Recipe Tuesday... Kinda! Pantry time!

I understand it's supposed to be recipe Tuesday today, but really, this is about food, so it counts. :) 

Today I want to talk to you about pantries. I love my pantry, but when I first started stocking it up, I found it really hard to know what to get. So here I'm starting to compile a list of things that I personally find helpful to have in my pantry. 

First off, here's my pantry. 

As you can see, it's kind of disorganized right now. But it's not as disorganized as it looks. Mostly it's just small. But that's ok. I will work with what I got. 

The first thing to note is that whenever possible I use fresh ingredients. But sometimes it just doesn't happen, and that's ok. 

Ok, so on the bottom shelf, there's glass cylinder containers filled with various things. I got them from Dollarama. In those containers I keep: 

- Dried Red Kidney Beans

- Dried White Kidney Beans

- Dried Lentils

- Rolled Oats

- White Sugar

- Basmati Rice

- Brown Sugar

- White Flour

- Whole Wheat Flour

As often as I can I buy these things in bulk. For the record, dried beans? Way better than canned beans, and it takes only a little bit of prep. You soak them overnight or boil them for about 15 minutes. And they taste so much better, and are so much more pretty. 

Anyways, on the bottom shelf I also keep our instant oatmeal, which Caleb and Flash love for breakfast. We get these at Costco, $12 for the big box, and it lasts us forever. Corn syrup, which I like on just about everything, is also down there, along with my extra virgin Olive Oil. (*Note: If any of you know where to buy coconut oil in Canada, I'd love to hear it!) When I have a big thing of Carnation hot chocolate (My guilty pleasure), it also goes on my bottom shelf. 

My second shelf has some instant food on it right now, Caleb's aunt dropped it off for us. I'm not sure I'll ever use it, but I keep it around because I'm bound to have a lazy day sometime. :P 

As for what else is on there... 

- At least 5 bags of various Pastas 

(Usually whatever was on sale.)

- Egg noodles

- Peanut Butter 

(We get the great value brand from Walmart, none of us can taste the difference)

- Rice Vermicelli noodles

- A couple bags of Ramen for quick meals 

(I love the no name brand type, but here we have Compliments)

- Knorr Sidekicks

- Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

(Lipton full salt. The reduced sodium was just.. wrong.)

- Barley

(This is the newest addition to my pantry, not  sure how I'm going to use this.)

- Various Vinegars 

(Right now I have Apple Cider Vinegar, and White Vinegar)

Here's my break time... Aaaaand it's Wiggles! She is humouring me. 

Ok! My top shelf. 

- 4 cans tomato sauce

(I get the plain great value brand kind and doctor it up with all my spices. Don't worry, well talk about those too.)

- Nutella

- Honey

- Cans of beans 

(I'm phasing these out in favour of my dried ones.)

- 3 cans diced tomatoes 

(Whenever possible I use my own canned tomato's, but I recently ran out.)

- Cereal

(Caleb loves cereal, we like the Sally's brand from Walmart. $4 for 600g as opposed to sometimes close to $8, and it tastes just as delicious, if not better.)

- A couple cans of Campells soups

- 2 boxes of each Chicken and Beef Broth

- A couple boxes of Kraft Dinner for treat days.

So that's my pantry. I found I didn't need as much as I thought I did, and it's really easy to stock it slowly, one or two items on top of my normal groceries a pay check. And it really helps those weeks when groceries are tight.

As for my spices and things, I live off them. 

I keep a decent stock of spices on hand at all times. These include: 

- Lemon Pepper

- Cocoa

- Ground Black Pepper

- French Fry Spice

- Seasoning Salt 

- Club house gravy packages

(We buy them on sale for about $.25 a piece, well worth it.)

- Baking Soda

- Baking Powder

- Cumin

- Turmeric

- Salt

- Basil

- Coriander

- Ginger

(Fresh and ground)

- Garlic

(Fresh and Powder)

- Cinnamon

-  Condensed Milk

- Shake and Bake packages

- Taco and Fajita seasoning packets

- Club house pasta salad mix 

(Seriously, best ever. Try it.)

- Nutmeg

*I also have a spice rack that has all sorts of spices in it. 

I also keep basic baking supplies on hand. 

- Chocolate chips

- Coconut

- Banana's

- Shortening

And some sauces(Some of these are in my fridge). 

- Hoisin sauce

- Soy sauce

- Ketchup

- Worcestershire Sauce

- Tobasco Sauce

- White Rice Vinegar

So that's my pantry folks! It's my life saver when I have tight weeks, and really it helps a lot with meal planning. <3 

- Adele

Recipe Tuesday: Molasses Softies

I'm a huge addict of these cookies. Joshua? Not so much. He thinks they are not cookie-like. xD

Think of these as really soft ginger snaps. <3 Me and my mom love them for that reason.  

Note: These DO make a very cakey cookie. 

Molasses Softies 

½ C melted Shortening - Margarine works as well.

½ C Brown Sugar 

½ C molasses 

1 Beaten Egg 

2 ½ cup flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp soda dissolved in ½ cup hot water 

½ tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp nutmeg 

1 tsp Vanilla 

Mix.

Teaspoon into balls on greased pan.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Recipe Tuesday: Banana Bread or Muffins!

When I was younger, my mother made the best banana chocolate chip muffins. So when I moved out, I looked up a recipe and made it.. and they were horrible. So I called my mom paniced, wondering what she'd done to make these wonderful muffins. 

She gave me this "Tsk, Tsk" noise and said "Tasha, use the banana bread recipe and put it in muffin tins." 

Which I immediately did, and came out with perfect muffins. That's what I get for not asking my mom before I made the other batch. 

So here's my moms awesome banana bread recipe. <3 

Banana Bread

½ C margarine

1 C white sugar

Mix well. 

2 eggs

½ C mashed bananas

1 tsp lemon juice

2 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 C choc. Chips or walnuts - optional.

Grease pan. 

Makes 1 loaf if bread, or about 12 muffins. 

375 for 1 hour.

They're honestly perfect. <3

- Natasha

Recipe Tuesday: Beef Stew!

Hearty Beef Stew

Caleb hates soups, and this is a favourite of his, as it's packed full of veggies and pretty much everything but broth. 

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 teaspoon pre-minced)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 cube beef boullion

5 medium potatoes, diced into 1 inch cubes

3 carrots, sliced or 1/2 lbs mini carrots chopped in half 

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 can finely diced tomatoes - Optional

I found when I first started looking that many recipes told me to brown the meat before I cooked this in my slow cooker or on my stove. I found this makes the meat tough and hard to process for Sam's little teeth. Instead, I leave the beef as is, dump this all in my slow cooker or in a couple big pots, stir it around some, then cook. Note: You may need more broth, use enough to at least cover your veggies. You can always add more or thicken it later. :)

In a slow cooker, low for 8 hours, or high for about 3. 

On a stove, low for 6, high for 3.

Stir often.

To thicken the gravy after the veggies have cooked, make a slurry using 1 part flour, 2 parts water, and slowly stir into your stew, until it's a consistency you like. 

Please note: Cook times totally depend on your slow cooker and stove. BUT this recipe never suffers from a little longer on the stove on low or a quick microwave, so it's always better to start earlier. I learned this the hard way. 

This is a family favourite, and with such a big batch we always have leftovers for a good long time. This works great for freezing as well, just remember not to thicken your broth until after you freeze and defrost it.

- Natasha