It’s been nearly two months since my last Use It or Lose It! post: where has the time gone? Certainly I’ve been opening jars and using ’em up; it’s just that, if it’s not a new recipe, I don’t think about keeping track, or mentioning it on the blog. So I thought I would do a round-up of what I did with my bounty over the food- and fun-filled holiday season.

When people ask me how I can stand to eat locally throughout the long New York winter, I often say that we could live, and live well, for months on what we have in the larder. Most of the recipes highlighted below took nary a trip to the store; with onions, garlic, meat and cheese from my winter farmer’s market, and once-a-month staples like sugar and nuts from Trader Joe’s, we do just fine. Just fine indeed.

How about you: have you made anything great from your jarred goodies? Seen an inspiring recipe? Please share in comments!

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Stuff in Jars

• Several batches of Fruit Butter Granola using pureed honey-spiced peaches, apple butter and cranberry apple butter, strawberry rhubarb dessert sauce, pear syrup (to replace maple syrup) and a pre-blog, 2008 (oops) jar of peach almond conserve that never really set; bonus use of a tablespoon or jam here or there if I think the flavor profile will work
• Innumerable chutney & cheese lunches with bread or crackers
• Fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste in Cajun Sausage & Flageolet Stew; bonus use of green bell peppers, chiles, and corn frozen last summer
• Spicy plum sauce, curried apple chutney,  pink pickled shallots and cranberry chutney served with Crispy Baked Potato Skins
• Wild wineberry preserves and homemade apple cider vinegar in a jam & buttermilk salad dressing
• Fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste in Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew; bonus use of frozen corn & baby spinach, homemade stock, and home-dried chiles
• Mini-pizzas (served at our Christmas party) made with tomato sauce with fresh basil (with spicy chorizo & fresh mozz), peach cascabel BBQ sauce (with smoked mozzarella and red onion) or frozen ramp & cilantro pesto (with goat cheese & pine nuts)
• Several chutneys & jams on our Christmas cheese tray
• Pear syrup over pancakes
• The last of the raspberry chocolate refrigerator jam over ice cream (about time)
• Whole wheat pizza with garden vegetable tomato sauce and frozen bell pepper
• PB&J wrap sandwiches are Tai’s thing: his latest is PB & pumpkin cascabel marmalade

Root Cellared, Frozen or Dried

• Kitchen counter-stored pumpkin, frozen corn and chiles, home-dried pequin chiles, homemade stock and chopped frozen cilantro in Southwestern Pumpkin Soup
• Dried basil and chiles from the summer’s CSA in Spicy Basil Roasted Chicken
• A big batch of my favorite Roasted Pumpkin Soup for our Christmas party
• Simple pasta with frozen Basil Pesto and grated, aged goat cheese

Pomegranate Jam Hearts from Food Republik (image Food Republik)

Elsewhere on the Web

• Marisa’s Open Jars series is going strong with Turkey Taco Salad, The Oregonian’s savory jam round-up, Fancy Grilled Cheese, Blue Cheese Savories, and Jam into BBQ Sauce 
• Shae gives us a round-up of cookies that use jam (including the jam hearts above) over at Hitchhiking to Heaven
• Deb at Smitten Kitchen shares these crescent jam & cheese cookies
• Kristen at The Kitchen Sink makes thumbprint cookies (filled with chocolate, but surely you can substitute jam)
• Julia of What Julia Ate makes Meyer Lemon Marmalade Shortbread, Raspberry Currant Pop Tarts, and Jelly Glazed Roll Cookies