Staple Soup

Kelly over at Almost Frugal did a post recently on the 6 key ingredients she uses in her day to day life to make quick easy meals. It's good to have fall back stash of multi-purpose foods you can rely on in a pinch when you need to make a quick, easy and cheap meal.

Reading through her list I realized a) I don't bake as much as I should, and b) I'm running out of my staples at home and need to stock up! Haha. It got me thinking though. While initially I looked at the list and thought "Yep, those are my staples too", I realized afterwards that they really weren't anymore. My staples have shifted.

These are Kelly's 6 Staples:

1. Flour
2. Baking Powder
3. Salt
4. Oil
5. Milk
6. Eggs

These are my 6 Staples:

1. Tea
2. Milk
3. Sugar
4. Bread
5. Eggs
6. Pepper

That's not to say that I don't use the other items, because I do, it's just that these are the 6 I use most frequently and almost always have on hand. I'd be lying if I said I never skipped meals and just had a cup of tea instead because I'm busy or on the run. I almost did that tonight :s Add on some squash, onions, garlic and canned tomatoes to this list and I'm pretty content for quite a while.

I'm not going to put up a recipe for my top 6, because I'm pretty sure most of you can figure out what goes into an omelet or french toast yourself, but I will put up one I did recently with squash and garlic. Actually, I do it frequently. It's stupid simple.

Basically:

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You take a medium sized butternut squash, cut it into chunks that are similar in size to a golf ball, and put them in a roasting pan. Then take the papery peel off ~8 cloves of garlic, and throw them in the roasting pan with the garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, wrap top with foil or lid, and put them in the oven at 350F/175C until they're softened and toasty (about 45 minutes). Let them cool enough to handle, and take the peel off the squash (you're supposed to do it first thing, but I find it's easier this way). Put the squash and garlic into a pot, and cover with either stock, or water with bouillon cubes/powder. Simmer on medium-low for about half an hour or so, then remove from heat. Either transfer this to a blender, or use an immersion blender, and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, reheat if necessary.

It's really easy to make, and super forgiving. You can put the stuff in the oven and walk away to do something else while it's roasting. Ditto when it's simmering. It's really adaptable too, you can add all sorts of seasoning to it. I usually like mine with just salt, pepper, and a dollop of either yogurt or sour cream.

Anywho, I have homework calling my name. Have a good night everyone. Happy eating :)