The Last and  Next Leftover Threads
......Monday to Monday

Last Monday, I started a new leftover thread with soup. I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer of many things that needed to be used and small packets of leftovers I had frozen. Because of what I had on hand the  soup ended up being spicy which influenced what I chose to do with it the rest of the week.

Tuesday we ate re-created leftover chicken soup whirled in a blender to which was added black beans and some chili powder. This was accompanied by the last of the frozen chicken I had taken off the whole chicken I had used previously for soup. I looked up my favorite recipe from our natural foods store, Lemon Basil Chicken Salad. I did not have fresh or frozen basil so used dry basil and I didn't have candied walnuts so just put in raw cashews instead. I toasted Costco's organic seed bread and used the chicken salad on that for sandwiches. To accompany the mugs of soup and the sandwiches, I made a creamy broccoli salad (many recipes online) using up the last two already-cooked and crumbled pieces of bacon, our last two tiny red onions from our garden, almonds instead of sunflower seeds and raisins (one last box of raisins left over from filling the 11 grandchildren's Christmas stockings) instead of dried cranberries.

Wednesday I served a dish I made using the leftovers from Tuesday's soup and some things left from the meatloaf meal thread that were in the freezer---meatloaf and cooked rice. I thickened the chili and added the meatloaf slice, broken up and cooked rice. I used the last of the broken chips from the week before, spread them in a pie plate, topped them with the chili, then with some of  the last of our sour cream, sprinkled the top with cilantro and chili powder, decorated the top with whole chips and thinly sliced yellow onions we grew last season. This morning I had a little of the leftovers with two of our eggs for breakfast (actually brunch).

Thursday, tonight, I will serve a Hungarian stew I made from Monday's soup. I strained the soup, added the vegetables and beef to a casserole dish, mixed in paprika and the very last of the sour cream. I topped it with the two leftover drop biscuits from Monday after I slathered the bottom of each with butter so they won't get mushy while cooking.  I have enough broth leftover for one mug for my lunch tomorrow. I will serve this over noodles or homemade dumplings---my mom's recipe!

Friday I will start a new but small thread of meals. I am going to use ground turkey as a less expensive substitute for Gyros, which are usually made with ground lamb, for the first meal. After being covered thickly with garlic, basil, rosemary and whatever else I can find on hand that tastes Greek it will be baked long and slowly in the oven just as it comes out of the tight, round packaging, while still a little frozen so it holds its round shape. If your ground turkey isn't in a round tube, shape it however you like. Read the labels to make sure the meat is just turkey, nothing else. I may make my own pita bread or buy it from our natural food store. I will make my own yogurt dressing and serve it with a marinated raw veggie salad or purple balsamic slaw and a big, naturally fermented pickle and a few chips!

On Saturdays we will probably grill some meat, fish or chicken to have with big salads and maybe grilled bread..

After church Sunday, we will have a salad dinner with the leftovers of the grilled meat from Saturday sliced thinly on top of the salads. If we are hungry later we will have waffles for dinner.

On Monday the second usage of the ground turkey (leftovers from the Gyros) will be added to soup with dark green kale that needs to be used, carrots which are still frozen in my refrigerator, hummus or just the garbanzo beans or white beans, depending on how much time I have and whatever else I have around that sounds like it will go with the Gyros meat!

Hope you find this helpful.
I hope, by now, you are using your own creativity to come up with  your own meal threads and not wasting anything in your kitchen. Always, always, always be careful not to keep things too long.  Getting food poisoning is not worth saving a few dollars!  If you have a long thread like the one I had for meatloaf as the initial meal in a thread, freeze a lot of it.

Have fun and enjoy!
Kathi~

Over 1000 Pageviews......is this good for under one month of blogging???

Last night I surpassed 1000 pageviews on my blog and by this morning I had 1,022!
I have no idea if this is good or not.
But
I am thankful no matter what.
I enjoy doing this so much. I am learning many new things----
 slowly learning how to improve what I do----too slowly for me.
Most of the information I am reading
assumes I know too much.
Even the books whose titles include, "...for Dummies" assume I know more than I do.
The things they tell me to do are filled with words, abbreviations and acronyms I do not understand.
So, a lot of my time is spent looking things up and even then, the definitions often use terms 

I have no clue about.
Since I was in first grade I have been fascinated by foreign (to me) languages.
  I have studied a few of them and still do a little today.
There are more I would like to learn.
But I must confess computer terms, which are a foreign language to me, baffle me.
Teaching other languages starts with the bare beginnings. It assumes you know nothing.
Learning about how to blog seems to assume the new blogger has advanced
or at least some computer skills.
I have none.
However, I am determined
to change the looks of my blog
improve my writing skills,
figure out how to post better pictures
 and learn what I can legally share----for free!
I'd like to be able to recommend other blogs,
websites that I enjoy and feel would help others.
I spend time studying what information is out there, as well as writing my blogs 

on days when I have time. 

