Gathering Fragments: Last Week of October

 

I've had little to share these past two weeks as most of my meals have been made from scratch and leftovers weren't made over but simply eaten as they were for another meal, either lunch or supper.  But I have started this week with some gathering and thought I'd pick up this post again to share with you all how I used things.

Saturday:  I had an extra chicken breast that I needed to cook, and it was extra large.  I decided to roast it in the toaster oven rather than put the thing in the great huge crockpot all by itself.

As usual on Saturday's I make a pizza for lunch.  I had a ball of dough that I'd frozen last week and thawed overnight in the fridge.  My only consideration was what type of pizza I meant to make.

I decided on a Hawaiian Pizza, which starts with Bbq sauce smeared over the crust as the sauce.  You only need a tablespoon or two at most.  Then I sliced chicken breast and cut into chunks, thinly sliced a white onion (what I had, but red would be lovely) and a green bell pepper, some well drained pineapple tidbits and topped with another good couple of squidges of Bbq sauce (go lightly with this) then with mozzarella.     I wish I'd thought to use some of the smoked Gouda we had on hand but I didn't.  Smoked Mozzarella would also be lovely.

This was a very good pizza and one I'll definitely try to remember to put into rotation.  I love having pizza because it's easy and lends itself to so many interpretations and is almost as good at using leftovers as a soup.

Sunday:  An impromptu family dinner necessitated a quick hustle on my part.   John had planned to pick up sides at the grocery as well but they didn't have the two items he'd meant to get.  Since I had planned to add  green beans to the meal plan anyway, I told him I'd just toss together sides at home.   

When we came in I made up a quick pan of macaroni and cheese, opened cans of green beans and baked Sweet Potatoes.  My goal overall was to have foods that the two babies might easily eat, as both are at the stage of feeding themselves  and required soft hand foods.   These things worked admirably well.

In my fruit basket, I had one apple, three ripe bananas, and a mandarin.  I decided to make a fruit salad with these as well as with a leftover canned pear half and most of the pineapple tidbits leftover from making the pizza.   These were tossed with a tablespoon of brown sugar and a couple of tablespoons of homemade yogurt.  The older children and the big kids, aka adults, love this fruit salad.  All in all, it was a very good dinner with few leftovers of anything but rolls and those left only because John found a packet of 24 which rather astonished us all.   We've only ever seen the rolls in packages of four or 12.

Monday:  Two ripe bananas remain in the fruit bowl.  John will never touch them once they become speckled.  He much prefers a firm green banana.   I'd meant to top peanut butter toast with sliced bananas this morning but completely forgot them.

I went through my recipe notebook and pulled out an Old Land of Lakes recipe for Pumpkin Banana bread.  This recipe makes 2 loaves and requires only 2 bananas.   I noted that it also required only 1 cup of pumpkin, so I dug further and pulled out a second recipe that I typically half which also needs 1 cup of pumpkin.

Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread

This recipe an older one from Land O' Lakes Butter

3 eggs 

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter (yes it is a lot but worth every ounce you put in)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice*

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Heat oven to 350F.  Grease 2- 8 x 4 loaf pans.

Combine butter, sugar and eggs and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed.  Add pumpkin and bananas and beat another 2 minutes.  The mixture in the bowl will look curdled.  Add remaining ingredients except nuts and mix just until moistened, about 1 minute.  Stir in nuts.

Divide among pans and bake 50-60 minutes until wood pick inserted off center comes out clean.

Cook in pans for 5 minutes or so, before removing from pans to finish cooling on wire rack.

If using a 9 x 5 pan bake for 40-50 minutes.

*Pumpkin pie spice sub: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp each nutmeg and cloves.

**My notes: I had only one loaf pan (why?!  I don't know.  I thought I had two) so I baked one in loaf pan and the other in a 9 inch square pan.  The 9 inch pan took 45 minutes and the loaf pan took about 55 minutes to bake.

My other recipe was for a chicken enchilada.  I substituted the kidney beans called for in the recipe with a cup of refried canned beans I had in the fridge that were leftover from a lunch last week.   The chicken was from the ex-large breast I'd cooked last Friday.  I might add that this breast not only made Saturday's pizza but also a sandwich for John on Saturday evening as well as netting me more than enough meat for today's recipe.   

Pumpkin Bean and Chicken Enchiladas

Recipe comes from the bhg.com website.  I should have known. I have saved a number of recipes from BHG because they are usually well tested and quite tasty.

I am sharing a recipe for the full amount but remember I typically half this recipe.  I still get about 7 enchiladas from this recipe, so if you're feeding a family expect to get about 14.

Spray baking dish (9 X 13 if making full recipe) with non-stick cooking spray.

