Eating Down the Fridge: Days 5 & 6

So, with that little detour out of the way, we continued Eating Down the Fridge in one way or another this week.

On Friday, I worked, and the kids went with a sitter. She fabulously met us at our house and packed a lunch for the boys out of what was in our fridge so even while eating out, they ate from home. I am better at doing that for snacks than for meals but have to remember it's not as hard as I build it up to be.

At the end of the day, I made one of the last first things I wanted to try from How to Eat Supper: the cinnamon scented tomato sauce, with the suggested Muir Glen whole tomatoes. For a switch from our usual classic sauce, it was excellent. It was Greek inspired, so there was more oregano suggested than I will put in next time, but the amount of cinnamon was perfect and I loved the flavor it added. We ate it, as suggested, over perciatelli, which did sop up the flavor nicely, but the best part, as I expected it might be, was the goat cheese on top. It was a perfect way to cut through the stronger flavors of the sauce and add a creamyness to the smoky flavors.

Tonight, I made Thursday's cabbage rolls in my new 12 inch skillet. I used V8 and they tasted just as I remembered from my childhood when Polish friends of my parents would bring them over. They were, alas, not a hit with the family, though I will try to unwrap the insides of one of them tomorrow and see if the kids like it that way. I also made kasha for the first time. It was not a success. I bought it over the summer when we were inundated with cabbage and I asked my macrobiotic friend whether and how she ate it. She replied they just sauteed it and ate it over kasha, so I got the kasha to try it. A stir fry and two cole slaws later, we didn't need to go that route, and this seemed like the week to try the kasha. The box suggested making it with water, broth, or consomme. I loathe consomme, but when picking up Campbell's Beef Broth when sick, I grabbed a consomme by mistake. Thinking this would be a chance for consomme redemption, I used it for the kasha. BLEAH. Never again. I'm going to try the kasha again, but never consomme. It just ruined anything attractive about the kasha. Fortunately (?) I still have half the box left.

And, another confession: I have shopped. We needed milk and bananas for the kids, and while I was there I caved and got more leeks, all of which I have already used. I am obsessed with the potato-leek soup but I really do think I'm over it. I also used one to try the Pan-Fried Chick Pea Salad from 101 Cookbooks. The only thing I needed for it was the leek, and while I clearly could have made it without, I couldn't resist. I was mildly disappointed in it. Her things always look so gorgeous, but except for the healthy cookies, I haven't been able to make anything of hers taste as amazing as it looks and sounds on her site. This is a little tragic to me as I am obsessed with her thoughtful and lovely blog. My latest crush on her is the "iPhone recipes" option, which cuts out all the clutter so if you are shopping or cooking with your iPhone, it goes right to the information without any of the backstory. Genius. Really thoughtful and so West Coast. I love it.

So here we are at the end of the week. You would never know there was progress from my refrigerator or cabinets. My fruit bowl is way down, which can't be bad, and my veggie drawers have more space than usual. So, I'm going one more week, but with a modified shop to get a few things to use up the other things. And I am sticking to my list. Oh yes I am.