{"id":4621,"date":"2008-05-28T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2008-05-28T14:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/wordpress\/?p=241"},"modified":"2013-08-26T16:37:36","modified_gmt":"2013-08-26T16:37:36","slug":"cleaning-out-the-cupboards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/b\/cleaning-out-the-cupboards\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaning Out the Cupboards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you have frozen food at the bottom of your freezer that you forgot you had?\u00a0 How about canned food and non-perishables like pasta that have been sitting in your cupboards for longer than you can remember?\u00a0 You bought this food, probably with some recipe in mind, and now have no clue what you were intending to make.<\/p>\n

That’s my situation.\u00a0 Our family is moving to Ohio and I’m trying to clean out my well-stocked cupboards and chest freezer.\u00a0 But what do I do with eight boxes of Italian soy sausages?\u00a0 What about the four boxes of lasagna noodles? (I always have the best of intentions.)\u00a0 Three bags of frozen shrimp…and lots more?<\/p>\n

Here’s where the internet is wonderful!\u00a0 On many recipe websites, you can search for recipes that include a specific ingredient (or ingredients!).\u00a0 Suddenly, cleaning out the cupboards and freezer has become tasty and fun!\u00a0 In the past few weeks, we’ve tried some excellent new recipes while making substantial progress in emptying our kitchen.<\/p>\n

Two of my favorite recipe web sites are Kraft Foods and All Recipes that allow you to search recipes by ingredients.\u00a0 Take a look at what foods you need to use up and give it a try.<\/p>\n

For Kraft Foods, go to http:\/\/www.kraftfoods.com\/<\/a>.\u00a0 Move your mouse over the “Search” button and a drop down will appear.\u00a0 Click on the “More Recipe Search Options” link.\u00a0 You can enter in the ingredient you’d like to use.\u00a0 You can also add some additional criteria, like only searching for poultry entrees, to help you find the perfect recipe.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

My husband and I loved the Chicken Enchiladas recipe I found after searching for ways to use up some Velveeta cheese.\u00a0 The recipe was extremely easy and tasted great!\u00a0 It definitely went in my “recipes to make again” folder.\u00a0 I did make a few modifications to the recipe to make it even easier.\u00a0 I used my microwave instead of dirtying two saucepans on the stove.\u00a0 Since I didn’t have any cooked chicken on hand, I used canned chicken breast instead.\u00a0 I also substituted a can of Mexicorn for the green pepper to help in my “clean the cupboards” endeavor.<\/p>\n

For the original Chicken Enchiladas recipe, go to: http:\/\/www.kraftfoods.com\/kf\/recipes\/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=52136<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Chicken<\/p>\n

\u00a0I made the recipe following their suggestions for the lower fat version and it tasted great.<\/p>\n

I like the Kraft Foods site because most of the recipes have pictures.\u00a0 They help me decide whether a recipe is worth making.\u00a0 They also provide some good smiles or laughs when I compare my finished product to their picture – a smile when it looks just like the picture and a good laugh when it clearly does not.<\/p>\n

The site also allows you to sort the recipe by “Prep Time”, “Total Time”, “Average Rating”, etc.\u00a0 I like to sort the recipes by “Average Rating” because I’ve had success trying recipes that other people have rated highly.<\/p>\n

For All Recipes, go to http:\/\/www.allrecipes.com\/<\/a>. Click on the “ingredients” link above the search box to get started.<\/p>\n

TIP:\u00a0 It’s a good idea to try to use up food in your freezer and cupboards at least twice a year.\u00a0 Although most canned and frozen food is still safe to eat after months and even years, the quality of that food decreases. Also, be sure to check expiration dates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you have frozen food at the bottom of your freezer that you forgot you had?\u00a0 How about canned food and non-perishables like pasta that have been sitting in your cupboards for longer than you can remember?\u00a0 You bought this food, probably with some recipe in mind, and now have no clue what you were intending to make. That’s my Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b","cat-44-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Burritos-ready-for-the-freezer.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4621"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9027,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions\/9027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}