Freezer Challenge | I made so much broth!
I now have no bones in my freezer. Zippo. Zilch. Nada. A bone-free freezer. Yay me!
I cooked up the turkey bones into broth one day.
And then I roasted the beef bones and made them into broth another day.
So, my freezer does have broth in it, but I still consider that a win.
Because now instead of bags of bones, I have a readily usable food product.
(That lid in the front has covered beef broth, then chicken broth, and now turkey broth. Ha.)
I cannot tell you how happy I am to have the bones used.
ALSO: I already used some of my beef broth in a pot of tortellini soup. Yay me!
I've been steadily eating the Everything bagels.
And I'm pleased to say I have exactly one left.
I thawed the rolls, let them rise, and baked them one night to go with soup for dinner.
(These are basic rolls that I froze after shaping, but before rising.)
Mr. FG and Sonia went out for dinner last Saturday, so Zoe and I ate the meatballs from the freezer for dinner.
Which means the only thing I didn't get to from last week was the bag of walnuts.
All in all, a pretty good week!
This week's freezer stuff
Some of these things have been here before. Maybe the second or third time is the charm!
Left to right, top to bottom:
- walnuts
- shredded mozzarella (x3)
- whole almonds
- misc. bag of frozen fruit
- watermelon
- pineapple
- frozen berries
If I buy some dates, I can make walnut/date balls.
I could make pizza with the mozzarella.
I can use the almonds in granola.
And the fruit should go into some smoothies.
Although...I just remembered that I should make some fruity baked oatmeal! That would be a warm way to use up some frozen fruit.
Much more appealing in December than a smoothie.
However, I am not going to use the watermelon in the oatmeal. I can only see that being successful in the blender as a smoothie!
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I think that I might only need one more freezer challenge week after this one, and then I'll be ready to do an easy defrost of my chest freezer.
I can't believe I'm finally getting to the bottom of all the clutter I started with!
Thank you for cheering me on, guys. I don't think I'd have stuck with this for so long without you!
If you ever have extra watermelon in the future, try cutting into thin strips and dehydrating. Like candy, only healthier. When watermelon is on sale, I buy one to eat and one to dry. Also, if it is a rather tasteless watermelon, the dehydrating will bring out the best in it.
We have just recently tried the everything bagels and I love them. My hubby despises them, lol. They are super delicious with a cream cheese type spread on them. My husband and I are eating a vegan diet for health reasons.There are some pretty decent vegan cream cheeses so I have been making a
spread with a bit of dill, lemon juice, sundried tomatoes, and black pepper and it is super yummy. I just make it up and eat it for breakfast all week. Doesn't sound like breakfast food but since I have always worked variable shifts, the words "breakfast food" means nothing to me anyway.
Every jar in my fridge and freezer has a lid that's been used multiple times. Usually I re-label, but sometimes I don't. Which then leads to my sister taking out a jar of jelly and asking me, "Can I safely assume that this is not chicken stock?" Yes, yes you can. One should always ask about the contents of a jar before using it in my house. Or you might end up with a mug of apple cider vinegar instead of leftover tea. Ahem. Sorry, husband.
Yes, this is the problem with doing things that only you understand/remember! I know perfectly well what's in a jar a lot of times, but other people don't.
(Also: sometimes I don't know either. I really should label more.)
About a month ago we took a mystery container out of our freezer while trying to make room. It was orange. It looked like a pureed fruit. Mango? Peach? I thought I remembered freezing a bunch that I couldn't use at the time. So I planned some sort of smoothie for the next day. The next day came, and when I sniffed, I still couldn't tell what it was. So I took a taste. And promptly spit out the previously frozen raw eggs I had meant to scramble!
I really should label more, too.
I stick a piece of scotch tape on the lid and write on that with a sharpie. Then just peel the tape off when the container is empty. Easy peasy. 🙂
I use painter's tape for labeling, which works really really well.
You're doing fantastically. A couple of smoothies (which I think are great in December), a few pizzas, and you're 90% done.
I agree with you about the smell of beef bones but it's worth it for the stock. OTOH, I really like the smell of chicken stock, which is good because I've made several batches in the past week.
Your freezer challenge makes me realize that I have a slightly different challenge. I can use up the foods, it's the "inputs" that are a challenge. This includes:
- 2 gal bag of spices
- smoked pig parts for soup
- specialty fats such as ham fat[1]
- the butter stash
These are not things I'm in a rush to use up but there's too much to cram into my fridge freezer to do a low-effort defrost. Haven't figured out an anwer to this yet.
[1] Or recognize the fact that if I haven't used them in years, it's time to let them go.
Kristen, have you ever tried Agua Fresca, made with watermelon? We were given some in Guatemala, and it was so refreshing! That and the Rosa de Jamaica (hibiscus) iced tea were irresistible to me.
I never thought of drying watermelon -- thanks, Lindsey!
WilliamB, could you make potpourri gifts out of those spices? Mulling mixes perhaps? I know what I would do with some of the smoked pig parts -- I would use it to season greens as well as black-eyed peas for the New Year's Day traditional dinner. I mean, it's traditional for some of us, anyway.
The freezer challenge has been fun!
I second the agua fresca with the watermelon-so good!
Do you find that unrisen yeast rolls last a long time in the freezer? I think I would like to make a big batch to have on hand and then pull a few out of the freezer as needed.
The almonds could go in some Christmas cookies, this a great recipe...https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/toffee-almond-sandies.html
Hope your family is doing their annual cookie decorating again this year. I love that post! ( I think it's the whole cookies with eyes thing. 😉 )
That looks like a lot of great broth!
Hubby made some broth from beef bones once, but we didn't really like it that much since it was really fatty. However, soup made from pork bone is a staple at our house. Cheap, nutritious, and delicious! 😀
Beef stock is tricky - to make it taste beefy rather than fatty, you need to use significant amounts of meat; so leftover bones aren't always the answer. This is different from chicken and pork and is why I so rarely make beef stock.
You are so right, pork stock is tasty.
Refrigerate your stock overnight and the fat will rise to the top and congeal. Then you can easily skim it off and discard it and then put your stock in the freezer.
That's what I do with meat stock! I always scrape the fat off after cooling...
For the walnuts and almonds you could make candied nuts for snacks or to add on top of salads.
Use one cup of nuts, two TBS brown sugar, and two TBS butter.
Melt the butter in a pan, add nuts and still to coat. When nuts are coated with butter sprinkle on brown sugar and stir. Spread on parchment paper and separate nuts. Let cool. Deeeeeelicious!
You could totally add sliced almonds and/or walnuts to your baked oatmeal! Great work so far! It is fun to see the progress. And inspiring!
I was coming here to say this too-I love walnuts in my oatmeal.
You did good!
I second that! And you gave me the nudge I needed to finish my own freezer clear out.
I have a guilty confession to make. I went on a date with my husband today, and I had to check your blog when I came home to see if you'd posted your annual cookie pictures yet. No pressure. 🙂
With the almonds, how about homemade almond roca? We do this every year, only use walnuts instead. (Mainly because we have a walnut tree and therefore a free source of walnuts.)
Ooo, buy dates to go with the walnuts! I have a recipe on my blog for walnut brownie bites that use walnuts, dates, salt and cocoa powder. They are SO delish.
I'm not sure if you knew this, but if you use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer you should be able to easily swipe permanent marker off your jar lids. It's amazing!
Oh, I hadn't even thought about it! I'll give it a try.