Gourmet Conserve: (or We Used to Call them Leftovers)

I always seem to choose homes surrounded by miles of hedges. And while I don't go in for topiary perfection, I do require some semblance of order in the foliage bordering my property...artfully, organically askew, but tidy nonetheless.

I always seem to win the chore of trimming said hedges. And today was hedge-trimming day at the Itinerant Cook's abode. This was a big, fat spring clean-up job of hedge-trimming, too...too big of a job for those electric hedge trimmers. To get everything all prepared for summer required a big pair of shears and a pruner. Dead wood had to be chopped out. Overgrowth had to be taken back to the crotch of the branch. And everything had to be shaped, not too obviously, but shaped just the same.

So I snipped and I chopped and I trimmed and I snipped and I chopped and I trimmed for hours in the morning sun. I carried armload after armload of dead wood and clippings to the brush pile. I was a regular Edward Scissorhands and I'm here to tell everyone that you can cancel your gym membership and still have killer arms because no amount of kickbacks or pull-downs ever did my triceps like 2+ hours of landscaping. And I ONLY got the back of the property done. After the blooms fade from the hedgerows in the front of the house, I'll be repeating this routine.

I enjoyed the spring sun, I breathed in the fresh air, I waved to the neighbor kids from my ladder...yeah, I kind of enjoyed the chore. But let's face it, I am just starting to get back into some kind of shape and the yard work wore me out. Not to mention the fact that no Saturday is complete to me without an extra-long quality-time walk with my favorite canine boy. So throw some mileage into the mix and you might start to understand how I was pretty run down by five o'clock and not much in the mood for starting a gourmet dinner from scratch.

Sometimes the songbirds don't sing. Sometimes the distance runner hits "the wall." Sometimes an author gets writer's block. And sometimes a (usually) inspired cook just isn't that inspired.

Fortunately, I've gotten in the habit of cooking a portion or two extra when I make dinners at home so I can stock the freezer. This way, it's easy to grab something on nights when I don't want to start a cooking extravaganza. Plus, everyone can have exactly what they are in the mood for...no sorting through which carryout place makes everyone happy. I had Mulligatawny (curried chicken and apple stew) and mi esposo dug out some Penne Cardinale (pasta with chicken and a turbo-charged alfredo). AND(!), there were no cardboard boxes to recycle, no labels to read, and no pretzels to pull out after dinner because the packaged junk just wasn't satisfying. It was effortless, whole, nutritous food. I know I'll have at least one brutal day this coming week when I won't feel like cooking again after having been at it all day long. But I'll know I have some braised duck, sauteed salmon, and a killer gratin of potatoes on hand that will keep me out of some horrible bummer of a drive-through line.

I fully encourage everyone to try freezing some of your own cooking. When you are grilling chicken breasts, just throw one or two extra on over the coals. You can blanch 3 or 5 portions of green beans just as easily as you can blanch 2 or 4. Don't throw away that last piece of lasagna...freeze it. It's that easy and it WILL absolutely come in handy. By freezing your own food as you make it, you set yourself up with effortless, healthy, fat-controlled, no-additive, flavorful options for the nights when you have no intention of pulling out pots and pans.

We used to call them "leftovers" but now it just seems way too smart a concept, certainly worthy of a loftier title. I propose: "Gourmet Conserve". Hmmm? Hmmm? Well...whaddya think??