Inside My Fridge - August 15, 2014

Why do I share pictures of what's inside my fridge? Well, as I said on my first post on the subject (four years ago), I initially planned for this to be a weekly series. In America, where children routinely go hungry each day, we throw away almost half of our food. It boggles the mind. 

Frugality is not just about "not buying stuff" or "not spending money," but about using what we have, using it all. To that end, a weekly cleaning and assessment of the fridge ensures that we find items before they go bad, so that we can use them up. The weekly "Inside My Fridge" picture was meant to be a vehicle for me for refrigerator cleaning, and some meal planning. If you click on the "Inside My Fridge" tab at the top of this blog, however, you'll see that I quickly abandoned the weekly commitment.

I didn't clean my fridge pre-picture, but I have a pretty good idea of what's in most of the fridge right now. The majority of those tomatoes will go into a sauce for pizza tonight. Pizza is also the plan for the chunks of fresh mozzarella in the jar by the peanut butter, and for the roasted zucchini slices in the jar to the left of the basket of oranges. I ran out of containers, so my cantaloupe is covered with plastic wrap; I'm happy to report that plastic wrap is used rarely in our home these days.

I've been experimenting with sourdough lately, so you can see my jar up yeast up there on the top shelf, next to a "mixed berry" homemade yogurt. The white crock is full of yogurt to strain/flavor tomorrow. Today, I'm making pickles with cucumbers, and with onions/peppers!

If you haven't seen a fridge picture in a while, send me a challenge! Post on my Facebook page Becky's Favorite Things: https://www.facebook.com/MakeYourFavoriteThings and ask me to post a picture....right now!, or post your own there if you're feelin' froggy.

And if you find refrigerators as fascinating as I do, you'll enjoy visiting my initial inspiration for the "Inside My Fridge" project, Mark Menjivar's "You Are What You Eat" project (warning: his pictures are much more professional than mine!).

Inside My Fridge - April 20, 2012

I'd planned to go be inspired by seasonal veggies at the Farmer's Market...until my 4-year-old woke up with a fever. Such is life! I am really craving some fresh, local strawberries and I bought some phyllo dough to encase some fresh spinach, but those tastes of the season will have to wait.

We have plenty of things for our Friday pizza/movie night and I also have a spaghetti squash to make this yummy-looking gratin (a Pinterest find, so yes, I do find it useful). It's supposed to be chilly here tomorrow, so I think it's a perfect day to make some homemade chicken stock with my stock bag from the freezer. That means we'll probably do a soup on Sunday, maybe the Moosewood carrot soup with some ginger! 

On the lower right shelf, I have yogurt straining to make it thicker -- it really makes it delicious. That would actually be perfect to top carrot soup, so I think I've convinced myself! I also have ingredients to make a version of this boiled egg/pasta/pesto dinner from The Weekly Greens which I think will be a family-friendly hit with some warm artisan bread (it's hard to see, but my bowl of dough is in the back on the left, bottom shelf).

I am crazy for sprouts this time of year -- they are perfect through the late winter and early spring before the lettuces get going. They add some nice texture and crunch to wraps and sandwiches and they also happen to be very good for you. I grow my own in a Mason jar! and store them in a saver in the fridge (they're on the middle shelf on, also on the right). Super easy!

What's in your fridge right now?

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Inside My Fridge - March 26, 2012

Leftovers Galore!


Here you see the remains of our Spring Smokeout: cole slaw, pasta salad and probably 10 lbs of pulled pork and some ribs. We make a ton and share it the first night with friends, eat leftovers the second night with family, then freeze the remainder in upcycled aluminum pie pans in smaller portions. Makes a great quick weeknight meal or easy to take to someone's gathering. You can see my husband's awesome homemade BBQ sauce balanced up on top of our water pitcher.


Speaking of water, the number and type of cold beverages in the fridge seems to grow as the mercury rises. In this picture, I can see the milk and water (which we always have) along with sun tea, green/mint coldbrew tea, homemade limeade, and margarita mix.


Viva la Lifestyle Change!!


