Fridge-Cleanout Nachos

Snowy, lazy Saturday...and I want nachos.  I've actually wanted nachos for about a week but I've been really good lately about eating right.  And nachos aren't what one would call healthy. 

So I'm feeling snacky and I decide that nachos at home are better for you than ordering nachos at a restaurant, especially in the portion control dept.  I comb the fridge, picking out stuff on hand and start throwing away expired stuff as well. 

Nachos.  I used up a quarter bag of Tostitos Scoops and tossed out a bag of tostitos fragments.  Added minced shallot (from the fridge)  and some pickled pepperoncini slices.  A palmful of shredded cheddar and it's off to the toaster oven.  Afterwards, a couple spoonfuls of jarred mild salsa, topped with chunks of avocado.  Delicious and just the right amount to satisfy the craving.

And on the way I threw out the following:  a jar half-full of spicy chili paste.   Two-year-old maple barbecue sauce.  Kalamata olives.  Homemade pickled jalapeño and onion.  The oldest condiment was a jar of capers, and I have no idea how old they were.  And oops... the olives expired sometime in 2018.  Guess I should wear my glasses when I'm cleaning out the fridge!

Brought to you by The Letter "F"

No, not that "F".......today's words are Freezer, Frittata and Fail.

First the frittata....last night's dinner was from the Epicurious  cookbook that we like so much....it was called "Kitchen Sink Frittata."  In other words....tons of stuff in it.  In anticipation of (hopefully) knocking some things off the Holiday To-Do list, Brian had dinner on the table early.  The kids weren't interested in the slightest so they had leftover pizza.  Sean's got an aversion to pizza lately, but even he had a little and then some yogurt.  Anyway.....it was delicious.  Not the most filling meal in the world but just have two pieces and you're good to go!  It had tomatoes, basil and potatoes, and plenty of cheese.  Brian said that the recipe had called for bacon but he didn't put it in, given his bacon-cooking woes as of late.  (Smoke, smoke smoke!)  And I now know the difference between a frittata and a quiche....quiche has crust.  And either of them would be delicious at breakfast.

Now for Freezer and Fail.  I've got a lot of friends that have super good luck in freezing things.  There's a lot of pins on Pinterest about freezer meals.  Yet.....I don't have much luck in the freezing department.  Either I forget something is IN the freezer and it gets destroyed over time, or it wasn't meant to be in the first place.  We also seem to have a shortage in plastic containers, but obviously that's an easy fix:  get more containers.  The most recent fail was the other day:  Brian had made bone-in chicken breasts with a corn relish, with mashed potatoes sometime in November.  It was more food than we could eat at one meal and we were heading to Philly in a few days.  I hate to throw food out, so I froze the chicken, relish and potatoes separately.  This week being a busy week (HA!  That's an understatement) I defrosted them.  Only to my dismay....the potatoes were soup and the relish had turned brown.  The chicken was probably fine but I'm throwing it out anyway because I have nothing to go with it.  I want to get better at this, if other people can do it so can I!

"Under the Dome"

No, I'm not talking about Stephen King's novel or the lame TV show "loosely based" on the book last summer.  I'm talking about food in my kitchen.

For the last couple of weeks, we've been using a domed cake plate for goodies on the island.  One Saturday, I noticed that we had some bananas approaching the mushy stage and whipped up chocolate banana muffins.  They were a hit, especially as part of breakfast after Will's first sleepover.  The next week, I had asked Brian to get Rice Krispies at the grocery store and they only had the industrial-size box.  Rice Krispy treats, after cooling and getting cut into squares, went on the plate.  And on Wednesday night, when I got home from knitting I was greeted by the smell of fresh blueberry muffins because Brian discovered that we had a plethora of blueberries in the fridge.  You guessed it...under the dome!

Wonder what will put under the dome next....or will the streak end?

Beans and Greens

Upon seeing a photo in a magazine of a broccoli, bean and pasta dish, inspiration struck.  I could do that!

  Or something like that....I have a head of broccoli on its way out, but definitely salvageable.  I parboiled that for five minutes, then tossed it with a can of small white beans, some penne, a bit of lemon juice, a package of sliced refrigerated chicken breast, a little minced garlic, dried basil  and a dash  of crushed red pepper.  The result that was yielded from my labor was a light, fresh pasta dish with just enough bite.  And, since I made a whole pot of it and I'm certainly the only one in this house that will eat it, I'm going to send some over to my parent's house this week.  Enjoy, Mom!    And Dad, don't worry, I didn't forget you, I have some sausage lasagna to go with it.  :)

Use it Up!!

