Planned Leftovers
..........pairing up what's on sale and what I have on hand

Wednesday: Roast Chicken and Individual Apple Crisps

• crockpot-roast a whole chicken, with added mushrooms, onions and some root vegetables
• with my not-so-crisp apples I will make two individual custard cup-sized  apple crisps.
  
• put the stripped chicken bones and skin into my large crockpot with celery, garlic, water
  spices and onions to  cook overnight. 
• in the morning cool it, take the fat off the top and chill 

Thursday: Chicken Pasta Soup and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

• tonight heat up what is needed for soup to pour over the leftover pasta 3-bean casserole.
• add leftover chicken to last few minutes of heating up the soup
• for dessert make a pineapple upside-down cake using rice flour, fresh pineapple
  and strawberries to put inside the pineapple rings.

Friday: Ground Turkey Stir Fry and Cucumber-Orange Salad

• cook up two night's of rice---one for tonight, one saved plain for Sunday
• zest orange peel very finely, about 1 teaspoon then juice the oranges to use in a sauce
  to mix with the rice
• add some soup broth to the rice if needed for sauce 
• use ground turkey and lots of veggies: mushrooms, broccoli,
  celery, cabbage, onion, and cauliflower and some pineapple to make a stir-fry.
• when it is done add raw chopped tomatoes to it on the plates
• mix thinly-sliced cucumbers in small custard cups with a quick sprinkling of
  soy sauce mixed with green onion and a splash of raw apple cider vinegar and orange zest.
• no salad tonight---we have lots of raw and crisp-cooked veggies.

Saturday: Shrimp Egg Rolls with Egg Drop Soup

•  add  last night's leftover stir-fry to a tiny bit of leftover rice
• add a handful of cooked, cleaned shrimp cut into tiny pieces 
• save two of the shrimp to add to egg drop soup. 
• add chopped shrimp to the rice/veggie mixture and use it to fill egg roll skins
• fill the wrappers, seal and fry the allowing them to drain on a paper towel when done
• put them in the oven to keep warm.
• take some of the chicken broth made earlier bringing it to a boil
• while this is coming to a boil whisk raw egg mixed with a little flour and drop it
  into the boiling broth
• pour into bowls, add a few cooked, leftover sliced mushrooms
  and some fresh green onions cut on the diagonal.
• float a shrimp on to of soup 
• add a few match-stick sliced carrots and float a few leaves of spinach or cilantro
  
• before bed put any kind of meat  you like---beef or pork, ground or stew-type meat
  in crock pot with water, curry or turmeric, onions and diagonally-sliced carrots

Sunday: Malay Curry Dinner and Apple-Cinnamon-Choclate  Egg Rolls

• before church put cool and put cooked meat sauce in refrigerator
• after church heat up meat sauce
• warm leftover rice
• in bowls dice into separate bowls:  raw tomatoes, green onions, pineapple, green or red
  onions, cukes, olives. Add also unsweetened coconut, sliced olives, avocado, bananas and
  raisins and nuts or seeds.
• to serve pour sauce over rice and top with ingredients in bowls
• top with a little yogurt if you wish
• for dessert chop apples, pecans or walnuts, add chocolate chips, cinnamon and raw sugar or
  another healthy sugar.
• fill egg rolls skins with mixture and fry
• let drain on paper towel
• serve warm or cold

Monday: Grilled Ribs and Pineapple with Purple and Green Salad and Leftover Jumble Dessert

• make barbecue sauce for beef ribs that I had in my freezer
• grill, adding more sauce as needed
• serve with my Purple and green salad (recipe to follow in a couple of days!)
• add leftover fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, plain rice and coconut to yogurt earlier in the day and freeze
  in a glass bread loaf pan 
• soften a little before serving with chocolate chips, coconut, nuts and sliced strawberries on top

If there are little tidbits of leftovers, freeze them or toss them into something that sounds good.

Hope this thread helps you!

Enjoy!

