I think the gnocchi would be great with an olive oil butter sauce, pepper, fresh parsley and parmesan. Sometimes simple is so good.

You know I could make some fresh gnocchi from what's in my pantry. I may just do that, now that my mouth is set for it!

I wonder if there is a prize? And is it permissable to buy things like lettuce and fresh veggies? How about things like TP and Kleenex? And is there a remedy for chicken overload???
I really need to commit to this for a month....but...it would be so traumatic....
Linda C

LOL, 'tis the season. I spent Sunday afternoon POOPing. I only got to the home canned stuff though....old jams, pie filling from '96 (where on earth did that come from?). And I vowed that we were going to eat from the freezer until everything but this year's fruits and vegies were left.

Sunday I picked a bunch of tomatoes so I made the beginning of some spaghetti sauce... POOFed smoked Italian sausage and some smoked peppers. I'll finish it after work Wed. Sunday's dinner was a roast beef that was probably in there for way too long, but it was just fine. And last night I poofed some old pork chops. Not a bad start, eh?

I did notice some things from past swaps and odd condiments I've collected buried in the back of one of the pantry shelves. I hope to get to that this weekend.

Hey Everyone, Relax! We need to have all those tidbits in the pantry in case there's 1000 feet of snow or a blackout or something great on TV. Just make sure there's ammo for the shotgun so the squirrels don't eat the nuts and the neighbors stand away from the overflowing LC. And keep a manual can opener on hand(and some sternos to heat the water for the jello in case the instant hot goes on the fritz.) Of course if there's any chocolate in your pantry eat it right this minute. It would be a big sin if the chocolate went all dry and flaky in the dark of the night on the pantry shelf! Warm up all those nearly empty honey bears, mix it all together and dip the almonds in, yummy. This is where the shotgun comes in handy - squirrels like sweet, sticky almonds. Oh, yeah, and you might want to restock the marshmellows because they are good toasted over sternos and added to the chocolate...but if you toast a marshmellow, you're going to need some graham crackers...

I POOPed and POOFed yesterday and whooo weee did my kitchen smell!

I pulled a smoked beef rib and a bag of cut up parsnips out of the freezer (POOF) and made split pea soup (POOP).

Oh yum, Jessica, that sounds good. It's cool and rainy here, and I have split peas, onions, carrots, at least one smoked ham hock.

Thanks for the reminder!

But the Liquor Cabinet? Oh dear, that's something else entirely. I have:

One bottle of Bud light left from last Christmas
Two bottles of (cheaper Sam's Club) Ice Wine
One bottle of Hard Cider
One half bottle of Triple Sec (for a jam recipe)
1/4 cup (about) Galliano (carp, I don't even know WHY)
1/4 bottle Jack Daniels (for BBQ sauce)
Half a bucket of frozen margaritas in the freezer (Sherry's leftovers, LOL)

Oh, but I do have a couple of boxes of Jello, LOL, can I make Jello shots with any of this stuff? Well, not the beer, I see another batch of cheddar/beer bread in my immediate future. :-)

Annie

Oh gawd Katie a thread where we cook with some swap item forgotten and buried in the back of the pantry (sauntering out of the room....)

I also see a few donations to local food shelters..If you don't want to eat it, someone will. ;o)

Don't know if I'm eligible to play, I do it every day... When you have to prepare 3 meals a day you need the inspiration of a full pantry... But it's a real challenge when half of the stuff is loaded with salt and fat... lol

Rita

Oh I sure would love to play.....my pantry, freezer and fridge need a purge. However we are going to be away until next Wednesday so I can only play tonight and tomorrow. Which is good becasue I don't want to do any shopping anyhow. So tonight it's veggie, cheese omelette's made fom whatever is in my crisper and cheese drawer.

I'd say I'd jump in next week except it's Thanksgiving !!! A double wammy! Not only will I have to shop but I will end up with a ton more food that will need to be poofed and pooped...! LOL

Terri, seriously, thank you. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Our daughter is coming home from college this weekend, so I think one of those chocolate pasta recipes will be perfect!

Claire, jello shots to unsuspecting garage sailors is a great idea! Might really boost your revenues! :-)

Well I just got back from the butcher the baker and the candle-stick maker - many dollars later, and there's no room on the shelves! But at my house its time to cook for another week-long holiday so maybe I'll play this game next month. Hey, I know...how about giving some of this stuff to those oddly dressed, half-size haunters who come begging every October; not sure who they are or where they come from, but they always have a big bag slung over a shoulder for their odd collection ritual. Best not to give them any of the left over beer or Jack Daniels though, they seem to small to handle that stuff. I bet they'd like the chocolate though... but I already finished that off. Well I guess I'd better go back out to the market and get some more...S'mores? Uh-oh! I think I'm in trouble again!

