It was really odd this year not hosting Thanksgiving. Our current home is too tiny to even entertain four people, let alone a whole extended family gathering. Since we may be here for a few years (please, let’s NOT go through a move in 2015), I passed my wooden spoon back to my mom and offered my assistance in any way. We made our plans, divided the meal up, and all was well until the week of Thanksgiving when I was grocery shopping. One of my favorite things about that big feast is the leftovers, and I was starting to regret not having that turkey for leftovers for a few days. So there I was shopping very early Wednesday morning (trying unsuccessfully to beat the crazy crowds), when I spied a fantastic deal on a fresh turkey. I picked up a small one, and quickly planned a simple Wednesday evening pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
Wouldn’t you know, there the kids and I are, diving into our first turkey of the week, when Andy walks in the door from a day of work. With an entire turkey dinner in tow. All I could do was laugh as I saw this frozen turkey and a bag full of ingredients to assemble a Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey went into the freezer to be pulled out at a later time, and since most everything else was non-perishable, it was examined and then put in the pantry to be utilized later on.
It was truly an unexpected blessing to receive this gift, and in the spirit of the giving, I’m trying my hardest to utilize every item that was given us. (Except the roasting bag for the turkey, that I will NOT be using, as I don’t bake my meat in plastic.) Oh, there are plenty of things that I don’t normally purchase, and if I wasn’t just so appreciative of the thoughtfulness in this gift, I would put my food snob glasses on and most of it would get donated to a food pantry. But I am determined to use every single food item given to us- even though it maybe isn’t being used in the intended way.
On Thanksgiving Thursday, our little family stayed home and had a day of rest. I made pies all morning, we watched a few movies, and I roasted up a beef round roast for our dinner. I promptly used the ingredients for Millionaire Salad that were given to us, because I don’t think my kids have ever had that tasty green fluff made from Lime Jello, Cool Whip, Crushed Pineapple and Cottage Cheese. They liked it pretty well, and they’ve also rather enjoyed having the boxes of boxed mac-n-cheese for lunches a few times this week. I can’t tell you the last time I bought one of those! Other food items though, are proving more challenging to use up.
One of the biggies for me was the can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (meant for green bean casserole). I just don’t use that anymore, but the other day I spent some time going through some older recipe collections and stumbled upon my recipe for White Chicken Enchiladas. Wow- there is something I haven’t made in ages! The kids hate mushrooms- they would both rather starve than eat something with mushrooms in it, so that, combined with the can of soup, kind of pushed the recipe to the side. But here I was with plenty of leftover turkey on hand… So I left out the mushrooms, added some green pepper instead, and last night we all enjoyed those enchiladas.
Tonight’s mystery ingredient is a can of French Fried Onions. Also meant for a green bean casserole, after thinking about it for a while, I decided to crush the onions with a rolling pin, add some pork cracklin’s, and then use that mixture as a crumb coating for pork chops. They are in the oven as we speak, and I have high hopes for them!
Tomorrow, for Sunday dinner I’ll be making up a batch of Pumpkin Pancakes, using a can of pumpkin, and then to go on top of those, I plan on taking the can of smooth cranberry sauce, warming it in a pan and adding some mixed berries from the freezer and a bit of sugar to make a sauce for the pancakes.
The box of stuffing I will use as a topping for a chicken casserole, the cans of green beans I plan to use in a repeat of those delicious Spanish Style Green Beans. I did want to try them with canned beans…
Anyway, on top of having a little bit of fun trying to come up with not-so-ordinary uses for these ingredients, the timing worked out beautifully, as Andy hasn’t worked much in the last two weeks, and while we adjust to the time of year without that regular paycheck, the extra groceries have been very helpful in stretching my grocery dollar. I bet when those thoughtful people wanted to give us a Thanksgiving dinner that they had no idea that they were giving us enough extra groceries to keep me out of the grocery store for a whole week-and then some! I had to stop and pick up a block of cheese for the enchiladas and a carton of eggs. Otherwise, I have everything on hand to keep us going for quite a while. That just doesn’t happen this time of year when we tighten the purse strings. It makes me feel doubly blessed.
Hopefully I’ll be back with a positive report and a recipe for those pork chops…