Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[seemsright]

Today I made spring rolls. I used carrots and some other veggie, a bit of selfmade kimchi, a bag of selfpicked dried mushrooms, ground lamb, and leftover glass noodles. I stir fried all ingredients first, but obviously left in too much water, maybe the noodles. So many of the rolls broke open during frying and it turned out a bit messy. But it tasted okay and we both eat 5 rolls each. I have 2 x 10 sheets left, so I have the chance to make some better looking rolls next times.
Tomorrow I plan to make a Thai style soup where I can throw in a bit of leftover stirfried vegetable from the springrolls, plus some more leftover fresh veggies. As well as some more selfpicked pickled mushrooms. I will add chicken.

You can make all kind of wonderful things with those rice papers. They can make a great Vietnamese Pizza (Bánh Tráng Nướng). Or fry them up into wonderful rice chips.

[Dutch Comfort]

@seemsright: I'm going to look for those vietnamese pizza things, since I also have some rice papers left......

Used up the last two brown bananas and made breakfast banana pancakes this morning. Heard no complaints from the teens!
I have some dimsum sheets and some leftover veggies from our chinese food party last Friday in the fridge. Need to see if I can turn this into a tasteful lunch today.

This week will be another attempt to empty our freezer and kitchen cupboard. I think I did OK on the grocery shopping this weekend, so let's see if we can make a dent into the inventory before the holiday season starts with all the goodies that go with that.....

[Linea_Norway]

Today I made spring rolls. I used carrots and some other veggie, a bit of selfmade kimchi, a bag of selfpicked dried mushrooms, ground lamb, and leftover glass noodles. I stir fried all ingredients first, but obviously left in too much water, maybe the noodles. So many of the rolls broke open during frying and it turned out a bit messy. But it tasted okay and we both eat 5 rolls each. I have 2 x 10 sheets left, so I have the chance to make some better looking rolls next times.
Tomorrow I plan to make a Thai style soup where I can throw in a bit of leftover stirfried vegetable from the springrolls, plus some more leftover fresh veggies. As well as some more selfpicked pickled mushrooms. I will add chicken.

You can make all kind of wonderful things with those rice papers. They can make a great Vietnamese Pizza (Bánh Tráng Nướng). Or fry them up into wonderful rice chips.

Our grocery shop didn't sell rice papers. Therefore DH bought frozen wheat based papers. The pack said that they were meant for spring rolls, all purposes. It worked well for deep fried rolls, apart from the "exploding" ingredients. But they are thicker and a bit different from rice paper. You also don't need to soak them first.

I need to visit another shop (we call those shops for immigrant food store in Norway) to buy rice papers. But stores are in the next town. Those are also great for making fresh spring rolls with cucumber and mango and such ingredients.

[MountainGal]

@Dutch Comfort, those TooGoodToGo boxes sound so good!

I love rice paper and appreciate all the ideas listed here.  :)  @Linea_Norway, yours sound so good!

My weight was up a bit after our 4 days away which was full of (purposeful) carbs, so I successfully refocused on eating back on plan.  Recent meals have included ground pork lettuce wraps, marinated steak, and a cauliflower crust pizza.  Today's lunch will feature leftover steak on top of baby spinach, and tonight we'll have canned salmon toasted cheddar "tacos" (I neglected to pull the cod out to thaw).

The kitchen freezer continues to thin out for easier viewing.  Sunday I made a lasagna for a neighbor friend which included two types of ground meat, the bag of tomato sauce I made from homegrown tomatoes, the container of leftover tomato sauce and paste, a container of cottage cheese, some shreds from the parmesan wedge, and the remaining wedge of mozzarella.

Our grocery order last week included a substitute of a 5 pound block of cheese.  There is no way DH and I can get to all of it in time.  I researched how to successfully freeze grated and sliced cheese, and will also give some to a neighbor or two.

[Linea_Norway]

@MountainGal I remember to have heard about freezing cheese. Please check it out.

I have almost finished eating up my home made jams with blueberry and cloudberry. Now I had to buy new jam in a shop.

I have also been using up dried and pickled selfpicked mushrooms from last year. And I am currently drying new ones. We also eat some fresh ones in between.

I ordered a strong blender (1800 Watt). I hope that device will be able to effectively pulverise grains, mushrooms and lichen when I feel for it. I have wanted to try out plants and stuff that can replace flour, but never had a device that could pulverise well enough. And the dried mushrooms are just pulverised to use as flavor powder (umami). I so hope that this relativ large blender is not a bad bargain. I cannot do away with my old kitchen machine, as it is also a slicer, which the new one cannot do.

