I’ve written before about how having a well stocked pantry makes it easy for me to choose to cook every night instead of eating out. A well stocked pantry means different things to different people. For me, it means having versatile ingredients around that are as ready as possible to use at a moment’s notice. It also means having items around that won’t spoil, and knowing how best to store items that will.

Dried Beans and Grains

I’ve written a lot about keeping dried beans around, and Jen’s last post about red beans and rice is a great way to put them to use. But how best to store dried beans so that they are always on hand? I like to keep them in glass jars. They are pretty that way, and generally protected from insects that might be attracted to them. An airtight container also helps to keep them generally free from too much moisture. Usually I save jars any time I buy something that comes in one, clean them thoroughly and take off the labels by soaking in hot soapy water. This gives me jars of all shapes and sizes to use for storing any manner of dried good. I think I may have developed a bit of a love for jars, especially since I’ve started following Food in Jars.

I do the same thing with grains, though usually in bigger plastic containers, since I tend to keep around much greater quantities of each grain.

Aromatics and Spices

I always have a few fresh aromatics around, such as garlic, onions, and ginger. Garlic goes in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator, still attached until I’m ready to use it. Onions go in a bin on a pantry shelf (though in the summer heat, I’m considering finding a darker, cooler place to put them).

Ginger gets a different treatment, however. I used to keep it in the vegetable bin with the garlic, but I often found that it would get a little moldy or dried out before I was able to finish it all. And then I tried freezing it. That was the best trick I’ve ever found for storing ginger. Just pop a few fingers of ginger into an airtight freezer bag and put them in the freezer. Take out pieces as you need them.

Freezing causes many raw aromatics to get mushy, but since I usually pulverize ginger with a microplane when I use it, I don’t really care about maintaining its natural texture. Even better, frozen ginger is ridiculously easy to peel, and even easier to grate because the ice crystals that form during freezing have already broken down the tough fibers of the rhizome. So there are two wins – the ginger can be kept for longer (meaning that it is always on hand for making my favorite dish), and it is even easier and faster to break down when I do wish to use it.

We always keep a good amount of our favorite spices around. My favorite trick with spices has been to make a mix of the spices we use the most frequently so that they are always on hand and easy to throw into any dish. We’ve done this with our own blend of taco seasoning (a mix of cumin, granulated garlic, cayenne, bouillon) and gyro seasoning.

Getting things out of those jars

It’s all well and good to keep a well stocked pantry, but what happens when you’ve stored something too well? In our house, there always seems to be a sneaky little gnome or something that goes around tightening jars. No problem, though, because Jen came up with my favorite trick to get just about any jar open, no matter why is it sticking. Put a big rubber band on it, and just twist off the cap! For those repeat offenders, just leave the rubber band there.

Stay tuned – next time I’ll talk about how I freeze just about everything for later use.

Crispy, savory, irresistible, bacon-filled waffles

Jen bought a waffle iron for me when I finished writing my undergraduate thesis, which was a horrid affair. While the gesture was sweet, I knew it was an appliance I wouldn’t use much. Ever since though, she’s tried to convince me that it’s not a dreaded “uni-tasker” by making me treats with it that I can’t possibly turn my sweet-snubbing-nose up at. These are one such waffle. They are crispy and just savory enough that they go well with a drizzle of maple sugar.

I know she won’t be ashamed if I tell you that we outright stole the idea from the Wafels and Dinges truck that’s been making its way around the streets of New York hawking delectable Belgian treats. If you can’t make it to the truck, as I don’t know of any others outside of New York, try our version of these waffles with a bit of powdered sugar and a drip of hot fudge. They still aren’t as good as the ones Wafels and Dinges sells, but they are pretty close. (On a separate note, if you can find the truck in your area, be sure to get a lèige waffle with speculoos spread which is like molten graham crackers).

Jen’s Recipe: Bacon Waffles

• 4 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup butter, melted & cooled
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
• 6-8 slices of bacon

1. Start by frying/microwaving the bacon in whatever way you prefer, until the bacon is slightly crispy. Set aside for later on paper towel.
2. Separate the egg yolks and whites, with yolks going into a large bowl and the whites going into a bowl with electric mixer access. Beat egg yolks and honey in a large bowl until light and somewhat fluffy. Mix in cooled, melted butter, milk, and vanilla extract.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat well, as this is the last chance to give the mix a good beating.
4. Meanwhile in a different bowl (preferably using an electric mixer), beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Gently fold them into batter with a spatula to prevent the fluffed egg whites from deflating.
5. Following the instructions for your waffle maker, preheat it and make sure to spray with a nonstick cooking spray before pouring any batter in. I prefer placing bacon on top of the batter rather than below it, because I found that when placing bacon on the iron first, it was more likely to get stuck to the iron and burn. If you want to put the bacon down first, I would suggest not cooking them as thoroughly beforehand to let the waffle maker give them their final crisp.