We also have lots of fruit and salad greens right now. I recently stumbled across the Super Healthy Kids blog and loved their "50% of what you eat should be fruits and vegetables" approach to filling one's plate. How Simple! How Easy!


I really don't believe in "dieting" unless I have a medical condition and it's prescribed by my doctor. This is my way of saying that (unless my doctor tells me to) I absolutely and categorically refuse to count calories, weigh food, completely eschew any food group (like no carbs, no meat,), etc. But I also want to be healthy, so I need to find easy ways to guide and form my natural inclinations and choices so that I am enthusiastic about choosing healthy food.


In the last few years, I've taken the "Eat Real Food" banner and run with it, but I have found that this 50% guideline is great way to guide how I fill my plate. I cannot expect my children to do what I do not, so I have been trying to lead by example since I first read the Healthy Kids blog in January. Besides feeling better overall, I have dropped 5 lbs since without really "doing" anything else new. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but a general guideline that is helping my whole family choose and enjoy a lot more good things!


Viva la Lifestyle Change!!

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Have you missed me?

Some people who read this blog who know me in "real life" and ask about it. Some people who read this blog know me only through some online message boards, etc. Some people who read this blog just stumbled upon it somehow.

So my my next post is for those who have found and enjoy this for whatever reason. What should my next post be about? I am opening voting, but feel free to add any requests, based on a conversation we've had recently or a previous post where I've mentioned following up or getting back to something. Post a comment with your vote or suggestion and my next entry will be on the topic that gets the most responses.

1. Greens puree/greens smoothie & review of my wonderful Christmas-present-from-my-kickass-mother-in-law cookbook, What Chefs Feed Their Kids

2. Asian-esque meal planning for busy weeknights using leftovers creatively (kid-friendly dining, vegetarian meal night options)

3. Artisan bread: make beautiful, bakery-quality homemade bread for dinner in an hour or less (no kneading!)

I look forward to all responses! Thanks for reading.

Date Night Leftovers = Crab Cake Eggs Benedict

Under Construction: Toasted artisan bread, crab cake, scallions, poached egg, remoulade (don't forget the Bloody Marys)

We are lucky to have my parents living quite close and, occasionally, they invite our children to spend the night. Sometimes we use this occasion for a dinner out or, more often, as a chance to go see some of the amazing live music available to us here in Music City U.S.A. But really our favorite thing to do is cook together the way we used to do before we had kids.

Back in The Day, we'd leisurely peruse the aisles of the supermarket, possibly having a plan for our meal or possibly waiting to be inspired. So on this recent date night, plans to play golf got rained out and we decided to do five-course dinner instead, followed by "playing" (i.e., me learning) chess by a roaring fire. Delightful!!

I don't have pictures for everything, but the food was so beautiful I couldn't help but snap a few pictures here and there. We hadn't done this in so long that I have to admit we got a bit carried away, but it was an awful lot of fun and a splurge I do not regret!

First Course

Fried Green Tomatoes (Brandywine) with  Goat Cheese and Stone Ground Mustard

Second Course

Mahi, oil-poached with pineapple sage, Garlicky Fingerling Potatoes, Broccolini

This beauty was 100% the spouse's brainchild: oil poaching without requiring a full pan of oil, with the bonus that we could finally use the fancy food saver. He prepped the mahi and cooked it in some low-simmering water, but 3/4 of the way through the damn bag broke, so it was only mostly "oil-poached." Making the most of things, we tossed our broccolini in the herby/lemony water with the fish and it turned out to be a happy -- and quite tasty -- accident in the end. 

Third Course

Crab Cake with Remoulade

Fourth Course

Lamb Chops with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Fifth Course was a cheese plate, for which I have no photo. I also must stress that, if you want to do this, the key is small portions of everything (that one piece of mahi, for example, yielded our two "portions" plus leftovers). You want a lovely taste, an exquisite mouthful or two to savor, but then you need to cook the next course, so if you get overloaded you might decide (like I did) to forego that lovely pea puree that would have been beautiful with the lamb and potatoes. C'est la vie. We had leftover broccolini and that was good enough for me!

