Sunday, August 26, 2012

What Do I Do With This Papaya?

You know those big ugly papayas that you see in the market? The ones that could feed a missionary family on furlough?
Well, every once in awhile one calls my name.
Such was the case last week at Sprouts. There they were, "pick me, pick me." I found the smallest - least ugly one and took it home.
Now what was I going to do with it. Hubby doesn't like them.
I finally opened it up, but it wasn't the sweetest one in the bin.
I've had papaya in Hawaii that tasted like candy. This was not one of them.
And then the freezer bug bit me again.
"Ah yes! I can freeze anything." Well, almost.
My father was fond of telling anyone who would listen, "if you find me missing one day, just check the freezer." My mom froze everything.
   Oh no!! I'm turning into my mother!!
I cubed the papaya and threw it in my Magic Bullet. Had to do it in batches. I'm sure if I'd thought it through, I would have used my blender, but I was in the moment and it was closer.
Anyway, I added about two tablespoons of lemon juice to the whole party.
Now, what to put the puree in. I found a mini muffin tin and filled it, but now I still had some left.
Did I mention that this was a spur-of-the-moment thing?
I froze the muffin tin, put the leftover puree in the fridge and  the next day I went to the 99 cent store, and for 99 cents (well, now it's like 99.99 cents) I got two plastic ice cube trays and filled one of those.
Now I had one more tray looking at me and wanting to join in the fun. (For my writing buddies, yes I know I have two -ing- words in one sentence!)
I'd made a meal that needed canned tomatoes and opened my Trader Joe's tomatoes with green chilies. Whoa Nelly, they packed a punch. I used about a tablespoon of that and found another can of plain ol diced tomatoes for the recipe.
They sat lonely and forlorn in the fridge. Why not freeze it in the ice cube tray? And I did.


Now when I want to make a smoothie, I can pull out a few cubes and add it to my blender or Magic Bullet.
And when I'm making soup or sauce, I can pull out a cube and add that to the pot.
Gosh, I'm so clever!
 

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