Brielle's Avalon

The way I cook and plan menues I end up cleaning out the fridge fairly regularly, at least every couple of weeks, usually before my next paycheck comes. With whatever is in the pantry I can usually cobble together something nutritious, yummy and not too weird. I was just reminded of this in a Facebook Memory from 9 years ago:

“Cleaning out the fridge feast, 1st course: yummy pasta in white sauce. 2nd course: sweet & sour shrimp 3rd course: roast chicken (the carcass of which will soon be broth) 4th course: salad Beverage: generic red wine Dessert: Chocolate silk pie. I should clean the fridge more often.”

Not everything is still fit for human consumption. My fridge gets cleaned out at random intervals. Sometimes I eat, sometimes the chickens eat, sometimes I feed the compost heap and sometimes I feed the trash can if the something has become a science experiment that’s just too scary and has taken on a life of its own. Hmm…there may be an indy comedy-horror film script in that…

Anyway…it’s time to clean the fridge again. Payday is still a few days away and once again moths are flying out of my open pocketbook. Time to open the fridge. Of course, there’s always something you’ve squirreled away in the freezer. 1-person portions of lasagna, chili, casseroles, stir fry…but here we’re going to pretend that those have been et and we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel with just basic ingredients left. I’m surprised how much I have in there! There’s still 2 or 3 weeks of work lunches, so that’s no worries, now to figure out what to make with the leftovers.

2 avocados. OK, these came from the fruit bowl but they still need to be used. I also have onions, garlic, tomatoes and lemons so guacamole is happening.

Now to the fridge. Ignore the shelf of bottles, that’s rice wine I made that I need to deal with. Leftover beans, so re-fry those and make a nice burrito. I have cheese, salsa, tortillas and sour cream so even without leftover meat I’m good there. Or make a small pot of chili if you have a can of dices tomatoes in the pantry. Garlic, oregano and LOTS of chili pepper and topped with cheese makes a nice dinner with cornbread or tortillas or chips or crackers on the side.

More than 1 flour tortilla and enough cheese so there’s a cheese crisp on the side.

A jar of pickles a friend made with 1 spear left. That’s a snack.

Prickly pear jelly a friend made, just enough left in the jar for breakfast tomorrow. There’s still marble rye bread, so there’s the toast. YUM!

Bread dough waiting to be a loaf. I’ll set that to rise tomorrow after work. There’s also some Branson’s pickle so … *rummaging in freezer* … Found some ham and Swiss cheese. I can have a Ploughman’s Lunch for tea tomorrow after work when the bread’s done. Cheddar would’ve been more Plaughman-lunch-ish than Swiss but it’ll work fine. It’s still cheese. That’ll make a lovely dinner.

If I hadn’t had Branston’s pickle I could have made a flatbread with tomatoes, onion, mushrooms and cheese as a kind of pizza or just fancy flatbread.

Or I could make the bread into a regular loaf and make tepenade from the olives I found. Scooping up stuff with pieces of bread is fun, especially if you have some wine to wash it down with. Soda, Kool-ade (sometimes we must resort to this) or a good ale will do, though.

Or I could make Welsh rarebit with cheese and a bottle of beer I found, just melt some grated cheese in beer, toast the bread and pour the melted cheese over the toast. Pickles go great with this…maybe I’ll save the friend’s pickle for tomorrow.

I’ve got lunches for work frozen and ready to go so that’s no worry. If I didn’t have random weird things to cobble together in the fridge I could just dig into that but I’d rather pull something out of the pantry before shorting myself on work lunches.

In the pantry I had linguini, canned clams, olive oil and garlic so I had linguini in clam sauce last night for myself and 2 friends. Made garlic breadsticks from some of the refrigerator bread dough and salad to go with it. The 1 bottle of white wine I had was just enough to make the sauce and each have a glass.

I also have cans of tuna so I can make tuna salad in future. Or *more rummaging* cook up these egg noodles, make a white sauce with the tuna (or just mix it with cream of mushroom soup), spread that over the noodles in a casserole dish, top with cheese and buttered breadcrumbs, bake til bubbly and enjoy a nice dinner with leftovers for future nights or day-off lunches.

I always try to keep canned soups for when life gets tight or I just need a light comfort food night. Tomato and chicken noodle are always in there for when I feel pookie. Cream of mushroom is in there for quick strogonoff or random casseroles (a-la 1950s cooking…I was born then, I’m allowed!). The vegetable beef is generally for making pasty fillings for lunches but makes a good dinner, as does bean soup and clam chowder. Sometimes other things end up there, too. If soup isn’t quite enough, a sandwich or salad fills it out, depending on what’s in the fridge or garden.

Got eggs? I got chickens so I (almost) always have eggs. If I only have a few I can make an egg sandwich or use it to bind stuff together in another recipe (leftover bread into stuffing or bread pudding, lots of stuff…). Or maybe an omelette or quiche.

Got a potato? Bake it, stuff it with all the best stuff (cheese, butter, bacon or whatever leftover meat you have, sour cream, salsa…) and have a feast.

Having a few standard things in the kitchen (flour, sugar, rice, oatmeal, condiments, onions, olive oil, butter…) helps make things when there’s nothing to eat. It’s amazing how many things you can make if you know how. Leftovers suddenly take on a life of their own, changing from what they were (roast, boiled, grilled…) into some new, amazing concoction. With a little imagination and some inspiration form your favourite search engine you should be able to come up with surprisingly good stuff when the kitchen starts getting scant. I’ve been doing the make-something-from-something-else trick since I was a kid babysitting the brothers and sisters when my parents had evening meetings, classes or were just home late. Since some or most of the work is already done, making something interesting from leftovers is a great way for kids to get into cooking. Yay for mystery dinners!

When I started writing this a few months ago my cupboards were more bare. Apparently I’ve come up in the world lately and have an embarrassment of options.