Pantry Cooking

One of the things I have long admired about my co-blogger and his hubby, and Scotte and so many others of my cooking friends, is their ability to whip together good meals from just a few random ingredients they happen to have on hand. On a night when you don't have something specific planned, you could choose my former route and go for takeout, or you can think creatively about the different staples you have and what you can put together that would work well. Guess which way is healthier? :-)

Of course, to get to that point, you need to have a well-stocked pantry with healthy ingredients. With my great new kitchen and a good grocery store 2 blocks away, I think I'm finally at that point! For example, the other night I made a very tasty and very economical Mexican-style chicken dish just from stuff I had in the kitchen.

Here I took a package of chicken tenders (organic / free range / whatever the good label said), cut them into cubes, seasoned them with black pepper and cumin, and sauteed them with a whole bunch of my chopped frozen onions in some olive oil. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, about 1/3 bag of frozen corn, some chopped fresh cilantro, more black pepper, and some dried parsley. After cooking it down, I served it with some shredded fat-free Mexican cheese blend. It was delicious!

And this was all stuff I just had in the fridge, freezer, or cupboard. I like that I'm learning more about what things work together and can just buy them whenever they're on sale or when I've got room in my shopping basket, to keep around for nights just like this. Good stuff!