Pantry Dinner & Kitchen Resolutions Put to the Test!

So, it was bound to happen -- we came home tonight with nothing on the meal plan to suit a quick Tuesday night meal, and not much in the pantry. So many things from the meal plan had to get refiled into February because I didn't have the ingredients, and the situation looked a little impossible. Silly me. I felt like I had nothing, but I pushed myself to be patient and think, not just reach for the takeout telephone. The shelves were low but not empty, and surely if I were actually poor or starving I would be amazed at the variety despite its eclecticism.

I had everything I needed, I just needed to put the picture together. Here's what I came up with: italian chicken with leeks (running low on spices, had to tap the stockpile there, and the leeks were a random little baggie my girl pulled out of the freezer when she was playing), sauteed spinach (which I'd meant to use in a different dish that I then could not make due to lack of shopping), whole wheat pasta (half a box left over from some other meal, which had fallen down back behind things), sorta-alfredo sauce, and mashed potatoes. The chicken had to be defrosted in the microwave (ugh...but it was frozen solid despite sitting in the fridge for 24 hours), and the alfredo sauce was made with fontina and brie instead of parmesan, and the mashed potatoes were the rest of the free box of instant potatoes I opened earlier in the week. When it was all assembled, DH was impressed that we'd gone from "nothing" to filling every pan on the stove.

While I finished up, I also sent him down on a delayed errand to dig supplies out of the deep freeze for me, and he came up with a bunch of different veggies. Now I have a plan for tomorrow, and a very short shopping list (just milk) for tomorrow.