Annie; How come you are always dealing with "POOP"
Do you wash your hads often. LOL

I looked in my Pantry cabinets and found a 5 year old kid,
that I didn't know I had !!!!!

I have 4 metal locker Cabinets, 36 inches wide x 20 inches deep x 76 inches high, that I use for a Pantry.
I have enough food to last for 5 years.

One day I'll empty them to see what's growing.
Have fun with your House cleaning.
LOU

Lou, Did he look like this?

My cookbook group snuck into my pantry last month and voted it the place they wanted to be when the earthquake hits!LOL (Mostly because of the 2 baskets of chocolateand the big wine rack, I think.)However, you would be a little short of water, but heck cooking with wine would work. I'm also too rich in coconut milk. Can I make all those beans with coconut milk and red wine and dried chilies!

But I'm afraid I'm with sherry and trying to do Weight Watchers which requires LOTS of fresh veggies. I have been making sone headway in the freezer the last couple of months but the pantry is HARD, to empty.

Lou, somehow I seem to be up to my eyebrows in some type of POOP most of my life. There are a lot of days when I'm just in deep doo-doo!

Sherry and Granjan, I'm still watching my weight and I'd like to lose another 10 pounds, so I'm not going to make anything rich, sweet, or fattening. That ought to add to the challenge!

Terri, I think you have the cutest little "pantry rat" I've ever seen!

Mimsic, in my neighborhood the big "ghouls" trick or treat for beer!

Annie

I just told DH that we're doing this and that he may get three kinds of pasta or some such in one sitting. The things I want to get rid of are "what the heck did I buy this for" kinds of things so nothing may go together. It's probably going to be some strange meals around here for a while. Tonight I've decided to get rid of the Bear Creek Hot and Sour Soup Mix and the Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes in one fell swoop! We'll have some type of chicken with that because that's what I have thawed out.

Beverly

Well he can't even fit in the pantry now(because it's FILLED)..but he does like to be in there..so he'll sit in the opening, nibbling on a granola bar or the like...That was taken about 3 years ago..so he'd have been about 5.

LOL, Beverly, how about Cheesy Hot and Sour Potato Soup? (grin)

Terri, that boy is clearly a foodie!

Annie

If that little boy tastes as good as he looks, I'm coming over to your house for dinner tonight.

No, he's a sour puss...LOL

Especially when he doesn't get his way..which is alot with Momma..but not so with others..one look at his little dimpled cheeks..and the puppy eyes..and everyone says to me.."how can you say no"...It's easy..NO no NO no..
LOL
He thinks since he's the baby..that it's a free ride...I don't know where he got that idea from...

Terri!!! He is so cute and you can see the dickens in his eyes!!!

Well, I started POOPing today and organized all my flours. I took me almost 3 hours but it is so worth it. Little bags here and there all containing the same kind of flour. Now, everything is organized into large glass jars and each has a label.

I gave a 10 lb bag of rice to my carpenter. So that left only 2 smaller bags which are now in 1 large container.

Michelle

Consolidation..that's a good thing.. Michelle..dickens is right..
He just walked in from school and saw the picture again..
"I wanna be a pantry elf again"..LOL
I'm POOPing out my hamburger Meal too.. Tee hee
Only ingredients in the house already... are going to be used..Nothing was purchased special for this meal...

It IS ridiculous the amount I have in my pantry.....I shouldn't have to shop for months, literally. I am game for this challenge!

Since I decided the name of the game is getting rid of things no matter what, I've already used or given away five items that would ordinarily still be there. I'm loving this, it's almost like you have given me permission Annie. And we ate out both lunch and dinner today or even more would be missing.

Annie : You really caused a lot of POOP. In fact, some were more like an Pantry enema.

I'm enjoying reading this, but I can't compete. I just moved 1700 miles; my pantry started pretty bare. 8^)

My pantry was way over full and I've made a couple runs at eating it down. When I don't feel well I won't shop so eating down my stockpile is easy. Lots of stuff to work with still. I wonder what goes good with vicodin, naproxen sodium, and cyclobenzaprine?

: )
michael

Ok, I am in, but no promisses. I have one offical pantry, plus storage on both my back "porch" and in the basement. Figure in one full sized upright freezer, a small chest freezer and an extra fridge, all of which I clean out today for inventory and I do not need to shop for weeks.

