pantry roulette.

I do a minimal amount of meal planning. Basically I have a few recipes that I would like to make through out the week and a few regulars we repeat and I go shopping for those ingredients early in the week. I knew I had a large bag of potatoes that I wanted to use (last time I didn’t use potatoes in time they went bad and made the whole house smell). I had planned on making shepherd’s pie but realized around 3:30 in the afternoon that I had used all our vegetables earlier in the week when I made Chicken Pot Pie. With a baby napping I couldn’t run out to the store so I made up a little game called pantry roulette. I went on one of my favorite cooking websites http://www.allrecipes.com and went to their ingredient selector. I typed in the ingredients I wanted to use: ground beef, potatoes and tomato sauce (which I somehow collected several cans of in the pantry). I found a recipe for a cheesy beef and bean bake. It was similar to Shepherd’s Pie, except with baked beans instead of vegetables. It took about 20 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake, all in all a quick solution to the afternoon question of whats for dinner. It was quick, easy and a hearty all in one meal. I have a feeling I’ll be playing pantry roulette game more often!