A Fridge-Cleaning Meal…

… has got to be the meal du jour! I will have to take a peek to see what's in the fridge, probably move a couple of containers out, around and maybe even, gasp!, open. We'll see how much of what there is to make a meal and, with an ounce of inspiration and a dash of creativity, I may come up with something.

I'll be back. Stay tuned.

For BREAKFAST I found an apple, an orange and a banana and added them with a cup of purified water to the Vitamix and turned into a smoothie what used to be my mom's favorite fruit salad combo. It lacked something in flavor, probably because the water diluted the flavor of the fruit too much, but at least it was healthy, and with almost 10 g of fiber in it, it will not just clean out the fridge… : )

For LUNCH, well, everyone sort of had what they liked: a sandwich (turkey & avocado on oatnut bread), leftover bison patties with coarse-ground mustard and salad greens, whole grain crackers with cheese, lentil soup.

DINNER was almost exciting: I found a 2-lbs. mix of ground meat (beef, pork and veal) in the fridge, half a bunch of fresh parsley, a 1 1/2-lbs head of cabbage and 4 ounces of gruyère. So, the first thought was to make stuffed cabbage rolls, but since they're supposed to be better reheated the next day, I scrapped that idea and settled for meatloaf and a cabbage gratin. Both were great. I didn't make my usual recipe for meatloaf, but instead consulted the Joy of Cooking. Their classic meat loaf contained fresh parsley and turned out to be great. Here's the recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking, p. 722:

Classic Meat Loaf

2 lbs. meat loaf mixture (equal parts of ground beef, pork and veal)

1 medium-size finely chopped onion

1 cup quick-cooking oats

2/3 cup ketchup

2/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (I used Italian parsley)

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Knead everything together, either with your hands, or, if you're like me and don't like to get your hands into the meat mixture, with a European-style potato masher (see picture to the left), until everything is well blended. Put into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hours.

I served this meat loaf with a cabbage gratin from the same cookbook, refer to page 355. My husband doesn't care much for creamed cabbage because it always begs for salt and more salt to make it tasty. So, since I had a nice chunk of gruyère cheese left, I opted for the cabbage gratin, thinking that all the added cheese would take care of the bland taste of cabbage and make the dish more flavorful. I was right! Even the kiddos loved the dish. So here's the recipe for those who don't own a copy of the Joy of Cooking:

Cabbage Gratin

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter a 2-quart gratin dish and sprinkle the bottom with grated parmesan cheese to cover.

Bring to a boil about 4 quarts of water with 1 1/2 Tbsp. salt and add and cook for 5 minutes:

6 cups of shredded cabbage (about 1 pound)

Drain cabbage. Whisk together in a large bowl:

2 large eggs

1 cup of milk or light cream (I used 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup whole milk)

1/2 cup grated Gruyère cheese

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I totally forgot this ingredient–didn't miss it!!)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted (totally omitted, because dear hubby doesn't like caraway)

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Add the drained cabbage, pour into gratin dish and cover top with:

1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese.

Bake until golden on top, 40-50 minutes.

The meatloaf and cabbage gratin were great–easy to make and flavorful. To round the meal out, we added a baked potato for those who needed more sustenance. All-in-all, a great fridge-cleaning day!