Easy Use It Up Ideas

Today was my first day actually grocery shopping for real.  I am happy to say that I did NOT get carried away, although I did have to hold myself back a few times (like the moment I almost bought more chips, even though our chip cabinet is kind of overflowing).  I actually enjoy grocery shopping and part of that is because I am a couponer.  There is a big thrill in watching the total go upupup and then go back down as soon as I scan my shopper card and hand over my coupons.  Today I also stopped by the clearance center (as usual) and bought a ton of canned goods that were dented and marked 50% off or more.  I only bought the ones we would actually use, not the things we don't use.

I am watching Extreme Couponing while I write this.  I'm feeling both inspired and disgusted.  Some of these people go through tons of work and spend tons of time to get tons of free stuff that they then donate to food banks, animal shelters, and friends in need.  I think that is awesome.  Whenever someone is having a food and toiletry drive, it is nice for me to be able to pull things out of my stockpile to donate.  But I want to be careful of my attitude.  In 1 Chronicles David was ordered to build an altar to the Lord and went to Araunah to buy his field.  Araunah, in his exuberance, offered to give everything to David for free.  David replied, "I will not . . . sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing."  I think that attitude is important to keep in mind.  I can give a bag full of toiletries to someone and feel great for passing on a lot of good stuff that hardly cost my family anything. And if I can't afford to give anything other than time and effort to them otherwise, then that is great.  But when I give them stockpile items just because I don't want to spend money or give something that is uncomfortable, I am no giving sacrificially.  Every situation is different and depends on what God as laid on your heart.  But a sacrifice, by its own definition, cannot cost nothing.

I think Araunah is important here too.  He had a great heart - he wanted to give as well.  But in his generosity, he needed not to take away from David's giving.  Sometimes we can get so excited to give something or do something for someone that we don't give them the opportunity to do what God has called them to do.  It's hard to learn to let someone help you, but sometimes we need to remember that perhaps the lesson is for them, not for us, or for both!

A lot of the couponers on this show, though, seem pretty ridiculous to me.  I understand the thrill - getting 2 or 3 things free is so much fun.  Getting 20 or 30 is probably a huge rush.  I'm grateful for how hard my husband works so I can stay home with my son, and couponing is one of the ways I help and try to show him my gratitude.  But we both recognize that time is still more important than money.  Jeremy doesn't work late hours because he wants to have quality time with me and Malachi.  And I just don't see the need to put 40 hours a week into couponing to save money but end up feeling like I'm still working and getting no time with Malachi!

There is also a difference between good stewardship and greed, and James reminds the rich "It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure."  I always want to look at my motives - why am I buying all this?  Will it actually help our family?  Will we actually use this down the road (before it expires)?  Can I give this away?  Can I leave enough on the shelf to respect other shoppers?

That was a big rabbit trail.  All that to say that a couple weeks ago I got a can of refried beans for about 20% of the normal shelf price.  Because I wasn't doing my regular shopping I didn't have any frozen burritos in the house and let me tell you - I love me some frozen burritos.  I don't know why I love them so much, but I really do and they make me super happy.  So I decided to make some myself.  I mean, seriously?  It can't be that hard....

Except it can.  Jeremy will tell you, I STINK at rolling burritos.  I just can't do it right.  My stuff always falls out, and he always does it for me.  I made 4 burritos, and by the fourth one I had it down.  Woohoo!  Ingredients: refried beans, tomatoes with green chilis, cheese, tortilla.  Freeze.  Reheat later.  Eat.  Be happy.

Another fun and easy thing I like to make is homemade applesauce.  It is seriously SO MUCH BETTER than jarred, it's plenty sweet without added sugar, and it's pretty easy.  The hardest part is peeling, coring, and slicing all the apples.  I used a lot of apples for this.  Maybe 10-12?  Peel them, core them, slice them.  Put them in a stock pot with about half an inch of liquid (you can use water, apple juice, or apple cider).  Simmer them slowly with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until they mush easily with a wooden spoon.  Then you can either put them through a food processor to get the very smooth texture you would find in the store, or you can mash it with a potato masher for more textured, rustic applesauce - definitely my preference.  I also add some cinnamon at the end.