The following morning, we woke and went about our day at a leisurely pace, enjoying coffee and then Bloody Marys, which lead to the inspired idea (again, credit to my spouse) to make a fantastic Eggs Benedict with our leftover crab cakes and remoulade. Then he strummed the guitar and indulged in a nap while I painted. 

Feed the body. Feed the Soul. Appreciate Our Time. Live Well.

We are planning a frugal-minded version of the 3+ Course Date Night very soon. Not surprisingly, it's easier to take pictures when the photographer is not also responsible for all of the cooking and prep, so I feel confident I'll be able to share that with you as well.

Inside My Fridge - August 8, 2011

I still have loads of cucumbers! In addition to cucumber salad and many batches of icebox pickles, the last of which you can see bottom-center. I tried a version of this tomato-cucumber soup that was quite nice, but need a creamy, cold cucumber soup this summer, so I'll find one this week.

We have oodles of pattypan squashes, which are possibly now my favorite squash. I've been slicing them and layering in a pan with olive oil, salt/pepper and a bit of parmesan, then baking. Simpler is better for truly fresh food and it doesn't get much more simple than that. My dad has promised me several of the cute-and-tiny pattypans which I plan to stuff with cheesy breadcrumbs and maybe some bacon. My husband wants to try an oyster stuffing for these as well, so if anyone has any recipes, let me know.

The paper bag contains some not-totally-ripe tomatoes from our CSA. This is a great tip for those massive heirlooms you grow at home that split if you leave them on the vine, but are green on top if you pick them when the bottoms are ripe. Just put them in a paper bag for a few days; this captures the ethylene gas and allows them to finish ripening to delicious perfection.

Also, you may see the store yogurt on the bottom shelf and wonder if I've given up making my own. Funny story there...my three-year-old became constipated, which given the amount of fresh (mostly raw) fruit and vegetables she eats is rather odd and the pediatrician recommended adding some probiotics and specifically mentioned Activia so we immediately procured some. A little research over the weekend indicates that, yes, homemade yogurt does indeed contain lots and lots of probiotics, so that's good to know for certain. Oh, the funny part of the story? As it turns out, between my husband and myself we'd given her an inhuman amount of cheese over the previous two days. Communication failure there...

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Inside My Fridge - July 31, 2011

Tomato Season

I have oodles of sweet little cherry tomatoes, so that spells soup with some of my newly-dried dill. The skins are no problem if you have a sieve and a blender. I'll make a batch of icebox pickles to add to sandwiches or eat as a side dish (or snack). Tonight's plan is a fresh corn/tomato salad and some leftover ham. Later this week, I'll roast free-range chicken and make my 4-year-old's green been/potato recipe as a main dish.

We tend to eat light in the summer. Besides the leftover ham, the chicken will be the only meat cooked this week, although I do admit to having bacon in there that my husband plans to use for BLTs. I like BLTs but can't justify eating them as often as I eat tomato sandwiches -- nearly every day until the end of tomato season. We end up with several different types of tomatoes and I never get tired of a simple sandwich with mayo and basil. Since I rarely even buy tomatoes out of season, it's a lunch I will only be able to gorge on enjoy for another few months.

Everything spoils so quickly in the summer! Once the bananas reach their perfect spot of ripeness, I put them in the fridge. They will stay at that perfect spot much longer; they'd only last another day or two on the counter before being too soft for me. Even apples transform into a magic cooling treat if kept in the fridge.

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Inside My Fridge - June 5, 2011

In my fridge this week, we are in CSA heaven already. We only got one head of kohlrabi, not enough to try this kohlrabi puree, so that will have to keep. We have sugar-cured sliced ham, napa cabbage, bok choy, a massive head of broccoli, some gorgeous purple onions and assorted salad greens. I finally have beets enough (lower shelf in the middle) to make these Beet Chocolate Cupcakes, so that will definitely happen this week!

