Tasty Tuesday
.......cleaning out the refrigerator day
.......cleaning out the refrigerator day
Last Saturday we brought home quite a bit of produce from the co-op we are members of. It is always a scramble to figure out where to put all the food and especially this time because we ordered some extras.
We got a regular box that is half fruit, half veggies which came with a head of cauliflower, oranges, 3lbs. of small very crisp apples, avocado, spinach, 4 green bell peppers and some bananas. We also ordered an Italian pack which contained an egg plant, onion, garlic, basil, mushrooms, rosemary, parsley and what looks like thyme. A citrus pack was included in our order which was a box with lots of murcotts (honey tangerines), blood oranges, navel oranges, a giant Pumello, and a few lemons. One of my daughters and I split a huge box of Roma tomatoes----we each got about 45, very nice, very large tomatoes. That is alot of produce considering I had just gone to Costco and our natural food store and bought produce, holding off buying some things we would probably get in our co-op order.
Saturday I started to feel sick and my husband wasn't well either. It was all I could manage to do to put the more perishable items in the refrigerator. Today is the first day I have gotten more time and felt well enough to go through everything. This afternoon after doing some paper and phone work, I put water in my crockpot, put it next to me, turned it on and started cleaning veggies and fruits.
Anything that was a little wilt-y I put in the crock with the rest of a bag of carrots that was frozen, a leftover onion from a couple days ago and any of the Romas that looked like they were ready to eat I dunked in scalding and then in ice water to get the peels off. I put the peels in our chicken bucket as well as other pieces of veggies I cleaned. Then I cut the tomatoes and put them in the crockpot.
I had just purchased mushrooms and had gotten another half pound from the co-op. My mom's recipe for Chicken Cacciatore called for mushrooms which was a great way to use some of them up.I sauteed them with onions adding fresh basil and tomato paste with water at the last minute. I added the leftover BBQ-like sauce the chicken cooked in the night before, and sliced the cooked chicken breasts that were leftover into medallions, adding them to the sauce. This all only took a few minutes except to boil the pasta. It was served over spaghetti----although' you could use any pasta.
There were still a lot of mushrooms left ----they were huge this week. I got enough to use them for being stuffed. I washed them and took out the stems, cleaned them up and crumbled them into the crockpot soup. Oddly, they look like shredded chicken! The tops of the mushrooms went upside down in a greased baking dish. I had seen a picture on Pinterest of eggs baked whole in large mushrooms. Looked good but way too many eggs for the two of us. So, I just kept the baking dish next to me as I cleaned produce waiting for ideas to pop into my head.
Two of the green peppers looked wrinkly this morning so I cut them very small and put them inside the mushrooms with some starting-to-get-wrinkly grape tomatoes. I cut some mozzarella cheese into strips and put those on top of each mushroom and will cover and refrigerate these until I am ready to use them at which time I will scramble our eggs to pour over them to bake and be served maybe with a little of that yummy natural sausage from our natural food store. Another idea just popped into my head. I will make a sausage, tomato tart. One of our daughters used to make it all the time. I'll see if I can find her recipe----crust, sausage and tomatoes layered with spices and maybe topped with Parmesan---not sure, but I do remember the taste and it will use up more tomatoes and the other half of the package of uncured sausage. With a nice, big salad and some wine that our friend made us---great meal.
We got a regular box that is half fruit, half veggies which came with a head of cauliflower, oranges, 3lbs. of small very crisp apples, avocado, spinach, 4 green bell peppers and some bananas. We also ordered an Italian pack which contained an egg plant, onion, garlic, basil, mushrooms, rosemary, parsley and what looks like thyme. A citrus pack was included in our order which was a box with lots of murcotts (honey tangerines), blood oranges, navel oranges, a giant Pumello, and a few lemons. One of my daughters and I split a huge box of Roma tomatoes----we each got about 45, very nice, very large tomatoes. That is alot of produce considering I had just gone to Costco and our natural food store and bought produce, holding off buying some things we would probably get in our co-op order.
Saturday I started to feel sick and my husband wasn't well either. It was all I could manage to do to put the more perishable items in the refrigerator. Today is the first day I have gotten more time and felt well enough to go through everything. This afternoon after doing some paper and phone work, I put water in my crockpot, put it next to me, turned it on and started cleaning veggies and fruits.
Anything that was a little wilt-y I put in the crock with the rest of a bag of carrots that was frozen, a leftover onion from a couple days ago and any of the Romas that looked like they were ready to eat I dunked in scalding and then in ice water to get the peels off. I put the peels in our chicken bucket as well as other pieces of veggies I cleaned. Then I cut the tomatoes and put them in the crockpot.
I had just purchased mushrooms and had gotten another half pound from the co-op. My mom's recipe for Chicken Cacciatore called for mushrooms which was a great way to use some of them up.I sauteed them with onions adding fresh basil and tomato paste with water at the last minute. I added the leftover BBQ-like sauce the chicken cooked in the night before, and sliced the cooked chicken breasts that were leftover into medallions, adding them to the sauce. This all only took a few minutes except to boil the pasta. It was served over spaghetti----although' you could use any pasta.
There were still a lot of mushrooms left ----they were huge this week. I got enough to use them for being stuffed. I washed them and took out the stems, cleaned them up and crumbled them into the crockpot soup. Oddly, they look like shredded chicken! The tops of the mushrooms went upside down in a greased baking dish. I had seen a picture on Pinterest of eggs baked whole in large mushrooms. Looked good but way too many eggs for the two of us. So, I just kept the baking dish next to me as I cleaned produce waiting for ideas to pop into my head.
Two of the green peppers looked wrinkly this morning so I cut them very small and put them inside the mushrooms with some starting-to-get-wrinkly grape tomatoes. I cut some mozzarella cheese into strips and put those on top of each mushroom and will cover and refrigerate these until I am ready to use them at which time I will scramble our eggs to pour over them to bake and be served maybe with a little of that yummy natural sausage from our natural food store. Another idea just popped into my head. I will make a sausage, tomato tart. One of our daughters used to make it all the time. I'll see if I can find her recipe----crust, sausage and tomatoes layered with spices and maybe topped with Parmesan---not sure, but I do remember the taste and it will use up more tomatoes and the other half of the package of uncured sausage. With a nice, big salad and some wine that our friend made us---great meal.
The red Swiss chard and the co-op spinach had gotten a little limp as had the basil and parsley. I cut off the stem ends and put them in the chicken bucket and the rest in ice water which made them perk right up. Those that didn't were put in the crockpot. Some of both leafy veggies will be saved to be cooked for a recipe a dear friend gave me. It's a layered sole, spinach, shrimp and cheese dish---very good, so easy and delish. I have the sole in the freezer from when it was on sale and all the ingredients but the shrimp. I can get a small amount of shrimp very inexpensively. And it is good even without the shrimp.
I am taking a break from the kitchen but I still have to find room for the citrus fruit. I am going to use some of the oranges for a wonderful recipe for a rice flour cake with orange juice and zest that I made over Christmas time for one of my grandsons who is allergic to wheat.
So, while I cleaned produce to put away I made two meals and came up with ideas for two more. I love cooking this way. Ideas just pop into your head as you work and that makes it fun! It also saves precious time---multi-tasking. Instead of figuring out menus for the rest of the week, cleaning and putting away fruit and veggies and cooking I do all three at once. It may seem harder at first but for me after all these years and having a brain that kind of works that way, it is so easy!
Have fun! Be be creative, ladies!
Recipes to follow either tonight or tomorrow---whichever day from which I find it easier to steal a few minutes.
Kathi~
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