Ok, I have 7 pork tenderloins. D*amn, the sales were good! Six pounds of shrimp, why? Ok, one went to shrimp cakes tonight.

This will be fun.

Amanda, I think we should all clean our pantries and send the stuff to YOU!!!

Beverly, a lot of mine went to Amanda's house, she's always in the market for noodles, spaghetti, crackers, cereal. Still, mine looks like this:

{{gwi:1564846}}

So, last night's supper was some roasted vegetables (yes, I keep onions, potatoes, root vegetables in baskets on the floor in the pantry), vegetable soup from the freezer and some sauteed scallops that Elery brought with him. I thought the scallops were "cheating", Elery says no, because he brought them, I didn't buy them. Hmmmm....shall we vote? (grin)

{{gwi:1564848}}

Peppi, welcome to the challenge! I haven't even thought of most of the canned goods in the basement yet...

Lou, you are absolutely right.

Annie

Here's a place I can join in-- not long on creativity but definitely meals to be had!
Friday night I made a spaghetti sauce using a seasoning that I bought last summer in Saugatuck at the spice store. It was a roasted tomato mix that I added some of the delicious tomato frito, ground meat and some open Malbec (wine). It was wonderful! I loved the depth of flavor in the sauce with that powder! I used some whole wheat pasta mixed with a bit of a new package of regular pasta so that Dh doesn't recognize the WW! Last night I used up some of TJ's Mole Sauce on DH's chicken and a bit of feta that's been here since Labor Day! I also used a half of bag of choc chips in some pumpkin bread(that I bought at WF, on Weds).
This is good challenge Annie!
We're off on a vacation later this week, but until then, I'll keep trying to use up some of what remains!

Annie, your pantry looks teriffic beside mine.

I've finally learned to quit buying any type of mixes. I bought them just in case I needed something quick and never used them. I had one left that was Annie Chuns Pad Thai. I had made one previously and DH loved it. I hated it because it reeked of fish sauce, so he said he would never get it again because I didn't like it. I fooled him and bought another box and that's what he had for dinner last night. That will be the last box of that stuff I will buy. I do have one more Annie Chun Mix to make.

I wannnaaa play! I often challenge myself to this anyways, although I don't often succeed. Not for lack of food, but lack of restraint! You people that can list the items in your pantry amaze me. I'd be here all day and then some. My freezer is a black hole as well. I really want an upright but currently now just have a chest. I keep telling my DH that I would be wayyy more organized with more space. This could ultimately be a lie, but I MEAN well hehe. His answer is to get me a new fridge for my birthday in January. That way I will at least have our current fridge/freezer as an extra space. Still wish I could ditch the chest, but I am happy for the interim. Love the comment about the earthquake above. I often tell DH, at least we will have something to eat if there is a disaster.

P.S. Hi Nancy and Ellen..its me, Suzyqt1968 from GB *waving*

The stash..note the duplicate bread crumbs..what was I thinking? Not much apparently!

Spice cabinet- gotta love the mondo bottle of bacon bits. They will probably be there in 10 years.

Snack/beverage cabinet - bound to be some junk I can clear out of there.

Holy bacon bits, Batman...um....I mean nightnurse, that's better (or worse) than MINE!!

Tonight I had parmesan crusted pork chops, whole wheat angelhair pasta with olive oil and herbs and some of those leftover roasted vegetables. I think I'm eating better than I was before!

Ellen, I like the Whole Wheat pasta better than the white stuff.

Beverly, I don't like very many of the mixes at all, they have way too much salt. Same with canned soup. Still, Ashley loves the Pasta Roni Alfredo stuff and Velveeta Shells and Cheese. She's gonna have to eat THOSE herself.

Annie

Tonight we had Indian Spiced Brisket, Lamb with Baharat Seasoning and Navy Beans, Braised Chard and Egg Noodles with Garlic Lemon Butter. The 2 meat dishes were in the freezer since the spring. I love that braised meat dishes can be tossed in a dish still frozen to reheat them. After I clear out my pantry and freezer I will have to make double batches every time I braise (in the fall and winter that is most meals).

The noodles have no eggs and have been in my cupboard forever. I bought the wrong package :-) Actually I also don't make egg noodles much, but I realize now i should. Great, now I may need to stock them after I use up the back log.