One of the weirdest parts of getting ready for a trip...using up the perishables in your fridge!  In anticipation of this, we didn't do any grocery shopping this weekend.  Nope, no more bagels, orange juice, etc etc.  Working on finishing up what may go bad while we're on vacation in Wisconsin.  Right now....looks like it will be spaghetti and cupcakes for breakfast tomorrow.  :)  I mean, can't let these precious cupcake beauties go to waste!  Also, we have four eggs, a little coffee creamer and I've defrosted pork chops for dinner tonight.  A side dish ought to be interesting. 

Oatmeal Souffle

Ah, breakfast.  One of our favorite meals, yet there really is no variation of what's for breakfast.  Eggs, pancakes, french toast, waffles, bacon, sausage.  It's quite easy to get stuck in a rut. 

I had gotten a Breakfast cookbook a few years ago, sheerly for the reason that it was just that:  breakfast food and breakfast food only!  And yesterday, we dusted it off to try something different:  Oatmeal Souffle.  I've never made a souffle, and I can't take the credit for this one either, because it is all Brian's doing.  (he's the one that's usually despondent over the lack of variety in breakfast food so it's only fitting that he found this recipe.)  It also used a lot of ingredients that we had kicking around in the house, which is always appreciated.  We bought a mammoth-sized box of instant oatmeal packets at BJ's recently, and neither of us like the plain ones.  Two blocks of cream cheese that I had bought to make a dip, only to not go to the party AND later discover that I bought fat-free.  (ok for baking, not ok for bagels)  Golden raisins left over from Christmas baking.  Into the souffle they go!

 It baked up almost like a cake, and it looked like it had a golden brown, biscuit-crisp crust.  But when you cut into it, instead of being crispy the result was soft and creamy.  The recipe said to serve with warm milk or creamer, instead we opted for peach butter.  Delicious! 

A Good Week, Grocery-Wise

Here is the definition of a good week with the groceries:

Two empty crispers
one empty meat/cheese drawer
lots of cans, jars and bottles on the counter, waiting to go out in the recycling

A very successful week, with using up what you have on hand!  What will next week bring?

In Preparation of Holiday Dinner...

...Brian informed me the other day that our lazy susan is just that:  lazy.  Our cabinets are SOOOO full that the damn thing won't turn anymore.  Our snack cabinet by the fridgeis bursting at the seams.  So, in honor of Christmas dinner (which is how he put it) we need to do some weeding out.

I found a cranberry-orange bread mix on the lazy susan due to expire on 12/28.  Baked that quick last night, and Will's having it for breakfast with the last of the  banana cheerios, so I could get rid of the bulky box.  I'm making Salsa Bean Dip for the Knitting Party I'm having on Wednesday night here at the house.  (Hey----no jokes about knitting, we DO know how to have a good time) The dip will take care of a can each of black beans, black-eyed peas and corn.  I made soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for Brian for lunch yesterday, so we're finally out of soup.  And Will has enough Easy-Mac to get him through the Apocalypse.  A few things I don't know what do to with:  three cans of beef broth, a can of pineapple chunks and more cake mixes than I can name.  I tend to go a little crazy when cake mix is on sale because of the Cake Mix Doctor.  I've asked for her new book for Christmas though, and plan on living a little after the baby is born and diabetes is a thing of the past. 

What do you do when your kitchen is about to explode with overabundance and you can't fit any more?

Nesting, already?

I'm only 31 weeks in, and I already feel like filling my freezer.  I seem to remember LAST TIME when my nesting tendencies leaned towards restocking the linen closet so we wouldn't run out of a single thing while I was on maternity leave.  I was super-organized and obsessed over it, making lists of things that we each use, and making a special trip to Target to purchase enough soap, shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant to last til Doomsday.  If this is indeed "nesting tendencies" (which I still think is too early) then I'd say that filling the freezer with goodies is far more productive.  That's not to say that the first few week's of this child's life won't be filled with plenty of takeout!  :) 

I made Turkey Eggplant Casserole last week.  This casserole, by the way, is one of the few throwbacks from when I did Weight Watchers several years ago that I still like.  However, I'm the only person in the house that likes it, so when you bake a 13 x 9 pan of it, you have to freeze some.  I pulled a bag out for lunch this week, and cooked some rice to go with it.  I had also made Chocolate Zucchini Muffins for Will a couple of weeks ago and froze a few.  So now there's one defrosting for him in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast.  I still love how he thinks he's getting this big treat, while Daddy and I know that he's also getting some green veggie! 

