Getting Creative With Leftovers

Better Than Yesterday Pizza

December 12, 2009 by Rebecca 5 Comments

I want to give you all a gift. It’s that time of year, after all. Taste, beauty, aroma, thrift; this gift has it all. As a big thank you to keeping me company on the big old internet for this past year I want to give you all the gift of…

Leftover pizza.

It’s more exciting than it sounds.

Really.

Stick with me and I’ll prove it. But first?

You should know I am devoted to pizza. I could happily eat some variation of it three days out of the week (Publicly speaking that is. In my own head I admit I could eat it five days a week and be perfectly content. Oh. Did I type that? I meant to think it.) Crispy crusts, gooey cheese, salty toppings, and garlic; flecked all over with charred bits and molten marinara sauce. Is my preoccupation any wonder?

For all my love of fresh, hot pizza, I used to think I disliked leftover pizza (and as I type that sentence I can hear my Dad yelling, “WHAT? What is wrong with my child?” all the way from the Yoop.) To me, the great appeal* of pizza is threefold; melted cheese, crispy crust bottom, and a chewy-yet-soft inner crust.

*Allo! Allo? Iz ziss sing on? Pizza a-peal? Pizza peal? This is what my boys call a ‘get it?’ joke.

Now. Raise your hand if you think you dislike reheated pizza. It’s okay. I’m not judging. Because until a few years ago I thought I disliked it, too. My problem was the texture of pizza after it was reheated in the microwave or in the oven. It seemed a pale shadow of its former glory; gummy or congealed cheese, muddy flavors, and soggy crusts if reheated in the oven. Or worse yet -if microwaved to hot- almost inedibly chewy crust and translucent cheese that was unevenly melted. Gaggy.

I stumbled upon a way to reheat pizza that makes the leftover pizza better than the fresh pizza ever was. Hence: Better Than Yesterday Pizza. (This may seem like a tangent, but it’s important.) My Dad always makes grilled cheeses by toasting the sandwiches then tossing a little water in the pan and covering it to make sure the cheese is melted and gooey all the way through. One day, many moons ago, while staring down the barrel of a fridge laden with cold, leftover pizza it occured to me that Dad’s method might just make it edible.

It was more than edible. It was sublime. So good that it is the only way we’ve reheated leftover pizza since. And let me tell you something. Perfectly melted and gooey cheese, hot interior, crackling crisp bottom crust and a top dotted with crunchy charred bits make this so good it’s better than the original pizza. In fact, I deliberately make double the amount of pizza we can eat on pizza nights just so we can eat Better Than Yesterday Pizza.

A word of caution, though. This process lands you with a piece of pizza that is fresh and hot and well-nigh irresistible. But oh, try to resist. It’s pizza oven hot. And if, like me, you dive straight into eating, you can kiss the skin on the roof of your mouth goodbye. Here are the instructions. I’m going to go suck on some ice cubes. Right after I eat this other piece of pizza.

Better Than Yesterday Pizza

You will need a heavy cast-iron or non-stick skillet with a tight fitting lid.

Ingredients per slice:

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (you can substitute canola oil, but olive oil has the best taste here.)
1 slice cold, leftover pizza

1 teaspoon water

Place a heavy cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium high heat.

Add the oil to the pan and swirl until hot and evenly coated. Place slice of pizza, topping side DOWN in the pan.

Allow to cook for one minute (longer for more charred bits).

After one minute, carefully slide a spatula under the pizza and flip crust side down.

Add the teaspoon of water and immediately place the lid on the pan. Cook for an additional minute.

Remove the lid and cook for one to one and a half minutes or until all water has cooked off and the bottom crust is crispy. Transfer to a plate. If desired, sprinkle with crushed red pepper plates to complete the pizzeria taste and experience!

Filed Under: Getting Creative With Leftovers, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: budget friendly, Déjà Food, leftovers, no food waste

Taco Soup

December 8, 2009 by Rebecca 13 Comments

Is it soup yet?

We lived in Le Roy for just over a decade. We loved our home, our church, our community. We had rebuilt the house while living in it. (This process was helped along by the fact that it was bare studs, floors and outer walls and absolutely-nothing-else when we bought it.) We could’ve stayed and stayed and stayed until we passed beyond the veil. So why did we leave? By the time we made an offer on our current home, we were a family of seven with two morbidly obese dogs and many musical instruments crammed into a 1300 square foot home.

