Using What You Have

Part of the life of the pioneers was using what they had available in order to make dinner. If they had flour, they made biscuits. If they were out of butter, meat drippings would do. They used what they had and they shared with the folks traveling with them.

Today was a pioneer day for me. A friend of mine has a friend who works for a grocery store. She's allowed to take the bread that didn't sell and pass it along. I acquired a very nice flat loaf of what I would call a foccacia-style bread. Very gourmet!

Upon arriving home, I split it in two down the broad flat side, then made pizzas out of it. One I made in a traditional way: cheese, black olives and pepperoni for the boys. For hubby I created a base of pizza cheese, then sprinkled on feta cheese, black olives, chopped roasted chicken (leftover in the fridge) and three or four chopped artichoke hearts. He LOVED it! The boys loved their pizza, too.

It was an ordinary kind of meal jumped up to the next notch. The best part was that it was "free". Yes, I'd purchased the ingredients in the past, but they're things I buy in quantity and keep on hand. The bread was a bonus -- I would have made my own pizza dough without it. It would have been good, but I doubt I would have thought to jazz it up with the artichokes and feta cheese.

So... I was a part-time pioneer today. I foraged and found the bread (rather, it found me), and used what I had to make a nice dinner for my family. After dinner we munched on homemade snickerdoodles and watched a DVD we got from Netflix (one of my favorite sources of entertainment).

So, pioneers -- what's in YOUR fridge? What ingredients do you have that you can combine in a fresh new way to excite your family? Or even just present the same old thing a new way? My son always laughs when we go to Mexican restaurants because they have the same six ingredients with several different names: tortilla, beans, cheese, peppers, chicken and rice become tostadas, burritos, enchiladas, nachos, etc. Muy bien!