Monday we had dance class, first day of carpooling with a new kid, Open House and Parent Night at the new school (plus volunteering for the event feeding the kids pizza, water and homemade cookies and then cleaning up) so we just had cheese pizza with the other families. It was a late night for us and we didn't get home until 7:15.
Tuesday we had chicken divan with broccoli and cauliflower instead of just broccoli. There are a million and one recipes for chicken divan out there, it is a classic southern dish. In fact I can't imagine a potluck or family reunion without a warm casserole dish topped with breadcrumbs or even potato chips and containing this strangely addictive dish. Most recipes for chicken divan call for a can of cream of chicken or broccoli cheese soup, I used some leftover chicken gravy I had made over the weekend,. Most recipes also call for a certain amount of cream and cheese as well, so I used some leftover alfredo sauce. I know, I KNOW, right? But here's the thing. I am super frugal by nature and super broke most of the time by circumstances so I often make these kind of strange substitutions or even plan meals around what ever bits and bobs of food I have leftover in the refrigerator. In any case the dish came out just fine, very tasty, and I loved the addition of cauliflower to the usual broccoli in the casserole, or as my kids call it, broccoli and white broccoli.
Wednesday we had red beans and rice with smoked sausage, this was another frugal feast. I found both buy one get one boxes of red beans and rice and buy one get one smoked sausage this week, I knew instantly it would make a very nice dinner for a busy night. The kids and I don't get home from gymnastics until 6:30 on Wednesdays so this was ideal. My husband got it ready for us and we were able to wash up and eat as soon as we came in the door.
Thursday we just made some simple vegetarian pasta for dinner. I chopped up some tomatoes, onions and garlic and sauteed them in olive oil and then threw in some 4 Cheese tomato sauce. I made some multi-colored veggie pasta and tossed the noodles with the sauce and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Friday my husband brought home rotisserie chicken and I made homemade mashed potatoes steamed mixed vegetables. I found an organic frozen mix with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and squash in it and it's great simply steamed and tossed with butter or maybe even some grated parmesan cheese. The leftover chicken served to make us a nice lunch of chicken salad today and I boiled the carcass with some ends of carrots and onion and a bay leaf to make some lovely broth which I freeze and then use whenever I need chicken stock. Which is like all the time, I use stock to cook vegetables, be a base for soups, make gravy, flavored mashed potatoes, cook rice, or a host of other things.
I tried to get a jump on this week's cooking by making some vegetarian chili for Monday night, today. I think chili tastes better the second day and so it will have all night and all day tomorrow to get flavorful. Tomorrow I will bake some fresh cornbread to go with the very veggie chili; it has tomatoes, green peppers, onion, garlic carrot and some cooked from scratch red beans that I made in the pressure cooker. I flavored it all with 2 TB of chili powder, salt, pepper and 1 TB of BBQ rub. I am making some black beans and rice plus a cuban picadillo for dinner tonight and I have some plans for a roasted whole chicken later in the week.
Showing posts with label planned overs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planned overs. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Weird Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday
Last night's (Weird Wednesday) chicken did not go as planned. What was weird was that I got all riled up over a truly regrettable t-shirt I saw on JC Penney's website. Okay, me getting riled is not weird, me deciding to take time out of my day and throw a RIGHTEOUS AND UNHOLY FIT ABOUT IT is pretty weird. I mean, I usually am good to just write a sternly worded e-mail and then let it go, but something got to me about that shirt and unlocked a part of me I thought I tossed out with my last pair of Doc Martens, basically the part that doesn't worry about speaking up and speaking loudly even if it was over an idiotic t-shirt. I plan on exercising that part of me a little but more from now on. It felt good.
