Leftovers....What to Do???

How many people truly like leftovers??  

I have a confession to make...this girl doesn't...there's a few things that I don't mind but for the most part I just can't stand them.  I'm not alone in this, my grandpa, who was born in the 1930's, who can't stand waste, who thinks a slice of bread with gravy=dessert and who will grab anything off the side of the road that "seems" useful shares this trait with me.  There's just something about leftovers that DOESN'T turn my crank.  

So, what do I do with leftovers?? 

Well, when Aaron was working in Guelph and had access to a microwave for lunch, he had no problem taking leftovers for lunch, but those days are over and done with now.  Looks like I'm in between a rock and hard place when it comes to leftovers now:(  I guess it's time to get creative and figure out how to make use of what's left or reduce our portion sizes so much that we don't have any.  Reducing portion sizes isn't happening so it looks like figuring something out is the only way to go.  

So, Monday was a beautiful day and I fired up the grill for the first time this year and was so excited.  We had steaks and asparagus on the grill with some fried onions and the weirdo that I am, some hollandaise for my steak too.  Guess what, I was left with the dreaded leftovers...no asparagus, that was gone in no time, but there was plenty of steak left.  That's a big problem because leftover steak is on my "not a chance in hell am I reheating that and eating it" list.  What's a girl to do:(  Well this girl decided that fajitas would be a good idea to make use of the hunks of meat sitting in my fridge.  I bet you can guess what we had for dinner on Wednesday night...that's right, steak fajitas...bet you didn't see that coming...lol.  

Fajitas are always a quick and easy meal but I usually do chicken.  Since I was already changing it up I figured why not marinade the leftover meat after I sliced it up to give it some extra pizzazz so that's exactly what I did...hey, my kitchen, my rules right:)  Anyways, if you're a fan of fajitas this might just be something you want to check out cause I think I'm on to something here.  

Leftover Steak Fajitas

For the Marinade

1/2 c. Lime Juice

1/4 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Tsp Ground Coriander

1/2 Tsp Chili Powder

1/2 Tsp Cumin

For the Fajitas

1-2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 lb Leftover Steak, cut into slices

2 Bell Peppers, cut into slices

1 Red Onion, cut into slices

1 Tbsp Epicure Fajita Seasoning

8 Flour Tortillas

Sour Cream, Salsa & Shredded Cheese

This recipe is so easy it's not even funny, I started it off by mixing all the ingredients for the marinade together and pouring it in a Ziplock bag with the steak slices and letting it marinade for about an hour, to be honest, I would probably give it more time the next time to boost the flavour.

Check out that garlic...I love garlic:)

Ready to hit the fridge.

Once the steak was done marinading I heated the olive oil over medium heat and added the steak.  I just grabbed it by the handful and tossed it in so it wouldn't be too liquidy with the marinade but if you want to add some of the marinade in with it feel free, you might have to add a little bit of cornstarch/flour to thicken it up though.  

Since the steak was already cooked I added the veggies right away, if it was uncooked I'd let it cook a bit before adding the veggies so they don't get to soft.

Once the veggies were in I added the tablespoon of Epicure Fajita Seasoning and stirred everything all up.  Then I let it basically heat up for about 7-8 minutes, until the veggies had softened up a bit.

That's it, that's all...when everything is ready to go it was fajita making time. 

So I always start off with a plain flour tortilla...well d'uh, don't we all:)

Then I add a little bit of sour cream.

Next up is some salsa.

Then the cheese.

Finally time for the meat and veggies.

And my finished product looks like this:)

I must say, not bad for leftovers...I may convert to a leftovertarian yet...lol.

It's a Little Chili Out

It must be the cold weather that makes me crave the warmth that Mexican styled food gives me.  I don't know why, it just seems to warm me up from the inside out.  It seems that as I get older the cold holds less fun and more aches and pains.  I wonder how it is that as a kid I would have no problem jumping in a pool in the middle of April but now unless it's as warm as yellow toilet water I don't even want to dip in a toe...lol.  Needless to say, I want something to warm me up today and nothing does that like a good bowl of chili and fresh out of the oven cornbread so that's what on the menu tonight. 

Over here at Collver Inc., we have some chili problems though...I don't like beans, Aaron does and Aaron doesn't like spicy foods but I do.  I've spent some time checking out lots of different recipes, experimented with a couple and have come up with one that I wanted to test drive today.  It's a mix of a couple recipes from my Cook's Illustrated and Best of Bridge Slow Cooker cookbooks.  Another thing I wanted to try out today was using the whole dried chilis I have, I've never cooked with them before and figured chili would be a good way to start.  

