Working with Leftovers

I like to repurpose my leftovers.  By that I mean I'm not much for reheating something to serve to my family for dinner, for lunch that is fine, but no way for dinner. I guess I'm really too much of a food snob.  Also I know I can always get creative with leftovers, like this recipe for Beef Stew. My mother-in-law gave it to me years ago and it starts with leftover steak or roast.  I prefer not to use shredded beef for that - I keep that for other things.  The rest of the ingredients are usually things I have on hand in my pantry.  If you don't have enough leftover steak after one night save what you do have in a labeled plastic bag and add to it as you go.  I call it the "stew bag".  I also do the same thing with leftover chicken for casseroles etc.  The rest is super easy. 

As you can see the recipe calls for:

steak - cut into 1" chunks

2-3 peeled potatoes - cut into bite sized pieces

2 carrots - peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery - chopped

1 onion - cut into large chunks

2 cans beef consumé

1/2 can of soup's worth of red wine

2 Tbl tomato paste

2 Tbl Dijon mustard

2 bay leaves

basil

oregano 

thyme

Just dump all of your ingredients into a 2 quart casserole and cover.  Stick it in a preheated 325 degree oven for 4 hours.   I like to serve this with homemade French Bread (see this old post),  salad and of course a red wine.

This is a new Spanish wine my husband I tried recently, a Tempranillo, called Entresuelos.  It has good body, but wasn't overpowering. 

As always with love from the Midwest and Bon Appétit!,

Beth 

February's Round-Up

Even though we've started March it's early on so I fell I'm not too late to round-up February. Well one of my goals this year was to work on my creative side, not just in the kitchen. So I decided to start bullet journaling.  Now I'm not really the best at it, but I didn't want to get stuck looking at a blank journal. So I just started adding birthdays; I know I'll get more creative as I go, but it is a start.  I think I'll be using colored pencils to add the color in  the future.  I think they are just a little bit more subtle. 

I also started sketching more. So this is a close up of a little flowering plant I have in my kitchen. 

What I'm reading: This article made me smile.  It's good to know my wine and coffee habit is good for me, actually I never doubted it.

I also finished What She Ate by Laura Shapiro. If you are interested in history more than food this book is for you.  I thought it would be the other way, yet I still found it interesting.  I could easily put it down and easily pick it up a few days later. 

And of course no month is complete without a new recipe or restaurant.  This month was a visit to Madison again and a great breakfast at Bassett Street Brunch Club.  I loved my banana's foster french toast and my daughter had some of the best pancakes I've ever had.

Hope your month was equally enjoyable!

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

NOLA Day

I don't know why I decided to make Sunday a complete NOLA day, but I did.  I suppose it started with the recipe for King Cake that I saw in Southern Living this past month.  I didn't have time to make it before Mardi Gras so I thought this weekend would be great.  Then my daughter thought she'd like Eggs Benedict for lunch or breakfast sometime soon.  And well fried chicken came to mind when I was planning my meals for the week.  So that's how it started and it was a delicious day of food. 

We started off with the King Cake for breakfast, and of course don't forget the coffee and fruit.  Yes we are still eating grapefruit from Tree Ripe Citrus Co.  My glaze got a bit runny, but it still tasted good. Unfortunately, there were no dark purple sprinkles to be had.  My thoughts on the cake are this: the cake itself was excellent and very easy to make. However, next time I'll make a brown sugar and cinnamon filling sprinkled on top of soft butter.  I wasn't really a fan of the cream cheese filling.  The recipe also made 2 cakes, and I just cut it in half.

Next up the Eggs Benedict and a chardonnay after church.  The recipe is super easy.  I just split English muffins and top with Canadian bacon.  I like to warm them up together in the oven at 300 degrees, while I'm poaching the eggs.  For the eggs themselves I like an egg poached for about 3:30.  If they need to sit in the oven on top of the ham for a second batch of eggs I usually poach for about 3 minutes.  And then the hollandaise sauce, this is my mother's and I always have good luck with it.

2 egg yolks

1 stick of butter -divided in 1/2

1 T lemon juice

Over a double boiler heat 1/2 stick butter the egg yolks and lemon juice until it comes together as a sauce whisking continuously.  Off heat whisk small chunks of the remaining butter into the sauce.  If you need to put the sauce pan back on top of the double boiler.  This should be enough for 3 servings. I usually double this for 5 people.

Finally we ended the day with my fried chicken; this is always a weekend project. On the menu we also had baked sweet potatoes, kale salad and corn relish that I canned last summer.  I don't think any of us had room for dessert.

What way did you escape the weather?

