Lentil loaf is in progress. I am taking a basic recipe for ingredient-proportion purposes and messing with it my way. Mine will have sauteed garlic and onion and finely diced green bell pepper, and a heaping helping of chopped sundried tomatoes, because dammit, everything is better with sundried tomatoes. I also have asparagus for roasting, so I will throw it in a flat baking dish and let it hang out with the loaf.
It has been a bit of a challenge to maintain my plant-based diet with erratic refrigeration. It's the random-ness of the problem that is crazymaking - some things survive, others wilt overnight. I'm sure this would be a bad thing if meat and dairy were involved, but as I said, the veggies let you know right upfront when something is wrong - it's hard to miss brown and slimy lettuce, or put your fingers into a container of sprouts and...eeeewwww. When apples last longer on my kitchen counter, even in this warm, muggy Florida December, and turn to mush in 48 hours in the vegetable bin (where I usually store them in this climate, because warm, muggy) - that's just wrong.
I worry more about Murphy's chicken than my own meals, and I buy and cook small portions, and store them at the back of the fridge, and so far, we're all still alive. And I'm really missing ice. The fridge MAKES ice, then melts it just enough to make it all an unusable block - and this is on the coldest setting.
The Fridge'll get fixed, Tomorrow,
bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow...there'll be ICE.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll have cubes, tomorrow, and I
won't throw limp veggies AWAAAAY!!!!
Because I have far better things to do with my time than fight with that warranty company.
Edited to Add: my version of the lentil loaf was not just really tasty, but solidly meat-loafy. You could slice off a slab and make a sandwich with lettuce and tomato and more ketchup. I used the format of the recipe linked above, but cooked the lentils and then let them stew in their juices until they cooled a bit - say 15 minutes (I was walking the dogs). Then I drained the bulk of the liquid and mashed them with a potato masher, and threw in a rough handful of about 1.5 teaspoons of Italian seasoning. I eyeballed all seasonings. I'd sauteed about a half cup each of onion and green bell pepper and a generous teaspoon or so of minced garlic from a jar and threw in a half cup-ish of sundried tomatoes. (Soaked in nearly boiling water, drained, cooled a bit and roughly chopped.) I mushed in about a cup or so of cooked brown rice and a glob of low sugar ketchup, until it all formed a meatloaf-like gloppy consistency. Baked it per the recipe at 350 for an hour. Let it sit for maybe 10 minutes, and it's a solid loaf of damn tasty. Which is more than I can say for maybe half the real meatloaves I'd tackled, which were often dependent on draining all the fat off the fatty ground beef and holding it together with sufficient egg and still sometimes turned out kinda gloppy.
Fingers crossed for perfect fridge part tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHi! Lurker here, your fridge saga is sad but strangely compelling.
ReplyDeleteWe had a fridge that wasn't keeping cold enough, and wound up having to purchase a replacement. Until we did, we supplemented the system by buying a block of ice and sticking it in the fridge (in a tub). It melted of course, but kept the temperature down a little, keeping our food from perishing too quickly. It was a pain, but helped. I was thinking that might help with the chicken for your pup. You could keep that right by the block, and be sure he stays healthy.
But even better, maybe your fridge will get fixed.
Good luck!