Cleaning out the fridge

And came up with this dinner:

Had leftover Swiss chard, mushroom ragu, and pasta in the fridge. Melted some cream cheese, added the leftovers, topped it with bits of leftover cheese, and baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. A delicious new meal for dinner that didn't taste like leftovers.

Doufeu

Sounds Chinese, but it is actually French. Here's my new Le Crueset pot:

We used it tonight to make some corned beef and it was so delicious and tender! I can't wait to use it again. Maybe next time I'll fill the whole 7 and 1/4 quarts.

Sweet potato chips

I tried once again to make sweet potato chips. And once again, it was an epic fail. The chips go from raw to burnt in seconds. Unfortunately, I'm not one to watch the oven that closely. I'm more of the turn-the-timer-on-and-wait-for-the-ding kind of gal. And this is the result.

I'm not sure if I should bake at a low temp so the chips are more like dehydrated chips or if I should bake at a high temp, sort of like frying. Any one have any tips?

Bacon makes everything better

I had some leftover bacon in the fridge with no plans for it so I was going to freeze it for later. I usually freeze bacon in two strip batches, which is just enough to fry up for a bit of flavor and fat for a wok full of greens (currently Swiss Chard from the garden). Then I remembered the bacon wrapped tofu mentioned on somewhere on the web.

It made a yummy snack. See Just Hungry for cooking instructions, though if you can fry bacon, you can make this. I didn't make bite-pieces, though that probably would have worked better. I just cut the tofu brick into five pieces because that's how many pieces I had. The larger pieces were a little difficult to turn. You can see the piece in front that broke. Be sure to overlap the edges. I think that helps keep the tofu together.

Kale

After a difficult start, I was finally able to harvest some kale. The first few seedlings were devoured by caterpillars, which was making me rethink the whole pesticide avoidance thing. I was picking teeny tiny caterpillars off by hand (gross!) because the little suckers wouldn't wash off. But I kept replanting (good thing seeds are relatively cheap) and finally had some success.

My schedule is such that I do most of my gardening on the weekends. Some days, I leave for work when it's dark and some days I get some after dark (and some not-so-good days, both), so I harvest when I can, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I had a decent sized batch, but didn't know what to do with it, so I decided to blanch and freeze the leaves to use in the future. This was way more work than I anticipated and I'm not sure if I'm going to do it again. I ended up with 2 quart size baggies.

Here's my method for removing the leaves from the stems. Many websites suggest cutting the stem off the, which is pretty easy. I prefer to tear the leaves off, which is even easier. You can then tear leaves into whatever size pieces you want.

What to do with the stems? I baked them with some parmesan cheese and a bit of oil like this recipe from Kayln's Kitchen. I should have parboiled the stems first. I forgot that kale stems are tougher than Swiss chard stems so the dish ended up tasty, but chewy.

A full fridge

We made a turkey for dinner tonight. Yes, just for the two of us, 13.7 pounds. It was on sale before Christmas for 59 cents a pound, plus I got $3 off so I couldn't resist. Can't imagine getting meat for any cheaper than that. It wasn't too difficult finding room in the freezer at first, but it was difficult to not have the room for a couple months. We finally took it out to defrost last week and the empty space as already been filled with frozen veggies and gelato.

Now we have a full fridge.Mr. Fix-it can have turkey sandwiches the rest of the week and I'll figure out something to do with the rest. Some will get frozen and of course, I'll have to make some turkey stock (not that I have time to cook during the week).

On my day off

I took the day off yesterday. No special reason other than I had a vacation day to use up. I had grandiose plans to clean the whole house (or at least a couple of rooms) or the more realistic plans of vegging in front of the computer and TV. There wasn't as much as I would have liked of any of that. I did manage to cook up a several quarts of spaghetti sauce and prep a couple of lunches for the week, plus pick/wash some Swiss chard so we're set food-wise for a few days.No, that large container on the right is not my lunch. That's the leftover spaghetti from dinner. I have a hearty appetite, but not that large. That's another dinner and a couple lunches for us. My lunch is the smaller container with the black lid in the back.