Kathi~

 

How to Make a Fluffy Omelette
I had about 1/3 of this week's tomato tart (Tomato Tart, February 22, 2013) left over so I saved it, of course, for this morning's breakfast.
I made an omelette and put the leftover tart inside the eggs as they cooked, for a filling.
 It was delicious, quick, easy, and cheap.

Making omelettes seems to scare people off but I have been making them for years.
Believe me, they are so quick and easy especially with leftovers or bits of this and that added as the filling.
They can be savory or sweet.
And they are great in a pinch when you need a meal quickly.
Here's what I do:

Omelettes

• Crack two eggs per person into a bowl. Whisk or use a fork to mix together the egg white and the yolks.
• Pre-heat a large pan---I prefer well-seasoned cast iron---into which a small amount of oil is added.
  Non-stick sprays work okay, but oil is better because you want the eggs to kind of float atop the oil.
• When oil is kind of bubbly but not smoking (if it is smoking it is too hot, remove from burner, wait a few seconds and then add eggs, then put back on the burner). You want the pan pretty hot so that
  when the eggs hit the pan they sizzle but don't burn. You can test this by dropping a very tiny amount of egg mixture from the fork or whisk into the pan---if it sizzles but doesn't burn it's ready. On my old range top I need it on high but a lower temp may work better for your range.
• Working quickly, take your metal spatula/pancake flipper (whatever you call it) and begin pushing the cooking edges, as they form, to the middle of the pan. If you are doing this correctly the pan will have no egg residue on it since it will be floating on the oil. Immediately after that, tilt the pan so that the uncooked egg fills the part of the pan you just pushed the eggs from.  If the whole omelette base moves you have added too much oil. Cook a little longer if this happens or just barely tilt the pan. Continue to repeat this process working around the edge of the pan over and over until it is almost thoroughly cooked. This makes for a fluffy omelette instead of just a cooked egg base which I prefer. It is much more moist and tasty than just slow cooking the eggs then adding the filling. It has a more rustic appearance and will be a little lumpy instead of foamy and cooked through.
• Add whatever you want----to the middle of the egg mixture in small pieces so they warm up or melt quickly. 
• Fold the egg part in half over the ingredients. Don't worry if it doesn't flip neatly, just take your spatula to reshape it and flip it over---serving "bad" side down on plate.
• When it is heated through and the filling is melt-y or warm it is ready to be served
• I like to add some shredded lettuce or sprouts, diced tomato and/or avocado on the plate side. Cooked potatoes, toast, or any stir-fried veggies could also be served along-side. If making a sweet omelette add slices of fresh fruit or whatever goes with your omelette. I like to make it look attractive. "Decorate" your plates before you start cooking the eggs so they are ready to serve.
• You can also serve with any sauce you wish if you have some leftover, or sour cream, gravy, salsa, syrup, fruit sauce, pudding. Whatever you like---be creative.
• If you are making several you can keep others warm in the oven on low or use a very large pan and divide into servings. This morning I put 1 double-yolked egg and two others mixed together into the pan at the same time for my husband and I. When done I just cut it in half.

Filling ideas: Leftovers are the best and easiest fillings:
any meat, cheeses or anything with cheese in it.
Asparagus is wonderful as are mushrooms, peppers, onions, leftover stir-fried veggies or potatoes.
Chili or refried beans are great especially served with salsa on top
and some green onions or raw red onions diced.
Leftovers from a Mexican dish are my favorite.
That last enchilada or tamale chopped up,
leftovers from taco or burrito makings, anything that sounds good to you! They are also good filled with something sweet as a quick dessert. Some examples are apples, berries, pudding---home made of course! That last piece of pie or crisp, crumbled up inside, chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit and coconut, homemade cookies with chocolate, granola----served with drizzled chocolate, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, syrup, yogurt, sweetened sour cream, or cream poured over top ---whatever you like and have on hand. Be creative and enjoy  "...the incredible, edible egg." 

Kathi~

Pictures and Menus for this Week's Meal Threads

Monday:  I made Crockpot vegetable beef soup with a small piece of round steak that was on sale.
Tuesday:   Steamy soup as it was just coming to a boil before serving. It was not ready to eat on Monday.

