Let's start simple, shall we?

I have a back-log of food I have made, but don't have all the recipes on-hand, so I am going to begin with the results of a pantry-filling trip from not so long ago. I will also talk about a few of the ingredients, what I can and did use them for.




1. Umeboshi Paste: A Japanese condiment, often found in macrobiotic cooking. It is a form of pickled plum, salty and tangy, it is often used in lieu of butter. It is also used for dressings. For a quick and simple dressing, toss some umeboshi, fresh garlic, tahini, and water into a blender. It goes great with both cooked and fresh greens.


2. Avocados: Oh my god, Wild Oats was having a 50 cents each sale on organic avocados! Yes please! You will be seeing a lot of avocados here, on average I eat at least one or two a week, sometimes one to two meals a day. Avocado is extremely versatile, I use them for sandwiches, sushi style rolls, salad dressings, accessories, even as a substantiator in pies!

3. Adzuki Beans: Popular in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese cuisine, I have yet to use these. If you have ever had any sort of Asian dessert filled with a red, sweet paste, you have eaten Adzuki. I plan on using these for something like sloppy joes, or just as a side dish of their own.

4. Dates: You know these, many of Scheherazade's Thousand and One Nights began with some merchant carelessly tossing a date-stone and accidentally killing some guy, forever being indebted to a Djinn, evil Vizier, yada yada. Thus far I have used them for date crumb bars (tasty recipe, but needs tweaking. Will likely post the results when I make them again), and some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, another recipe that is promising but in need of serious tweaking.

5. Assorted whole grain products. These are serious stuff. I generally prefer to keep my whole grains cooked, as it's a good 'backdrop' to any food. Still, I also like my decadences and these are vital for baking-cookies, pies, breads, bars, cupcakes, biscuits, etc. The puffed millet is good quick n' easy no-bake dessert bars, though I am experimenting to find a better puffed whole grain besides brown rice. Overwhelmingly you will see that I pretty seriously avoid processed flour if I can help it, though I am starting to dabble in the occasional "junky" food, just to refine my cooking repertoire.