Klatsch: Don't Shop Now!

[Smithy]

I applaud your creativity!

With regard to the potatoes: what about a quick saute in very hot oil, with some good seasonings? I take it these baby potatoes are already cooked? What is their texture out of the jar?

[BeeZee]

Found a mini bottle of Grey Goose in the freezer *score* - poured it into veg juice, added horseradish and smoked paprika...Bloody Mary mid afternoon break with hubby.

Dinner tonite will include leftover noodle kugel, brisket, and roasted cauliflower/broccoli. Will supplement the veg with some carrots and will cook some chicken since there's not much brisket and we have 4 for dinner today. Only thing I had to purchase for today's meals was the chicken. Freezer is looking pretty spacious.

[Vlcatko]

Nancy - yeah, the potatoes are already cooked. They are quite firm and waxy, they would be great in potato salad if it weren't for the taste... But... Now there's a thought - the potatoes actually taste and smell better straight from the jar than reheated, so I could try making an actual potato salad out of them - traditional Czech version is cold and includes mayonnaise and gherkins, quite strong tastes both of them - so maybe it coud work... The saute option is a great idea too, I will try that tomorrow with the planned beef steak.

BeeZee - great find! I love it when the freezer reveals something long forgotten but delicious

Day 17

Breakfast - bread, chorizo, butter, young spinach

Snack - whipped cream poundcake, still warm from the oven

Lunch - instant ramen gussied up with soft boiled egg, young spinach and corn kernels

Dinner - went to a fancy Asian fusion restaurant with DH and friend, tasted 10 different dishes, went to sleep with pantry no less full and myself stuffed guiltily, but happy

Day 18

Breakfast - whipped cream poundcake

Snack - pappadums with yogurt dip

Lunch - potato scones from Thursday, mayo-yogurt dip (finished a tub of white yogurt, now I only have one tub left)

Snack - two kinds of Cheddar (mild and mature - very tasty both of them, I love me some nice cheese if you couldn't tell already - we always have at lest 3 or 4 different kinds in the fridge, sometimes even as many as 8 - presently we have 3 kinds of Cheddar, Gruyere, soft goat's and Parmesan. We usually eat them just like they are, but I think the goat's cheese will end up on some crostinis soon...)

Dinner - leftover penne and cheese sauce (had to stretch it a bit with more cream, cheese and duck pan juices) with ground beef and young spinach (finished the bag) from Thursday, a bottle of red Cotes du Rhone wine

[Vlcatko]

Day 19

Breakfast - Devon scone with blackberry jelly and heavy cream

Lunch - went to my grandmother's cottage to celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary - we had a roast duck, two kinds of dumplings (potato and bread), two kinds of braised cabbage (white and purple) - I was given a lot of leftovers so there will be some more duck for a few days...

Snack - bundt cake (don't know the kind but I think it had nuts in it), Bratislava rolls (sweet pastry rolls with poppy seed or nut filling)

Dinner - beef steak (short loin, I think) marinated in a mixture of mango sauce and hoisin sauce (surprisingly good and helped a lot with the flavor of the not-matured beef, plus I used up a nice portion of both bottles), sauteed baby potatoes (browned in very hot oil, rolled in sauce I made from the deglazed steak pan - water, duck jus, very last of my heavy cream, onion and mustard seeds, salt) and a leftover mayo-yogurt dip in lieu of tartar sauce - the steak I liked, the potatoes were edible (better than the potato scone) but I still think the potato salad might be best for the rest of them - I will be trying that next.

[Beebs]

Alrighty! Back to pantry-clearing!

Today I used up the vac-sealed package of inside blade steak that had been in my fridge for about a week, marinated it in hoisin, soy, ginger, and grilled quickly. My mom had given me some leftover broccoli, cauliflower & brussel sprouts, so gave that a quick sauté to reheat. Also found some turnips that had been living in the crisper since...kinda long. Cooked them in miso & butter. DH pan-fried a few frozen scallion pancakes and that was dinner.

Tomorrow's dinner will clear out some more freezer space. Simmering a bag of pork & chicken bones for soup right now. Tomorrow I'll throw in thawed frozen tofu, napa cabbage (I bought a small head today), and bean thread vermicelli from the pantry. Thawing out what I thought was a whole frozen tilapia, but turned out to be pomfret. Not sure what to do with it yet, probably steam with ginger.

