Thursday 11 June 2015

Pantry Challenge Day 2 – a pasta salad kind of day

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This picture is not of my pantry. Rather, I got it from the following link ~ http://www.saligamarkey.com/kitchen-pantry-cabinet-to-complete-the-furniture-in-your-kitchen.html  I just wanted a picture of a pantry. Someday soon, I might post a picture of my own pantry.

Today is Day Two of my Pantry Challenge. So far, so good. Yesterday was not hard at all, and today’s not hard, either. Mind you, the first few days of things like this aren’t usually when feelings of hardship kick in. I’m not going to wait with baited breath for those. That doesn’t do any good, does it?

Yesterday, I ate vermicelli – a spaghetti-like pasta that’s much thinner than spaghetti – with a meatball concoction that Mom had sent home with me on Monday. It was really good, & quite satisfying me. The only thing is that I waited ‘til 1 PM to eat anything, & that’s not wise. I usually do eat within an hour or so of waking up, but sometimes I end up getting caught up in things that I’m doing that I put off eating. Then I end up eating way too much & too late. I’m trying to not do that, though. The things can wait. I just like knowing that they’re not hanging over my head as I eat.

This morning I did eat breakfast a lot earlier, although it took me about an hour to eat a small bowl of cereal. Oh, well! *shrugs & laughs*

Today, I was up a couple of hours earlier than yesterday, which I like. I prefer getting up early in the morning. I get more done that way, &, these days, it’s cooler. I don’t do well in the heat, and so any relief is wonderful to me. Mom had sent home a bag of rotini on Monday, & I cooked that up. I ended up freezing some of it, & the rest, I put in the fridge too cool off. While it was cooking, I mixed up the dressing part of it. I like my pasta salad, although sometimes I like to make it zestier than at others. Today it’s a bit more mild, but that suits me. That way it doesn’t take away from the taste of the shrimp that I added.

I don’t always have the same stuff in there. It all depends on what I have at hand at the time I make it. I used to buy pasta salad seasoning, & that’s always good. I’ve not had any for a long time, though. So I now always add dill & parsley, a bit heavier on the dill than on the parsley. A few weeks or so ago I added yellow mustard the last time I made pasta salad. Wow! That added just that little bit of something extra, & so I added it again today.

Cheddar cheese is also something else that I always add. I almost always cube it, but today I had small slices left over from crackers & cheese that I ate yesterday. So I used those up, breaking them up into smaller pieces.

I don’t measure the stuff. I just go according to taste, and that suits me fine.

As for the pasta, in the past, I’ve also used shells & macaroni & wagon wheels & other smaller pasta with interesting shapes. This adds a bit ore variety as well.

Since I like different kinds of cheese, I want to try different ones sometime. It just seems, though, that I only ever have cheddar on hand when I go to make it. haha  Oh, well!

One thing that I love about pasta salad is that it’s a complete meal in & of itself. I love one-dish food, especially if they’re easy & quick to put together. I’m not a super busy person, but I still like to be able to whip something up in a flash.

What are some quick and easy meals that you like to put together? I’m open to a lot of ideas food-wise right now. I won’t try all of them since I admit to being picky & not eating things that I really don’t like. I also am sensitive to spicy foods & try to avoid things that give me heartburn or acid reflux. I still like to get any & all ideas, though, because then I can pass them on to other people who might like them. So please feel free to share whatever recipes & foods you like in the comments below. Smile

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