Gathering Fragments: The First and Second Weeks of October

 

It's been a couple of weeks but groceries were bought and now I am ready to get back into the routine of using all the foods that come into our household, right down to the crumbs.  Not desperation measures but most assuredly an attempt to be a good steward of what we have.

The weeks played out like this:

Saturday:  When I made Challah for Shabbat, I divided the dough into thirds and used two thirds to make two loaves, and the last of the dough to make cinnamon rolls.  This was a snack for yesterday afternoon with coffee and breakfast this morning.  I have Challah in the freezer for this coming Friday's Shabbat.

Supper tonight was leftovers of a meal from late last week, Tamale Pie.   I think John felt this was not quite enough even though I served it with a salad.  Both times I served this he was digging in the cupboards after dinner.  If I make it again, I'll add another side dish to the meal.

Sunday:  I'm going to share Leftovers I use, as well.  Today I cooked two chicken breasts in the crockpot.  I used foil to make separate bowls and in one I put BBQ sauce.   These chicken breasts were quite large.  They made six sandwiches total.  I put three into the freezer for a lunch or supper another day.

I boned the breast and saved them in the freezer.  I'm saving them to add to broth later on down the line.

Monday:  Fridge day.  I have four slices of pineapple in juice, a jar of homemade cucumber and onion pickles, a few slices of corned beef, half a can of tomato sauce, half a tomato, a little roast beef, rice and black beans that I mixed together over the weekend,   3 ounces of cream cheese that's been open a bit long, about 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, and 1 quart of yogurt whey.

I have a few ideas of how I'd like to use these things and will share them as I do use them.

Tuesday:  This morning, I used the corned beef and some diced potatoes and onions to make corned beef hash.  I don't know why I haven't made this from scratch more often.  It was so good!  It made a delicious breakfast.  Had there been more than the two of us, I'd have served with a poached egg on top of each serving.

This afternoon, while I waited on another task to dry enough to proceed, I took the roast beef, rice and beans mixture and rolled it into burritos with some shredded cheddar cheese.   These went into the freezer and will make a nice lunch. I had three burritos.

I used up the buttermilk in making cornbread muffins for supper tonight.   There are several of these leftover.  I think they might be rewarmed for a breakfast or frozen to use as a side of stuffing/dressing to go with a meal.

Friday:  When I cooked chicken breasts on Sunday, I left one plain and poured the broth over it and put in the fridge.  I used the meat from this breast and broth to make Baked Chicken and Dumplings.  This will make enough for weekend meals,  as well.  I boned this breast, as I did the last one, and froze them for future broth making.

I substituted Yogurt for the sour cream.  I've found the homemade yogurt is thick enough and works just as well as sour cream in every recipe I've substituted it in.

Saturday:  After watching cooking videos I really wanted to make something.  I've missed cooking this past week.  I used the pineapple (in it's own juice) to make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I used the last of the tomato sauce in today's pizza.

Monday:  The boys were here this morning and I have been thinking of those marshmallows in the cupboard.  Well in reading over the recipe on the back of my crispy rice cereal and reading the 'serving size' portion of my Giant marshmallows, I figured one weighed about one ounce or so.  I tossed 20 into the pan with the butter and melted them down.   John was very pleased with this as he said most are too sticky and these weren't.  I seldom make Krispies Treats but the boys were happy, too.

Purely accidental.  I browned my butter while it was melting.  I had two items on two burners, one front, one back and I turned the wrong knob lower.  The butter browned, didn't burn but was definitely brown.  And y'all...These were the BEST Krispies Treats I've ever made.   Bess even texted to ask me what I'd done to them, thinking I'd added caramel to them.  Nope.  Just browned the butter.  So yummy!

I have a big roast chicken dinner in the oven, and I didn't need a whole butternut squash or all of the sweet potatoes I'd trimmed up so I wrapped them in separate foil sheets and roasted them alongside.  I'll pop these into the freezer for later use.

The boys wanted an apple and then didn't eat them.  I gathered up the pieces and put them in a bag in the freezer.  I'll make jelly from it at some point in the near future along with other odds and ends of fruit in my freezer.

Wednesday:  Using the chicken I cooked Monday evening, I made Chicken Salad.  We had this for lunch and have more than enough leftover to make a second lunch this week.

After lunch, I used the thigh meat, leftover rice and steamed broccoli and a small container of mushroom soup and water chestnuts from the freezer to make a Chicken, Broccoli, Rice and Cheese Casserole.

This morning I used one of the last apples in my fruit bowl to make a lovely pan of Apple Streusel Muffins.  So nice for an autumn morning!

Thursday:  Last week I ended up throwing out the Challah from the previous Shabbat because John nor I ever reached for it.  This morning, I took up last Friday night's Challah bread and used it to make breakfast sandwiches.  The small loaves are the perfect size to split and fill and toast and the cut in half for two servings.  Most important of all, the Challah went into our bellies and not into the food can for the chickens.

Friday:  We'll take our choice of this week's lunch leftovers for supper tonight.

I know that the fragments gathered these past two weeks don't look like much but that's the way some weeks go.  Perhaps it will be more interesting next week!