My challenge this week is quinoa and figuring out what to do with it. I have a large bag of it that was used for pilaf. I don't love quinoa salad, and hubby doesn't care for quinoa at all. But I'm thinking some kind of gratin or mac & cheese with quinoa instead of macaroni might be acceptable.... If anyone has any non-salad suggestions for the pile of quinoa, I'm all ears!

[Vlcatko]

Beebs - I know I have recently recommended fritters/croquettes for your leftovers but I am compelled to do so again for quinoa too I personally like the crunchy/popping sensation so I tend to sligtly undercook it and then use it as a base for fritters, croquettes, burgers/patties/scones/savory muffins. If your husband does not like it, try slightly overcooking it so it is more homogenous than fluffy/grainy and then using it in the same way. Also, I have not tried it yet but I think making frittaten noodles could be tasty - when I do the regular ones, I use quite a thick batter so I end up with more of dense pancakes/griddle cakes than crepes and then I cut them into squares insted of noodles (so it is almost like unbaked/unfried croutons) - that could work well with quinoa, I think. Next time I have some, I will try it - I have been craving frittaten soup for a while... And mac and cheese quinoa version sounds yummy too!

Day 20

Breakfast - finished the whipping cream pound cake

Snack - Bratislava roll with poppy seed filling

Lunch - pilaf with roasted duck meat, corn kernels and edamame

Snack - red bell pepper

Dinner - spicy couscous with pan-crisped (yet more) leftover duck

[Beebs]

Beebs - I know I have recently recommended fritters/croquettes for your leftovers but I am compelled to do so again for quinoa too I personally like the crunchy/popping sensation so I tend to sligtly undercook it and then use it as a base for fritters, croquettes, burgers/patties/scones/savory muffins. If your husband does not like it, try slightly overcooking it so it is more homogenous than fluffy/grainy and then using it in the same way. Also, I have not tried it yet but I think making frittaten noodles could be tasty - when I do the regular ones, I use quite a thick batter so I end up with more of dense pancakes/griddle cakes than crepes and then I cut them into squares insted of noodles (so it is almost like unbaked/unfried croutons) - that could work well with quinoa, I think. Next time I have some, I will try it - I have been craving frittaten soup for a while... And mac and cheese quinoa version sounds yummy too!

Frittaten noodles? What are frittaten noodles? I am intrigued!

I think what I'll do is make quinoa & cheese, and any leftovers I'll squish up into fritters, like deep-fried mac & cheese balls. Yum!

[Vlcatko]

Frittaten noodles? What are frittaten noodles? I am intrigued!

I think what I'll do is make quinoa & cheese, and any leftovers I'll squish up into fritters, like deep-fried mac & cheese balls. Yum!

I searched and Googled for a bit and I think the noodles are sometimes called Celestine noodles as well? As in Consomme Celestine from Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire? Most recipes state egg, flour and milk as main ingredients, then make a pancake which is sliced thinly and used as a soup garnish. My grandma has always used only egg, flour and salt (egg and flour leftover from breading procedure) and that's what I prefer too... I add enough flour to the egg to make a quite thick but still pourable batter, season and cook on oiled pan till golden. It can be eaten as a side dish, snack or used as a garnish. Does it have an English name or is it not so spread to have one? It's quite common here and I have definitely seen it on German (Fladlesuppe) and Austrian (Frittatensuppe) menus.

[Vlcatko]

Very hectic four days - annual stocktaking in our company this weekend and as I work for the accounting office I had massive amounts of work to be done in a very limited time frame to prepare everything to be ready tomorrow. So next two days probably won't be much better...

