This is my favorite new seasoning! Well, it's not new, I've already been through 3 bottles....I guess it's my favorite summer seasoning!
I usually use this on my green salad but I've started using it on my grilled veggies and it is sooooo good!
Grilled veggies
Yellow squash, zuchinni, potatoes- white or sweet, carrots, green beans, eggplant, onion whatever is growing in the garden that needs to be eaten; cut into 2 inch squares or 1/2 inch slices.
Chop the veggies and place on heavy duty aluminum foil that has been sprayed with no-stick cooking spray or drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle with Cavender's greek seasoning(salt-free) and chopped garlic. You can add extra fresh basil or parsley. Seal up with another aluminum foil sheet. Place on hot grill for 10 minutes, flip and cook another 5 minutes. Remove from grill and carefully open packet to check for doneness. I will sometimes, put the foil packet back on the grill if it needs a few minutes to cook or open it up and cook it while my meat is cooking so the veggies get more oven baked instead of steamed.
Serve with more of the seasoning....oh it is so good. make sure you cook extra, a fritata using this veggie combination makes for an easy weeknight meal!
A journal of recipes and ideas to help readers laugh a little at everyday things and realize just how blessed they are!
Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Shepherds Pie
I promised a recipe for shepherds pie today using leftovers. First, let me tell you a little something about me that you have probably already guessed. I like to eat...suprise! No really, I like to eat. I think in order to be a great cook, one needs to really enjoy the experience. I'm already thinking of my next meal by the time I am preparing to eat my current one. I also like to experiment with food. Now, I'm not one of those people who mix strange things together and call it 'blending' flavors. No, most of my experimentation comes from an existing recipe that I can tweak and make it a bit better in my mouth. Remember for me, it's all about eating the finished product! The last secret I'm going to divulge today is...my recipe for shepherds pie! Ha! Ha! You really thought I was on a secret divulging roll!
Ok, here goes...you need to know that this is a fluid recipe. Meaning it changes depending on what you have that you need to eat out of the fridge. This is about using up leftovers that would otherwise get tossed or in my house given to the large german shephard that thinks she's my lap dog! She gets well fed as it is, she doesn't need my leftover pot roast!
If you plan your meals smartly, you will have everything you need for this meal already in the fridge by thursday night. Can you tell which night we usually have this? Pot roast and carrots on sunday, mashed potatoes from tuesday or wednesday. Assorted veggies from earlier in the week. I look forward to this meal when it's on the menu, I can even make it in the morning or the night before and store it in the fridge until I put it into the oven.
I make this in a round casserole. For large families, a 9x13 baking dish would also work.
Leftover meat - can be beef, pork, chicken, ground beef
Cut into bite size portions and place on the bottom of the pan.
Place veggies you have on top of meat. Carrots, corn, green beans, peas, whatever you have.
Liquid - This also varies for me. I sometimes have the roast liquid that I have placed in the fridge to harden off the fat. If I don't have that, I'll use beef broth or french onion soup. Mix 1 cup of brown gravy, this can be from a mix or a jar or homemade to the other liquid to make about 2-4 cups depending on the size of the casserole. You want the liquid to cover the meat and veggies in the pan.
I sprinkle a little cheddar cheese on top of all this.
Leftover mashed potatoes. Double the normal amount you make when you make them earlier in the week. In a pinch, I guess it would be alright to use instant! I just don't happen to like instant so for me only the real deal will work. Place them on top of the stuff in the casserole and make sure the potatoes seal the edges.
Place uncovered in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes until gravy begins to bubble up through the potatoes.
Serve by dishing up onto plates so the potatoes end up on the bottom with the meat, veggies and gravy on top. One of my son's friends loves this dish. I've never told him that it's leftovers! What he doesn't know won't hurt him!
You won't need a side with this but I am a salad queen. If we don't have a salad, I don't think the meal is complete, so I serve a salad! I'll cover my issues with salads on another day...maybe I'll need a full week.
Ok, here goes...you need to know that this is a fluid recipe. Meaning it changes depending on what you have that you need to eat out of the fridge. This is about using up leftovers that would otherwise get tossed or in my house given to the large german shephard that thinks she's my lap dog! She gets well fed as it is, she doesn't need my leftover pot roast!
If you plan your meals smartly, you will have everything you need for this meal already in the fridge by thursday night. Can you tell which night we usually have this? Pot roast and carrots on sunday, mashed potatoes from tuesday or wednesday. Assorted veggies from earlier in the week. I look forward to this meal when it's on the menu, I can even make it in the morning or the night before and store it in the fridge until I put it into the oven.
I make this in a round casserole. For large families, a 9x13 baking dish would also work.
Leftover meat - can be beef, pork, chicken, ground beef
Cut into bite size portions and place on the bottom of the pan.
Place veggies you have on top of meat. Carrots, corn, green beans, peas, whatever you have.
