Challenge: Cook your way through your freezer (part 2)

[Okanagancook]

We are heading up to Kelowna just an hour's drive north of here for an overnight visit to a dear friend AND she has a relatively empty freezer...emphasis on the relative part.  Soooo, yup, you guessed it....I will be taking some goodies from my now three almost full freezers.  Some blackberries, tomatoes, grated zucchini, jalapeño poppers, faux-apple hand pies, soup and maybe some pork tacos!  I had her take photos of her shelves with a ruler for perspective.

[ElsieD]

12 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

We are heading up to Kelowna just an hour's drive north of here for an overnight visit to a dear friend AND she has a relatively empty freezer...emphasis on the relative part.  Soooo, yup, you guessed it....I will be taking some goodies from my now three almost full freezers.  Some blackberries, tomatoes, grated zucchini, jalapeño poppers, faux-apple hand pies, soup and maybe some pork tacos!  I had her take photos of her shelves with a ruler for perspective.

 

What are faux apple pies?

[Okanagancook]

I thought someone would ask.  It's the zucchini filling from Vivian Howard's book that Shelby made....takes like apple.  A great way to hide zucchini.

[Dejah]

@Kerry Beal : No...This was a rushed job of regular Yorkie. I saw a low-carb version somewhere but can't seem to find it again. But, if I am going to have Yorkie with roast beef, it's GOT to be the real thing, even if it is a rushed job!
Continuing on my freezer challenge, which has become easier now that I can see what all is in the freezer!
Pulled a bag of 16-20 count shrimp and made Vadouvan Curry Shrimp - new to me. Loved it and it was easy to put together.    

WiKi said about Vadouvan:The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India

                                                 

[CantCookStillTry]

ok, a little bit of my freezer files, no pictures because, well they weren't pretty, but they got the job done. 
I discovered some chicken mince that became baked chicken and Silverbeet Cannelloni, subbed about 8 of 10 ingredients but nobody died so that's a win in my book. Found some minced Beef that became 'Rissoles'. Rissoles are a thing I like to bicker about with Aussies, to me personally, they're just flavoured burger patties, but I'm told that's not the case. 

[ElsieD]

10 hours ago, Dejah said:

@Kerry Beal : No...This was a rushed job of regular Yorkie. I saw a low-carb version somewhere but can't seem to find it again. But, if I am going to have Yorkie with roast beef, it's GOT to be the real thing, even if it is a rushed job!
Continuing on my freezer challenge, which has become easier now that I can see what all is in the freezer!
Pulled a bag of 16-20 count shrimp and made Vadouvan Curry Shrimp - new to me. Loved it and it was easy to put together.    

WiKi said about Vadouvan:The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India

                                                 

 

Would you be willing to share your recipe for the shrimp?  I bought some of the spice a little while ago but have yet to do anything with it, and I have shrimp in the freezer.

[Okanagancook]

5 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

ok, a little bit of my freezer files, no pictures because, well they weren't pretty, but they got the job done. 
I discovered some chicken mince that became baked chicken and Silverbeet Cannelloni, subbed about 8 of 10 ingredients but nobody died so that's a win in my book. Found some minced Beef that became 'Rissoles'. Rissoles are a thing I like to bicker about with Aussies, to me personally, they're just flavoured burger patties, but I'm told that's not the case. 

Being raised in a British household rissoles were always made out of leftover mince and mashed potatoes.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

Being raised in a British household rissoles were always made out of leftover mince and mashed potatoes.

 I'm with you except it was meat left from the roast that was minced with onions!   Very often it was a Tuesday meal. Monday was wash day so no cooking was done in our house.  Somebody went down to the chippy on Monday to bring back fish & chips. But Tuesday, if there had been a roast on Sunday,  was rissole day. I loved rissoles.  Strange to say I have never made them myself.  I left England when I was 14.  May have to remedy that situation. 

[Dejah]

@ElsieD: Here's the link to the recipe I used.
http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a21033/vadouvan-curry-shrimp-recipe-opr0213/

Let me know how you liked it.

I really appreciated my Instant Pot today - a windy rainy chilly day. I forgot to bring out soup bones from the freezer. A package of frozen pork neck bones, half a pot of water, 15 minutes under high pressure and I had great broth. Threw in a bag of Sher Li Hon (much like Chinese mustard greens), a few slices of ginger, and I had soup!