I'm thinking of finding some more casserole recipes, or stirfries.  Anybody got any suggestions for stuff that tastes good AND freezes well?

Chip-Chop and Microwave Alfredo

This is a tale of two rich, fattening, unhealthy dinners. All in the name of cleaning out the fridge. Well...the first one more than the second!

Made chicken, broccoli and ziti last night. Unfortunately, Brian discovered that we didn't have any alfredo sauce in the cabinet. Oops....used it a few weeks ago with scallops and fettuccine. With the suggestion of red sauce over broccoli and chicken seriously unappealing, I hit the internet searching for a quick sauce idea. Oh Yeah.....microwave alfredo sauce. Not only that, it used up some of the butter, half and half and the rest of the fresh parmesan left over from Christmas. Score! I had to grind up the cheese in the food processor, along with some garlic and salt and pepper. (Thanks again for the great gift!) Then put the cheese mixture into a bowl and add milk and butter. You microwave on high for a minute, then stir. Repeat three times. It didn't make a lot of sauce and it was a bit gloppy, but it saved dinner. It was also more like cheese sauce than alfredo but it was delicous. A little goes a long way!

Tonight was Brian's chance to try an Alton Brown (AB in our house) favorite. It's called a "Chip-Chop" and AB praises it as "Trash Food at its best!" Pack of pork chops? Check. Salt and Vinegar potato chips? Check. Canola oil? Check. First you smash up the chips into crumbs. (which is actually kinda fun!) Then you "bread" the chops in the chips. You fry them for a few minutes in the oil on the stove, then bake them at 250 degrees in the oven. The chops were positively sinful! So moist, so flavorful, so fattening. As someone near and dear to me has said, "Fat tastes good!" Not something you'd want to cook all the time. But hey, once a year?? I say let it all hang out.

Brian's Fabulous Kielbasa Pasta

Clean-out week continues in the G Household. So far we've killed off some frozen chili with beans, various canned goods, polished off some crackers and two boxes of cereal. All of the veggies left over from Christmas that I froze are gone. And I have to say, the beans and carrots still were delicious the second time around, both of them still had a bit of crunch instead of the sogginess that usually happens. Brian also cooked up some of his Kielbasa Pasta with some leftover kielbasa in the back of the freezer. This made dinner for two one night and leftovers for me for two lunches!

This is sooooo easy! Boil up some rigatoni or penne. Saute a little chicken breast, a can of diced tomatoes, chopped red and green peppers, onion and a little minced garlic. Slice the defrosted kielbasa into "coins" and stir them last into the saute(since they're already technically cooked and you're just warming them.) Once the chicken is cooked through, stir it into the pasta, dish it out and sprinkle the top with grated parmesan. Voila--an easy weeknight dinner. :)

Over-abundance

After looking around the kitchen yesterday, I knew that the grocery store trip would be pretty light. When I came home though, I realized that I didn't have a lot of free space! Fridge, freezer, pantry......they're all pretty full!

So it's time to do something that we don't do often enough....clean it out!! I'm trying to come up with ideas for meals that use up some of this overabundance. So last night, I made chicken breasts topped with salsa and cheese.

We have four (FOUR!) open jars of salsa in the fridge. One of them was from making Mexican Chicken and Rice last week, there's always a little left in the jar. The others were a gift set from one of my favorite people, Mrs. I. This meal was so easy to make. I browned chicken breasts on the stove, and then baked them at 400 degrees in the toaster oven for fifteen minutes. Then I spread them with the peach salsa and sprinkled fresh grated parmesan left over from Christmas. The result was a spicy, sweet, melty, delicious meal!

I've also defrosted chili with beans to eat for lunch this week, along with the corn muffins left over from Christmas. (the muffins were for cornbread stuffing in the Stuffed Apples from Christmas.)
This is actually kind of fun!