Zen Cucina

Back in the Kitchen

2009-11-03T17:28:00.001-08:00

I wrote my last blog post almost four months ago. I was doing so well there for a week or so -- blogging about my adventures of eating down the fridge.

I was then promptly called out of town on a business trip - quite possibly one of the most surreal experiences of my life - then went on vacation and never blogged again.

Now I've returned, at least for tonight. Not sure what drew me back to Zen Cucina, maybe it's the beef stew I have in the slow cooker (I don't eat beef, but since I will be out of town, again, on business, I wanted my husband to have a tasty meal for a couple of days). Or maybe it's the fact that we're moving in about a month, and I'm feeling the need to eat down the fridge again.

Actually, I'm feeling the need to discard, period. I've been donating and selling stuff like crazy. Today I gave a friend two pots and sold our entire china set on ebay. I want to live a minimalist life. I no longer want clutter around me.

Back to the fridge. I've been trying to keep our weekly grocery budget to about $50 a week (usually pretty easy, since on most days we eat vegetarian). I'm also on a no sugar-no flour kick, which means no ice cream.

But once again, we seem to have accumulated lots of food in our pantry and fridge. That can of pumpkin in the pantry from July? Still there. Same for the two bags of frozen cranberries. Am pondering whether I can use them for Thanksgiving, or if I should just toss them.

Tonight's stew was an effort to use some things up. I didn't use a recipe, it was more like stream of consciousness cooking. First I braised some beef in olive oil, put it in the slow cooker and added the following: beef stock, potatoes, turnips, celery, carrots, zucchini, onions and spices. It's like a beef-veg stew. I'll let it cook all night. We'll see how it goes.

EDF: Day Five

2009-06-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

We have really made a dent in the fridge and (admittedly small) pantry.

Eggs: Gone.

Tuna/Chicken/Tofu: Gone.

Sugar: Almost gone.

We have lots of oatmeal (of course) black beans, dried lentils and even a bag of frozen whitefish left. Also a $1 bag of limes I bought while in traffic last week (it's Miami, people sell fruit in the street). There's tons of pasta, maybe 10 or 12 boxes. The fresh veggies are down to a minimum (red and green bell pepper, onion, celery) but there's plenty of frozen.

I've discovered two cans of pumpkin and will be making pumpkin pancakes soon. Also found two bags of frozen whole cranberries in the fridge. I'm a little stumped about what to do with those -- I'd like to do something more creative than make cranberry quick bread.

I'm thinking I may actually be able to extend this EDF into next week; we are going on vacation July 3. Can we last that long?

I worked from home today, which gave me an excuse to make bread. I used a recipe from Ken Haedrich's Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family and adapted it to my breadmaker. It yielded some really tasty foccacia (which is now gone) and a loaf (almost gone). My husband loves bread. We enjoyed a tasty egg salad sandwich, along with the coleslaw, for lunch.

Dinner is simple: a sweet potato cooked in the crockpot (it's super hot here and much better to cook it in the crockpot than turn on the stove). To make a crockpot sweet potato, I pour a cup or so of water in the pot, then place a steamer inside, over the water. Then slice the sweet potato and turn the crockpot on high. In a couple of hours, it's finished. Top with butter and sour cream -- or plain nonfat yogurt, in my case.

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Another interesting food tidbit. Mark Bittman of the New York Times has listed a 10-ingredient shopping list. It's a list of 10 foods that yields a week's worth of dinners. I love this idea, especially now that my fridge is soon-to-be empty. Definitely worth looking into.

EDF: A revelation

2009-06-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to understand why I spend so much money on food.

Today, we ate perfectly healthy, perfectly tasty food. Breakfast was an egg sandwich with goat cheese and tomatoes. Lunch was leftover veggie-tofu couscous and some cabbage cole slaw that I had mixed up the night before. I had a banana muffin with my coffee at work.

For dinner, my husband made chicken thighs marinated with lemon, rosemary and garlic. We had a bit of plain brown rice and shared a sweet potato.

Yet all day, I felt a bit, well, restless. I wanted some variety. I realized that in doing EDF for four days, I haven't spent any money. None. Zilch. I haven't bought anything, anywhere. I haven't set foot in a store at all.

It's not like I would normally go and drop a few grand at the mall -- but I would go to the grocery store to buy food. Maybe plan a meal and go to Whole Foods to buy a few expensive, organic ingredients. Or go out to eat, just for something "different."

In de-cluttering my life of things, I seem to have swung the other way with food. Doing this Eating Down the Fridge challenge is an eye-opener: why do I accumulate and eat the food that I do? Is it always necessary? Is it because I'm bored?

Don't get me wrong; I'm not going to stop going out to eat or halt my fun and interesting kitchen experiments. But do I need to eat lunch and dinner and snacks out all weekend? Are there ways I can be creative with what I have, instead of just buying more and more stuff?

Do I need to buy the 2-4-1 cranberry juice when I don't even drink cranberry juice?

I have finally gotten around to the cranberry juice, BTW. I'm drinking it on the rocks, with a shot of limoncello.

EDF Day Three: Meatless, Mindful Monday

2009-06-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to realize that it's not difficult to eat what I have in the fridge -- we have plenty of yummy things in there -- but it is difficult to break myself of the habit of always eating out.

Breakfast, no problem. I made banana muffins last night and my husband ate those. I ate my trusty oatmeal with berries and maple syrup.

Lunch was challenging. I brought a Kashi frozen meal I had hanging around the freezer. Not a bad lunch, just not ... exciting. In the past, I've brought an unexciting lunch and then promptly went out and bought something else, leaving my lunch to languish in the work fridge. Today, I got that urge. The turkey artichoke sandwich at the Panera bread near my office called my name.

