My Thriftiness Has Reached New Levels

So... I think through my posts so far, I've established that I'm pretty thrifty. (Frugal? cheap? I'll let you be the judge.) Well, this week, I even amazed myself. :)
It all started when our neighbor stopped by to give us what was left of an Edible Arrangement. A few neighbors will bring watermelon and cantaloupe rinds for the chickens as a special treat, so she figured our chickens would enjoy the leftovers.

She said that they had just gotten it that day and we were welcome to eat the honeydew; they just didn't care for it. I set to work cutting up the honeydew and put it in with our cantaloupe to eat at breakfast.

Then I looked more closely at the greens at the base. The kale was very fresh -- not a bit was wilted. It seemed almost wasteful to give perfectly good greens to the chickens when we could eat them.

Sorry, girls!

So I googled "kale recipes." I ruled out kale chips since I tried them once before and overcooked them. Then I came upon a few soup recipes. Even though Hubby's reaction to the kale was "yuck," I decided to email him a recipe for Sausage and Kale Soup and he said he would be willing to give it a try. Score!

On Monday I made the soup, using russet potatoes instead of waxy potatoes and Italian sausage instead of the smoked sausage since that's what I had on hand. I have to say, the soup was really good and quite filling. So good, in fact, that I absolutely forgot to take pictures. Sorry!

Update: It turns out that I do have a picture. Hubby texted this picture to his parents.  I told you he liked it!

 After a few bites, Hubby asked me if kale was available at the store year-round. Then he went back for a second helping and told me I should give his mom the recipe because they would really like it. Whoa! This from the man who turned up his nose at kale. I think this will be in our meal rotation this winter. He's even talking about growing it in the garden next year. Did you know you can freeze kale?

The last few weeks I've made it a goal not to let food go to waste.  Since no one in our house (not even Kiddo) likes to drink milk, I needed to find a way to use up the half-gallon of milk I bought to make this delicious Berry French Toast for MOPs last week. Over the course of two days I made and froze a triple-batch of Quick Mix Biscuits, two pans (one recipe) of Chicken Tetrazzini, and some stove top hot cocoa. I also put some leftover Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas from last week into the freezer until I can buy more tortillas to make a variation of this enchilada casserole, or as we like to call it, Quesadilla Casserole.

Biscuits and Tetrazzini waiting in my freezer for a busy day.

So, what do you think: am I thrifty, frugal, or just plain cheap? What lengths have you gone to in order to keep food from going to waste?