Well, here I go, an experiment that I hope turns out for the good:)

Chili Con Carrie (Attempt 1)

1 Lb Extra Lean Ground Beef
2 Mild Italian Sausages, casings removed, pinched into bite size pieces
5 Slices Bacon, cut into  1" pieces

2 Medium Onions
5 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 28 oz. Can Diced Tomatoes with Juice
1 19 oz. Can Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1 Cup Chicken Broth
2 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Cornmeal
1 1/2 Tbsp Epicure's Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 Tbsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 Tsp Epicure's Ground Coriander
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Whole Dried Chilis
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp Epicure's Masa Harina
1/3 Cup Water

 

To start things off, I removed the stems and seeds from the dried chilis, this is where a lot of the heat is stored so that won't do, but if you like the spice, save some of the seeds for a kick of heat.  Once everything was out, I tore them up into smaller pieces and put them in a large skillet over medium-high heat to toast them, stirring frequently so they don't burn, it'll turn them bitter, and toasted them for about 4 minutes.  If they start to smoke, turn down the heat, you just want them to soften up a bit and start to be fragrant.  Once they're done, I threw them in my food processor to cool down.

 



This is where the major heat
from a chili comes from

While waiting for the chilis to cool down, I started cooking the meats.  First up was the bacon, the skillet I used for chilis, heat it over medium-high heat and add the bacon.  I wanted it to brown up and start to crisp so stirring it frequently I let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon I transferred it to my slow cooker and then added the sausage and browned it for about 2-3 minutes.  Again with the slotted spoon it went into the slow cooker.  Next up was the ground beef.  I added it to the pan an broke it up into small pieces while it was cooking, about 4-5 minutes.

Browning the sausage

While the beef was cooking I added the chipotle chili, cumin, oregano, ground coriander and a 1/4 tsp salt to the processor and processed it until it was finely ground, about 2 minutes.  Then, leaving the processor running I added just over a 1/4 cup of the chicken stock to make a paste.  Once it was done, I scrapped it into a small bowl.  I tossed the onions into the processor next and pulsed it about 6 or so times to roughly chop them. 

Chili Paste

Once the beef was done cooking I added it to the bacon and sausage in the slow cooker and drained all but a tablespoon or so of the grease.  I reduced the heat on the stove to medium and added the onions and cooked them until they were softened, about 5 minutes.  Then I added the garlic and cooked it until it was fragrant, about another minute.  From there I added the chili paste, tomatoes and brown sugar and stirred it up until the chili paste was mixed through.  I added the remaining broth and brought the whole mixture to a boil, scrapping the bottom of the pan for any brown bits. 

















I poured the mixture over the meats and added the beans and lime juice. Then I gave it a good stir and put the cover on.  I cooked it on high for 5 hours but you could also do it for 6-8 hours on low heat. 

About an hour and a half into cooking I had a little taste test.  There was a big bite:)  It cleared my sinuses and they didn't need clearing...Aaron definitely wouldn't be able to take it and neither would the kids, so I added another 2 1/2 Tbsp of Brown Sugar and a half a cup of water. 

About 20 minutes before serving I mixed the Masa Harina with the water and then added it to the chili to thicken it up a bit and then tossed in the chopped up Red Bell Pepper.  I had given it another taste test just before adding the peppers and Masa Harina paste and again, it was hot, so I added a 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar and a 1/2 Tbsp of White Sugar.

I LOVE Cornbread:)

It looks good...but it'll clear your sinuses,
a little too much heat :(

After serving it up with some homemade cornbread, which was awesome, it was a good chili if you like the heat, for what I wanted not so much.  I had invited Jay over for dinner and he ended up taking the leftovers home because it was more along the lines of his taste.  For myself, I'm disappointed with my little concoction, my goal was to not have a lot of heat to it and I know I didin't acheive that.  Oh well, that's how experimentation goes, next time I'm going to try dropping the Chipotle Chili to 1/2-1 Tbsp and the Cayenne Pepper to an 1/8 Tsp and only use 1 Whole Dried Chili Pepper so that I hopefully won't have to add additional sugar and water to tone it down. 

If you like your chili with a good bite, this one's for you...if not, I'll let you know how the "toned down" version is when I make it. 

A Valentine's Day Warm Me Up

You know what the best part about being in the kitchen is, well other then eating, it's being able to experiment and come up with your own recipes.  How many people have a favorite recipe, or two or ten, that's been handed down to you from someone in your family or a friend.  I know I do and I know that I want to be able to hand some of my own down to my kids. 

One of my favorite things to do when I'm not cooking, is sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by recipe books and my iPad and find five or six different recipes of the same thing and then pick and choose what I want to use to make it my own.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but either way I've created something that I can call my own.  That's what I'm doing today and the funny thing is, I even ended up changing some things on the fly.

