Cleaning Out the Kitchen- Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I didn't mean to take so long getting this post up, but I was a little busier than I thought I'd be the past few days. We got our patriotic partying done last night though, so today is a quiet day around the house for us.

We recently bought a new car, which is very exciting for us. We feel so grown up because we were able to pay cash for it. However, we are also feeling the need to do some belt tightening since we just laid out all that dough. So this weekend I went through and cleaned out our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around way too long, and took inventory of what we have available to cook with. I discovered that I am very efficient at wasting food and money. A lot of stuff that should have been used, but wasn't, and is now beyond the point of consumption. So, I decided to share just what it is that was left behind once I did the big dump. This is what I'll be trying to use over the next few weeks, along with our weekly produce and other few groceries we might need. Luckily I recently placed a meat order, so we have a pretty good stockpile in the freezer. Any recipe suggestions based on our kitchen contents?

Pantry:
Rolled Oats
Cereal- 2 half full boxes, 1 nearly gone
Panko
Quinoa
Couscous
Bulgur
Brown rice
Arborio rice
Jambalaya Mix
Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Manicotti Shells
Small pasta shells
Mezze tubetti pasta
Rotini
Tomato soup- 2 cans
Lentil soup
Vegetable soup
Garbanzo beans- 2 cans
Dark kidney beans
Great Northern beans
Black beans- 2 cans
Diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz.
Stewed tomatoes, 14.5 oz.
Chicken broth, 15 oz.
Pumpkin puree
Tuna, 6 oz. packed in olive oil
Beef stew seasoning- 2 packets
Spices
Corn tortillas, 24 count
All purpose flour
White whole wheat flour
Cornmeal
Toasted wheat germ
Sugar
Salsa, large jar
Butter crackers, 1 sleeve
Wheat thins, 1/2 box
Whole wheat bread
Popcorn seed
Dried cranberries

Refrigerator:
Butter
Eggs- 6
Sharp Cheddar, 3/4 block
Pepper Jack, 3/4 block
Helluva Good XXX Sharp Cheddar, 3/4 lb.
Fresh Mozzarella, 8 oz. ball
Feta, 6 oz. crumbled
Pie crust, 2
Soy Milk
Orange Juice
Carrots
Condiments
Salad Dressing
Apples- 3
Peaches- 5

Freezer:
Amy's frozen burritos- 4
Beer-battered fish fillets- 5
Spicy Black Bean burgers- 3
Small cooked shrimp- half a bag
Chicken breasts- 2
Unsmoked bacon, 1 package
Chuck Roast, 2.5 lbs.
Beef stew meat, 3 lbs.
Ground beef, 6 lbs.
Ground pork, 2 lbs.
Mild pork sausage, 1 lb.
Pork shoulder, 2.5 lbs.
Pheasant, 2 lbs.?
Trout- 2 2-person portions, 1 4-5 person portion
Whiting- 2 2-person portions
Cat fish- 1 2-4 person portion
Pesto, 4 cups
Puff Pastry, 1/2 package
Peaches, 12 oz.
Blueberries, 12 oz.
Mixed berries, 12 oz.
Pineapple, 6 oz.
Mango, 6 oz.
Peas, 10 oz.
Corn, 4 oz.
Green beans, 6 oz.
Mixed veggies, 6 oz.
Spinach, chopped 10 oz.

The New Pantry

When we bought the house it had your average pantry, typical of most older houses. It was also pretty darn gross. Something, which went unidentified, had been spilled (exploded?) on the shelves and seeped into the wall. That stain even remains after three coats of Killz primer, so it's a real mystery to me what that substance was. But I digress- the point was it was gross and a general cleaning wasn't going to solve anything. This little project was done almost entirely by yours truly. I took the shelves out and removed the slats from the walls that were holding them up. Then I had to sand down some of the paint and muck that had surrounded the slats, clean all that mess up, and fill in the nail holes. Once that was done I painted two coats of primer (and a third over the mystery spot). After the primer I was planning on trying to paint it with some leftover color from the hallway- however I realized that painting a 36" x 36" square box was incredibly uncomfortable. And there was also some question as to how much paint I had versus how much I'd need. So the pantry remains a lovely shade of primer, ha. And I'm fine with that. At this point in the project I brought in my lovely husband to help install the Elfa shelving we bought for the new pantry. He screwed in the top bar for me, and then I put all the shelves up. While I did that Josh put together the cart. And then all that was left was to fill our pantry with all our food! The end result is a much more usable space. With the ventilated shelves the light can filter through, which means no more strange things lurking in the dark corners of your pantry. No mystery cans popping up here! And don't worry, I spared you a close up of the stain. I utilized an Elfa cart to store our snack foods and the microwave. I didn't want that big thing taking up any of my new counter space. An added bonus is that we haven't used the microwave yet since we've moved in!
































As far as organizing the items in the pantry I've got a shelf for baking supplies, one for canned goods, and one for pastas and grains. We store our chips and bread in the cart's large basket and smaller things like granola bars in the shallow drawer. At the top you might just spy a couple of bottles of wine and liquor. Not sure if that will be it's final resting place, but it works well enough for now. Here is a closer look at the shelves. You can also spy some of the fresh ingredients that are best stored in a cool, dry place. This week it was sweet potatoes, an avocado and a tomato.

Kitchen Filler

Right now I've only got one pic of food ready to post, but I don't have the recipe with me. And lots of stuff on my camera waiting to be uploaded. So here's a little filler post until I can get my stuff together. :) A couple weeks ago, inspired by this post on Black Eiffel, I used my Friday off to clean out and tidy my kitchen pantry, refrigerator and freezer.

Pantry
In my pantry I try to make the best use of the space that I have. On some shelves I make use of the space at the back that I wouldn't be able to reach easily by keeping extraneous items like my pewter salad bowl, popcorn popper, cookie cutter tin- things I need on rare occasions. Top shelf is carbs- rices, pastas, panko and breadcrumbs. Bottom shelf of the upper cabinet is canned goods- beans, various tomato products, tuna, peanut butter, a few canned veggies. There are three shelves in the lower cabinet. The top is baking supplies- white whole wheat, all purpose, and cake flour, cornmeal, vegetable and canola oil, two types of molasses, vinegar, and baking powder. All sorts of mix-ins tucked under that little riser too- chocolate and peanut butter chips, coconut, walnuts, pecans, and almonds. Middle shelf holds bread and crackers, and some oats in the back too. And the bottom shelf which isn't really visible holds our chips and cereal- typically tortilla, pretzels, and generic honey & oat clusters.


Freezer
Not much to look at here- fruit bars, ice cream sandwiches (which no longer exist), eggplant bolognese in the plastic, pan of vegetable enchiladas, trout fillets from the pop-in-law, and a couple boxes of frozen junk food.


Refrigerator
Well, this picture was taken before the weekend shopping trip, so it looks a lot more sparse than it normally is. What is normally in our fridge after a trip to the stores? A lot of cheese- shredded mozzarella and crumbled feta for pizzas, shredded cheddar, a block of cheddar, and a block of pepper jack. Those are pretty much always in there. Spinach, mixture of lettuces, celery, carrots, zucchini, squash, onions, and green bell peppers for salads, pizzas, and cooking. Apples and grapes, hummus and pitas, salted and unsalted butter, eggs, and our Brita water dispenser. No more cow's milk, unless I need it for baking. We've moved on to soy milk. The door is just chocked full of condiments- yellow, dijon and spicy-hot mustards, ketchup, preserves, salad dressings, Josh's coffee creamer, jars of olives, cherries, and minced garlic, wheat germ, and that weird powdery grated parmesan that Josh loves.