Odds and Ends

Whether you’re cooking for just you, plus one, family, or you and a bunch of friends, today’s packaging at groceries and markets makes it very difficult to prepare just the right amount of food. And because we were raised to put too much on the table rather than too little, combined with waste not want not–we all have that leftover reckoning that hits like an episode of Chopped. Over the weekend I wanted biscuits and bacon and didn’t want to make a trip just for the five biscuit can of baby Grands so I bought the ten biscuit can at Whole Foods knowing I’d have biscuits to deal with later in the week. A good friend’s chickens started laying again so I was gifted with a dozen fresh eggs. And also this weekend I roasted a Free Range Heirloom Air Chilled Chicken, also from Whole Foods. These are their stories.

I know a lot of people have biscuits and gravy in the need to get at a diner category, but the quality of prepared foods is really pretty high. Pillsbury biscuits are good, quick, and easy, and prepping a decent gravy comes down to mixing a pack of McCormick’s Country Gravy mix with a pint of milk and not burning it when you heat it up. Throw in some fresh eggs seasoned with Tony’s and black pepper and scrambled and you have one breakfast lunch or dinner knocked out. My background makes it impossible for me to just have a prep gravy going on the stove top, so I sauteed some mushrooms to use throughout the week at the same time I was prepping the gravy.

Some of the mushrooms ended up in the Leftover Free Range Heirloom Air Chilled Chicken and fresh egg breakfast ramen—

and some ended up in a Garlic Mission Jack Cheese and Mushroom Omelet, which came out so good it was followed by a Garlic Mission Jack Cheese and Mushroom Frittata (not pictured because my phone was updating and I couldn’t wait to dig in).

Here’s a shot of another one sheet pan meal. Catfish and corn on the cob. Twenty minutes at 400 degrees.

Which, of course, has generated leftovers I don’t yet know what to do with. Maybe I’ll combine the catfish and corn with a can of Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup later in the week, but really, what goes better with Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup than—