One interesting thing about this Madeline Island challenge has been re-thinking the way we shop, the pantry we keep. I like a deep pantry, and Melli’s more of a “use it up” girl. We’re learning how to split the difference, making sure we don’t stock so high that things start spoiling (since nuts and oils and whole grain flours *do* spoil, after all), and that we don’t stock things we aren’t sure we’ll use. Don’t count them as staples until we’re buying them every week, in other words.
White Wheat bread flour, AP flour (all other flours in small quantities as needed)
Cornmeal
Brown sugar, white sugar
Basmati rice, Brown rice (all other rices in small quantities)
Pasta — by the dozen, including orzo and tiny ones for soup
Canned whole tomatoes (in #10 cans)
Canned black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans
Chunk TVP
Shredded mozzarella cheese (freezer)
Of course, this doesn’t include things like oils, vinegars, spices and such. But with eggs/milk/cheese, it’s the basis for most of our cooking throughout the week.
Which brings me to “special items.” A little more than a week ago, we were planning two dinner parties, and we didn’t want to veer too far off our challenge for them. The first wasn’t too difficult: a pasta party for my roller derby league, a pre-bout carb loading session. I agreed to provide spaghetti and sauce, and put the girls in charge of bringing salads and snacks. Though I can usually count on roller girls to drink their weight in beer, the night before a bout is pretty tame.
The second party was a bit more challenging: we were having a group of girlfriends over for a much-delayed annual wine and appetizers thing, and I was a little worried it might be lame if I had to stick to our “island” rules.
So I made a list of things we had on hand, and started browsing around Smitten Kitchen for ideas. I’m a little embarrassed to say I made nearly everything for the party from sk.
- I’d already planned to make the jam tart with some of the raspberry-pluot jam we’d canned last summer (sans top crust)
- We made the carrot salad w/ harissa, feta and mint, with harissa we’d made last summer;
- And the smashed chickpea salad – as a salad, but I can’t wait to try it as a sandwich filling;
- And finally got around to trying the spelt crackers that I’d had bookmarked for the longest time. They were SO easy, thin and crispy and light, with a variety of seeds and sea salt on top. I’d like to say I won’t ever buy crackers again, but I know that’s overambitious. But they were super cheap to make, and not hard at all.
- I love the onion tart w/ mustard & fennel, but I’m lazy and make it on my standard pizza dough, albeit with a bit more oil.
The hardest part was sticking to recipes that really made the most of what we had on hand, but it was so worth it — no big shopping trip to prep for the party, and all the recipes are things I’ll make again, because they don’t call for too many ingredients I don’t already keep on hand.
We’re starting in on week three of this challenge now, and at this point we’re thinking of doing it for another month. I’m not sure we’ll learn nearly enough from just a month, and it’s already inspiring me to cook in a different way, even when we have people over.
