Our last full day of the Cupboard Cleanout (we've still got breakfast and lunch on Day 8 to get us back to where we started). Things got a little tougher as our cupboards got emptier.
We were pretty much out of proteins at this point, save for some frozen breakfast sausage links and a couple of ice-covered chicken thighs of questionable provenance. So Day 7 turned out to be a largely vegetarian day.
Lunch was good: stewed chickpeas, black beans and tomatoes served over a bed of bulgur wheat. We added some smoky spice with a couple chiles in adobo.
Dinner was a highlight: We took a big bag of frozen squash and zucchini from our CSA last summer, a couple jars of our home canned tomatoes, an onion and a block of frozen basil, and cooked it all down in a Dutch oven until it was nicely sautéed. Then we topped it with a sheet of puff pastry and baked it for about 25 minutes. Voilà -- a tasty vegetable pot pie!
But the best part of Day 7 was the afternoon treat we made for ourselves: Oatmeal cookies. We didn't have any raisins, so we chopped up some prunes. Hot from the oven and scented with cinnamon and vanilla, these cookies made the Cupboard Cleanout seem like a breeze!
Cupboard Items Used: Oatmeal, chia seeds, honey
Degree of Difficulty: 1 out of 10
Verdict: Good. We going to continue tossing a handful of chia seeds into our morning oatmeal until we get rid of them. (Our omega-3 fatty acids are gonna be off the charts!)
Day 7 Second Breakfast (Don't Judge!): Reheated Wild Rice with Turkey Sausage
Cupboard Items Used: The last of the rice and sausage leftovers from Day 5
Degree of Difficulty: 0 out of 10
Verdict: We ate the oatmeal about 8 a.m., and, well, we were hungry again by 10:30. So we microwaved the remainder of the wild rice and sausage. It did the trick.
Day 7 Lunch: Bulgur Wheat with Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Black Beans
Cupboard Items Used: Some bulgur, 1 can chickpeas, 1 can black beans, 2 pint jars of tomatoes, 2 minced chiles in adobo
Degree of Difficulty: 2 out of 10
Verdict: Smoky, spicy and warm, this was a very comforting lunch. We were a little unsure about mixing the chickpeas and black beans, but they tasted good together. Frankly, we probably would have enjoyed this just as much without the bed of bulgur wheat, but this was a good way to use some of that up.
Day 7 Snack: Oatmeal Cookies with Prunes
Cupboard Items Used: Almost all the rest of our instant oatmeal, a quarter of a package of prunes
Degree of Difficulty: 2 out of 10
Verdict: Mmmmmm!
Day 7 Dinner: Vegetable Pot Pie with Squash, Zucchini and Tomatoes
Cupboard Items Used: Bag of frozen squash and zucchini, 1 onion, 3 pint jars of tomatoes, a cube of frozen basil, the last of some fresh thyme that was languishing in the crisper, 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
Degree of Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Verdict: Really good. The combo of the squash and tomatoes -- and the basil we threw in -- reminded us of summer. It was a very good little pot pie.
Nineteen meals down, two more to go.....
