What do I mean when I say that I have very little? Well, this was the state of my refrigerator before I went shopping a few days ago:
And this was the state of my refrigerator after I put the shopping away:
Kinda scary, isn't it? But I saw it as hopeful since it was sure more than I had. And I was grateful, too, that day because I was able to bake bread at my neighbor's house. My oven is broken; and if I don't have my bread, I would be very hungry indeed.
But tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I wasn't sure what to do. I prayed and realized that I could spend $3 plus tax on food. Since canned veg was on sale at the dollar store, I did pretty well for my money. Here's $3 worth:
Doesn't look like much? It's a bonanza to me.
There's not much in the chest freezer but there's a container of pumpkin I froze when I was gifted a leftover jack-o-lantern last year and there's fruit cake (which I make as often as I can because I love the stuff--the homemade kind, not the store-bought variety) and some mushroom loaf that I'd forgotten about. There's cabbage and carrots that my neighbor gave me. And there's even some frozen bananas--also from my very kind neighbor.
I've got it planned out:
For breakfast: pumpkin pancakes with persimmon butter (the persimmons were a gift from another neighbor)
For Thanksgiving dinner: corn pudding (my mother's recipe) and cranberry sauce, mushroom loaf, English peas, baked potato with"stewed" tomatoes, and squash biscuits. (Thank goodness the toaster oven still works, or I wouldn't be able to make the biscuits or the potato.) As far as I am concerned, this is a vastly huge meal and a very rare occurence.
I should explain that my family's notion of stewed tomatoes is different than the kind that comes in a can--in this case, it's more of a thickened tomato puree topped with melted butter. I'll use only about 1/3 of the can of crushed tomatoes for this. The squash biscuits will be made using my great-grandmother Caroline's recipe (which you can find in this post)--the container of frozen pumpkin will serve for both the biscuits and the breakfast pancakes.
For supper: veggie soup (I'll use the rest of the canned tomatoes with the can of mixed veg. Although I haven't got onions, garlic, or celery, I do have onion salt, garlic powder, and celery seed; that will be Good Enough. I've got macaroni to give the soup some body. It will do for several meals.)
For teatime: sliced cake and tea. Since I'm fortunate enough to have milk and eggs right now, I'll use those frozen bananas to make banana bread. (I just use the recipe from my old 1950's Betty Crocker Cookbook.) As I'll be "hotting up the oven" (as my grandmother would say), I'll also make a Bonus Cake (my recipe can be found here). I don't have berries right now but I do have a can of peaches that I got on my last trip to the food bank. I despise peaches but somehow I don't mind them at all if they are in cake. If there's one thing a holiday does, it's to inspire cooking! I need to use up the ingredients I have right now so baking makes sense, and it will be nice to have both thinly sliced with a mug of tea. And I'll be able to freeze some to keep for Christmas.
Finally, for Black Friday breakfast: cranberry on buttered toast. (If you've never tried this, you should!)
A little bit can make a lot if we give it some thought. And I'm surely thinking.
I'll spend the day entirely alone, as always, but I'm okay with that. In my experience, it's a lot more painful to be the stray dog at someone else's table. And now that I've got the menu settled, I'm looking forward to the day.
What I'd like to say, though, to all those who are fortunate this holiday is to remember your neighbors, your elderly relative, anyone who might have need. Perhaps you don't realize that their refrigerators look like mine or are maybe even worse.
Be sure to share.
Be grateful for your blessings.
Life is good.
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