Pantry Weekend

This weekend I finally got around to cleaning out my pantry because I was running out of room to store things. I threw out any expired food items I found, donated a bag things to the food pantry, and the rest I decided to cook up to eat! (Gee, I wonder why I didn't do this sooner?) 

This bread is a Beer Bread mix that I bought at a home party a while back. There's something about the smell of baking bread in the fall. Tomorrow I'm going to make a pot of soup to go along with the bread. 

This morning I decided to make a veggie omelet using some of the green peppers my daughter gave me from her garden. 

And I found a box of hash brown potatoes in the pantry, so I cooked them up to go along with the eggs.

In the summer I like to keep a package of pasta salad mix on hand to make a quick side dish when it's warm outside. Well, I found TWO packages in the pantry, so I prepared both of them to serve with my lunches and dinners for the next few days. In fact, this will taste great with the leftover panko-breaded tilapia and sweet potato that I'm having for dinner tonight. So what are you serving for dinner tonight?

New Addition

This little table has been in practically every room in my house as well as up at our cottage. It's been an end table, a sewing table, a table next to the front door, etc. It looks vintage, but I bought it for a song in the clearance section at HomeGoods many, many years ago. I was initially drawn to it because of it's color, but I also loved it's worn look and plaster molding details. It's latest reincarnation is as an island in my kitchen. My kitchen is tiny, so an island was never an option. But this little table fits the dimensions perfectly and for the time being, this is the new home for my shabby-chic aqua table.

Wednesday is Pie Day!

The other day I was at HomeGoods and found a little cookbook called, "Mini Pies" for only $3.99. I couldn't resist buying it because I thought these bite size treats looked mighty tasty. 

If you can't find it at your HomeGoods store, Amazon has it for a couple dollars more here.

All the recipes are made in either a standard size or a mini muffin pan. I already had some Granny Smith apples in the fridge so I decided to give the "Caramelized Apple Tart" recipe a whirl.

 I never quite thought of myself as a pie baker, but these little pies were pretty easy to put together.

And oh boy, these were SO yummy!

I plan to keep these in the freezer and pull them out, one at a time, when I feel the need to have a little something sweet!