Use it or Lose It Challenge March 2012

[HeatherFeather]

Here is my list - I might change out a few things after I go through my stuff one more time.

1. Florida Sunshine blend (a salt grinder citrus herb blend)
2. jar of gourmet sweet potato jam/filling my kid got me as a gift
3. cardamom pods
4. dried lavender
5. Mrs Dash (I have almost every flavor - need to use more than the basic one)
6. Miracle Whip Lite (need to use up, half empty, bought by mistake)
7. 1/2 bottle miso marinade
8. orange ginger dressing
9. Everglades seasoning (Florida blend I bought and never tried)
10. Tuscan herb seasoning blend (bought at gourmet spice shop, still haven't tried)

Ack - illness and schedule changes meant not one item got used last week Hope to get some of this worked on this week.

[racrgal]

Update


1) Dried tomato and garlic pesto mix. I think this was in a gift basket. I mixed this with the sour cream and stirred into mashed potatoes. Killed two birds with one stone.
2) Southwestern Chipotle Seasoning Blend. A Tupperware freebie. Mixed about half the seasoning with flour and used on chicken strips. Tasty but not good enough to buy the mix.
3) Knorr chicken Noodle Soup Mix. Pretty sure Sweetie bought this. Cook this for lunch on Thursday. Pretty good for a premade soup. It wasn't overly salty like the canned chicken noodle soup. Didn't find any chicken but didn't expect to in a dried soup.
4) A cup of sour cream. Used in mashed potatoes
5) Enchilada sauce. Another mystery food. I make enchilada sauce.
6) 1/2 jar marshmallow fluff. Almost gone. Ate on baked yams.
7) 1 5 ounce can spicy v-8 juice.
8) Jalapeno jelly. Homemade but too much of it.
9) Balsamic Berry Grilling Sauce. I think Sweetie "acquired" this one too. Opened, tasted and poured down the drain. It wasn't expired but it tasted awful BLECH!
10) Misc. liquors. Most purchased for recipes but some from sources unknown. Used raspberry vodka, Irish cream and Kahlua in an Irish Raspberry Martini. Good stuff!!
Did pretty good with the list this week.

[HeatherFeather]

Oh no - I have balsamic grilling sauce too!!! Or some kind of balsamic sauce anyway. It was the taste tester lady! Mine doesn't have any raspberry flavor in it though. I blame the taste tester table! /hides

I haven't touched mine yet either.

[racrgal]

Heather, the balsamic raspberry was not a nice mixture for me. It was so thin I'm not sure brushing it on would have worked. A bit like brushing on water and expecting it to stay. I think all I would have ended up with would have been a yukky piece of chicken and a mess on the grill. Might have been able to use it for a marinade but it didn't sample well enough to even try. There is a reason I try not to let Sweetie go to the market alone.

[HeatherFeather]

I started off this week well - I remembered to use some of the Tuscan herb seasoning when I threw together a quiche last night for dinner. Cleaned up a lot of leftovers and used my herb blend all in one meal The blend was delicious.

[Kchurchill5]

I plan to use my pkg'd chicken gravy, instead I used my herb beef gravy on salisbury steak. It was delish. I sauteed mushrooms and added it to it.

I was also trying to eat light. So, I lightened up my zucchini and rice casserole by using egg beaters, low fat cheese and cottage cheese instead of sour cream which had to be used.

I also used whole breadcrumbs from the freezer, also had to use. The salisbury, I used a small container of 2% milk, more whole wheat bread, also some frozen (seasoning blend; a mix of onion peppers and celery), and more egg beaters.

So, I was happy. I used up a a lot, but only the gravy was on this list. But it was a nice way to really use up a bunch of items.

[Engrossed]

I haven't taken the time to make a complete list, but I have had this challenge in the back on my mind and have tagged and made some recipes using some of the things listed for this challenge that I had on hand. So this is a bit backwards but so far I have:

1) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/lindas ... nger-rolls (used some light mayo and green olives)

2) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/poutin ... d-potatoes (used up my beef bouillon cubes and lite string cheese)

3) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/tipsy-chicken (used some dry sherry and honey)

4) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/hambur ... -crock-pot (used up my onion powder and beef bouillon granules)

5) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/raspberry-granola made today...it's cooling now. This smelled incredible...like I'd like to smear it on my body but then I'd be all sticky so I'd settle for a candle with this scent. (used up a 2008 jar of raspberry preserves which still tasted good, coconut oil, honey and toasted blueberry flaxseed that is soon to expire)

6) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/dawns-ranch-dip going to make this tag soon. (uses an old packet of dry ranch mix, cottage cheese, sour cream and mayo)

7) http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/potpourri-simmer-pot going to make this tag soon. (uses lots of things moldering in my spice cabinet: cinnamon sticks, cinnamon bark, whole cloves, vanilla and fenugreek which I think I only have ground but have never used it and have been meaning too. Got it in a spice exchange at kk's over a year ago.)

Well all together that uses more than 10 things.

[crazyndncook]

I got around to getting inspired to make something with my spices. I made Chicken Curry with Rice. When I make curry I end up with like 9 bottles on the counter. We found Curry Powder from the store too hot for hubby and the kids so after searching for a mild curry powder recipe I made up my own. I still use curry powder, I just add a bunch more things to it like, turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, cardamom and chicken broth powder.

[Kchurchill5]

Crazy ... Curry is one thing I just don't enjoy that much. I finally found a couple of dishes that are not that bad, but the curry flavor is relatively mild. I don't mind the spiciness, but it is just the overall curry flavor isn't my thing. But I do try to give it a go now and then.

I like to make my own blends as well

[crazyndncook]

Curry is one of those things that I have come to like over time. I actually never even encountered the smell of it until I moved out on my own at 19, into a East Indian basement suite. I then got pregnant at the time and well the smell of curry every night, I was sure I would hate curry forever. It wasn't until I was in cooking school 5 years later that I actually liked the smell of curry, and the taste of it. It took a few more years before I actually made it. I think that most of my spices for curry need to be turfed soon as they aren't that pungent anymore.

Today I got around to using more from my spice drawer. I made some soup for lunch today, using left over cooked steak I had in the freezer, some barley I had sitting in the cupboard, and some parsnips, carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, I bought a couple weeks ago, and beef bouillon powder I always have on hand. I used basil, oregano, thyme and bay leaves from my spice drawer.

I will use some more spices later when I start cooking some ribs I bought on Saturday. I am going to make up 4 racks of ribs, with seasonings, then 2 racks are going for dinner and 2 will head to the freezer for a quick dinner some other day. I found it is faster to have precooked seasoned ribs ready than trying to defrost and cook later. I will probably use onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt, and not sure what else yet. I will be using Honey Garlic BBQ Sauce to smoother them later. I plan on using some organic sweet potatoes that I got a couple weeks ago as a side dish, just not sure how to do them up. I was thinking just baked.