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Why have a calendar, when you have food?

It’s the end of the season, and I have an abundance of food.

food I have

Not frozen meat
8 or so assorted pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken
leftover filet mignon (with sauteed peppers and mushrooms on the side)
bacon (this usually is just assumed, but I thought I’d throw it on the list today)

Frozen Meat *means should be used soonish
ground beef
hamburger patties
meatballs
taco seasoned ground beef
london broil marinated for stir fry*
chicken breast
diced roast pork* (only 1 meal’s worth)
chicken backs for stock

sorely tempting meat on sale this week
ground beef $1.69/lb
skinless boneless chicken breast $1.99/lb

bread
tortillas
I have a bread machine!!!
1/2 pound of bread leftover from a loaf

Produce
10 peaches of dubious virtue (these are the least ripe ones from the $5 of peach seconds I got at the farmers’ market and put up and sugared and put in the back of the fridge to ferment. Now my container is full, and I need to think up something different for these last few)
10 pounds of potatoes
5 bell peppers
2 zucchinis
3 long skinny eggplants
carrots
jalepeno peppers
2 apples
garlic (whole and peeled)

Dairy
sour cream
cheddar cheese
2% milk
heavy cream
and end of a blue cheese that should be finished soonish
cream cheese

OMG food!

I looked through all my cookbooks for stuff for peaches and potatoes (separately)

One of my favorite cookbooks, Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen, had a recipe for a frittata that not only included potatoes, but also bell peppers and day old bread! Score. I had that last night, but I put all the stuff on the list, anyway, just so I could brag about finding the perfect recipe. I wonder how well the potato frittata will reheat? I’ll find out eventually, I guess.

Cooking With the Seasons had an exceptionally tasty-looking peach dessert, but I’ll need people over to try that. Hint. Hint.
ETA: I lied. The recipe is in Winterthur’s Cullinary Collection, which also has an interesting recipe for a pie with dates and sesame seeds that I might like to have help trying to create some moot.

Otherwise, it looks like I’ll make a coriander and peach chutney/salsa thing and find a good meat to put it with… my choice would be lamb, but it’s looking like chicken is the available option.

I have separated the chicken into meat, crunchy bits, and refuse. I can’t quite bring myself to toss the crunchy bits. They are so tasty – there must be a way to use them without the hideous gluttony of a meal of chicken skin. Crumb topping for casserole?

I’d been planning to put the filet mignon with peppers and mushrooms either in tortillas or over rice all mexican-y with maybe the zucchini and perhaps a can of beans. I think the starch shall, instead, be diced potatoes. Lots of diced potatoes. And I could probably grill down at least one additional bell pepper. I might be able to put away five or six lunches from that dinner.

Ummmm… eggplant. That could go with potatoes in a curry. With jarred tomatoes (from [redacted]’s mother!). And… ummm… lots of jalepenos. Yeah.

So what else is urgent? I should have a bell pepper left, unless it self destructs before I get to it. More potatoes. Some pork for a small dish. Beef for a stir fry. Wherewithal to make hella tasty mashed potatoes to feed a large army. Bother – peaches still, I can’t imagine the chicken using up more than half what I have. Oh, and cooked chicken. Right.

So I need salad greens. I think a chicken, peach, grilled onion salad with stilton would be kinda tasty. Maybe some toasted almonds in that. But way too early to buy the greens yet.

roasted pork with potatoes and carrots and gravy. *yawn* Boring, but it’ll still be tasty.

And then I thaw the meat for stir fry again and make it right quick. Probably by this time I will need to buy more bell peppers. There can be potatoes in stir fry. Totally.

Ooh, and the Better Homes and Gardens has a recipe for bread machine potato bread that starts from a real potato.

Yeah. That should feed me into next month. And I think I’lll still need brilliant ideas to eat everything.

And I have a hankering to make lots of bread… only no room to eat it.

ARGH! I forgot about the three pounds of dates I bought to stuff for an SCA event and never got around to doing anything with… and the container of feta cheese and the bag of walnuts. Is anyone throwing a party any time soon who wants to join me in making a tasty little finger desserts?

Meanwhile, I am feeling both antisocial and lonely… and not quite sure what to do with that.

Food rambling – you know the drill

food I have
Produce
Collard Greens
5 large potatoes
1 very very ripe tomato
1 zucchini
carrots
onions
5 bell peppers

Meat
roast pork leftovers
lamb shank leftovers
london broil marinated in garlic black pepper chinese sauce

bread products
none
but I now have a bread machine

dairy
a little bit of 2% milk that’s just not going to last
a little bit of heavy cream that’s totally going in tea

food I can make from that

Wednesday, September 13 *done*
collard greens & tomato cooked down with seasonings and some bouillon, served over rice Maybe the lamb leftovers on the side

Thursday, September 14 *done*
grill zucchini & onions. Add Pork. then what? how should I season this one? Cajun-ish with rice and a can of beans?

put pork roast scraps & bone in a pot with the lamb bone. Add water & maybe some carrots – I’ve never heard of pork stock, so not so much a proper stock with veggies as a concentrated yummy liquid in which to cook beans later.

Friday, September 15
taking my mother out to dinner

Saturday, September 16
Freaks & Geeks (dinner out?)

Sunday, September 17
dinner with my parents because they’ll be in the city for a conference
cut up stuff for tomorrow

Monday, September 18
london broil, bell pepper, onion, carrots, garlic -> stir fry
see if I can work a potato into this dish

Tuesday, September 19
pork leftovers with potatoes and bell peppers to make hash.

Put beans to soak

Wednesday, September 20
cook beans in pork broth

make mashed potatoes for dinner
collard greens

Thursday, September 21
beans & rice
collard greens

Friday, September 22
If going to New York, don’t buy any more perishables!
If staying home, head over to the evening farmers market

farmers’ markets

Wow! The weekday farmers’ market is way different from the weekend one.

There was nowhere to get eggs, but there were different produce vendors than usual, and they were all willing to haggle to get rid of their produce!

I got a quart of peach seconds – so now I need to layer them with sugar and set them to ferment.

I got 7 rolls for $2 – so now I need to eat massive quantities of bread – I did my part by eating 3 with garlic butter and pot roast – Mmmmm.

Two wee little baby melons for half price!

a bunch of bell peppers for a dollar!

and some yummy cheeses – not discounted. Often farmers’ market cheddars taste a bit bitter to me, but not these – so great find.

*rolls about in the glory of good food*

Mundanity

I got so much done yesterday. Apparently, they desperately need me to work on Friday, so I got to take of early yesterday to make up the hours. Whee!!

I signed up for gym membership! So now I have to actually start going – Eep!

I stopped by the Office of Off-Campus Living and asked whether there was anything I could do to get my property manager to get rid of the poison ivy – and the woman had the brilliant idea to sent me over to the University City pseudo-police. The guy there called over and was all intimidating to my property manager without ever telling him who had placed the complaint. It sounds like something might actually get done! Well, somewhat – even if my property manager is wonderfully vigilant, there is still a main root originating on a property not owned by my guy.

Then I stopped by my grocery store – who have healthy pasta on sale. I have been refusing to switch over because regular pasta is often on very cheap sales, but hey – sale! So I bought penne for the vodka cream sauce I’ll be making this weekend (vegetarian company coming and my mom accidentally bought a quart of heavy cream in stead of half&half).

And then it rained – gloriously. I love rain.