More food in the pantry!

Wow!Kudos to people who have to eat out of the pantry every day .
This is not as easy as it sounds. I look in the cupboard every few days and think,what can I make with what I have in here.Luckily I work for a farm with a year-round market and I can glean some near death veggies for roasting and soups or stews.This week I'm trying to use up all these beans I purchased for recipes that were not repeated,not to mention I jut forgot and bought more dried beans because I did not check my pantry before doing my shopping.That is also something I'm changing about my routine.You think you can save time by shopping on the way home from work,you don't have a list but, hey you know exactly what you need.You stop at the grocery store already tired from a days work and before you know it you're standing in front of the frozen food section grabbing something quick for supper because you just spent 15 min. talking to a friend [not a bad thing] and now you can't remember what you had on your mental list.So this is how I used those beans this week.It
made more then enough for 2 meals so it helped me keep my January food budget at $1.89 @ day.
Not near my goal of $1 a day but a beginning none the less. I used one of my local chickens from the freezer to make chicken pot pie with one
half and this chili with the other.

chopped onion about a cup
minced jalepeno to taste
2 minced garlic cloves
evoo
chicken broth
4 cups pre-cooked of great northern beans
1/4 cup minced parsley
juice of a lime
2 teas. cumin
meat from 1/2 chicken
cornstarch and cold water to thicken.

Saute the vegetable in olive oil,then add broth and remaining ingredients [but not cornstarch and water] let it simmer 10 minutes or 1 hr .Recipe says 10 minutes but what kind of flavor do you think that will give you. When the kitchen smells absolutely fantastic you're probable ready to thicken with the cornstarch and cold water mix. If I used about 6 cups of broth so 2 tbls. cornstarch in 1/3 cup of water gave me a good consistency.Then I simmered till I couldn't take it anymore and we grabbed our bowls and filled our tummies.



Of course I had no time to make dessert so later when we wanted just a little something more,out came the bowl of popcorn. You know you can make that a sweet or savory treat depending on your need. Popcorn can go a long way,it's a real money saver if you think you're spending too much on snacking food.

Well I best be going, today is a work day,tonight is stitch and bitch and tomorrow we are expecting a storm.8-12 inches of the fluffy stuff.Maybe I should stop by the store and pick something up.Oh right ,no need, we have a pantry full........................said the hobbit