Different types of apples cook at different times.  Really firm apples like Granny Smiths take longer than soft apples like Golden Delicious.  Also, different apples create quite a different taste.  Granny Smiths alone would make a much tarter applesauce.  Pink Ladies alone make it super sweet.  If you care, think it through.  I personally don't care much.  I used a mix of varieties and textures and cooked them all for the same amount of time because I like my applesauce rustic and I'm not too picky.  Do what you prefer.

Homemade applesauce is generally only cheaper if you buy your apples in season from an orchard or a farmer's market.  Apples can get really overpriced at the grocery store, so you want to think through the value before you take the venture.

Use It Up Days 11-13: Lasagna Rolls

Do you like how it took me a week to progress one day in my series?  It's ok - it's been a full week.  We chose a name for our new baby girl.  Coming Soon: Naomi Kate!  We started painting the playroom upstairs (so we can set it up, so we can clear out some stuff from Malachi's room, so we can redecorate and reorganize Malachi's room to accommodate a baby sister, so we can paint, so we can....I'm exhausted).  Jeremy and I had a for-real, awesome date.  Mom, Malachi, and I spent a day visiting my grandmother and shopping and eating.  And on the downside, we've been sick in this house (still) and it's been pretty yucky. People in town have had this same sickness for weeks and even **gulp** months on end.  I refuse to even consider that I might still feel like this 2 or 3 weeks from now.

Back when I made lasagna two years ago, I ended up with something like 4 leftover noodles.  They sat in my cabinet forever and simultaneously took up space and got on my nerves.  They even moved with me when we moved to our new house.  Seriously?  But I didn't want to waste them.  When I made lasagna this year, I ended up with 12 or so leftover lasagna noodles, and absolutely no desire to make lasagna again for a long time.  So I was excited to find a way to use up the noodles during my little experiment.  Sadly, I didn't use them all up, but I did end up with a recipe that I like and a way to use them up the next time we want a repeat of this meal.  That's been a cool part of this project - not actually using things up, but at least knowing what I am going to do with the leftovers in the future.  It's nice to have that kind of confidence and to feel like my leftovers have a higher purpose in life than growing freezer burn.

I also think I've become a little more creative about how to use up leftovers, or maybe just more intentional about doing it.  I don't like leftovers much - honestly, I am not big on eating the same thing more than once in a week.  But I have gotten a little more creative, and that's been a cool thing to see develop.  I feel like I haven't thrown as much away, and I also haven't cooked quite as much because we've been trying to have leftovers for dinner more often when things are close to the end of their shelf life.

I'm still catching you up on my last week of "Use it Up," but I am actually currently planning my shopping trip for my first real trip to the store since we started.  Yay!  I'm pretty excited.

Day 11 was lasagna rolls (below).  Day 12 was leftovers.  Day 13 I made chicken noodle soup because I was desperate.  

Lasagna Rolls
Inspired by this recipe.

• 9 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3/8 cup Parmesan cheese (and yes, you can just round it up to 1/2 a cup if you want to)
• 1 package frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups tomato sauce (I used leftover of this)

Cook lasagna noodles until al dente according to package directions.  Drain and pat dry.  Stir together eggs, cheese, spinach, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Spread about 2 tablespoons-ish cheese mixture over each noodle.  Carefully roll them up.  

Coat the bottom of a baking pan with sauce.  Place the roll-ups seam-side down over the sauce, and top with remaining sauce.  Bake at 375 (uncovered) for 25 minutes.  Top with some extra mozzarella cheese if desired, then bake another 5 minutes.

Use It Up Day 10 - Buttermilk Cornbread

When I started this project I really thought we'd end the two weeks eating things like bean and noodle tacos or corn casserole or something.  But honestly, I feel like I've been more creative and made some really good food as a result of trying to use stuff up.  It actually has been two weeks already, which is crazy.  But I'm going to try to spend one more week without buying anything that's not necessary.  We did make a couple exceptions - I was nasty sick all weekend and had a serious craving for macaroni and cheese.  Since I wasn't feeling well enough to make it homemade, Jeremy bought me some instead.  =)  Other than that, though, we've done really well.

A couple weeks ago Jeremy asked me, "What happened to all our tupperware?  Does it seem like it's disappearing?"  I have had to throw away a few plastic containers lately because they just gave up the ghost (note to whom it may concern: glass tupperware is on the Christmas list now).  But I also realized that about half of our tupperware was in the freezer.  Ha!  We had a lot of meals or random sauces/sides frozen because I tend to always make too much.  One of the nice things about this project has been using up all the frozen stuff in our freezer.  There's a lot more space in there now!  And I feel better because I'm not constantly thinking, "We need to eat that sometime, ugh."  Now we've pretty much eaten it all.

