Thursday, March 12, 2009

Eating Down the Fridge: Day 4

I won't be able to make it at the time, but Kim O'Donnel of the Eating Down the Fridge Challenge is hosting a webchat today (Thursday) at 1pm. Go here for details.

Last night went as planned, with lasagne for grownups and ... something from home for kids though I fear my one son might have had a can of imported olives for dinner. I wasn't home to watch and I'm not asking. And for the meeting, I brought hummus (using a can of chickpeas, and moving the tahini from the pantry to the fridge...still progress, right?), tortilla chips, and the rest of the Nikki's Healthy Cookies bars, which everyone ate and seemed to enjoy.

Tonight, I'm hoping to get back to the stuffed cabbage, which is really in keeping with the spirit of the thing; I have all the veggies on hand (even a parsnip), and some el-cheapo rice I think will be perfect for using up in this context, and some beef is defrosting in the fridge as I write. Having finished all my salad, I'm a little fatigued thinking about side dishes but I do still have leftover spinach, so I might think about either a spinach salad (which I do not like in general) or sauteed with garlic (which I do, very much, especially with a little nutmeg). I also uncovered beets, both roasted and raw. The roasted were supposed to be pureed and frozen for a Deceptively Delicious recipe to be named later, but I never got to the puree stage. But I was inspired by the Tipsy Baker's take on the Mark Bittman raw beet salad so that's also a possibility. Of course, all of this depends quite heavily on my ability to get the kids to take a nap.

I'm still deciding what to do about whether to continue the challenge to next week as well. I know I need some basics (bananas, apples, berries) but I would like to keep the shopping to a minimum. And therein, apparently, lies the challenge for me.

2 comments:

brandy101 said...

If I have not mentioned it before, TJs has the most DELICIOUS reduced-fat pita chips (comes in a light blue bag) I have ever had - HEAVENLY with hummus.

I wouldn't worry about the olives - they are healthful. Unless, of course, it gives him a tummy ache!

There is an Italian restaurant in our area that provides a *relish tray* before each meal. It has 3 sections: pepperoccini, pickled beet salad, three bean salad. I love the last two of those and usually eat ALL the 3-bean salad! I have to get their recipe somehow. Anyway, it always struck me as odd that they dont provide olives in that tray.

tipsybaker said...

I am also tempted to continue the challenge into next week. It's been incredibly restful doing no shopping, and we have so much left in the house. But. . . we'll see. I'm finding that we can really subsist for days on leftovers which makes me sort of sad, because I like cooking new stuff. Anyway, it is certainly frugal.