Condiments - so many condiments

I'm not as bad as Sean.  He needs a separate small fridge for just his condiments.  He can barely get any real food into the fridge, it's ridiculous!

I need ideas on how to use my condiments - I know there are ones that you just always have to have available like - like - like what?

My fridge door

What can I make with all this?

Jam:  strawberry, raspberry, vanilla rhubarb, fig, apple butter
Syrup: strawberry
Chutney: apple nut
Preserved lemon puree (this is a staple to always have)
Tomato:  powder, sun dried in oil, dehydrated not in oil
Dulche de leche sauce
Hot sauce
Hot pepper relish
Zucchini relish
PIckles:  Dilly beans, zucchini, bread and butter, cornichon
Ginger
Lemon, lime, key lime juice
Ketchup
Dijon mustard - 2 kinds
Mayo
Rhubarb Vodka
Fish sauce
Horseradish
Worcestershire sauce
Siracha
Curry paste
Hoisin
Pickled green peppercorns
Capers
Anchovies
Almond oil (bought to make homemade bath scrub)

Peach Vinegar

Sean also has peach vinegar and loves it - I don't know what he is using it for since I only make vinaigrette with it.

I need ideas!

Eating from the Pantry

Over the years, I have tried to make a menu plan at the beginning of the week.  As the kids got older, they would help out with the plan and choose a dish each to make.  This weekly menu plan is purely dependent on my mood on Sunday.  Sometimes it would get done and it made the week so much easier, knowing what I was going to cook.  More often than not, no menu plan.

Emma will be 16 in a couple of months and we have discussed having her learn a few dishes to cook She has no interest in cooking so I have never pressed it.  She's very good at baking but needs some skills in the cooking department.  So I have decided to try and resurrect the menu planning.

Grains, spices, vinegar, mom's honey

What would your basic dishes be that I can teach Emma to cook?

Upstairs Freezer.  Yes, Gifford's from Maine, Grape Nut ice cream.  The BEST.

Today, Sean and I took an inventory of the upstairs and downstairs freezers and what I have on the basement shelves.  I need to start cooking from my stores.

 Basement Freezer

Canned goods

1.  Roast chicken - a must

what else?

Here is my inventory list - this doesn't count the pantry - I have all kinds of beans and grains and rice.

What would you make from this list?

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Freezer inventory - Upstairs

Parm cheese
Rye flour
Cornmeal
Almond meal
Malt powder
Graham cracker crumbs
Toffee bits
Dried figs
Walnuts
Pecans
Pinenuts
Bread crumbs
Sweet dough
Sweet potato fries
French fries
Veggie burgers
Turkey burgers
Hamburger Buns
Buttermilk rolls
Turkey meat
Pork sausage links
Vegetable wontons
Veggie sausage
Pork and celery dumplings
Chicken breast - 1
Blueberries
Bananas
Cranberries
Blackberries
Watermelon
Strawberries
Coffee
Butter - 2
Argula pesto - with and without cheese
Basil with oil
Tomato puree cubes
Crushed tomato - 1 pint bag
Peas
Corn
Edamame
Ravioli

