Gathered Fragments: End of August

 

I came so close to not even doing a post this week for Gathered Fragments, but I know you all are enjoying it and it just so happens that while I had a few fragments (enough to plan four meals this week!), I stopped in the discount grocery in the next town for my once a month shop there and found two racks of produce that was marked from 50c-$1 per package.   I went over the racks and picked up a good bit of stuff, enough to fill one of my larger grocery bags!

So here's my diary of how I used my fragments, gathered a harvest right here in my own home.  Enjoy!

Monday:  Cleared the fridge this morning and accounted for what I had on hand.  Here's the list I began with this morning:

Green beans, most of a can that I opened for Caleb to have with lunch yesterday

4 pieces of fried chicken

1 serving of potato salad (so proud to make so nearly almost just enough for Sunday dinner!)

3 slices pizza 

1 tomato nearing wrinkled stage

3 slimy zucchini

1 green tomato

1 chunk of corned beef

some sliced potatoes I'd put in water to keep over the weekend

2 pieces of bell pepper, one yellow, one green

1 piece of Buffalo chicken tender (big enough really to be a breast)

Veggie Beef Soup from Katie

Pimento cheese sandwich spread

a couple of slices turkey bacon

a half dozen very ripe plums

I had no problem determining how I could use most of these.  My menu plans:

Italian Chicken Sausage with Roasted Vegetables (bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and the cleaned up zucchini).  Tonight's supper because the integrity of the zucchini would not hold up to waiting.

Soup and Sandwiches (using the soup and  pimento cheese spread)

Corned Beef Hash, Slaw, Green Beans (using corned beef, green beans)

Chicken Enchiladas, Rice, Salad (using the skinned fried chicken)

We had pizza for today's lunch.

At the grocery I bought two three packs of zucchini, a package of 8 Roma tomatoes, 6 bunches of green onions, 4 white onions, 2 pounds of really small russet potatoes, 2 bunches of collard greens, a half dozen navel oranges.    Do I have a plan for these?  I'm getting there!

My first task once home was to open the oranges and check those over.  One was a little soft, another had a browning soft spot.  One tomato had mold growing at the stem end.  One onion was soft at the root end.  I put all the rest in the fridge.  I took those items I culled and cut away the bad places then prepped those items.  The tomato truly was at the stem and had no issue inside at all.  I removed the root end of the onion and chopped both tomato and onion to go into our roasted vegetable dish.  I cut away the bad section of the brown soft spot and found the oranges were fine otherwise.  Those were cut into slices and popped in the fridge.  I love oranges and will happily eat one or three slices well chilled when I'm wanting something to snack on or refresh me in some way.

I do have some ideas of how I'll use the remaining items on my list and which I purchased (at least those likely to spoil first).   One idea though came from John and it's not a bad idea: make spaghetti sauce.  I like to add zucchini to my spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes and meatloaf so I'm thinking some or all of those things are going to get made this week...but we'll see.  I'll share what I do each day.

Tuesday:  Not a lot going on here today.  I gathered a few fragments though.  I cooked the two slices of bacon and added them to cheese grits this morning.  That was yummy by the way and something I will do again.

For lunch I sliced the buffalo chicken tender in half width wise.  These are really large by the way and by no means the size of a tender.   I made us both a sandwich with that.  It was plenty for both of us.

And for supper, I reheated the soup Katie made.  It was so thick and so full of meat that I skipped making sandwiches to go with it.  We just had soup.  I did add the green beans to it.   I had a big container of soup left despite our eating two big bowls of it for our supper.  I'll label that for the freezer but right now it's still cooling off.

And for a 'Ta Da!", I took the five (I miscounted yesterday) plums and made a tiny pot of the prettiest deep red plum jelly with it.  I put it right in the fridge, as there is no point in canning something so small or bothering with paraffin to seal it.  I can't wait to try it in the morning.

Wednesday:  The jelly didn't gel.  I poured it back into my little saucepan, brought it up to a boil and added a bit more sugar and a dash of lemon juice.  I let it boil gently for 10 minutes and then I got the gel I wanted when I let a drop fall on a cool plate.  It's in the fridge and hopefully in the morning, I'll have the jelly I was after.

