the theme for today

is "hurry, before it expires".  We had Eric's friends over this weekend for burgers to celebrate his birthday.  I had some meat leftover and figured I'd use it another day.  This morning I realized if I didn't make it today, it'd probably end up in the garbage.  Then I thought about the vegetables I had in the refrigerator that were being neglected and decided on taco salads.  I made the meat and accidentally added too much salt.  No problem, I added a can of black beans to tone it down.  So there's dinner.  (Actually, I have a package of tortillas in the refrigerator but they're dated January 3rd... I don't know.)

All of this thought of the vegetables reminded me of the strawberries I bought.  I picked up two containers, thinking I'd send one with Eric.  Yeah, I forgot.  So once I got the meat done, I started searching all over for something to make with these fresh strawberries.  Everything sounded good but there was always one ingredient I was missing.  Wait.  I had a ready-made graham cracker crust in the pantry, cream cheese and although I didn't have Cool Whip, I had cream that needed whipping.  That's it.  I'd make my fluffy cheesecake mix and top it with the strawberries.  And dessert was settled.  I would like to note that I left it at this stage to chill in the refrigerator but there will be whipped cream dolloped on top when served.  Yum.

And I should note that both of these images were taken with a real camera and not my phone.  I'm totally productive today.