DAY181 -- Last Bites Mulligan Stew

I just ate a delicious meal, and I cannot share the recipe... there isn't one.  I call it "Last Bites Mulligan Stew."


First, let me provide my definition of Mulligan Stew: a combination of whatever is on hand, stirred into one dish.  For scout campouts, my husband used to have his scout troop bring a can of whatever they wanted to throw in the soup pot.  One never knew what would show up...  mushroom soup,  pork and beans, corn.  Whatever they brought, it was put in the kettle and cooked together.  It always tasted good, no matter how bizarre it seemed.


So...I have my own little version of Mulligan Stew...Last Bites Mulligan Stew. For me, and my personality, this works.  You see, I was raised in a "clean your plate" atmosphere.  "Don't let perfectly good food go to waste!"  This is a major downfall for me trying to stop when no longer hungry at mealtimes.  My "full" meter might go off when there are only 2 or 4 bites left.  It's a real struggle at times to stop eating.  After all... will a couple more bites make a difference?  Too often, I give in to that reasoning and clean my plate.  But when I remember that I can make a mulligan stew out of it, then I don't feel wasteful and I stop eating.


I keep a container in the freezer--the right size for a meal for me--and when I have a few bites of food left (not enough to have for another meal), I put it in the container in the freezer.  It might be a couple bites of spaghetti one night, and a few bites of stir-fried rice another night, and a little bit of dilled chicken fricassee, a portion of toast torn into bits, etc.  When the container is full, I take it out and defrost it, mix the layers all together, heat it completely through, and wool-ah...Last Bites Mulligan Stew.


I know it probably sounds absolutely disgusting to some people, but I have never had a bad Mulligan yet.  Ever.  Serious.  I have, however, had Last Bites Mulligan Stew so delicious I wished I could duplicate it!


The downside: If I get full when eating the defrosted meal, and there's only a few bites left, I cannot re-freeze it (not safe to refreeze), so I am back to square one...toss it, or eat it?  


♩It's like the song that never ends... ♬

DAY 210 -- Poem: Growth

When I posted about Last Bites Mulligan Stew, a reader commented, "It goes to waste if it goes to waist."  Very well said.  It reminded me of a poem, "Growth," I found in a diet book years ago.  


Then this morning I read a blog post about clutter that, for me, served as a reminder of how my time and life are wasted when I overeat, since overeating clutters my body.  Again, the aforementioned poem came to mind.


Even though I cannot give credit to the author of the poem since I failed to record it those years ago, I feel the need to share the poem...and to hang a copy on my fridge.

GROWTH

I can learn to

Give away food and

Throw away food

and leave food

Because

It's wasted

If I eat it.

Time is wasted

By being fat

My aliveness is wasted

and I don't want that.

  

DAY 332 -- The taste of homemade.

For lunch on Saturday I grabbed a can of organic soup off our pantry shelf.  Thinking we needed "quick" options for some meals, we stocked up on a few canned organic soups, being careful to select the ones without added sweeteners.  They are "okay" in a pinch, but I realized as I slurped a spoonful on Saturday, they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to flavor. After a few bites, I pushed the bowl away.

My husband questioned, "Saving that for your mulligan?"

"No way.  It's not worthy."

Taking the bowl, he sampled the soup, then with a shudder, he pushed the bowl back towards me.

The taste of homemade called to us after that experience, so for our evening supper I prepared a pot of Lentil-Vegetable Soup.  (See Recipe Page.)

Then for breakfast Sunday morning, Kurt mentioned he was hungry for waffles.  Thinking I didn't have enough time to prepare waffles from scratch (we were getting ready for church), I grabbed the whole wheat Insta-Bake.  (It's supposedly healthy as far as baking mixes go, but looking at the label I am doubting that.)  The waffles seemed heavy with an unsatisfying flavor.  We longed for the taste of homemade...again.

So... this morning I whipped up some waffles using a favorite recipe and we feasted on the yummy light flavor of "Annette's Oatmeal Waffles."  (See Recipe Page.)

(For toppings on our waffles we use a small amount of pure maple syrup, or all fruit jam, or fresh fruit.  Pure, 100% maple syrup doesn't trigger cravings for me, but I use it very sparingly, and very infrequently.)

I know some people who rarely cook from scratch (some rarely eat at home, period) but ever since I started eating healthy foods, I realize my mouth rejoices in the taste of homemade.

DAY 237 -- Waste not?

I don't like to waste food.  Just ask my husband.  I cringe when I see too much "meat" of the fruit left on the rind.  I use a spatula to scrape a container as I empty it, to get every drop.  As I mentioned in an earlier post (Last Bites Mulligan Stew), I even save the last bites of my meal when I get full.

However, when it comes to tasteless or awful tasting foods, I usually have no problem tossing. For instance, last weekend I purchased a watermelon from a local grocery store, not the market we normally frequent.  I followed my method of selecting the melon that always works for me... looking for a large yellow bottom indicating its time on the ground to ripen, and thumping for hollowness.  But, in spite of my efforts, the melon was tasteless.  Even salt did nothing to enhance the flavor.  It was very juicy, and real red, but flavor?  None.

So yesterday we bought a watermelon from Sunflower Market and when we got home, we tossed the other melon into the garbage.  I hope I don't end up in "the bad place" for wasting yucky food.  (Too bad we don't have a garden...we could have used it for compost.)

I did feel a bit bad about the money wasted on the tasteless melon, but I didn't feel like eating something I didn't enjoy.  When eating healthy, and eating only when hungry and stopping when full, who wants to use that precious meal for something that does not satisfy?  Not me.