No Shopping Month has begun. 48 hours in, and I have successfully managed to keep up with my goal of NOT going to the grocery store! Baby steps, people…
Like any good addict, I had grand plans of going to the store on January 31st and stocking up on fresh produce and anything I thought I couldn’t live without. One last hurrah before rehab, right? But that didn’t happen, so I had to just jump right in. Luckily, I spent the last week of January prepping for this challenge, and did a big ‘ol pile of make-ahead cooking. My son impressed me greatly by voluntarily cleaning out the pantry, checking the dates on everything and pitching anything truly embarrassing… like a couple cans of clams which expired in 2013…
Right off the bat, we found a stash of Tastefully Simple boxed foods I’d forgotten about, so I threw together a batch of Peanut Butter Quinoa Bars with Cranberries. These are awesome grab-and-go breakfasts, and good in the lunch box. Next up: Strawberry Cherry Lemon/Limeade, courtesy of watching yet another episode of Pioneer Woman. Even though I have four of her cookbooks, watching her show gives me a constant stream of new ideas and I really should stop watching in February… However, this was perfect for wading through a bunch of fruit that was getting a little old, and the end of a jar of maraschino cherries. I mean honestly, how else was I going to use that up??
My boy did the assist on this one too. (I wonder what he wants??) He pureed the fresh strawberries, squeezed all the lemons and limes, and then we dumped in the cherries with their juice, along with water and a ton of sugar. Really, REALLY good. In a brainwave this morning, I also tossed in the remaining strawberry/peach puree from Bella’s imposter cake a couple weeks ago. I had already eaten that on top of muffins and ice cream, but the stuff was lasting forever.
Recipe #107, Chicken Soup, is in the works for tomorrow, but I started it last Sunday. Does anyone else’s kid light up like a sparkler when you pull parsnips out of the fridge?? Maybe it’s just mine… Bella loves the things! 
As make-ahead meals go, this soup really was a good choice. While I was making the Veggie Chili, I kept going with my chopping and filled the cast iron stockpot with carrots, celery, onion, parsnips, and broth, and that stayed perfectly good in the garage fridge all week. When I pulled it out today, I added the chicken and simmered it for a couple hours. It really is a shame there is no such thing as a “smell-o-vision” app, because my house smelled amazing while this was on the stove! In an inadvertent FURTHER make-ahead step, I finally got to the part in the directions where it said to let the soup chill overnight, presumably so I can skim the fat off tomorrow. I also had to remove the chicken to shred it and remove bones, so that had to cool so I could work with it. Sigh… Good thing I wasn’t counting on this for dinner tonight! One fun thing I got to do while making this soup is whip out the old mortar and pestle. I just don’t get to use a pestle as often as I’d like… After my ancient ground thyme and ground oregano were eliminated in The Purge, I did not replace them except with whole dried herbs. Why buy it twice when I get to pretend to be a witch and smash up my own spices?? Double, double, toil and trouble… Fire burn and cauldron bubble!
Yep. Harry Potter quote. Or Macbeth, if you want to go waaaaay back! And uh oh… I just watched another episode and I think tomorrow is going to bring Salted Caramel Cheesecake Squares to the party! I better turn off the television now…
Have Book, Will Cook 