Dinner Tetris with Spam, black olives & kale

Six batchable, toteable dinners using your forever ingredients.

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Mar 14, 2024

∙ Paid

Welcome to Show Me Your Forevers, I'll Make You Dinner, a long name for an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand (and perhaps are tired of? Don’t even want to look at?) and I’ll dream up three dinners using those ingredients.

Today, this newsletter’s recipe tester and editor, Caroline Lange, schemed dinners for three of your pantries. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinners, head here.

The Cook: Sara (she/her)

Occupation: office & retail

Residing in: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Feeding: 2 - myself and my partner

Notes: No dietary restrictions. We like recipes that make leftovers for lunch the next day!

Forever ingredients:

Proteins and starches: Unsalted nuts (usually peanuts and walnuts), flour, sushi rice, pasta (usually penne), canned beans (black, cannellini, chickpea), canned tuna in oil, peanut butter, Parmesan, boneless skinless chicken thighs, frozen white fish, frozen shrimp, frozen meatballs, eggs
Vegetables: Onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, Fuji apples
Flavorings: Butter (salted & unsalted), salt, pepper, chili flakes, olive oil, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, mayo, mustard, dijon mustard, spicy chili miso, lime juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, pickles, black olives, chicken Better Than Bouillon, garlic, baking powder & baking soda, pesto

Three dinners that double as lunch the next day

🫘Black bean and sweet potato soup

Onion, garlic, chili flakes, sweet potato, black beans, butter, lime

Heat a large pot over medium. Melt a couple tablespoons of unsalted butter, then add a chopped onion, a few cloves of roughly chopped garlic, and salt and pepper. Stir until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes, then add a big pinch of chili flakes and a big diced sweet potato (peel on). Sauté until bright orange and just fork-tender, another 7 minutes or so. (If you have any other spices kicking around—cumin, coriander, chili powder, a pinch of cinnamon—add them, too.)

Pour in two 15-ounce cans of black beans with their liquid, rinsing the cans with a bit of water and adding that as well. Simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender and the soup has thickened slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in a tablespoon of unsalted butter and the juice of half of a lime. Add more lime juice to taste. Tortilla chips, Fritos, or warmed tortillas would be really good accompaniments here.

🌶️Spicy miso braised chicken

Boneless skinless chicken thighs, onion, garlic, mushrooms, spicy chili miso, Bouillon, spinach

Place 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, a thickly sliced onion, a few cloves of smashed garlic, and some sliced or roughly chopped mushrooms in a large pot. Use a fork to whisk together 3 cups of water with a scoop each of the spicy chili miso and chicken Better Than Bouillon (I’d do this in a big measuring cup), then pour it over the chicken and vegetables; add more water as needed to cover. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer until the chicken is very tender and the liquid is reduced, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook a pot of sushi rice. When the chicken is completely tender, remove it from the heat and use two forks to shred it coarsely right in the pot. Fold in a few handfuls of baby spinach (or stemmed, roughly chopped mature spinach) and cover for 2 minutes, until the spinach is just wilted. Serve over the rice.

🍋Pasta salad!

Pasta, olive oil, mushrooms, tuna, black olives, chickpeas, garlic, chili flakes, lemon, spinach

Cook a pound of pasta (ideally a short shape rather than a long one here) for about 3 minutes past al dente (thanks to Cook’s Illustrated for this tip!), then drain and run under cold water. Transfer to a large bowl. Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering, then add sliced or chopped mushrooms. Sauté until golden, season with salt and pepper, then add a few cloves of minced garlic and a big pinch of chili flakes and stir until fragrant, a minute or two. Scrape into the pasta bowl. To the bowl, add tuna and its oil, coarsely chopped black olives, and a drained, rinsed can of chickpeas. Toss to coat well, adding a glug more of olive oil if needed. Season with freshly squeezed lemon juice and toss with baby spinach just before serving.

The cook: Hannah (she/her)

Occupation: I’m a Produce Incentive Specialist—I help bolster Utah’s food system by designing produce incentive programs that provide farmers with additional revenue streams, increase consumer’s food budget, and keep money in the local economy.

Residing in: Salt Lake City, UT

Feeding: 2

Notes: My partner and I love to cook and both work from home, so 6 out of 7 days of the week we are cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner! We are also avid campers and skiers, so anything we can take on the road is a plus.