[Zoot]

Freezer cleanout continues! 

This week, used up a bunch of chicken thighs in an ultimately unsuccessful dish called "Sticky Chicken" (basically braised/roasted chicken in a sauce made from honey, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup).  Can't figure out if the chicken was just too old, if I did something wrong, or if the recipe just isn't very good in the first place.  The plan now, since we didn't like it, is to remove the meat from the bones, combine it with some leftover rice, salsa, beans, and cheese, and eat it as a kind of wrap sandwich on some flatbreads that I made with leftover yogurt and some self-rising flour I got from Buy Nothing. 

I also got a hunk of something labeled "hot beef" out of the freezer and thawed it--I think it was some kind of crock-pot thing made with rogan josh, which DH loved but was too spicy for me.  I made a sweet sauce (kind of like the one above but with less vinegar and some added hoisin sauce we are also trying to use up), and treated the whole thing kind of like fried rice:  meat in the pan, add the sauce, add the leftover rice, and stir around until hot.  It was surprisingly good--and I have two more hunks of "hot beef" left.  We'll do this again when we have some leftover rice and a hole in the meal plan!

I'm so thankful DH is so open to these weird experiments with leftover bits and bobs of food.  He's always interested in something "new" and enjoys watching and occasionally participating in my thought experiments and let's-see-what-happens-if-we-put-these-together kind of whimsy.  :)  It makes it much easier to engage in this kind of cleanout!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We had planned to have a "leftovers" meal last night (my parents are visiting, so we are feeding six instead of four). We ended up also feeding our neighbor, and her daughter this week, as they were without power. As a result, we had a much smaller collection of leftovers. I was able to defrost two prepped meals (because they were scaled for our normal serving of four) of Korean beef, my husband made rice, & we had that with salad. I do now still have a few random leftovers that need to be eaten:

-3 or so servings of fiesta chicken skillet (will likely have one serving for lunch)
-1 serving of manicotti
-2 servings of lasagna
-2 servings of frozen beef

I need to freeze any leftovers, as my parents leave tomorrow, and my husband is also leaving on a trip. Time to decide what I'm feeding the kiddos & how to best take advantage of the above.

In exciting news, I picked the first four pomegranates from our tree. We love pomegranates, and planted the tree when we moved in. Last year, we had one pomegranate. This year, the tree is packed, so we're hoping to get a bunch!

[Linea_Norway]

@MaybeBabyMustache Great to have your own pommegrenate tree that gives fruits!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Linea_Norway - they are really delicious. What a fun treat!

We've made a bit of progress on the leftovers:
-Husband polished off the last of a tub of yogurt
-I've had toast for breakfast a few days, using up most of a loaf of bread we bought for garlic bread
-I had a serving of lasagna for lunch
-I ate most of the pomegranate seeds, with a small container leftover

For remaining meals/items (hopefully a lot of this will go tonight)
-a few pieces of chicken
-the last of the lasagna
-one serving of manicotti
-1-2 servings of leftover guacamole (and, we're out of chips, so this might get interesting)

I desperately need to use a huge amount of tomatoes (we have a glut of garden tomatoes, so unclear why my husband also bought a box). I'm planning to make a tomato/meat sauce for dinner this weekend, and for the freezer.

I also need to pick the tomatillos & make a salsa verde, and then remove the dead vine. I need to pickle a huge amount of jalapenos & other mixed peppers. And, perhaps pull the zucchini & see what's left on the vine.

We have 10 or so strawberries from our plants, & I need to freeze those for smoothies.

Finally, the basil. Need to figure out what I'm doing with all of those basil leaves. Probably pesto, time permitting.

[seemsright]

@MaybeBaybyMustache

The basil just freeze it. It works wonderful for soups and sauces.

I just finished my garden. I have so much winter squash. I currently have a pot of turkey Hubbard squash chili cooking down using up some other random veggies in the fridge.   

[tungu2]

My quest continues as well. Today I finished the last bits of frozen home made bread. It is still good from the freezer if toasted. Earlier this week I baked one of single serving frozen pies my family gave me. Amazing, I should probably be divided in to two servings next time...

