Throw Everything In a Pot Days: Corn, Black Eyed Peas, and more
Food waste is something that drives me absolutely insane.
One of my resolutions for the year is to get better about not doing that. I’m horrible – HORRIBLE- about buying groceries for a recipe and then letting the rest of the items go to waste after the dinner has been cooked once.
This is not the fault of my parents by far, we grew up on carefully planned meals budgeted out to the T. In fact, it was one of the ways my mother taught me to read: by making weekly grocery and menu lists, and allowing me to make my own.
The cool thing about the way things go today is now we have apps and online grocery shopping so that we can make these lists and then cost compare through these websites. I typically find that Kroger is my best bet, even when comparing to SAM’s, because I don’t use large quantities for one but also breaking it down to the cost per ounce (or whatever) Kroger is still cheaper.
So cool, got that going. But there’s still times when I end up with a random assortment of items in the fridge or pantry, even though with my master list I try to maximize each item I buy. (Like using one pack of frozen chicken for two meals, but I might still have one breast leftover.)
Sundays tend to be the days of random cooking, because that’s also when I go grocery shopping.
I got home from the gym today starving, and not wanting to just eat random junk I thought I would throw a bunch of things into a skillet. Usually it’s the Crock Pot, but I didn’t have that kind of time.
Looking into the fridge, I laid eyes on two kinds of salsa, leftover black-eyed peas, and a bag of half used kale.
Looking into the pantry, I pulled out a can of corn.
I put them all into the skillet, added a couple of cups of water (And added more as it cooked). Then I added long brown rice, some chia seeds (also kind of just sitting around), taco seasoning (also half used) and to add a little bit of sweet I threw in a pinch of tandoori seasoning.
It had to cook for around 45 minutes, with some stirring here and there, but once it was finished I was quite happy.
No, I don’t have measurements for everything I put in. I just kind of throw things together, taste it, and see if it needs more. I did have to keep adding water for the rice, but I figured that would happen.
I should also give credit to Saralyn for giving me the courage and inspiration to get better about not wasting food- that lady is the QUEEN of it. Her veggie soup when we visited for kumquat marmalade day was awesome.
In hindsight, I maybe wouldn’t have added the tandoori- but it seemed like a decent idea at the time. I’ll still eat this, though 🙂 It didn’t make it inedible! And it would have been good if I had some leftover meats to add, chicken or even ground beef. This was basically just a version of taco fillings. I could have even added eggs for a breakfast twist. I might still do that, actually, tomorrow morning.
Do you ever do things like this? What’s your favorite things to throw together?
Love to all y’all,
Molly
