Freezing Fresh Corn

I LOVE fresh sweet corn. And so does The Monkey and Bimmer Man. I don't feel like I've bought enough of it this year though so I bought 5 ears of fresh, organic sweet corn from the Linden Hills Co-op last week. I opted to freeze it since I have to cut the corn from the cob for the Monkey to eat. 

I don't look at ears of corn when I buy it anymore. After not being able to pick my own ears from belonging to a CSA, I just don't bother to look. Organic corn can have worm damage and sometimes the worms are still alive - that's because there's either no pesticides used on the corn or less harsh or natural pesticides or something else is being used as a pesticide or herbicide (the label "organic" doesn't mean "no pesticide/herbicide" it means there is something else being used in place of the bad pesticides/herbicides, it may be an organic pesticide or a natural pesticide or a different type of farming, I'm not an expert at the organic labels though, so this is just the basic explanation). 

Just cut off the worm damage and carry on with your normal corn cooking routine. 

For freezing, I just boil the corn for a few minutes and then cut it off the cob, freeze it flat in a Ziploc bag (I need to find something to freeze stuff in flat instead of Ziploc bags!). 

The corn above has worm damage, I was surprised that the worm wasn't in the corn. Just chop off the damage and continue on...

Out of the 5 ears I had to cut damage off of a few. I don't mind cutting off the damage - if no one buys this corn at the store then it just goes bad. Might as well eat what we can!

After cooking, just stand the corn on one end when cool to the touch and slice off the corn into a bowl.

Nom, nom, nom....

Now we can have fresh corn when it's out of the season!

Cleaning Out My Non-Existent Pantry

I don't have a pantry.

Our house was built in 1949, so there's little storage, little or no closets, no mud room, a teeny entryway, and no counter space in the kitchen with not very many cabinets.

A few months ago I was dreaming about a HUGE kitchen with a mudroom and a ginormous center island and butcher block counter tops and a fantastic selection of pots and pans.

I have realized that I don't need all of that (but butcher block counter tops would be AWESOME, then I wouldn't need a cutting board), and I still want a mudroom (not just for storage but because we don't use our side door and basically, when two people walk inside at the same time, you have to balance yourself so you don't fall down the basement stairs. Not cool).

In any case, I digress.

This morning I cleaned out the "pantry cupboard" in the kitchen.

I threw away old flavored vinegars that expired in 2012 or 2011. I tossed an unopened container of Hershey's chocolate powder that expired in 2010. Into the trash went a box of Bisquick that expired earlier this year.

If we had a pantry, I don't think I'd be able to use half the stuff in it - I would be tempted to fill it up just because I had the space and then we'd be tossing unused food. That's not cool either. That's just plain old wasteful.

In the past few months I've become more conscious and aware of what we have in our cupboards to eat, or at least I thought I had. New items went into the cupboard and old stuff was just moved to the back.

Sort of like our other cupboard with glassware. Somehow we kept getting new glassware and the old stuff just went to the back and wasn't used. So I donated whatever we didn't use on a regular basis (um, I don't drink martinis but we had several martini glasses! I see a drink shaker that we've never used but had for years, that will be going into the donate box today too!).

Food expires. You have to toss it, it's just making the time to go through your pantries and cupboards and cleaning out the shelves. Don't remember when you bought it? Toss it. Expired? Out it goes. Never going to cook with it again? Into the trash (or organic waste bin in our house).

Lately my favorite time to do this is when I'm waiting for a pot of water to boil for pasta or waiting for chicken to cook on the stove. I'm already in the kitchen, why not kill two birds with one stone?

So, the bottom shelf of the cupboard has been cleaned out, I just need to wait until The Monkey's nap this afternoon to do the rest. I'm short so I need to stand on a chair and I don't want her to see me doing that - she may get some new ideas of her own if she knows she can stand on chairs in the kitchen. Aye, the things you don't think about until you have a toddler....

So, if anyone wants to follow along with me... Challenge yourself to clean out one shelf in your kitchen of expired, unused, old food. I think you'll feel great once you've finished!

August Meal Planning

I still have quite a few freezer meals from last time so I don't have too much to plan out - woo hoo!!

