Tour de Fridge

You can learn a lot about someone by scoping out their fridge. (I admit, I *love* catching a glimpse of my friends' fridges! It's just...interesting!) A friend of mine blogged a tour of hers, and I thought, "Brilliant!"

So I give you: der Kühlschrank des Blake-Hauses

Overall, I like an uncluttered fridge. If I can't see the back wall, I freak out. This is so counterintuitive to every other facet of my pack-rat self, but when it comes to the fridge, overload stresses me out. If I can't see it, I won't use it, it will go bad, and that's wasted money, which stresses me out even more. I think a lot of this also stems from us moving so much: we could always be gone in a month's time, and unlike pantry food, (holy pantry! now THAT is cluttered!) the movers can't box & pack fridge food. I like to eat what we have until it's mostly gone and then do a big shopping trip. It's just not practical for us to store up lots & lots. (Although, *one day* it will be! :-)) I do still go to Trader Joe's weekly, but if it's not a big trip along with Costco, we're usually only there for a little produce & cereal.

The two things that are currently missing in this pic are any restaurant leftovers & homemade pizza components. We *looooove* eating out - it is hands down my biggest vice - and it's a rare meal that I don't bring a good bit home. JB also tosses the *perfect* pizza, and we usually have two bags of fresh dough, shredded Italian cheese blend, & sauce all from Trader Joe's on hand for that. (He just made them Tuesday, though. :-))

I got the ground flax to add to several recipes, including Giant Breakfast Cookies. I don't drink coffee, & JB doesn't really at home at all anymore, either. (He'd like a cup sometimes, but never a pot. We want a Keurig for Christmas! They also make chai, hot chocolate, etc.) But I got the fat free half & half to make slightly lower calorie chocolate ganache. :-P I also use unsweetened applesauce in place of oil when I bake cakes/cupcakes/muffins. I have to have my baked goods SUPER MOIST! (It's also delicious just to eat. :-)) One of my fave dinners is a Costco rotisserie chicken; we had that last night, so I picked the rest of it off the bone & wrapped it up to add in either pasta salad or quesadillas today. We like eggs, and I checked to make sure these are safe. I *love* cheese, and fresh mozzarella di bufala is at the top of my favorites list! My mom also brought me up some Palmetto pimento cheese a few weeks ago (mmmmm! South in my mouth!) and then, even though I don't like parm, Annelise is OBSESSED with it, so we have a little of that, too. Caffeine-free diet coke is my favorite beverage (other than bubble tea. :-))

I've never kept bread in the fridge until this year. After years of wanting nothing to do with sandwiches (smammiches), Will has decided ham smammiches are the greatest ever, so I'm getting bread at Costco (a couple loaves together) and keeping the reserve loaf fresher in the fridge until the active one in the counter bread box is gone. Costco also has awesome ham, which we just stocked up on (at the bottom).

I am pretty jekyll-and-hyde when it comes to health consciousness. I'm all about eating out, and I looooove dessert; but when we're at home, I try to make healthier choices. I am the biggest sugar addict on earth, (I got that BBQ chicken from Costco, b/c I tasted it on sample and fell in love with the sauce, which is even sweeter than my own homemade BBQ sauce I pride myself on! I choose everything sweet - even my salsa has to be mango peach!) But I think b/c I *am* such a sugar fiend, I know what I want to guard my kids against falling into, so I am a massive hypocrite & always trying to limit their intake. We get this plain yogurt, b/c my kids like to eat 2-3 servings worth at a time, this is WAY cheaper, WAY healthier, and I can also use it in other recipes. (For the kids, I'll top it with fruit or a drizzle of honey or blue agave.)

I'll step off my soapbox now, (oh - one more thing: no juice in our fridge! Only milk or water for Will & Sis. I totally won't embarrass them at a friend's house and deny them if that mom is only offering juice, but it counts as a sugar snack for the day. Such a huge personal pet peeve! They know if they have juice, they better not ask me for one of the cookies I'll be eating later. Our pediatrician went off on this, too, and I agreed: "Preaching to the choir!" Whole fruit is so much more important than sugar-water juice. It's not that juice is evil, but why have it when they're fine w/ milk or water, and then I don't feel as bad about the other inevitable sugar we're going to eat. OK, I might really be stepping down now. :-P)

I love lawash flatbread for quesadillas, and I know that our fridge has a crisper, but when it comes to produce in our house: out of sight, out of mind. None of us will remember to eat it, if it's not in plain sight.

In the door:



Smart Balance butter (more jekyll-and-hyde-ness: at least it's got omega-3's, so the cookies are "healthier" right? ;-)) Our condiments include the most delicious Trader Joe's Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette; JB's faves: mustard, pickles, & spray butter; and Will's fave: Duke's Light Mayonnaise from NC. He has proclaimed himself "The King of Mayonnaise" :-D

I got buttermilk for the Giant Breakfast Cookies and b/c I *reallyreallyreally* want to make my fave Oven-Fried Green Tomatoes, but I haven't stopped to find any big green maters around here. :'( I need to get on that. Anyway, we ALWAYS have skim milk. I have no idea what's up with those two random bottles, b/c we don't regularly keep bottled water around, and I drink my Kirkland Diet Citrus Green Tea (super yummy alternative to too much coke) at room temp. At the bottom are the last 3 bottles of JB's case of San Pellegrino he bought back in Naperville and my one bottle of rose spumante that I also bought back in Naperville. (Every night I think I might want it, I always end up choosing cookies/cake/etc. instead. :-P)

Consider the peek into our freezer my personal gift to make you feel awesome about your own: we're using the fridge that came with this house, (the movers put our super nice one in the basement for the next move,) and all of the shelves in this freezer have fallen apart! All of our stuff is just stacked in a pile. Thankfully since I'm not a perishable-food pack-rat, it's not crisis enough to switch fridges - just annoying.



JB & I *love* having a fresh piece of bread with some meals, esp. soup. But if I buy a whole full-sized loaf, I will certainly eat it all myself, and there's no guarantee JB will always make it home for dinner, so these little frozen-until-you-bake individual baguettes are perfect! Peas are my & the kids' favorite veggie - I put them in everything I can, esp. every pasta dish. Trader Joe's has the BEST frozen gnocchi ever! I could live on their Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, while JB loves their Gnocchi Gorgonzola. Costco has the best individually-portioned lean ground beef. (Yay, sloppy joes & my Asian meatloaf!) Finally, our whole family is absolutely obsessed with Ling Ling All Natural Chicken & Vegetable Potstickers! These things are unfreakingbelieveable!!! Everyone agrees they are better than any they've ever had in ANY Asian restaurant! They are out-of-control fantastic. (We buy the giant bags at - where else? - Costco.)

*Edited to add* I was reminded, "What about out on the kitchen counter?" Bread box, protein shake powder canister, tomatoes and bananas. Please, don't ever, ever put your maters (unless they're green) in the fridge!

So there's a big glimpse into my psyche through my shopping habits & food preferences. (My sociology minor is rearing it's head!) Now, show me what's in YOUR fridge!!! :-D