The Practical Pantry: What?

Hard red wheat.

What's for dinner? How many times have you heard that? And that question, my friend, is exactly what you want to ask yourself as you begin to stock your newly-found and/or organized pantry.

The next step in the process is to take a good look at what you and your family eat. What your favorite meals are, what are your comfort foods, what is your fall-back meal when you have one of those days where food is the last thing on your mind.

You may want to write down some ideas. Make a list of your top five breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and desserts. Dessert is very important to me, by the way. I made up a list of our favorite meals, and not just the main dish, the complete meal. That meal list is the basis for my menus. It helps us not get in a rut and helps me control my urge to cook new recipes all the time. It's a problem folks, new recipe addiction.

After you work up a list of what you like to cook and your family likes to eat, think through each recipe and see what parts of it are non-perishable items that you could stock up on. Are there acceptable substitutions you could make for some of the perishable ingredients that could be part of your food storage pantry. Say, dry milk for fresh milk in your famous Saturday morning pancakes. These ingredients should be the start of your food storage. You want to store what you eat and also eat what you store.

It's very important that you invest your money in things you know you will use. Buying five pounds of garbanzo beans isn't a good plan if nobody in your family can tolerate them. In a time of stress or crisis when you could be relying heavily on your food storage, you would need food that is familiar and comforting to your family. During a crisis is also not a good time for you to try to figure out the best ways to cook millet.

Another easy way to figure out what you should be stocking up on is to think about what you run out of the most. I am constantly running out of flour. As you can see in the photo, I buy wheat to grind but I still use a lot of unbleached white flour. So instead of buying one bag when I go to the store, I pick up two bags. Every time I go to the store I'll buy two bags until I have the amount I need. Then whenever I open a bag, I know to buy a replacement bag the next time I'm at the store. Now, this isn't the ideal way to go about it. I'm sure it would be cheaper per pound to find a bulk source of flour I like and buy that way but it's a trial and error, baby-step kind of process.

So, put on your thinking cap and sit down with some paper and a pen and start on a strategy for beginning your pantry. Remember to focus on familiar foods. If you want to try something new, buy a small amount to experiment with and see if you want to incorporate that item into your meals and pantry. Like I said, it can be a slow process but each time you can add a bag of beans or an extra jar of applesauce to your pantry you'll find that the satisfaction of having food stored in your cupboard is well worth all the time and effort.

On Being Primarily Herbivore

Several people have asked me in the past few months about our family's transition to eating vegetarian and I finally have a quiet moment to talk about it. The quiet moment is thanks to my husband and brother taking four of the kids to the park while the baby naps. Sweet bliss!

Early this spring our pediatrician recommended that I read a book called The China Study. It is an amazing book about a scientist's career long study of nutrition, particularly animal protein and it's link to various diseases and overall health. If you are a food and nutrition nerd like I am, you will find this book fascinating. The author details how his study led his family to eat a vegetarian and eventually vegan diet. Like him, I never imagined my family would go in that direction, it seemed pretty extreme. However, after reading this book I can't continue to eat and feed my family the same.

Some disclaimers, we have eaten several vegetarian meals a week for budget reasons for years so the idea of building a meal around something besides a piece of meat wasn't a huge stretch for me. Also, I have the most willing husband in the world when it comes to trying new foods and new ways of eating. I think it comes from being single and starving for a decade before we met and were married. If you have subsisted on ketchup and pickles for years, lentils look pretty tasty. Actually, I couldn't have found a better man for trying new things on, he's game for anything as long as it tastes good. Our kids are young and we have worked hard training them to eat what they are served so there isn't any problem there. I cook one meal and everyone eats it. If there is a particular thing that I know they don't love then I will serve them a smaller portion and eventually they get used to it or find that it's not yucky. We have always eaten lots of vegetables and salads and they have enjoyed them since they started eating regular food. When the younger ones see their siblings and parents enjoying broccoli and squash they want to get in on the action.

Another thing is that we are eating meat about once a week, usually when we eat at a restaurant or with someone else. Joe loves grilling burgers so we have done that a few times. I'm not planning any meat into my menus but if we have company he will stop by and pick up some meat. When we do, I try to have lots of vegetables and salad to go with it so I can mainly eat that. On occasions where we are eating at someone else's home I will eat more vegetables and keep the meat dish as the smallest part of my meal. The kids are free to eat as they like from what is offered to them but I have noticed they focus on the vegetables too.

Dairy has proved to be the most difficult thing to eliminate. I have only been at this for a few months but the dairy substitutes are quite a transition for me. So I am still buying and using cheese and butter but the amount I use is probably a quarter of what it was before. Exploring vegan eating is going to be an ongoing process for me and one that I am excited about. In my cooking I try to avoid any animal products but don't get too strict with it.

As far as the benefits of vegetarian eating, I am amazed. I have not gained as much weight this pregnancy and don't have as much trouble with heart burn issues. Dairy is the big one for me in that respect. Ice cream doesn't taste quite so good when you know you won't be able to sleep later. The biggest change though has been in the total stop of low blood sugar spells. For years I have had hypoglycemia and since I stopped eating animal products it has gone away completely. I never realized that my diet was creating an imbalance that resulted in my body making excess insulin, I just thought I needed to eat more. Now that I have a healthier diet that isn't a problem at all. Joe has lost weight and we all have more energy. Overall it's been a great change and new way of living for us. I can't see us going back to our old diet anytime soon but for now we are taking it slowly and trying not to be too rigid.

