Minimizing My Pantry: Grains and Pasta

Pasta in my pantry.

In this blog I'm describing a minimalist approach to my pantry regarding grains and pasta.

Grains in my pantry.

When it comes to grains I am pretty much right on.  I have a mixture of brown rice and basmati, arborio (for risotto), and bulghur wheat. Arborio is a high-starch, short-grained rice used for making risotto. Cooking arborio releases its starch, giving risotto its creamy consistency.  About the only time I would use white rice is if I were making rice pudding which I rarely do.  Missing was quinoa which I usually have on hand, so I've added that to my grocery list.

Adding quinoa to my grocery list.

But I have way too much pasta.  Lasagna, spaghetti (a whole wheat and a black bean spaghetti that I've never tried---and I know not why we have it. It must have been a spur of the moment purchase.), manicotti, orzo (2 packages both opened), ziti, pipette, and cannelloni.  I seem to be missing couscous, and I use that a lot. I suppose I used my last box and didn't replace it. 

After these are used I will pare down to spaghetti (whole wheat), orzo, lasagna, and perhaps one small elbow type pasta. Orzo is pasta in the shape of rice and it is one of our favorite pastas.  It's especially nice to add to soups.  And sometimes I will replace the lasagna with manicotti. Pasta is a nice comfort food and can be prepared quickly with any number of sauces (such as Nello's tomato sauce) for a quick meal.

Adding couscous to my grocery list.

I'll be sure to add couscous to my pasta shelf.  If you've never tried couscous here's a recipe for you. It's from The Barefoot Contessa.  Easy to make and makes a delicious side dish.  

Minimizing My Pantry: Oil and Vinegar

The oils I had in my pantry before minimizing.

 Back in January, an article by Mark Bittman* in the NY Times about decluttering one's pantry caught my attention, and I've been saving it as a reference for when I reorganized the pantry which had been on my "to do" list. This week I finally got around to purging my pantry following his advice and advice of others that have blogged about the Minimalist Pantry. 

I took everything out of the pantry and put it on the bed in the guest bedroom (we're not expecting guests this week).  Then I started categorizing everything and in this post I will discuss oils and vinegars.

I had seven different vinegars, most of which had been used perhaps once for a special recipe.  My vinegars were tarragon, apple cider (2 bottles), champagne wine, rice, red wine, white vinegar and balsamic (2 bottles).

The seven different kinds of vinegar in my pantry before purging. 

Bittman* suggests two vinegars: balsamic and sherry vinegar.  I use balsamic a lot so naturally I saved it, and I kept the champagne wine vinegar as a substitute for the sherry vinegar.  But I have put sherry vinegar on my grocery list.  A good balsamic vinegar is Trader Joe’s Gold Quality Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.  The remaining vinegars I gave to Wayne, Bea's husband, who cooks a lot of special dishes.  We do keep a large bottle of white vinegar to use as a cleaning product, but this is kept with cleaning supplies.  That's all we ever use to mop our hardwood floors. 

Balsamic vinegar.

White vinegar for cleaning.

The oils in my pantry.

The oils were more numerous---nine. I had extra virgin olive, canola (3 bottles), sesame, coconut, roasted walnut, roasted hazel nut, roasted pistachio, black truffle olive oil, and peanut.  The roasted oils were in a set---a Christmas gift.  I'm keeping extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), the truffle flavored olive oil (great for drizzling on mashed potatoes),canola for cooking, and the three roasted oils.  After I have pared this down by use, I will keep only EVOO and canola on a regular basis.  When buying olive oil, make certain it was pressed in the last 18 months---freshness is important.   I will refrain from buying flavored oils that I am likely to use only once in a recipe.  

Kirkland's (Costco brand) Toscano is our favorite olive oil.

This is great for drizzling on mashed potatoes in place of butter.  Tastier and healthier.

Flavored oils, a gift from a friend.

My oil and vinegar shelf now looks minimal. 

Stay tuned to see how I pare down other ingredients in the pantry.

* Check out Mark Bittman's article here.

My Older Son Turns 51

First Grade at St. Timothy's.

How time flies.  Today is Michael's birthday.  My little red head is now a grown man with grown children of his own.  Here's a few pics over the years including more recent ones. 

Michael's first birthday in Hillsborough.  He was a little skeptical of the candle.

Michael age four at Christmas in Louisburg.

Christmas 1969, Michael six.

Last year for his 50th birthday, I surprised him with 50 Carolina blue balloons sent to his office. 

November 2013 in Cuba with Marge and Helen, two of our fellow Wolftrekers.

We celebrated his birthday last night at Sitti, and afterwards everyone came to our house for the birthday cake.  Michael has never been extremely fond of sweets, however he does like Klonkie Bars and KitKat candy.  So I made his cake of Klonkie Bars with a vanilla ice cream (from Local Fresh) "frosting" and sprinkled crushed KitKat candy bar on top as garnish. 

Klondike Bar birthday cake. 

Blow out the candles.

Michael and Mom.

Michael and family.

Michael at work. (Photo from the Trust Company of the South website)


Happy Birthday Michael, We Love You!!!!!!

Breakfast at Finch's in Raleigh

Finch's of Raleigh.

If you want a real Southern breakfast in Raleigh, Finch's is the go to restaurant.  Finch's has been around since 1945 in the same location. You would drive by this place on Peace Street unless you knew where it is.  It sits back from the road and looks like an abandoned diner except for all the cars out front.  Unfortunately it will be replaced by a new clover leaf at the intersection between Peace and Capital Blvd in the near future. 

Photo from Trip Advisor.

We had a friend from Nova Scotia visiting, and we took him there the other morning so he could enjoy a real Southern breakfast.  Dan says it was his first time there too, but I had breakfast there with the kids several times after ballgames over at Salvation Army. 

Big Man's Breakfast.  There were pancakes on the side for this.

Blueberry pancakes.

Dan and Dave both had the "big man's breakfast".  I chose the blueberry pancakes, and they were chock full of blueberries. The maple syrup was not pure maple syrup but the corn syrup with maple flavoring type.  But the butter was real. 

Our friendly waitress.

Friendly staff.

Service was excellent.  Breakfast was served very quickly and the over medium eggs were done to perfection.  You never know what kind of cup your coffee will be served in.  This morning the cups were from UPS.  Lots of folks donate cups for them to use.

Coffee was served in these cups this morning.

It was quite busy for a late Saturday morning, but there were tables available because we avoided the early morning rush.

Still rather busy for breakfast at 11:00 a.m.

We must visit them again soon before they are replaced by a new cloverleaf.    

The Photography of Hal Bryant

"Gallop" (Photo copyright by Hal Bryant.)

Dan, PJ and I stopped by the Cleveland County Arts Council on Monday to see the  exhibit of photography by Hal Bryant and Ellen Devenny.

The Arts Center.

The Arts Center is located in the Historic Post Office Building in Uptown Shelby and  provides year-round, rotating exhibits.  After seeing his beautiful photography, I have become a devotee of Hal Bryant's photography.

"Air Cooled" (Photo copyright by Hal Bryant.)

"Annie Has Left Us Now" (Photo copyright by Hal Bryant.)

"Wagon at Emile's" (Photo copyright by Hal Bryant.)

"Zinnia Stop" (Photo by Hal Bryant.)

To learn more about this artist and photographer check out this website: