What's In Your Fridge?

Planning ahead has never been my forte.  Some people prepare menu calendars for the week or the month.  The Lord bless them!  I have tried this, but have never had the stick-to-it aptitude that is necessary to make it work.  So I try to stay prepared in other ways.

For example, today I came home at midday, and had nothing prepared in advance.  So I came up with a meal based on what I pulled out of the fridge.  I had some thawed dark meat chicken, so I knew this would be an S meal.  I also had some little beef kielbasa sausages that needed to get used.  I then pulled out hot peppers, roasted red peppers, olives, salsa, and cheddar cheese and proceeded to have a chop-and-shred fest in my kitchen.  (It really helps that I find chopping food to be therapeutic.  I have a friend who feels this way about pulling weeds... which makes me shudder!)

A meal waiting to materialize!

After my chop fest (which took about 8-10 minutes), I threw everything into a bowl and mixed well.

A meal in the making

All of this got thrown into a casserole pan.

Looks messy but stick with me...

That chopped mess went into a 350 degree oven until I could smell it.  It came out all melty and delicious!  I could have spooned this into a low carb tortilla, but I had some romaine to use up.  I garnished it with Frank's hot sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime, and voila!  It became a yummy salad.  

From fridge to plate in about 30 minutes.

This would not have been possible without just a little planning ahead.  It is a good idea to always keep proteins thawed and ready in your fridge.  In this case, I had pre-cooked chicken and little sausages that were ready to go.   I used those up in preparing this dish, so I went to my freezer to grab a frozen chuck roast and a package of frozen ground turkey so they could begin thawing for later use.

You always want to be conscious of what proteins are in your fridge and how soon they should be used.  Proteins tend to be the most expensive part of the meal, and it is a shame to throw away food that has gone bad.  "Waste not, want not," my frugal mother always said.  Don't thaw (or buy) too much at once. 

And even when pulling meat from the freezer, it is good to be conscious of how long something has been there.  Try to use the older items first.  Freezer burn also wastes food.

Also, sometimes life just gets busy and I forget to thaw meat.  This is why I always keep eggs, cheese, and vegetables in the fridge for a quick omelet.  And when we leave home for vacation, fried eggs are my go-to for a quick meal upon our return.