But in typical suburban Mom fashion I also had to take the kids to two different gymnastics classes, supervise homework and try and get dinner started and I had basically made a complete and utter mess of things because there I was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon with a wrecked kitchen and a frozen solid whole chicken. I needed to leave in half an hour. So, I threw the chicken in the microwave to defrost, and started unloading and loading the dishwasher. Seriously, if you are ever faced with a kitchen where things are so chaotic you don't know where to start, just do the dishes, everything else will fall into place. Once the dishwasher was running again I looked at the chicken and it wasn't completely defrosted. I was basically out of time by this point, so I placed it on top of thick slices of onion layered in the bottom of my crockpot, seasoned it all over with adobo, splashed on quite a bit of mojo criollo sauce and set it on high and left. When my husband got home he called me and I told him where the rice, yellow squash, and artichokes were. We decided to split the artichoke down the middle, baste it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it under the broiler, when I got home we also roasted the now cooked chicken under the broiler to crisp the skin and give it another layer of flavor, otherwise that would have been a pretty bland looking bird. We ate only the chicken quarters last night, drumsticks for the girls and the rest for us, steamed yellow squash circles, roasted artichoke and rice. Tonight I will take the rest of the chicken meat off the bone for reheating and serve it with a zucchini casserole recipe I just got from my grandmother.
Zucchini Casserole:
zucchini
tomatoes (fresh or canned)
onion
butter
salt
pepper
mozzarella
cracker crumbs
Simply take zucchini, cut it into rounds and layer it into the bottom of a lightly greased loaf pan, add diced tomato, chopped onion, dots of butter, salt and pepper and then repeat layers, on the top add mozzarella shreds and cracker crumbs dotted with more butter, bake covered for 30 minutes at 375, remove foil and bake until mozzarella is browned and melted, another 10-15 minutes.
Today I traded 6 pounds of starfruit off of our tree for a bunch of red bell peppers, red onion, gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes, an acorn squash and I promised to come back tomorrow with some key limes for the guy so I can get more goodies. Here's where I live, we can barter for fruits and vegetables, by the side of a major highway where the tiny miniature Key deer are nibbling delicately at a cantaloupe rind. Its like Little House on the Prairie mixed with a Carl Hiassen novel over here just about all the time so in honor of the amazing place where I live I offer this Key Limeade recipe for Thirsty Thursday!
Key Limeade:
Key limes
simple syrup
water
ice
Squeeze your key limes into a small strainer set over a small bowl to catch the seeds. Add somewhere between an 1/8 of a cup to 1/4 C of key lime juice to an 8 ounce glass filled with ice. Add 2 oz. of simple syrup and then top off with water till glass is about 2/3 full. Mix and taste and adjust lime juice and syrup till you reach tart/sweetness you desire.
But in typical suburban Mom fashion I also had to take the kids to two different gymnastics classes, supervise homework and try and get dinner started and I had basically made a complete and utter mess of things because there I was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon with a wrecked kitchen and a frozen solid whole chicken. I needed to leave in half an hour. So, I threw the chicken in the microwave to defrost, and started unloading and loading the dishwasher. Seriously, if you are ever faced with a kitchen where things are so chaotic you don't know where to start, just do the dishes, everything else will fall into place. Once the dishwasher was running again I looked at the chicken and it wasn't completely defrosted. I was basically out of time by this point, so I placed it on top of thick slices of onion layered in the bottom of my crockpot, seasoned it all over with adobo, splashed on quite a bit of mojo criollo sauce and set it on high and left. When my husband got home he called me and I told him where the rice, yellow squash, and artichokes were. We decided to split the artichoke down the middle, baste it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it under the broiler, when I got home we also roasted the now cooked chicken under the broiler to crisp the skin and give it another layer of flavor, otherwise that would have been a pretty bland looking bird. We ate only the chicken quarters last night, drumsticks for the girls and the rest for us, steamed yellow squash circles, roasted artichoke and rice. Tonight I will take the rest of the chicken meat off the bone for reheating and serve it with a zucchini casserole recipe I just got from my grandmother.
Zucchini Casserole:
zucchini
tomatoes (fresh or canned)
onion
butter
salt
pepper
mozzarella
cracker crumbs
Simply take zucchini, cut it into rounds and layer it into the bottom of a lightly greased loaf pan, add diced tomato, chopped onion, dots of butter, salt and pepper and then repeat layers, on the top add mozzarella shreds and cracker crumbs dotted with more butter, bake covered for 30 minutes at 375, remove foil and bake until mozzarella is browned and melted, another 10-15 minutes.