I have been making random meals from whatever I had. Some were surprisingly good:
- bulgur with cubed tofu, sun dried tomatoes and Italian herbs
- pasta with brown champignons, garlic, butter and black pepper
- scallion scrambled eggs (and, apparently, I enjoy most herbs and spices on my eggs, weird)
- microwaved oatmeal with peanut butter, apples and cinnamon. I use water and no sweetener. Apples basically bake in there and turn very sweet

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@seemsright - do you freeze the entire leaves, or dry/grind them? Interesting, I'll have to do that.

-Used up the strawberries in a fruit smoothie for a teenager
-Manicotti was eaten for dinner
-All pomegranate seeds are now gone
-I ate the last of a bagged salad, leftover from a big family dinner. They are ridiculously overpriced, so happy it didn't go to waste.

As for today:
-I'll eat the remaining chicken in a salad
-We still have some leftover lasagna. Need to see which kid (if any) will be home for dinner, and perhaps that will be dinner sorted.
-Need to use up a bunch of bananas, so more smoothies for the kids

[Dutch Comfort]

@MaybeBabyMustache: bananas that are brown are perfect for banana pancakes (breakfast favorite here: 1 banana, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of flour per person (or sometimes x2 when person is a hungry teen)), banana-oatmeal-walnut muffins (these are a lunchbox favorite) or a banana-oatmeal-dried fruit cake which also can be eaten as snack/breakfast. Or as a standard banana-bread ofcourse. I'm becoming a pro in banana-baking experiments.

For today, I forgot groceries, so out of freezer/cupboard I have to find something for dinner.....

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dutch Comfort - we use them for banana muffins/bread. I am trying to catch these ones before they have to make their way into the freezer for future bread making! :-)

[seemsright]

@MaybeBaybyMustache I just pull the basil leaves from the plant, wash, spin dry in a salad spinner and then store in a freezer bag in the freezer. I have never had a issue.

I was part of a massive garden this year and I think I have 4 gallons of basil in my freezer. We will use it for many soups this winter. Chicken and dumpling with loads of basil is one of my fav.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@seemsright - sounds fabulous. And, now I'm thinking of making chicken & dumplings this weekend! Yum.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Figured out how to extract the pomegranate seeds from our fruit, and we all ate that. Although, I picked two more pomegranate, and they are mocking me from the counter.
-Used the last container of pumpkin puree (Halloween, last year) to make pumpkin muffins
-Defrosted leftover pot roast, and have a beef stew going.
-Had a teen chop carrots & celery that were going bad. I used the carrots in the stew, as well as in a bolognese sauce.
-The bolognese sauce also used up a bunch of tomatoes, & a pepper that needed to get out of the fridge
-Tomorrow I'll make chicken dumplings, using the last of the carrots & celery. Glad I caught these before they were wasted
-A teen ate a small container of applesauce from the freezer, which inspired me to defrost a larger container. I'll make applesauce muffins tomorrow.

And, I valiantly ate more leftover (from frozen) lasagna for lunch. It was fine, but I'm pretty over it. Maybe I can convince a kid to finish off the last piece.

[Linea_Norway]

My new blender does what I hoped it would do. I let is pulverize dried mushrooms. My old kitchen machine would need 10 minutes to give a bad result. The num machine needs 10-20 seconds to make powder.
I used the machine to pulverize 4 bags of mushrooms into 2 different flavors. To be used in sauces and whatever that needs more umami.

Last week we have been making food with leftovers. We have been eating the leftovers for lunch. Once I added it to the evening wok dish, but then I had again an equally big leftover portion, which DH ate for lunch.

Yesterday I had expected it to be a rainy day, which it was not. But I spent it inside in the kitchen. I tried to make Duxelles, which is a French cooking method with mushrooms, parsley, union and bread crums cooked in the wok for an hour or so until all the water has vaporized. Then it can be frozen and later used for fillings in other dishes. But again, my second attempt failed, like the previous last year. It became bitter and unedible. Again I suspect the parsley, that I only cooked for the last 5 minutes. But maybe it is 5 minutes too long. Maybe I will try again next year, only adding the parsley when the mushrooms are finished.

I almost finished my jar of pickled beetroot, which I am eating daily on a slice of bread with cheese. Tastes okay.

[Dollar Slice]

I tried to make Duxelles, which is a French cooking method with mushrooms, parsley, union and bread crums cooked in the wok for an hour or so until all the water has vaporized. Then it can be frozen and later used for fillings in other dishes. But again, my second attempt failed, like the previous last year. It became bitter and unedible. Again I suspect the parsley, that I only cooked for the last 5 minutes. But maybe it is 5 minutes too long. Maybe I will try again next year, only adding the parsley when the mushrooms are finished.

