Dealing with leftovers in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Thanksgiving is probably one of the biggest days for leftover - certainly it was in my family. We have our share during the rest of the year, too, as I’m sure many of you do also. How do you deal with the extra food at the end of a meal? Shove it in the fridge till it becomes sentient? Freeze individual portions for future quick meals? Feed your critters? Just toss it all?

Today, I’ll begin cooking because we’re having an early feast on Tuesday because of visiting family. Our leftovers will be divided among 3 households and my daughter had already claimed the turkey carcass for soup. If our share is large, some will go in the freezer, some will be eaten before the week is out. Now you know.

Happy Moanday!!

2

First! It’s good to be juvenile!

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and almost caffeinated so no YAWN. ‘Tis 33 Amurrkin out and partly cloudy with a predicted high of 63 and N.O.S. for the day. It will be a largely sloth day with some prep for Turkey Day commencin’. Sup shall be pot roast with green beans, smashed N.O.T. 'n gravy, roasted carrots, and rolls.

Since we will have a crowd with us on Turkey Day I don’t expect too many leftovers. We’ll foist some off on others and keep some for consumption for a couple of days. That should take care of all that. I like the leftovers, especially makin’ a sammich with turkey, dressin’, gravy and cranberry sauce. One of the best sammiches ever!

Now I need to finish caffeinatin’ and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Moanday Y’all!

3

I can live on turkey sandwiches for a week. Made with stuffing and cranberry sauce and mayo, of course. The Ms likes hot open-faced with gravy. We’re having T-day with youngest son and my daughter and their kids. First time in. . .ever. Probably since they were kids. It’s what happens when your life takes you all over the world. Looking forward to it. I’m picking up the free-range bird today and my son is going to brine and smoke it. I’m doing stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. Daughter is bringing pies and deviled eggs.

4

Good morning everyone.

It’s currently 35 degrees with an expected high of 52 and mostly cloudy skies.

I’ve been lucky enough to not have to deal with leftovers for most of these past few years, but when I did have them, some got eaten over the course of the next several days after Thanksgiving, the carcass was turned into soup, and other leftovers were sent home with friends and family. Unfortunately, we were all well and truly sick of T-giving leftovers by the third or 4th day, so some became science experiments. I tried to be frugal and freeze some of the stuff, but as I have mentioned numerous times, I don’t like turkey all that much, so even if it made it to the freezer, it was often there two years later and then tossed.

This year my daughter asked me to bring something green for the meal they are hosting. I’ll have to check out some things that don’t require me to get in the way in their kitchen or use much heating time. I am NOT bringing green bean casserole.

It’s back to the grind today. Normally, I’d go to the office today, but I am shifting that to tomorrow so I can go on the same day as the MPA and get started on cleaning up some of the office spaces. She better be there tomorrow, or I’m going to be pissed. I switched days last week and she didn’t show up.

I need to duck away from the computer for a few minutes (I hope) to make a trip to the post office. Apparently, my box was full (of ads and other BS that I absolutely don’t want), so the mailman opted to make me come to collect the mail at the post office. Before you all think this must be a lot of mail, it’s not. I have one of those skinny mailboxes in a bank of boxes. It doesn’t take that long to fill the box. Both the post office near my house and my mailman have terrible reviews. There is never NOT a line, they’re slow, and usually, only one window out of four is manned. It’s ridiculous. It’s my own fault and had I been one day earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.

I pay all my bills electronically, and other than the odd Amazon package that comes via USPS (I HATE when they do that), I don’t really get any mail other than junk mail and ballots come election time.

I’m glad the party went well over the weekend, FCM.

Well, I need some more coffee. I hope you all have a terrific day.

5

Good morning, and Happy Monday.

It’s a cool 23F outside, this morning. Going to get into the 50s. Stupid weather can’t decide what it wants to do. It’s going to be nearly 60F the entire week. It’s just not right.

The plan for today, is to psych myself up for my dentist appointment, which is tomorrow morning. It’s just for my usual cleaning, but, still. I have issues. I detest going to the dentist. I’ll get over it, though. Still. FML.
Anyway, I think that today, I’ll fix my hubs his Cowboy Beans that he requested. I’ll package 'em up, and toss them into the freezer for his OTR meals that he takes with him. I need to make him a batch of turkey-slices-wrapped-around-stuffing-covered-in-gravy, too. Maybe I’ll bother with that tomorrow. Or not. Depends on how lazy I end up feeling. Ha! The laundry also needs to be folded, and put away. That about covers it for my day. I think.

I still have a sore throat, but, it doesn’t seem as sore as it was. The hot coffee feels like it’s helping it feel a bit better. We’ll see if it lasts.

Have a great day!

6

Lime jello mold?? :rofl:

FCD’s family often had what we called green stuff - pistachio pudding, cool whip, pineapple, and marshmallows all mixed together. It was served as a side, not a dessert, believe it or not. My daughter may make some, but I kinda hope not - it’s really nothing but teeth-curling-sweet-empty calories that I absolutely can’t resist.

