We went to Lime Leaf for dinner today. She thought it was better than Thai 99, but not as good as Downtown Thai. I can get behind that, except for that Lime Leaf’s low prices give it the overall edge for me.
Rather than saving money with our choice of Thai food, we should have been eating leftovers. Our leftover situation is pretty dire. Our July 4 barbecue went well, and as always, I purchased way too much food, and this was after I exercised restraint. After the barbecue, We should’ve been eating those leftovers, but instead, I prepared two more dishes.
Rather than attempt to describe exactly what we’re up against, I now proudly present you with Old, Forgotten, and Soon to be Wasted: A Grand Photo Tour of our Leftover Meals:
This is thili saaru. It’s basically tomato soup, spiced up Indian style, and eaten over rice. I honestly have no recollection of when I prepared this, but it could easily have been a month. My mom insists as long as it’s in the refrigerator, it will keep forever. Apparently the spices act as preservatives. I should probably dump it: It costs less than three dollars to make, and it can be prepared faster than the rice I’d eat it with.
This turkey was purchased on June 21, 2005 at 6:47 PM according to the sticker on the bag. I purchased a half pound of Dietz & Watson Santa Fe Turkey Breast (left) and Dietz & Watson Turkey Pastrami (right). I think I had about five sandwiches and this is what’s left. I think it’s been long enough that I need to start thinking about throwing it out. That’s unfortunate, because it’s good stuff.
I probably should never have eaten any of this bratwurst. I bought it at the farmer’s market last Saturday morning. It’s locally grown and fresh made. They froze it before bringing it to market, and it was frozen when I bought it at about 11:00 AM. Unfortunately, I left it in the car and didn’t remember it until 4:30 PM. I immediately tossed it on the grill. After consulting Jeremy, we figured that out of five and a half hours, three was spent defrosting, and nothing’s wrong with a sausage that’s been sitting out for a couple of hours. I’m still alive, so I guess we were right. I can’t decide if I’ll eat this myself or make it a treat for the dogs. It was a damn good bratwurst.
These hot dogs came from a four-pack of seven-packs. We only made it through fourteen of them at the party. I tossed these packs in the freezer for the next party.
We also had burgers at the party. I bought the burgers at Costco (along with the hot dogs). Costco sells these burgers preshaped into patties, and each one weighs a little over a half pound. They are enormous. I purchased a dozen, and then the night before, panicked and ran to Harris Teeter and picked up enough beef for five more. I ended up with four left, so I feel fairly justified. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these though. I may try steaming them to get them moist and juicy again. I might also just break them up and mix them with spaghetti sauce. Note that one of them has been pre-cheesed.
And of course, those burgers need fixings. She will probably take care of the cheese, but I have no clue what to do with the veggies, and they are fading fast. We made tacos one night, and that took a chunk out of them, and I’ve been tossing some tomatoes and onions on pretty much everything I make at home, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to make it through the whole pile.
Now on to the sides… We’ll start with Patrick’s unbelievably good potato salad. I guess these are technically his leftovers, but they’re in our fridge, so I lay claim to them. This picture doesn’t truly capture the quantity of potato salad we’re dealing with. The dish is about a foot and a half long and a foot wide. I’ve been eating it every day, and it looks like I’ve barely made a dent in it.
And next we’ve got the baked beans, currently residing in an old salsa container. Nothing special here, just three large cans of Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans. We’ve been making steady progress on them, and I think they’ll be saved from the trash.
Moving on to a few nights later when we had some Lobster Ravioli in White Wine Sauce. It came from the freezer section at Costco, and was actually really good, although the sauce could have been a little less runny. This will definitely get finished off in the next day or two.
And this is a frozen fire roasted vegetable lasagna, also from Costco. It is unbelievably delicious. I don’t have any worries about it’s future, although it, along with the ravioli, should never have been prepared in the first place due to all the barbecue leftovers.
Lastly, I’m not really sure these count as leftovers, but they’re in our fridge, opened, and perishable, so this whole wheat ravioli and bottle of Ragu needs to be consumed ASAP.
And thus concludes the tour. Having a fridge full of leftovers is paralyzing. I crave things, but can’t make them because of all that food in the fridge silently mocking me. Going out tonight was tasty and fun, but that same meal could have been used to knock out a burger and some potato salad! Perhaps I should find some people to form a Leftovers Clearinghouse. One person’s leftovers are another person’s… nevermind.
If any of you have any brilliant ideas on how to utilize this food in some sort of tasty frankensteinian concoction, please let me know!