Maybe try it without the parsley at all, or with a different herb that is sturdier and will hold up to cooking and freezing better? I've seen duxelles recipes with no herbs at all, or with thyme, which might work better. Parsley is a pretty fragile leaf. I don't imagine it would freeze that well...

[Linea_Norway]

I tried to make Duxelles, which is a French cooking method with mushrooms, parsley, union and bread crums cooked in the wok for an hour or so until all the water has vaporized. Then it can be frozen and later used for fillings in other dishes. But again, my second attempt failed, like the previous last year. It became bitter and unedible. Again I suspect the parsley, that I only cooked for the last 5 minutes. But maybe it is 5 minutes too long. Maybe I will try again next year, only adding the parsley when the mushrooms are finished.

Maybe try it without the parsley at all, or with a different herb that is sturdier and will hold up to cooking and freezing better? I've seen duxelles recipes with no herbs at all, or with thyme, which might work better. Parsley is a pretty fragile leaf. I don't imagine it would freeze that well...

I have frozen cut up parsley before when I had too much and that went well and can be used afterwards again. I usually use the Parsley type with curly leaves, Petroselinum crispum var.crispum. But I will try the next batch of duxelles with another herb like you suggest.

[SunnyDays]

Well my freezer is finally empty enough that I can actually see what I have.  Between it and the pantry, I’m hoping to make it to January before I need to buy anything of significance.  Except for Christmas stuff, that is.  And it’s starting to get cold enough that in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to defrost it.  Such a relief.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Well done, @SunnyDays ! I'm envious.

[SunnyDays]

Well done, @SunnyDays ! I'm envious.

Thank you!  It's very nice.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Used up two bags of frozen (grilled) tomatoes, leftover from kebabs. Added them to a very tiny amount of bolognese sauce, plus meatballs, and three fresh tomatoes that needed to be used up. Seasoned & served over pasta. It turned out really well. Yay for things out of the freezer!

[Dutch Comfort]

Making progress with the freezer, fridge AND cupboard, before grocery delivery today:

- 3 pizza's out of freezer
- made frittata for lunch out of leftover boiled veggies and a few leftover slices of bacon (and some eggs ofcourse).
- kids are doing their part with eating snacks, noodles, leftover soup and bread that I had frozen last week for breakfast and lunches, still trying to get them to eat the cereal that is in the cupboard.......
- lunches for me are the leftovers (I now just have a small batch of plain rice leftover in the fridge...... looking for a yummy lunch recipe.....)
- today I will make sure the last part of celery makes it to our dinner table (I'm the only one eating it, but really like it every now and then) together with some potatoe hash browns (freezer), canned corn, apple sauce and some chicken.
- for tomorrow I just needed a pack of noodles (will be delivered tonight) to make a chicken-veggie stir-fry noodle dish, which will finish the last leeks in the fridge and some chicken breast from the freezer
- saturday will be either soup (from freezer) or Italian style buns (bread bun (cupboard) with mozzarella (will be delivered tonight), salami (from fridge) and tomato-sauce (from freezer))

[dividend]

I need to eat a bunch of stuff in the freezers to make room for Thanksgiving.  I'm approaching hoarder status and can barely shut the chest freezer.
I've got tons of salmon and white fish from my Sitka shares (this was way too much fish for the 2 of us), and massive quantities of roasted hatch chiles, plus homemade soups and cooked beans and grilled/smoked meat that I need to chip away at.  And a small smoked turkey carcass.  And a bunch of containers of duck, bones and fat.  I'm overwhelmed.

The plan so far is :

• Chili moco to use the last of the hamburgers and Hawaiian style chili
• Pinto bean soup from frozen beans
• White fish on a bed of pureed Royal Corona beans
• Refried bean burrito to use up a couple of containers of Charro beans
• Make stock from the turkey carcass and a bag of veg scraps, for a turkey soup of some kind
• 3 containers of cranberry beans should make 3 different recipes from Six Seasons I have bookmarked - pasta, risotto, and on toast
• Make hatch green chile sauce from the Cafe Pascal's cookbook, use to make smothered burritos
• Use cooked garlic sausage and smoked ham shanks in Red Beans & Rice.
• Make a white bean and cabbage soup from the duck pieces
• Stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and just cook salmon.  I'm past the point of only usomg interesting perfect new recipes
• Don't let it get to this point again.