2 tsps. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded, finely chopped

1 15ounce can of pumpkin

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 cup canned no salt kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese (2 ounces)*

8 6 inch white corn tortillas softened**

Pico de gallo or salsa (optional)

lime wedges (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Spray pan and set aside.  

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, cook onion and jalapeno in olive oil until softe and tender, but not browned.  Stir in pumpkin and water and spices and let heat through.

Place beans in a bowl and mash.  Stir in 1/2 of the pumpkin sauce mixture, chicken and 1/4 cup of cheese.

Spoon 1/3 cup of the bean mixture onto each tortilla.  Roll us and place seam side down in baking dish.  Pour remaining pumpkin mixture over top.  Bake, covered for 15 minutes.  Remove covering and sprinkled with remaining cheese, baking about 10 minutes more until heated through.  Serve with Pico de Gallo and lime wedges.

**I used flour tortillas I had on hand.  And really half a recipe fills 7 of these tortillas nicely so be prepared to have more than recipe states.  I just used the regular flour tortillas from Aldi.  

Also note that this recipe is best made fresh and not assembled ahead of time.

*I used cheddar...You might also use Gouda, Swiss or Monterey Jack

***I have used any beans on hand, black, cannellini, pinto, refried already mashed, etc.  

Tuesday:  Pulled a variety of leftovers from the fridge to use up for our lunch.  I combined both the softer white macaroni which was easier for the babies to eat, and my own preferred whole wheat mac and cheese.   This was not half bad!  

I added the last of the pineapple tidbits to the remaining portion of fruit salad which increased it to two servings.  Puzzled why I make this mixed fruit salad so seldom these days.  It was always a favorite when the children were home and a good way to encourage the eating of fresh and canned fruits.  I find it's always best to mix in some fresh with the canned fruits as it uplifts the salad.

Other items used up included two lonely little chicken wings and a small serving of stuffing.  It ended up being a bigger lunch than we typically have midday but it was all good and there's nothing gone to waste.

Remembered last night as I was getting ready for bed, that I had a big Dutch oven full of chicken broth in the bottom of the fridge.  I filled a two quart container, a quart container and put 2 pints more in another and put all these in the freezer to use in future.

Finally I report a bit of waste and a bit of sleight of hand.  

First, I didn't have enough blue cheese dressing for more than one person.  I added the last 2 tablespoons of homemade yogurt, 2 tablespoons of mayo and then tossed in a little goat cheese crumbles that was left (about 1 tbsp.) and finally I reached for my blue cheese.  I had about 2 tbsps. in one container and that was a moldy mess, despite being well within the 'use by' date.  Not uncommon with these cheeses that come in crumble form and pre-sealed containers.   The use by date is truly a gauge of how long you might keep it if it's never opened.  

So that blue cheese went into the trash (waste).   Fortunately I had an unopened container and added 2 tbsps. of that one.  The blue cheese dressing was delicious.   John liked it so well that he ate two big servings of salad.  

Thursday:  Bess mentioned whey and it made me mindful that I had a full quart in the fridge.  I went ahead and made bread today.    I typically make bread fresh on Friday morning and I've no idea why today seemed like a good time.

I went ahead and made biscuits, too, using the whey and doubled the recipe.  I'll put some in the freezer unbaked (about 18) and hold out a few to either have for supper tonight or breakfast in the morning.   If we choose to wait until morning they'll hold well in the fridge.  When I want to bake I'll just add a few minutes for those in the fridge.  The ones in the freezer will go into the oven frozen and bake right about 10 minutes longer.  They rise beautifully.  Josh voted for biscuits for supper with peanut butter and jelly on them...John suggested he'd have his own with sausage, lol.

Friday:  Today I pulled various items from the freezer to cook over the weekend.  I have two cans of potatoes and a can of sliced carrots that must be used.  The are both long expired but not bulging or rusted.  I feel they are safe to use but don't want to let them linger any longer in the pantry.  

I also had some liquids saved from canned vegetables in the freezer that I drained from green beans and cooked peas and such.  The canned vegetables and this veg broth will go into the crockpot with stew meat tomorrow to slow simmer for our supper.  I'll add some fresh onion, celery and perhaps some tomato paste and those three tomatoes that are just past their prime.  It's supposed to be quite cool and I'm sure that hot soup will suit us nicely.  I only wish I had cornmeal so I might make some cornbread.  It might be worth running into town to get some but homemade bread will do just as nicely.

I dug out two corndogs and three burritos which did Isaac, John and I for lunch very nicely.   That cleared a few remnants from the freezer.

I saved apple peels and cores to put in with my jelly making fruits.   As soon as I get a box of paraffin I mean to make jelly.

It's not been a big week for gathering fragments but it has been a productive one in a small way.