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Keeping it Easy for Lunch

As I said last week I really like to be prepared for my breakfast and lunch for the school week.  I find that way I honestly don't have to think too much the night before. I just pack my lunch and stick it in the fridge, and I'm ready to go the next morning except for filling my water bottle. Oh and don't forget I love to eat breakfast.  Since its winter my favorite meal for lunch is soup.  I try to eat vegetarian for lunch. I really do love meat of all kinds, and I'm not afraid to say I serve it to my family for dinner most nights save for a vegetarian or fish meal once or twice a week.  I also have found that I have more energy with a lighter lunch. I have the advantage that I can have a snack when I come home in the afternoon, if I'm really hungry.  So what was this week's lunch? Broccoli and Cheese Soup. I usually add another helping of fruit or some nuts in my lunch too; if I'm feeling really hungry. This photo was from home today; I'm using up leftovers so I served it with the last of my sourdough bread and a wonderful creamy cheese.

Also it's rare that I snack at school however one of my colleagues made homemade fruit leather.  It was a great addition one day this week.  The red is a strawberry and blueberry purée (no sugar added and none needed) and the yellow/gold is unsweetened applesauce with a  sprinkling of cinnamon.  They were really good.  It makes me think about owning or playing around with a friend's dehydrator.

Please do think about planning a head a little bit for at least one meal this next week -its amazing how easy, less expensive and way better for you it is.  Plus if you make a lot of a soup you can even freeze some to pull out at a later day or even a dinner.

Bon Appétit, 

and as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Breakfast Diary

So I've been seeing a lot of what I ate this week posts, a food diary per se.  I really like to read these to get ideas and just to see what other people are eating in different parts of the country and the world.  I allow myself during the weekdays about 20 minutes or so to make and eat breakfast.  So needless to say breakfast needs to be quick.  I'm thankful that I like toast, eggs, and avocados because they are all quick, filling and a healthy way to start out my day. My drink of choice is coffee.  I have a programmable coffee maker so it is ready when I am.

One of my favorites is avocado toast, topped with lemon olive oil and either a poached or fried egg.  I prefer a poached egg, but honestly it is much quicker to make a fried egg; I don't need the water to heat up.  I almost always have homemade sourdough bread around so this super easy.

Speaking of toast I still love my toast with ricotta cheese, ground flax seed and homemade jam.  I almost always have a piece of fruit with this as well.

I was in a hurry this morning so I didn't chop my left over broccoli, but the scrambled eggs and broccoli still tasted good and were quick to make.  The bread is a craisin orange bread that uses whole wheat flour and oats to cut out some of the AP flour.  Of course I can't forget my fruit and coffee.

What did you enjoy for breakfast this week?

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

January Round-Up

January has passed by really quickly.  Maybe just because I'm getting older or I've just been trying a few new things recently.  I've wanted to pick up painting again, but I haven't gotten there yet.  There is still February and much more of 2018.  However I have done a few things this month.

What I read: 

Beartown is about the aftermath of a rape in a small town in Sweden that is entirely focused on hockey. This book was very well written.  Usually a book with a plot revolving around a rape is something I wouldn't read, but this was so much more. It was gut wrenching and very difficult to put down.

On the other hand the The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper was charming.  It is about an old man who learns about the "secret" life of his recently diseased wife and in the process learns about himself too. 

What I've been listening to: 

I've recently started listening to podcasts when I run in the morning just as a change from the norm. The collection on Gastropod is really interesting. It combines food with history and science.  I'm interested in finding new podcasts.

What I've cooked:

Kale and goat cheese cups for breakfast.  They were super easy to make on Sunday and warmed up well in the microwave all week.  I would suggest cooking the kale a little more than the recommended 2 minutes. Maybe a feta would be delicious as well for a change.  Here I served it with a chocolate chip banana bread.  This is a great way to start my day before school.  

I hope your month was as enjoyable as mine.  

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Shrimp Scampi Pizza

This was a great quick put together lunch my daughter came up with over her winter break.  We had shrimp on hand and wanted to come up with a way to use it that we both  would enjoy.  Of course since I eat almost anything that's not really hard.  The trick for her is that she's lactose intolerant so our cheese selection is very limited. She found several recipes for shrimp pizza on Pinterest and created this one.  There aren't really any exact measurements.

We sautéd peeled and deveined shrimp in butter and garlic for about 2-3 minutes.  (Before sautéing them I took off the hard parts of the tail, and if the shrimp were extra large we cut them into smaller pieces.

Next we added about 1/4 -1/2 cup white wine and chicken stock and covered the pot for a quick braise.

As a pizza base we chose a large piece of herb and garlic flavored naan.  Honestly the plain would have been just as good.

We layered shrimp, a bit of the braising liquid and then Parmesan cheese.  We topped it all with a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper.  Honestly this is my new favorite pepper.  It's a little less spicy than crushed chilies yet it gives a bit of warmth  to the food.

The pizza baked for about 12 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Bon Appétit!
And as always with love from the Midwest,
Beth