[Beardog]

@dividend - Love your manta 'Stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good ...'  Thank you for the reminder.

Recently I used up some gluten flour and chickpea flour making seitan.  I also made some pumpkin pudding using canned pumpkin that had been hanging around for a long time.

Today I am using up a pile of parsley from the garden by make a Persian dish called kookoo sabzi (herb fritata).  It is very high on herbs and low on eggs - not like a a quiche at all.  There are many versions of it using different combinations of herbs.  In addition to the parsley, my recipe calls for two bunches of scallions, 2 bunches of cilantro and a small amount of fresh dill which I purchased yesterday from a local Indian grocery store.  It may sound like an odd combination of herbs, but it is a really a delicious way to use up parsley.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Beardog - have had kookoo sabzi many times, & it's delicious. My husband is Persian.

Meals are crazy this week, with kids doing school soccer tryouts & club practice. No one is every home, but they are hungry.
-I used leftover fruit in a smoothie
-Defrosted applesauce from the freezer & made a double batch of delicious muffins

[Linea_Norway]

Last week I turned my glass of selfpicked salted mushrooms into a spread to have on a sandwich. Salted mushrooms must first be cooked off in boiling as well as cold water. I needed 3 rounds until they stopped tasting salty. It smelled great in the kitchen while I was doing that. But after 3 rounds of cooking, they didn't have any taste left only substance. I threw it away after eating it for 2 days. At least, it is one big jar less in that fridge.

I hope that I tomorrow can find new motivation to eat the fermented red cabbage. After I had eaten it twice, a few weeks ago, DH used the remaining dressing for a dinner. Since than I was a bit demotivated to continue eating the cabbage for lunch.

[Beardog]

@Linea_Norway - I admire your harvesting of wild mushrooms.  When I am completely FIRE, I hope to follow your example.

Today I made a home-made pizza using a no-knead recipe from another posting on MMM.  The yeast I used I've had for probably 15 years, and I got it from someone on Freecycle, so who knows how old it is!  Amazingly, it's still viable.  The pizza also used one of the cubes of basil (made into a paste in food processor) that I harvested two summers ago (2020) and some long-in-the-tooth pasta sauce.  I'm amazed at how flavorful the basil was after such a long stretch in the freezer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I inventoried my freezer (one of two) today. I'm quite excited about it, as I organized everything into logical places, tossed a few freezer burned items, and now have a list of handy meals that are already prepped, as well as a few ingredients I need to use up.

-Ate the remaining two pieces of leftover chicken for lunch
-One teen polished off an entire container of blueberries, before they had a chance to go in the fridge, let alone go bad
-I added some strawberries to a smoothie
-Realized I had a bunch of frozen bananas, so partially defrosted one for the smoothie
-Used a couple of protein drinks over the past two weeks, but adding them to smoothies. No one cared for the flavor, but in the smoothie, you couldn't taste it. It had a heavy coconut flavor the kids didn't enjoy, so I was glad to find a way to use it.

[tungu2]

I used up a can of coconut milk for pumpkin soup and chia pudding. The soup was great, the pudding Not so much. I still have chia seeds that I bought on a whim, but I’ll need a different recipe for the rest.
I made oatmeal pancakes twice. They were good but I still need to work on the recipe. Plenty of oats in the pantry, so I’ll get to it. I prefer savory pancakes and oats work well with cheese and veggie toppings.
Also finished the last of canned hummus and some beans.
I restocked only on perishables, so far so good.

[seemsright]

decided to reap the rewards all of the garden produce I put in my freezer this summer and I found a bag of frozen bananas so I told DH that I am not going to the store this week.

I made a pot of lentil stew with frozen veggies and leftover pizza sauce, I have a pork roast slow roasting in the oven, and some berries to cook some oats in the morning. So with the odds and ends in the fridge we should be able to get through this week easily. And if I can push it till mid next week all the better.

[MountainGal]

Hope everyone is doing well.  I love the comfort recipe ideas!

