#KitchenClearout January roundup and February linky

Wow, I can't believe we're at the end of the month already. January was a blur - which I suppose makes sense, as the first week was travelling back from Christmas and New Year at both sets of parents and getting back up to speed, the week after was my work trip to Norway, the week after was Sophie's school trip to Italy and this week has been parent-teacher evenings. Not surprisingly, I've had no time for baking this month at all, with the exception of some utterly divine chocolate brownies for National Chocolate Cake Day. (Thanks, Mr Hollywood !) Luckily, we've got some new contributors this month who have picked up the slack for me though !

#KitchenClearout is all about getting rid of things that are taking up valuable cupboard/fridge space, whether for human consumption, pets or even for the bin if things are too far gone ! A half bag of seeds with a use by date of 2013 was in this latter category, but rather than dump them, I made them into a huge fat ball for the birds. 

We did eat the next one though, and very nice it was too ! A half pack of glass noodles was turned into a tasty Glass Noodles with Chicken & Veg Stir Fry.

 I also found a pack of prawn crackers that Juliette had great fun popping in hot oil to go with it.

Kirsty from Hijacked By Twins was next with a beautifully fresh and healthy Red Cabbage, Sprouts and Giant Couscous Salad that sounds a great way for using up leftover Christmas veggies.

Another innovative and fresh dish was provided by Galina at Chez Maximka, whose Wild Rocket, Pear & Cheese Soup was inventive and also educational, as it tied in nicely with her son Eddie's school project on ancient Rome.

I decided to start making a dent in my over-stacked spice rack and used up some Chinese Five Spice and Ground Lemongrass in my adaptation of The Hairy Bikers' Vietnamese Pork.

Galina was back with a sweet option this time. Leftover chocolate (surely that's an oxymoron?!) was turned into a scrumptious Chocolate Polenta Cake. I have some polenta in the cupboard so I need to try this.

Jess from Jess Eats & Travels shared her post on how to make crème patissière or pastry cream, which is a great way of using up excess eggs.

I love how inventive everyone has been this month - there are some really fresh and unusual flavour combinations going on, that I'd never have thought of, not to mention some delicious desserts.

Fancy joining in? Have a rummage through your kitchen cupboards, spice rack, freezer or fridge and see if there's anything that needs using up then come and share your creations with us. Or if it's way past its sell-by date, throw it in the bin and come and tell us what you found ! It would be great if you could add my badge and a link to this post for anyone else who wants to get involved.