Crazy days ahead of and behind me. I'm feeling rather like crap, but trying to still balance work and home life plus extra rounds to the clinic for blood draws, pre-op physical and an oh so much fun, additional pelvic exam yesterday. My colleagues, boss, family and friends though are gems. No one is expecting anything, jumping in helping where they can.One thing that has been very helpful has been a fridge and freezer full of portions of this and that for quick and hearty lunches and dinners. I will never understand some peoples loathing of left overs. Granted, there are some foods that don't reheat well, but thinking ahead to how the remainders are stored, can alleviate the reheating issues. I think many foods actually taste better in a leftover state.
This is the state of my refrigerator right now. It isn't quite as bad as it looks as there is an excess of cans and bottles of beer, water, and soda taking up space, so I have things just sort of hanging around on shelves. Still, it needs a good clear, but first, we will make our ways through the leftovers this week for dinner.
I got home early Monday after another clinic visit and finished my work day from home. I could do double duty, making a big goulash hot dish for dinner while working before DD had to be back to school for show choir practice, This yielded dinner for the three of us, plus two generous portions of leftovers. Goulash is one of those foods that are better the next day. DH ate one Tuesday for lunch, DD for supper. I wasn't feeling too well after my exam yesterday, so along with her leftovers, DD made the remaining five from a box of mozzarella bread sticks, and I ate one of those. DH ate the remaining three with a leftover piece of chicken that was in the freezer from a while back. Tonight will be diners choice soup from the soup swap, with some open faced toasted cheese, using up the crusts from two different loaves of bread-the best, and remnants of multiple packages of the bargain cheese. There should still be a couple portions of soup or chili for DH and I 's Thursday lunch. The macaroni that didn't go in the goulash will be mixed with some leftover black beans thrown in the freezer after fajita's form a week or so back, tomatoes, and corn for a pasta salad, or if I add some plain yogurt and cheese, maybe baked into a vegetarian hot dish for tomorrow.
It drives DH crazy, but I save all the little plastic tubs and jars from food products. The plastics are perfect for leftovers that will be tossed into the freezer, and then into my lunch bag; I just write the contents and date with a Sharpie. I like the glass jars for things that I know will be eaten in a day or two, as I can easily see what's in what. I don't hoard so once they've done their duty, they get recycled. I love pasta sauce and pickle jars for storing rice, popcorn, and dry beans. Who needs those expensive kitchen storage containers.
I'm holding strong to meet the $250 grocery challenge (not counting Thanksgiving extra's). Managing leftovers is not just how I try and mange my food bill, but also my sanity on busy days. My friends have talked about a hotdish swap, or even a leftovers swap. What are your thoughts on other peoples leftovers? What's your verdict on leftovers? Do your other humans accept or reject leftovers?
Yes, I know it is now Tuesday morning. I meant to write about my little kitchen successes from Sunday, sure to save me a little money and hassle tonight and tomorrow, but forgot yesterday morning in my fund raiser exuberance. Tuesday and Wednesday are my most stressful days.Tuesday always, just because! No fresh new week, most of the work week still to come, and Wednesday's are just crammed full. Still tired from the fun parts of the weekend. I knew I had to tackle the refrigerator before many things went bad. Try as I might, I still have not conquered food waste, but it is a work in progress.
First was to take care of four small chicken breasts, cooked Thursday but not put back in the freezer in smaller portions. Two went into a medium batch of wild rice soup, also using two of my starting to look sad carrots. That worked for lunch, plus soup leftovers for DD2 before or after violin today. The other two were also cut up, but placed in the freezer ready to go in a hot dish or alfredo sauce for Thursday.
The rest of the carrots, plus a soft onion went in the crock pot with 8 cups of water, 6 stock cubes, and a heaping teaspoon of pepper. Later I diced a couple potatoes to throw in. I had a bag of fresh broccoli florets that got shoved to the back of the refrigerator. I steamed them, then through those in too. Later, when the vegetables were soft, I whizzed it all with the hand mixer to thicken it up, still keeping loads of broccoli chunks, added four ounces of shredded cheddar, and voila, cheddar broccoli soup for Wednesday night supper. I think I'll make some drop biscuits to go with them.