It started way back with the birth of my first son. When we brought Liam home, the phone was ringing and it was the community outreach coordinator from church. She informed me that it was the practice of the church women to provide meals to new mothers for the first two weeks after a baby was born. I accepted (because how can you say no to that?) but secretly thought to myself that I didn’t know why they thought I wouldn’t be able to make our family’s meals. I learned. Quickly.

Those meals came for fourteen days and fourteen nights and they were good.

When, two months later, baby Liam was rushed to the hospital for a life-saving surgery, the women once again provided meals so we could focus on helping Liam recover.

Two years later, just before Aidan was born, my meal angel called again. I was shocked. I said, “I thought the meals were just for new mothers!” She laughed and said, “Well, this baby will be new, won’t he?” I gratefully accepted the offer and the meals. This time, since I had a c-section, the meals were the only thing standing stalwartly between us and a steady diet of cold cereal.

And once again, the meals came for fourteen days and fourteen nights and they were good.

Another two years on, and another beautiful baby boy, the meals rolled in for another two weeks. Ty nursed happily. I reheated happily. I cherished the food I received after the births of my children. You could say they were like manna from heaven. After the births of Leif and Rowan, they kept the meals a-coming like the loaves and the fishes.

I don’t mean to suggest that I carried on having more kids in order to get the free meals from those amazing cooks over at Calvary. That would be just wrong. It’s pure coincidence that I haven’t had any more kids since moving. I kept having children because I loved my boys. Okay. And the meals. Those women were GOOD cooks.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

If you happen to find yourself in Le Roy, New York on a Sunday morning, stop in at the golf-ball church. The preaching is great, the people are friendly and if you’re lucky they’ll be hosting a potluck or a fellowship meal. It’s worth your time. Trust me.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

This family-favorite, Taco Soup, was one of those fabulous meals and was brought to us by my dear friend, Carolyn. It has graced our table many times, and in many forms, over the years since Carolyn came into my kitchen bearing a steaming crock of soup, tortilla chips, grated cheese, and sour cream.

This is a memory soup. One whiff of this bubbling away on the stovetop and my entire body remembers the feeling of cradling a sweet smelling, impossibly soft newborn. I watch my boys eat this and remember their little balled fists resting on my chest as they nursed to sleep. When I eat this I remember my friends who tramped through snow storms to bring my family sustenance and companionship.

When I cook this, I remember taking it to my little sister, Jessamine, after her baby boy, Ezra was born. That time it had a little extra something special in it. When Jessie sat down later that evening to eat it, she found a spider floating in her soup. Whether it came with the soup from my house or jumped in in a fit of despair somewhere else along the road we’ll never know. Her husband ate it anyway. The soup, that is.

As with most soups, many of the ingredients are changeable. Don’t fancy chili beans or pinto beans? Add some pork and beans or kidney beans instead. Do you prefer home-cooked beans? Believe me when I tell you this soup is sublime with them. Replace the chicken broth with beer, add a couple handfuls of masa and you will have an excellent pot of chili. To make a hearty vegetarian soup, replace the chicken broth with beer or vegetable broth, and omit the meat. You can leave as is or add in crumbles or TVP. Feel free to add spiders if you like ‘em. My sister and I will go without.

It’s cold out there. You need soup. You need this soup!

For a photo-free, printer friendly version, click here!

Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, browned and drained ~or~ 3 cups leftover cooked meat, chopped
1 can (28 ounces) crushed or diced tomatoes
2-3 cups chicken broth or stock (Depending on how soupy you like your soup. Using less broth will result in a thicker soup.)
1 packet Ranch Dressing Mix
1 packet taco or enchilada seasoning (If using seasoned meat, this can be omitted!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili beans with sauce
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn kernels

Optional for serving:

Tortilla or corn chips
Grated cheese
Sour Cream or plain yogurt
Sliced green onions
Minced fresh cilantro
Diced tomatoes

Slow Cooker Directions (see below for Stove top directions):

In a slow cooker crock stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes (if using), black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn. Place lid on crock, turn slow cooker to ‘LOW’ and cook for 6-8 hours.

Serve with or without toppings.

Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also portion the leftover soup into individual servings and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Stove top Directions:

Stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes (if using), black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn in an appropriately sized soup pot. Place lid on pot, put pot over medium low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove the lid and allow to simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until soup is slightly thickened.

