Healthy Soups, Inebriated Monks

The battle for healthy healthier meals and the war against our pantry excess continues!



Thursday night I put together most of the leftover carrots and potatoes along with the remaining turkey stock from Canadian Thanksgiving to make this potato kale soup. I cooked some garlic and onion with carrots, potato, and dried thyme before adding the turkey stock and finally the kale.

On Friday we returned to our normal routine whereby I come home and must rush to prepare dinner before Jen returns to work. For Friday the plan was to use up the sardines and pizza sauce in the pantry. I chose to do this in the form of pizza. Unfortunately this meant I needed to buy additional ingredients but, I figured, as long as I don't have any leftover after the recipe I could break even.



I tried to completely cook the pizza before I left to pick up Jen at the train station. This was a little risky as this meant I had to be done precisely at 8:50 PM to be able to get there by 8:54 PM. The pizza was done at 8:50 PM but it did not have the brownness on the cheese that I would have liked to see. That is when I took the pizza and put it underneath in the broiler to brown it up quickly so I could still get to the train on time.



You can't really tell by this photo but the result was that it was a little too close to the broiler which wound up scraping off a top layer of cheese and burning the crust. Not my finest pizza moment. On the plus side the pizza was delicious once I cut off the small burnt pieces of crust and reapplied the melted cheese.



For beer I had the Merry Monks from Weyerbacher. Unfortunately Weyerbacher tricked me by not putting on the bottle that this was 9.3% alcohol. Had I known that I would not have made this my second beer of the evening. Once I discovered the alcohol content I extended it over two hours and I was able to not feel the effects.

No I understand why they interpret the monks as being merry. I think they were more sozzled than merry.

Inventory Update

Freezer

• ground beef
  
• chopped turkey from Canadian Thanksgiving
  
• flour tortillas
  
• coconut cookies
  
• macaroni & cheese from Canadian Thanksgiving
  
• turkey stock from Canadian Thanksgiving
  
• turkey stock from American Thanksgiving
  
• part of a baguette
  
• lemon bread
  
• Antiguan run fruitcake
  
• cranberry bread
  
• fudge
  
• Japanese noodles
  
• buttermilk bread
  
• stuffing from Canadian Thanksgiving
  
• bacon
  
• oxtail
  
• homemade bread crumbs
  
• edamame
  
• turkey curry
  
• rye bagel
  
• shortbread cookies
  
• puff pastry dough
  

Pantry

• pumpernickel bread
  
• panko
  
• cellophane noodles
  
• raisins
  
• dried cherries
  
• dried cranberries
  
• dried apricots
  
• dried chilies
  
• garbanzo beans
  
• canellini beans
  
• sardines
  
• anchovies
  
• sesame seeds
  
• cashews
  
• pistachios
  
• shredded coconut
  
• walnuts
  
• pecans
  
• semolina flour
  
• goldenberries
  
• forbidden rice
  
• candied cherries
  
• powdered dried porcini
  
• couscous
  
• Jamaican jerk sauce
  
• Jamaican rum cakes
  
• Jamaican hot sauce
  
• nori
  
• quinoa
  
• sherry vinegar
  
• purple basil vinegar
  
• red wine vinegar
  
• apple cider vinegar
  
• champagne vinegar
  
• rice
  
• assored dried pastas
  
• lasagna noodles
  
• tomato paste
  
• balsamic dressing/marinade
  
• relish
  
• chopped clams
  
• clam juice
  
• piccalilli
  
• fajita sauce
  
• cherry jellies for barbecue
  
• canned pumpkin
  
• pasta sauce
  
• croutons
  
• assorted flours for making brown bread
  
• pickled beets
  
• seafood stock
  
• beef stock
  
• basil pesto
  
• jarred roasted tomatoes
  
• smoked salmon
  
• stuffed olives
  
• Grand Marnier mustard
  
• Coco Haze spread
  
• twelve jars of grapefruit marmalade
  
• black cherry marmalade
  
• fancy plum jam
  
• Captain Redbeard's hot sauce
  
• salted lime cashews
  

Fridge

• eggs
  
• korma sauce
  
• sauerkraut
  
• dates
  
• shallots
  
• miso paste
  
• cranberries
  
• pickled beets (made by Jen's dad)
  
• white sweet potato
  
• potatoes
  
• carrots
  
• celery
  
• heavy cream
  
• cream cheese
  
• goat cheese
  
• cocktail sauce
  
• red pepper tapenade
  
• sauces, marinades, and condiments too numerous to list
  
• a million assorted beers