The Empty Fridge Challenge

One thing that I am particularly proud of is my ability to create a meal out of almost nothing. When I see an empty fridge with just a couple of ingredients something just comes to me, and if I can toot my own horn right here for a moment, it usually comes out pretty darn delicious. Now seeing as how we do not go food shopping nearly enough this happens more times than I would like to admit. My boyfriend however did an amazing job with our first garden this year and we have tons of vegetables and herbs we can utilize. 

Even George was not impressed by the selection. 

So here's what we had to work with: 

1. Two Sausages

2. One Steak 

3. Half of a bell pepper

4. One avocado

5. Frozen Loaf of Bread

6. Variety of condiments

7. Box of couscous 

Initially I thought I would just saute up the bell pepper and use that as our side, but then I saw the frozen bread and I immediately thought Panzanella Salad. This is something that I love, and I have shared the recipe for my roasted vegetable version on the blog before. What I love about this type of salad is you could add any components you have available, how little they may be, because the bread is the star. 

For the Panzanella Salad: 

1.Take the bread and cut into cubes 

2. Coat them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic

3. baked them in the oven until golden brown. 

4. I then added in the sliced bell pepper, avocado, a tomato and some basil from our garden.

For the dressing I combined: 

1. red wine vinegar 

2. dijon mustard

3. raspberries 

4. honey

5. salt and pepper

6. garlic

I then just grilled up the steak, the sausages, and cooked the couscous. It was a simple meal that was full of flavor. The star of the meal? Definitely my Raspberry Dijon Dressing, which I am now going to start using all. the time. 

Meals do not have to be extravagant to be delicious, as long as they are cooked with tons of flavor. 

xo. Casey