I told you I’ve been working on my freezer challenge. I’m trying as hard as I can to use up things in my freezer. Since Kramer, my husband, passed away, I don’t feel the need to have two freezers running anymore. I also don’t want to end up with a freezer full of items that are freezer burned..so, It’s time to use it all up.
I was pretty sneaky when the kids were home at Christmas time. We planned to have fajitas. I went to the freezer to see what I could use up. There was a pack of round steak-perfect. There were two chicken breast-perfect. We’ll have combination fajitas. Perfect. Okay…what else. Hmm. I was feeding a bunch. I needed more meat. Look. There was a beef heart. I thought maybe I could sneak it by them. The spices would maybe disguise the “heart” taste. Hmm. Did I dare? YES I DID!! I am taking this freezer challenge seriously.
But how would I hide that I was using that. Here’s what I did. As fast as I could when no one was around I chopped up the beef heart. Then equally as fast I sliced up the round steak and chicken. I left them on top.
In another pan I fried up two packages of chorizo (I find this at Wal-mart and highly recommend it) I hardly spice fajitas anymore as the chorizo has the spice we need. The chorizo is really reddish colored so as soon as that was cooked, I added it to the other meat. Anyone looking into the pan wouldn’t see the different coloring of the beef heart. (Aren’t I tricky??)
I added a partial package of shrimp too….I’m working so hard on my challenge!! The more things out the better!!
No one said a thing about the meat. I was told it was tasty. I just smiled. So moral of the story, if you are eating here during this freezer challenge, all bets are off….I can’t guarantee what you’ll be eating. I did throw out the liver though. I like liver but only about four times a year…we had tons as other people knew we’d eat liver and gave theirs, after they butchered, to us.
To balance off my hiding of the liver I did treat them all to a new recipe, Peach Upside Down Cake. It was good.
I belong to a Facebook Group called Recipes Amish and more. I like the group and have gotten several recipes there. I think the recipes are a little more “down home” in style without fancy ingredients.
The minute I saw this recipe posted, I knew I’d make it. I could use up a bag of frozen peaches from the freezer.
I doubled it and make it in a cake pan. It was yummy and I got good reviews over it.
So that’s the update on the freezer challenge. A bog reader sent me a recipe for a blueberry pound cake. I’ll be trying that soon.
I would cook liver, let it cool , slice it up and use it for dog treats. I have one freezer I finally cleaned out after my husband passed. You’re on the right track!
hahaha. My mom packed smoked cow tongue sandwiches in my lunch box as a kid. What we didn’t know didn’t hurt us. I do know I loved them. Of course our family loves liver pate too.
My mom cooked cow tongue too. She made it very spicy, sliced it thin and served it cold. She made my husband a “roast beef” sandwich when we were at their house right after we got married. He never knew the difference!
We call this mystery meat! LOL….good for you
My husband has a story from childhood when his mom made beef tongue and tried to pass it off as roast beef. It scarred him for life!! lol Her mistake was not putting it in with other stuff as you did. :) My youngest son doesn’t like cheese (except parmesan) so it’s tricky making things. He even orders pizza without cheese!! Apparently it’s a texture thing for him. I sometimes sneak cheese into something when the texture won’t give it away and never mention it’s in there and he eats it with no problem. I’ll be bookmarking this post for the peach cake. When peaches are in season here I buy a box and am always looking for recipes.
Jo, you are sneaky indeed! I cant say that I have chosen to eat tongue or liver since I reached adult hood but my mom made it for us as kids and yes we did eat it, those were the rules. I bet your starting to see some daylight in your freezer with making the fajitas and peach dessert.
Good for you! We have a huge deep freezer in the basement that my mom used to maintain. However over the last few years she hasn’t gone down the stairs , so the freezer has become a black hole. Recently, while looking for something else, I started digging through a couple shelves and cleared out lots of old stuff from the back (7 year old veggies from our garden, undated ham bone, bread in a torn wrapper — the birds liked that one). Over a week or so, I’ve managed to clear out that whole freezer, and her fridge freezer too (big pot of soup from that!) . Hopefully we can keep it organized now!
You DO know that they all know now that you’ve posted this, right?!?! :P
Joyful Quilter: They all knew by 10pm on the night I served it. My kids are so good. They lived with me all these years. They know I’m sneaky about what I cook. They offered no hard feelings.
All I can say is YUCK! As a kid (growing up in the Twin Cities) we would visit my grandparents in New Ulm, MN. I will NEVER forget the time we went to visit and my grandma had a “treat” for us for supper that night…it was a cow heart. She had it defrosting on the counter when we arrived. Yummy. Needless to say the 5 of us kids ate mashed potatoes and peas for supper. Cow heart, not a treat for “City” kids. I remember this as if it was yesterday and it was most likely 50 years ago. Not to worry, she also had pickled tongue as a delicacy for my dad who would eat anything pickled!