Use it up

Some days my cooking requires innovation as I apply the adage: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Take the day I grabbed a can with a green label to make green beans for supper. I cranked it around on the can opener, pulled off the lid and saw potatoes. Not what I wanted. I returned to the pantry, carefully read the next green label and we ate green beans.

Still that can of sliced potatoes needed a purpose. I didn’t want to make soup. I had just made “refrigerator soup.” My recipe for Refrigerator Soup requires anything leftover that stirs together for a tasty dish. This time I decided to make my first turkey chili con carne as an experiment.

It began with half a can of spaghetti sauce, an open jar of salsa and leftover turkey from the freezer.

I did not use the potatoes.

Turkey in October?

Of course. Because last year my husband found a super deep discount on tom turkeys labeled as hens. He brought home nine, count them, NINE huge, heavy turkeys. Some he planned to give to the church food drive, but a few went into our deep freeze to stretch our food budget this year. Turkey is protein that we like. I have many recipes for leftover turkey.

To all the mix I added that odd can of jalapeno black-eyed peas. I guess I purchased the strange food item because it was super cheap. By themselves they never would have made it to our table. I added more stewed tomatoes, a can of chili and and kidney beans: After a couple hours in the slow cooker, I tasted it.

My taste buds stood up and celebrated. I decided it just needed a package of corn.

It definitely did not need potatoes.

I described my innovative soup to my daughter.

“Mom, it sounds like you made taco soup.”

“Well, I guess I like taco soup.”

I also like cornbread, which goes well with taco soup and provided one way to deal with some of the honey I found in three bottles. I poured as much as I could into the largest, empty bottle. The rest I used in a recipe I found online for honey cornbread. That stuff tastes like dessert!

Still no use for the potatoes. I didn’t want to be that innovative.

My husband fixed his piece of cornbread like his mom served it. He poured milk on it. “This milk is starting to sour,” he announced and suggested,  “You can use it to make a big batch of pancakes.”

“We don’t eat that many pancakes that often,” I said.

I wish I had known about the sour milk before I made the cornbread. But I didn’t. So I researched and discovered that I could use sour milk in a cake mix. ‘The acidity makes the cakes fluffy.” according to the website.

I didn’t use the potatoes in the cake either.

I pulled out the carton of eggs a friend had given me from her hens’ abundant production. I began making cake with sour milk. I also put half a dozen eggs on to boil just because I might want them.

As I peeled the eggs, I looked at the potatoes and knew what to do with them.

“I’m going to make potato salad,” I called to my husband. He smiled. He likes potato salad.

He smiled even more when I cleaned out the cereal cupboard and mixed the red, white and blue colored Rice Krispies with the open bag of marshmallows. Two more open containers emptied and another dessert in the cupboard. I don’t think we will have to “do without” for a while, especially after all that “use it up, make it do.”


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