Well Stocked Kitchen

When I first began focusing on eating REAL food, I did a thorough cleaning of my cupboards and ended up tossing a lot of things, including many of the foods I thought were ‘good for me’. My opinion of what is essential has changed a great deal since then. I need to have things that are nutritious and tasty in my kitchen but also need foods that are quick to put together. I’d like to think that at any given time I will have the necessary items needed to make a delicious meal without having to run to the store for a couple missing ingredients.

I’m a multi-tasker; sometimes that’s a good thing and other times it isn’t. I can’t seem to help it. My mind just runs on several tracks at the same time. J Today while making goulash for our grandsons, I thought about my daughter’s crazy schedule - work until 12:30, home, back to school for meeting at 3:30, home, church meeting at 7:00, home. (Not to mention her youngest son was awake at 4:20am today. Yikes!) Needless to say it will be a very long day for everyone. So… I thought I’d just go through her fridge, cupboards and freezer and put together some sort of soup for her family so it was one less thing she had to ‘schedule’ in to her day. J

I used the leftover hamburger I didn’t use in the goulash, chopped up some an onion, minced two cloves of garlic, a big can of tomatoes, some chicken broth, about 1/2 pkg. of frozen spinach, one carrot chopped small, basil, oregano, garlic salt, onion salt, pepper and salt. I threw it all in the crock pot and turned it on low for the day. About 20 minutes before suppertime she added some frozen tortellini to the crock pot and cooked it for ten more minutes. I didn’t taste the finished product but she said it was YUMMY! Yeah! I need to write this down while it’s still fresh in my mind so I can make it for us here at home. I’m not exactly sure of the amounts of the spices I used because Jaxon helped me with those. J We’d taste it and he’d say he thought it needed a little more of this or a little more of that and he’d put another ‘shake’ in. J He must have known what he was doing because it turned out wonderfully.

Choose the essentials that work for you and your family’s eating style. A person with no children or gourmet tastes will have a very different pantry from someone with three little picky eaters. Think about what your favorite five family meals are and try to keep those ingredients on hand at all times.  

* Thought for the day*                                                        

Why is “phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?