Kelly Rossiter
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I have struck up a cyber friendship with Elaine, a dietician based in Vancouver and I follow her website Greens and Berries. She had a link last week to another website Limes and Lycopene from a nutritionist names Kathryn Elliott blogging from Sydney, Australia. This blogger set a challenge to her readers: make dinner using only ingredients from your pantry. The list of fifteen ingredients below were the only things you were allowed to include.
- Olive oil
- Tinned tomatoes
- Tinned or beans
- Soy sauce
- Frozen vegetables
- Flour
- Pasta or rice
- Tinned fish
- Eggs
- Bread
- Olives
- Meat from the freezer
- Fresh onions
- One (spice) or spice mix
- One dried herb or herb mix
I read about this after the deadline, so I was too late to make an entry, but I still took up the challenge and I wanted to share the idea with my readers. I actually cook like this all the time, so I didn't find it difficult, but I had never thought about limiting the number of ingredients this way. I have always maintained that the easiest way to make quick, nutritious meals is to have a well stocked pantry with healthy ingredients at the ready. I used seven of the 15 ingredients to make a quick pasta dish that was on the table literally in the time it took to cook the pasta. I should mention that salt and pepper were considered a given and not included on the list.
Take a look through your cupboards and see if you could make a meal from this list. If you can't, it's time to restock your pantry.
Pasta with Tuna, Beans and Peas
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 can cannolini beans
1 can tuna fish
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 servings cooked pasta
- In a large pot, heat water until boiling. Cook pasta (I used linguine) according to directions.
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil in skillet and add peas. If the oil is too hot the water from the peas will spit. Cover and let cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add beans, tuna, marjoram and cayenne pepper to the peas. Cook until the beans and tuna are heated through.
- Before draining the pasta, add 1/2 cup or so of the cooking liquid to the beans and tuna to make a bit of a sauce. Drain pasta and top with sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Difficulty Level: Easy
More one pot meals:
One Pot Meals: Leek and Potato Gratin
One Pot Meals: French Toast Casserole
One Pot Meals: Tomato Lentil Curry
One Pot Meals: Jamaican Lentil Stew
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