Things have been going well, although I do have to admit that I have decided to pick up fresh produce weekly until the first case of coronavirus hits our area. We have a few cases in our state, but none near us at this time and I love fresh produce! We spent $33 on tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, a 24 pack of Coke Zero (I forgot to buy this on our Costco run), black beans (another thing I should have picked up at Costco, but just got one can on this run), a cucumber, red cabbage, and a green pepper. M picked up our order after work on Tuesday.

Here is what we have been making. Friday night, we made our pizza. The crust sourdough discard, our last packet of dry yeast, some flour, and I think some salt. It was great! I have to feed the starter once a week, so I plan to make pizza every Friday with the discard, but since we are out of dry yeast, I will have to find a way to make the crust without it. I am sure there are recipes out there.

Both Saturday and Sunday for lunch and again Wednesday night for dinner, we had my current favorite salad with spinach, corn, sundried tomatoes, tomatoes, and chicken. M doesn’t like sundried tomatoes so his salad looked a little different with some chickpeas and other random things added.

Saturday night dinner was great! Our soup was a hit and the sourdough turned out good, although, I hope it turns out a little better next time. It was fairly dense and I think it is usually a little more airy. Our friends made some delicious food too. J&A made a great charcuterie plate. They are always make beautiful charcuterie plates! M&S made a salad with grapes, strawberries, greens, goat cheese (at least I think it was goat cheese), and a vinaigrette. The main course by S&L was fettuccine alfredo with some pan-fried chicken and green beans. Dessert by B&K was and Andes mint pie. We were all so full by dessert that it was hard to fit it in, but by the end of the night I got all of mine down. Andes mints have always been one of my favorite treats!

Side note: Saturday was a kid-friendly event, but the dinner didn’t start until 6:30PM. I was extremely nervous because G is very into his routine and I didn’t know what to do. There were 2 other couples invited over with babies just slightly older than G. I asked my friend, K what she does with late dinners like that. She said her son usually stays up later when there are people around, but they bring  a pack n play just in case. They have a baby and a 3 year old so I just took her advice instead of trying to find a sitter. It actually worked out pretty well. G stayed up until about 7. We had the soup course and he was ready to sleep. I went upstairs, changed him, fed him, and put him in his pack n play. He didn’t fall asleep right away and I brought him back down to the dinner table for a few minutes, but he was out before 7:30PM. I would call it a win, but, honestly, not something I want to hassle with regularly. I made an exception for this dinner.

Sundays are my day to get everything ready for the week ahead. With a baby in cloth diapers and eating breast milk and homemade pureed food while at daycare and at home, the amount of work is a lot. I know there are people who do a lot more than me and have more kids than me, but it really has been a big adjustment, but Sundays are my day to get as prepared for the week as possible. Generally, I try to make dinner this day as easy as possible, if I can help it. So, we made a frozen pizza and my husband made a salad with spinach, corn, chickpeas, red onion, tomatoes, and champagne vinaigrette to go with it. Our plan was to watch a movie this night, but with the amount of laundry and cleaning I had to do along with M’s homework, we didn’t get to the movie and settled for an episode of something on Netflix. I can’t believe that we used to spend all evening watching TV, we are lucky to get 30 minutes in now. I suppose that is probably better for us in many ways, but it is crazy how much a new house and new baby change things.

Lunches have been kind of random this week (salads, leftovers, and the last frozen fajita bowl) and snacks have consisted of lots of mandarin oranges, almonds, and popcorn.

Monday we had Teriyaki Chicken rice bowls for dinner based off of a recipe I found on togetherasafamily.com:

• 1/2 cup aminos
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 chicken breasts diced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 frozen package of broccoli
• 1 large diced carrot
• 1 chopped leek
• brown rice

Tuesday we at a Peanut Chicken Power Bowl using:

• 3 tablespoons aminos
• some lime juice
• rice vinegar
• honey
• ABC Sambal that I ordered from Indonedia
• natural peanut butter
• sesame oil
• quinoa
• salt
• 2 chicken breasts diced
• equal parts carrots, purple cabbage, and cucumber soaked in vinegar and honey

Wednesday we ate my favorite salad which I listed further up.

Tonight my husband has his last class before spring break and then he will be attending class online due to schools shutting down for coronavirus. I am currently making a some chicken buffalo dip downstairs that I plan to eat with some veggies tonight. I know it is a weird combo, but I eat weird stuff when on my own. I will most likely try to make some sort of soda bread for the upcoming St. Patrick’s holiday. We usually take the day off of work, but that seems less exciting with an infant so I am going to try to make a couple festive thing for the weekend. I will let you know what is in the soda bread after I make it, but the buffalo chicken dip has:

• 2.5 diced, cooked chicken breasts
• 1 cup homemade ranch (ranch seasoning, mayo, and the rest of the half and half)
• 1 block cream cheese
• buffalo sauce
• i am out of celery, but thinking of adding some celery seasoning

Tomorrow, my favorite coffee shop is releasing their spring flavors and I am considering taking a 5 minute break from the challenge to try whatever flowery latte they came up with this time. We will see though. The part that kind of stinks about them making all of their syrups and drinks from scratch is that their drinks are expensive. However, my mom gave me a $20 to help pay for the groceries from our family lunch 2 Sundays ago so I am considering dipping into that so I won’t actually be spending from our account. Is that cheating? Probably.

After tomorrow, I am not sure how to proceed. I think we may be on total lockdown. My friend who is a teacher said all pubic schools are closing and our daycare (of which 5 kids attend) informed me at 8:05PM that she isn’t going to be open Friday or Monday and may be closed until April.

Over the last couple of days we have made some fun things with our stocked ingredients. Wednesday night (day 4), I made a Thai Chicken Coconut Curry (based on recipe here: https://www.averiecooks.com/thai-chicken-coconut-curry/print/) with brown rice. The ingredients used were:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 1 teaspoon of mined garlic
• 1 teaspoon crushed ginger
• 2 teaspoons dried, ground coriander
• 1-16 ounce can coconut milk, full fat
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• about 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• rice, quinoa, or naan, optional for serving

I realized that I am probably going to run out of pour olive oil soon, but I have olive oil spray, avocado oil spray, coconut oil, and vegetable oil to fall back on. I also have some sesame oil that will work in a pinch and will definitely be good with any Asian dishes.

I also finished up the tomato soup for this weekend. I am hoping the soup will be equally as good on Saturday, but I wanted to make it before the tomatoes started to turn and when I still had time. I thought about freezing it, but decided against it. G got to taste this soup on Wednesday with his bananas. My husband also gave him a tiny bit of hummus when he was snacking on carrots with hummus. I know you technically aren’t supposed to give foods like that to a baby to try for his first foods, but considering what I have seen some parents put in a 6 month old’s mouth, I think he will be ok. Tomato soup ingredients used:

• 20 roma tomatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 1 whole head of garlic
• 2 – 28 ounce cans of whole Marzano Tomatoes
• 3 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 quarts chicken stock or water
• salt and pepper to taste

Thursday, I had the last green apple with some walnuts. I am so sad these are gone! I love green apples so much! Lunch was leftover curry, which is now gone. For dinner, I made a butternut squash soup with the squash I roasted on Tuesday. The ingredients for this were:

• 1 leek, diced
• 1/2 celery heart, diced
• 1 large carrot (costco bag carrot, so a giant carrot)
• The rest of the rosemary from the fridge
• One whole, pre-roasted butternut squash
• One whole, pre-roasted acorn squash
• 2 red sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 – 32 ounce carton of low-sodium chicken broth

The butternut squash soup was pretty tasty. I didn’t add any seasonings to it except for the fresh rosemary and the salt that was already in the broth, so that I could feed the soup to G too. He loved it! I ended up feeding him about 4 tablespoons because he kept leaning in for more. I ended up putting him to bed before I ate, but when I got back down I realized I liked the soup the way it was and didn’t need additional seasons myself. I frozed about half of the leftovers in an ice cube tray so that G will have this for future meals. I refrigerated the other half for my lunch the next day and for G’s lunch and dinner the next day. I ended up using the leftover soup to put on the rest of the whole wheat spaghetti noodles that I had in the cupboard for lunch today.

The last and most exciting, in my opinion, is what I am doing with the sourdough starter I got from some of our friends. I pulled the starter out of the fridge and am feeding it to get it ready to make the bread that will eventually be the croutons for the soup I am serving at our Saturday course dinner. I am taking the discard and making pizza dough for tonight. Toppings will be tomato sauce, olives, mushrooms, and red onions on top. My husband will most likely be sad that we don’t have anymore cheese, but he will live. Everything appears to be working so I just hope that continues and we have an awesome next couple days of food eating!

So far, the pantry challenge is going well. On day 1 my parents and dad’s parents came over for lunch. We grilled all of the chicken legs with BBQ sauce, my mom brought over coleslaw and potato salad. We made 2 packages of brownies and ending having to freeze a bunch. We also made the last cornbread mix, and made some green beans. Earlier that day M had some frozen waffles and we made some tuna salad, which I ate on spinach and M ate on some of our frozen bread. We ate the leftovers over the next 2 days and froze 5 leftover cornbread muffins. Last night, I ended up making some chickpea noodles with ground turkey, leeks, and marinara. It was a lazy dinner, but G-man often takes quite a bit of my attention. At 6 months he is starting to eat solids. I blended some banana with breastmilk and froze it in 1 ounce containers, which he has thoroughly been enjoying. Tonight he might try something new, but haven’t decided what. Today, I had leftovers from last night with the last prepped smoothie bowl. I have also started roasting the tomatoes, onions, and garlic for a course dinner we are attending Saturday that will serve 10 adults. I will probably finish the soup today and freeze it until Friday night. I also plan to start a loaf of sourdough soon too so the bread has time to dry out for croutons for the soup. Now, I just need to figure out how this sourdough starter will work.