On day 10 we ate frozen leftover Brunswick stew.  I felt like it needed some kind of bread and I LOVE cornbread.  Love it.  But only good cornbread and I'm a little picky.  If it's dry, no.  If it has real pieces of corn in it, no.  I usually buy Jiffy mixes and just doctor them up until I like them, but I decided to make them from scratch this time using this recipe I found and oh. my. word.  It was AMAZING.  It was good even four days leftover.  So here you go!

Perfect Buttermilk Cornbread
Adapted from here, only to change it from a loaf to muffins.
It should make 12 muffins, but as per usual, I only made 11.

Warm and Golden

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup buttermilk (about 1/5 of mine was white milk because I ran out)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt butter in a skillet.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar.  Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended.  Stir in buttermilk and baking soda.  Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well-blended with few lumps.  Grease a muffin pan and fill cups (tip: use an ice-cream scoop to make each muffin the same size).  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Use it Up Days 7-9: Chili Pie

Since the soup incident, I haven't burnt anything else (food included).  My arm is healing up nicely.  By "nicely" I mean it looks disgusting, but it does feel better.  Malachi has been fighting a cold for almost a month - he is just about over it and now Jeremy and I have it.  Yippee!  Hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to keep cooking.

On day 7 I was going to make my favorite roasted potatoes and post the recipe for you but we didn't eat til pretty late.  So, we had oven broiled steaks, a salad that consisted of the few sad lonely veggies still in my fridge, and microwave baked potatoes.  Ha!  But it was all really good.  :-)  I actually just bought frozen veggies at the store for this week, so my fridge is starting to look pretty sparse.  That's fine with me though!  I don't intend to use up every little thing and then have to spend a gazillion dollars the next time I actually go shopping.  But we are a stock-piling family (I actually have a stockpile upstairs due to couponing deals), and we have built up a pretty big supply of stuff that I want to whittle down since we are working on saving money.  It has been exciting to see some things disappear that have been taking up too much space forever!

On day 8 I used up some cornmeal and we had a tasty chili pie (recipe below).

Day nine was cereal and I don't even know what Jeremy ate.  We were busy.  :-)

Chili Pie
Inspired by this idea, but heavily adapted.

Filling

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis, drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder



Spread up the side of the pan

• 2 tablespoons taco sauce

Crust

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, for topping

In a skillet, brown the beef and onions.  Drain.  Stir in remaining filling ingredients and set aside.  In a large bowl combine all crust ingredients and mix well.  Grease a 10-inch oven-proof skillet (or baking dish of similar size).  Spread crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  The crust was pretty stretchy and it didn't spread too easily, but it turned out fine.  Pour filling into the crust, cover with cheese, and bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Use It Up Days 2-6: Tomato Soup

Hey everybody!  Thought I'd bring you up-to-speed on the use it up adventure.  We are still going strong!  Sometimes using it all up isn't to exciting, thus I haven't blogged the past few days.  But last night was . . . eventful.  So I'll get to that.

Day 2: Breakfast was the best sandwich ever, which involved homemade bread, homegrown tomatoes, farm eggs, and fancy cheese.  See?

Dinner was rice made with leftover Asian broth from that time I poached a chicken, and I also did a quick stir fry using frozen veggies and soy sauce.

Day 3: Leftovers.

Day 4: Sandwiches on the road.

Day 5: Chicken Cacciatore! Impressed?  You should be, but not with me.  My dad made it while we were visiting, and it was gooooooood.  =)

Day 6:  Ok, well.  We got back in town last night, fed Malachi and got him to bed, and then my pregnant body decided it wanted grilled cheese and tomato soup....again.  I didn't have any canned soup, so I decided to make it from scratch using this recipe I found from Rachel Ray.  I didn't have any heavy cream so I made some from scratch by melting 1/3 cup of unsalted butter and adding it to 2/3 cup whole milk.  I also don't have an immersion blender, so I did what I have done successfully several times before and blended the (HOT) soup in my regular blender.  Except that I overfilled it (stupidstupidstupid).  And the lid flew off.  And really hot soup rained down all over my arms and my chest.

