Creative cooking

I mentioned in my Menu Monday post that I am embarking on a little challenge of sorts. You can read more about it here. In short, I will be purchasing very little this month and therefore will be challenging myself to create interesting meals from what I have on hand.

Last night I made homemade eggrolls and fried rice. I had the eggroll wrappers in the freezer and used about half of the package, returning the rest to the freezer for another meal. The day before, I had baked coconut and pineapple cream pies which left me with six egg whites and about half a can of crushed pineapple and the juice. I used the egg whites in the fried rice and the pineapple to make homemade sweet and sour sauce. It was a delicious meal, albeit a messy one, and there were enough leftovers for our lunches today.

Tonight I am making an Indian vegetable curry-type dish and serving it over brown rice. I had a couple of whole wheat pitas in the freezer which I’ll toast to go alongside, although I’m planning to learn how to make naan bread sometime this month. I’ll also serve yogurt, raisins and coconut as condiments for our curry.

I’ve got the vegetables simmering right now and it smells heavenly. I used:

• red potatoes
• onion
• carrots
• bell pepper
• garlic
• green beans 
• corn

…which I started cooking in a little coconut oil. I then mixed the following and added it to the veggies:

• 3/4 cup “chicken broth” (made with water and a “Not Chickn” cube)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (from freezer)
• cinnamon
• ginger
• cumin
• Creole seasoning
• black pepper
• paprika
• curry powder
• a little organic sugar

Okay, we’ve now eaten and it was quite delicious, if I do say so myself. We each had a “Cutie” with our dinner, too. We had enough leftovers for lunches tomorrow which makes the guys happy. They get tired of sandwiches and prefer leftovers.

Check back often this month as I share my adventures in “cooking without shopping”.