                                                 

Had pulled out a tray of top sirloin steaks bought on sale but had no inspiration, especially after a large bowl of soup.
Cut off some thick strips, rubbed on Creole spices and seared on the cast iron grill. Broiled some steamed broccoli with shredded Habanero cheese, made a big salad, and supper was all she wrote!

                                                 

 

[Okanagancook]

10 hours ago, Anna N said:

 I'm with you except it was meat left from the roast that was minced with onions!   Very often it was a Tuesday meal. Monday was wash day so no cooking was done in our house.  Somebody went down to the chippy on Monday to bring back fish & chips. But Tuesday, if there had been a roast on Sunday,  was rissole day. I loved rissoles.  Strange to say I have never made them myself.  I left England when I was 14.  May have to remedy that situation. 

Yes us too would use leftover roast meat and chop it or put through the hand crank mincer.

[CantCookStillTry]

Oh good to know Re: The Rissoles. Your information lead me to do a little bit of research and I found a way to (happily) waste half an hour . I have never encountered Rissoles before coming here, my childhood was more just 'bubble and squeak' with the roast leftovers as us formerly veggie hating children devoured every last meat scrap the first go round. All of the recipes I've looked at over here use raw meat, but I'm definitely going to try it out next time I have roasted meat leftover. 
I have yet to make dinner tonight, the 'Chilli' I thawed over night in that thick opaque Tupperware with no label of any kind, yeah that turned out to be soup. Dinner will still be had, although I am slightly unsure as to when or what.  

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Yes us too would use leftover roast meat and chop it or put through the hand crank mincer.

This is about as close as I can get to what I remember. Damn. When you are a singleton it's hard to justify a roast/joint.  But there are ways around even that  especially if you can plan for some leftovers. 

[Smithy]

Last night's dinner was a use-it-or-lose-it game. I found 2 containers of slow-roasted tomato-pepper sauce that I'd made but not frozen; they were lurking in the overstuffed refrigerator and not looking their best. (This sauce was my latest riff on ElainaA's Slow--Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce; if you haven't yet tried her wonderful recipe, I recommend you do so.)  It also involved a chunk of ground venison taking up space in the freezer. A package of garlic scapes made their way into the pan with the meat and the sauce, before they could be forgotten for the fifth time.  Most of a bag of pasta shells - something I don't usually have around - finished the ensemble. Oh, and parmesan cheese, but that will be replaced at the next shopping trip. This was a happy combination, and it emptied enough packages to belong in this topic. Alas, the refrigerator and freezer don't look any different than before! 

 

 

  

[Dejah]

Using up the other 2 top sirloin steaks I pulled out earlier in the week. Had a fun garden club meeting in the evening, so it was fajita for supper. I picked up a bottle of Smoky Paprika Chipotle seasoning at Winners, and added that to the seasoning base. It was lovely!

Guac, shredded habanero cheese and greenery (included 2 jalapeno peppers for hubby) on the side in low-carb tortillas (commercial)

                                                                    

[Anna N]

 When you reach a certain age there isn't a great deal of risky behavior you can  engage in even supposing that you wanted to.  Leaping off my foot stool is no longer an option. But a little adventure is never completely unwelcome.  And I had mine this morning. 

 

 When I sorted out my freezer a few days ago and made my inventory,  one of the things I listed was "hunk of beef which I am guessing is picanha". 

 

 Today I thought beef would be a nice change for dinner.  I decided I would sous vide it and brought my sous vide bath up to temperature. Normally I would just have plunged the package into the bath. But this one seemed to have lost its vacuum so I thought it a good idea to repackage it. 

 

Hmmm.  Beef?  Nah.  Pork spareribs? Nah. Oh damn. Lamb ribs. 

 

 And so I ditched any idea of cooking sous vide which would take many hours -- let's  say 18 to 48.  Bit late for dinner tonight. 

 

So Instant Pot to the rescue and it will become a lamb rib curry courtesy of Nom Nom Paleo. 

 

So if you can no longer engage in extreme sports consider not labeling freezer contents.  Adventure comes in many guises. 

 

[rotuts]

This ?

 

http://nomnompaleo.com

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

This ?

 

http://nomnompaleo.com

Here.

 

[ElsieD]

4 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Here.

 

 

You are an amazing source for recipes.  Thank you for this one.

