A SHORT KITCHEN CONVERSATION

When Mother’s Little Helpers were young, we frequently had leftovers from dinner because stages of appetites varied back then.  It was hard to project whether any given night would be that “eat me out of house and home” night.

Old Mother Frugal had her challenges feeding her male offspring. Keenly observing them, their habits reverted back to infancy.  The males fed every 2 hours and then slept for 4 hours. Awoke, fed and slept. Such was the circle of their life.

In an earlier blog post, there was “Some Assembly Required” because there was never anything to eat in the house.  Food was there…it just wasn’t being handed out through a drive-thru window, all nice and tidy and ready to eat.

At times pre-assembled meals did appear in the refrigerator for snacking, however repulsive the process was to one of the Little Helpers.

You see, Old Mother Frugal could not discard any seasoned meat.  Secretly rinsing off the seasonings under cool water, the now unseasoned meat would become the ingredient to a different recipe.

One day, my secret was out as one of the Little Helpers witnessed the transformation of last night’s dinner into today’s pre-assembled snack for the refrigerator. Taco meat was being rinsed under running cool water.

“GROSS”!!!!

[Mother’s Little Helper spoke few words; nothing’s changed to this day].

“Well then don’t look”.

[Old Mother Frugal spoke more words; nothing’s changed to this day].

Mother’s Little Helper walked away. Upon opening the refrigerator door several hours later, lasagna roll-ups had made their appearance for consumption.  Nice and tidy and ready to eat.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Tip: Avoid food waste. Even the smallest amount of leftover food can find some usefulness in another recipe. If you are not going to transform leftovers or use them within 2 days, store them in the freezer. Below is how one pork chop and small amount of leftover chopped broccoli became a pork fried rice dinner!

A MODERN DAY MS. MUFFET

Do you know Little Ms. Muffet?  She was the little girl in the nursery rhyme of the same name.  The origin of Ms. Muffet remains unclear, with a few urban legends chronicling her authenticity back to the 1600s.

Although Ms. Muffet’s origin may remain an unknown, the two knowns in this nursery rhyme are “curds” and “whey”.  Curds are a solid cheese-like substance and whey is a milky liquid.

Over the Labor Day weekend, Old Mother Frugal channeled her inner Ms. Muffet.  After a little bit of research…the internet can be a wonderful thing….she got off her tuffet and into her kitchen for the creation of a milky solid and a liquid by-product.

Yes, the creation of butter and buttermilk! 

Having used heavy cream to make homemade whip cream for a chocolate cream pie the week before, an inch or more of heavy cream remained in its container.  Like the internet, boredom can be a wonderful thing. 

The pantry contained the two key ingredients for butter: a hand-held mixer and the aforementioned carton of heavy cream.  In a matter of minutes, a solid was appearing and a liquid began to formulate in the same bowl.  It was butter and buttermilk.

At the completion of the mixing process, 2 generous tablespoons of butter remained at the base of the bowl immersed in one-third cup of buttermilk. The two were then separated at birth: one in a square of cheese cloth, the other into a measuring cup. 

The butter was molded and pressed into a small finger bowl while the buttermilk remained in the refrigerator until used in a batter of blueberry pancakes.  Old Mother Frugal had indeed become a modern day Ms. Muffet.

SOUND THE BUGLE!  When using heavy cream to make whip cream, place a metal bowl in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. If you don’t have time, you can still successfully make whip cream by skipping this tip.  To one cup of heavy cream, add 2 TBS of sugar.  Using a whisk or hand-mixer, begin to mix.  Be careful not to over mix or you will make butter. If you make butter, the liquid by-product is buttermilk. This can be refrigerated and used within a few days, in any recipe calling for buttermilk.