Singapore noodles or thankful for a well-stocked pantry

As part of our continuing quest to spend less (more on that in another post), I've been cooking a tiny bit more. Today, I whipped up a quick lunch so we wouldn't be hungry as we ran errands. As usual, I don't have an exact recipe since I was using up stuff we had on hand. Everything was already in the fridge, freezer, or cupboard. The baby corn and bamboo shoots were leftover from a curry dish earlier in the week. The fresh veggies we had, and the chicken was from the freezer (I freeze small portions of chicken (breast, thigh, whatever is on sale) to use for stir fries).
Here's my "MacGyver" recipe:

1/2 can of baby corn
1/2 can of bamboo shoots
1/2 package thin rice noodles
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/3 red bell pepper
1 chicken thigh, thinly sliced
oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, garlic, Singapore seasoning or curry powder

1. Marinate the chicken w/soy sauce, cornstarch, and garlic (since I didn't have time to let this marinate, perhaps I should say "Mix").
2. Heat some oil and stir fry the chicken.
3. Remove the chicken, add more oil if needed, and stir fry the onion. After the onion is almost cooked through, add the bell pepper and let it cook for a minute or two.
4. Add the rest baby corn, bamboo shoots, and rice noodles.
5. Sprinkle on some the Singapore seasoning or curry powder (start with less, you can always add more).
   
6. Toss the ingredients together.
   
7. Take a taste test and add more seasoning or soy sauce or salt if needed.

Enjoy!

MacGyver cooking

Even though I love cookbooks and have several shelves devoted to them, I rarely refer to them. And even though I've pinned dozens of recipes on pinterest, I rarely go back to them. And when I do try to follow a recipe, I usually modify it somehow because I might have more or less or an ingredient (or I'm in too much of a hurry to follow the instructions exactly). I call it seat-of-the-pants cooking or use-up-what's-in-the-fridge cooking, but Mr. Fix-it came up with a new term: MacGyver cooking. I like it. But this style of cooking makes it difficult to post recipes on my blog. I hope by posting ingredients and a brief description, I inspire you to create your own dishes.

Tonight's MacGyver dinner was inspired by a dish my mom used to make, plus the huge onion I got in my first CSA box.

Ingredients:
1 huge onion, 3-4 stalks of celery, 1/2 of a kielbasa sausage rope (it was in the freezer), 1 bell pepper (optional), 1 can stewed tomatoes.

Directions:

1. Slice all ingredients.
2. Saute the onion and kielbasa sausage until they are slightly browned and the onion is almost cooked through.
3. Add the bell pepper, celery, and stewed tomatoes. Also, add about 1/4 to 1/2 can of water, depending on how much sauce you want.
   
4. Add seasonings. I just added powered garlic, dried oregano, and freshly ground pepper. You may want to add salt. We don't add a lot of salt when we cook.
5. Simmer until all the veggies are cooked through.

Serve over rice or pasta or with some fresh bread. (I always serve it over rice.)

As written, this dish serves four. It has a lot of flavor, even with using half the sausage.

Mexican lasagna

Also known as clean-out-the-fridge lasagna, lol. Had some refried beans (homemade), cheese, and sour cream to use up so I made one of my old standbys, Mexican lasagna. This is much easier than enchiladas and I think a little more forgiving. I don't really have a recipe, but here's what the layers were this time (from bottom to top, since that's how it is built):

corn tortillas
refried beans + a little chopped green onion + a little cheese
corn tortillas
cooked chicken + a little sour cream + green salsa
corn tortillas
refried beans + a little chopped green onion + a little cheese
corn tortillas
cooked chicken + a little sour cream + green salsa
corn tortillas
salsa, cheese, chopped olives

I just dropped all the ingredients onto the corn tortillas in dribs and drabs, they weren't solid layers. Also, I poured about 1/4 cup of water over top layer of corn tortillas before adding the last layer of salsa, cheese, and chopped olives. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sometimes I add some frozen corn, sometimes I use regular salsa, sometimes I add some tomato sauce, sometimes I add green chilies. Obviously, it never turns out the same, lol.

