and be thankful

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ... And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:15-17

I was meditating on this verse the other day as I pulled some items out of my freezer.  My freezer(s) still have an abundant amount of food in them - but they are not as full as they were two weeks ago.   I reminded myself to be thankful for every bit of food I have.

Two weeks ago was when I made my last grocery shopping trip although I have made one trip to the health food store and one to our farm share.

It seems like one of my main jobs now is inventory manager.  We had homemade pizza for supper the other night.  The Resident Fisherman inquired as to why I was making it from scratch when I had 4 frozen pizzas in the basement fridge.  I explained that the mozzarella in the refrigerator would not last as long as the pizzas in the freezer would.

We had the homemade pizza Saturday night and last night we had fried rice.

The fried rice recipe is a mashup of other recipes I have used in the past.  I start off with a dollop of m*r*cl* wh*p in my cast iron skillet.  I sautee anywhere from a half cup to a cup of chopped onion in that until the onion is translucent.  You could use oil of course - but the mw adds a little bit of a tart flavor.

Then - the sky is the limit.  This is a very forgiving recipe and a great way to use up bits and pieces.  I had some chopped chicken so I added that .  I added a cup of frozen peas.  If you had some broccoli or peppers or any raw or cooked veggie you could add that. 

Then you add your (already cooked rice).  The rice needs to be precooked and cooled.  Keep stirring everything around until all the pieces are cooked. I add 1-3 cloves of garlic towards the end.

Quantities are up to you, but I would recommend about a/2 c. of cooked rice per person.

Season with salt or soy sauce and a generous amount of ground pepper.  We love this dish.

I used chicken but you can use shrimp, ground sausage, tofu or not have any protein added at all.

 See?  Forgiving!

The little ramekins in the picture above are a lemon custard.  Actually the are the lemon part of our favorite lemon bar recipe. No crust here. I juiced many pounds of lemons a few weeks ago and also zested the lemons (tip - zest first, then juice). We are using what we have. I sprinkled a bit of zest on each ramekin before I baked them.

By eliminating the short bread crust for our lemon bars, I am able to save the butter, flour and powdered sugar they require for another day. The end result was a very satisfying sweet/tart dessert.  Serving size is  limited by the size of the ramekin.  I would only eat one of these after dinner.  But if we had a whole pan of bars.  Look out.

Hope you are able to manage your home and pantry during these days.  I'd love to hear some of your tips in the comments!