Using Things Up in December

I have a big long list of ingredients that need to be used, sooner rather than later, so I guess I better get started!

Coconut Milk - The Chocolate Pomegranate Tart didn't use the entire can of coconut milk. Originally I was going to make a Thai Curry of some sort, but then decided to just add it to some rice. This simple Coconut Rice formed a great base for our leftover Moorish Shrimp Kabobs, and helped cut down some of the spiciness. And Wayne decided that cooking rice in coconut milk with some sugar would make a great rice pudding. Maybe we'll give it a try someday.

Pomegrante Arils - The tart didn't use all of the pomegranate in the refrigerator, either. We used some to garnish a few different salads, others to top our morning cereal (worked for both oatmeal and cracked wheat), and even more to make ice cubes for our Christmas punch. Oh, and we also added some to our Sunday chicken.

Cranberry Sauce - Along with the pomegranate, we used our extra cranberry sauce in this chicken recipe. I expected it to melt in the oven, but it didn't, so be sure to mix the sauce together first. There was more than we needed for the chicken, so we stirred the unused sauce into some extra rice for another side dish on another day.

Cream Cheese - We opened a package of cream cheese for our Creamy Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving, but didn't use all of it. That meant there was just the perfect amount to use in a Spritz Cookie recipe comparison.

Buttermilk - Our Christmas baking provided an opportunity to use up the buttermilk leftover from the Red Velvet Cake.