Shop Your Kitchen

Many recipes can easily be put together by simply shopping your refrigerator and pantry. Currently, things are a bit sparse at the grocery store and for some this might be a cause of anxiety. Let's put your mind at ease with some nutritious "shop your kitchen" recipes.

Photo: What's Cooking America

Shop the Kitchen Soup

I love to make nutritious and hydrating soups out of food items I have in my kitchen.

1 carton chicken broth

2 chicken breast or thighs or combo

Carrots

Celery

Onion

2 bay leaves

Spiral pasta or any you have on hand will do! If you don't have pasta any complex carbohydrate would work i.e. rice, potatoes, couscous, lentils, white beans...get my drift?

With these basic ingredients you can add other vegetables as well. Kale is delicious in this soup for instance. If you have frozen broccoli you haven't used and it's still hanging around in your freezer, it would go great in this soup!

Photo: Simply Recipes

Pasta al Limone

Lemon sauce for pasta is easy to make if you have cream cheese on hand in your fridge. In my opinion, this makes for the most delicious sauce ever! You may have the sauce as is or add a protein to it if you like. Chicken or shrimp go really well with this dish. In fact this sauce reminds me of a homemade sauce I used to dream about when I lived in Kansas City a long time ago.  I would get the Lemon sauce on pasta with shrimp at a local Italian restaurant.

1 package cream cheese

1/2 C milk

Zest of one lemon

Lemon juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

This sauce is crazy good with angel air pasta but it is really good with fish if you have some in your freezer. Ladle over baked tilapia, orange roughy, or any type of flakey white fish. This sauce may be too rich for a fattier fish such as salmon.

These are easy recipes for kids. Let them shop the kitchen and come up with recipe ideas.  This will serve them well at the family table and later in life!