Wednesday:  About 1/3 of round steak was removed from soup late Monday night when soup was done. I refrigerated the soup and the meat chunks, and later shredded and heated it to fill homemade tacos with cheese, onions, romaine lettuce, diced avocados and halved grape tomatoes. Frozen tamale casserole from previous thread served on shredded romaine, halved grape tomatoes and slivers of yellow onion.

Freebie: I fried the rest of the tortillas last night while the tamale casserole was baking and set them aside. After dinner I  added leftover tamale casserole to the tortillas I had fried and formed into tacos. Topped this off with some grated cheese, slices of avocado and halved grape tomatoes with lemon juice (lime would have been better with Mexican food but I didn't have any) squeezed over the top to prevent discoloration of the avocados. I put this in the freezer for another night.This recipe was inspired by a pictures a friend posted on her Pinterest board. I was going to follow the recipe but then when I saw half the tamale casserole was leftover I just couldn't resist and used that as stuffing for the tacos to bake later. And I also could not resist using the leftover avocado half! This will be a "freebie" for next week or the one after that.

Thursday:  Tonight we are having the Shepherd's Pie I made in the meatloaf thread of leftovers to which I will add the rest of the soup veggies that we had on Tuesday night because I didn't have many when I made and froze the pie a couple weeks ago.

Friday: Tomorrow night the menu is for pieces of chicken cooked in a barbeque sauce using the last of the soup broth. This will be served with raw veggie slices, homemade potato salad, and two deviled eggs.  Tomorrow, I will cook extra chicken so I have a base for another leftover thread.

Saturday: Perhaps Chicken Cacciatore since we are getting an Italian veggie pack with our Bountiful Baskets Co-op order Saturday morning. We will probably get another eggplant which we don't like.

Sooooo...... If any of you have any yummy eggplant recipes please add them to the comments below! Sure appreciate it!

Kathi~

Lasagna

.....with variations

LASAGNA
1 package dry lasagna
1 lb. ground beef
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup tomato paste
1 #2 can (the fat can) diced tomatoes along with liquid
1/4 cup onions diced
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano or basil
pinches of marjoram, thyme and chili powder
1/4 cup red wine (or balsamic vinegar and honey mixed with a little water)
Mozzarella cheese
Cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
cottage cheese

• Brown meat and garlic. Drain. Add tomato paste and tomatoes w/juices, oil, onion, seasonings and wine.
• Simmer 2 hours on low.

• Cook pasta with 1 tablespoon oil. Follow package directions. Drain when done.
  I put pan in the sink and turn the cold water on to cool the pasta so it is easy
  to handle and stops cooking.
• Pour some of the sauce on the bottom of a lasagna pan (or in smaller pans if you're going to freeze some for later baking.
• Add lasagna pasta side-by-side in pan ---usually 3 or 4 across depending on pan size.
  Use any broken pasta first saving the nicer pieces for the top layer(s). 
• Pour more sauce over this. 
• In a checkerboard design alternating slices of cheese and scoops of cottage cheese over pasta,
  leaving no empty spaces. Sprinkle with Parmesan--dry or fresh.
• Remember your pattern of cheese placement because in each serving you want each type of
  cheese.
• Place another layer of pasta on top of cheese layer. Add more sauce. 
• Place a different kind of cheese above where you put the cheese on the first layer.
• Continue until pasta and sauce are used up. You should get at least three layers.
• End with layer of cheese.
• Cover with foil, seal well.

Bake at 350* for about an hour.

When done let it sit for about 10 minutes

Variations:

• Leave out meat----it is not needed for protein with all that cheese.
• Add mushrooms and olives especially if there is no meat (saute w/onions)
• Add veggies----zucchini is excellent but does give off water, spinach is good too.
• Cost-saving idea: Use cottage cheese or ricotta on each layer and only add the more
  expensive cheese on the top. 
• Mix egg, cottage cheese or ricotta and  little dry Parmesan and use as a filling
  in layers instead of cheese. Make sure the egg is cooked before serving.
• Use your imagination and what you have on hand and what you like. Lasagna is very versatile.
  
