After I dug out what I thought was a small package of bell pepper and tossed it in the spaghetti sauce last week, I realized while eating that it was tiny, diced bits of broccoli. I had neither marked the bag to indicate what I had in it, nor memory of setting it aside. That's made me determine I shall dig about in the freezer today and see just what I have in there that we could use up over the week or so ahead. Not sure how that inventory will affect my tentatively planned menu. You all know, that is subject to change anyway depending on what is leftover and what I find along the way or am given.
My Gathered Fragments this week are:
Ham with pineapple glaze
Ham still on bone
Fried chicken: two legs, one wing
1 hot dog
2 slider burgers
1 breakfast sandwich
Teriyaki Wings, Fried rice, 1.5 egg rolls
peach muffins
lots and lots of carrots
2 peaches just about too ripe. These were more of this year's pricey peaches and truth they are simply NOT good. They taste fine cooked, but for out of hand eating, blech.
3 ripe bananas
We'll use what we can of these over the weekend (I'm writing this on Saturday), and go from there. I'm probably going to put the Ham with pineapple glaze into the freezer for a future meal. There's more than enough of that. As for the ham on the bone, salads for Saturday evening meal, and whatever is left on the bone will be cut away. Some will go into a planned meal this week, the bone and remaining bits will go into the freezer for future use.
Saturday: I made Margherita and Buffalo Chicken Pizzas for lunch. We have enough leftovers to go into the week.
Clear the fridge of leftovers that aren't planned into meals.
Sunday: lunch out with John?
For supper, I plan to have Chef's salads using up some of the ham that's in the fridge.
And now for the rest of the week, in no certain order:
Spoonbread Ham Supper, Green Peas, Carrot and Raisin Salad. I purchased a Woman's Day Menu book in the latter part of the '70's or early '80's. Each month they plotted out a calendar page of menus and they shared various recipes that matched them, the same way they used to do in the magazine. A recipe for Spoonbread Ham Supper was one of those menus. It consisted of ham and sauteed green onion on the bottom of a casserole dish and then a rich corn muffin mix they called 'spoonbread' on top. It was served with a Mushroom Soup Sauce. I thought I might do something similar using the Jiffy cornbread mix Corn Casserole as topping.
Another recipe in the same publication I wish I could find: Ham and Broccoli pie. It was ham and broccoli in a lovely light lemon sauce baked in a double pie crust. It was so delicious! One day, just as I found that Family Circle book with my Spicy Apple Cake recipe in it, I'll stumble upon that Menu Magazine somewhere and I'll have those recipes once more. We literally ate our way through that magazine over and over again for about five or six years.
Chili Cheese Mac, Pineapple Salad with Cottage Cheese. John requested the Chili Mac last week, but the family had already tagged two other pasta dishes and I said, No to a third. I'll make this for him this week.
Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, Green Beans Almondine, Salad, Lemon Pudding.
Hamburger Steaks with Pan Juices, Mashed Potatoes, 3 Bean Salad
Mongolian Beef Lettuce Wraps, Pickled Carrots, Green Onion tops, Pineapple and Mandarin Ambrosia. I know I have Mongolian beef in the freezer and plenty of lettuce. I'll make rice just to help catch the juices of the beef. I think the pickled carrots and the bite of the green onion tops will cut some of the richness of the dish. I'll use canned fruit to make Ambrosia if I have coconut...Otherwise we'll just eat the fruit.
John wants something sweet. I'm thinking of something cool like a Boston Cream Pie. I'd love to mix up some brownies or cookies or individual lemon pies and put some in the freezer for future sweet cravings and I'd really like to make some cinnamon rolls to have on hand for breakfast this week and more to go into the freezer. That's all sounding very ambitious at the moment, so we shall see.
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8 comments:
Stopped on the way back from the mountains to buy peaches at our long time favorite place to find it gone and the orchard cleared for a housing development. So much for peaches. We are likely too lazy to go out in the heat to look for another place. Also no inclination at all to cook other than breakfast so I am glad our freezer has lots of prepared meals at the moment.
We have done well cutting back on grocery shopping this month other than perishables and great sales. I have not touched the July budget which is good since we need to eat up some of the things around here. We still have milk, eggs and produce and have been the happy recipient of extra garden produce twice in the last week.
Your menu this week sounds lovely. I always love the old cookbooks! So frustrating when we can't find one that we know we loved. Here's a ham and broccoli pie that sounds like it might be easily adapted and has lemon in it!
https://www.cooks.com/recipe/5c9qs8uc/ham-and-broccoli-pie.html
If you find the original one, I'd love to see the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe, Karla! Hubs would not eat the mushroom soup so I think I will use Pioneer Country Gravy.
Karla both recipes are the actual recipes as I recall them. Thank you so much! I've already clipped and saved both. As it happens I've already made my version of Spoonbread Ham Supper for tonight's meal and I did use the Mexican cornbread recipe more or less. I tested a portion and it tastes really good.
Lana, Those savings you're making just now will provide something lovely in the future, either the ability stock hard on something you all find a great bargain on or towards another purchase that wouldn't be possible otherwise.
I dug through my freezer this morning. I didn't do a complete inventory but I sorted out the vegetable basket and the shelf where I keep odds and end and pulled several things to use for now.
Lana - I have a picky eater of a husband too so I completely understand. I bet the gravy mix would be wonderful! Sad about the peaches! I sure do wish they would ship well because I'd send both you and Terri some of ours. It's the best crop we've had here in Oklahoma in 5 years.
Terri - Yay! So glad these are the recipes you were looking for!
Hope you both stay cool! It's a scorcher again this week here. I don't expect a break any time soon. We've had lots of rain (unusually high amounts for summer) but it's only served to increase the humidity levels.
Hi Terri
Can you remember the exact name of the Woman's Day Menu booklet you had? Or what it looked like. My mom loved Woman's Day and used to buy it at the grocery store for 25 cents. I can certainly use some different ideas that aren't outlandish expensive. Thanks
Donnellp, I believe it was a Woman's Day 365 Menus and Recipes magazine. I found one on Ebay that was published in 1976 that said it was Volume I. Not likely to have been the one I had since I didn't marry until '78, so I'd think my own was published between '79 and '81 and quite likely was a later volume if they published that many. I can remember how excited I was when I found it in the grocery and I went over my budget to pick up that magazine. I got more than my money's worth from it, lol.
They have a copy on ebay of the Volume 1 issue...
Thank you Terri for answering so quickly. I'll take a look.
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