Day 21

Breakfast - Devon scone, blackberry jelly

Snack - small bowl of cold couscous

Lunch - one of the hand pies from the freezer, tomato

Dinner - baked patties from the pilaf (used the last of my store-bought eggs, but Grandma stoped by at work today and brought me 10 from her neighbour)

Day 22

Breakfast - leftover patties

Snack - mandarin orange from Mum

Lunch - 2 open-faced sanwiches (courtesy of coworker celebrating her birthday), tomato

Snack - small bowl of redcurrant

Dinner - summer rolls (shredded duck meat - yes, I still have some , hoisin, egg noodles, cilantro, carrot, cucumber), soy sauce/peanut butter dip

Day 23

Breakfast - bread, gammon

Lunch - another open-faced sanwich (courtesy of another coworker celebrating her birthday! Two days in a row - what a coincidence ), tomato

Snack - last of the Bratislava rolls

Dinner - I stayed at work late, went to a restaurant with DH and friends and I ate almost a whole pizza (with ham and pineapple - the only combination they had that didn't have anything I don't eat) before I stopped myself - I was sooo hungry from all the work under pressure

Day 24

Breakfast - bread (finished the loaf), gammon (finished the pack), celery leaves, cilantro

Snack - tomato

Lunch - instant soup (my backup plan for days I don't have anything else prepared, today was the most hectic so I barely had time to eat)

Snack - cheese crackers

Dinner - beluga lentils, couscous, corn kernels (finished the can), spicy sausage (another finished item - the fridge is getting pretty empty - few eggs, green bell pepper, 2 apples, some cheese and few slices of Chorizo - all else is stuff in jars/bottles. I have few more things in the fridge at the office, mainly vegetables but other than that I will have to start pulling things from the freezer... Yay! )

[Vlcatko]

Day 25

Breakfast - oatmeal porridge, plain

Snack - carrot sticks and yogurt dip

Lunch - beluga lentils, couscous, corn kernels, spicy sausage, soft-boiled egg

Snack - Cheddar

Dinner - baked potatoes and shallots, yogurt-mayo sauce

Day 26

Breakfast - banana chips

Snack - leftover baked potatoes

Lunch - mixed vegetable salad (tomatoes, bell pepper, cilantro, celery leaves, olive oil, S&P)

Snack - apple, 3 kinds of Cheddar (I had no idea Cheddar and apples go so well together - I will have to eat this combination more often!)

Dinner - tapas bar with friends

Day 27

Breakfast - bought some random puff pastry thing at the petrol station - I was running very late and didn't manage to prepare anything

Snack - banana chips

Lunch - instant ramen soup, eaten very hot and very quickly so I could get back to work - not very proud of myself today

Dinner - small baguette roll (I baked 5 of the oven-ready ones so I could have some bread for the next few days), duck rillettes, cornichons

Day 28

Breakfast - oatmeal porridge with honey

Snack - nut bar

Lunch - small baguette roll, butter, Chorizo, cornichons

Snack - tomato

Dinner - gyros, chapatti, cabbage salad (at the shopping center with Brother, no chance to make it home before dying of hunger - he seems to take after Mother when it comes to shopping But I am glad he finally managed to get some of his Christmas presents bought )

[Beebs]

I haven't done much no-shop cooking in the past week or so. I did make a penne pasta using some frozen pumpkin puree & evap milk as the sauce with some chorizo, but it wasn't very good. Got really clumpy and thick, despite adding more pasta water. Also kind of bland, probably from all that pasta water.... Yesterday I turned it into a mac & cheese, which improved it. Haven't gotten to the quinoa yet, either.

On the weekend I went to the farm market and got a little crazy there. Hauled home piles of apples, sweet potatos, onions, and broccoli. Also went to the supermarket for a few other things, but I exercised great restraint and did not buy any pantry items. Except for the two frozen tilapia which are now living in my newly-spacious freezer.

What I like about this exercise is that it is making me more conscientious about my shopping habits, and not just shopping/buying on robot-mode. It's also forces me to keep better stock of my...uh, stock. And because I've reduced my shopping frequency and time, I've got more free time - yay! I managed to clear out a lot of my freezer and fridge. Not so much success with the condiments though, nor the canned items and other pantry stuff.

[Vlcatko]

Beebs - yeah, I like the improvement of my shopping habits too! I also use the very last of my ingredients before they spoil thus forcing me to plan my meals better and shop less But I have the same problem with my various condiments - the only major dent I have made so far was using up some of the mango and hoisin sauces as a marinade. I am slowly using up my Kewpie mayonnaise and bottle of salad cream as ingredients in dips and dressings but it goes very slowly (I had multiple bottles of both leftover from some events with friends and family - I always end up with the leftover odds and ends because nobody else wants them and I feel bad about throwing them out).

