Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 2

Hooray! It's my week to share what's in the fridge. If you missed it, Katherine is hosting a fun blog party every Tuesday. You can find more info in my post from last week.

So, ever since Katherine introduced this idea, I've been thinking a lot about what's in my fridge. Most days, it's kind of like, "Ugh, why would anybody want to see all of this - it's a big mess!" And some days, when I have a what's-for-dinner crisis, the fridge is sadly lacking in inspiration. Since I've been paying extra attention to what's in the fridge, I've discovered a few interesting things:

1. I use my freezer and pantry to store the main substance of our meals way more than the fridge!

2. We keep a LOT of breakfast, lunch, and toddler-friendly foods in our fridge.

3. I absolutely love when I have leftovers in the fridge.

So, without further ado, here's a very real picture of our fridge:

I realized after taking the picture above that there's no way to really distinguish what's actually in the fridge. So, I did a little rearranging, and ta-da - you can actually tell what a few things are!

Top shelf: buttermilk, sausage balls & applesauce

Next-to-top shelf: eggs & more toddler meal leftovers

Drawer: lots of cheese & some leftover Canadian bacon

Next-to-bottom shelf: more eggs, leftover tortellini soup, pie crust

Bottom shelf: milk, yogurt, sour cream

Drawer: spinach & apples

Now, looking at that list it seems like pretty sad contents of a fridge. But, like I said, most of our food stays in the freezer or pantry!

So, here's what's REALLY cooking this week:

Tortellini Soup (recipe below): Yes, it's already cooked, but these leftovers will be at least one supper & one lunch for us. This was the first time I've made this recipe, and I'll definitely be making it again!

Sweet & sour lentils, possibly with some cooked chicken (from freezer) and/or a spinach salad. This is one of our absolute favorite recipes, and I tend to keep the ingredients on hand in our pantry.

Buttermilk pancakes & fried apples: I love pancakes!

Quiche: Javier thinks we're running low on eggs when we're down to a dozen or so. He could eggs 3 meals a days, 7 days a week. I, on the other hand, tend to get tired of eggs. But, I do like quiche & since we always have more than enough eggs and we currently have lots of random leftover cheese, plus some leftover Canadian bacon, quiche will be perfect!

Taco Soup: I'm planning to head out of town toward the end of the week. So, I need to leave something tasty & easy to reheat for dinners and/or lunches for Javier. It doesn't get much easier than this soup, and it's quite tasty! Again, everything we need for this is in the freezer or pantry...

So, that's it! It's not a terribly exciting list of meals, but pretty normal for around here. We don't usually eat much meat, and I'm very partial to meals that have lots of leftovers. We're in a pretty tough spot where Isaac (16 months) doesn't often like what we're eating as a family, but I'm trying to get better at cooking things we can all eat. We at least try to get him to taste what we're eating, but he's often pretty resistant to putting a new food into his mouth.

Keep checking back on Tuesdays for more fridge finds!

Tortellini Soup

10 oz. frozen chopped spinach

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth

2 (14.5 oz.) cans stewed tomatoes with basil, garlic, & oregano

1 small bag cheese tortellini

1 small onion, sliced or diced

1-2 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic

1 Tbsp. butter

Garnish: Parmesan or feta

In soup pan, melt butter. Saute onion & garlic. Add broth & tomatoes, simmer for up to 1 hour. Add frozen spinach & tortellini. Simmer on low, for 10-15 minutes until tortellini is cooked to desired tenderness. Season with salt & pepper. When serving, sprinkle with Parmesan or feta cheese.