I usually pick up groceries once a month, and that time is quickly approaching.  I'm actually finding I like it, as it prompts me to be more creative with what we have on hand.  In the past few weeks:

~Used up the large bag of bacon bits in omelets, on top of pizzas, in stuffed portabellas, and the last of it last night sautéed with the spaghetti squash purchased many weeks ago, baby spinach, and garlic.  The latter yielded 4 servings.
~We've been slowly eating the large package of sweet rolls leftover from our Halloween party.  Just 4 more to go.  ;)
~Speaking of party leftovers, I gave our neighbors the unopened bottle of spiced apple cider.  The kids will drink it.
~I didn't have time to make the little smokies in blankets for said party, so I made half to take to the above referenced neighbors last weekend, and will make a final batch for game day this upcoming weekend.  Game day food will also use the rest of the jar of jalapeno jelly and half cream cheese cube.
~Leftover fresh veggies and dip from the party were divvied up for DH's lunches.
~Various proteins from our 3 freezers over the past two weeks included a pound of chicken breasts, locally grown ground beef and pork, a few cuts of steaks, and a pound of pork chops.
~We were given a lot of potatoes and carrots from the neighbor's garden.  Last week, I made glazed carrots with some of them, and the rest I processed for DH's lunches.  Potatoes were mashed for a supper side last week, and some diced with locally grown ground pork for a brunch last Saturday.  I'll make smashed potatoes Thursday night, and a potato soup Saturday.  That should take care of them.  :)
~I've put a laser focus on fresh produce this week to ensure nothing goes to waste.  The aforementioned portabellas, an eggplant was made into tempura fries, asparagus was wrapped in bacon, baby spinach was used in salads and the rest will be sautéed for supper tomorrow night along with the remaining asparagus, and I'm hoping the remaining avocado can be rescued into guacamole this evening.
~Speaking of bacon:  It was utilized in two brunches, and wrapped around Sunday's asparagus.
~Last night's slow cooker pork chops used the rest of the jar of locally made apple butter.  SO good.
~Thursday night I'll use the package of shirataki noodles, along with the can of salmon.

All that remains as far as fresh produce is a container of cherry tomatoes I haven't yet addressed.  We have frozen vegetables which will get us through until grocery day.

What I've been doing is pulling a few proteins from the deep freezer and putting them into the kitchen freezer rotation.  It seems to work out well.

And, I put on this weekend's calendar to make banana bread, so hopefully I'll actually remember.  There are a few frozen bananas calling my name from the freezer.

[seemsright]

having to do another batch cooking event today to make it through the weekend without going to the store.

My preteen wont be happy that she is out of Milk, but there is some almond milk she will be fine...she will fuss but she will be fine.

Cooking up another butternut squash, roasting some potatoes to eat with leftover lentil soup for lunch, dinner tonight will be shrimp stir fry with rice cooked in some Dashi I made this last weekend. And some green beans.

For the weekend I found some greens to cook up in the freezer and some frozen beets to make a salad. I made the preteen some protein bars.

If I can keep this up I will be able to see my pantry soon. I still have a ton of jars from canning during garden season. But I plan on making some black bean soup and corn bread tomorrow. So that should use up a jar or two.

I think Sat I will make some sorta pizza using the bits and bobs leftover and Sunday will be another soup of some sort.

Using up the odds and ends is a mental challenge that is for sure. Now it is a game in how long I can hold off going to the store.   

[Dutch Comfort]

I do not want to go to the shop till Sunday, so here we go:

- Had a small pumpkin lingering on the kitchen counter. Added a few leftover carrots, some garlic and unions and made a pumpkin soup for lunch today. Together with a pasta-leftover, this will be enough to feed the three of us today.
- Tonight will be burritos (wraps in kitchen cupboard), filled with chicken (from freezer), bell peppers and tomatoes (from fridge), canned kidney beans, canned other beans (I will find some in that famous kitchen cupboard) and canned corn. Add some cheese and cream and this will feed the four of us.
- Tomorrow I plan on having Italian style bread to use up the mozzarella in the fridge, some tomatoes and some italian sausage.
- Sunday we will go out with friends and they invited us to a home-cooked dinner, so I think we're good to go there!

The teens finally made it to the last few slices of bread in the freezer. Now still that cereal!!!!!

[MountainGal]

@seemsright, I love the bits and bobs pizza idea.

@Dutch Comfort, great job with the soup and burritos!

I'm going to bring the leftover OJ from our Halloween party to a neighbor's house tomorrow morning for mimosas.  We'll make a virgin version for her sons.  I stopped at the store this morning to buy treats to go along with, including discounted frosted cookies, fresh strawberries, and donut holes.