Liquid - This also varies for me. I sometimes have the roast liquid that I have placed in the fridge to harden off the fat. If I don't have that, I'll use beef broth or french onion soup. Mix 1 cup of brown gravy, this can be from a mix or a jar or homemade to the other liquid to make about 2-4 cups depending on the size of the casserole. You want the liquid to cover the meat and veggies in the pan.
I sprinkle a little cheddar cheese on top of all this.
Leftover mashed potatoes. Double the normal amount you make when you make them earlier in the week. In a pinch, I guess it would be alright to use instant! I just don't happen to like instant so for me only the real deal will work. Place them on top of the stuff in the casserole and make sure the potatoes seal the edges.
Place uncovered in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes until gravy begins to bubble up through the potatoes.
Serve by dishing up onto plates so the potatoes end up on the bottom with the meat, veggies and gravy on top. One of my son's friends loves this dish. I've never told him that it's leftovers! What he doesn't know won't hurt him!
You won't need a side with this but I am a salad queen. If we don't have a salad, I don't think the meal is complete, so I serve a salad! I'll cover my issues with salads on another day...maybe I'll need a full week.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
New life for old leftovers!
I hear people say 'I don't do leftovers!'. Well, I don't either! I will take them in my lunch but I do not like eating the same thing over and over again! BORING!!!
When I was first married, I went to auctions a lot to buy furniture for our home. They were held in the afternoons and since I was in college, I would schedule my classes so I was off on in the afternoons. We are still using some of my auction buys. I also found that at many auctions, there would be a table of old cookbooks. Since I love to read, I enjoyed reading the tips from those old books. I began collecting them and have quite an assortment today!
One thing I realized when reading those books is that years ago, women cooked so there would be leftovers to repurpose into meals later in the week. Almost like Big-Batch cooking on a small scale. In those books lay recipes for using leftovers in new dishes that no one would know about but me! Since it was just my husband and me, we had a lot of leftovers. I began to try out the recipes and he didn't realize he was eating a recycled meal.
One such meal is roast beef hash. I'm not talking about the stuff you find in a can at the grocery store. I've never purchased it but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't touch my mouth with a ten foot pole! I'm not into mushed up stuff! I'm talking about using last sunday's pot roast on thursday night as a wonderful casserole filled with chunks of beef or pork, diced potatoes, carrots and corn and mixed veggies! I've even served it to guests and have been asked for the recipe!
This is one of those recipes you can size to fit your family. I usually use a round casserole type dish with tall walls.
Dice up leftover roast removing any fat- don't like fat!!!
Dice up leftover potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, anything left from the pot roast.
Add 1 cup of mixed frozen veggies, corn, whatever you like. Canned also works but drain first.
Place all that into the casserole.
Take the juice from the roast(first skim off the fat - don't like fat!!)and either make gravy from scratch or use a brown gravy mix(use twice as much water to the gravy mix). You will need about 2 cups of gravy, you want it runny. Pour over the ingredients in the casserole.
Cover and bake at 350F until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 10 minutes more. I sprinkle with cheddar cheese before serving. Serve this with crusty rolls and a green salad. It is a meal in itself if you're pressed for time.
Tomorrow, I'll give you a shephards pie recipe using leftovers!
When I was first married, I went to auctions a lot to buy furniture for our home. They were held in the afternoons and since I was in college, I would schedule my classes so I was off on in the afternoons. We are still using some of my auction buys. I also found that at many auctions, there would be a table of old cookbooks. Since I love to read, I enjoyed reading the tips from those old books. I began collecting them and have quite an assortment today!
One thing I realized when reading those books is that years ago, women cooked so there would be leftovers to repurpose into meals later in the week. Almost like Big-Batch cooking on a small scale. In those books lay recipes for using leftovers in new dishes that no one would know about but me! Since it was just my husband and me, we had a lot of leftovers. I began to try out the recipes and he didn't realize he was eating a recycled meal.
One such meal is roast beef hash. I'm not talking about the stuff you find in a can at the grocery store. I've never purchased it but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't touch my mouth with a ten foot pole! I'm not into mushed up stuff! I'm talking about using last sunday's pot roast on thursday night as a wonderful casserole filled with chunks of beef or pork, diced potatoes, carrots and corn and mixed veggies! I've even served it to guests and have been asked for the recipe!
This is one of those recipes you can size to fit your family. I usually use a round casserole type dish with tall walls.
Dice up leftover roast removing any fat- don't like fat!!!
Dice up leftover potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, anything left from the pot roast.
Add 1 cup of mixed frozen veggies, corn, whatever you like. Canned also works but drain first.
Place all that into the casserole.
Take the juice from the roast(first skim off the fat - don't like fat!!)and either make gravy from scratch or use a brown gravy mix(use twice as much water to the gravy mix). You will need about 2 cups of gravy, you want it runny. Pour over the ingredients in the casserole.
Cover and bake at 350F until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 10 minutes more. I sprinkle with cheddar cheese before serving. Serve this with crusty rolls and a green salad. It is a meal in itself if you're pressed for time.
Tomorrow, I'll give you a shephards pie recipe using leftovers!
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