Dear Friends,

On Thursday, I threw out a challenge to cook out of our freezers and pantry. In order to make this happen; you need to know what you have in your freezer. Robert opened up our basement freezer and wrote down everything in it. He can be so funny. He even inventoried the freezer gel packs, Hummingbird concentrate,  and 8 five pound bags of grits. Robert calls grits, a bowl of hot. I am determined to figure out a way to use some of those grits in a recipe, just to get him back.

I took his inventory, then I emptied the freezer in the kitchen and pantry; now I know what we have. This is going to be fun. I might even get creative with some of the meals I am going to cook this month. Let me give you an example.

In the freezer, I found some stuffed crab shells and catfish fillets! One of my favorite meals I have ever had was at a lovely Cajun Restaurant that has gone out of business. I believe I can reproduce that recipe by removing the crab stuffing from the shells and rolling it up in the filet. Robert likes Cajun food. All I have to do is add a salad and some garlic cheese grits. I am already hungry thinking about making this meal.

Here is my menu plan for next week.

• Sunday – Pot Roast, potatoes, carrots with biscuits.
• Monday – Shrimp and Chicken Carbonara
• Tuesday – Open Faced Roast Beef Sandwiches and mashed potatoes
• Wednesday –  Vegetable Soup and grilled cheese
• Thursday – Leftovers
• Friday – Stuffed Catfish Fillets, cheese grits, sauteed spinach
• Saturday – Homemade pizza

This is going to be a fun week to cook. I have a plan. My goal is to use what we have to fix these meals. The pizza may be hamburger, peppers and onions but I am going to have to make the homemade pizza sauce, homemade crust, and use grated mozzarella cheese sticks for the topping. Yee Ha! Pizza is on my plan for tomorrow. I will be making crust dough and pizza sauce for a whole month to freeze. My sauce will go into ice cube trays for ease of pulling out just the right amount.

So far this week, I have cooked every day.

• Chicken Pot Pie
• Chili
• Surprise Chicken, Brown Rice, Broccoli/carrot medley

I am not going to make this hard on myself. Each week I will plan next week’s menus. It will start next Wednesday when I clean out my refrigerator. That is how Friday night’s dinner happened. I took a package of chicken thighs and threw them in my slow cooker. I added half of an onion (minced) and little bits of salad dressings, BBQ sauce, jam, jelly, and ketchup. It is a surprise every time I make this. The sauce is really good on rice. Robert loves it too.

Next Wednesday I will be taking my leftover pot roast, adding a bag of mixed vegetables and a can of crushed tomatoes or Rotel. My slow cooker is my friend!

Have fun this month saving money and time!

FlyLady

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