Gathering Fragments: End of August, First of September

 

Friday:  A brand new start to another week of gathering fragments.  I gave two items to the chickens today: 1 cup of grits, half a loaf of homemade bread that was old.  I had plans to use both but just never got to them and I figured it was best to not waste entirely and let it do good to the egg production at the other house.

I had a very ripe banana* and two ripe but hard little pears*, as well as a smidge of honey left in a jar.  I made muffins.  I diced the pears into the muffin batter.   I also used whey rather than milk in the batter.  This was something Bess brought me this week.

I had ground beef and chicken I'd thawed earlier this week.  I needed to use both.  I browned the beef and started a pot of soup.  I had diced potatoes in the fridge, most of a can of tomatoes* that I also wanted to use.  This went into the soup pot along with a bit of broth* left from last weekend's Pot Roast.   I added other things as well, but they were not gathered fragments of things.

I made a  meal for our supper tonight using the chicken.  The rest of the ingredients were from the pantry.

I had some green bell peppers in the fridge I'd bought on our last big grocery shopping earlier in the month.  I'd planned to make stuffed peppers.   Even though I hope to make them next week, I went ahead and seeded and blanched them and put them in the freezer.

I had a big bag of green beans this week from my produce bag and went ahead and cut them, blanched them, and put them in the freezer.  This came out to about a quart of beans, which will serve us a meal twice.

Saturday:  Most Shabat days I'll make a pizza for our lunch.  It's quick and easy and satisfying.  I used leftover Armenian Potatoes and Eggplant* on today's pizza.  John was a bit dubious but it actually turned out pretty good.  I will say I wish I'd salted the potatoes again.  That's a hint I've read recently, that you add fresh salt to leftovers to spark up the flavors.   Worth keeping in mind.  I tend to slightly under salt things because once too salty you can't un-salt it.  You can always add more.  

I used tomato pesto* for the pizza sauce.  I buy it at Aldi.  I had a partial jar in the fridge from my last pizza making.

Sunday:  Sometimes, using fragments doesn't make all of us happy in my household.  I planned soup* for lunch today, leftovers from last week.  John was not enthusiastic but I offered toasted Cheese sandwiches as a go with.  Then Katie called and came out with her partner and the littlest boy.  I happened to have a second quart of soup.   So we had soup and sandwiches for our family meal today.

As I put away soup leftovers, I stumbled upon a container of sausages* I'd forgotten I had on hand.  I'll serve those up for breakfast one morning shortly.

Monday:  Today I used the last of the home fries sliced potatoes* for our supper.  Glad I decided to use them because behind them was a 2 cup jar of diced potatoes.   They have gotten a wee bit darker, but not noticeably so once the water is drained and they cook up lovely and buttery yellow.  

Tuesday:  Another light day of gathering.   I found cooked sausage in the fridge yesterday.  I pulled those out to serve with breakfast this morning.   This evening,  I used the diced potatoes* I found yesterday to make mashed potatoes for supper.

Wednesday:  I harvested basil, oregano and mint from my yard this morning.  I stripped down about half of all that I gathered and dried mint and oregano and froze the basil.  I have big bouquets of herbs on the kitchen window sill where I'm hoping to root some oregano and mint...I'm pretty sure the basil will take.  It has every time I've put it in water so far this summer, so there's basil here and basil there and a little basil everywhere in pots about the porches and yard, lol.   But my mint hasn't looked so good this year.  I think the pot it's in has too compacted soil.  I'll take it up and loosen it but want to insure I have some mint rooted just in case I lose that pot of mint.    

The oregano died out last winter and I had one little sprig come up in a pot this year.   With nursing and watering I've managed to get a decent sized plant, so I trimmed down the long stems and some of that's what I am trying to root.  

For some reason this year, I keep thinking that if I don't do anything else, I should multiply my plants and herbs as I can and that's what I'm doing.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll provide plants for someone else or barter them for something next spring.

Thursday:  No fragment gathering yesterday, just using up leftovers from the day before.  

I didn't do any gathering today either, but this evening I went over the fridge and noted which items I need to use, freeze or eat.  I have microgreens, small green bell peppers, a bit of cucumber,  spinach, scuppernongs, rice, a bit of meatloaf.    I need to toss about a 1/2 cup of slaw that we didn't eat and something else I can't recall just at the moment.  Oh yes, a bit of cut lettuce that we didn't use.  I never should have shoved it in the vegetable crisper.  

That's this week's fragments and harvests.   How was your week?

So I'll end this week here