Be prepared...

It had been a while since the last trip up to the grocery store and the fridge was getting rather bare. The last few weeks during our heat wave, I had been cooking pasta that has been sitting in the cupboard for a few years, and just making quick and easy tuna, cheese and pasta salads, with Miracle Whip, Kraft Bacon Ranch Dressing and chopped up onion. I had also added chopped cucumber and other times, red peppers. Oh... there is a story about the slimy cucumber and a tub of yogurt with a best before date of January, 2009... yes... I ate them... yes... I am alive... no... I didn't get sick. I don't like to waste anything... and there was no mold.

I have had a couple bags of apples sitting in the fridge for several months, and some of the apples were feeling rather.. spongy, for lack of a better word, so a week ago, I threw together an apple crisp with some red grapes (in the fridge for a couple weeks) tossed in for something a little different. I didn't reduce the sugar as much as I usually do, so it was a little too sweet, but still good nonetheless. I was quite surprised as to the crispy ... and... chewy texture of the sugary, oatmeal topping.

I finally did end up going to the grocery store on the weekend, and in addition to re-stocking the near empty fridge, I also cleaned the entire thing out, wiping down shelves, drawers, and all, which I hadn't done in quite some time.  So in addition to buying food, I was also delivered of some Italian Prune Plums from the tree in aged father's yard, as well as a few tomatoes, and some other goodies, as pictured above.

I had bought a package of extra lean ground sirloin with the intention of making Shepherd's Pie, but I ended up not making that, and a couple days later decided to do up a batch of chili, with the beef instead of just vegetarian as I usually do. I had one onion left... chopped that up... along with the remaining red peppers from the fridge, one of the green peppers from aged father's garden, and the other wee red, perhaps anaheim peppers, together with that mutant green-banana pepper hybrid thing. Had everything prepped and ready to go, went to grab the canned tomatoes and red kidney beans from the cupboard... only to find that I had no more cans of red kidney beans left. Sooo.... I decided to make the chili anyways, sans beans... such that it almost ended up being more like a taco beef mixture instead of chili. The bonus to this is that I have several options with this mixture. I can use it as a topping with shredded tex-mex cheese over baby spinach, as a dip with tortilla chips, or in a spicy beef and cheese omelette. I figure I will get seven or eight meals out of the one package of beef at $5.64.

As for the surprise lack of beans, I say... be prepared...  or if you aren't completely certain that you are prepared, be prepared for the unexpected, or be prepared for change...to adapt and modify... even if it is just in the kitchen.