This eating out of the freezer business is really challenging me to the fullest! We’re trying to eat as much out of it as possible for moving purposes mostly, but also, it’s in sore need of a defrosting, as it’s been a few years since it has been done.
While I do try to maintain some kind of order and use things up before they get too old, there are a few, uh, relics hiding within. For example, there is a foil pan full of Mexican Stuffed Shells from nearly 3 years ago. Do we eat or do we toss? That is the question. Today’s pan of Chicken Spaghetti was almost as old- the date on it was February of 2008. I believe we had chicken spaghetti for a Sunday Company Dinner and had a ton leftover. We froze up several batches, but as we ate through them, discovered that the kids really don’t like chicken spaghetti. (I know, oddballs they be.)
However, today as I looked at the 2 quart container of turkey broth left from the weekend, I decided I needed to use it for soup and NOT stick it in the freezer with all the other stocks and broths. A rummage through the fridge and pantry didn’t come up with a promising theme or set of ingredients to become soup…and then I thought of that lone pan of chicken spaghetti.
I pulled it out, put it on a sheet pan and popped it in the now-repaired oven to thaw out. Here it is defrosted and looking like…old leftover chicken spaghetti. (Which I thought was Pioneer Woman’s recipe, except that she uses cream of shroom soup, and I know I didn’t use that. )
In the soup pot I added a good dollop of bacon fat, and then half an onion, one carrot and one celery stalk, all nicely diced. They cooked up and smelled amazing, and then I added one minced clove of garlic. Rifling through the freezer found some thyme sprigs as well as some loose rosemary. In they went, along with the two quarts of turkey broth. Once that came to a boil, I tasted for seasoning and added salt, pepper, and then some chicken bouillon granules to punch up the flavor a bit. Finally, I slid in the chicken spaghetti, a bay leaf, and just a splash of milk.
I cooked and simmered with the lid on for about 30 minutes before braving a taste. It tasted…remarkably good! More like a creamy chicken noodle soup than anything, if I had to describe it. The cheese and the starch from the spaghetti gave the broth itself a great creamy mouthfeel, and sprinkled with a little extra cheddar cheese tableside, it was a great comforting bowl of soup to accompany some freshly baked homemade bread.
Add to that, I also unearthed two pans of my Two-Pan Apple Crisp in the freezer, so we also had dessert with a few scoops of ice cream. Not too shabby for a freezer dinner. It almost gives me the courage necessary to make another trek through the freezer for tomorrow’s dinner.