Saturday, February 21, leftovers

The pot roast was wonderful, as usual. It cooked for six and a half hours to the sort of perfect consistency where it didn't quite fall apart but could be cut quite easily with a plastic spatula. We each had a big dish and M had seconds, and there's enough left for a big lunch tomorrow. Between that, the french toast I have  slotted in for breakfast (French toast is cheap! I don't know why I so rarely thought of it before this month), we shouldn't need to eat supper. We're going to the Oscar party, and there should be plenty of snacks. 

Afterwards, when the leftovers were put away and the crockpot was getting cool, I realized that the liquid in the bottom had thickened up, a sort of gravy of roast drippings, mashed up potato, mushroom soup, and onion bits. Normally I'd probably throw it away, but it occurred to me that I still have this half rutabaga from the pasties, and it would probably be quite nice to cook and mash it, then pour this gravy on top. So it went into the fridge as well. I'm getting into the habit of this using-everything business. 

That reminds me of the experiment I did last night. Meijer had a very good sale on potatoes this week, so I bought an extra bag, figuring they're always useful for fillers and snacks. Last night I tried my hand at homemade potato chips, actual fried chips, not oven-baked. It was a qualified success. I used one potato, cut very thin with the mandolin slicer, fried the pieces in vegetable oil, and salted them. First batch was very very soggy, second batch was soggy in the middles, and third batch was a little too done. But I'm fairly confident that now I know what a homemade potato chip is supposed to look like, and I anticipate success with my next venture. And I found a use for the peanut butter jar I saved and washed. Normally I throw those away, but I remember how my grandparents always used to save them, and figured I'd find a use for it. It makes a dandy container for used but still decent cooking oil, so that I don't waste all that I didn't use, or contaminate the bottle. It was a very thrifty day, all in all. No new home for Pookah though, she's back with us for another week.