I enjoyed my month-long hiatus from keeping my food record but it is time to begin anew. It's too bad I fell off the food-log wagon right after Thanksgiving because I've used a whole passel of things from my larder (my choice of words, no doubt, tells my age). I made several batches of treats that used a lot of the foodstuffs on my shelves, all of which came from my little discount grocery store (DGS). I do feel proprietary toward that cute little store--that's why I call it "my" DGS. I wouldn't have much of a social life if it weren't for my almost daily shopping visits there.
But, I'm going to skip trying to list those items used in the Christmas yummies and begin with tonight's dinner: salmon fillets on the grill, chopped salad with Asian peanut dressing, sugar snap peas, carrot slices with butter and pure Vermont maple syrup. With the exception of the salad ALL other items listed came from the DGS. Can't say the volume in my fridge or on my shelves has decreased by much, though. There are still snap peas in the crisper waiting to be cooked for another meal. Just a small portion of the butter and maple syrup were used, so the butter dish and the bottle are taking up the same amount of space in the fridge. And, the carrots---well, in a weak moment at the DGS this afternoon I purchased 5 pounds--yes, 5 POUNDS!!--of cleaned, sliced and ready-to-use carrots. They were only $1.89 and, obviously, I'm a sucker for a deal. And, I have probably 4 1/2 lbs. of carrots remaining in the crisper of the fridge. Oh, my! I'm fond of carrots but I can't imagine eating 5 lbs. of cooked carrots, no matter how much butter, syrup, and brown sugar I slather on them.
Got interrupted last night so am now finishing the Jan. 2 post. Hubby loves my beef veggie soup and he especially likes it loaded with carrots, so I need to get going on a vat of soup. I'm also searching for recipes that use carrots (maybe cooked and mashed and added to something like banana bread---except it would be carrot bread). Most baked goods call for shredded carrots but mine are already cut into round slices, so grating isn't an option. The Internet should provide me with plenty of options for depleting my lifetime carrot supply.
Speaking of my weakness for a deal, I also have 10 half pint cartons of heavy whipping cream looking for a use. I could happily drink it. Some people crave potato chips or peanuts or Cheetos when they're feeling snack-happy. For me, it's cream. Not ice cream. Cream. I like it on cereal, over a bowl of graham crackers (hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it), in certain soups, in some alcoholic drinks, stirred into my skimmed milk (yeah, I know--sort of defeats the purpose, huh?), poured over fresh berries. I'm hopeless. But, they were buy one, get one free...a quart of heavy whipping cream for $1.60!! That amount would cost almost $8 at the regular supermarket. I just couldn't leave it on the shelf at that price. Yes, the sell-by date has passed but the higher the fat content, the longer the shelf life. I'll drink it/use it until it smells sour (if it ever does), then I'll bake something with it. My grandparents didn't have refrigeration (no electricity) until they were very old people. Times were tough, families were big, tossing out food was not an option. Getting rid of sour milk would've been a sacrilege--so Grandma made a cake, or cornbread or other down-home delicacy. I learned from my grandparents to make-do. Of course, my internist might not approve of any of my intended uses for the glut of heavy cream in the fridge but that's what statins are for, right?
Will report on my fabulous talent for food inventiveness later on.
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