Shhh! Sacred Pantry Secrets Revealed!
We can all picture the scene: it’s past 9pm on a weekday night when you unlock the door to your dark apartment. You’ve been at work since 6am, you skipped lunch, drank way too many coffees or green teas, you skipped your workout, you didn’t make time to pick up dinner, and now it’s too late to order in. You’re nothing short of irritable, tired and hungry. You open the fridge and there’s leftover brown rice, an almost expired bag of pre-cut/pre-washed/ready-to-eat stir-fry vegetables, and a luxurious unopened can of soda water. You root around your fruit basket and actually smile; a small lime, like a rare emerald, is shining for you. Most people would despair at this point, but not you, because you’ve got the following in your pantry:
- olive oil
- an unopened can of salsa and
- an unopened bottle of tamari!
You put a frying pan on medium heat, add some of the oil, and give the stir-fry veggies about 8 minutes to cook. Then you add the rice, mix, and cook with the veggies for another 5 minutes. Turn off stove. You generously splash your tamari (low sodium of course), and voila, an Asian-inspired rice bowl in less than 15 minutes! Oh, and a fancy glass of sparkling water with a slice of lime to wash it down.
There you have it: 3 ingredients that will always, always save the day. How so? Here are 5 examples:
1. Fry an egg – over-easy or over-hard, you choose. Add a dollop of salsa and (ta da! ) it’s a Tex-Mex protein-packed quick meal.
2. No eggs? No problem. Grab a block of tofu or some organic chicken. Cut tofu or chicken into bite-sized strips. Warm up coconut oil, preferably in a cast iron skillet. Add a chopped onion, cook for about 2 minutes; add tofu or chicken and cook for 8-10 minutes. Add any other soft skinned chopped vegetable(s) you can find (like a red pepper, handful of spinach, or kale). Cook for another 2 minutes. Splash with tamari or add a little olive oil and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. Yum!
3. You’ve only got partial burrito goods: two soft tortillas (and perhaps old-ish is the best way to describe them); a mini block of old cheddar; a can of black beans; and no spices at all! No worries. Warm up the tortillas in the oven or over a non-stick pan. Shred your mini cheese with the smallest grater side (melts faster). Open the can of beans. Rinse. Rinse. Rinse. Heat them in a pan on low until warm (about 8 minutes). As you daydream about your next big grocery shop day, you find the unopened can of salsa! You can now officially call your meal-in-the-making a burrito. ¡Que rico!
4. It is Tuesday. Quinoa (pronounced ‘keen-wa’) sits in your cupboard waiting to be cooked. You never want to cook it because it requires extra work (you actually have to rinse it for a few minutes before it goes in the pot to boil). Today you are on a roll, getting things done, so you finally locate your strainer, wash a cup of quinoa and put it to boil with 2 cups of water. Once it boils, you reduce the heat to low, cover it, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Timer goes off, you lift lid, you fluff quinoa with a fork, and leave uncovered while you dance from the fridge to the pantry hoping something falls from the sky so you can call your production a meal. HA! There are 2 hardboiled eggs you prepped on Sunday sitting in a bowl, there for you to marvel (no, they didn’t fall from the sky, but they’ll definitely do). You peel the oval beauties, rough chop, add them to the fluffy quinoa, and top with a generous spoonful of salsa – your protein-led dish is seriously kick a#$. Your leftovers will make you the envy of the office come lunchtime on Wednesday.
5. It’s Thursday, one day until payday. You have a small assortment of leftover goods in your veggie crisper. There’s a brand new bottle of olive oil that someone gifted you via the Secret Santa exchange. You know there are spices because your ex-roommate worked at a spice joint (sure she skipped town without paying rent, but she left powder gold)! Chop, chop, chop: an onion, a bunch of garlic, 4 largish tomatoes, some wilted celery, a tiny and almost completely dehydrated sweet potato, and you found a scallion! You pour your abundant olive oil oh- so-generously into a large pot. You add all of the chopped vegetables and stir. You wonder what this pot thing is going to turn into. You go to the ex-roommate’s pantry legacy and find a few options: beef stock, vegetable stock, and canned tuna. Veggie stock for the win! You add it to your now beautifully golden vegetables, and stir. Soup! You’ve never actually made soup. Is this really soup? (You Google a bit to make sure.) You let the broth and veggies boil. Reduce heat. Simmer. Wait. The potatoes start falling apart. Wait another 10 minutes, wait, wait … and now, it’s like creamy soup! You turn off the heat and pick up your smartphone: time to Instagram your FIRST homemade soup! Add salt, white pepper, thyme, taste: it’s perfection. You imagine starting a soup empire…
