Monday, July 27, 2009

Yay Me! Tackled the Leftovers

We got rid of Hi-Maint Boy for a week, so with all our extra time DS and I tackled fridge situation. Crazy leftovers!!
  • one buffalo-blue cheese burger, falling apart
  • one potato, baked
  • one bowl campfire stew, drying out
  • lots of cheese, feta & 2 kinds shredded
  • 2 mostly-full jars of spaghetti sauce (not simply due to my optimistic nature!)
  • 1/2 portion brown rice
  • small amt diced pepperoni
  • 2 english muffins
  • lots of leftover meatloaf, the kind i made in the crockpot the other night where the rice didn't get cooked *sigh*
  • grits, waiting to be fried
  • watermelon juice??

The first thing i did was convince DD she wanted the burger w/ fried rice for bkfst, then turned around & made english muffin pizzas for me. !! How mean!! I honestly didn't think of it til she was already eating. We do have more pepperoni; i'll teach her.

The next thing i did was cook a frozen pizza for lunch!! Not a nice use of leftovers, but it'd been a really long time since pizza; i was having DT's.

Then i was super-productive and put away all the kids' school papers from last year!! Organized and stored.. YAY ME!!! :D That job had been nagging at me for several weeks & taking up half the sofa, creeping ever closer to my side.. WHEW you don't know how glad i am to have done that!! So i celebrated by cleaning the mauve chair that was nasty-gross with cat hair and kid grunge, taking out the trash & compost, sweeping the main floor, learning Pandora...

So for dinner I took the dehydrating campfire stew, added a can of corn, can of turkey chili, the baked potato diced, some spices and a little V-8. Yum! There was enough for both of us and a huge tin to go w/ DH. A few bites leftover still, but i am not a garbage can and will have no problem pitching it.

So the stew goes in the freezer. So will the feta cheese & meatloaf, wrapped individually, again for DH who swears he doesn't mind the crunchy rice -- now that's a real man for ya!!

Well this part isn't exactly about leftovers, but it is about using up what we have: There are about 10 cucumbers in my house now!! Two are from the neighbor, the rest from OUR GARDEN!! DH was supposed to take some but forgot, and it's more than we'll eat, so DD and I will learn to make pickles!! I found a recipe for refrigerator dill pickles and raced to the store for pickling spice, vinegar & kosher salt, but only after i'd snipped all the FRESH DILL from OUR GARDEN that i could get :D I don't have enough, but i'm going to use dried to make up the difference; one of the reviewers mentioned doing that and gave 5 stars. i did have dill seed as well though! I spread lots of that around the space where my 2 little plants are growing; we'll have enough for lots of batches next year!

Oh -- and just in case you're wondering -- the watermelon juice went down the drain. But only because we already have a pint in the freezer to get used in lemonade! Waste not, want not, and a full freezer uses less energy! :D

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Crock Pot Meatloaf, Potatoes, Banana Bread, & Grits!

We'll see! I've put the potatoes on the bottom of my 7-qt crock, with a 2# meatloaf on top in corningware, and banana bread baking in the 5-qt beside it. On the front porch, to avoid the heat. Feeling pretty dubious about the results!! I've never tried stacking OR bread-making in a crock. Maybe i should've used the lid on the corningware and put the potatoes on top of that?? why didn't i think of the lid??!!!

We made grits for lunch. DH & DS can't stand 'em, so i made a big batch! LOL It's just DS and I tonight, so we enjoyed stirring our own choices of cheese into them. The leftovers got a hefty dose of Tuscan Sunset and parmesan, and are chillin' in the fridge til we're alone again on monday and will try the Polenta Fries recipe i found on AllRecipes.

Enjoying working with what we've got instead of shopping!! My grocery budget bought us an immersion blender & a toaster oven this week :D

Monday, July 13, 2009

Menu Plan Monday

Tues bkfst: pepperoni & cheese wraps
9am brady to work, 10am tennis
lunch: soup since brady's gone
early dinner: crockpot chicken & potatoes
(GF looked at chicken on bone & non-mashed potatoes, and declined! LOL)
6pm gymnastics
midnite Harry Potter!
late dinner: tammy will handle

Wed brady will be home; mindy may visit.
lunch: out for moms!
dinner: burritos
6:15-7:45 youth group

Thurs bkfst: pepperoni & cheese wraps
10am tennis, no piano
lunch: chicken pesto quesadillas
dinner: smashed potatoes
chicken salad wraps?

Fri bkfst: pepperoni & cheese wraps
9:30 tennis match
lunch: gyro burgers
5p Entricans, 6p Sundae Social, 7p GU
dinner: Spaghetti, meat sauce, garlic bread, green beans

Sat am biscuits & gravy
8am-noon Neighborhood Clean-Up Day