Dinner Tetris for a chef & bartender
"We eat so much Taco Bell (hell yeah, honestly)."
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Welcome to Dinner Tetris, an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here.
The Cook: Alex, she/her
Occupation: During the day, I’m an editor at a nonprofit research organization, and I bartend three nights a week.
Residing in: Washington, DC
Feeding: 2
Notes: I’m a vegetarian who’s allergic to avocado (☹️). My boyfriend’s a chef and I’m an earnest kitchen learner. We eat so much Taco Bell (hell yeah, honestly) because he doesn’t want to cook after cooking all day and I’m not yet at I’ll-just-whip-something-together level, especially if we’re both getting home late from our restaurant jobs. We’re also both big on leftovers for this reason (or whatever can be eaten with an egg on top the next day).
Forever ingredients:
Pantry: shell pasta, some kind of rice, black beans, chickpeas, coconut milk, tortilla chips, crushed tomatoes
Condiments: jarred salsa, harissa paste, tomato paste, ACV, peanut butter, miso, veggie better than bullion, ramen noodles, gochujang, honey, soy sauce
Produce: Brussels, green onions, red onion, broccolini, leafy green, big or little peppers, cool strange pepper if the store has one, cauliflower, lemons, limes
Fridge: eggs, Greek yogurt, extra-firm tofu, pickled peppers, duke’s mayo, dijon, mango-habanero hot sauce, rotating suffering herb
Freezer: veggie dumplings, leftover sourdough bread, fake chicken nuggies