  Tips: save any pieces of broken lasagna, leftover sauce and cheeses, mix together if there is enough and put in a small casserole and freeze for a later meal. Or save the pasta in a baggie and freeze to add to soup later.
  
  Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday .......new leftover thread I can't wait to enjoy the vegetable beef soup I made yesterday in my crockpot. It is a gloomy, cooler day-------soup sounds just right along with some kind of homemade bread and a nice dinner salad. I am including some of my "freebie" meals from the freezer this week. I am determined to finish de-cluttering the house and re-purposing what we had to take out of the kitchen in order to fit the new oven. Already-cooked meals will be very helpful. On Wednesday I will take out some of the beef in the soup, shred it  and serve it in a couple tacos along with 1/2 of one of my small  frozen pans of enchiladas. I will fry up the rest of the tortillas in the shape of tacos  and fill them with beans and cheese to freeze for a "freebie" meal later on. It's a recipe I found on Pinterest through a friend. Although it calls for pre-made taco shells it will easily adapt to using homemade tacos. It's on my "Food" board. Thursday will find us eating the frozen Shepherd's Pie leftover from a thread a few weeks ago with veggies taken from the soup gently mixed in----because as I recall there were not many veggies added to that pie. Friday, chicken will be served---found a great sale on drumsticks which my husband loves. I divided them up into five nights of dinners for him. I have chicken breasts which I love that are frozen too. So, we will have some sort of chicken meal probably with roasted red potatoes which we need to use up (we have a couple hundred pounds from last year's garden. I will use the leftover soup for broth for a sauce to put over the chicken. Leftover spaghetti sauce from two weeks ago will be thawed and used to make several small lasagnas on Saturday, some of which I will freeze. We order from Bountiful Baskets Co-op and are getting, among other things, an Italian veggie lovers'pack. I will use some of those items for the lasagnas and a big Italian salad (think Olive Garden!) served with my Parmesan Balsamic Vinegar dressing. Later today: a recipe for Lasagna! Kathi~

Got eggs?

....real men don't eat quiche

My husband will not eat quiche-----well, unless we are at someone's house and they serve it. His mom and dad taught him to be polite.  He may even ask for seconds, but he decidedly does not care for the dish.  Frankly, neither do I, so, it's not a problem at our house. But, we have chickens and since we have started heating their feed and cooking up too-small potatoes from our garden to give them also, they are producing like it is July! We do have a couple of customers who will buy eggs from us and we give eggs to our kids---those that live near us. But we still have too many eggs.

So, I need to plan meals or other dishes to make using eggs. Of course we love them cooked in any fashion for breakfast or the occasional breakfast-for-dinner meal. And I have been using the winter squash we grew last year with the eggs to make custards which kind of taste like crust-less pumpkin pie.

I do have some recipes that use a lot of eggs-----Chili Relleno Casserole, angel food cake, pound cake to use up the yolks from making angel food cake, pumpkin pudding, omelettes...and so on. But here is an out-of-the-box idea I'd like to share.

Breakfast Egg Loaf

• scramble and then whisk eggs (I use six in a glass bread loaf pan, you can also use a muffin tin---use more or less depending on how many eggs you have and how many you are going to feed this to and for how long----mine usually lasts 3-4 days) until just  blended, not too much or you'll end up like I did last week with a giant bubble on top of what tastes like scrambled eggs (my squash custards).

