New mission: Cleaning out the pantry

I love grocery shopping about as much as I love cooking. I love finding new things, and stockpiling ingredients I should be using, and going into new food shops. There's a grocery chain around here, for instance, that seems to carry a lot of Indian foods that I don't have in the closest store (which has the best produce) - so when I happen to stop in for something I actually need, I typically come away with a basket full of other things that I just have to get. Don't go into a new grocery store with me unless you're prepared to spend an hour there. 

What that means, though, is that I have a very well-stocked pantry. Beans, grains, noodles - the cabinet space is chock full. My freezer - and we now have a chest freezer! - is full of meat from our meat man (though that is now over, we couldn't keep up the meat consumption to run out each month), and great deals from Costco (a giant bag of frozen sweet potato fries; a box of par-baked individual loaves of great bread). It's now at the point where I've realized that I shouldn't buy anything else new until I've made my way through what I have, or things are just going to get wasted as they approach their best-buy date.

My new mission: to make meals solely out of our pantry and freezer. The rules: 

• No new meats or grains/beans/noodles or condiments until the pantry is close to empty.
• No new spices. The spice drawer is close to bursting, too - if it's not in there, I don't need it.
• The only items that can be bought at the store are dairy products, chicken bones for stock (the meat guy didn't give us chicken), cereal, fruits, and vegetables. 
•  This continues until the meat is entirely gone from the freezer and/or the pantry is empty of all grains and beans - whichever comes first. 

The first meal on this mission? Lentil soup for lunches for this week. 


Lentil and sausage soup

1 small onion, medium dice
3 small carrots, peeled and sliced into coins 1/4 inch thick
3 stalks of celery, sliced the same thickness as the carrots
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 sausages, cooked and sliced like the carrots
1 cup brown lentils
1 24-ounce can of whole tomatoes, tomatoes cut up (or chopped tomatoes)
2 cups chicken broth


Heat oil over medium heat; saute onion until softened and translucent. Add carrots and celery; mix well with onion. Add garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, and cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine; cover and simmer until lentils and carrots are the desired tenderness.