-Robin

I've been too busy POOFing to POOP. Two weeks ago I did the food for our student retreat. I WAY over estimated on food and plus this group just are not big eaters, so I have tons of stuff left over. A bunch of sandwich meat and juice and cheese in the freezer, all these apples, carrots, coleslaw, potato salad, granola bars, yogurt. Plus leftover pancakes and sausage that I brought home, chips, dip, soda. I had to throw out a bag of greens today. I wanted to make carrot cake but I'm too tired at this point after making apple jelly, chili sauce and salsa this weekend.

Tonight's dinner was half POOF, half POOP. I had gemmeli pasta (geez I love that stuff) with spinach, red onion, canned mushroom brushetta, cannelli beans, bacon, fontina and parmesean cheese. The gemmelli and beans came from the pantry, the bacon, fontina cheese, onion, and mushroom brushetta came from the fridge, spinach came from the freezer. Seasoned with garlic powder, season salt, italian herb mix, and a shake of hot peppers. Made enough for a couple of dinners next week. I make cafe mocha for breakfast with all this chocolate milk that's left.

At least now that the apples and tomatoes are gone I can see around. My pantry is actually pretty spare. Moving twice in one year can do that to you. I took two bags to the community pantry when I moved last year. Now being on the austerity plan means I don't keep a lot of "extras" on hand just because I might use them. I kind of like getting back to the basics. I still have a whole unused jar of charnushka spice I found today. That was an example of one of my impulse buys from a couple of years ago. Some recipe called for it, which I never made.

Dinnger tonight: BBQ Pork in the crockpot: used one full bottle of BBQ sauce out of the 6 I found on my shelf! Making progress here!!!! :-)

Annie, the sad part is that it's just me and the DH here. Not even any visiting kids to blame the extra stuff on. I keep complaining I don't have room for more pretty dishes. I guess if I got rid of some of this food I could find room for a stack or two!

I used up some white beans, black beans, kidney beans, wood ear mushrooms, and shitake mushrooms from the pantry. A mixture of beefsteak, rutgers, sun sweet yellow, and roma tomatoes from the garden... enough to fill a 12 quart pot more then half way. The garden also contributed jalpeno, habenera, serreno, red hungarian, and some little red unidentified peppers. I had a couple three pounds of leftover hamburger to throw in the pot. Cumin and black peppercorns from the cupboard. A little cilantro from the fridge and some corn from the freezer. Still it was not right and I was out of both canned catfood and beer. Great night at the store! Stocked up on catfood and found some Honey Porter that I've not seen in years. Then on my way to snag a cabbage I found genuine Ida Reds! While the cabbage was cooking into the chili soup I sucked down a couple beers and munched two of those wonderful apples. With beer and snacks out of the way I put down about a quart of the chili. It was so good I cried... maybe it was all those peppers but it was very good. Then I lay down and took about a 2 hour nap.

Ahead I have curry and pasta to make. No suffering for lack of good stuff here.

: )
michael

Hey Susy, good to see you.

AB, if I were to post pictures of my pantry, you'd all go blind. So no, I'm not ready to tackle this challenge, but I'll be keeping an eye on it - maybe it'll inspire me. Right.

Sol

Oh Sol, you underestimate me. I certainly wouldn't go blind, my picture is only of my "dry goods" pantry, LOL, it isn't even located on the same FLOOR as my basement storage. (grin) Let's not talk about the freezer, with all those cherries waiting to be jelly and the frozen shredded zucchini from this summer and the pig that should be ready for the freezer in another week, or the steer that'll be there in another couple of weeks. Sigh. Definitely gotta find some room!

Completely off-thread, you must be a psycho....um....a psychic. You've long referred to me as AB. Well, you know my name is Annie (Angela). Elery's last name is Barnes. LOLOLOL That really would make me "AB".

Annie

Annie

Dinner last night was whole roast chicken, some herb and butter rice-a-roni, jarred white asparagus,and a tomato feta salad. Not one new item was used.

Annie and nightnurse, those pantries don't look so bad to me.

Let's see....
Thursday night: POOFED beef tenderloins from freezer, POOPED an instant mashed potato packet and a salad from fridge.

Friday: Egg sandwiches, Cukes and Zukes from garden, BBQ chips from half-eaten bag.

Saturday: Out to eat for mom's birthday.

Sunday: Made clam chowder from canned clams and some bacon left from a BLT and potatoes from the garden. We ate some for lunch and the rest will be dinner one night this week.
Also cooked a whole chicken (freezer) for dinner and stuffed with bread heels (freezer), a little leftover zucchini, shallots, etc. Carrots from fridge.

It was a rainy, nasty day Sunday and perfect for a pot of soup and roast chicken!

