Know Your Pantry

Last night, we made the Chicken Salsa Chili on our menu plan. While putting the ingredients in the dutch oven, we realized that there were no red kidney beans in the pantry. Jessica(my daughter) remembered that we had a can of black beans and suggested that we use them instead.

I never would have strayed from the recipe in the past. Having a daughter who likes to cook has taught me a lot. Now when we open a can of green chilies, we use what we need and put the rest in a baggie in the freezer. When we have another recipe that calls for green chilies, we break off what we need.

We used medium salsa in the recipe. We left out the crushed red pepper. We used three packets of True Lime instead of lime juice. Next time we make this recipe, we will use 6 packets. We also added 2 cups of sliced baby carrots.

The chili was really yummy. My daughter had never eaten hominy and informed me that she really likes it.

The next time you're making a recipe and don't have an ingredient, check in your pantry or fridge for a substitution. Having a well stocked pantry is what works for me.

Are there any tips you use in the kitchen to save money? Please feel free to leave a comment. I love hearing from everyone and read all my comments.

This post is linked to: Works For Me Wednesday

"How's This Weeks Menu Working Out?"

I wanted to let y'all know how our menu plan is working out.

Tuesday, we had planned to eat out. We ended up cooking dinner at home. We had Tilapia w/Balsamic Browned Butter and Creamy Farfalle w/Bacon, Tomato and Peas. This is a delicious dinner. We use less pasta but keep the same amount of sauce. Rachael tends to use way more pasta than we could ever eat. And yes, we still have plenty of leftover pasta with sauce. We usually have the leftover pasta for lunch.

Thursday, we made the Maui Chicken. My daughter and I thought that it might be a little bland. So, we added some Chinese 5 spice powder(about 1/4 tsp.)and a chopped shallot. The chicken was moist and fork tender. We didn't like the taste of the pineapple. It didn't taste like pineapple, it tasted more like chicken stock. Next time, we are going to use the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple and only half of the chicken stock. We are going to reserve the pineapple until the chicken is done and add it right before serving. We are also going to use some fresh ginger, 4 Tbs of brown sugar instead of 2, and a diced jalapeno for some kick. We'll let you know how it turns out.

How's your menu plan working this week?