Basement Shelves

Sweet potatoes

Shallots

Garlic

Blackberry jam

Zucchini relish

Pizza sauce

Crushed tomatoes

Zucchini pickles

Green tomato salsa

Dilly beans

Rhubarb grapefruit marmalade

Strawberry jam

Strawberry syrup

Fig jam

Rhubarb vanilla jam

Chutney

Basement Freezer

Pecans – 2

Butter – 4

Whole wheat flour

Crushed tomatoes – 7 pints

Crushed tomatoes – 2 quarts

Crushed tomatoes – 10 pint bags

Tomato cubes – 3 bags

Cranberries – 1

Chicken stock – 2 quarts

Hot dog buns

Green beans – 7

Tomatillos – 1

Edamame

Hot peppers – 1 gal

Plum tomatoes – 1 gal

Puree sweet potatoes

Bacon

Pork loin roast – 7

Fresh pork ham roast – 8

Chicken breasts

Shrimp

2 whole chickens

Ground pork – 7

Bulk sausage – 5

Pork spare ribs - 2

Sausage links - 4

Strawberries – 3 gals

Blackberries – 1 gal

Sour cherries – 1 gal

Peaches – 7 pkgs

Freezer Woes

It's that time of year again. Time to buy my 1/2 hog from Farmer Allan.  Or in this case, this year it's only 1/4 hog.  1/4 hog this year is weighing in at 70lbs of meat and I still have pork leftover from last year.

There is no room in my freezer for 70 lbs of pork!  Luckily, Sean is going to share with me and hopefully another friend will buy some pieces so maybe I'll have 30-40 lbs to store.

Sean helped to take inventory today.  I need help thinking of menus to use this food over the next 6 months!  If you read this blog, you MUST send me an idea or two.  With all this food in the freezer, I'm also thinking I should invest in a small generator, just in case.

My freezer!

Freezer door

Counting

Inventory - this is just from the downstairs freezer.  This doesn't count the upstairs freezer, nor the pickles, shallots, garlic, sweet potatoes, squash and potatoes I have in storage!

blackberries
peaches
bacon
chard
ham steaks
tomato puree
crushed tomatoes
plum tomatoes
rhubarb
shredded zucchini
green beans
beets
tomatillos
hot peppers
sliced apples
blueberries
mizuna
strawberries
carrots
4 whole chickens
sausage
pork chops
tilapia
pumpkin foccacia
naan
toffee bits
coffee
pecans
butter
bread flour
vegetable soup base
chicken soup base
roasted red pepper soup base
dried hot peppers

What's left on the canning shelf

I don't have that much left of pickles and jams and such

There's 2 jars of hot sauce, 1 pickled banana pepper, 3 canned beets, 2 strawberry jam, 1 dill pickle, 2 dilly beans and 1 asian style pickle.

The question is what do I do with all that hot sauce?  I don't use hot sauce - it's not that I don't like spicy food but it's not the go-to condiment for my cooking.  I still have 1 gallon bag of hot peppers in the freezer, not idea what to do with that.  Maybe I'll try to dehydrate them and then grind them up into pepper flakes.

I'm thinking ahead of what to try and pickle/can this summer.  I don't think I'll can beets but just pickles them this year.  Definitely more bread and butter pickles and maybe another kind of dill.  The dilly beans were good.  Maybe a zucchini relish or cucumber relish.

What is everyone's favorite kind of pickle?

My freezer

The Dark Days Challenge starts tomorrow so I thought I would take an inventory of my freezer.

Upstairs Freezer

Not Local: Vegetarian sausage, Turkey burgers, hamburger buns, shrimp, chicken breasts, cranberries, kiwi, corn, cupcakes, a bottle of grappa

Local: Strawberries, blueberries, dehydrated peaches

My garden: Plum tomatoes, arugula pesto (ok the oil and nuts to make it aren't local), parsley, basil pesto, winter squash, peas, snow peas, hot peppers, rhubarb, roasted tomato puree

Downstairs freezer

Not Local: Tilapia, coffee, toffee chips, girl scout cookies, hot dog rolls, unsalted butter, clam base, roasted red pepper base, tortillas, cranberries, flounder, english muffins, bagels, naan, chicken legs, puff pastry shells, chicken breasts, mozzarella.

Local: apples, sour cherries, strawberries, pork butt, pork chops, ham steak

My garden: hot peppers, plum tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, tomato puree, green beans, shredded zucchini

Canned

beets, pickled beets, zucchini pickles, bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, dilly beans, honey carrots, strawberry jam, asian pickles.


Other local ingredients I get

Eggs, milk, cider, salted butter.

My garden is still producing carrots, parsnips, mustard greens, kale, chard, arugula, lettuce.

What should my first local meal be to make?