I resisted, thinking of how the sandwich -- and chips, who can forget the chips, the cookie and the lemonade -- cost nearly $10. Ten Dollars. Do I really need to spend that when I brought a perfectly good lunch? How much money do I spend eating out every week?

I ate my frozen meal.

That's a big part of this challenge for me: saving money. Thinking about how I consume mindlessly, while not considering/appreciating what I have in my own fridge, in my own life.

Dinner tonight was delish and comforting: couscous with italian-herbed tofu, fresh plum tomatoes, olives and feta cheese. (I was too hungry to take photos...)

Also, I'm loving all of the EDF posts today. Lots of great ideas out there, check out the EDF Facebook page and Twitter: #EDFsum.

EDF: The Pizza

2009-06-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

A great EDF day. Breakfast was a yummy egg sandwich with green onions, red pepper and feta. I had to work today and was late in getting home, so I was stressed about what I would make for dinner. Usually, at this point in the day, I am hungry, cranky and tired -- and all too willing to grab takeout or go out.

Tonight, however, my husband had a surprise for me: he made pizza dough!

He combined flour, water and an egg. No measuring ingredients. "Experience is involved," he said, mysteriously. I think that being Italian also has something to do with it.

He had made a sardine-infused tomato sauce for some pasta the other day, so he used that as the pizza sauce. Then topped the pizza with my favorite things (which we almost always have in our fridge): parmesan cheese and kalamata olives.

The result? Wow. Wow. The crust was thin, crackly and amazingly light. The chianti was excellent, too. A great start to the week.

EDF: Day One

2009-06-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Today's the start of the Eating Down the Fridge challenge. FAQ here at A Mighty Appetite.

I just finished a delicious bowl of oatmeal. Because it's Saturday, I would normally have time to bake or cook something interesting; today I have to work. I'm bringing some salad leftovers for lunch. Also have tofu marinating in Ume plum vinegar and Hoisin sauce for dinner. I'll post photos later!

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Dinner was oddly tasty. The tofu sat in the Ume-Hoisin mixture all day, which made the tofu a rosy shade. I pan fried it until it was a pleasant pink-brown color. Then I stir fried some onions and the bok choy, added the Ume liquid and some soy sauce. Thickened the mixture with water and a bit of cornstarch. I arranged everything over brown rice and paired it with a glass of Ruffino Chianti.

Eating Down The Fridge: Why?

2009-06-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

For about four years now, I've tried to organize my life. I'm happy to report that I've almost reached my goal. I've gotten rid of books, furniture, clothes, all sorts of unnecessary stuff. This month alone, I've shed two couches, two lamps and a TV. Last night I went through the remaining paperwork and threw out all but the crucial items. It felt great.

My reasons for doing this were many. My husband and I moved to a smaller place. Some of the things were broken, old, ugly. Other things harbored memories of past relationships that had soured. I only want things in my house that I love or are that are useful. I've given away clothes that didn't fit, were scratchy or, for some reason, just didn't feel good.

And you know what? In culling my possessions, I feel like my tiny, one-bedroom apartment is filled with wonderful things. I have more to wear now, even though I own about a third of the clothes that I once did. Everything is easier to clean. I feel peace when I'm at home.

I'm also more conscious about what I bring into my life. (Just ask my best friend Heather, who watched me agonize for 10 minutes at Target one night about whether I should buy a $3 colander). I don't want to accumulate stuff just to, well, accumulate. It's not good for the planet or my wallet.

This is all a long way of explaining why I am doing the Eating Down The Fridge challenge. Food is probably my biggest monthly expense, both in grocery shopping and eating out. (Eating out is another thing that's not good for my wallet -- or my waistline).

We have a small kitchen but that hasn't stopped me from stocking up on useless items (2-for-1 cranberry juice! Cans of pumpkin! Frozen okra!) that seem to languish on shelves in the fridge and pantry.

In not grocery shopping for a week (maybe two), I can try to achieve organization and mindfulness in the kitchen, just as I've tried in the rest of the house.

Leftovers: It's What's For Dinner.

2009-06-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Even when it's 90 degrees and humid (which it is pretty much every day here in Miami), I crave a hot breakfast. Oatmeal topped with real maple syrup and fresh fruit is one of my all-time favorite foods. My husband Marco, who is from Italy and did not originally even eat breakfast when I met him, now loves the oatmeal in the morning, too. I credit oatmeal with everything from losing weight (20 pounds since last September) to keeping me full until the afternoon.

Also today, my husband and I enjoyed the rare treat of eating lunch together; I had the day off, so we went here and had delicious panini sandwiches with real bufala mozzarella from Campania, Italy. I'll bring my camera next time!

Now, for dinner. The EDF challenge starts in two days, but tonight we're eating leftovers. A friend gave me some bok choy, and I wanted to use it before it went bad. I made this recipe from Guy Fieri and we've got a giant bowl of it in the fridge. Lots of chopping, but very delicious.

Eating Down The Fridge

2009-06-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've been intrigued by two things lately: starting a blog and reading about folks who are trying to "eat down the fridge." (EDF, for the sake of ease).

EDF started when Steven Shaw of eGullet took a break from grocery shopping, instead using what he had stored in his fridge and pantry. Then, the wonderful Washington Post blogger Kim O'Donnel of A Mighty Appetite, hosted an EDF challenge of her own back in February.

Starting June 20, A Mighty Appetite is beginning another week-long EDF challenge. The goal is to do zero food shopping for seven days. A list of the participants is here. Why not do it, I thought.

And why not blog about it?

So, here goes.