After working at the meat raffle, I still needed something for supper. We didn't eat the second soup as we had the wild rice for lunch. DD had made herself pasta and jarred sauce on Saturday, leaving 1/2 a jar. I had small size packet of pepperoni in the pantry, another small soft onion, some wilting spinach, and made my own flat bread no rise pizza crust. It was delicious, and stuffed the three of us full.
I had to send DH to the store earlier for cheese for soup and pizza, but Cobornes had Kraft packages for $1.98, with a buy 6, get $3.00 off. Mot too shabby. I'm cheese stocked again. He also grabbed six Roma pizza's for $10, perfect as no school Wednesday-Friday this week and we are bound to have an extra kid or two around. Other deals included 3 for $5.00 post cereal, a loaf of bread, two packages of deli meet, and buy one get one instant oatmeal packets, spending around $33.00 for fill in groceries.
I salvaged/used up:
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 soft onions
- 5 soft carrots
- 1 about to go bad broccoli
- wilted spinach
- 1/2 jar of pasta sauce
- and DH ate the last pork chop (that maybe should have been thrown-fingers crossed no illness) for lunch Monday
I'm getting four meals from these ingredients, plus leftovers. Granted, I threw a few things, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been in the garbage. I am ahead of the game for a few meals as well now. We just had quick sandwiches on Monday as DD had a concert and I had a couple more appointments later afternoon. What success have you had recently in the kitchen? Who's tamed the food waste beast?
(Sorry for no pictures-I had them posted, but then was getting a linking error so just deleted them.)
Chances are you were either the preparer or the benefactor of some lush holiday dishes and leftovers from the feast. I was both so now is the time, in this weekend post Christmas, to put those remains to good use.
I have the following leftovers from the past days of celebrating; ham and a ham bone, shredded beef, shredded colby-jack cheese, three large boneless buffalo chicken snacks, sour cream, and half a jar of pepper jelly. I also have some miscellaneous fresh grocery items that need to be used up. I love to cook and will use these as inspiration to not only not waste food, but keep the holiday food spirit right through New Years.
I have both the ham bone, and the bits and pieces of sliced ham that weren't eaten Christmas Eve. The ham bone will become stock for a big batch of bean soup. With DD#1 not at home, I do not have to make it vegetarian. The added bonus is that my sister who hosted Christmas Eve loves bean soup but her family does not so she will get a jar as well. I posted my recipe earlier, and here is that link. Bean Soup This recipe base is for the meatless kind, but the only difference is cooking the beans with the ham bone the whole time, and then later picking off the very tender little pieces of ham that haven't fallen off the bone on their own.
With the bits of ham, part of the colby cheeses, and the remains of a bag of spinach salad and sour cream, I will make a tasty egg bake. Economical and feels more special than just scramble eggs and toast. Whisk 6 eggs with 3/4 cups of milk, a can of cream of something soup (I'll use mushroom), and the sour cream remains (probably about 1/3 cup). Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, place the spinach leaves, ham bits, and light sprinkle of cheese, on the bottom of the dish. Pour the egg mixture on top evenly, and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or slightly longer depending on the depth of your baking pan. A knife inserted should come out clean. If you have a lot of cheese, sprinkle more on top before baking. This feeds four people generously, and or more if you are having other items.
With half the beef, given to me by my sister from the huge amount she had leftover, half was simmered in a slow cooker with barbecue sauce and served on sandwich rolls. With some frozen French fries, and garlicky, ketchup, mayo mix, it was a delicious Friday night dinner. The other half will be used with some baking potatoes, carrots, and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and some packet gravy mix into a beef stew. I'll bake up the last two frozen bread loaves as well, and Monday dinner is done.
As for the boneless wings, those will be sliced up today, with the last of the colby-jack, and baked between some tortillas and presto, Quesadillas for the football games today. I'll pour the pepper jelly over half a brick of cream cheese and we will also have a delicious spread for crackers or on toast or a bagel.
With this plan, and the last of our groceries from before Christmas,I won't need to do a grocery run for a couple more days other than for maybe milk, bread, and fresh fruit, and should be able to get the fridge good and cleaned out, making a fresh start for the year. How are you using your leftovers up? Do you have favorites post holiday that you intentionally plan to have leftovers for?
