Week of June 20, 2011 {Meal Plan}

Inspiration and Ideas:

• We have lots of leftovers from last night's Father's Day feast including: blueberry basil turkey burgers, potato salad, black bean salad, green salad, mac & cheese, grape pie, & pavlova.
• My left-over-disappearing-machine, aka Alex, is traveling to Connecticut this week.
• I am terribly jealous. I want to travel, don't want to single parent, and have no plans this week, except...
• I am teaching Jam Canning on Tuesday evening at Wild Goose. Space is still available!
• Greens and herbs are growing like crazy in the yard.

Meal Plan:

Monday - transform bean salad into chili, serve with green salad

Tuesday - sandwich before the class

Wednesday - Lil's choice, probably spaghetti and meatballs

Thursday - something from the freezer? someone invite us to dinner?

Friday - whatever Alex wants after a week of restaurant dining, my bets are on simply cooked chicken or fish, rice, greens.

Saturday - Comfest! Dinner at a local restaurant stand

Sunday - family dinner after Berries class (spots still available here too: 2-4 pm at Franklin Park, register by calling 614.645.5923)

P.S. It's my mom's birthday today! Happy birthday to the lady who raised a bunch of fine cooks!

Meal Plan March 14, 2011

Influences:

• Pi Day Monday! I'll post a linky and hope you will join in the fun with a pi/pie/pies story or recipe
• St. Patrick's Day Thursday
• Big portions of pork, chicken, rice, and beans leftovers from a weekend party
• Request from a friend for my homemade mac and cheese
• Teaching Charcuterie class Tuesday at Franklin Park Conservatory (Call and see if there are spots remaining if you want to eat sausage and bacon with us!)

Menu:

Monday - southwestern chicken soup and cornbread

Tuesday - sausages and spinach salad with warm bacon dressing

Wednesday - spinach lasagna

Thursday - corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, home brewed strong ale

Friday - homemade macaroni and cheese dinner with friends

Saturday - dinner out after School for Young Children benefit auction

Sunday - dinner at Alex's parents with a German family friend

Leftover Cakes

I have an unnatural obsession with using up leftovers.  Even though the chickens now eat most of our food scraps, I still hate to waste.  All that effort to source ingredients and cook them well just shouldn't end up in the chicken bin or the trash in my opinion.

I find myself often making leftover cakes.  Maybe one of you can come up with a more clever and appetizing name.

It starts with a few cups of a starchy leftover such as mashed potatoes, lentils, couscous, or risotto.  I add in a little bread or cracker crumbs and egg to make the cakes hold together.

Then the mix is dropped into a skillet with a little olive oil and pan fried on each side.

I usually serve the cakes with homemade ketchup or chopped seasoned fresh veggies to add a bright dimension to the dish.  They're a nice thing to serve in the summer when no one wants to use the oven.

Leftover Cakes

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes, risotto, lentils, couscous or other starchy grain

1/4 cup bread or cracker crumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix together leftovers, crumbs and egg.  Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high and add olive oil.  Drop leftover mixture into skillet.  Cook five minutes and flip to the other side.  Continue cooking until cakes are cooked through and browned on both sides.

Using Up Leftovers (i.e. lazy food)

I am lazy at heart.  Want evidence of this?  How many times have you seen me post on this food blog that is run out of my own home.  Exactly. We just got back from a lunchtime ride and I wanted something fast and easy for lunch.  After taking stock of the fridge, the only things that piqued my interest were the week old leftover chicken and the shitake mushrooms from the CSA that Rachel does not terribly like.  What to do, what to do....

I've got it, let's make Alex's famous hash:

2 potatoes (peeled and diced)

1/2 cup chopped shitake mushrooms

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cooked chicken breast and two cooked chicken thighs (all chicken diced uniformly).

2 T Worchestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Start your pan over a high heat while you are peeling and dicing potatoes.  My non-stick wok works best for cooking potatoes this way.  Toss the diced potatoes in with some olive oil salt and pepper.  As they cook, toss the pan every two minutes or so so that they brown on all sides.  Keep your dice small and they will cook all through this way.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop up the rest of your ingredients.  After the potatoes have had about ten minutes to cook, add the onions and mushrooms.  Three or so minutes after this add the chicken.  As soon as the chicken is hot, your dish is done.

Throughout the cooking process, I like to add Worchestershire sauce as a seasoning.  I like the flavor it brings to potatoes and of course it goes well with meat.  It is a delicious dish, but I must admit the shitakes are pretty much lost in the mess due to the other heavy flavors.  Oh well, they needed to be used.

My point here is that leftovers can yield a very pleasant and easy meal.  You don't need a set recipe, just a set of procedures depending on what ingredients are on hand.  For this dish, there were really only a few rules I had to play by:

1. Potatoes take longest to cook out of my stock of ingredients.

2. The vegetables need to cook, but need less time than the potatoes.

3. The chicken really only needs to reheat as it is already cooked.

I can think of a few other dishes to make with these ingredients.  Maybe a quick chicken and mushroom stew or soup.  Or, how about a fritata with the available ingredients and some extra herbs.  Just remember cooking times required for the various items and deal with them appropriately.