All right, all right, I know some of you want measurements. Honestly, I never measure anything when I make this. But I do know I used one 16 oz jar of salsa, about 1/3 of a 16 oz container of sour cream (that's all that was left), about 1 cup of shredded cheese, and a sandwich baggie of shredded chicken (from my recent cooking marathon), and used a 2 qt. casserole dish. Does that help?

My cooking marathon

I decided to spend a recent day off doing a cooking marathon so it wasn't really a vacation day. The good news is I had enough food to last a few days and to share. The bad news is my freezer is overstuffed. (Someday, I'm going to spring for an extra freezer.)

Chicken and turkey stock, plus the meat I picked off the bones. Yes, that's a layer of fat you see on top. I leave it on until I'm going to use the stock, then I decide how much to keep/discard.
Soup (there was more, but I had given some away already), cooked chicken (there were three packages), winter melon (again, I gave away half), and marinated chicken. I figured on some night when I didn't know what to cook, I could pull out the chicken and do a quick stir fry.

The winter melon is from my mom. She gave it to me last year and I finally decided to cut it up (yes, they really do last for months). It was stored in the garage. I didn't end up cooking any since I made the other soup. If anyone wants some seeds, let me know.
Last, but not least, a container of washed and chopped salad greens and another of washed Swiss chard. Cleaning the veggies on the weekends makes it so much easier to eat healthy during the week.
I was exhausted, but pleased with the day's work. Like I said, the only bad thing is my freezer is overstuffed. It is ice cream season and there's no room for any.

Corned beef and cabbage

I finally got around to cooking our corned beef and cabbage this weekend (I really look forward to the sales around St. Patrick's Day). I usually just boil (simmer) the corned beef and then add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. This year, I tried something new, first the simmer, and then I baked the corned beef with a coating of brown sugar and mustard. So yummy! I don't have an exact recipe, but here's what I did. All the changing of water was to try to reduce the salt (based on what I read online). I'm not sure if it made a difference though.

1. Cover the corned beef with water and let sit for an hour. Discard the water.
   
2. Refill the pot and bring the water to a simmer. Again, discard the water (it will probably be scummy).
3. Refill the pot and bring the water to a simmer again.
   
4. Simmer the beef for about an hour per pound, minus 1/2 hour (that's for baking time).
5. Transfer the corned beef to a baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   
6. Mix some brown sugar and mustard together and coat the top of the corned beef. (I used about 1/3 cup of brown sugar [not packed] and 2 tablespoons of mustard.)
   
7. Bake for about 1/2 hour. You end up with a yummy topping similar to a Honey-Baked ham.
   

While the corned beef is baking, you can boil the potatoes and cabbage in the cooking water.

This was so delicious! I think this is Mr. Fix-it's new favorite.

Spicy!

I reorganized our spices. I bought shelves at the Container Store and wondered if I would fill the shelves. Looks like there wasn't a problem with that. In fact, I had to transfer some spices to smaller jars so I could fit everything in and stack some of the smaller jars. I'm thrilled that everything is alphabetized and even better, stays alphabetized. Now Mr. Fix-it puts the spices back in order rather than wherever there is an empty space.Scrapbookers, I've seen a few photos where scrapbookers used the shelves to organize their stamps or Stickles.

Table for one

I finally understand when singles say that they hate to cook for themselves. When I was single, I didn't mind. But maybe it was because I knew I didn't have a choice since I couldn't afford to go out to eat.

Mr. Fix-it was (is) gone for a week and I really struggled with what to eat. The fridge was pretty empty and I didn't feel like grocery shopping and I didn't feel like cooking either (long days at the office will do that to you). I ended up buying a two-item combination Chinese take out because I knew I could stretch that into a couple of dinners and lunches with the addition of more rice and vegetables. We got lunch at work two days this week; otherwise the Chinese food wouldn't have lasted so long and I would have had to think more about food. Here's what I ended up eating.

