Eat What's at Home http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com What happens when you try to eat everything in your cupboards? posterous.com Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:41:00 -0700 Day 10: Cheating and a new hope http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-10-cheating-and-a-new-hope http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-10-cheating-and-a-new-hope

Okay, so when it comes to this blog I've totally cheated. Unless I'm planning on going a month eating only plain beans and rice, there's no way I could possibly finish all the food I've got at home without buying anything else to eat it with. So I've restocked. I've restocked a few times already. Now my kitchen is looks more full than ever.

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This is the before of the cereal/Clif bar cabinet....

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which has seen a lot of expansion, now that the rice cooker has taken permanent residence on the countertop.

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The main pantry is showing a little extra avoirdupois in the middle and is starting to buckle under the load. Not a whole lot of the items on top have actually been eaten yet. It's hard to tell from the image, but there are more spices in there too.

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Not much has changed here, other than the addition of some onions, tomatoes and fresh fruit.

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The fridge may look less full, but there's more actual food in here. There aren't two bricks of butter, four bottles of alcoholic drinks and crap that I didn't buy. Now there are only two bottles (wow, I ddin't realize there was Baileys in there, does that go bad?), and there's a hell of a lot of chicken too.

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The freezer is emptier, but really it was just full of boxes of popsicles. Now there's some meat sauce I made and froze, as well as some tilapia. I'm not sure what to do with that yet, but it might be a fun project.

Since I can't really continue with the original purpose of this blog, from now on I might actually try to make real food. I've been enjoying cooking real food the past week, so I might as well share my next experiences here.

It might not be super awesome all the time, but it probably won't be quite as lame as the last nine meals. Hopefully I'll still screw up enough to keep it relatively interesting.

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Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:14:00 -0700 Day 9: Burntgers revisited http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-9-burntgers-revisited http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-9-burntgers-revisited

Last weekend I had the good fortune to try a friend's attempt at a burntger recipe, and I came away quite impressed!

I wasn't expecting to be served a burntger. In fact when I first had a look at what was on my plate I didn't even recognize it. While the others at the table had steaks, my plate had what appeared to be a slightly overcooked burger. I didn't want to say anything—I was just happy to be sitting at the big kid's table. 

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What I didn't realize was that this burger took the burntger concept to an entirely different level. Not only was it burnt on the outside, but it was freezer burnt too! It's the holy effing grail of burntgers! Like a fine wine aged in a cellar, this burntger showed a deep richness and maturity after spending over a year in the freezer.

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I came away very impressed, not only with the burntger, but with the fine presentation and sides. Definitely an A+ effort.

As an added bonus, here's the world's loudest candle!

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Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:58:00 -0700 Day 8: Breadjitas http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-8-breadjitas http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-8-breadjitas

This is a bit of a cheat, since I picked up some bread and tortillas—two of the main ingredients in this next recipe. Still there's some serious creativity involved with this one, you almost wouldn't even be able to tell.

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First, lay a tortilla flat on a paper towel. Paper towels are usually cleaner than the countertop.

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Then toast some bread (not shown, but I think I've covered this in a previous post) and put it on the tortilla.

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Butter the toast similarly to how you'd make another recipe, such as toast and butter.

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Barbeque sauce up!

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Here's where it gets tricky—flip the bread upside down on the tortilla. Placement is crucial. You don't want it too close to the bottom of the tortilla, or it will be harder to roll.

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After a few failed attempts at rolling the breadjita—eff it—just fold the piece of bread in half.

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Fold the bottom of the tortilla...

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then the sides...

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and finally, roll up the 'jita to win!

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Yummy!

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Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:25:10 -0700 Day 7: Burntgers and rice: The stir fry! http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-7-burntgers-and-rice-the-stir-fry http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-7-burntgers-and-rice-the-stir-fry

Every awesome meal deserves a follow-up. The only way to top the burntgers and rice was to turn it into a stir fry.

Step 1: Carefully place the left over rice into a wok, cut up the burger leftovers, place on top, and add a little oil.

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Step 2: Searchify the cupboards for something else to add. Find a can of chick peas. Open it.

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Step 3: Chick-pea-ify by adding chick peas to the burger/rice stir fry.

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Step 4: Spicify concoction with a little chipotle sauce.

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Step 5: Platify and eat.

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This was probably the first thing I've ever made that I didn't finish. It wasn't completely gross. It had its moments. But by the second plate (I was trying not to throw it all out, since I don't have a microwave, and I don't think you can re-reheat food anyway), I had to contain my disgust.

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Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:15:00 -0700 Day 6: Burntgers and rice http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-7-burntgers-and-rice http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-7-burntgers-and-rice

The key to a successful burntger is to make sure you're occupied doing other random tasks while your burgers are on the barbecue. In this shot you can see the rice cooker in action, along with the bag I was filling with water.

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Why would I need a bag filled with water? I read somewhere that an empty freezer uses a lot more energy than a full one. So I figured the easiest way to fill it would just be with a big bag of ice. Unfortunately the shopping bags weren't exactly waterproof, so I spent most of the time mopping the floor.

Burntgers: simple, yet elegant.

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The rice and broccoli turned out reasonably well thoguh.

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Load it on a plate, fill up a glass of wine, and nobody will ever notice.

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Here's a burntger meal in its native habitat.

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All in all it probably wasn't the most successful meal ever, but if you closed your eyes and imagined the burn was spice it wasn't so bad.

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Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:16:00 -0700 Day 5: Perogies, peppers and pudding http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-5-perogies-peppers-and-pudding http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-5-perogies-peppers-and-pudding

Way in the back of the freezer I found a package of perogies. That red onion from a couple weeks ago looked like it wasn't totally bad yet, so I chopped off a good looking piece and threw it in a pan with some butter that I was about to throw out.