Today I traded 6 pounds of starfruit off of our tree for a bunch of red bell peppers, red onion, gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes, an acorn squash and I promised to come back tomorrow with some key limes for the guy so I can get more goodies. Here's where I live, we can barter for fruits and vegetables, by the side of a major highway where the tiny miniature Key deer are nibbling delicately at a cantaloupe rind. Its like Little House on the Prairie mixed with a Carl Hiassen novel over here just about all the time so in honor of the amazing place where I live I offer this Key Limeade recipe for Thirsty Thursday!
Key Limeade:
Key limes
simple syrup
water
ice
Squeeze your key limes into a small strainer set over a small bowl to catch the seeds. Add somewhere between an 1/8 of a cup to 1/4 C of key lime juice to an 8 ounce glass filled with ice. Add 2 oz. of simple syrup and then top off with water till glass is about 2/3 full. Mix and taste and adjust lime juice and syrup till you reach tart/sweetness you desire.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday and Wednesday's Menus
When I finished my pot roast on Sunday I saved the beef broth from the pressure cooker in a separate container and saved the leftover beef and veggies as well. Yesterday I made a quick roux with butter and flour and then thinned it out with the reserved beef broth. I added my veggies to simmer and then cubed some of the leftover meat. When the veggies were warmed through and ready I added the cubed beef, heated through this made a quick and easy beef stew. I still had some beef leftover, so I wrapped it well in foil and put it in the freezer. I may use it later for another beef stew, or even shred it down and make BBQ beef, or some other reason. It was a super economical meal because I got two dinners out of the one roast plus 2 lunches and now I can even use it round out a third meal. It was also economical because I bought the roasts on a buy one get one sale at Winn Dixie, so I have another untouched roast in the freezer. I wasn't intending on buying beef that day but when I see a sale like that I have to jump on it.
For tonight's dinner I will be setting up my rotisserie and roasting a whole chicken. I will flavor it with lemon, salt, white pepper, and butter rubbed generously under the breast skin to keep things moist and flavorful. I am making a side of rice, some artichokes (just steamed with butter) and some yellow squash.
For tonight's dinner I will be setting up my rotisserie and roasting a whole chicken. I will flavor it with lemon, salt, white pepper, and butter rubbed generously under the breast skin to keep things moist and flavorful. I am making a side of rice, some artichokes (just steamed with butter) and some yellow squash.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
BBQ Pork Sandwiches (Your Way)
I took the leftover pork roast and shredded it with two forks, mixed it with some high-fructose corn syrup free BBQ sauce and heated it all up briefly on the stove, meanwhile I took some frozen corn niblets, frozen green beans and microwave steamed them. I also served some store-bought potato salad and some crispy, crunchy coleslaw.
The secret to really crisp coleslaw is to salt your shredded cabbage and let it sit in a colander to drain for at least 20 minutes, then rinse it well and spin it in a salad spinner or wrap it in dishcloths and wring it out. Add your shredded carrot and maybe some shredded onion and thinly sliced green pepper too, but those are optional. I then like to toss my cabbage with a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, before blending in some mayo (not too much) and salt, pepper, celery seed and a dab of dijon mustard. Then just combine well and chill until you are ready for dinner, but at least 15 minutes. I am not giving amounts because it truly depends on how much cabbage you are using, a whole head of cabbage versus a small bag of premixed slaw necessarily require different amounts. Also, I like my coleslaw very dry, more like a tossed salad than absolutely swimming in dressing, some people require a lot of dressing, all a matter of taste; but always add less than you think you need, you can always add more. You MUST taste your food as you are cooking, it helps you learn what you like and in what amounts and combinations you like it.
Now, my husband has got me eating cole slaw ON my pulled pork sandwiches instead of on the side and I think it is delicious! You may top your sandwich with pickle chips or cheese or both, or maybe add lettuce and tomato and thinly sliced onion.
