Empty the Storecupboard Challenge 2016: Week 8
We’re now in the eighth week of the 2016 Empty the Storecupboard Challenge, and I’m feeling really good about the progress so far. In particular, we’ve mainly been concentrating on having healthy food, as Beau hasn’t been well and is recovering from surgery. Eat better, get better faster and all that.
The first meal (see above) used up about 200g of dried quinoa. I cooked it up with soya beans, lemon juice and herbs, and served it as a side dish with poached salmon and steamed sprouting broccoli. As you can probably imagine, 200g of dried quinoa meant we had plenty of leftovers.
The leftover quinoa got turned into a healthy-ish version of bubble and squeak (pictured above), and I added a large handful of rice flakes from the storecupboard to help bind the mixture, along with a load of chopped rosemary and some salt and pepper. Then I shaped up some patties and rolled them in another load of rice flakes before shallow frying them in a few drops of oil.
They crisped up really well and stayed fluffy in the middle, so they were a big hit for dinner that evening, served with grilled sausages and mixed vegetables.
I also used up about 30g more of the cinnamon flax seed powder in some protein shakes (shown above), along with one mango, two pears, 100ml almond milk, 250g soya yogurt, and a few drops of vanilla extract. It made enough for four shakes, and I figured it would do Beau some good as well as being really, really delicious.
For the last storecupboard meal of the week I used up another 100g of the brown rice and two more portions of Chinese curry sauce. That needed a large handful of defrosted prawns and some stir fry vegetables adding to it to turn it into the meal in the photo above.
Not a bad week for storecupboard meals, all things considered. Next week I’ll try to use up some more cous cous, some more of the rice crumbs, and maybe that jar of mincemeat that seems to have been hanging around for an eternity. I’m not a fan of mince pies, so it’ll have to be something else – any ideas?
Are you making any storecupboard meals this week? What are you cooking, and are you trying to keep any of it healthy?
Dear Penny,
To use properly the jar of mince meat (mixture of dried fruits and nuts), pls follow this simple recipe of bread pudding (1 whole or some individuals)
Ingredients : Some leftover dry bread, the drier the better, some soya milk, 1 can of unsweetened condensed milk, some brown sugar, 2 eggs, some cinnamon and flax seeds
1/ break the bread into small pieces and pour the soya milk over it just to soak the break (not too much, not too little)
2/ When the bread had absorb all the milk, pour the unsweetened condensed milk, 2 beaten eggs, cinnamon and flax seeds and the mince meat (as per your convenience), plus some sugar if not sweet. beat well until mixed.
3/ Do a caramel and pour it in a greasing pan or pie plate. Let it cool to fix it. Pour over the mixture and cook it in a bain marie (or water-bath) in the oven.
4/ Check with the blade of a knife. It is cook when the blade of a knife is dry.
5/ Enjoy and let me know.
Love, pat
Make a cheats fruitcake with the mincemeat! Plain sponge mix, maybe add some cinnamon, nutmeg etc then a jar of mincemeat and some chopped/grated apple works really well!
Hi Patricia and Millie – these are both excellent ideas, thank you. I’m definitely going to have to do something to make the mincemeat less sweet, maybe by adding some other fruit to it. There’s probably enough to do two or three different recipes…
Thanks,
Penny x
Love the idea behind the challenge, but I’m not too sure what I might find in the back of our cupboards.