Cooking from Pantry

Pantry Pasta-Spaghetti with Canned Tuna, Lemon and Parsley

Yesterday evening was one of those busy days of me driving from one appointment after another. I was a bit frazzled more than usual since a San Francisco taxi cab nearly collided with my car..I’m convinced my car is invisible and I should get it Bedazzled or painted orange to be noticed. But I digress. I found myself in my kitchen with the husband and toddler at home earlier than usual and no dinner made. On nights like this, I always make a giant fried rice with the protein and vegetables all mixed in or I make a pasta with a ‘sauce’ made from whatever I have in my pantry.

A Drink and A Nibble- How to make Satan’s Whiskers and Cheese Popovers

Ever since I stopped working as a line cook and stopped working either early morning brunches or dinners, I’ve been able to enjoy a few things I used to take for granted. One of the things I’ve come to love again is staying up late on Friday or Saturday nights and enjoy a civilized cocktail with my husband. When we lived in the City, we usually went for a stroll around our neighborhood and had a drink at our local pub or wine bar. We could discuss the week’s events, even cerebral things like art and politics, all while we sipped a drink and nibbled on bar snacks.

How to Cook from your Pantry

Before I became a culinary teacher and blogger, I had a real-life paying job as a line cook. It was an amazing experience that has helped to forge me into this person I am today. One of the more valuable skills I learned was a very practical one as far as being a home cook- I learned how to cook a meal from whatever ingredients we had on hand. Now, this type of cooking wasn’t the type of cooking where we made thoughtful food from perfectly sourced ingredients, which I can do. This food was what was known as the “family meal” or the staff meal.

How to make ‘Pantry Soup’

Contrary to what Campbells and Progresso would have you believe, homemade soup is not time-consuming to make. I always believed it’s one of the easiest and cheapest meals to put together and far healthier than those soups in a can. The ‘economical’ factor comes in to play when you look to the contents of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer and make a soup from that.

Samantha Food Geek versus the Refrigerator

I’m pretty good at moving our leftovers out of our refrigerator, but every once in a while, a monkey wrench gets thrown into my system and before you know it, I have a glut of leftovers in the refrigerator. Today was such a day. I came home with the weekly groceries and opened the fridge to find it crammed full of bowl, tupperware and other containers with food from last weeks dinners.