Cooking Because I CAN!

Hello everyone! Vanessa here this week. Did you know that February, in addition to Black History Month and Heart Month, is also Canned Food Month? I just learned this! You can probably figure why I thought this fun fact is relevant to this week’s lesson of “No Fuss Meals”. One method to creating meals with ease and without fuss is to stock your pantry in a way that works for you.

For me, that means having certain canned staples on hand like canned beans for quick protein. Don’t get me wrong, I am also the bean nerd who collects dried beans (aren’t you glad you know this about me?), but when it’s late and I’m hungry, beans and rice using canned beans and maybe even some jarred salsa counts as a major win in my house. The recipe I’m featuring this week riffs on this, using canned beans along with other staples of my pantry such as canned tomatoes, cornmeal, peppers, onion, garlic and spices to create a version of a childhood favorite of mine: tamale pie. I love transforming what looks like basic food items into a dish that’s so comforting and satisfying to me.

I generally have a pretty good idea of what I’ve got on hand and what I can cook from my pantry, but if you feel a little overwhelmed by figuring out a recipe from your (canned food or otherwise) inventory, don’t worry: there’s an app for that! Apps like MyFridge Food, SuperCook, EmptyMyFridge and others can help. You start with creating a list of all your pantry items and then the apps search a database to find recipes you can make with ingredients you already have on hand. Pretty cool! Now all I need is an app that cleans up the kitchen. Hmmm…