Have you been eating down your pantry this month? Are you finding these last few days of January a bit of a challenge? We still have a boatload of turkey breast and pork chops and coming up with new ways to serve them is getting a little harder. Maybe I’m just not as excited about eating meat as I used to be, or maybe I’m just craving SALADS and fresh produce. I don’t know.
Anyway, here are some of the food we ate this past week:
Another day, another turkey dinner.
Then the next day the HH made turkey salad sandwiches for lunch and I made a turkey casserole for dinner. Smashed Ritz crackers mix with butter…. it’s the perfect casserole topping if you ask me. Sadly, we are now out of Ritz crackers. 🙁
Pickety bits. I LOVE cheese. Have I told you that?
Cake. {I’ll post the recipe next week, but you need to make it.} Even if you only make it to have once slice and have to give the rest away because you know where it will end up if you eat the entire thing.
The HH and I visited the town of Exeter, New Hampshire last week and stopped at Ani’s Bagel Cafe for lunch. I had the NY Lox on Bagel and the HH had a BMT. Both the bagel and the sandwich were a 10 out of 10 and we are already looking forward to our next lunch there.
We didn’t stop in, but there is a nice garden center right next to the bagel shop. So if you are ever in the area, pop by both, I know you’ll have a good time.
The freezer clean out continues and this time around I pulled not one, but TWO mystery containers out of the freezer. The first container was filled with about a pound of mystery meat {we think it was pork} and so I made a pot of chili. Top secret recipe: 2 cans of chili beans, one can of Rotel and 1 cup of water. Simmer for about an hour and serve with Ritz crackers.
The second mystery container was a little more sketchy. 😉
Turns out it was leftover gravy from when the HH made a steak and mushroom pie last month. Brown gravy + pasta = a pretty good dinner!
And last but not least…. I made blueberry waffles for everyone on Saturday morning. We still have about 5 quarts of frozen blueberries in the freezer from last summer. We have 6 {or is it 7?} old blueberry bushes that are between 5 – 7 feet tall in the backyard and I am already looking forward to picking again this summer.
Homegrown food…. it’s the best! I miss it.
Total Spent This Week $0
Total Spent in January on Groceries $41.19
How about YOU? Are you eating down your pantry in January? How is it going? Do you have a big list of things you need to buy in February already? I’m almost out of baking supplies.
Have a great Monday everyone,
~Mavis
You can go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.
P.S. Princess Lucy says HELLO. 🙂 🙂 🙂 And could you please push a cookie through your computer. Apparently I don’t give her enough treats and although she tries to stare me down until I give in and give her another one, it usually doesn’t work. 🙁 Poor Poor Puggle.
Glenda Sessions says
That face!!!! Lucy is so pretty!
Loriann says
Wondering what a BMT sandwich is? All hubby and I can come up with is bacon, mutton and tomato –from The Princess Bride movie!
Mavis Butterfield says
Mayo… not mutton. Ha!
Renay Bennett says
i always put mayo on my BLT. I must admit, mayo is one of my food groups. LOL
LaToya says
Do I spy prunes on your pickety bits plate?
I bought the big bag of them from Costco and no one eats them but me. I can’t eat them fast enough, so I froze them. I don’t want them to go to waste. I found a recipe from the Pioneer Woman – Grandma Iny’s Prune Cake – and made a couple of tweaks to it (like a homemade chocolate ganache to make it more appealing to the fam) and they absolutely love it.
Mavis Butterfield says
I love prunes!!!
Andrea says
Prunes and chocolate compliment each other. I always use prunes or raisins in my brownie batter, too. Hubs calls them Raisinet brownies.
Susan says
I have been doing the January pantry challenge, and Mother Hubbard’s cupboards are looking a little bare! I will need to do a Winco haul next week.
A few things I did buy:
Fred Meyer had nappa cabbage for .79 lb. A great deal! I mad 5 pints of kimchi. Gave 4 pints to my youngest daughter, and 1 pint to a granddaughter. DH and I don’t care for spicy.
Turned 5 lb. of potatoes into twice-baked potatoes for the freezer
Made a ziplock bag of candied orange peel dipped in choclate
QFC has pork roasts for .99 lb. Put a large piece in the freezer and cooked the other half last night. We will be eating that in various forms for another 3 days 🙂
Also did a batch of black beans and some rice for the freezer. I especially like having rice on hand for a quick meal.
Laura says
There are few things as delicious as candied orange peel dipped in chocolate…..if I was a friend of yours, Susan, I’d find an excuse to stop by for a visit. ☺
Randini says
I’ve unearthed a few mystery containers from the freezer this month. We’ve made a few ‘rainbow’ smoothies from all the little bits of frozen fruit i’ve discovered. For the liquid I used our fresh pressed frozen apple juice we made this fall from our trees. Other freezer foods:
Zuchinni bread from the bags of shredded zukes.
A pot of split pea soup with ham from Christmas was well received. I used turkey stock which I had made and frozen from Thanksgiving.
Taco Tuesday (and Wednesday and Thursday) using the last bits of Zaycon ground beef in the freezer. Also made a huge meatloaf from the same meat.
Left to go: more ham, frozen apple juice from our trees, so much turkey stock, more ham, many many frozen bags of seafood which HH will need to unearth and do something with. Not my monkey.
Joanna says
One of the best things I’ve bought recently is freezer tape. Cut a piece, slap it on the container, and label what it is. No more mystery foods! My life is a little more boring now… 😀
Teresa says
Lucy’s eyes are burning right through me! My dog does the same thing. It’s a staring contest I’ll NEVER win.
Gina says
My sister in law attended Philips Exeter Academy!
Mavis Butterfield says
What a beautiful place!
Mel says
I just updated our freezer meal inventory, and I’m actually relieved we still have a bunch left as our dishwasher broke and also damaged our floor, so cooking will be limited until we can get that all fixed. Aside from freezer meals, I restocked our homemade bread (before the kitchen fell apart), and we sent a care package to a friend affected by the shutdown and also sent breakfast to her office for her and her coworkers (originally planned to be homemade but store/bakery-bought due to kitchen repairs).
Mavis Butterfield says
How very nice of you Mel!!! I bet they all appreciated it.
jackie klish says
Turkey Florentine! A creamy sauce, and the bottom layer is chopped spinach. I’ve served it over wide noodles, rice, and even mashed potatoes. I’ve wrapped portions in foil and it freezes great!
Hawaii Planner says
We intended to eat more from the freezer/pantry, but my husband is on a really restrictive diet right now due to allergy testing. As a result, we had to buy much more unplanned one off items. Oh well, January will be over soon enough & he will be able to reintroduce food & we can start eating our freezer stash again.
Carrie says
My newest chickens are laying well right now so I made your black bean and corn quiche. It was delicious! I am going to try the broccoli and bacon quiche next. I love that your recipes are simple and tasty!
Mavis Butterfield says
Thank you Carrie!