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Most important step was eating the pudding. Yumm. And yes, I'm that narcisistic that I've got only two pictures on my fridge and they're both of me drinking beer. Thanks for bringing them over, Sue.

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Next step is adding the perogies to the pan. Awesome.

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Final step was adding some Italian peppers and Thai sriracha sauce. The pear vodka was intended to emphasize the overall Polishness of the dish. Yummy!

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Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:04:00 -0700 Day 4: Chili, rice and gatorade http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-4-chili-rice-and-gatorade http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-4-chili-rice-and-gatorade

Now that I've run out of bread and even rice cakes, it looks like everything from now on will include either pasta or rice. This was a fairly complicated recipe.

Step 1: put a can of chili into a small pot, then turn on the head

Step 1a: munch on your last rice cake

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Step 2: Read a triathlon magazine, make some brown rice, throw it on a plate, then put the chili on top. Sip Gatorade as needed.

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That's basically it.

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Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:20:00 -0700 Thursday's diversion - Tahou's Garbage Plate http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/thursdays-diversion-tahous-garbage-plate http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/thursdays-diversion-tahous-garbage-plate

What's got macaroni and cheese, potatoes and hot dogs, is covered in mustard, onions and a ground beef hot sauce, and comes with two pieces of thick fresh bread? Nick Tahou's Garbage Plate. The restaurant is a Rochester landmark, and the plate was named the fattiest food in New York State. Three days worth of fat intake. With a diet Coke, cuz you know... I'm watching my weight.

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Heart burn or heart attack?

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Phil was a good sport, even though he wasn't too enthused with the idea. 

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Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:14:00 -0700 Day 3: Milk chocolate, wine and fake jello http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-3-milk-chocolate-wine-and-fake-jello http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-3-milk-chocolate-wine-and-fake-jello

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Really it's just an excuse because the bottle needs to be finished before I'm out of the house for a couple days.

It's pretty bad when the fake jello actually has enough food colouring to stain the countertop.

[fave comment: Dude, seriously? Red wine and chocolate? Time to change your pon, light candles and have a bubble bath.] (Yes it's my comment. That doesn't mean that I can't like it. Au contraire!)

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Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:41:00 -0700 Day 2: Green lentil soupdaalfakes and chicken with basmati rice http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-2-green-lentil-soupdaalfakes-and-chicken http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-2-green-lentil-soupdaalfakes-and-chicken

If you notice the dates, it has been a few days since day 1, but I haven't eaten at home since. Today was a bit of a cheat, since what's in my pantry was supplemented with some fresh essentials: garlic, onions and milk.

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Step one: make some rice.

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Step two: boil some lentils.

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Step three: let the lentils heat up for maybe ten minutes, then drain the water. 

This is where I started to get confused. I started off with one lentil recipe and had another in another tab. I think one was a daal and the other was a soup. For a while I was also referencing a Greek fakes recipe too. I was missing ingredients from all three, so I just kinda borrowed a bit from here and there.

 

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Step four: get some ingredients and wine up.

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Step five: heat some olive oil until you run out, then add some butter. Add onions and lots of garlic and get them soft.

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Step six: throw in a little flour (not sure why), a couple bay leaves, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and accidentally forget to add anything else with flavour. Re-add the lentils and two and a half cups of water, put it on medium heat and cook for twenty minutes.

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Step seven: get a little impatient waiting for it to cook, so throw a couple frozen chicken breasts on the barbeque and eat them. Drink a couple glasses of wine and get the bright idea to add some of that wine to the pot cooking in the other room.

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Step eight: Looks a bit thicker and lentil-ier than I expected, but it seemed to suit being put on top of rice really well. Put a little dill on top and just a couple squirts of red wine vinegar and that's it. It was actually fairly edible!

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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:04:11 -0700 Day 1a: All Bran and red wine recovery meal http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-1a-all-bran-and-red-wine-recovery-meal http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-1a-all-bran-and-red-wine-recovery-meal

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Dinner of champions.

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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:34:00 -0700 Day 1: hot dog buns and pudding http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-1-hot-dog-buns-and-pudding http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/day-1-hot-dog-buns-and-pudding

This is one of my more complicated recipes. It involves a toaster and a few choice ingredients.

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First step is taking the frozen hot dog buns out of the freezer. At the same time you open the pudding.

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I'm just showing off how I've mastered the controversial one-fingered toaster technique. You can't say I don't like to live on the edge.

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Here I've added some class, by lining the plate with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then placing some peprocini peppers on top, covered by a teepee of hot dog buns. The wine is for my post-workout recovery.

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The final step: dunking in the fine goo that results from the crumbling toast mixing with the vinegar. Exquisite.

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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:26:00 -0700 Searching for something to eat http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/the-food-ive-got-to-work-with http://eatwhatsathome.posterous.com/the-food-ive-got-to-work-with

While cleaning out the kitchen last week, I realized that there are some items in my cupboards that have been there for over seven years. I still intended on eating them too.

Now that I've gotten rid of most of the stuff that was actually bad, I'm making a conscious effort to eat what I have at home. I'm not going to go shopping for the same things, only to throw them out again. I'm going to eat what's at home.

Here's an photo inventory of what I've got to eat:

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Cereal, Clif Bars, snacks, rice cakes, and sports food.

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The can, jar and spice section.

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The coffee, tea, rice and bean bin.

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The long-overdue for a cleaning fridge.

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And finally the freezer of popsicles and nearly-expired meat.

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