The kids had pork sandwiches with cheese, all the sides and decided they wanted to eat some pickled okra too. We washed it all down with some ice cold lemonade!
Stay cool friends!
The secret to really crisp coleslaw is to salt your shredded cabbage and let it sit in a colander to drain for at least 20 minutes, then rinse it well and spin it in a salad spinner or wrap it in dishcloths and wring it out. Add your shredded carrot and maybe some shredded onion and thinly sliced green pepper too, but those are optional. I then like to toss my cabbage with a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, before blending in some mayo (not too much) and salt, pepper, celery seed and a dab of dijon mustard. Then just combine well and chill until you are ready for dinner, but at least 15 minutes. I am not giving amounts because it truly depends on how much cabbage you are using, a whole head of cabbage versus a small bag of premixed slaw necessarily require different amounts. Also, I like my coleslaw very dry, more like a tossed salad than absolutely swimming in dressing, some people require a lot of dressing, all a matter of taste; but always add less than you think you need, you can always add more. You MUST taste your food as you are cooking, it helps you learn what you like and in what amounts and combinations you like it.
Now, my husband has got me eating cole slaw ON my pulled pork sandwiches instead of on the side and I think it is delicious! You may top your sandwich with pickle chips or cheese or both, or maybe add lettuce and tomato and thinly sliced onion.
The kids had pork sandwiches with cheese, all the sides and decided they wanted to eat some pickled okra too. We washed it all down with some ice cold lemonade!
Stay cool friends!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday: The Quick and the Fed
Last night's dinner revolved around a store bought rotisserie chicken, heat and eat mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. When you're home all day with two sick, lethargic kids making a big production out of dinner just won't cut it. In fact immediately after finishing her dinner (with 2 helpings of everything) the baby fell asleep on the floor of the living room and had to be transported fully clothed to her bed. The older child only lasted through a quick shower and into PJ's before she was also out like a light.
I love a rotisserie chicken! There are so many things you can do with the leftovers. Here's a list of my favorites.
*Chicken Salad (mix leftover meat with mayo, chopped celery, salt, white pepper, finely minced onion and a dash of dill.)
*Chicken Tacos (mix leftovers with seasoned black beans for a yummy taco filling.)
*Chicken and Rice Casserole (chicken meat, mixed with cooked rice, chopped spinach, cheese and mushroom soup, then bake.)
*Chicken Quesadillas (toasted tortillas filled with cheese and chicken)
*Chicken Soup (pull all the meat from the bones and use the carcass to make your soup base. Save the meat for the finished soup.)
*Chicken and Rice (make your favorite rice and load it with vegetables, carrots, tomato, onion what have you, in the last few minutes of rice cooking add your chicken meat, stir and serve as a hearty one dish meal.)
*Chicken Alfredo (add chicken to Alfredo sauce and pour over hot pasta, serve with a side of steamed veggies)
*Chicken Stir-Fry (Stir-fry all veggies, add chicken and mix, serve over cooked brown rice.)
*Chicken Fajitas (cook and season all veggies, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots strips, add chicken and serve in flour tortillas.)
If you are making a roast or rotisserie chicken at home here are some great flavoring ideas.
*Insert in the cavity of the chicken a quartered lemon and some rosemary sprigs.
*Rub chicken all over, especially under the skin and over the breast, with compound butter.
*Brush chicken liberally with mojo marinade before baking.
*Place chicken in roasting pan, resting on top of thick slices of onion, it will also flavor your pan drippings for an excellent gravy or reduction sauce.
*Brine chicken overnight before roasting in a large bowl or bucket filled with water, salt, sugar and bay leaves. Your chicken will be amazingly moist and flavorful.
*Cook and baste chicken in orange juice, the sugar in the juice will caramelize and make a gorgeous sort of glaze.
I love a rotisserie chicken! There are so many things you can do with the leftovers. Here's a list of my favorites.
*Chicken Salad (mix leftover meat with mayo, chopped celery, salt, white pepper, finely minced onion and a dash of dill.)
*Chicken Tacos (mix leftovers with seasoned black beans for a yummy taco filling.)