Day 1: Bunco, so no need to think about food (thank goodness!).
Day 2: Made an omelet and took half for lunch the next day.
Day 3: Bought Chinese takeout.
Day 4: Leftover Chinese takeout.
Day 5: Made potato broccoli chowder and had a friend over (having company was so motivating).
Day 6: Turkey sandwich.
Day 7: The last of the Chinese takeout. I actually bought lunch at work intending to eat it for dinner, but I decided I should finish the older food in the fridge first.

Thank goodness Mr. Fix-it is coming home tonight. I think we'll have homemade spaghetti sauce.

My new favorite

I recently was gifted a new cooking pot, something I had been coveting for years, but was too cheap to buy myself. This is the 3 1/2 quart version, and now I'm lusting after the 7 1/4 quart version. Or maybe I should dream big and get the 13 1/4 version like my friend S has. Not that I'd be able to lift it, lol.

I've been keeping the pot on the stove because 1) I'm using the pot a couple times a weeks so why put it away, 2) It looks pretty on the stove, and 3) I don't have room in the cupboard to keep store it.

Crockpot before and after

I know you're not supposed to fill the crockpot all the way to the top, but why make soup unless you're making a lot? The before picture doesn't show it all; I carefully added some turkey broth/meat too. The after picture also doesn't show the whole truth. I had taken out a bowl of soup before taking the photo (hey, I was hungry). I also added some orzo, but that was cooked on the stove and added separately to the individual bowls of soup. The leftovers are also stored separately in the frig. I don't want the pasta to absorb all the broth overnight.

Summer sandwich

A quick dinner made with ingredients we had on hand: toasted submarine sandwich bread, ricotta cheese, roma tomatoes, basil, marinated artichoke hearts, red onion, fresh ground pepper. No dressing/mayo was needed. So fresh and yummy...and fast!

The good fat

I made chicken stock a couple weeks ago and now the freezer is full. I'm well stocked (ha! ha!) for soup this summer. Since FIL's freezer was almost empty, I took some over there to store. Since a full freezer works more efficiently than an empty freezer, it is a win-win, right? (Although I didn't make that much stock.) I also added a bunch of ice blocks so now the freezer is about half full.

Before I froze the stock, I skimmed the fat off and instead of throwing it away, I stored it in a little bowl in the fridge (just like mom, although I remember mom leaving it on the stove). The next few times I sauted vegetables, I added a bit of the fat for flavor. Yummo! I think Mr. Fix-it appreciated the extra flavor, but I wonder what's worse for you, chicken fat or butter?

12 minutes

After leaving the hospital after 7:00 last night, then stopping at FIL's to do a little more cleaning, we got home quite late. Luckily, I was prepared to do a quick stir fry with the ingredients I had on hand.

First, I diced some Chinese sausage and onion and added that to my wok. No oil needed since the Chinese sausage is pretty fatty. As that was browning, I rinsed the bean sprouts and pea shoots. After the onion was cooked, I added the bean sprouts and gave them a few quick tosses until they just started to turn color. Then I added the pea shoots. I should have added them a little at a time, but I was too lazy and threw the whole batch in at once so it was difficult for the water to cook off. In between stirring, I microwaved some leftover rice. I finished the stir fry with some garlic powder (gasp! what, no fresh garlic??), white pepper, and a splash of black vinegar.

There you have it, dinner in 12 minutes. I was hoping to get it done in 10 since I didn't have that much chopping to do; also, I think the stir fry would have been better with noodles, but I didn't want to wait for water to boil. None the less, I'm pretty proud of myself for feeding us a relatively healthy meal so quickly.

Photos 121-123/365 Sometimes I'm in the cooking mood

Made Yu xiang eggplant, bok choy, and pork stew (a new recipe from Wendy's blog. Mr. Fix-it sure likes it when I stop by the Chinese grocery store because I'm always inspired to cook afterward.