[suzilightning]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 10:05 AM, Smithy said:

Last night's dinner was a use-it-or-lose-it game. I found 2 containers of slow-roasted tomato-pepper sauce that I'd made but not frozen; they were lurking in the overstuffed refrigerator and not looking their best. (This sauce was my latest riff on ElainaA's Slow--Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce; if you haven't yet tried her wonderful recipe, I recommend you do so.)  It also involved a chunk of ground venison taking up space in the freezer. A package of garlic scapes made their way into the pan with the meat and the sauce, before they could be forgotten for the fifth time.  Most of a bag of pasta shells - something I don't usually have around - finished the ensemble. Oh, and parmesan cheese, but that will be replaced at the next shopping trip. This was a happy combination, and it emptied enough packages to belong in this topic. Alas, the refrigerator and freezer don't look any different than before! 

 

 

  

SMOOCH......(minus the cheese).

 

[Dejah]

A recent purchase - August - boneless pork rib roast. I had picked up several different spice packets while down in Dallas - Irving area. Thought I'd try one, Tomato - Tarragon Spices on the pork. It was a nice flavour with a light tomato tang. Mashed cauliflower, Shanghai bok choy, and coleslaw accompanied on the plate.

                                                     

The last 6 bone-in chicken thighs from the freezer - spring 2017 purchase.

Chilly rainy days are still here. Comfort food WITH carbs was needed.

Sandpot Ginger Chicken and Rice it is! Added sliced lap cheung for that extra flavour.

                                                      

           

Supper with some stir-fried bok choy in a fun bowl,

                                        

                                                    

Walmart has young turkeys out...+7 KG birds for $20.00. Thought of picking one up - 8.26 kg as I now have room in the freezer. I resisted as the sales WILL be coming up soon.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Dejah (log)

[Okanagancook]

Having a good day draining the freezer.  Big dinner for six on Wednesday...a friend is going on a Mt Everest base camp trek.  For that I have out an octopus, trotter spring rolls from Happy in the Kitchen, 4 lbs lamb shoulder chops, tomato purée & pancetta for Italian lamb stew, oxtail ravioli and frozen dried apricots for a dessert recipe.

 

  Lunch was some Jamaican patties and dinner tonight is lamb stew from Taste & Technique along with some cooked garden spinach.

 

[Dejah]

Using the last rack of lamb from the freezer - March 2017 - not bad! It was cryovac and marked down at Safeway. I could never walk past a red bold 50% on a package.

Decided we've had enough grilled racks, so I sliced it up, marinated the meat with ground cumin, wine, oil, soy sauce, and a bit of cornstarch. Other ingredients included 2 little Thai red chilis, red bell peppers, green onions, cilantro, Sechuan peppercorns and toasted cumin seeds.

Cooked up some peas and cauliflower (a couple tiny tomatoes ) in curry paste, and basmati rice with cumin and cardamom seeds...all good...all good!

                                              

                                              

[Anna N]

No photo a)  because I forgot and b) because it wasn't very photogenic anyway but I dug out the lamb ribs and rice that I had frozen a week or so ago.  I had frozen it in a disposable container rather than my usual Ziploc bag thinking it might look more attractive.  It didn't. And the container took up considerably more room than would a bag.  But after a tiring day it was sustenance. 

 

[CantCookStillTry]

Tonights polar evacuees was a twofer, Turkey 'steaks' and Sweet Potato Cakes, frozen circa I don't know. I marinaded the Turkey in a Jerk-ish style (as in I approximated from various online recipes and a Jerk  spice rub I purchased some time ago, I wasn't particularly mean to the things). I served them with some purple Brussels sprouts and fresh corn from the farmers market, the corn was fresh enough that a giant caterpillar revived itself on escaping from the fridge and made a quick getaway - into a jar for the young ones show and tell tomorrow. Apologies for the unattractive picture, purple sprouts are not pretty! But it is what it is, and as I was gently rebuked by the hubster, was I really going to make him starve for a picture I wouldn't be happy with anyway?  

 

 

[Dejah]

Found a lonely pork tenderloin from...ummm...can't remember when, but it showed up when I moved the items from the chest freezer to the upright.

Have always known turmeric to have health benefits and enjoyed the fragrance and flavour, and tonight, I found a recipe that showcases this spice.

Pork Tenderloin rubbed with turmeric, cumin, kosher salt, black pepper. The loin was seared in the pan then finished in a 400F oven.

We enjoyed it with the last bits of the cranberry/orange/pecan chutney I had from the freezer. Will be making a new batch before the weekend Thanksgiving Turkey!