BUT I bulk ordered sides - so in the cupboards I have Near East Mediterranean Curry Cous Cous and Near East Roast Garlic and Olive Oil Pasta. Both are delicious and the Monkey eats both so no worries on finding a starch.

Meal planning is so weird. I look at other blogs for meal planning ideas and while recipes LOOK FANTASTIC, I realize that when I put it down on my calendar that A) I don't have time; B) I am missing 2+ ingredients that I probably won't ever buy again; or C) I just don't want to make it because it's too involved.

Another thing about meal planning - there are things that I don't like that I see quite a bit -

• I hate quinoa, 
• I'm not much for elaborate breading of meat (I don't have room for all of that), 
• I don't deep fry things, 
• I don't have time to make a sauce or make a mix and then make dinner

And also there are only certain vegetables that I like and that the Monkey will actually eat:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Green beans
• Corn
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Water Chestnuts (I know, weird)
• Broccolini stalk thingys

Please notice what is missing - potatoes, asparagus, carrots, eggplant (which I don't like either), peppers and a few other veggies. I make french fries, tater tots, and homemade french fries but the Monkey refuses to eat plain baked potatoes or roasted potatoes. I don't know why (because she'll eat curried rice, LOL!). 

So in general when looking at other blogger's meal plans I have to switch up sides and make changes to recipes to suit our meal needs (like omitting hot sauce and switching from potatoes for a side to jasmine rice). 

I also have to work within our budget, so if that means that I only buy some lettuce, milk, butter, and eggs at the co-op, then so be it. My grocery budget sometimes has to be eating out of cupboards only (which is fine because they're usually stocked in general because every few weeks/months I buy certain items in bulk).

And the other thing with meal planning - I buy organic. We're up to eating 75-85% organic except for some frozen pizzas, cheese, and some pantry items. Organic can be expensive so I need to choose meals that fit within our budget. There are meats that we can't afford (like $17.99/lb for some meats at Whole Foods, seriously....) so I switch up marinades to cheaper organic beef and chicken cuts. Whole chickens are cheap but boneless, skinless breasts are the easiest for me to work with (Costco has organic chicken and beef for bulk purchases or else I order from my organic meat lady at the farmer's market).

So, as you can tell, I'm a super picky freezer meal planner and regular meal planner.

Onto what I have in stock...

Below I'm going to list my freezer inventory and my cupboard inventory so you can see what we usually have in stock. Then I just pick and choose what's for dinner from both lists. I choose a protein, starch, and veggie (sometimes I do two veggies and no starch).

I think this is the easiest way to meal plan for myself - that way I'm not tied down to a certain menu item because who in the heck knows what we'll actually be hungry for on Friday!!

Freezer Inventory

• Greek Chicken (Italian seasoning, olive oil, salt & pepper, sliced lemons), just marinated chicken in a freezer bag
• Plain "Just Bare" chicken breasts
• Sweet Glazed Chicken (ketchup, apricot preserves, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, olive oil) in a freezer bag
• Margarita Chicken (alcoholic margarita mix, parsley, olive oil) in a freezer bag
• Thin cut beef roast
• Taco Meat
• Pasta sauce - meatless AND beef sauce
• Pesto
• French fries
• Peas
• Chicken sausage
• Ground turkey (which I think the dog might end up eating)
• Pork chops - two different marinades
• Steak (5 steaks)
• Mixed veggies - a few bags of random seasoned and plain veggies

Cupboard Inventory

• Annie's Mac & Cheese (mostly for lunches)
• Near East Garlic & Olive Oil Pasta
• Near East Mediterranean Cous Cous
• Black beans
• Tomato sauce
• Tomato paste
• Jasmine rice
• Honey
• Spices
• Flour & sugar
• Black olives
• Wildtree Organic spices, flatbread mix, cinnamon rolls
• Pasta - spaghetti and rotini

Gah. I know there's more but that's what I know I have off the top of my head. I stopped at the farmer's market and got broccoli, two types of beans, lettuce and a few tomatoes for this week for fresh veggies. 

Oy, meal planning is hard. We'll see what we end up eating this month!