Thursday, January 26, 2012

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard..........1/26/2012

Since I did an inventory of all of our stored & canned goods and posted it last week, I thought that I better get the freezer inventory done as well. Here's what we have left.    

Baby Choi - (2) pkgs.
Blackberries - (1) lg. bag
Celery - (3) full pkgs. (2) partial pkgs.
Chard - (2) pkgs.
Corn - (2) pkgs.
Eggplant - (2) pkgs.
Leeks - (2) pkgs.
Peas, shelled - (5) pkgs.
Peas, purple podded - (4) pkgs.
Peas, snow - (8) pkgs.
Peppers, sweet - (8) pkgs.
Peppers, roasted sweet - (7) pkgs.
Pesto - (4) pkgs.
Strawberries - (2) 1 lb. pkgs.
Zucchini, fried slices - (2) pkgs.
Zucchini, sliced - (2) pkgs.

Scalloped Potatoes - (2) 1 1/2 lb. pkgs.
Zucchini Parm. - (1) 2 lb. pkg.

With what is left in the freezer along with the other stored goods and cold frame crops. I think that we will be good!      

Now onto some cooking from the cupboard this week. Sunday, Mark posted a Chicken & Lentil Soup recipe here. Boy, it looked good. So, I decided to make my own version. This is what I came up with.          

Chicken & Lentil Soup       

 Ingredients:    
  • Olive Oil
  • 1 Large onion - chopped
  • 2 small cloves of garlic - minced
  • 1 stalk celery - chopped
  • 1 ½ Carrots (the last of the carrots) - chopped
  • 1 Pint Tomatoes
  • ½ Cup White Wine
  • 5 Cups Chicken Stock
  • ½ tsp Paprika
  • White Pepper
  • Bay Leaf
  • Chicken - fresh diced or leftover diced
  • ½ lb. Lentils - I used these little black lentils that we had

Directions:
  1. Chop Celery, Carrots & Onions. Mince garlic
  2. In a large stockpot, saute onions in oil for a few minutes, add chicken & saute until onions are glossy. 
  3. Add Celery, Carrots, Garlic & Paprika and saute for about 10 more minutes
  4. Add wine and cook for about 2 minutes
  5. Stir in tomatoes, chicken stock, lentils, pepper & bay leaf
  6. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour or until the lentils are tender.
  7. You may add some salt if desired
  8. Serve and Enjoy!
I put a little grated Cheddar Cheese on my soup. You could also use Parmesan Cheese. "The Italian" ate his plain.

What's been going in or out of your Cupboard  lately???

24 comments:

  1. I too make a chicken & lentil soup using very similar ingredients although I put cumin, coriander & cinnamon in mine and quite often omit the chicken....hmm that would make it lentil soup really wouldn't it? Although I always use chicken stock....

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  2. That soup looks terrific! We've been eating steadily from the freezer. Last night was completely from the freezer, some ham from our piggie, frozen roasted winter squash, and frozen beans. Not my most inspiring meal, but manageable after a long day for both of us yesterday. That work thing takes up a lot of gardening and cooking time!

    I love the carrot project, I'll be following to see if it works!

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  3. I keep meaning to do a freezer inventory for myself, but never seem to get to it

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  4. Robin - nothing to post this week but your recipe sounds very good and I have all those ingredients.

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  5. Liz, Yes, that definitely makes it lentil soup! Maybe next time I make it I will add those seasonings...sounds great!

    Ali, It was great! I think it's amazing how much of what a lot of us cook comes straight from the garden!

    The carrot project will be interesting. I used my oldest seeds though. If they don't germinate, I will use some newer ones.

    Daphne, It's a real pain to do the freezer inventory. I totally forgot to add my chopped onions to the list!

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  6. Marcia, This was my first time making lentil soup. We were very pleased with it.

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  7. Lentil soup sounds good. We made pumpkin and chickpea soup last week. That's my post today for Thursday's cupboard.

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  8. Thanks Emily, Your soup sounds great! "The Italian" is allergic to chickpeas though :(

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  9. Looks like you guys are set until spring with all of your yet-to-be-eaten bounty!

    I need to stop reading your kitchen cupboard posts in the morning... you make me crave something more than eggs and coffee.

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  10. Love lentil soup, your soup looks delicious.
    My freezer is packed and I'm sure there are some old veggies in there that need to be tossed out (>"<)

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  11. Soup looks great. May have to add that to my list of weekly soups I made for weekend lunches for DB. I have a pretty good inventory of the freezers but do need to do the canned goods. I have boxes of them sitting in the basement. We are still eating green beans from the past summers stock.

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  12. I have never tried that before thanks for sharing!

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  13. The lentil soup looks great! I'm on a soup kick myself right now, so I'll have to give that one a try. I canned some butternut squash this week and used some to make butternut squash soup ... the recipe is on my blog : )

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  14. Even though things are dwindling, you have a wide assortment, nice! Pretty soon it'll be pea season again :)

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  15. Thanks Prairie Cat! I think that we are going to make it!

    Mac, I did some early spring cleaning and got rid of some really old stuff that I had in the freezer.

    Wilderness, Lentils are very good for you. Give it a try. It's always nice to have something different.

    MrsP, I never ate lentils until I married "The Italian" Those Italians just love their lentils!

    Deb, I think that we all get on a soup kick during the winter. Your recipe looked great!

    Erin, We do still have a good variety on hand. We didn't get many beans, broccoli or cauliflower last year. If I had those, it would be perfect! But, I'm not complaining one bit!

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  16. Looks like a yummy soup! It also sounds like you've got a nice freezer stock to get you through the rest of the winter. How many pea plants did you grow to get that many stocked away? I'd love to have a freezer supply of peas.

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  17. Thanks Julie, I have no idea how many peas I planted last year. I had a single row 25' long of shelling peas and about 15' of snow peas.

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  18. Maybe if we manage to grow celery this year we'll have some to freeze - we'll be happy though if we manage one head as it will be one more than we have ever managed before.

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  19. Sue, I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you two. Maybe you are giving it too much love & attention :) I start it inside early as it takes a long time to get growing. Then plant it out and ignore!!

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  20. It is gray and raining out, kind of day for soup. Between my freezer/fridge and pantry I have everything to put this soup together. Thanks for the recipe.

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  21. Norma, we are having the same weather here. It's definitely soup weather! Enjoy!

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  22. Your soup looks and sounds wonderful. My wife and I often take turns cooking and since I'm up perhaps I will have to try out your lentil dish.

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  23. MrH, It's nice to have a man in the house that does some cooking! Enjoy!

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  24. I have quite a bit of lentils in the pantry that need using up and this recipe sounds quite yummy! I was just evaluating our freezer inventories the other day and this is going to be one of those rare years where I am going to have items not used before new harvest items need to be put by. That means I have a freezer cleaning day ahead of me later this spring.

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