*Chicken and Rice Casserole (chicken meat, mixed with cooked rice, chopped spinach, cheese and mushroom soup, then bake.)
*Chicken Quesadillas (toasted tortillas filled with cheese and chicken)
*Chicken Soup (pull all the meat from the bones and use the carcass to make your soup base. Save the meat for the finished soup.)
*Chicken and Rice (make your favorite rice and load it with vegetables, carrots, tomato, onion what have you, in the last few minutes of rice cooking add your chicken meat, stir and serve as a hearty one dish meal.)
*Chicken Alfredo (add chicken to Alfredo sauce and pour over hot pasta, serve with a side of steamed veggies)
*Chicken Stir-Fry (Stir-fry all veggies, add chicken and mix, serve over cooked brown rice.)
*Chicken Fajitas (cook and season all veggies, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots strips, add chicken and serve in flour tortillas.)
If you are making a roast or rotisserie chicken at home here are some great flavoring ideas.
*Insert in the cavity of the chicken a quartered lemon and some rosemary sprigs.
*Rub chicken all over, especially under the skin and over the breast, with compound butter.
*Brush chicken liberally with mojo marinade before baking.
*Place chicken in roasting pan, resting on top of thick slices of onion, it will also flavor your pan drippings for an excellent gravy or reduction sauce.
*Brine chicken overnight before roasting in a large bowl or bucket filled with water, salt, sugar and bay leaves. Your chicken will be amazingly moist and flavorful.
*Cook and baste chicken in orange juice, the sugar in the juice will caramelize and make a gorgeous sort of glaze.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tuesday and Wednesday's meals
Tuesday I made my MIL's famous picadillo recipe. She learned it from her mother, her mother learned it from a recent emigre from Cuba who had settled in Tampa. If you are ever in Tampa, take the electric trolley car over to Ybor City and eat in a Cuban bakery. The bread! The pastries! The cafe con leche! You will love it. Anyhow, this is a unique picadillo to be sure. I have had many kinds over the years, but none like this. MIL always serves it over black beans and rice with a side of vinegar if you like and plenty of diced fresh onions to go on top.
Picadillo
1 pound hamburger beef
1 TB olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
1 (8) oz can tomato sauce
1/2 t of salt
Raisins (a good handful)
Capers (to taste)
Green salad olives (to taste)
Place olive oil in skillet, brown vegetables, starting with onions and ending with garlic. Brown the meat in the same skillet, pour off any grease. Add olives, raisins and capers and tomato sauce and salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then remove lid and let simmer until liquid is much reduced and raisins are plump.
For the rice, prepare white or yellow rice according to package directions.
For the black bean soup, season canned or freshly cooked black beans with sauteed chopped garlic, onion and green pepper and 1 C of red wine. After beans are fully cooked taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary.
Scoop the rice into the bowl, then ladle over some black bean soup, then add a small scoop of picadillo over all, garnish as you see fit. Delish!
Wednesday we had a softball game that went from 5 until 7, so we got home and the kids were starving and extremely dirty. I sent them off to the showers while I reheated my meal from the night before but this time stuffed the rice, beans and picadillo into warmed taco shells and topped them with lettuce and fresh tomato salsa, cheese and a dollop of Greek yogurt. (Greek yogurt is my got-to sour cream stand in, try it, you'll like it!) It was wonderful, the beans in particular had gotten more flavorful over night.
Picadillo
1 pound hamburger beef
1 TB olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
1 (8) oz can tomato sauce
1/2 t of salt
Raisins (a good handful)
Capers (to taste)
Green salad olives (to taste)
Place olive oil in skillet, brown vegetables, starting with onions and ending with garlic. Brown the meat in the same skillet, pour off any grease. Add olives, raisins and capers and tomato sauce and salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then remove lid and let simmer until liquid is much reduced and raisins are plump.
For the rice, prepare white or yellow rice according to package directions.
For the black bean soup, season canned or freshly cooked black beans with sauteed chopped garlic, onion and green pepper and 1 C of red wine. After beans are fully cooked taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary.
