Bare Pantries, Part 2

The quest for pantry turnover and a fresh beginning of 2010 continues! Making my class a batch of mini-cupcakes for their celebratory pizza party used up an old bag of confectionary sugar, right in time for my upcoming sugar detox, and a container of hydrongenated waxy sprinkles I inherited from my last classroom that was taking up very valuable space in my spice rack. The cupcakes impressed the kids and my co-teacher while my not eating the pizza opened up a dialogue about my being vegan. Reactions are so varied and odd when I drop the v-bomb, especially from kids, that I often avoid doing so. But the cupcakes convinced the kids I wasn’t skimping on anything.

I initially was going to make “melted snow man” cupcakes after the piped buttercream frosting had a resemblence to them. But I decided to cover them in sprinkles to use all them waxy sprinkles up.

Using a box of Arborio rice in the cupboard for ages, I whipped up my lunch for the week: asparagus, shallot and artichoke risotto. I decided to try to make a routine of this on Sunday to try to eat less of my money through the year. Last year I swallowed over $6,ooo in food expenses! I have the next several weeks of recipes lined up. But for now, a week’s worth of thick and scrumptious risotto.