The days of summer pantrying are in full swing. The summer pantry is quite different from the winter pantry, as we are adding to it instead of taking away. The heat also creates less of an appetite, so our meals are fresher and smaller, while in winter it feels like we are eating like kings with feasts for every meal. For everything there is a season!

Last week I kept track of everything I did in the kitchen to share with you all. It’s easy to want to keep a pantry, preserve food, and cook from scratch. But what does that really look like day to day? Sometimes it’s helpful to see the practical details of a working kitchen, and hopefully posts like these can be that for you. Our labors this week not only provided us food for the moment, but for the future as well. Excess was made for the freezer and harvests from the garden were preserved for winter eating. This is the art of pantrying— the little dance we do with food scraps and simple ingredients we have on hand. It’s beautiful and rewarding and my favorite way to spend my days. Grab an iced tea, settle in, and enjoy a week-long visit to my kitchen!

Sunday

Before church in the morning, Mom got some sunflower seeds that had been soaking overnight into the oven to dehydrate for a few hours. After church, she added them to the food processor with some salt and made sunbutter for the week ahead. Before bed in the evening, I got my sourdough starter out of the fridge. I gave it a feeding and set it on the counter to rise overnight. I also started 1/4 batch of sourdough tortillas (I follow this recipe but with half the amount of lard) with some discard from the fridge. It wasn’t freshly fed but it still fermented just fine! I set the tortilla dough on the counter to rise overnight.

Monday

On Monday morning I used my starter that I fed the night before to make bagel dough. I then put the rest of my starter back in the fridge. It was going to be a hot one, so I took some time in the morning to make some drinks. I made a batch of my favorite sweet tea lemonade, cold brew coffee, and a hibiscus green tea that I set in the sun to brew. For lunch I cooked the tortillas and made quesadillas with leftover steak from the weekend. I served that with sour cream and a simple pico de gallo of garden tomatoes, cilantro, onion, and sea salt. Around dinner time I got the bagels shaped, the water boiling, and the oven preheating. Once the bagels were in the oven, I chopped garden veggies— cucumber, tomato, carrot, green onion, and dill— and got some deli meat out of the fridge. A bagel sandwich with cream cheese, carrot, cucumber, dill, and salami is *chefs kiss*. While I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I went through the fridge and organized things a bit. I found some cream that was going to spoil soon so I threw it in the mixer to make butter. It was far too warm in the house for butter making so it turned out more like whipped butter, but I put it in the freezer and made a mental note to use it up quickly once I thaw it. I put the strained buttermilk in the fridge. I chopped some cucumbers to put in a jar of brine that was empty (we reuse brines at least twice). I also made an infused water of cucumber, parsley, and lemon and put that in the fridge overnight so I could drink that before my coffee the next morning.

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning I made a breakfast quesadilla with the last remaining tortilla. In the afternoon I pulled my starter out of the fridge and gave it a feeding. I then strained the cold brew coffee through my reusable coffee filter, composted the grounds, and put the cold brew back in the fridge. We had some bacon in the fridge that was cooked over the weekend, but had no plans for it. So I chopped that and put it in the freezer, perfect for adding to salads, pizzas, or pasta salads. Supper was simple— I used our garden potatoes to make a batch of rosemary fries, and while those were cooking, I threw some local smoked sausages in the oven as well. That was served with a garden coleslaw of cabbage, carrots, green onions with an Asian dressing (Vinegar, tamari, sweet chili sauce, maple syrup, and garlic powder to taste). We’ve made that slaw with every cabbage we’ve harvested so far and it’s delicious! Before bed I used my starer that I fed in the afternoon to begin a rustic loaf. I also used some starter to begin waffle batter so I could use up the buttermilk that was strained off on Monday. I combined 3/4 cup of fed and active sourdough starter, 1 cup of buttermilk, 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of butter (or coconut oil), 2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of cane sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I covered that with a lid and allowed it to ferment on the counter for a few hours before putting it in the fridge overnight. (When I am making this batter in the winter, I will let it sit on the counter all night. But since our house gets hot in the summer, I ferment it overnight in the fridge.)

Wednesday

By Wednesday, the heat had sapped my energy and I was quickly realizing that the rest of the week was not going to be as exciting or productive as my winter pantrying post was. I shaped my loaf and let it proof while I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt to my waffle batter. I cooked those for breakfast, adding local blueberries to some, and enjoyed them with lots of homemade butter and local maple syrup. Bits and bobs of leftovers were enjoyed for both lunch and dinner.

Thursday

Leftover waffles were enjoyed for breakfast and bagel sandwiches again for lunch. Mom made tacos for dinner served with salsa from the tomatoes we canned last year (most of our tomatoes are still green on the plants…but soon!) In the evening I got chickpeas soaking in filtered water with a bit of ACV (to remove the phytic acid and other anti-nutrients). I also took my sourdough starter out of the fridge, gave it a feeding, and left it on the counter to double overnight. I made more cucumber-parsley-lemon infused water for the fridge and then called it quits for the day.

Friday

On Friday morning I changed the bean water out with fresh and used my starter to begin a “flatbread” dough of sorts. (I didn’t measure, but I essentially used my sandwich loaf recipe). Around dinner time, I got the chickpeas boiling in water. I had every intention to make hummus and serve it with the flatbread, but I was so done for the week. Once the chickpeas were cooked I put them in the fridge along with the flatbread dough and ended up eating ice cream for dinner. Hey, just being honest!

Saturday

By the time Saturday rolled around, my craving for hummus was gone (it’s really not my favorite, and it was an odd thing for me to desire in the first place) so I ended up freezing the cooked chickpeas. I’ve never done this before, but apparently it works well. I can reach for them if ever I want to make a quick curry, roast them for some crunch on a salad, or if my hummus craving rolls back around! I took the flatbread dough out of the fridge and allowed it to come to room temperature for a bit and then cooked them in a hot cast iron skillet. Once those cooled, I popped them in the freezer for future “personal pizzas”. The original plan wasn’t followed, but nothing was wasted and in a way I’ve made future meals easier for myself. A large harvest of basil was turned into pesto— 1 jar for fresh eating now, 2 for the freezer. I simply used what I already had on hand which were walnuts. In the food processor I blended 2 cups of basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/3 cup of walnuts, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, a squeeze of a lemon, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and a bit of water until it came together. I also canned a batch of dill pickles, a batch of sweet pickles, and baked a loaf of my einkorn banana bread with some bananas that were overripe on the counter. For dinner I made a grilled cheese with sourdough, pesto, mozzarella cheese, and garden tomatoes. The flavors were so fresh and it was a great way to end a week of summer pantrying.

Summer’s fresh flavors and light meals from the garden are a joy. Harvests will pick up soon and preserving will be done in larger batches instead of a pint here or there. I hope you’ve enjoyed a little visit to my kitchen, and that you feel inspired to go cook something yummy in yours. I know it’s a lot of work, but kitchens are meant to be places of high production. Take heart dear friends— and keep baking the bread, soaking the beans, browning the meat, and preserving the surplus.