• now, go to your refrigerator to see what you find there to add to the eggs. These are things I often use in this recipe---not all of the ingredients just a few:
  -mushrooms
  -tomatoes
  -avocado
  -onions
  -peppers
  -cooked zucchini and or spinach (raw will give off too much water and spoil the loaf)
  -any other veggies you like that lend themselves to being paired with eggs
  -cooked ground meat, shredded beef or sausage
  -cooked chicken
  -cooked fish
  -cooked ground turkey
  -cheese
  chop, slice or grate---whichever you'd like depending on the way you want it to look and how long it will take what you choose to put in it will take to cook.
• now, go to your pantry and see what else you can find to add. Again, just choose a few:
  -spices
  -sauces, salsa
  -canned beans
  -leftover bottom-of-the-bag chips
  -corn tortillas (fried in ripped or cut pieces)
• take a loaf pan or a cake or pie pan, grease or spray it
• put all the ingredients you have found into the pan, spices go in with the eggs. I have layered the ingredients nicely in the pan only to have the light things  float to the top when the egg was added, so, now I don't bother.
• I usually bake this without any cheese but sometimes I do use grated cheese or top it off with dry Parmesan on occasion.
•  bake at 350* until egg is thoroughly set up.
• Cool it a little bit and put it in the refrigerator with a cloth over it to keep it from drying out. Foil or plastic wrap can make it too moist. Do whatever works best for you.
• I use this cold or warmed up for breakfast or lunch especially when I am in a hurry. Sometimes I grab a slice of  it and go, or I take it in a baggie or container and at other times I pour salsa over it or a dollop of real sour cream. I cut it so that I am taking only about 2 eggs or less. For lunch I sometimes heat it up and serve it atop a bed of romaine or sprouts with some sliced tomatoes and or avocado.
• It's very versatile, easy to make, great for using up eggs and other leftovers. I have even put broken tortilla chips in the bottom for a slight crust.

No, my husband doesn't especially like this any better than quiche. But if I heat it up, with melted cheese and salsa he will eat it. I just save it for myself.
I have even divided it up into single servings and frozen some of it.
And it works well put in a flour tortilla with some sprouts or lettuce to go.
Don't keep it too long.
Use your imagination putting just about anything in it that you like.

Enjoy!

Kathi~

Safety Quick Tip

Not wanting to have meat that is a few days old added to a soup that will be used for leftovers for a few more days,
I often (if that is the case) add the thoroughly cooked meat to the bowls of soup as it is served, not adding it to the soup itself.
I also do the same with pasta and rice--
but with these it is more an issue of quality
since those things soak up the liquids from hot soup
and totally change the texture and taste of the soup
and the pasta or rice become soggy.
That way those who are
watching carbs, allergic or who are gluten-intolerant
can enjoy the soup too.

Always be safe. 

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~

Town Day

.....maybe?

The temperatures here have been getting warmer and whereas that is very nice in some ways, it prevents me from going to town, at least for now.
The snow has melted and frozen overnight which has left us with large patches of solid ice in our driveway which totally surrounds my car and my path to it. I partially lost the use of  my left foot in 1986 due to scar tissue build-up from back surgery in 1973. I, also have a gait problem stemming from a hereditary inner ear condition. Walking for me is difficult, often painful and  always unsteady. This makes walking in the wintertime quite difficult for me.
We really need to replenish groceries, but I may not be able to go to town or shop locally as planned.
We have more than enough to get us through the weekend so I am not concerned. I had planned a marathon trip to town with a smaller excursion to our local grocery store on Friday. There are many things we normally buy on sale at great prices this week.
I could vacuum--the house needs it, but the vac is broken, I could bake some things we need in our new oven but I have to wait to get the sticky tape residue off and for a repair man to fix the oven door. I could post the pictures of the last two meals I made but this morning my cell phone camera stopped working.
I still have many things that could occupy me. I will choose a few of those and get them finished.

I still have not spent a dime on our food for this week---that is out of this week's money for food. It's still at $3.71 (50 cents a serving for four nights) for a piece of meat I used on Monday to make soup. I hope  I can  soon figure out what's wrong with my cell camera so I can post the pictures of the foods I have made this week with leftovers from last week, some frozen meals from two weeks ago and the meal leftover thread I started on Monday with the soup.

Later, I hope........

Monday's Soup Thread
......everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soup!

Dinner tonight? It's Monday. So, it's soup night!

I thawed a small (3/4lb.) pasture-fed chuck steak which was $6.98/lb. (remember, I buy by the serving, not the pound), selling price was $4.71 and it was $1.00 off. So, $3.71 was the total.

