Week 29 - From Your Pantry

I prefer doing the 52 week challenge in order, but I've been so far behind that I started skipping around based on what fit best within our schedule. After we returned from our Chicago trip, most of the food we had in the house was either in the freezer or the pantry. It seemed like the perfect time to skip ahead to the Week 29 challenge with the theme, "From Your Pantry." I've been trying to embrace cooking out of the pantry all year, but unlike other meals where I can supplement with an ingredient or two, I made this entire meal without buying anything new.

I was inspired by a sauteed corn and tomatoes recipe that had stuck in my memory since I saw it on Budget Bytes earlier in the summer, so I decided to make a healthy dinner with baked panko chicken tenders, a corn and tomato saute, and black rice.

For the main ingredients, I used (prices approximated since we bought everything a while ago):

- 1.5 cups black rice ($1)

- 4 panko chicken tenders ($4)

- 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with garlic and onions ($0.75)

- 14.5 oz can of corn ($0.75)

- 1/2 head of garlic ($0.10)

- 1 tsbp olive oil ($0.20)

I also raided the spice cabinet. I didn't use the smoke seasoning in the end and didn't measure anything, since I think spices here really just should be to taste or to your liking. I probably used about 1 tsp each of basil, oregano, parsley, and chopped onion, 1/2 tsp of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder, and a dash of crushed red pepper (approximately $0.50 total). Dinner cost about $7-8 total, although probably less since I'm not sure the chicken should be so much (but don't remember how many pieces were in the package).

The recipe was pretty easy to make. (Didn't have a lot of phone memory space after our trip, so I skipped most of the step-by-step photos this time.) The best part is that the rice and chicken took very little continuing effort once started, so I could concentrate on the saute. The basic steps for the saute were:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.

2. Add can of diced tomatoes (with juices).

3. Add the spices and seasonings (except parsley). Keep stirring so everything mixes together well.

4. Add corn. Stir more.

5. Lower the heat to medium low and let the mixture simmer until everything else is ready. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in parsley.

The corn and tomato saute was easy and relatively quick. There was so little prep - just chopping up some garlic and opening cans. It's definitely a good recipe for a weeknight dinner when you don't have as much time. This was a really tasty and healthy recipe, and we would definitely do it again.

Although we did a little bit of grocery shopping over the following week, most of what we ended up making were also primarily pantry meals. I do feel like I'm in a little bit of a cooking rut now though after all that pantry cooking, so I think it's time to complete the other challenges I'm behind on and do something new. But at least we are making progress on our pantry!