Inventory

Yikes.

I will admit, I am one of those people that could probably live for a few weeks, if not a couple months, off all the food I have in the freezer and pantry.

Yesterday and today, I decided to do some cleaning/inventory of what I've got around. It has been awhile since I've done it.

I had no idea Stove Top had an expiration date. Threw out three boxes.

Anything I found in the freezer that had a 2006 date on it went.

I've got about 6 cans of cream of mushroom soup. I don't use it that often. Why do I have six cans???

The plan for dinner tonight is some meatballs, maybe spaghetti, and finally going to smoosh together two recipes I saw on PBS recently in to one and make some asparagus & green onion manicotti, since asparagus was 99 cents a pound (it's been like four bucks a pound FOREVER, it seems) at the produce mart this week.

I bought some ground beef yesterday, and knew I had some sausage around somewhere from he recent deep dish pizzas. I didn't find the sausage in my freezers, but I did find what ended up to be five pounds of already cooked & frozen meatballs in sauce. Five pounds FIVE. Guess I'll be using up those before making any new batches....

I've also apparently been stockpiling fish. Which is odd, since the hubby doesn't like fish. I do, and I've decided I want to get it in to my diet more often, so about once a week I'm going to just buck it up and make him a steak or something and do fish for myself. I did finally buckle and buy some lake trout at the produce mart yesterday, so the plan tomorrow is a steak for the hubby and the Trout with Haricots Verts and Almonds for me. Looking forward to it.

But, I found that I also had some frozen rainbow trout in the fridge, and salmon, and hailbut and cod. Why?? It at least looks like I'm good for awhile on the fish I do have.

Anyway... the plan for the week....

• Sunday - Spaghetti & Meatballs & Manicotti. Might also attempt some french bread from scratch. Bye bye, five pounds of freezer meatballs....
• Monday - Steak for the hubby, trout for me, some steamed veg and baked potatoes. I'll used the trout I bought this weekend.
• Tuesday - A chicken breast with avocado/red onion relish thing from the recent Everyday Food issue. If my avocado holds out that long, all they had at the produce mart yesterday was some pretty close to ripe ones.
• Wednesday - Polish spaghetti. This is from the hubby's family. And it'll use up some of the cream of mushroom soup. It's one of those recipes that is pure comfort food for the hubby, and although trashy and questionable, there is something that I love about it. Might be all the sodium. Brown up a pound of ground beef and a chopped onion, then dump in a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of tomato soup, a sprikle of garlic powder, and some cooked elbow macaroni (yes, I know, there is nothing "spaghetti" or "Polish" about it. I know. It's just one of those "family names" for a recipe.... like growing up, my family had "slimey pork chops", which we all loved, but called by that name). A sprinkle of shredded cheese on top is optional.
• Thursday - Buttah poached lobsta. Hey, it is Valentines Day. I think it's a good excuse to poach lobster tails in a pound of butter, don't you?? I'll even get the lobsters prepped on Wednesday, which means it will be a breeze to do on Thursday. Although I'm not realizing I forgot to buy a leek at the store yesterday. Darn it.