This morning was my first day off in two weeks and when I woke up this morning I was sure of two things. One, I wanted poached eggs or pancakes and two, I needed to go through the fridge and use up a few things. Whether I had poached eggs or not would depend upon what I found in the refrigerator. Here is what I found:
-3 burger patties,
-1/3 of a cream cheese block
-1/2 cup shredded pizza blend cheese.
-4 slices of white bread that is drying out.
-3 hamburger buns that were drying out.
-part of a chopped onion.
-wilted celery stalks
-a bag of apples that were softer and starting to wrinkle (I only like them crisp)
-a handful of cherries that were shrinking.
-egg carton
Basically a whole bunch of "stuff" that starting to speak to me.
Hamburger Pizza Casserole
Used Up:
-3 burger patties,
-1/3 of a cream cheese block
-1/2 cup shredded pizza blend cheese.
-4 slices of white bread that is drying out.
-3 hamburger buns that were drying out.
-part of a chopped onion.
-wilted celery stalks
Added:
-Frozen marinara sauce (from the pizza bread dippers that my husband buys and I freeze)
Cooking:
-I cubed the bread, added some melted butter and spices and pressed it into the baking roaster pan.
-I chopped the onion and celery up fine and sauteed in butter (butter pats saved from a catered event) and spread it over the bread.
-I chopped the burger patties into very small pieces and spread them evenly over the onion & celery.
-I broke off small pieces of the cream cheese and evenly spaced them over the dish.
-the 1/2 cup of marinara sauce I spread on top.
-next I sprinkled the shredded cheese over the top and baked it in the over t 350 degrees until the cheese was brown.
Poached eggs on Cheesy Polenta
My favorite way to eat poached eggs is on a cheesy savory polenta, with the yolk broken and running over the golden polenta. This dish has surpassed my poached eggs on toast which is what I grew up on and used to be the only way I would eat poached eggs.
I thought I had some polenta cubed and frozen that I would use up but it was gone so I needed to make it from scratch. While I was in the freezer I pulled out a few other ingredients to add.
Used Up:
-eggs (2)
-remainder of the cream cheese, about 1 ounce
Added:
-1/2 cup of frozen cheese sauce.
-1 cup of frozen spinach leaves, chopped (left over from a spinach salad bag that I froze)
-1/2 cup finely chopped frozen red, and yellow peppers.
-1/2 cup corn meal
-1 cup milk
-1 1/2 cup water
-a pinch of salt and pepper
-1 tbsp of oxo chicken stock (liquid form)
Cooking:
This will need to be stirred frequently.
-in a pot on medium heat, I added the cornmeal, water, and milk. Stir.
-then I added the remaining ingredients and stirred, and stirred to keep the bottom from sticking.
-Once it was done, I set it aside while poaching the eggs and then voila, A Little bit of heaven in my stomach and the perfect start to my morning off. 😊
Polenta
I had intended to let this set and cut it into slices to freeze for future use, but due to all the liquid in the polenta when it was done it wouldn't set like it usually does so I just froze it in Tupperware containers.
Bran Muffin and Apple/Cherry Bread Pudding
I had a bag of Bran muffins in the freezer that I had made for my husband but they were a little freezer burnt and I knew that there was no way he would eat them. So I looked up ways to use up old muffins and bread pudding was the answer. I made the milky egg custard, added cinnamon to the bowl, chopped up some wrinkled cherries from the bottom of my fruit drawer, added in a chopped up chocolate bar from my snack bowl and the muffins torn into little chunks. Mixed thoroughly, baked at 350 until the knife pulled out clean and Voila! It was a delicious homey pudding that was amazing with ice cream. The next day I found out that it cut into cubes well and could be eaten cold. A win-win all around.
All in all a great day "saving" what otherwise would have been wasted and turning them into treats to be enjoyed.
All in all a great day "saving" what otherwise would have been wasted and turning them into treats to be enjoyed.
I do not like Kale.