Being a child of God, a wife, a  mother and mother-in-law,  a grandmother and homemaker 

will always come first.
I am hopeful I will continue to learn how to make my blog
more inviting and easier to access.
In the meantime,
thank you for your patience.

I do hope this blog has helped and encouraged you.
Thank you for being interested in this endeavor of mine.
That makes me happy.
It has also kept me more in the Word,
in prayer and more disciplined in what I need to do at home.
Those were perks I did not foresee!
I am very thankful.......
Kathi~

Spicy Soup and Drop Biscuits

See what it looked like after it cooked!
Not all the orange stuff is carrots, some of it is winter squash.
Just slightly spicy and really flavorful.

Drop biscuits are yummy and turned out great without a recipe.

Custard---strange-looking, not sure why, but creamy and good anyway.
Goodnight.
Kathi~

Comments

Just a notice that I changed some things on my blog last night.
I hadn't realized why it was so hard to comment.
So, I changed it so that anyone can make comments without joining or signing up for anything
or even having a certain account.
Hope to hear from you.
Thanks!
Kathi~

Sunday

I am still not 

feeling well. 

Can't think of  

a thing to say. 

But...I do hope you had a wonderful start to your week today.
I really hope you got enough rest from your labors of last week.

And....I hope you're refreshed in both body and spirit, ready to
start all over again
tomorrow morning 

Time seems to fly
 by so very quickly
Lord,  "...teach us
to number our days
that we may gain a
heart of wisdom."
.......Psalm 90:12

Kathi~

Another meal thread

......a chicken in every pot!

Last week I did a thread of meals starting with a three-meat, three-pound meatloaf and a big pot of mashed potatoes.

These are the meals I created: 

Some are frozen for later use, others I made fresh. I like to intersperse other meals from previous menu threads into each thread for variation of ingredients, taste and nutrition.
1- Meatloaf with mashed potatoes
2-Shepherd's Pie
3-Spaghetti and Meatballs (cut-up cubes of meatloaf)
4-Spaghetti Pizza
5-Sweet and Sour Meatballs with rice and broccoli
6-Lasagna for two nights
7-Soup using the thread before this one, adding leftovers from above meals to the last of that soup
8-Hot Meatloaf Sandwiches w/mashed potatoes, broccoli with gravy using chicken broth from next thread

9-a couple of lunches


Next thread of meals: Chicken in a Pot
Yesterday afternoon I put one whole chicken in my 7 qt. crockpot with carrots, onion, garlic and the last of the salvaged celery stalks that did not freeze and about 3 tablespoons of Costco's No-Salt Organic Spice and covered it almost to the top with cold water. I cooked it on high. When it was done, just before dinner, I cooled it and put it in the fridge overnight.

This afternoon I will skim the solidified fat off the top of the soup and take chicken out of the broth and remove all meat. I will grind up the gooey stuff, skimmed fat and skin in the blender and serve a little each day to our cats on top of their food. A little extra fat during the winter is good for them. Bones get put in a 2qt. crockpot with some spices and veggies of all kinds, including soft tomatoes, that need to be used up to make a little broth (strained and solids given to chickens) to use in other recipes or to freeze. The following meals will either be eaten fresh or frozen for later.

Meals I hope to get out of this thread are:
1-Chicken Soup with noodles or dumplings--tonight because neither of us feels very well.
2-Creamy Chicken Pasta  with leftover blue cheese, sour cream and broccoli in a sauce made with broth
3-Cashew Chicken,  a stir-fry with veggies, soy sauce, turmeric and broth
4-Creamed Chicken Soup, blenderized leftover soup in a mug with a cheese sandwich or hummus wrap
5- Chicken-Veggie Salad Dinner with homemade rolls

6-Gourmet Chicken Rolls---last of chicken mixed with mayo, last of the sour cream,  seasoning, veggies, raisins ( I found one box left from the grandkids' Christmas stockings!), crispy bacon (left in freezer from Christmas) and nuts served on buns made the day before.
7-If a little bit of chicken is left I will put it in a container and freeze to add to soup later.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Be creative! Have fun! Use as much of what you already have as you can! You are only limited by your creativity----and, of course, your budget.

My husband and I are empty-nesters and so the initial amount I make is small in comparison to a family who has children at home. Adjust the initial amount to make it larger, cook more than you need so you will have leftovers and can make the meals that follow the initial meal of the thread.

Obviously if you have 10 children you will need more than three pounds of meatloaf or one whole chicken for your meal threads. I am just listing what I do for the two of us. Even if it's not feasible for you to do it exactly the way I do, I believe you will still save money.

Have a great weekend. Tonight I will do a short blog on dealing with calamities in the kitchen, especially when company is expected!

Right now, I must go to the store----the ice on the porches has melted in this 45 degree heat wave we are having today. This week the local store has many things we ordinarily purchase, on sale! My list is made and I will use all the rules for shopping that I outlined in a previous blog.  The sun and fresh air will do me good.  It's a beautiful day!

Kathi~