Every now and then I find myself facing a personal brain challenge game called… WHAT ON EARTH do I do for dinner tonight? It’s a desperate self induced exercise that forces my brain cells to do quick creative thinking. This exercise usually occurs when I’ve had a busy week and have not been able to refill the pantry or the refrigerator.
There is half a box of pasta, a can of black beans and some sun-dried tomato’s. Or a scant cup of Quinoa or brown rice and some leftover turkey meat loaf in the freezer. Maybe a cup of frozen peas as well… not enough to feed my husband, me and my mother who has her evening meal with us each day. On your mark, get set, go…go brain, go.
I typically don’t let myself get into this personal brain game dilemma but when it happens I’m up for the challenge. I have, over the years, found countless ways to make a meal out of a bit of this and a smidgen of that. NO one has ever commented that the “Meatloaf and Sun Dried Tomato Casserole” has only enough meatloaf for two. By the time the leftover meatloaf has been mixed with the quinoa, peas, sun-dried tomato’s and that 1/4 cup of grated Asiago it’s sooooooooo good no one notices! Add some caramelized sweet onion and those five mushrooms that weren’t squishy like all the rest in the produce drawer and you’re good to go. A dash of dried basil or oregano won’t hurt either.
When so many men, women and children in this wonderful but also sad world are STARVING, wasting food is a crime of epic proportions.
I once knew someone who stuffed any and all leftovers from every meal down the garbage disposal. I couldn’t watch. I imagined the leftovers screaming all the way down the drain…”Noooooooooooooo…I still have so much to give…so much life left in me….” of course, that probably had a lot to do with my upbringing by depression generation parents. Yes indeed…I remember hearing at (almost) each meal how children in Africa were starving. AND they still are today…NO JOKE. I offered my vegetables to them at dinner one night. That dinner didn’t end well…for me.
Tonight, I am caramelizing sweet onions and garlic, adding some Hanger Steak Tips to that mix for my husband and mother. (Guido’s Fresh Marketplace to the rescue on the way home today.) I baked some russets and scavenged a few pole beans from the garden. I am having my leftover half sandwich from a lunch yesterday with a dear friend. And…I feel this post is not complete…I personally want to add so much more.
I promised Quick Oatmeal Almond Breakfast Bread on my Facebook page earlier this week and that will appear tomorrow.
One day soon…I will go into a bit more creative detail about what to do with leftovers. There are so many delicious and wholesome possibilities. Truthfully, the combinations are endless.
So, for today…the close of one of those WHAT ON EARTH do I do for dinner tonight?” days… this is it. No photos, no real recipes, but prayers for those in desperate need in this world and…
Many Blessings…