to make it back in the summer.

I have a bunch of odds and ends in my pantry, so it might be interesting to try to use all that up in the next couple of weeks.