Clean out that fridge!

[jodi]

Today's challenge: Use up a bowl of cooked macaroni, one loaf of stale (and by stale, I mean you can whack it on the counter and not make a dent) Italian bread, and a bunch of rotting bananas.
Goal: Dinner for 6.
Result:
Minestrone - cooked 1/2 pound of hamburger that I found in the freezer (had to include it as my family does not consider it to be a meal unless it includes meat), two carrots, shredded cabbage, one onion (all staples at our house), one half of a leftover shriveling zucchini, one can of diced tomatoes and one can of tomato sauce. Toss in some beef buillion cubes and Italian herbs (oregano, basil, etc.), add some water and the macaroni. EASY!
Scones: Found a recipe online (my first time making them). Used all pantry/fridge staples, i.e. sugar, flour, butter, baking powder, salt, milk. Served with butter and jam.
Banana bread pudding: Found a recipe that involved soaking the bread in milk for an hour, which took care of my hard bread problem. Also used up over half of the bananas and helped us to whittle down the supply of whipped cream in the fridge from last week's sledding party.

I'm such a geek. I love this stuff... anyone else?

[JanH]

Re: Clean out that fridge!

Jodi, you are SO good at these challenges! I wish I thought that creatively. And I love scones! Used to have a great recipe, but it has vanished.

[jodi]

simple sweet scones Recipe | Recipezaar

This is the recipe I used last night - seemed to be the simplest one I could find. I had one this morning again with jam

[Aleta]

Thanx! I love scones and this recipe looks like a good one.

[JanH]

Thanks, Jodi!

[jodi]

Another edition of "Clean out that fridge!"

Today's fridge contents: chunk of leftover roast chicken, a quarter pan of leftover taco dip, about 1/3 can of tomato sauce leftover from another recipe, 1/3 onion.
I chopped up the onion and sauteed it in olive oil with a diced red pepper from the fridge (bought dirt cheap off a clearance pile because it was starting to wrinkle - I brought it home, cut it into chunks, and stuck it in the freezer). Then I added a can of diced tomatoes & the tomato sauce, and rinsed out both cans with water and added that. I threw in the chicken, the leftover taco dip (refried beans, sour cream, taco seasoning, salsa, and cheese), chili powder and cumin. Last, I threw in a can of black beans. Let is simmer for 15 or so minutes and you have delicious taco soup. I topped it with diced avocado (saved from a rotting death in the fridge, just in time), shredded cheese, and crushed tortilla chips (the ones that accumulate in the bottom of the bag).
Lunch for the kids: two English muffins, topped with pizza sauce (open jar from the fridge), cheese, and pepperoni (open package from the fridge). Toss under the broiler until the cheese melts. My fridge thanks me

Seriously, I love to do these posts to show how easy cooking can be, once you get the basic idea of a recipe. Soup can be made with just about anything you can imagine. Leftover meat, veggies, broths - just get a basic idea in your head, then add liquid and spices to match.

[Daylily]

Great thread. I love to cook.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Hey I can do that. I made roast chicken last week, made chicken salad from some and still have it for lunch tomorrow. Then I also made a stew last week from the bones. I also grilled a leg of lamb on Saturday for dinner. Ate it on Sunday and today stir fried it for DH's lunch tomorrow. We ate tonight some ravioli with tomato sauce. Need some change up. I still have chicken so we're making maybe tomorrow chicken tacos! Got the wraps this weekend, gotta use our peppers and sour cream we bought last week to eat with pirogies.

I've barely spent $200 this month on groceris and $50 on booze, but mainly because last month we loaded the freezer. Which is still relatively full, I ended February with 4 chickens at 35 cents/lb and still have two to eat, chicken breast at 1.69/lb, lean ground beef at $1.89/lb 10%. So we have a ton of meat and I'm still going through it with two people. Plus I have bought a bit here and there. And I had sausages boughts BOGO for $1.99/lb. Last package from the 4 I bought.

Next month i'll try another $200/month should be no problem because of all the meat. When we buy meat it's a $400/month I've noticed.

[jodi]

Okay, here's a good one. Ever have that ice cream that gets old and yucky in the freezer? Or a freezer malfunction that causes your ice cream to melt? Here's the solution:

Melted Ice Cream Cake Recipe | Recipezaar

A cake made out of melted ice cream! I finally got around to trying it tonight. I used french vanilla cake mix (wanted to use white, but I didn't have any) and cappuccino chip ice cream that had been inhabiting the freezer just a bit too long. I threw in a few handfuls of chocolate chips too, because, well, chocolate chips just make everything better! It was good, but a milder tasting cake would have been better. The French vanilla just overpowered the taste of the ice cream. I can see a ton of variations on this theme

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nice, I also like making my own ice cream. Haven't done it recently though. I'm going to use that recipe. Also with the old ice cream I like make smoothies.

[jodi]

Still keeping this post alive!

Last night's dinner: hamburgers on the grill, fried cabbage, and fruit salad

Today's lunch: Soup made with leftover crumbled hamburgers, leftover crushed tomatoes (in the fridge from a past recipe), beef buillion cubes & water, spices, leftover cabbage. Thrown in from the fridge: half an onion and a handful of carrots. Thrown in from the freezer: leftover peas, green beans, and corn that were thrown into the "soup pot" in the freezer for just this purpose. Soup was served with leftover hamburgers rolls, spread with butter, garlic, and Parmesan cheese, broiled until the cheese melted.

A tasty quick, healthy lunch with leftover soup to freeze for a quick lunch to take to work.

[jodi]

A few more fridge concoctions:
Friday night dinner: crab alfredo, had half a package of crabmeat and too much cooked spaghetti leftover.
Saturday's lunch: leftover cooked spaghetti, leftover chopped crab meat, Miracle Whip, chopped celery, thawed peas, and s &p. Delicious crabmeant pasta salad. I also used some of the cooked pasta to make a pasta salad (Italian dressing, black olives, tomatoes, cheese, pepperoni, peppers) for DH, since he doesn't eat seafood.

Snack for today: small chunk of cream cheese softened with caramel apple dip and mixed together. Spread on graham crackers. Cheap version of a "Tastefully simple" dip that my SIL brought over the other night.

[Daylily]

I love reading this. I need to post some of my own 'creations.'