The Pantry Challenge

I got so caught up in blogging and thinking about my date at the opera tonight that I completely forgot I am going to the beach tomorrow!

And guess who promised to bring all the goodies?

This girl.

I literally have a half an hour until I have to get ready to leave for my date. That leaves me with a) no time to go the store and b) no time to cook anything that requires a lot of time. Here’s what I could find in my pantry.

Thank goodness for leftover ingredients…

The pasta is cooking as I type and all of the veggies are cut into bite-sized pieces and marrying with the herbs and beans in a large bowl. I had a few sundried tomatoes left so I decided to throw those in the mix as well (I threw in the residual oil as well since I would have added it for a dressing anyway). I’m feeling pretty good about this dish. I just discovered a loaf of stale baguette in my fridge, so I’m going to cut it up and toast it in the oven with oil, thyme, and garlic. I’m hoping it’ll come together as a nice, homemade cracker.

So it's been about twenty minutes and everything is done cooking. The kitchen smells fantastic! I ended up adding a can of black beans and about a quarter cup of balsamic vinaigrette to the pasta salad to beef it up a little, and it tastes very fresh and yummy. I didn’t try the crackers, but they look delicious. I’m hoping to have time either late tonight or early tomorrow to whip up something for dessert. Any ideas? I’m wavering between chocolate chip cookies and no-bake oatmeal raisin cookies….or maybe both?

Phew! Potential crisis averted! Now time to go get dressed for my date… I’ll post tomorrow about how everything goes with updated recipes and photos! Until then, I challenge you to raid your own pantry to see if you can come up with something as delicious and healthy as I did. Chances are you’ll surprise yourself with something amazing.