You can put pretty much whatever topping you want on these guys, including anything from maple syrup and powdered sugar to apple butter, hot sauce, or even gravy. And I know, beating the egg whites separately is a bit of a chore but seriously, the waffles come out so much lighter and crispier because of it!

Note: We’ve made these using both a deep-rutted conventional Belgian waffle iron and a thinner style iron (waffles pictured above). We liked the thinner waffle for this type of waffle as it was easier to ensure bacon throughout the waffle without having to worry about the deep imprints in the other iron. The thinner waffles also require less batter so the bacon to waffle ratio is more favorable to bacon lovers (and really, why would you make these at all if you weren’t a bacon lover?).

Related posts:

1. Savory Rosemary Waffles
2. Just Hungry’s “Moffles” (Mochi Waffles)

Steaming vegetable soup, almost as my grandma used to make it.

I was a pretty adventurous eater as a child, but not all of my cousins and siblings were. Every kid has at least one food they won’t touch with a ten-foot fork. From what I remember, it didn’t have much to do with taste. We just picked a food we were going to hate (mine was broccoli, which I now love) and would kick and scream if it was even on the same plate as anything we were going to eat.

With so many grandkids and so many different tantrum-inspiring vegetables to keep track of, my grandmother still managed to make a vegetable soup we all eagerly devoured. The secret involved never telling us what was in it and pureeing the whole pot. Brilliant. Even though I’m a huge fan of most veggies and would eat the soup no matter what was in it now, the blended creamy mix just hits the spot. It’s one of my favorite ways to remember my grandmother and being a kid.

That said, I have no idea how she made it, so I’ve come up with my own best approximation. If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you probably know by now that I’m not always a fan of specifics. This will be one of the vaguest recipes on this site, but I promise you, you won’t be able to mess it up! Just think of this soup as a great way to get rid of any old veggies clogging up your fridge, freezer or pantry.

Recipe: My Grandma’s Vegetable Soup

Makes 6-10 hearty adult servings

Vegetables, any combination of the following, totaling approximately 8 cups:

• onion
• garlic
• carrots
• celery
• green beans
• lima beans
• peas
• corn
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• okra
• tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste

Seasonings:

• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• hot paprika, cayenne or red pepper flakes for a kick

Filler:

• ~8 cups of water with bouillon, or other flavorful liquid (vegetable broth, chicken broth, etc)
• Less than 1 lb of your choice of dried pasta (alphabet, ditalini, macaroni, rotini, rotelles, shells, wagon wheels, whatever you like, but I find smaller is better)

1. Fill a large soup pot with the oil and vegetables coarsely chopped (just small enough to cook, don’t worry about appearance since it will all be pureed anyway). Mix and match any vegetables you have on hand. The above are just suggestions, though I do recommend sticking with similar vegetables and leaving out starchy veggies like potatoes as they may give the soup a gritty texture.
2. Cover pot and cooking at a low/medium temperature until the vegetables are soft and bright. This will probably not take very long if using frozen or canned vegetables, maybe less than 10 minutes. Some fresh vegetables may take a few more minutes to soften.
3. Add 4 cups of liquid and stir well. Puree. I prefer using an immersion blender for this sort of thing, but if you don’t have one, you can puree in the blender in batches. Just be careful as it can be hot.
4. Add the rest of the liquid (or more if it is too thick). Season to taste.
5. Add an extra 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta. Cook until the pasta is “al dente” and then take off the heat.
6. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, which will cook the pasta a bit more. If the soup is too thick, add water and stir until creamy and soupy. Keep in mind that it will thicken a bit more as it cools. Serve hot, warm or cold.

Related posts:

1. Warm, Creamy Smooth Carrot Soup (Potage Crécy)
2. Split-Pea Soup

Using the heart-shaped side of the iron to make moffles

Many of you may know, that I, like Alton Brown, hate kitchen gadgets that only do one thing. To justify the real estate taken up by a huge gadget like a waffle iron, I try to find as many unusual uses for the thing as possible. That’s why I was thrilled to read about Maki’s “Moffles” on Just Hungry. Moffles are mochi rectangles pressed and grilled in a waffle iron until they become crispy wafers, gooey on the inside. Mochi, for the non-Japan-o-philes out there, is glutinous rice flour dough, which often comes in rectangles.

Jen did all the ironing of these waffles. She brushed sesame oil onto the machine for extra flavor and to aid in removing the finished moffles. Because I’m a broken record, I spread freshly-made guacamole all over mine. Jen had some with guac, some with Japanese Bulldog barbeque sauce and a sweet one with a bit of chocolate syrup, maple syrup and whipped cream.

I give this technique a definite A+ so if you have a waffle iron and can get ahold of mochi near you, head over to Just Hungry for the recipe. This is worth a try. Yum!

Related posts:

1. Savory Rosemary Waffles
2. Bacon Waffles