Serve with or without toppings. Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also portion the leftover soup into individual servings and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Filed Under: Beans, Camping Food, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars

Campfire Home Fries

July 21, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

I come from a camping obsessed family. My Dad is, by trade, a camp manager. My Mom likes to take her blanket outside and sleep under the stars (she also wants an outdoor bath tub, but I digress.) My sister, Jess, and her family are certifiable trail and tent nuts. My brother, Luke, digs the camping but forgets to pack important things, like hats, and has been known to wear underwear on his head to keep it warm in cold weather conditions. I have photographic evidence. Maybe, if enough people ask me to, I might share it. (I’m open to bribery.) My sister, Christina, has the cutest little pup tent ever; I think it’s a defense mechanism to keep my children from piling into the tent with her. My baby sister, Airlia, is the camping-est 16 year old of all time; she is working on getting her driving license with the goal of being able to camp by herself or with her best girlfriends. My stepmom, Val, is the queen of camp cuisine. She made my oatmeal-hating boys into oatmeal lovers; The only catch is that they have to be outdoors in cold weather to eat it.

My husband would be content to stuff a couple pairs of underwear and some energy bars into a backpack and scoot off into the woods for a couple of days. I, on the other hand, am slightly more high maintenance as a camper. My rules are these:

I need toilet facilities. Flush toilet is optional, but the potty is non-negotiable.
I need accessibility to some clean, running water within one half of a mile of where we’re sleeping.
Girlfriend does NOT sleep directly on the ground. The back and the hips do not like accommodating the not-pillowtop ground.
If it’s raining I want shelter that does not leak or require bailing out.
I need a well-stocked cooler and I need to bring my favorite camp cookery set-up.*

*“Camp cookery set up?” I hear you say. The Evil Genius once noticed that my favorite massive cast-iron skillet**($20 at Walmart, thankyouverymuch) was a perfect fit with my propane turkey frying rig ($25 after shipping on eBay andthankyouagain.) This is the perfect outdoor cooking space for anything you would pan fry; eggs, fish, stir-fries, fried potatoes, etc… All you have to do is find the most level spot at your campsite (in this case, it was the parking space) and set up your rig. Ta da! Have a gander at the ultimate camp cooking set-up:

**Let me tell you about this pan. It is the largest size cast-iron skillet you can get at Walmart. It’s not in the kitchenwares section. Oh no. It’s back in the camping/outdoors department. You just have to know where to look for appropriate sized cooking vessels when you’re trying to feed a family of 7. If you own/buy one of these bad boys and haven’t seasoned it yet, you’re in luck. Try this trick on for size. Position a cooking rack as low as you can in a charcoal grill over a good pile of hot coals. Rub the inside and outside of the pan with neutral vegetable, canola or peanut oil. Place the pan, upside down, directly on the cooking rack in the grill. Cover the grill and allow it to cook until the coals run out. Wait until it is cool to remove it. Voila! A beautifully seasoned pan that would impress your Southern granny. (My pan impressed my Southern granny both with its size AND it’s beautifully seasoned finish.)

When we camp, it is all about the relaxation. Camp food is an integral part of a fun time. You have to have the obligatory hot-dogs-over-open-flame meal night, and you’d better bring the goods for s’mores because you haven’t faced angry children until you’ve gipped them of their campfire s’mores, let me tell you. But we like to try a couple non-traditional camping fare meals each trip. One year we brought the fryer rig and our wok and made campfire stir-fry. It was LATE (because we foolishly decided to make it the same night we arrived and set-up camp) but it was delicious. Another year, I made several dozen crumpets to toast over the open fire after reading (and drooling over) the accounts of Sophie toasting crumpets for Jack in the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian. They were out of this world when slathered with homemade ginger marmalade. And there were many sticky fingers afterward.

And here’s a paradox for you. In the real, non-camping world, I don’t do breakfast. Don’t hate. I just have never been a breakfast person. I forced myself to eat breakfasts when pregnant, and believe me, it was a real test of willpower. But when I’m camping? Oh heaven help me, I need breakfast. I need a hot, fatty (and phatty), massive breakfast. Val’s campfire oatmeal, cooked with dried fruit and brown sugar and served with monster pats of butter and/or cream and/or maple syrup fits the bill. When it comes my turn for cooking breakfast or when we’re camping without extended family, I break out my trusty cast-iron enforcer and whip up either campfire scramble (fried potatoes and veggies with scrambled eggs) or the ultimate camp home fries.

