Pantry Makeover

What to Keep, What to Toss

Everybody loves a makeover, and your pantry is no exception. Can’t you hear it begging you? “Fill me with healthy, delicious foods! Please, please, please!” Breaks your heart, doesn’t it?

Let’s give your pantry what it’s asking for. Here are some simple guidelines for what to keep, and what to toss, in your pantry.

What to Keep
Here’s the simple rule: Eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce. Easy, right? Here are some suggestions…

Whole Grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, oats
Beans: lentils, pinto, black, chick pea, aduki
Snacks: LaraBars, Go Raw Trek Mex from Trader Joe’s, Mary’s Gone Crackers Flax Crackers, dried goji berries, Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Chips, dark chocolate
Soups: Shelton’s Turkey Chili, Amy’s Butternut Squash
Condiments: Wheat-free Tamari, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, dried spices, coconut oil, Amy’s Green Garlic dressing

What to Toss
Simple guidelines here, too: toss anything that has partially hydrogenated oil (be sure to read labels!), high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, white flour, or an ingredient list a mile long. Not sure if a food falls into this category? Here’s a simple test – if the food in question is heavily advertised, it’s probably in the toss pile. You don’t see a lot of advertising dollars spent on broccoli and quinoa, but there’s some serious bucks behind most processed foods.

Food Focus: Top Five Freezer Foods

We’ve given so much attention to the pantry, our freezers are starting to feel left out! Frozen foods are another great way to keep high-quality meals and snacks on hand. Here are our five favs:

1. Edamame – these delicious baby soybeans are ready in a snap, great with Celtic Seal Salt and fun to eat
2. Organic Frozen Veggies – make a fabulous stir-fry on the fly
3. Amy’s Frozen Entrees and Burritos – almost like mom used to make
4. Rice Expressions Frozen Original Brown Rice – individually portioned brown rice in 3 minutes
5. Organic Frozen Mixed Berries – perfect for yummy smoothies

Recipe: Simple Brown Rice Stir Fry
Use staples from your pantry and freezer. Serves four.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
4 Tbsp tamari (wheat-free)
1-2 skinless, boneless breast halves, thinly sliced crosswise
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsp olive
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 tsp minced fresh ginger or1 tsp powdered
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice, cooked and cooled
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2/3 cup chopped green onion

Directions:
1. Stir walnuts in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat until lightly toasted (3 minutes). Drizzle 2 Tbsp tamari over walnuts: stir until tamari coats walnuts (45 seconds). Cool. These can be made ahead and stored at room temperature in airtight container for 3 days.
2. Combine chicken, 2 Tbsp tamari and 1tsp honey in a medium bowl. Toss to coat and let stand 15 minutes.
3. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add cooked rice, red pepper and sesame oil: reduce heat to medium and stir-fry until heated through (about 5 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Divide rice mixture among plates. Sprinkle with green onions and walnuts.

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