I cut up the collards and put them on to cook in the crockpot.  The pot was full when I was done but as with all greens it won't be such a great lot of them once they are cooked.  I added in a little liquid smoke, some brown sugar, a dash of vinegar, salt, two of the turkey sausage snacks that we get from Aldi (they're on the snack aisle...Taylor calls them spicy hot dogs) and chicken broth to season them.   John doesn't care for the smell of them but funnily enough he likes canned collards.   At 50c for this batch of greens compared to $2 for a 16 ounce can though...I'll smell 'em at least this once.  I have the crockpot over near the stove so the vent can pull the smell out a bit more.  later note:  These were soooo good!  And we got enough for a second 'mess' from them.  We've always said a 'mess of greens' here in the South when we cook greens...I remembered while we were eating that a neighborhood woman we'd met one day  told me she always cooks her collards in her slow cooker (I did) and OUTDOORS on her porch.  John and I agreed as we were eating that I'll buy them again but we'll cook them outdoors!   

I shredded all six zucchini.  These were 50c for a package of 3.  I have eleven 1/2 cup packets in the freezer now.  I'll add these to soups, chili, baked goods, spaghetti, meatloaf, sloppy joes, etc.

Tonight's supper will be the corned beef hash, quite probably with collards on the side.  I had portion of the hash leftover.  We'll be eating that for breakfast with eggs and toast.

Tomorrow I tackle the leftover chicken, the green onions and tomatoes I bought at the grocery's reduced produce rack...

Thursday:  The jelly gelled.  It gelled so hard that it was quite difficult to dig out of the jar.  Obviously I needed to just let it cook a bit longer and didn't necessarily need to add more sugar.  Glad I decided to cut the amount I started to add in half otherwise it might have shattered when I tried to dig it out of the jar!  But gracious y'all...It tastes SO good.   Made me wonder once more why I've been buying jelly when it's easy enough to make jelly from fresh fruits and it has real flavor to it.

We used the last of the hash this morning and made breakfast as I'd planned last night.

Lunch today was me alone.  I had 1/2 cup of leftover broth from the soup I put in the freezer the other night and the flats of two fried chicken wings.

After lunch I've worked ever so slowly at making things.  I stripped the chicken of skin and removed from the bone.  I think I'm going to try a White Chicken Enchilada recipe with it.     With that in mind, I used three tomatoes and the white parts of a bunch of green onions to make Pico de Gallo.  I had some frozen cilantro and jalapeno that I added to it.

Then I took the two oranges that were looking like they were on their last round (still have two more) and cut those into segments, peeled them, added in the drained pineapple tidbits I had forgotten were in the fridge, some coconut and four diced up Smores sized marshmallows to make Ambrosia.  

I put the stem ends of the tomatoes into the veggie broth bag, which is getting quite full.  It won't be many more days before I have to break down and start that as actual broth.

Which reminds me, I planted some more sections of potato peel that had eyes and noted I had a potato plant coming up in one bucket.  Here's hoping I get a harvest!

                 The enchiladas are the cheese topped portion to the right hand side of the plate.

White Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 ounces cream cheese

1 4ounce can of green chilies

1 tsp. cumin

pinch of cayenne pepper

3 tbsps. sour cream

6 tortilla (corn is called for but I had flour)

1 cup shredded cheese (I had cheddar)

In a small frying pan, heat cooking oil then sauté peppers and onions until tender.  Add chicken, 1/2 the green chilies, cumin and cayenne pepper, then add cream cheese and 2 tbsps. of chicken soup.  Let heat until cream cheese is soft and then mix well.  Set aside.

Mix the rest of green chilies, rest of chicken soup and the sour cream.  Set aside.

Divide chicken mixture evenly between the tortillas.   Spray an 8 inch pan with non stick spray.  Roll filled tortillas and place in pan.   

Spread the Sour cream mixture over the top.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.  Sprinkle with cheese and run back into oven until cheese is melted, 5 minutes or so.   

Just a final note on this dish, John really liked it a lot.  I lean hard on Enchiladas Verde for chicken enchiladas but it's a nice change in flavor profile and yet a hearty well seasoned dish so I felt no loss over not having the Verde sauce.

We had a single portion of this left over.  I generally figure on two enchiladas per person and truly that is heavy serving.  

Friday:   sorry for the centered typing but adding in the photo of the enchilada dish has thrown off all my post below it.

We finish the week with a bit of enchiladas and rice, pico and the Ambrosia mix that I made yesterday.   Today we had lunch out and I brought home half my meal.   I believe between that and the enchiladas we shall easily have an easy lunch or supper this weekend.  At present I've made no big meal plans for the weekend other than my usual pizza on Saturday which will be made tomorrow night.  

I am pleased with how this week played out with fragments and I did note  a few things here and there that I would like to use in my cabinets...so the journey of fragments or at home harvesting continues!