January Pantry Turnover

I miss my good camera, my SLR. While my baby is getting a preventative maintenance and cleaning, here we are. This ol’ point & shoot 6 mega-pixel is hardly the powerhouse it was years ago. And so in the midst of January Pantry Turnover, an annual purge of dry goods and ingredients taking up too much space in the pantry, when my cooking is not based on pizazz but on what’s lying around, excuse my drab and flash-gleaming photos. Trust that all of this truly does taste better than it looks.
Cranberry Nut Bread: A cup of sugar makes everything better. Here I used the orange-flavored cranberries I’ve had since my wonderful students and their parents brought in KZ-friendly snacks for my birthday in October. Being monogamous with tropical dried fruit, these sweet and tart crimson lovers lay neglected since in my pantry. The dough was more scone-like and I realized, as my serrated knife made a mess of my loaf, that they’d be better off drop-biscuits. Oh well, they’re going to get chewed up either way!

Meat loaf, beat loaf I hate meat loaf! But a lentil loaf? Yes sir. Though extremely unattractive and shaped like an Easter egg, this recipe is so darn delicious and sure to keep me satisfied during the week. I used this recipe from My Vegan Cookbook. Make it and shape it better for a very impressive meal that gets better as the days go by.

Tune into the the continuation of the pantry turnover when I try to make use of:
– a can of vegetarian duck from an Asian mart (I’m thinking a curry to also use up the Jasmin rice)
– chocolate chips… banana… coconut. need I say more