kitchen cleanout extravaganza

Ways to use up stuff in your kitchen when you're about to move house:

- Use up leftover salad dressing as a marinade for meat or fish.

- Zest and juice a lemon; add the juice to the water when you make couscous, and stir in the zest afterward.

- Add a healthy shake of curry powder to the water whenever you cook a whole grain.

- Things you can stir into cooked whole grains: a few spoons of tomato sauce, pan-fried onions/garlic, chopped up leftover meat or fish, chopped raw veggies and/or herbs laying around in your fridge, or even nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans). Experiment with flavor combinations .

- Toss leftover brown rice with a can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed) and some sausages from the freezer, sliced into coins and panfried. Sprinkle generously with Old Bay seasoning and any hot sauce you'd like to use up.

- Crush leftover crackers in a mortar and pestle. Stir into canned crab, salmon, or tuna. Add a beaten egg, a spoonful of mayonnaise, and any spice you want to use up (curry powder, for example, or Old Bay seasoning). Form into patties and panfry.

- Experiment with unconventional baked goods, like brown rice cookies or mayonnaise cookies.