I often get asked what are the staples that I always have in my pantry. Well one of these days I am going to put together a list but this recipe includes three ingredients that I always have: sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and curry paste. I know curry paste seems super random but since it is so flavorful and rich, you can create pretty much something out of nothing with it and it will always taste good. It is a great way to create a base of a dish that uses every last vegetable in your fridge. 

Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea! This week on fridge foraging you all chose the breakfast tacos and it was a great decision. Tacos topped with black beans, bacon, pickled corn and most importantly a fried egg. One of my secret weapons in the kitchen is to always have a carton of eggs around. If you have an egg, you can fry it, poach it, hard boil it and even grate it. So if you have an egg are halfway to a healthy and delicious home cooked meal. 

I have never been able to just eat chicken breasts on their own. To me, they are really hard to prepare and unless they are fried plain chicken breasts just don't have a lot of taste. I am always looking for toppings or pan sauces that will put the flavor into the chicken. Enter this week's choice in fridge foraging - chicken bruschetta. 

When I first started teaching myself to cook (before cooking school) I basically cooked all of Ina's recipes. Her recipes are so well written and tested that it was a great way for me to learn the basics. One of the recipes that I kept on going back to during those days was her Lobster Baked Paella. It was just so easy. I don't think I ever used the lobster in there but the base recipe was delicious. 

This week's fridge foraging was a competition between an asparagus tart and these zucchini and corn fritters. Obviously the fritters won out, creating a really simple and light summer dish. 

I have been making a version of these fritters for many many years. When I first was learning how to cook, years before cooking school, i would go to the farmer's market, buy some vegetables and fruit and see what I could create with it. I came home with pounds and pounds of zucchini one morning and discovered all the ways to eat zucchini, including Ina Garten's amazing zucchini pancakes. 

I don't eat a ton of red meat but when I do, I want to make it count. I recently discovered Porter Road Butcher here in Nashville and absolutely love their products and what they stand for. Since I had an extra skirt steak I thought I would throw that into Fridge Foraging and see what I could make of it. 

The fridge foraging showdown this week was between gazpacho and orzo salad with grilled shrimp. To be honest, I actually thought the gazpacho was going to win out but am sure glad the orzo salad with grilled shrimp was the victor because it sure was tasty. Also my husband announced that he hates gazpacho so that is lucky for him we didn't have that for dinner. 

I love a good cheese board - I mean who doesn't. They are the perfect appetizer  for when you have company over, or sometimes in my case, just dinner!

What I don't love is the half eaten cheese after all of your guests have gone. Do you save it? Do you toss it? Are you really going to use up that quarter of goat cheese? The answer is to save it and make mac n cheese! 

My fridge is filled with summer flavors these days. I pretty much only want to eat corn, zucchini and tomatoes for the next couple of months. 

Shrimp are one of the things that I keep on hand in my freezer. Since they defrost so well they create so many different easy weeknight dinners. 

In today's fridge foraging you all chose shrimp scampi. Shrimp scampi is one of those classic dishes that comes together really easily and taste like a millions dollars. It is pretty hard to beat the garlic, wine, and butter trifecta. 

I swear that most of the food that I eat comes in bowl form. Who needs a plate when you can just pile everything into a huge bowl!

In this week’s fridge foraging you all chose the smoked salmon bowl over the coconut curry stuffed sweet potatoes. The bowl is filled with brown rice, smoked salmon, pickled vegetables, avocado, and served with Sriracha mayo. Hearty and healthy and proves that food in bowl form just tastes better.

I took a couple weeks off from cooking after the baby came - we were surviving on the generosity of food from our friends. I am back now and it feels great to be cooking again and obviously fridge foraging again.

Tonight the options were either chicken noodle soup or naan with all the toppings and the naan won. Great choice since I can never turn down a fried egg.

Thankfully you all like Asian inspired dishes as much as I do because today you guys chose chicken lettuce cups in Fridge Foraging.