Pantry Purge 2011, Day 2

Well today was our first day to provide 3 meals for all for of us. After having a tasty dinner last night the boys were much more excited about the challenge. We decided that since we won't be buying anymore cereal for a while that we should save that for week days when the boys have school. Brennan has become quite the little pancake maker and volunteered to make us all breakfast. (That's right. I did say volunteered!) To go along with that I used up the last of the oranges that my parents sent us and made some freshly squeezed OJ. It was quite tasty!!

For lunch, we had to cheat. Brennan had soccer tryouts and we had a bazillion errands to run so we grabbed sandwiches while out. I think that's allowed sometimes.

Dinner was great. That makes us 2-0 for dinner. I decided to try to space out the meat that we do have in the freezer to make it last longer. I knew I wanted to do something vegetarian, but my go-to for that is to always use something with beans in it for protein. Since we didn't grocery shop before deciding to do this challenge, there were no beans in the house. To make up for it, I used a package of soybean spaghetti noodles. The consistency of them takes some getting used to, but they are so healthy it's easy to look past.

We ran to the co-op and grabbed some tomatoes, fresh basil and a zucchini. I grabbed a few ingredients from the cabinet and here's what I came up with:

6 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, shredded
1 red pepper, shopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved and pitted
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup shredded romano cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Feta cheese
fresh basil

Bring olive oil to medium heat in large sauce pan or dutch oven. Add onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Add zucchini and cook another 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, red pepper, olives, wine, vinegar, red pepper flakes, oregano, & romano cheese. Cook 10-15 minutes until tomatoes start to cook down. add mixture to food processor and puree until smooth. Add back to pot and add fresh basil. Cook another 5 minutes. To serve: Add over cooked noodles. Top with 1/4 cup feta cheese and garnish with fresh basil.


It was well received by all. Brennan, of course, would have preferred less cheese. Brent, wasn't a huge fan of the noodles. And Drew, couldn't decided which meal he like better between day one and two's dinners. I was pleased that I was able to again mix in a large portion of fresh vegetables and they go unnoticed thanks to the food processor.

I emptied a container of romano cheese and a package of soybean noodles. Bring on day 3!