What do you do when your husband wakes you up early in the morning with the news that the second refrigerator in the garage has been left open all night and the milk is up to 72F degrees? Roll over and go back to sleep, only to dream of cooking and baking all day to save the salvageable food (after emitting a loud groan of agony.)
That’s what I did.
After troubled food dreams, I got up to hubby assembling another round of mini rhubarb pies, a pile of microwave-assisted shucked corn (Pinterest trick!) and no place to make coffee because the Food Saver was sitting in front of my coffee space.
It was a bad morning. Except for the efforts he made, of course! Those pies. Oh, my.
Eventually, I staggered back in the kitchen, made some eggs for a breakfast burrito, some coffee after snagging the Bialetti from behind the FS, and then started chopping and oiling veggies.
Right now (as I write) on the grill are eggplant strips, zucchini, green onions, white onion, and 7 ears of corn.
TA-DAAA!
Veggie Paninis! Tomato Corn Summer Salad! Frozen charred corn for winter soups and fritters! YAY!
By the way, always remember to scrape out the corn germ bits from the cobs. So much creamy and nutritious body and texture in those soups! See that pile of extra corn deliciousness I got off those cobs AFTER I had sliced the kernels away? Remember!
Soon enough I will have to go out to that frig — old faithful frig that I’ve had since 1989, my first bottom freezer model — and chuck a bunch of stuff.
It’s not as bad as it could be. No fresh meat in there, at least!
[And now that I’ve done that task, the losses really weren’t bad! It was much emptier than I thought YAY! I did find 2 dozen eggs that are now boiled … hmm. Time to refer to my Easter Egg list!]
I still have some rhubarb that needs to be used ASAP (muffins!) but the rest of the generous harvest from my dear mother-in-law is vacuum-sealed in the freezer. Whew!
I fell in love with the little pie I was eating. Can you tell? Yes, it tasted as good as it looks!
And I have to say, the Tomato Corn Summer Salad rocked with the addition of some of the grilled eggplant, zucchini, all the grilled onion, and the rest of a raw veggie tray that needed using!
But this whole disaster brings some questions to mind. Like…
How many people have second refrigerators in their garage these days?
Are second refrigerators needed because of being overrun by condiments like I am? #Condimentcollector #apparentlyIdoneed7mustards (I got it down to 5 recently, but now there are 7 again???)
Or maybe because when you hit the produce department you need #allthevegetables?
Who ALSO needs two freezers? I do. My boys need #bagsofCostcoprotein and then there’s the #halfacow, and the frozen fruit and jams I put up, and the bags of chopped discount peppers and onions I keep done up, and all the other micellany that breeds in there. Oh, THAT’s where the rest of those quiche muffins are hiding! #freezerburn Darn it!
Admittedly, if we were interested, motivated, we could shop intelligently twice a week and make do with one refrigerator only. Maybe only 2 mustards at a time … But I shudder at the thought. Quite literally I just did!
Spoiled? Indeed I am! And I’m OK with that :)
BTW we’re having deviled eggs with dinner. Lots of them. At least I can freeze the corn…
Frig or freezer disaster stories, anyone?
Gail
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