I screamed, jumped back, and pulled my plastered shirt off my chest to keep from burning worse.  Jeremy came towards me looking the scared-est (but most in control) I've ever seen him and started to try to lift my shirt, and which point I looked down at my red-splattered clothes, realized what he was thinking, and gasped out "It's not blood!  Turn off the blender!"  Relief flooded his face, he did turn the blender off, and then he followed me into the bathroom where I jumped in a freezing shower.  When I got out, I realized the burns on my arm were much worse than my chest, and the pain was bad.  Like, Jeremy asked me later if it was worse than labor, because apparently I gave him that impression.  By the time the night was over I had gone through half a bottle of aloe, propped my arm on multiple pillows, almost hyperventilated, taken two kinds of pain reliever, scared the crud out of my husband, and vowed to make tomato soup from a can for the rest of my life.  Jeremy cleaned the entire kitchen, brought me my dinner, prayed for me, and never once mentioned how much worse he had it when he got 2nd-degree burns on his feet two years ago (and then had to continue to walk around at work, in shoes.  I have a whole new level for compassion for him now).

And yes, it's a little better this morning.  My right arm is fine short of a few little red spots, my chest has some red spots but overall is a lot better, and my left arm....really hurts.  But at least it's not throbbing and excruciating.  I can type, and move, and pick up Malachi, none of which I could do yesterday.

So yeah.  Day 6, done.

I'm pretty excited about this week.  I planned out my menu based on some of the things I really want to get rid of, and this week I am hopeful to clear out some potatoes, cornmeal, leftovers, lasagna noodles, and BBQ sauce, not to mention there are only 4 items on my grocery list this week, including my exceptions.  Woohoo!  Stay tuned!

Tomato Soup
Adapted from here

• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• about 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup of heavy cream, or 2/3 cup whole milk and 1/3 cup melted butter

Cook tomatoes and broth over medium heat until bubbling.  Add cream, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Use an immersion blender until mixture is smooth, or blend a little at a time into a regular blender.  Serve with preferred toppings.

Use It Up Day One: Squash Casserole

Don't adjust your monitor, I really did just blog two days in a row.  I know, right?  I'm proud of me, too.

Day one of Use it Up wasn't terribly creative, but it was tasty!  I call it "A Meal of Two Souths."  We had pan-fried pork chops that I rubbed with a whole bunch of spices (onion powder, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, cilantro).  I've never liked pork chops much (partially because they aren't kind to me), but I have finally learned how to cook them in a way that tastes good and stays juicy.  It's fairly simple but worth knowing.  Steps 1-6 here give you the basic idea.

seasoned and seared

I had a ton of chopped cilantro left over from a taco salad party, so I decided to make chimichurri sauce for the first time ever.  Chimichurri is a cilantro-based sauce popular in Argentina to serve on steak.  Here's the recipe I used.  It was pretty good!

pulsed and served

And to round out our Argentinian meal I made squash casserole, which any true Argentinian will tell you they've probably never heard of.  Oh well.  It's southern (think: ya'll-land) just not as southern (read: Cazuela de calabaza es tan norteamericano.)  Southern food is GOOD, people, but it's not known for being good for you.  In the south, you can go out to eat and order a "Vegetable Plate" (choose any three!) that contains macaroni and cheese, french fries, and fried apples.  Go to a good-ol' Southern Baptist Church potluck supper and you'll be luck to find any vegetable that hasn't been breaded, fried, creamed, or candied, which is why I usually bring a salad.  But, I do love some southern food, and any vegetable is better than no vegetable, right?  So, tonight, I present to you a vegetable that has been creamed, cheesed, breaded, and baked.  You're welcome.

Squash Casserole

• 6 cups diced zucchini and yellow squash (or other squash)
• 1 medium chopped onion
• cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream 
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup crushed Ritz crackers - In the spirit of using it up, I did not have Ritz so I substituted regular bread crumbs.  It was fine, but you really want that buttery taste Ritz crackers provide

sauteed and mixed

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter bottom and sides of a glass casserole dish (I've used an 8 by 8 square, a 7 by 11 rectangle, and a medium Pyrex circle.  All turned out fine.)  Saute the squash in hot oil over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Line a colandar with a cotton dishtowel (not terry!) and dump squash in to drain.  While squash is cooling, saute the onion for about 5 minutes or until it becomes translucent and slightly browned.  Squeeze excess moisture from the squash, then mix together squash, onion, sour cream, spices, and cheese in a large bowl.  Spread into casserole dish, then top with crackers.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crackers are browned and mixture is slightly bubbly.