I added it to my 7qt. crockpot with the last bottle of that horrid beer I've been getting rid of in cooking for over a week. Letting it marinate for a few minutes while I searched for other ingredients to see what direction this soup was going to take.

My scavenger hunt around the kitchen looking for anything that was almost gone and not saved for a different recipe, started in the refrigerator. There, I found and added torn pieces of raw kale, shredded green cabbage, a little juice from some fermented pickles that were gone, a couple spoonfuls of  naturally-fermented sauerkraut and some small carrots that had frozen.

My digs in the freezer unearthed cilantro and a small chunk of red sweet bell pepper. I also found some unrecognizable items that I did not label because I was certain I would know what they were later. Well, I do not. I've got to stop doing that! I saved those mystery items for a later date when I have more time to figure them out. From our garden I had frozen overgrown green onion tops and bulbs, a large Poblano pepper. The theme of this soup was beginning to be obvious with what I was finding! Spicy!

Peppers, cilantro and big onion tops (and various other things) are easy to break apart or crumble to add to recipes as long as they don't thaw first. I add the carrots whole because they are small and the over-grown green onion bulbs (which were cut from the tops before freezing) are pinched at the little end forcing out each layer so there are  interesting long, skinny mild onions in the soup.

My cooking style is a little rustic because it is fun, easy and it makes mistakes look planned! Some may consider that deceitful and lazy but I prefer "creative".................

As I crossed the kitchen to add my finds to the crockpot I passed a bowl of the few onions we have left from our garden so I grabbed two very small yellow ones to slice into the pot. I spied my salad dressing container almost empty sitting by the sink waiting to be washed so I can start another batch. There was about a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar and olive oil thickened with spices mixed in it at the bottom. So, I poured a little water in the container, shook it a bit and poured that into the soup. The acid of the vinegar not only compliments the other flavors in this soup but helps bring out the flavors of other ingredients. I do not like to waste anything!

Now for the spices. I added garlic, basil, my general go-to spice from Costco, chili powder and a little curry. I also grabbed a small can of organic tomato paste because it seems to me that soup using beef or game meat is always better with a tomato base.

It is starting to smell really good in here now. Spicy soup will taste really good on this dreary day.
I will add some oven-steamed garden winter squash to add more bright colors, flavor and to thicken it. Any extra squash will be pureed to be  baked with eggs, milk, honey and cinnamon for a custard dessert.

This will feed us tonight with some homemade drop biscuits flavored with some herbs and a sprinkle of Parmesan in the batter, served with a mix of coconut oil and butter--- and honey for my husband. And of course we will each have a raw veggie salad.

Most of what I used was either given to us, from our garden last year, or the last of things I didn't want to throw away or just give to the chickens. The only thing I used from this week's food budget was the meat. Even the salad ingredients are what's left from last week's shopping trip.

And there was very little work. I did not cut up the steak since it will be falling apart by meal time anyway. I only cut our garden onions and the shredded cabbage. Other things were crumbled or torn and the carrots and other small items were added whole. The steamed winter squash only has to be scooped out once it is steamed after it has been cleaned. If I can keep our cats out of it,  the inedible parts---- the skin, stringy stuff and seeds----will be given to our chickens. The top woody stem will be added to the kindling bucket and I will go through and pick out the mature seeds to dry and replant this season.

The thread for this week is: soup tonight, tomorrow we will have leftover soup that I've put in the blender and added a little cream or half and half to in mugs with some kind of sandwich or wrap. I will also use the soup for lunches.  When there is not much broth left I will drain the other ingredients, use some of the broth to make a kind of sauce or gravy (cornstarch and cold water), mix it with the veggies and meat. Then I'll add this to a pie plate or shallow glass pan and top it with the leftover drop biscuits which I will butter the bottoms of to keep them from getting soggy, cover this and stick it in the freezer. If there is broth left I will use it to add to a spicy sauce  since it is a spicy soup.

It's a small thread but goes a long way economically. I hope this helps you.

Kathi~