Gathered Fragments: How I Actually Used Foods This Week

 

I shared my list earlier in the week and my menu plans.  I thought I'd continue with a second post of how I actually used foods each day, in case anyone else needs inspiration.

Sunday:  I divided the remaining roast and braising sauce into two portions.  I put a larger 4 serving size portion into the freezer.  I'll love having a handy meal to pull from on a day that has been busy or when I'm not feeling well.

I reheated the remaining portion, enough for two, for our supper.  As a side dish, I made potato pancakes to go with the roast and gravy.  John was very happy with this.  He likes the roast and he loves potato pancakes.  You can make your potato pancakes many different ways but I went with the sweet and simple method.  I had about 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes, 2-3 tablespoons flour, a teaspoon of baking powder (I have only AP in the house), a tiny bit of onion salt, pepper and garlic powder, 1 egg.   I mixed all this up and dropped by spoonfuls into hot oil.   I flipped them when they were nice and brown.   

Monday:  For breakfast this morning, I thought I'd make a McCheney sandwich for breakfast but my eggs stuck to the pan so I scrambled them and served with pan-fried Spam slices on the side.  Caleb asked for and got a bite of Spam and then asked for more.  His Mama doesn't feed him Spam or Vienna Sausages but he sure does like them!

I wanted to try a recipe I found in my cookbook a long time ago and have thought of periodically ever since.  It is called Tamale Pie and is in the leftovers section of The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook.  This book was first printed in the early 1900s and is now running on 110 years old but the recipes within are consistently tasty and pantry friendly.  

Anyway, I started with the recipe in my favorite cookbook as my inspiration...I didn't use that recipe in the end for various reasons, but combined elements of that one and a recipe that Kimmie at She's In Her Apron shared on her vlog taking note of the things she'd said she'd adjust in future.   

The original recipe I wanted to use called for cornmeal mush.  I never have just plain cornmeal on hand, ever.  I only buy cornbread mix which is a combination of meal and flour.  I had leftover grits and near as I can tell, cornmeal mush, polenta and grits are all remarkably similar in texture.  They may even all be the exact same thing for all I know.   If any of y'all have had both grits and mush  or mush and polenta then let me know how they compare.   I've never had mush, but I know that Jacques Pepin said one could use grits instead of polenta when he was sharing a recipe recently.   BTW Pepin is an extraordinary cook in that he loves to avoid food waste and is a master leftover makeover chef!

So I started with grits that were left last week, about 1.5 cups.   This was less than I needed but again, I altered the recipe to fit what I had. added a little  broth to the grits, along with an egg, a tiny bit of chopped jalapeno and a dash of onion powder.  I added the egg in the hopes it would lift and firm my grits.  The original recipe called for me to lay down a base of mush and then put in my chicken filling and top with the remaining mush.   Not having enough grits, I simply saved them all for the top layer and let the chicken mixture I made serve as my base.   

 For the chicken Tamale filling, I cooked my chicken breast this morning in broth until it was cooked through then chopped into small cubes.   I mixed the meat with the remains of a jar of salsa (about 1 1/4 cups total) and a can of cream of chicken soup.   This is the part I borrowed from Kimmie.  The original recipe called for the chicken to be combined with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes.  All of that was in the salsa so I felt safe making that substitute.  Kimmie had noted that the chicken mixture she made lacked the  oomph of heat.   I added in some chili powder and a chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, as well as some cilantro stems I snipped from a bunch I keep in the freezer (another Jacques Pepin tip...Save broccoli and parsley stems in the freezer to use in soups and stewed dishes).    I tasted  and found it very nice.

I put the chicken/salsa mixture in a greased pan, then topped with the grits mixture.  I grated cheddar cheese over the top.  I baked this at 350F this evening for about 35 minutes.  The whole of it was a little more soupy than I'd wanted.  The egg didn't firm or lift the grits as much as I wanted and of course, once it was heated, the chicken salsa soup mixture loosened up and wasn't as thick.   In future, I'd make that chicken salsa soup base in a heartbeat but I think it would truly benefit from a cornbread topping.   

For today's lunch: leftover pizza for us.  I reheated some of the leftover green beans to go with Caleb's mac n cheese lunch his Mama brought for him. He ate the grapes, pears and cherries out of his portion of fruit cocktail.   

Tuesday:  It occurred to me that I should be planning breakfasts and lunches for the week as well now that I am busy from morning until suppertime.  So I sat down this morning and made a plan for both of those meals.  

