Cooking With What You Have

I am planning a move so my cooking goals have shifted from grocery trips where I buy mostly organic chicken and lots of vegetables to I need to use up everything in my cabinet without buying anything that I won't be able to finish before the move.

This isn't too tricky of a goal for me because I keep minimal condiments on hand and my fridge as a habit.  Since I prefer fresh vegetables to frozen or canned I try to only buy what I will use before they go bad so I don't end up throwing away much food.  In a nutshell, my fridge is almost always on the empty side.

While browsing the web for one of those websites where you can find recipes with what ingredients you have on hand I found Super Cook.  I figured that since I only have healthy things in the house that I could get some new healthy recipe ideas from the website.

I created an account and punched in Chicken Breast and got 2000 results.  The first one was grilled sausage which didn't impress me too much since I punched in chicken breast as the ingredient I already have.  Then I added green peppers, and onions since I always have some of those on hand.  With just those 3 ingredients in mind I still have the 2000 results, but I have 1 that I can actually make with just chicken, green peppers and onions.  It is Easy Taco Filling, and something that I actually make often!

So this is fun so far.  I am going to add Balsamic Vinegar.  I don't have a lot of it left in the kitchen, but it gets super sticky so I don't want to have to pack and move it.  That gives me a recipe for Red Pepper Coulis and also a Chicken Marinade.  I have roasted vegetables in balsamic vinegar before, so this sauce made from red peppers and balsamic vinegar is intriguing.  I bet it would be delicious on a steak!  Add in some salt and olive oil and this recipe for Roasted Onions looks great as well.

This website is exactly what I need before a move, but after playing around with it for just a few minutes I can see it becoming a useful resource for the future as well.  It is searching recipes all over the web so it has the advantage of giving you a wider variety of results then from just searching on your usual website.  Cooking is a science that I have not yet mastered to the point where I can make many of my own creations, but with a recipe in hand I am ready to roll.