There's nothing like a warm bowl of stew to warm the soul, and since it's Valentine's Day too, which of course warms the heart, I figured trying out the Beef Barley Stew recipe I spent a couple hours coming up with would be a great thing to make for dinner tonight. 

I found my "inspiration" for this recipe from my Williams-Sonoma, Cooking at Home cookbook, which you can find here and the following list of blogs and a website, which of course you should check out because they've got some fantastic stuff!!

Picky Palate

She Knows

Nutmeg Nanny

Skinny Taste

Canadian Living

 

 

Beef Barley Stew

(This is the original I wrote out, there ended up being some changes as I went)

 

5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Unsalted Butter (I like to use a mix of both)

1-1 1/2 lbs Roast, Cubed (I used a Rump Roast I had in the freezer)2-3 Beef Marrow Bones or Soup Bones

4-5 Carrots, peeled and chopped

2-3 Celery Stalks, chopped

1 Onion, chopped

14 oz can Diced Tomatoes, roasted if possible

1/2 c. Pearl Barley, more if you want, up to 2/3c.

2 cloves Garlic, minced

48 ozs Beef Broth or Water, more if needed

2 Bay Leaves

1/2 tsp Dried Thyme

1 Tsp Kosher/Coarse Salt, plus 1/2 tsp to coat beef

Fresh Ground Pepper to taste, plus about 1/2 tsp to coat beef

1/2 c. Unbleached All Purpose Flour, to coat beef

 

So, the first thing I did was get all my ingredients together, this is where some changes on the fly happened.  First, I didn't have any marrow or soup bones, which sucked because I know they add a really nice flavour to stews.  I also didn't have "normal" carrots, but I did have baby carrots, so I went with those.  Of course I only had a 28 oz can of Diced Tomatoes, so I split it up and I'll use the other half for something else.  Last but not least, I only had one carton of Beef Broth, but I had a partial carton leftover from last night of Vegetable Broth that I didn't want to go to waste, so instead of 48 ozs of Beef Broth/Water, I used about 52 ozs of Beef/Vegetable Broth and added about another 1/4 c. Pearl Barley.

 

I removed any of the excess fat from the roast, which I set aside to use to make my own beef stock later, and then cubed it up.

 

Then I added the 1/2c. flour, salt and pepper and stirred it up to coat the beef before I browned it.

 

 

 

I heated up 3 tbsp of the EVOO/Butter in a large skillet over medium heat on the stove and added the beef. That was cooked for about 5-8 minutes to brown it on all sides and then transfered to my big 6 qt slow cooker.

 

 





Then, because I hate dishes, I added the remaining EVOO/Butter to the skillet and dumped in the chopped up carrots, celery, onion, garlic and thyme and cooked it for about 5 minutes. 

When the 5 minutes were up, I added the tomoatos and cooked them for another 5 minutes, scraping up any of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. From there it was into the slow cooker with the meat.

 

 

 

Finally, I stirred in the rest of the ingredients...the Pearl Barley, Beef/Vegetable Broth mix and the 2 Bay Leaves.

 

 

Because I wanted it done in time for Aaron to take to work, I cooked it on high for 5 hours, stirring occasionally, but you could also cook it on low for 8-10 hours if that's what you wanted.

Of course while waiting there's always a ton of dishes to do...I'm lucky enough to have a little helper...all it takes is for her to hear the dishwasher open and she's running for the kitchen to help.  I hope this continues on into her teen years, I know chances are it won't:)

Here's what was waiting for me after the 5 hours:)

I decided to whip up some Garlic & Cheddar Biscuits, aka Red Lobster Biscuits, to go with this.  I didn't have enough Bisquick which was actually a blessing in disguise because awhile ago I found a Homemade Baking Mix recipe I wanted to try and I'm so glad I did.  I can honestly say, I don't think I'll be buying any more Bisquick, these were some of the best biscuits I've ever made.  Keep checking back for these recipes, I will get to posting them someday:)

Another dinner's in the books and I got a thumbs up all around, I had to work on Connor a bit, he saw vegetables and was sure it was going to be horrible but in the end, he cleaned his bowl:)

 

 

 

On a side note...I went to visit my dad and stepmom tonight and my grandma has recently moved to a retirement home, so she's been downsizing.  Rita, my stepmom, brought home a couple cookbooks for me from my grandma.  She knows I have a thing for the old Five Roses cookbooks, I don't know what it is about them, I think it's because I always went through her Five Roses when I was a kid looking at recipes and wanting to cook out of it.  Anyways, I opened it up and wouldn't you know it, the copyright in it was from 1913...I now have a ONE HUNDRED YEAR OLD cookbook...how freaking cool is that!!