I love steamed broccoli, but if you don’t have a steamer (I have a Black-and-Decker model) then you’d have to take up stove space/time. I got nothing…

7

Mornin all! Up sheveled and about to head off. I have to stop by the client’s house and un-install part of the thing I installed on firday…there’s an outlet behind part of it and they’re having electricians come and move it today. Not really a big deal, but kinda annoying. Then off to the shop for a deep cleaning, there’s sawdust on everything, I leave footprints when I walk out the door.

Happy turkey week, all!

8

The mention of green beans reminded me that MIL is bringing green beans that she cooks to death. She starts with canned (I prefer frozen) and she throws some onion and bacon into the pot, then boils it for hours!! Literally!!! FCD loves them. I avoid them. Honestly, I don’t know how they retain their shape after all that boiling - it should be a pan of mush!

9

Morning all. I don’t have to worry about leftovers, since I commute about 400 miles up to my Brother’s house in Illinois and spend Turkey Day with them. They get to divide the leftovers as I seldom if ever cook anything so no problems there. Leaving Wednesday and get back home Sunday.

VanGo, they didn’t know about the outlet when you put the item in? Sounds like poor planning on their part (and I speak from experience, my desk makes it almost impossible to get to an outlet in my office-room, but such is life).

ace, got my dental checkup/cleaning on January 5th, am a bit worried on what they’ll find, but I will perserve. Hope it goes better than expected.

Taters, I still pay some bills by mail and have a fairly large mailbox outside the house, so no issues there, but yeah, I ordered a book last week and found out today it’s coming by mail…sometime.

OK, need to plan out the rest of the day and start looking forward to my travels. Have a good Moanday folks.

10

Hi, guys. I missed a lot last week.

With regard to leftovers, I freeze what I think is reasonable and keep the rest in the fridge and either reconsitute them into things like turkey pot pie or just eat them for breakfast (the dressing is the absolute best).

Last week was pretty crazy. The girl turned 13. I turned 47. I went to Florida and back for a conference and discovered that the sales managers in my company are comprised of 80% functioning alcoholics. I gave a presentation to more than 150 people on a subject I’m unfamiliar with on about one hour’s notice. I came back and the girl had her birthday party, which was the loudest experience I’ve had in a few years. Teenaged girls are shrill.

I’m taking the week “off,” off in parentheses because I’ll log on a few times today & tomorrow since we’re waiting on a new hire to accept an offer and I need to be on to approve & arrange a start date. Today’s an oncology day for mom, so we’ll be going downtown for that. These appointments are always mildly terrifying, especially post-scan, since the scans actually reveal whether the chemo is working vs. just blood makeup.

ace, I share your distaste of dental appointments. I’ve had sensitive teeth since I was little and my dentist back then didn’t believe me. He also hated children. Even though my current dentist is super compassionate, I still tense up every time she looks in my mouth. I hope today’s appointment is easy.

Taters, I’m also not a fan of turkey. I wish we could do something less traditional, but apparently I’m the only one. I live for the sides, though.

11

My sister is hosting Thanksgiving. I am bringing beef tenderloin (we don’t care for turkey), Aunt Vera’s Tangy Onion Salad, and pumpkin pie. AVTOS involves lime Jell-O, cottage cheese, onion, mayo, Cool Whip, and nuts. Sounds disgusting but it is good. Other sides are mashed potatoes and grave and the ubiquitous green bean casserole.

I’m a bit sniffly and my throat is a tad sore. I’m chalking it up to allergies.

12

It is amazing how many pieces of kitchen equipment went into one batch of cooking. Decided I wanted a breakfast burrito. This involved scrambling eggs, baking hash brown patties, and browning bulk sausage, plus assembling with tortilla and cheese.

The eggs involved a mixing bowl, a whisk, a rubber scraper, and a very nonstick skillet. The hash browns were easier, a baking sheet that stayed clean thanks to parchment paper and a spatula to turn them. The sausage called for a second skillet, a drainer once it was cooked, and multiple implements to break up the clumps into a more burrito-friendly crumble. Then there’s the plate. My dishwasher was empty at the start of this project and is now at least half full. I’ll probably run it once I’ve eaten (the burner covers and drip pans could also stand a tour of the dishwasher).

Buddy’s being a pain in the tail pestering his sisters and fussing about how he wants back out when it’s freezing. Not happening, doofus.

Routine-ish followup with PCP today, grocery delivery pending. Not sure what else today’s going to hold.

13

Happy Moonday!

It’s 18 feels like 13 degrees outside.
No park today, as we are waiting for the furnace repair people to show up.
They are supposed to be here between 8 and noon, then we have to pick up groceries at 2.
I was going to try for an oil change today, but that can wait until tomorrow.

It’s 61 degrees in the house this morning.
It wasn’t so bad last night as long as I kept everything under the blankets.
This morning I have the dryer, the dishwasher, and oven on, and I opened the blinds up wide where the sun is shining in.