Coming soon will be some of our weekly menus with recipes if you are interested in trying some good family friendly vegetarian meals with your family. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as we have.

Oh Me, Oh My, Sesame Noodles!

These were on the menu the other night to accompany some Soy Glazed Salmon and I have to say, it's one of the best things I've made in a long time. Joe had taken the kids to the park so they could run a bit and I was able to cook in peace, a rare thing indeed around here. I whipped up the sauce and poured it over the noodles, gave it a stir and then made the mistake of putting a bite in my mouth. I couldn't stop. They were divine! It's all I want to eat. I have a feeling there will be a bowl of these residing in my fridge very often this summer. The original recipe called for linguine but I happened to have some soba noodles in my pantry so I used those instead. All I can say is, if you can get your hands on soba noodles then use those, but if not just use linguine. Whole wheat would be great with this recipe. Just don't not make it if you can't find soba noodles. It would be a crying shame to miss out just because of that!

Sesame Noodles

8 ounces of linguine or soba noodles

3 cloves of garlic

3 Tablespoons oil

3 Tablespoons vinegar (rice vinegar would be great but I used regular white)

3 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon chile sauce (Asian chile sauce would be ideal but I used the stuff you find by the ketchup)

2 or 3 green onions

1 teaspoon of sesame seeds, toasted if you have time

Boil the noodles following the package instructions, drain and rinse to cool them. Soba noodles always have to be rinsed. Combine all the other ingredients except the onions and sesame seeds and simmer a few minutes. What you are aiming for is to cook the garlic a little. Raw garlic a bit much. When the noodles are drained fairly well, stir the sauce into them in a roomy bowl. Mix in the onions and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Taste at your own risk unless you are lucky enough to be making them just for yourself otherwise there won't be any left to share. Don't say I didn't warn you, these are addictive!

Fun Food Friday!(on Saturday) Egg Rolls

I have a confession. I am a compulsive menu planner. I can't help it, it's been 3 years since I started planning weekly menus and I can't stop. A year or so ago, just to make the planning easier, I assigned a type of food for each day. Monday - Mexican, Tuesday - pasta, Wednesday - stir-fry/vegetarian, Thursday - crock pot, Friday - Fun Food, Saturday - something new, Sunday - something easy. I know. Welcome to my compulsive world. Now, I don't stick to that rotation all the time. And I am likely to cook a new recipe any night of the week. Also, I try to use whatever meat is on sale at our local grocery store (unless it's gizzards or frog legs, there I draw the line) so if I planned to cook a beef roast but faint when I see the price tag at the meat case then I will substitute something a little more budget friendly. All that to say that on Wednesday there is nothing that goes with a stir-fry like egg rolls. However, in my little town they are hard to find at the grocery store and the ones I unfortunately found were not fit to eat. Mystery meat substitutes are not something I'm eager to try. Thus began my journey into egg roll making. The main change I made to the recipes I found was to bake them instead of frying. You don't get quite the same crunchiness but you also don't have to fry 25 egg rolls and then deal with grease. And I don't know about you but I can do without eating deep fried anything. They are crisp, hot and delicious, I think you'll like them!
First of all you want to marinate a pound of ground pork or turkey with 3 Tablespoons of soy sauce, some minced garlic and ginger and a bit of salt. Brown that while you chop up a head of cabbage, shred some carrots and mince some more garlic. Or you could use a bag of cole slaw mix and be done with it. I've never tried it but it would work.
Throw the vegetables in with the meat and saute until the cabbage is soft. Season with more soy sauce and salt. You need a good amount of salt even though you have all that soy sauce. Pork and turkey can be pretty bland and cabbage is bland's middle name. Be brave and season it up! You want to taste it when the cabbage is done and then you can add more soy sauce or salt if it needs it.
Here is my filling, the egg roll wrappers and a dish of cornstarch and water to seal the wrappers. I buy my wrappers at Walmart in the produce section. Look in the refrigerated case with the tofu. About the cornstarch stuff, you can seal the wrappers with water but this cornstarch and water "slurry" works best. It's just a teaspoon of cornstarch in 2 Tablespoons of water.
So, let's get crackin'. Put about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of filling on the wrapper like this.
Fold the bottom corner up to cover the filling.
Dab some of the cornstarch/water mixture on the bottom corner you just folded up and fold the two side in and seal the tips to the moistened corner.
Moisten the top corner and tightly roll up the egg roll and seal to the top corner. There, you've made your own egg roll! Wouldn't your mama be proud?! Now pour about 3 Tablespoons of oil on the baking sheet and spread it around evenly. Set your egg roll on the oiled sheet and roll it over to coat all sides with the oil. Repeat with all the wrappers and filling. Slide the sheet into a 425 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, being sure to turn them every 10 minutes or so to brown all sides.
The most important thing is to not eat all of them yourself, try to share some with your family, it's hard but you can do it! And even if you do eat them all yourself they are really good for you with all those cruciferous vegetables and other stuff. Eat up!