Leftover Makeover – Potato Rolls

Normally when I have leftover mashed potatoes, they tend to get thrown out unless Hubby eats them. I just don’t like reheated mashed potatoes. Blech.

I stumbled across a recipe on Zaar that saves my unloved leftovers! Quick and Easy Potato Rolls. These are basically biscuits made with leftover mashed potatoes. Can’t hurt to try them, right?  So I made some up last night. Not only is the dough super easy to work with and they come together in no time, the recipe produces a light, fluffy, slightly sweet biscuit. YUM! I’ll be making these again for sure!

Leftover Makeover – Pineapple Fried Rice

A couple of nights ago I had made Pork Skewers with Pineapple Scallion Rice. I didn’t have any pork leftover but I had a ton of rice. Instead of just eating plain ol’ rice again, I decided to make something a little more interesting. I had some diced pork chops in the fridge that needed to be eaten, so I started with those.  Had I not been feeding the hubby, I would have used tofu. I added some chopped onion and garlic, then raided the fridge to see what vegetables were lurking in there. 

I ended up with green onions, snow peas, a handful of shredded carrots and some green cabbage. Basically a stir fry. I added some sesame oil and soy sauce as the vegetables were cooking. When they were almost done, I added the rice and a little more soy sauce. As that was cooking away, I beat two eggs, then poured that in, scrambling them into the mix. Voila! Dinner is served! I steamed some pork buns and shrimp gyoza from out of the freezer to go with the rice. Fast and easy dinner – and a great way to clean out the fridge!

Dinner – Pork Scallopine

I had a pork roast in the fridge that needed to be cooked, and I didn’t really want to do the whole “roast” thing, so I decided to cut it up and make… Scallopine! Loosely based on a chicken scallopine recipe I found on Recipe Zaar, it was pretty easy to make!

First I cut the roast into 1/2 inch slices. Then I pounded those down to about 1/4 inch each and dropped them into a ziplock bag with flour. In hindsight, dredging them in flour in a small pan would have been easier and more effective. I heated a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet and browned the pork on both sides. I set aside the browned meat, with a tinfoil tent to keep it warm while I made the sauce.

I deglazed the pan with chicken broth, then added onions, lemon zest and lemon juice. I let this reduce for about 5 minutes, then added just a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. Meanwhile I boiled some mini gnocchi and steamed some green beans. The gnocchi was simply dressed with a bit of butter. With the sauce for the meat that was all it really needed. Dinner is served!

Bacon Cheddar Bread

We ran out of bread yesterday and hubby needed some for sandwiches for work. Time to pull out the bread machine! I love the bread machine. Just dump and let it do its thing.

Every time I make bread, I try a different recipe. I had limited ingredients this time around, so I raided the fridge to see what I could find – leftover bacon! And a small hunk of cheddar cheese. Perfect!

 

The bread was done before dinner was ready, so of course Hubby had to have a steaming hot loaf drowned in butter. You could smell the bacon and see the little flecks of red/brown throughout the loaf. The outside of the loaf was nice and crusty, but the inside was soft and moist. Perfect for sandwiches for this week.

If it lasts that long.

Teriyaki Meatloaf and Taters

Hubby is a meat-n-taters sort of guy. Me? I’d probably be a vegetarian if he weren’t around. Last night, dinner was all about him. I made a Teriyaki Meatloaf, flavored with brown sugar and soy sauce, with more of the same drizzled on the top. It really did taste a bit like teriyaki. I also made roasted sweet and regular potatoes and peas. The meatloaf was inhaled. Seriously. I looked over and his plate was EMPTY! That doesn’t happen all that often.

The potatoes I did in a very simple way. I just tossed them with a good drizzle of olive oil, then spread them on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Then I sprinkled them with salt and freshly ground black pepper. I could have added herbs – sage or rosemary would have been especially nice, but I was looking for simplicity. They were baked (with the meatloaf) for about 25 minutes. Just until they were done, and browning very slightly on the edges. I don’t like over-browned potatoes. Hubby won’t eat sweet potatoes, but I love them, so he got mostly white potatoes and I got mostly sweets. Fine by me!

 

Dinner all plated up. The peas were simply frozen peas I zapped in the microwave. But we had clean plates all the way around!

Hubby was sent off to work today with a meatloaf sandwich – on homemade bread!

Gingerbread Skeletons – Cookie of the Week #4

I knew when I saw these cookies on Epicurious that I was going to have to make them. I completely enamoured with the concept. They are the perfect cookie to make around Halloween time!

The dough MUST be refrigerated before trying to work with it. It is very soft, but produces a light, soft cookie.  In hindsight, I would have chilled the dough in small batches. It softens up very quickly as you are rolling and cutting your shapes.I went out and bought a set of

 

 

 

 

animal cookie cutters specifically for this recipe. With a toddler in the house, I have a feeling I’ll be using them often.  When looking at all the other kitchen and baking things at the store I found icing! Made by Wilton. I iced the cookies with this instead of making a separate batch of Royal icing. It was okay – a little sugary for my tastes. Looks pretty good on the cookies though.

 

 

Gingerbread Skeletons
Number of servings will depend on your cookie cutters

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 white decorating icing , with small tip In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together. Add molasses and water. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, ginger, and allspice. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and blend until the dough holds together.

 

Cover and chill for 2-3 hours.Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out dough 1/4″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and transfer to cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheets or cooling racks.