Deanna

Tonight's PooP'd dinner will be
Bean and Sausage soup..in the crock pot.

Dried pintos, "plumping" right now.
Then a jar of salsa, some chicken broth and some onion and garlic in the pot. Last hour, add some hot italian sausage links..just before serving, pull out sausages and slice, and stir back in..
Will also add some Biscuits..but I did have to buy more Shortening yesterday...

Completely off-thread, you must be a psycho....um....a psychic. You've long referred to me as AB. Well, you know my name is Annie (Angela). Elery's last name is Barnes. LOLOLOL That really would make me "AB"

Why, thank you my dear AB. I pride myself in the fact that I'm certifiable in both fields. Keep in mind, however, that either one of these could be quite hazardous. But combined, oh, they have the potential of destroying entire civilizations. So watch yer a$$.

Btw, what I meant by my 'blinding' threat was that my sparkling white shelves are so painfully bare that it would blind or offend (maybe both) some of you gifted, pantry goddesses.
Sister, I want to be bitten by the canning bug more than you'll ever know, but I also know it'll never happen.

Sol

Bare shelves? Sol, you? I just can't believe that, your meals are beautiful and much more "balanced" than mine tend to be.

Watch my a$$? Nah, as Empress of the Universe I have underlings to do that for me. Mostly guys have applied for the job, though. (grin)

Both Psycho and Psychic? You must use your powers for good, you know. Wanna be the Royal Weather Forecaster? My pasture suffered horribly this year and those blasted meteorologist just can't be depending on. I'm gonna make them all farmers instead, I swear. Then they can be both broke and dependent on the weather!

As for that canning bug, well, we all create in our own fashion. You do those beautiful pastries and photos, I grow things and can them. We both create, but yours is prettier.

Now, what shall I pull out for supper? I have grape juice to can and tomatoes begging to be salsa. It's gotta be quick, not dirty many dishes and not use much space on my stove. It's cold and rainy here, but that wouldn't stop me from having Ben and Jerry over for supper.

Annie

Bunnyman, that must have been one massive pot of chili! Sounds like you've been POOGing (Pulling Out Of the Garden). I have such garden envy!

Sol, just do it, it aint any more work than boiling water!

Yeah Lauri... I POOP'ed, POOF'ed, and POOG'ed that 12 quart chili pot within a 1/2" of the top. I ran all the tomatoes, spices, and peppers in the blender before pouring into the pot and boiled them good before adding the rest of the goodies. Made a really colorful looking chili with white, black, and red kidney beans and yellow corn. Finding my blender makes a good spice grinder so I blend whole peppercorns and whole cumin seed in with the tomatoes. Awesome smell... turned many heads when I warmed up my lunch at work today.

The wood ear mushrooms worked out great. I've not used them in chili before and they were a good fit.

Day two of the chili pot going so it needs to be perked up. Room for more cabbage and some onion. Edge is gone off the peppers so I'll add a couple to keep the fire going. I've got two chunks of tenderloin that I was supposed to grill... they will probably fall into the chili pot tonight. Feeling sick again and don't have the energy to cook them proper.

Deanna's egg sandwich sounds really good... both eggs and bread to use up. Reminds me I forgot to buy butter.

: )
lyra

Well so far I've given away one 10 lb bag of white rice, used about half a box of bread crumbs, 1 box of odd shaped pasta, emptied 1 huge can of parmesan and used half of 2 jars of brushcetta.

I am also including in my POOP my cleaning supplies. Some of this stuff we moved from FL, for criminy sake, and that was in 1986!

Michelle

I saw this thread pre-Maine trip and it fit with my idea to use one item per dinner. A lot of my basic pantry is 'interesting' food, either bought by me or given to me by a good friend. I have too many luxury items like this and I do tend to hoard...save it for later. Well later has come, so thanks for starting this one Annie.

First to be used is a UHT Soy milk with vanilla...into the breakfast Cream of Wheat. Now I just need a dinner item.

btw Annie-belle, it sounds as if you are paring down to...move!! Maureen

Michelle, you have cleaning supplies that are 10 years old? LOL OK, you have me beaten!

Michael, I hope you feel better. It's gotten cooler and I was just thinking it was time for a batch of chili. I canned salsa last night and used up some tomato sauce, the last of the cider vinegar that was opened, and now I'm out of cumin. I guess I won't make anything with cumin until I'm ready to go to the store again!

Supper? Eggs and toast. Hey, I was busy doing that salsa, LOL, I'll have the last of the leftover roasted vegetables for lunch today.

Annie