Gathering Fragments: First Week of September

 


Saturday:  Pulled a container of what appeared to be only a little chocolate chip cookie dough from the freezer yesterday and baked cookies in the toaster oven.  There was more than I'd realized;  I made 18 cookies.

Monday:  I went over the fridge today and was happy to find I was on top of things.  However, I noted that I had a small pint jar of refrigerator pickles (about 1 cup in the jar) that we really should eat, as it was part of the first batch I made earlier in the summer.   I put those on the table with our lunch today and we emptied the jar.  I did reserve the pickle brine, which would NOT be suitable to put into any meat since it's sweet, but could be used for a future batch of pickles.  Not that I plan to make any real soon...we still have a quart jar of them in the fridge!


Tuesday:  Today I decided it was time to pull out meats to thaw for the week.  In so doing, I got very aggravated with the disorganized mess the freezer had got into.  Part of the trouble was the way I personally had arranged it in the first place.  Things I used frequently were on the bottom and things used infrequently were up top.  I don't know what on earth I was thinking.

I started first by sorting out my fruit bin.  I pulled small amounts out to make up about 2 cups or so of mixed berries and made a cobbler because right now we have vanilla ice cream and what is better than a good fruit cobbler with a dab of ice cream on top?

I combined items that were spread over more than one container: partial cans of cranberry sauce I'd frozen,  cooked squash, ginger with ginger, peppers with peppers, and all the fruits with like fruits (or into a bag for a small batch of jelly).  

I pulled a full bag of onion, celery and carrots out and put into the crockpot with a chicken frame.   This cooked all afternoon long.  I had much more chicken on the rotisserie bird than I'd realized and won't need to cook more to make soup later this week.   I put three quarts of broth into the freezer this evening and have plenty to make soup with chilling in the fridge so I can skim it.  Tomorrow I'll pull meat off the bones.

I thawed enough squash today to make a squash casserole to go with our supper.

I thawed a pint of applesauce.  John's been on an applesauce kick of late...If he doesn't touch this, I'll make an applesauce cake, another lovely spice cake recipe.

Pulled the deli potato salad out of fridge this evening to add to supper plate for John.  I know he dislikes squash casserole but will eat it, however, I felt he should have a little something extra and he does like deli potato salad.

Wednesday:  John wanted deviled eggs.  I cooked extra at breakfast time this morning, then used the last of the partial jar of homemade pickle relish to make the deviled eggs.

Friday:  Yes, I know I skipped Thursday.  I only gathered one little item on Thursday, a tiny bag of lettuce leaf tips that I sliced and used to top tacos for our supper.

This morning, I used a half loaf of bread to make French Toast for our breakfast.

This afternoon I sorted out the bottom of the fridge and am I glad I did!  I'd planned weekend meals but was stumped about what to have for supper tonight.   I had some broth that would was too little to go into the freezer on Tuesday.  Also the bones, which I hadn't picked over.   The last carrot in the bag in one crisper drawer...Chicken soup, right?   I even used the last bit of brown rice in my container.  

I gathered up some of the fresh produce we received yesterday:  green beans and okra went into the freezer this afternoon.

It's not been a week of heavy gathering but I'm happy we haven't wasted any foods this week and we've again made good use of what was on hand.

How did you do?



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Terri!
You really inspire me to use up the fragments from the frig! This week I used up a whole chicken cooked on Monday to make barbecue chicken sandwiches, stacked chicken enchiladas, and an orange chicken with fried rice. On top of that I pulled off the extra meat and skin and roughly chopped it up for cat food (adding some extra chicken broth) for the freezer. It made about two pints which was quite surprising. The bones are in a gallon ziplock in the freezer for a future broth for soups when the weather cools here. Southern California is being hit with fires and the past week has been surreal with orange skies and a light ash falling on our cars, even though we are not at all near the fires. Happily, the skies aren’t orange today but grayish white but the sun does peak through from time to time. I so enjoy catching up on your life and the comforting rhythm of your daily round.
Much love,
Tracey
xox

terricheney said...

Tracey, Honestly this has been the most satisfying post to do! I'm thinking more creatively about the foods I find and really feel inspired to use it all up!

We had wild fires in the southern part of our state a few years ago that produced smoke and ash here, but not the orange/dark skies I keep reading/hearing about from other Californians.

I never thought to make stacked chicken enchilada...I'll try to keep that idea in mind. I've leftover chicken to use up this week.

Anonymous said...

Tracy,...I didn't know you too lived in S. Calif. Our sky today had a very slight blue cast just before dark. I think I can actually taste some of the chemicals now in the air though. It is so terribly sad so many families have to flee their homes and their lives will forever be changed. I have to feel sorry too for the one family who when doing a gender reveal, they take it, started one of the biggest fires. How they too must be suffering. This should be a happy time for them too with the birth of a child. So much suffering. Much in the country and world to pray about. Sarah

Anonymous said...

Dear Terri, the stacked enchiladas are so much easier than rolling and just as delicious in my opinion! If I have enough ingredients I try to make an extra batch for the freezer as they hold up beautifully. I just serve them with a green salad and garnish with sweet diced green chilis (Mike's favorite).

Sarah, you are right, it is so very heartbreaking to hear of so many displaced families and the destruction. We are praying heavily for a perfect resolution to all this madness here and the entire country. That said, we are counting our blessings where we can find them (and there are many). I hope you and your family are staying safe and out of harms way. California is sure getting a big dose of something. It is a beautiful place with many good people and I am never going to give up on it. Praying, praying praying for us all.

Love,
Tracey
xox

terricheney said...

Tracey, I have them on my list of things to do in the next couple of weeks. I have a jar of salsa verde that I shall use as my sauce...Can't wait!!

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