Lime Chili Chips and Fruit Salsa | The Recipe ReDux

Extra-crunchy, buttery homemade pita chips are served with colorful fruit salsa; sprinkled with poppy seeds – for an element of fun.

We’re totally on a spring cleaning kick. I’ve been organizing, cleaning and discovering all sorts of treasures in my pantry. (See pic below!) And Deanna’s been spring cleaning, every other corner of her kitchen ==> See her Healthy Kitchen Hacks – Spring Cleaning Edition.

Even our Recipe ReDux friends are cleaning – as it’s this month’s ReDux theme:

Spring cleaning: Go through your pantry, cupboards, freezer, or fridge; what ‘treasures’ have you found? Pick an ingredient/spice/condiment that’s been hanging out for a while and give it the attention it needs. Share a healthy recipe made using your new-found pantry prize.

You’ll find out what ‘pantry prize’ I found, but first…

In case you haven’t yet caught the cleaning bug , I have some inspiration for you: There are THREE BIG reasons why cleaning your pantry is really healthy.

1. Healthy For Your Wallet
If you know what’s in your pantry, you can plan a few meals with ingredients you have already purchased – instead of spending cash for more groceries.

• Take stock of your pantry every few months to help with menu planning.
• Try to eat only what you have for a week or two.  Here’s how Sally @RealMomNutrition did a whole month of pantry-only eating.

2. Healthy For Your Family
I find the first items to leave my pantry are the snacks (crackers, sweet cereals, etc.) but the last to leave are:

• Whole grains (Who else has hulless barley sitting in the dark corners of the cupboard?)
• Canned beans, canned fruits, canned veggies
• Unfamiliar spices, seeds, condiment sauces. Click on any of the healthy Recipe ReDux blogs below, then search for a recipe to use your unfamiliar find.

I go through my pantry and throw out dated ingredients and even less-than-healthy-items that I may have purchased on sale. Then I try to incorporate more of those whole grains and healthy canned foods into my meal plan.

3. Healthy For Others

• Some items you might find may be needed at your local food pantry; check out this list of What Food Banks Need Most (And What They Get Too Much Of) via Charity @Foodlets
• Make sure items are not past the ‘use-by’ date

Now about that pantry prize: When I did my pantry spring cleaning I found three jars of poppy seeds! Beyond poppy seed dressing and muffins, I haven’t found too many uses. And that’s too bad; because like other seeds, poppy seeds are rich in nutrients:

• Calcium
• Iron and zinc
• B vitamins

So to amp up our after-school snack routine, I created this fruit-sweetened salsa with super crunchy whole grain pita chips. Poppy seeds add an element of ‘sprinkles-fun’ since I let the kids go to town with sprinkling from the poppy seed jar.

What treasures did you discover when you ‘spring cleaned’ your pantry? How to you use poppy seeds? (PLEASE share -I need to use up all those jars.)

Click on any of the healthy Recipe ReDux post below to get inspiration for using up what’s lurking in your pantry.