And so it begins. I have so many ideas for this blog, but I am beginning with a pantry challenge. With all the hype over the Coronavirus and after following an Instagramer who recently completed another pantry challenge, I have decided to do my own pantry challenge. It will be a fun way to challenge myself and a great way to save some money. On the plan, I want to see how long we can go without grocery shopping or purchasing food outside of the home, with a possible exception of purchasing greens at the farmers market when it opens at the beginning of May. This plan will exclude meals my husband consumes at work because he nearly always goes out for lunch to have a break from work. I am going to try to entice him to take some food from home occasionally. This challenge will run until May 22nd, when we take a weekend trip to Boulder, Colorado. I started this challenge on 3/1 and it is feeding our 6 month old, my husband and me. Here is the inventory list, recorded 2/29.

Fresh Produce

• 1 Butternut Squash
• 1 Acorn Squash
• 2 Green Apples
• 2 Fuji Apples
• 5lbs of Gala Apples
• 20 Roma Tomatoes
• 1 Large Bowl of cherry Tomatoes
• 17 Bananas (will freeze when ripe)
• 5lbs Mandarin Oranges
• 15 Sweet Potatoes
• 5 Red Onions
• 5lbs Small Potatoes
• 10lbs Yellow Onions
• 7lbs Carrots
• 1/2 Celery Hearts
• 3 Leeks
• 10oz Mushrooms
• 1lb Spinach
• Fresh Mint
• Fresh Rosemary
• Fresh Thyme
• 2 Heads of Garlic

Pantry

• 1 3/4 Gallon of Shelf Stable Almond Milk
• 1 12 Gallons Chicken Broth
• 4 oz Whole Wheat Spaghetti
• 1 1/2 Box of Red Wine
• 8 Bags of Microwave Popcorn
• 1/2 lb Dried Dates
• 1/2 lb Nutritional Yeast
• 20 oz Cocoa Powder
• 45 oz Chia Seeds
• 2 lbs Cocoa Nibs
• 25oz Ground Flaxseeds
• 1c. Irish Oats
• 1 package of Corn Bread Mix
• 3 – 80 oz packages of Old Fashioned Oats
• 6 – 16 oz cans of Chickpeas
• 4 – 16 oz cans of Diced Tomatoes
• 2 – 16 oz cans of Black Beans
• 1 – 16 oz can Kidney Beans
• 1 – 16 oz can of Coconut Milk
• 1 – 16 oz can of Bean Sprouts
• 6 oz can Petai
• 1 – 16 oz can of Pumpkin Puree
• 1 – Active Dry Yeast
• 6 cans of Tuna
• A ton of coffee, tea, and espresso pods
• 3 – 32 oz jar of Marinara
• 2 – 28 oz can of Whole Tomatoes
• 1.5lbs Protein Powder
• Many stored seasonings, dressings, vinegars, oils, hot sauce, and BBQ
• 4 – containers of Peanuts Only Peanut Butter
• 1 – jar of Pepita Salsa
• 1 3/4lb Honey
• Baking items (flour, baking soda, baking poweder, stevia, sugar, different startches, etc)
• 8 oz Agave
• 1 oz Panko Breadcrumbs
• 8 oz regular Breadcrumbs
• 5 oz Ranch Seasoning
• 3/4 Shelf Stable Oat Milk
• 12 oz Blush Wine Dressing
• 6 Packages of Brownies
• Air-Pop Popcorn Kernels
• Coconut shavings
• 2 jars Polenta
• 1 jar Green Lentils
• 1 jar Farro
• 1 jar Pumpkin Seeds
• 1 jar Almonds
• 8 oz Corn Meal
• 2.5lbs Chickpea Noodles
• 16 oz Quinoa
• 4- 32oz packages of Brown Rice
• 10 oz Sundried Tomatoes
• 30 oz Pancake Mix
• 70 oz Raisins
• 4.5lbs Walnuts (open packages frozen)

Fridge

• Many Condiments
• 34 Eggs
• 9 Chicken Apples Sausages
• 8lbs Chicken Legs
• 9 oz Salami
• 1/2 cup Apple Sauce
• 1 Meal (Leftovers)
• 3/4 lb Hummus
• Many Pickles
• 1/5 pint Mayo
• 1lb Maple Syrup
• 8 oz Peanut Butter
• 1/4 can Chipotle in Adobo
• 48 oz Minced Garlic
• 1/4 cup Jam
• 20 oz Vegan Butter
• 2 1/4 Kerrigold Butter
• 1 cup Half and Half
• 1 pint Cream
• 2 cups Veg Broth
• 2 Gallons of Oatmilk
• 25 – 2 oz containers of Guac
• 1c Sourdough Starter

Freezer

• 3.6lbs Ground Turkey
• 6lbs Corn
• 16 oz Cream Cheese
• 16 oz Spinach
• 1c Peas
• 4lb Blueberries
• 4 1/2 lbs Cherries
• 1 Smoothie Bowl
• 1 Fajita Bowl
• 40 Frozen Waffles
• 1 c Shrimp
• 8 oz Pineapple
• 4lbs Frozen Mixed Berries
• 1 loaf Bread
• 20lbs Chicken Breasts
• 2 Pizzas
• 4lbs Broccoli
• 6lbs Green Beans
• 2 Pork Chops