I should probably get a few oil filled heaters. I’ve had them before and really like them. But then it’s just more stuff around here. More stuff to store, more stuff to clean, more stuff to move around.
I hate stuff.

I love leftovers, especially Thanksgiving leftovers. Not only do they taste good, but all you have to do is heat them up.

Oh good, the furnace guy is here. Cerby is outside where he can do no harm. Ripple and Echo are excited to have a guest. Echo’s crying because the guy went in the basement and she, and Ripple, are afraid of the basement stairs. She likes to supervise.
Cerby followed my son down once, then he was afraid to come back up.
He’s barking his head off outside, I think he wants in, but he’ll have to wait.
I hope I can get him to the point of being okay with somebody coming in.

My mail comes in through a slot in the door, so I don’t worry about theft. If it’s too big to fit through the slot, the mailman leaves it between the doors. Packages usually get left on the chair by the door, or hidden behind the chair. If the outgoing mail isn’t something too important, then I clothespin it to the little shelf above the slot. Otherwise, I take it to the PO.
Most of the mail I get is junk mail. I’d be just as happy to never get snail mail, except Ripple is so proud when he brings it to me. I’d hate to take that away from him.

It was the flame censor, but the guy said it’s not a good idea for us to do that ourselves on this model of furnace. It’s hard to get to. There was another problem as well.
Waiting for him to finish up, and for it get warm enough to be comfortable.

14

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s grim and generally horrible outside. It’s 9c/48f with no predicted change all day. Weather app says “This mild fucking weather is going to make it a lot hard to justify hiding in your house or apartment”…which explains why it’s miserable and rainy out there.

Typically, since I had to do an emergency order of meds from the vet, the stuff I’d ordered online was delivered today. Too late to cancel the vet’s order as they need to know it’s cancelled before it arrives there so they can tell the delivery man to take it back to the warehouse. So now I shall be broke, and have double the amount of meds I need. On the plus side, I won’t need to order again for ages!

The catsitter came yesterday to pick up housekeys and meet the fuzzbutts. Naturally, Whisper decided that meant he needed to hide under the bed for ages but eventually a rattling pack of treats got him out and he had some fuss from her. I still need to get some extra food for them tomorrow evening but we are pretty much ready to leave them on their own for a week.

Leftovers? If we’re home during the holidays, there will always be leftovers. Normally it’s just us, so we sometimes get a turkey crown larger than we’d have for two, so we can share with the cats. It will make a full roast dinner one day, and after that it’s there for sandwiches or curry, whatever we feel like doing with it. The downside of a crown is the lack of giblets for gravy, but I can live with that.

WetOne I am joining you with the sniffy nose and slightly sore throat. I’m hoping a better night’s sleep will sort me out as I had a very broken night and have been awake since about 3am. Does not bode well for my attention span this evening.

15

Just an unnecessary reminder: YOU NEED TO TAKE THAT GIANT FROZEN BLOCK OF POULTRY OUT OF THE FREEZER TODAY! Tomorrow, latest.

16

I remember a couple of years ago, I made the tactical error of needing to stop at a grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. There were people buying frozen turkeys. Um, good luck with that.

17

Leftovers would never be a problem for me because I make a killer turkey soup, and I love turkey sandwiches. In fact, I have one today. Yep, even though I’ll be eating turkey on Thursday, I made a sandwich for today from sliced Deli turkey.

18

Happy Thanksgiving week, or as I’ve known it for decades, academic year week 9. I teach only two classes this week, hurrah.

Nephew and his husband are cooking, so we’re responsible only for gluten-free gravy and dressing, and an apple crumble. We’ll all take leftovers.

I confess that sometimes the flavor and texture of turkey hits me wrong, but I love dressing with gravy. I’m not sure how much of it I can eat on Ozempic without GI consequences. Definitely not as much dressing or gravy as I’d enjoy since it deceases my ability to have fat and simple carbs.

Today is for grading and making cookies for my medical office’s staff.

19

Putting a frozen turkey in a big bowl of water will thaw it relatively fast, as long as you’re diligent about changing the water. But I agree buying the day before is DUMB!!

I’ve got 2 punkin pies about to come out of the oven and a gingerbread about to go in. Furnace guy is on the way. FCD is running errands. It’s above freezing out, but still cold. And so it goes…

20

Morning, all. The packing is almost complete for my annual Thanksgiving camping trip. I need to make a run for block ice, fill the gas tank and grab a little funds and I’m set. We’re really making an effort to cut back on all the stuff we take this year, since we usually take enough food and beverages to last a month or so. After 37 years of doing this, Paul finally figured out that it’s easier to prep and wrap the turkey at home than it is in the field. But we’ll still do a full dinner - turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed, hot pea salad, gravy, a full flight of wines, dessert of some sort - the usual. Left-overs go home with Paul. since he’s the one with daughters. The weather looks like it will cooperate this year. Predicted 72/48 all week, with NO WIND!!! That would be lovely after last year.

Hope everyone has the best holiday possible. I’ll catch up with y’all Firday.