Stuff In My Kitchen and Why I've Blogged About Successful Dinners

When I blog about a "great new recipe" or "great dinner" it is borne out of sheer excitement and gratitude that for one night, I was able to get dinner just right. I've come a long, long way since I was first started cooking for myself let alone my family. There was a time where frozen pizza and supermarket pasta were my signature dishes. Thankfully I've come a long way since then, though I am still known pull out the supermarket pasta or rely on my dialing fingers to order in meals.

Despite my previous entries of meals -- I try, try and try even harder to consistently provide healthy meals for my children but often fail miserable and am so glad my kids happily down their vitamins. Just tonight for example, my children had their cardboard mac and cheese for dinner and I consider it a good week if I only eat or offer my kids fast food for dinner just once. Sometimes, just deciding what to cook completely overwhelms me. Looking at my list of "Stuff in my Kitchen" however, reminds me of how far I've come and makes me feel that perhaps I'm not doing quite so bad afterall. Tomorrow, I'm plannning to cook up some tacos in honor of Cinco De Mayo.

So without further ado; the contents of my cupboards, fridge and freezer....

A List of my must haves in the kitchen -:
Olive Oil
Garlic
Ground Cummin
Granulated Garlic
Dried red pepper & Chili Pepper
Fresh herbs, (I'm growing thyme and oregano)
Kosher rock salt
Ground pepper
Tamari Sauce
Hot Sauce
Malt Vinegar
Whole Grain or nine grain bread
Flax Seed
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Canned black Olives
Parmesan cheese
Rice crackers
Avocado
Artichokes
Fuji apples
Frozen fruit (for fruit smoothies)
Natural yogurt
Maple syrup
Honey
Some type of fish (tilapia, sole, salmon, trout)

(psst..kids eat free at chick-fill-a on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at El Torito)