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.

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.