How about some brainstorming for our stashes of condiments? I have:

• Kewpie mayonnaise (about a bottle)
• salad cream (half the bottle)
• hoisin sauce (half the bottle)
• Czech mustard (very mild and uncommonly un-tart, almost full)
• Dijon mustard (1.5 jars - bought a new one because I thought I was out)
• Wholegrain mustard (2/3 full)
• prepared horseradish (2/3 full)
• Sushisu (can't remember how much only that I have it)
• tahini (almost full)
• crunchy peanut butter (half the jar)
• Okonomiyaki sauce (1/3 left and a new one in the pantry)
• tartar sauce (2 portions pack)
• classic commercial mayonnaise (2 portions pack)
• around 2 or 3 almost empty jams and 4 unopened ones (2 sour cherry, 1 peach and 1 blackberry)

I already did summer rolls with the hoisin sauce and peanut dip, using the mustards all the time in my sandwiches and dips, had okonomiyaki and loads of sushi not that long ago... I tried using some of the Kewpie mayo in place of butter when baking shallots - I thought it would melt/break and sauce the onions but that thing is more stable than Debian Linux distribution I will be making some horseradish and Dijon flavored mousses for an upcoming ham dish (but that won't make much of a dent) and then potato salad for Christmas dinner (more mayo and mustard) but other than that I don't see a way to get rid of my condiments fast... I will probably end up doing more summer rolls for the New Year's Eve Party (I have enough rice paper in the pantry I think, as well as some noodles) - that will use the hoisin (and possibly okonomiyaki) sauce and peanut butter for the dip... Maybe mixing all the leftover hoisin, okonomiyaki and mango stuff, doctor it up with garlic, ginger and soy sauce and using it as a marinade/glaze for baked chicken wings?

Oh my, the last week was a blur! I didn't even have time to do my usual tracking so I will try to sum up what have I used and how it all went.

• in anticipation of 3-day trip to Vienna I cleared the fridge almost completely (save for the condiments, butter and two blocks of Gruyere) - I used some flat bread from the fridge to make sandwiches with the rest of the Chorizo, pickles and Parmesan, baked couscous mini "muffins" with the remaining spicy sausage I got from Brother and made an improvised relish for the muffins by mixing my remaining white yogurt and chopped green bell pepper (it went well with the slightly spicy muffins)
• I baked this year's first Christmas cookies - I wanted to make Vanilla rolls (Vanillekipferl) to use the walnuts from the freezer but had no fine-milled flour (in the Czech Republic we don't have flours sorted by gluten content - cake/all-purpose/bread - but by the size of the particles - fine/medium/coarse/semolina) so I had to use medium-milled and a small part of coarse-milled because I ran out of medium as well I was therefore afraid to form the crescents because the dough is very delicate and with the coarser grain I thought the shapes would break even more easily. So I made tiny balls of dough and ended up with cute little mounds - sort of like tiny Italian wedding cookies - and rolled them in obscene amount of vanilla icing sugar.
• the trip to Vienna was amazing even though there was no snow - we had all the famous things like the Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Sacher cake... But my favorite thing has always been and still is - roasted chestnuts! It is so unfair that they have such amazing ones in the neighboring country and we only get crappy ones Sigh, chestnuts and mulled wine
• I didn't have to shop for any fruit after coming back because a received a bag of assorted fruits (and sweets ) as a St. Nikolas gift so I just bought some veggies, 1/4 of bread, some ham for sandwiches, thin salami for planned wraps and white yogurt and whipping cream. If I want to do more baking I will have to go back for flour/s and sugar - I have some icing sugar left but no regular sugar as I used all I had to make spiced simple sirup (a Christmas present - with a bottle of red and instructions for mulled wine) - 9 bottles and I will have to make more - I still have empty bottles left and family is extensive and friends plentiful

[judiu]

Mix the peach preserves and some of the Dijon mustard together, with the addition of a little this, a little that and glaze the ham with that. HTH!