The Serious Pantry Challenge Weeks 3 and 4

Pantry Challenge Week 3

So I skipped last week because I was out so much, I did manage to make eggs one morning, and have some oatmeal the next. And Friday night Stephen and I were out covering the tasting menu by Chef Mark at Cantina Laredo. And then we had the Harvest Party and Daylight Savings and yeah. Not much pantry-ing going on here.

But now it is November and I’m fresh in my resolve to get things cleaned, cleaned up, and moving out! Spent most of November 1 purging the closet and consolidating. I recently got married and got a lot of great tea towels and kitchen items, so off they went into the Goodwill bag. The other thing I was ruthless with this year was clothes. 

SO many items I pull out every year, wash, hang up, don’t wear, put back in the storage container to sit out the summer. This year I looked at items I hadn’t worn in 3 years and donated some to Goodwill and gave some away. Many things are in good condition, but my tastes have changed, I’ve gained weight, or otherwise just don’t feel it’s me.

Because you know I have the 10 favorite items I wash and wear every single week. If I would just lose 5 pounds, I’d fit back into many pairs of pants...that’s my aim with all this.

Monday November 2-
Breakfast: Oatmeal and a Perfect bar from home.
Lunch: Chicken quesadillas with mushrooms from the café.
Dinner: Pasta and sauce from the PANTRY!

Tuesday November 3-
Breakfast: Noosa yogurt and an apple
Lunch: Taco Tuesday, some ground beef & chicken and cheese, corn, tomatoes and salsa, plus strawberries
Dinner: I got lazy again, we ordered in sandwiches and I watched Project Runway and Stephen and I caught up on writing our blogs. Passed out early! Yay for sleep! Plus veggies from the CSA.
Also, I prepared chili for the crockpot on Wednesday with sauce from the freezer (and threw out a portion of sticky freezer-burned sauce), chilis and spices, plus a half a bag of soaked black beans and the last half cup of lentils I found in the pantry. I also found 2 jars of lime curd and 4 jars of frosting. Plus pudding mix, scone mix, and more jam. Something tells me I’ll be baking this weekend!

This is also a root of my problem…some people like shopping for clothes, jewelry, or art..I like shopping for foodstuffs. Williams- Sonoma, Crate & Barrel…yes please. But then I have to remember to USE these items. I redid my kitchen in March and got a long deep pantry. Before I had a shallow wide cabinet. I tend to push things in the back and forget there are there, so I need to keep rotating and using items up!

Wednesday November 4-
Breakfast: Belvita breakfast cookies and a small pumpkin yogurt
Lunch: Other half of (dinner) sandwich and half of steamed broccoli from our CSA.
Dinner: Out with the girls! Oyster night at the Pour House!

Thursday November 5-
Breakfast: A Perfect Bar, Almond Butter this time. So good and filling! Plus an apple.
Lunch: A portion of the chili I made- its delicious! Steve took some for his lunch too! Yay!
Dinner: Out again with friends, and I drank coffee before bed. This caused an important repeat of dinner. No more coffee with dinner at night- too acidic.

Friday November 6-
Breakfast: Oye exhausted today. Need a good night’s sleep. Breakfast was a bagel and strawberries from the café, but that’s prob all I’m going to eat til dinner. We have a party tonight and after being up half the night I hope we can swing it.]

Survived the weekend! I don’t even remember what I ate, I was all over the places with parties, seeing a new baby, family time, dinner with friends- oh yes, that was Red Lobster!

Monday November 9-
Breakfast: Perfect Bar with an apple and coffee
Lunch: ounce of Cheese curds and a tomato
Dinner: Williams Sonoma pasta with WS truffled mushroom pesto, and some baked chicken nuggets

Tuesday November 10-
Breakfast: Belvita bar w coffee
Lunch: Left over pasta with mushroom truffle pesto, 2 chicken nuggets, and a banana.

Interesting…this week, shopping and cooking in the pantry was easy. Last week it was a struggle. This week we def went to bed earlier, had less diet coke, and less sugar. I seriously wonder if that made a difference!
Dinner: Stephen’s turn to make dinner! He made pork stir fry in our giant awesome wok which was a wedding present, with organic meat, green beans, water chestnuts, and Thai noodles, with peanut sauce. And a side of a small shot of fine single malt scotch. This dinner was ahhhh-mazing. My honeypie can cook quite well. We each then had a cookie from the farmer’s market, a small maple iced cookie, and that was it. Then bed!

Wednesday November 11- HAPPY VETERANS’ DAY!! THANK YOU FOR SERVING THIS WONDERFUL COUNTRY!

Breakfast- Skinnygirl bar, coffee, tea, and a banana
Lunch- leftover stir fry. YUM!
Dinner- ooh I’m hosting book club! On the menu is:

·         Organic cheeses from the farmer’s market, and wine

·         Pepperoni and cubed cheeses, and wine

·         Roasted squash, eggplant, tomatoes, onion, turnip, and carrots, and wine

·         Crock-pot honey mustard pork loin w garlic and onion, and wine

Dessert:  Cupcakes. And everything was a hit! Plus, leftovers for lunch!

Thursday November 12
Breakfast- Coffee and pumpkin yogurt
Lunch- Leftover roasted veggies and pork
Dinner- Out at Marly’s with my ‘little sister’ Suz!

Friday- Monday: Going off the grid to our log cabin in the mountains!

Less sugar, less buying lunches, less Diet Coke less fat, more sleep!