Year-End Pantry Challenge

After coming home from work last night, I desperately wanted Mr. Gyro's Greek salad to take home and enjoy while watching some TV. However, I suggested non-takeout items to my partner when talking about dinner. He's pretty open to whatever so I figured I might as well eat at home while clearing out the pantry.

One of my biggest issues with cooking dinner is that I'm usually hungry by the time I need to eat. Since I didn't eat my little fruit-and-cheese snack pack at work, we had that as our appetizer while I scoured the pantry and fridge.

I boiled up some red potatoes then roasted them in the oven with broccoli. While that was going, I cooked up some quinoa on the stove and found some basics for a salad (mixed greens, tomato, onion, croutons). I wanted something creamy/saucy and used up the last few slices of bread to spread with a garlic butter and top with white cheddar and parm. 

It was great! Dinner was ready in maybe 25 minutes and I felt good about saving a trip out (and very slowly working toward a zero waste kitchen). I thought about events we have going on this weekend before the new year and need to clear out some of the excess treats and beverages. 

I found some chocolate coins, caramels, Rice Krispies cereal (I really wanted Rice Krispie treats on Christmas Eve and have about half a box left) and searched out a few recipes that don't require marshmallow/fluff. You'll have to follow along on my Instagram to see how these turned out and what other recipes come out of this pantry clear out! 

My hope is to minimize year-end spending, use what I have, and then I can do a quick wipe-down and organizing of my fridge/pantry in the next week.

Please share your favorite go-to "kitchen sink" and pantry clear-out recipes!