While at the store, I bought oranges and limes to make skinny margaritas this weekend using leftover tequila.  :)

Am about halfway through the cherry tomatoes.  I'll serve them as sides with this weekend's suppers, along with the remaining English cucumber half.  And there's just one serving left of keto granola.  It is good and I will buy it again, as it satisfies my cereal craving when served with almond milk.

Last night I pulled the bananas from the freezer in order to make bread tonight for tomorrow's mimosa party.  Thawed bananas look quite unappetizing, LOL.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - thawed bananas definitely look unappealing.

We planned to have steak & roasted butternut squash for dinner last Sunday, but my husband was unexpectedly out of town. Froze the steak & I assumed the squash would be good until today. (It was already cut). Roasted it, and it was not good. Bummed, as it was really nice squash & I love it with steak. Ah, well. Instead, we will just have salad with it.

We ate more pomegranates from the yard, & I picked two carrots for our salad, and used up some of our many tomatoes. I also picked a few strawberries, which will go into smoothies.

[onward19]

I'm trying to work through an excessive stash of frozen berries. I typically buy them to make smoothies in the winter since fresh fruit is out of season, and even frozen berries retain their nutrients.
(just blend frozen berries with water to the consistency you prefer)
 
 But I wanted to find something else to do with them, besides pie. Turns out that frozen triple berry blends turn into amazing triple berry crisps, and you don't even need to thaw them! The berries are tangy and a bit sour, and contrast nicely with the sweet crisp topping. I made it with a blackberry/blueberry/strawberry blend and just cut the strawberries in half. I'm looking forward to trying it with other berry combinations.

 Here's the recipe: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/triple-berry-crisp/

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@onward19 - if you have frozen or overly ripe bananas, they add a lot of creaminess to a fruit smoothie.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

What we've been up to lately:
-Used up all of the garden strawberries in smoothies
-Used up the balsamic chicken (freezer) that wasn't particularly good on first serving & doctored it up by 1) serving it over pasta and 2) serving it with caprese salad. It was much more popular on the second go round.
-The caprese had the double benefit of spicing up the aforementioned dinner, and using up our plethora of garden tomatoes & basil. We also have a package of fresh mozzarella with a rapidly approaching end date, so we will have more caprese tonight. Along with a bag of chicken I've been trying to get out of the freezer for awhile.
-We've also been eating a ton of pomegranate from the garden, as well as our abundance of kale.
-I had beef stew & chicken & dumplings for lunch (separate days), and my new freezer organization has been a complete game changer. I used a divider to create a separation between freezer items (corn, spinach, etc) vs prepped & frozen leftovers/meals. It's made grabbing a quick lunch or dinner option incredibly easy.

[MountainGal]

@MaybeBabyMustache, glad you are finding the divider handy.  I, too, generally keep items in certain areas of the kitchen freezer, and it seems to help.

@onward19, that crisp sounds delicious!

~Last Friday I made the banana bread using the thawed bananas.  Though the neighbor kids, their mom, and my DH scarfed it down, next time I'll use the liquid from said bananas as well.  The bread seemed a bit dry looking.  (I refrained from eating any.)
~Sliced cherry tomatoes went into last night's niçoise salads.
~I just ate the rest of the tomatoes, English cucumber, and baby spinach in today's lunch salad.
~I bought a 2LB package of asparagus at Sam's Club earlier this week.  I froze 1 pound in two packages, and sautéed the other pound with bacon bits.  The latter yielded four servings.
~Monday night football munchies took care of the remaining package of little smokies, a can of crescent rolls, box of breaded shrimp, and the last 1/4 jar of jalapeno jelly.
~Tonight I'll finally cook the package of shirataki noodles from last month.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - it's always been there, I've just never used the divider before. Who knew - it actually organized the freezer? ;-)  Nice work on the progress with your supplies. I'm now craving asparagus with bacon. YUM.

[Dutch Comfort]

Finally had Teen1 starting the cereal stash! Now let's see how long this will last.
Need to make either banana pancakes, banana bread or banana muffins, since there are two brown bananas on the counter.

I do want to stay away from the supermarket till Sunday, so here is my plan:

Lunch for today and tomorrow will be celery sticks with some diced chicken, some cucumber and leftover green beans (this can make a great salad!)
Just checked and freezer is starting to look good with some space opening up. Currently thawing some chicken for tonights dinner. Add the last potatoes and some canned veggies.
Tomorrow, Teen2 wants to make a pancake dinner (savory pancakes with bacon and cheese). I will just let him as it will use up milk, a box of flour from the kitchen cupboard and some eggs.
Saturday will be the last leftover burgers from the freezer, leftover buns and any greens I can find in the fridge or canned veggies as a last resort.

