use it up!

Since my last day ever at BU is a week from tomorrow (!) one of the MANY things on my mind is cleaning out my fridge/pantry.

One thing I did was a great big one pot meal.

In cold, horrible weather, is there ANYTHING better than chili? Methinks not.

Clean out the Fridge Veggie Chili

The veg:

Heated 1 T or so vegetable/canola/whatever oil in a big pot. Added one bell pepper, chopped, 1/2 a white onion, chopped; a last wedge of red onion, chopped. Let cook til soft.

Then added last of some hot pepper, minced, and 2 cloves garlic, minced.

Then some flavorin’s: 1 tablespoon tomato paste, about 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.

Then my pantry guys:

I soaked my last 1/2 cup dried black beans in water overnight. Then this morning I added 1/4 cup barley and more water and let them soak all day. Added those.

Also  added about 1 1/4 cup diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1 1/2 cups or so veggie stock, and another 2 1/2 cups or so of water (seems like a lot but add it or your beans will burn! Those suckers soak up liquid!).

Lookit all the pretty colors!

Bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or so, or until everything is tender and combined to your liking.

LOOK AT ALL THE CONTAINERS I USED UP!

(The plastic one represents veggie stock. I make mine homemade!). There is something so noble feeling about using up containers!

Aaaand yeah it tasted pretty dang good:

The flavor balance was spot on with the cinnamon adding a nice je ne sais quoi. And the TEXTURE was super fabulous- I loved the occasional chew of barley and the bigger pieces of chickpea.

With Akmaks for dippage and HOT MELTY CHEESE ON TOP!

And you know I used that up too :D

Also, I’ve made a particular effort to clean out my freezer. My freezer had apparently accumulated some salmon. Lately every time I make anything involving salmon I get this stuck in my head. It is dangerously catchy!

 

My appetizer was miso soup. I still have a whoooooooooooooole lotta miso to use up. A lotttttttttt. Anyone got any great miso ideas?

This also had dried mushrooms (almost done!) and scallions (almost done!). And, lest you thing that my singleminded obsession is using up ingredients, I will also point out that it tasted good :D

Ze sushi:

Still had one last sheet of nori from the Asian food grocer shipment!

Filled it with brown rice sushi rice, same recipe as last time, using just 1/3 cup rice (finished that off!). Rolls were either smoked salmon (all done!) and mango (ditto!) and, a few of the pieces, just for kicks, green onion. I’m telling you, not to toot my own horn, but I was kind of brilliant coming up with the salmon/mango combo. It is mighty tasty.

And, ideal for finals stress: burger and fries.

Salmon burger on a TJ’s english muffin with Sriracha and butternut fries. Fabulous!