Using the white decorating icing, decorate the cookies with “bones” so that they resemble skeletons.

 

I let the cookies cool for about an hour before putting on the icing. I made skeleton fish, sharks, camels, bears, elephants, geckos, cats, flamingos and a bunch of others. Not exactly traditional Halloween cookies, but it was fun!! Half of the cookies are gone already thanks to Hubby and the Madster.  I couldn’t find my gingerbread men and women, so we only had animal skeletons. I don’t think anyone minded. lol.

 

Simple Pea Salad

I had a bunch of radishes in the fridge that needed to be used up before they got woody and chewy. So I did a quick little search through my recipe files and found a simple salad.This recipe originally appeared in the May 1990 issue of Gourmet Magazine.

Pea Salad
Serves 8

4 cups cooked peas
3/4 cup finely chopped scallion

1/2 cup finely chopped radish
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (to taste)

In a bowl toss together the peas, the scallion, the radish, the tarragon, the oil, the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste until the salad is combined well.

 

Via the wonders of RecipeZaar (which I use to store/file/sort all of my recipes) I scaled down the servings from 8 to 2. I used dried tarragon and red wine vinegar. I zapped frozen peas in the microwave for about a minute then just tossed everything together. Great quick lunch. And surprisingly very flavorful! I love peas with tarragon, and the radish gave the salad a nice crunch.

Pork Skewers with Pineapple Scallion Rice

I love easy meals!! This one comes from the Queen of 30-Minute Meals – Rachael Ray.

It is meant to be done on a grill, but since it is October, I baked these in the oven for about 20 minutes or so. It may be a simple recipe, but it is delicious! I also steamed some French green beans to go along with it.  I lined a cookie sheet with foil and just set the skewers on there. I had found a great deal on some gorgeous yellow bell peppers, so I added those to mine.I also doubled the amount of rice, reserving half (unseasoned/flavored) for lunches later this week. On the Everyday with Rachael Ray site, they suggest turning this meal into a pineapple fried rice by adding egg and frozen peas and quickly stir-frying. Sounds fantatic! And easy.

One thing the recipe does not say, is to discard the marinade after threading the skewers.  I used bamboo skewers. In the photo on the Rachel Ray site, they show metal ones. Use what you have.

 

 

Pork Skewers with Pineapple Scallion Rice. 

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained and juice reserved
1 garlic clove, smashed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1 1/4 lbs pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the pineapple juice, garlic, soy sauce, ginger and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add the pork and scallions and let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.Preheat an outdoor grill or grill pan to medium-high. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cups salted water to a boil. Add the rice, cover and cook over low heat for 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, thread the marinated pork and two-thirds of the pineapple chunks onto four 10-inch skewers and the marinated scallions onto one 10-inch skewer. Grill the kebabs, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

Coarsely chop the remaining pineapple chunks and stir into the cooked rice. Remove the grilled scallions from the skewer and stir into the rice. Serve the pork kebabs with the pineapple-scallion rice.

 

 

 

Assembly – pre-oven :

 

 

All plated up:
  

Empty Fridge – Bento #7

With nothing leftover from dinner but rice, I had to get creative for lunch yesterday. I had lots of veggies in the fridge and some Lemon Pesto Goat Cheese Dip I had made a few days ago, but what else? Time to check the freezer!! Some of this worked, and some didn’t – live and learn!

The box on the left has rice with salmon furikake, mini pork buns and shrimp gyoza on a bed of edamame. The shrimp gyoza was fantastic, but the pork buns got doughy and gross. I ended up picking out just the filling and tossing the dough. The tiny blue container in the corner has soy sauce.The box on the right has the goat cheese dip, veggies, grapes and canned peaches.  Not a terribly exciting lunch, but tasty anyway.

Cookie of the Week #3 – Cinnamon Orange Cream Cheese Cookies

In keeping with the fall flavors I’ve had going in my kitchen lately, I chose a cookie for this week that had spices that remind me of fall – orange and cinnamon. I just wish I had a more seasonally appropriate cutter. My maple leaf would have been too big for these. Time to go shopping! lol.

These cookies are nice little buttery things. A bit like a shortbread cookie, but more tender. Not too soft, or too dry, but perfect to have with a cup of tea or hot chocolate. They are golden and freckled with with bits orange and brown throughout.I upped the amount of spices and orange zest and ended up with a nicely flavored cookie. I did refrigerate the dough overnight and I think that was overkill because I had to let the dough warm up some before I was able to roll it out. An hour in the fridge would have been plenty. And next time I want to put some crystal sugar sprinkles on the top since they look a bit naked. Orange would be pretty (I didn’t have any) or plain white even. in order for that to work I would need to brush the tops of the cookies with water, egg or milk. The sugar won’t stick otherwise.

The dough and the cookies themselves would freeze well. I was tempted to freeze some of the cookies (pre-baking) for quick cookies, but I knew hubby would eat the whole batch this week. (He shares with the construction crew at work).

Cinnamon Orange Cream Cheese Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel

Mix together flour, cinnamon, allspice and salt. In medium bowl, using electric mixer set on low, beat together butter and cream cheese. Beat in sugar . Add orange juice and peel.

Add flour and spices, and beat until combined. Do not overbeat.

Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap for 2 – 2 1/2 hours or until dough is firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into your favorite cookie shape. (keep them small)

Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet in preheated 350°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.