Not the most flattering picture, I realize.  Don't let that deter you.

Use It Up!

My family recently set a new budget for ourselves.  It's working great and we haven't had to change much to meet it.  The one thing that has changed is that I'm now in charge of tracking how much we spend in different categories.  Yikes!  I actually enjoy it, but it can also be stressful, too.  The next couple months we're trying to scale back a bit  so we can do our Christmas shopping without taking a hit.  Babygirl is already causing a big enough hit this year!

So, I'm announcing a new project that will turn into a series on this blog - For at least the next 2 weeks (maybe more) I won't be going grocery shopping.  I'll use up all the stuff I have in my cabinets, fridge, and freezers and save money as a result.  I'm super-duper excited, and we started a couple days ago!  I'm going to chronicle what we eat each night and post recipes where I think they'd be cool - I have a feeling it might get kind of funny near the end.  The first two days we hardly noticed a difference.  We'll see how that changes.  

Now, to all great rules there are exceptions.  The first is my 80% off exception.  If it's something I need or frequently use, and it's 80% off or more, I will still buy it.  Case in point: clearance bin at Kroger.  I got 5 cans of stuff we use on a regular basis for $1.18 yesterday just because they were dented.  That, to me, makes more sense than not buying them and having to pay full price when we go shopping and need them again.  My other exception comes in the form of a hungry, running toddler.  Because of him, and because I am not willing to compromise my family's health, I will still be buying milk, juice, eggs, 1/2 and 1/2 (IknowIknowIknow, but I chose 1/2 and 1/2 and Jeremy chose orange juice), and fruits and veggies.  It does kind of seem like a lot, even to me, but I will be using up all the fruits and veggies we already have in the house before I start buying new ones.  Which leads me to . . . 

What I Have to Work With / What I Want to Get Rid Of

Lots and lots and lots of canned goods!  Seriously, wow.  Things in this cabinet I am most excited to get rid of:

• pineapple slices we bought by accident instead of pineapple chunks
• long-cooking rice that I've had forever, because I always forget about it until it's too late, and then I reach for my minute rice
• barbecue sauce!  I seriously have 6 or 7 bottles of it.  It was free!

Pantry items!  Though our pantry is a little sparse, things I am most excited to use up are:

• those stupid leftover lasagna noodles
• the 8 boxes of noodles I have hanging out upstairs in the stock pile
• snacks we never eat
• boatloads of popcorn
• CHIPS.  See here.
• Jeremy's soda collection

Freezer junk!  I have a LOT of freezer junk.  Stuff I'm most excited to use up:

• Frozen leftovers ohmyword.  Including, but not limited to: leftover Asian chicken broth from this, 4 pounds of chicken parmesan Jeremy brought home from work, a nasty casserole that Jeremy wouldn't let me throw out (enjoy, babe!), brunswick stew, spaghetti sauce, Asian pesto.... I'm sure there's more.
• Lots of bread.
• LOTS of breadcrumbs.  Probably 15 cups or so.
• MEAT.
• Random mostly-empty bags of vegetables that were leftover from recipes that didn't call for the whole bag.
• And lots of stuff from my deep freezer, which I forgot to take a picture of, but which includes:
• Catfish nuggets.  Stupid pains-in-the-butt to cook.
• Frozen pizza
• Enough ice-cream and ice-cream products to last a long while
• Things yet to be discovered....dun dun dun

Other random stuff, which includes:

• Corn products.  I don't usually like them, unless they are a chip.  I bought the corn meal to make polenta, which Jeremy didn't like, and the corn starch gets used almost never and probably should be replaced.
• Apples!  I love apples, and I bought a heckuvalot at an apple festival a couple weekends ago.  Confession:  I broke my rule and bought white cheddar cheese today to make these.  I couldn't resist. But none of my other apple recipes call for stuff I don't already have.
• Lunch meat!  I will have to freeze it, but then use it eventually.  We way overbought when Jeremy's parents were visiting, and now it's all chillin' in the fridge.

And that's it!  Just remember this is a money-saving activity.  I won't use up all the bread crumbs just to use them up, since those are something I already use to save money.  The idea is to use up all the things that I could use instead of buying something else.  Ready to get started?