july 3 & 4

Here's what went out of my pantry/cupboard/freezer/refrigerator July 3 & 4.  When I left you with July 2's update, my Running Total of points was 6.

July 3
Breakfast:
-yogurt
-granola +1 (#1)
-fresh red raspberries
-fresh black raspberries +1 (#4) -- these were REALLY fresh; picked just 5 minutes prior.  :-D
-frozen grapes +1 (#3)

Lunch:
-meatballs +0.5 (#1)
-orange

Snack:
-Larabar
-salad

Dinner:
Dinner was prepared for us today as we were hosting a dinner party (that someone else cooked!), so I didn't get a chance to use up anything...except a huge bag of ICE!  (+1; #1)
...unfortunately, I also ended up with a few of the party leftovers...boooo!

Total July 3:  3.5
Running Total:  9.5

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July 4
Breakfast:
-yogurt
-fresh black raspberries +1 (#4)
-3-seed bread
-peanut butter
-kale
-banana

Lunch:
-BBQ chicken
-peach
-spinach
-cucumber
-corn...leftover from the party! +0.5 (#1)
-carrots

Snacks:
-trail mix +1 (#1)
-peanut butter cookie

And...here's where the day gets great!!

A.  Since it was a holiday, I had the day off from work, and I took that opportunity to finally make some sauce from the tomatoes from my garden of last year.  They've been sitting in the freezer.  Why...?  Well, when the tomatoes were ripe, we happened to be in the process of moving...and I was also taking a cross-country trip...and basically I just didn't have time to deal with the tomatoes at the moment.  Plus, who wants to can tomato sauce when it's ultra-hot?  Why not just wait until the winter when you'd actually WELCOME the heat of the stove?

And...apparently I did not ever can them in the winter, either.

So - at any rate, I used up the tomatoes that were plaguing my freezer (now they'll just be sitting as sauce in jars, plaguing my pantry, but ah well!).  I tried out the recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, with very slight modifications because I happened to not have exactly all the right quantities of the dried herbs & spices.  As a sort of added bonus, I used up several containers of herbs & spices that hadn't been on my get-rid-of list but likely have been sitting around for far too long.  Now I can acquire FRESH dried herbs & spices!!  +3 (#1 & #4 & #6)

B.  There was a cookout we were headed to in the evening, and that meant I could bring food that I would not need to consume - others could help me clear it out of the house!  Hooray.  In addition to some of the leftover items from Tuesday's party at our house (beverages, potato salad...+1!), I also managed the following:

*Amaranth Clusters +1 (#6)
*Cherry Limeade (a.k.a. cherry Kool-Aid + lime Kool-Aid)...got rid of 4 packs of this!  Sadly, still a bazillion to go...  I also used powdered sugar in it, since I have a LOT.  +1 (#3)
*Chocolate Cream-Cheese Strawberry Pie...a mixture of 2 different new recipes +1 (#6)
-oats
-flour
-baking cocoa +1 (#3)
-brown sugar
-soda
-salt
-butter
-strawberries +3 (#1 & #3 & #5)
-strawberry gelatin +2 (#3 & #5)...I was pretty bummed to find this did not use the ENTIRE packet, so I still have some let...grr!
-cornstarch
-powdered sugar +2 (#3 & #5)
-Karo syrup +2 (#3 & #5)

So, all told, that "meal" got me...14 points!!

Total July 4:  19.5
Running Total:  29