Crazy Day!

PLUS



EQUALS


for a few weeks now, water has been dripping from the freezer area into my refrigerator. at first, i thought something had spilled. then i thought we just hadn't gotten all of the spill up. then mark tried to convince me it was "just condensation." now, i understand condensation happens, but when i've never ever had to clean up a half-cup of water out of the fridge every few hours in the five years i've owned it, i think it's not just condensation. yesterday i called a repair service and scheduled an appointment for today. the guy shows up, takes a look at the fridge and the freezer, shows me a layer of ice in the bottom of the freezer and tells me i probably have a clogged drain. so, this means i have to unload the freezer.

i end up filling four laundry baskets with food just off the shelves. after all is said and done, repair guy tells me i need to leave some space for air circulation. okay. so i go through the four baskets of stuff that came out of the freezer and start organizing.

wow. we really have a lot of stuff in there. so i decide that since i was planning to do some freezer cooking next weekend for my mom and aunt, that i'd see what i could do today, since nice rectangular flat casseroles fit better in the freezer than their oddly shaped components.

i had already planned to make this tasty-looking dish, and i had all of the ingredients on hand. i was able to use the following from the freezer: cooked, chopped chicken; homemade cream of mushroom soup; homemade cream of chicken soup; chopped green chilies (subbed for the green pepper and pimientos, neither of which i like); and shredded cheese. i made three small casseroles: one for M and me, one for my mom and dad, and one for my aunt's family.

i also made three small king ranch chicken casseroles, using more chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, sauteed onions and celery, tortillas and cheese from the freezer.

my last freezer dish for the day was a small pan of chicken, spinach and corn enchiladas. i also baked a loaf of banana bread for tomorrow's quilt guild meeting, using frozen bananas, and whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookies, too.

i was also able to locate enough already cooked meats for meals all this week: BBQ ribs (2 meals plus a lunch or two), grilled pork tenderloin (2 meals), and we have frozen rice and various frozen veggies we can eat to clear out more freezer space.

why do we need to clear out more space you ask. well, kroger's having a 7 day mega meat sale through tuesday. they've got eye of round and whole sirloin tip for $1.99/lb, which is a fantastice price. we got one of each last night, and want to get two more when mark gets back from his cook-off. assuming we get roughly the same size, we'll have 25 lbs of beef to fit in the freezer, though some of it can go in the stand-alone freezer out back.

but don't think i just cooked all day . . .

i whipped out three tree blocks for Leila for Bee Improvisational and two blocks for Kristin for Ravishing in Red Bee. i also signed up for two new bees, and i'm up for june in one of them, so i started pulling fabrics since i need to get my packages in the mail next weekend.