What I Learned From My Fridge August 21, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Humor, Vegetarian Recipes.trackback
On Tuesday, our fridge overflowed with food prepared for guests: cubed watermelon, bowls of red and green grapes, containers filled with ready to serve crudités (carrot and celery sticks, strips of red pepper, broccoli florets), tender zucchini ready for slicing into a sizzling sauté pan, onion rolls to toast, chunky vegetarian chili to serve over fragrant basmati brown rice.
For the next few days, while our guests relaxed and enjoyed their visit, we utilized the contents of fridge (and pantry) to satiate appetites with hearty bowls of chili, salads bursting with delicious colors, moist banana nut bread (which my niece baked and brought), plates piled with spaghetti noodles and sauce, sautéed zucchini with red peppers, and other assorted sides.
After our guests left, we were left with left-overs. Delightful! Instead of cooking from scratch, we re-purposed ingredients pre-pared to serve our visitors. We blanched broccoli, roasted carrots and red pepper with potatoes, reheated the chili, and greatly enjoyed “cleaning out the fridge.”
This morning, I opened the fridge and saw bare shelf space for the first time all week. How delightful!
Tonight, we’ll start with a clean slate.
Refrigerators remind us to enjoy the natural ebb and flow of life:
1. Whether shelves are barren or bursting with food, cleanliness counts.
2. If you don’t know what it is, you probably don’t want to know.
3. If you smell an off odor upon opening the door, investigate immediately.
4. Nature did not intend for all cheeses to wear Technicolor coats of mold.
5. Even more so than when cleaning junk drawers: if in doubt, toss it out.
6. Life never seems empty when our fridge is full.
7. Like a loyal friend, our fridge purrs and hums no matter what we throw at it.
No rules. Just write!
Since I live alone, well except for my two cats, I have a lot of leftover meals. I hate to throw anything usable away. I love your expression “re-purposed”! Sometimes that also fits my life.
BTW, I made the vegetarian chili and love it! You didn’t mention the recipe made a ton!! Most of it went into my freezer for another day.
Oops. My bad. : )
The recipe does make a ton of chili. I love tossing extra chili, soups, and casseroles into the freezer to enjoy another day.
Glad you liked it.
Food is too expensive to toss out if it can be re-purposed and enjoyed. The goal is not to let it linger too long. : )
I actually like left overs better than when the food is served the first time.
I often create left-overs on purpose. Cook once, eat twice. : )
I had to laugh at the cheese coats 🙂
Cheese gets bored if ignored for too long ~ inviting blue, green, orange, and/or red mold to move in and keep it company.
Cream Cheese is the best at sprouting colorful coats of mold. : )