Also bottom-right I have some jasmine rice with peas and carrots (right next to the highly-recommended Summer Shandy). My time-saving tip of the week is to cook twice as much rice or pasta as you need and store the rest for quick sides or to make up easy vegetarian meals. The peas are homegrown! Next batch will have our own peas and carrots, if those ever last long enough to make it inside.

I have gone a bit crazy with cold summer beverages. You can see some homemade lemonade (in the Mason jar), so easy with citrus simple syrup, but there is also some green tea and cold-brewed coffee. Yes, that's right, I found a way to make a superb iced coffee -- no heat required because it is getting HOT here in the mid-south.  I will share details in a future post!

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Inside My Fridge - May 8, 2011

First delivery of the Spring/Summer season from Avalon Acres! If you live in the Nashville area and want to join a CSA, this is a great one -- includes truly free-range meat, eggs, pasta, jams/jellies, etc., along with locally-grown, pesticide-free produce. The fresh strawberries are almost gone and so is half of that bok choy and a large head of farm broccoli after last night's dinner with my parents (udon noodles with steamed broccoli and carrots in sesame-peanut sauce and pork chops with bacon and bok choy, homemade vanilla yogurt and fresh strawberries).

I have lots of spinach in my garden and a big bag from Avalon, so I think I will do a spinach-pasta dish this week and that is as far as I've gotten with the planning. Avgolemono is a possibility since I have some lovely, farm-raised chicken breasts in the freezer. I also have not made broccoli soup for the kids yet, so that is an option. One terrific use for spinach and other greens: smoothies! They taste terrific and my kids love them. They get a kick out of eating greens that way....and so do I since that is the only way they actually consume greens thus far.

In case you have not yet figured it out, the "Inside My Fridge" picture is an exercise that forces me to inventory and tidy my refrigerator. Doing this weekly reduces waste and gives me an opportunity to be creative with meals instead of resorting to fish sticks or "the box" as the tubular pasta and dried, processed cheesefood is known in our house. A little planning goes a long way.

Easy Date Night

Make food.  Make love.  Live well.

If I were a pessimistic type of gal, I might think the stars had aligned quite dramatically against a Date Night.  The entire family came down with a short-lived, but still nasty, cold (a first for all of us to be sick) which forced us to abandon our plans for a child-free, cavorting date night listening to music with friends under the stars.  Did I mention a bonfire?  C'est la vie.

As all parents know, you absolutely must carve out time together.  It is essential to survival.  So we put the kids to bed early and made the best of things.  Nothing too fancy, but good food and lots of time to sip wine and talk.

Whet the appetite

First up: crostini, which is possibly the easiest first course ever...but always satisfying.  You can make them with bread and anything you have on hand.  Tonight, we toasted the thinly-sliced baguette (brushed with olive oil) for about 3-5 minutes, then topped it with goat cheese, fresh tomato, sea salt and another drizzle of olive oil.  This is very subjective, but I think a good rule of thumb is to broil until the cheese bubbles slightly, but before the bread gets too brown.  Yummy bites.

The Butter Steak

Next up is the Butter Steak.  We had a NY Strip in the freezer, so that's what we cooked.  Basically, you sear off the fatty side, add butter and huge chunks of garlic, then add well-seasoned steak and allow it to cook  (relatively) slowly, over medium heat, basting with butter.  I could blame the wine or the talk, but we neglected to render the fat first.  It mattered not.  The steak was deliciously medium rare and The Crust was still quite amazing.

Spinach is the amazing shrinking leaf.

While the steak was resting, we poured off most of the butter and added some spinach, more garlic (this time finely chopped) and a little salt and pepper.  I like to cook spinach until it wilts by about half and turns a darker, but brighter green; then it's time to plate and eat.

I only put a tablecloth on half the table -- the half we ate on.  For Easy Date Night, candles swiped from the mantle and daisies from the hallway are perfect.  The steak was sliced and placed artfully atop the spinach, then butter-roasted garlic was tossed on that. 

This was a great meal.  More important than the meal itself is the time spent preparing.  Talking.  Laughing.  Connecting.  Life is too short to let a Date Night slip through your fingers.  Make it Easy.  Make it this weekend.  Make it fun.  Make it Real.