Scoop the rice into the bowl, then ladle over some black bean soup, then add a small scoop of picadillo over all, garnish as you see fit. Delish!
Wednesday we had a softball game that went from 5 until 7, so we got home and the kids were starving and extremely dirty. I sent them off to the showers while I reheated my meal from the night before but this time stuffed the rice, beans and picadillo into warmed taco shells and topped them with lettuce and fresh tomato salsa, cheese and a dollop of Greek yogurt. (Greek yogurt is my got-to sour cream stand in, try it, you'll like it!) It was wonderful, the beans in particular had gotten more flavorful over night.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It is a free night!
Because other than reheating my roast leftovers, roasting some new potatoes and microwaving some "in the bag veggies", I am not really "cooking" tonight. *high fives herself* Honestly after the three day weekend it feels good to be taking it comparatively easy today. Leftovers, pressure cookers and crock pots are all my saving graces, if you are going to get dinner on the table every night, these are your go-to helpers.
Things I am going to do with my free time:
• Noodle around on the internet
• Paint fingernails
• Make some bread (no, really I find it relaxing)
• GO to bed early
If you are in the mood to try baking your own bread I cannot recommend the "A Year in Bread" blog highly enough. Super good info there. Also the books, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads" are great primers.
Things I am going to do with my free time:
• Noodle around on the internet
• Paint fingernails
• Make some bread (no, really I find it relaxing)
• GO to bed early
If you are in the mood to try baking your own bread I cannot recommend the "A Year in Bread" blog highly enough. Super good info there. Also the books, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads" are great primers.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The skinny on casseroles
Here's the thing, in the depths of winter (and winter in NC is pretty depthy to me) I want comfort food. Casseroles, stews, soups, roasts, baked goods, basically anything that warms the soul and the house makes me happy. Casseroles are not the most elegant or sophisticated of dishes but they are tasty and filling and just the very definition of home-cooking. I mean when is the last time you saw any type of casserole on a restaurant menu?
Today's casserole takes the very last bits of the New Year's day feast and transforms them into a bubbly, cheesey delicious main dish. Serve with a side of steamed veggies or salad depending on your climate and enjoy.
Ham and Rice Casserole
Chopped ham
3 cups of cooked white rice (can be leftovers from NY dinner)
1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese (I like a 4 cheese blend)
1 can of cream of something soup (or make a white sauce) (Or more than one can if you like a moister casserole.)
Panko, cracker or bread crumbs for the top
Melted butter
Mix cooked rice and chopped ham, cheese, and soup and place in a buttered 9 x 13 pan (or smaller if you aren't cooking for a crowd. You can cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8 x8 pan.) Cover with bread crumbs of choice and pour some melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C?) covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes. Take off foil and brown for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
If you do not eat ham or meat simply replace the ham with broccoli florets or chopped spears and follow the recipe as indicated. You can also make this with cooked brown rice and it is even better. I can't tell you how many times I have intended to make my MIL's famous broccoli and chicken casserole and FORGOTTEN TO PUT IN THE CHICKEN. This has happened so often as a matter of fact that it is known in my house as "Chicken Surprise-- Surprise! There's no chicken in it!"
I will serve these tonight with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower which I am fortunate that my kids love. My sister-in-law's kids won't eat them plain, but they do like them with cheese sauce. Another friend's kids won't eat them cooked but will eat them raw with ranch dressing. My sister's kids won't eat them AT ALL but clamor for more of my Mom's spaghetti sauce which is packed with (you guessed it) broccoli, carrots, onion, and celery. My Mom was the Sneaky Chef way back in the 70's.
**UPDATE** The casserole dish I was using was SO BIG that I added the frozen vegetables right into the casserole. I did take the extra step of cutting them up a bit into smaller, uniform pieces and they cooked beautifully right in one dish. Even the strenuous anti-vegetable crowd at the table couldn't resist them. Score!
Hope your dinner is really good tonight and that you have one of those good parenting days that don't make you fantasize about a long restful stay at the local hospital!