Today I gathered everything I needed to do supper prep for the week.  I pulled meat last night to thaw in the fridge.  This morning most of it was still solidly frozen but I set it out at room temperature for about an hour while I prepped foods.  It was all still icy when I put it back in the fridge.  

Since I found I needed more chicken, I thought I'd thaw chicken legs and make Teriyaki chicken the night I'm making Fried Rice.  So I mixed up a Teriyaki marinade.  I could have bought a mix but it's so easy to make.  Just soy sauce, brown sugar, a good dollop of ketchup, some ginger root and garlic.  It's that easy.   I figured those could thaw and marinate at the same time.

I found a new recipe for Meatloaf last night and thought I'd try it since I'd planned to make meatloaf today.  I thought I could use some of the marinara from the jar I opened this past weekend to make pizza.  I added in Italian bread crumbs, some parmesan and feta cheeses, oregano, and pimentos.  I don't think I even added onion to my meatloaf today...But I can tell you it was really good.  I used a pound of ground venison, and 1/2 pound ground beef .   It made a smaller loaf and four muffin sized meatloaves that I put in the freezer.

To go with supper tonight I decided to make an old Kraft recipe called Italian Peasant Vegetables.  It's just sliced potatoes and green beans cooked with Italian dressing but I like it with meatloaf now and then and it's been a long time since I made it.

In getting out potatoes, I discovered that some of those I'd purchased and some Bess had brought over really needed to be used asap.  I went ahead and pared the ones that had gone a little green and sliced them for Scalloped Potatoes.  I went ahead and made up my casserole of those.  I'll have that as my side dish for steak.   Then I sliced the rest of the potatoes for the Italian Peasant vegetables.

I thought I'd roast the Cauliflower to go with the Meatloaf and Peasant Vegetables for supper.  I cut up the stems and leaves and gathered any little bits of florets to add to Fried Rice.  I also chopped onion and celery and shredded carrots for that dish.

I felt I'd accomplished quite a lot this morning.

The meal for supper tonight was delicious by the way.  I really liked the meatloaf recipe a lot.  The feta cheese wasn't prominent but it was a nice touch that went well with the Italian seasonings.    The surprise to both John and I was how good the roasted cauliflower was.  I used olive oil and Everything But the Bagel seasoning on it.  John and I both agreed that we liked the roasted cauliflower far better than we've liked roasted Brussels Sprouts or Asparagus.  I've noticed both those vegetables can have a certain bitterness but that doesn't come through at all with the cauliflower and the florets that browned up were nicely crunchy while the whole florets were tender and lovely.   Yes, I'll definitely make these dishes once again.

And I have enough meatloaf to have it for supper on Saturday evening.

Wednesday:  I made biscuits this morning.  I used the yogurt whey as my liquid ingredient.  These came out very nice, fluffy and layered as a biscuit ought to be.  No complaints from the gentlemen this morning.

For lunch we ate the leftover Chicken Tamale Pie and the Chicken Pot Pie.

Supper came together quickly this evening.  I decided to use the teriyaki marinade in my fried rice.  I made sure to cook it for 20 minutes first.  The chicken legs were good, but in future I'll try to remember to slash the meat once they thaw.   The marinade just didn't penetrate as deeply as I wanted it to.    

I pared all the remaining oranges and cut them into segments then diced the pineapple and made ambrosia.     

Supper was really good tonight and that was John saying so.   We have leftover fried rice and ambrosia.  I think that will be a lunch for one of us.

Thursday:  We come to the end of all planned fragment uses for the week.  John and I ate the Pigs n Blankets for our lunch today.  

I used more whey as the liquid in the loaf of bread I made for Shabbat.  There are leftovers in the fridge but I used up about all that I had a planned use for this week and then some, so I'm well pleased.   We'll have the leftovers for our lunch tomorrow, at least some of them.   Supper tonight and tomorrow night are both meals that will be made from scratch.

I went through the freezer today to pull out things to thaw for weekend meals.  I  was also able to condense down the miscellaneous bag into a smaller bag and that freed up still more room in the freezer, which I'm glad to see.  I pulled all the leftover corn muffins and biscuits I'd frozen and will make stuffing to go with our Sunday meal.  I'll use some of the chicken broth I set aside earlier this week when I cooked the chicken for the Tamale Pie.

So you see, I'm making plans to use the other things in the fridge as well as a few odds and ends from the freezer.  

I hope these posts inspire you to really look at what you have, to explore new recipes and help you cut back on waste in your home.   Thank you for taking the time to read.

So I'm wrapping up this post tonight.