The famous overflowing kitchen cupboard is starting to show a few small empty spaces, so I'm proud of myself! The empty spaces are really needed before the holiday preparations begin......

[MaybeBabyMustache]

In my non inventoried freezer, I noticed a few ice creams, as well as a two pack of bacon wrapped chicken breasts. The timing is perfect, as I don't have a great dinner option for tonight. My husband will have salmon, the 15 y.o & I will have the chicken. The pickier 14 y.o. will have spaghetti & meatballs, using up the last of the pasta.

I'll have the last of the chicken curry for lunch today. Yum. It's one of my favorite leftovers, so no hardship there.

I've been uninspired with cooking lately, so really need to get on the ball for planning for the weekend/next week. Thanksgiving is covered, so I need a plan for the remainder of the week.

[Linea_Norway]

Yesterday I made a soup from leftover vegetables, some chicken bought for the purpose, and some selfpicked mushrooms. It worked out okay, apart from that it was way too much. So, as usual, I have a leftover portion. Now waiting in the fridge. We were supposed to eat it at lunch, but forgot it. Next chance, tomorrow lunch.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We ordered celebratory takeout pizza on Friday, as both kids made their school soccer team. All of the leftovers were finished by lunch yesterday. Two teens can eat *a lot* of pizza.

I baked a frozen lasagna last night, from a two pack that was purchased when we helped out a neighbor who had no power for a few days. It's good to free up that freezer space, because it's not small. We have about half of it left for dinner tomorrow night.

I need to put together my to do list for Thanksgiving. I like to pre-chop the veggies, and can make the cheesecake & cranberry sauce in advance.

[MountainGal]

@Dutch Comfort, those savory pancakes sound delicious!

@MaybeBabyMustache, congratulations to your kiddos!

I went out of town for a few days for business purposes.  Most meals were covered.  Thursday evening I bought a corned beef sandwich, ate half, and had the rest Saturday night.

DH's smoked ribs yesterday used up two remaining bottles of BBQ sauce.  Here's to more interior refrigerator door space!  We had a package of veggie made pasta with them which freed up a tiny bit of space in the garage freezer.

Tonight's cod tacos will use up the rest of last week's pork rind parmesan breading.

Tonight's tacos and tomorrow's enchiladas will use the 2 avocados bought last week.  Boy, they ripened quickly this time!

Tomorrow night's enchiladas and Wednesday's stir fry will use a package of riced cauliflower.

I expect to bring home Thanksgiving leftovers, so we'll eat those Friday evening.

[dividend]

I need to eat a bunch of stuff in the freezers to make room for Thanksgiving.  I'm approaching hoarder status and can barely shut the chest freezer.
I've got tons of salmon and white fish from my Sitka shares (this was way too much fish for the 2 of us), and massive quantities of roasted hatch chiles, plus homemade soups and cooked beans and grilled/smoked meat that I need to chip away at.  And a small smoked turkey carcass.  And a bunch of containers of duck, bones and fat.  I'm overwhelmed.

The plan so far is :

• Chili moco to use the last of the hamburgers and Hawaiian style chili
• Pinto bean soup from frozen beans
• White fish on a bed of pureed Royal Corona beans
• Refried bean burrito to use up a couple of containers of Charro beans
• Make stock from the turkey carcass and a bag of veg scraps, for a turkey soup of some kind
• 3 containers of cranberry beans should make 3 different recipes from Six Seasons I have bookmarked - pasta, risotto, and on toast
• Make hatch green chile sauce from the Cafe Pascal's cookbook, use to make smothered burritos
• Use cooked garlic sausage and smoked ham shanks in Red Beans & Rice
• Make a white bean and cabbage soup from the duck pieces
• Stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and just cook salmon.  I'm past the point of only usomg interesting perfect new recipes
• Don't let it get to this point again.

I'm doing good with this.  Since posting this I've made 18 meals from the freezer and I can see the bottom on one side!  Other meals not listed include a pot roast, turkey and hatch chili panini, braised chicken on lentils, soft tacos, red curry roasted halibut, and crispy fish with mac & cheese.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Well done, @dividend !