Today's casserole takes the very last bits of the New Year's day feast and transforms them into a bubbly, cheesey delicious main dish. Serve with a side of steamed veggies or salad depending on your climate and enjoy.
Ham and Rice Casserole
Chopped ham
3 cups of cooked white rice (can be leftovers from NY dinner)
1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese (I like a 4 cheese blend)
1 can of cream of something soup (or make a white sauce) (Or more than one can if you like a moister casserole.)
Panko, cracker or bread crumbs for the top
Melted butter
Mix cooked rice and chopped ham, cheese, and soup and place in a buttered 9 x 13 pan (or smaller if you aren't cooking for a crowd. You can cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8 x8 pan.) Cover with bread crumbs of choice and pour some melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C?) covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes. Take off foil and brown for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
If you do not eat ham or meat simply replace the ham with broccoli florets or chopped spears and follow the recipe as indicated. You can also make this with cooked brown rice and it is even better. I can't tell you how many times I have intended to make my MIL's famous broccoli and chicken casserole and FORGOTTEN TO PUT IN THE CHICKEN. This has happened so often as a matter of fact that it is known in my house as "Chicken Surprise-- Surprise! There's no chicken in it!"
I will serve these tonight with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower which I am fortunate that my kids love. My sister-in-law's kids won't eat them plain, but they do like them with cheese sauce. Another friend's kids won't eat them cooked but will eat them raw with ranch dressing. My sister's kids won't eat them AT ALL but clamor for more of my Mom's spaghetti sauce which is packed with (you guessed it) broccoli, carrots, onion, and celery. My Mom was the Sneaky Chef way back in the 70's.
**UPDATE** The casserole dish I was using was SO BIG that I added the frozen vegetables right into the casserole. I did take the extra step of cutting them up a bit into smaller, uniform pieces and they cooked beautifully right in one dish. Even the strenuous anti-vegetable crowd at the table couldn't resist them. Score!
Hope your dinner is really good tonight and that you have one of those good parenting days that don't make you fantasize about a long restful stay at the local hospital!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Day after dinners
When you make a BIG meal on one day, like Thanksgiving for instance, you get the benefit of guaranteed leftovers the next day. You can always use those leftovers just as is, which is terrific, or you can get creative. I mean, who doesn't love a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving?
For New Year's Day leftovers here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy leftover greens, beans, and pork.
* Chop leftover ham and heat it up in barbecue sauce and make BBQ sandwiches.
* Use leftover black eyed peas to make "Cowboy Caviar" it is a sort of fabulous "pico de gallo" with your leftover black eyed peas. Mix cubed avocado, chopped roma (or other smaller) tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and kernel corn together. Top with some fresh lime juice, a bit of apple cider vinegar, a splash of good olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Stir gently and serve with tortilla chips. Add some tabasco if you think it needs to be a little bit spicy.
* Hopping John stir fry, fry leftover white rice in some peanut oil in a wok or large skillet. Mix in fresh chopped onion, peas, and a moderate amount of well-drained greens. Add a lightly beaten egg and stir fry together. YUM!!!
*Mix leftover, well-drained greens into cheese grits, press into a well-greased baking dish and bake until edges are set. Cut into cubes and serve for any meal, even breakfast. DEEEE-lish.
* Mix creamed corn into a thin batter made from about 1 cup of flour, one beaten egg and maybe 1/4 C of milk. Make thin corn pancakes and pour onto a hot greased griddle. Serve as pancakes with or without syrup.
I really hope the New Year is already treating you well. Here is a brand new recipe for you, another great Southern American dish.
Gramma Tallent's Ambrosia Salad
Take 3 pounds of small Florida oranges, cut off the skin and outer membrane. Pull sections from their membranes and drop into medium mixing bowl, Squeeze leftover bits of orange over the bowl to extract juice, but strain with fingers to keep seeds out. To the sections add 2 small handfuls of chopped coconut. Then add 1/2 C chopped pecans (or more to taste) and the juice of 2 more oranges. Stir together and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Serve chilled. A delicious fresh appetizer, salad or breakfast dish, even a light dessert!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)