Bon Appetit!

Weekly Fridge Pic - August 16

Taken on Monday, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of the blog.  We have lots of tomatoes, so a new thing I tried this week was my own homemade, very basic, marinara.  I used all those cherry tomatoes and some large ones.  Instead of trying to peel the wee cherries, I tossed them in the blender with a splash of water, hit Liquefy and let it go to town.  Then I pressed them through a mesh strainer until nothing was left but seeds and skin (total time here: about 30-40 minutes, so not bad).  It did take a bit longer to cook down because of the extra water, but came out really tasty!

Also on the menu this week is stuffed pattypan squash (tonight), eggplant parmesan (with that homemade marinara), butternut squash linguini with bacon and goat cheese and Friday Night pizza with fresh tomato, mozzarella, basil and pepperoni.  I'm also thinking of making a hot pepper sauce with those red peppers as a gift to my heat-loving spouse.

Here's last week (August 9).  We got a monster bag of mozzarella at Costco that I separated for storage in the deep freeze.  I've begun making Friday night "Pizza Night" since I found a terrific pizza dough recipe that I'll share soon.  Last week's menu included fresh country ham, scalloped potatoes, eggplant lasagna (try adding pesto to your ricotta for a veggie summer delight!), squash/tomato cassserole with ground beef (mini burgers for the kids) and icebox pickles, which have become a summer standard around here.

Since joining a CSA, we naturally eat a lot less meat and instead have lots of great fresh veggies, veggie sides and rice/quinoa, fresh bread on our table.  It's really a wonderful way to be connected to the cycle of nature.  And here, all this time, I though salads with lettuce were natural summertime food!  Not so in our home these days.  "Salad" in summer means tomato, cucumber, basil and maybe some squash.  Try some fresh cucumber on your sandwich next time -- the crunch and flavor is far superior to lettuce that was picked weeks ago.

Weekly Fridge Pic - June 29, 2010

We are swimming in fresh, tasty vegetables.  Cucumbers, squash, corn, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes....I am determined to put some of this in the freezer to enjoy a taste of summer six months from now.

But for this week, lots of vegetable dishes: red potato salad with bacon (in the bowl there), roasted red pepper hummus with peppers and fresh tomatoes, cucumber salad, pasta salad, hot dogs with mac-n-cheese and cold green beans for my son's Birthday Dinner.  Sitting on top of that quinoa/brown rice is a flank steak that we'll have for fajitas tomorrow with all that fresh organic corn.   

Also on the agenda: batch #2 of homemade yogurt, this time with whole milk.

By the way, Alice Waters' Summer Squash Soup with yogurt and mint is wonderful.  Maria at Gastronomical Three has posted the recipe so I won't bother to type it out again.  

I also made my first-ever, totally-from-scratch cake.

Weekly Fridge Pic - June 22, 2010

New things to try this week include last night's Zucchini Souffle (um, baking powder does expire...oops), Stuffed Pattypan Squash and Alice Waters' Summer Squash Soup.  I always hated beets as a kid, so am going to try both roasted beets served cold with goat cheese and a vinaigrette and sauteed beets-n-greens.  We'll see.

Tonight is stir fry with a pork steak from Yoder Farms and onions, carrots, snow peas and beautiful purple cabbage, all from Avalon Acres.  Trust me, once you go fresh, you will never go back!!

I've also tried my hand at homemade yogurt with good results.  The yogurt cheese is in the downstairs fridge and we'll try it tonight.  If results are good, I'll share.

Also included, last week's bonus fridge shot.  We had to evacuate to my parents' unexpectedly while a broken water pipe was located and repaired.  It is nice to be married to someone who not only knows how to   go about doing this, but who also seems to relish renting and using a ditch witch.  That ground beef was used for meatballs and much of the rest was evacuated with us to the parents.  Apparently carrots with tops are special treats for the 2-year-old set, just so you know.

In the red bowl there is the dough for some artisan bread.  I will do a post on that one day, as it is oh so easy and oh so yummy!