Last weekend, when we camped at the gorge-ous (Oh, I just slay myself with the puns) Letchworth Park, I opted for home fries. Picture this.

You wake up in your tent or camper. It’s cool out and you tug your socks a little higher. You step out in to the majestic woods, give a good stretch, and within moments, you’re standing in front of a hot, sizzling pan of roasty-toasty, brown, fat-laden potatoes. How is this possible? It’s part of what my Dad calls ‘Campcraft’. Simply put, you prepare everything you can before you even leave home to pitch your tent. Once at camp, you keep two steps ahead of what you need. In other words, I cut all my food that will need to be cut and package it carefully in my cooler. We make sure we have dry firewood AND an axe to cut kindling or keep us covered if the park bans imported firewood. The more you camp, the better you get a campcraft. You know what you absolutely need to take, what you can make once you’re there and what you don’t need at all. It’s one of the beautiful parts of camping that is unrelated to the splendor of nature. It just feels good.

Let’s get back to the home fries for a moment, yes no? In my book, great home (or camp) fries only require 4 non-negotiable ingredients. Potatoes, fat (and LOTS of it), salt and black pepper (and LOTS of this, too!) Surely onions and garlic add something amazing, but when you’re out in the woods, sometimes you just have to keep it simple.

For our home fries, I used a great many left-over salt potatoes. *Full disclosure moment: I deliberately cooked triple the amount of salt potatoes that I would normally cook because I wanted the home fries at camp. You can use any leftover boiled potatoes you have or you can boil up potatoes in advance. The key here is starting with a boiled potato. I’ll share my salt potatoes in a future post. This is admittedly putting the cart before the horse but these home fries are so sublime I wanted to share them with you toute de suite. Feel free to add onions and garlic to the mix. I always add onions and garlic when I make these at home, so I put a little note in the recipe to indicate when you should add them. It goes without saying that this recipe can be prepared on a standard stove-top. (But then I just said it, didn’t I?)

And I feel an explanation is in order on the fat. I use a combination of butter, bacon fat, and canola oil both at home and at camp. I use a lot of fat in this recipe but there is no getting around it. If you want to sit down in front of a steamy bowl of crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, beautiful mahogany brown potatoes there is no substitute. As a courtesy to my thighs and rear, which already are bordering on requiring their own zip codes, I do not make this half as frequently as I would like to. But when I do it, I do it right.

Oh, and you can expect a few more camping-related recipes in the coming weeks. Did I mention we’re nutso for camping? And that we’re camping a couple more times this year? Par-tay!

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Campfire (Kind of) Home Fries

Ingredients:

about 4 pounds of waxy type potatoes, boiled and chilled. (We prefer salt potatoes with their skins still on.)
1/3 cup bacon fat
1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup- 1/3 cup canola oil (or other clear, neutral oil)
salt and black pepper, to taste
Optional: 2 cups chopped onions, 2 Tablespoons minced garlic (or 1 Tablespoon onion powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder.)
Serve with hot sauce, ketchup or your preferred condiment. (I know someone who only eats this with maple syrup. I will not name names.)

Before leaving for camp (or before going to bed), chop all of your potatoes into cubes that are approximately 1- 1/2 to 2 inches at their widest points.

Place in an airtight container near the top of the cooler. Alternately, you can double bag them in zipper type bags to keep water from the cooler out of the potatoes.

Once you’re ready to cook the potatoes, place a heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium to medium-high flame or camp fire (or on a medium to medium high burner on a stove top).

Add bacon fat and canola oil to the pan and allow it to heat with the pan. When pan is hot and bacon fat is melted add the butter and stir until butter is completely melted and foamy. Add the chopped potatoes.

Stir vigorously to chuff up the edges of the potatoes and to coat with oil. After the potatoes are evenly coated, allow to cook without stirring. The potatoes will pop, sizzle, and protest, but try to ignore your impulse to mess with them just yet. (An obvious exception to this would be loads of smoke coming from the pan…) Once a brown crust has formed on the bottom layer, flip or turn the potatoes over in sections. Allow that to brown on the bottom without stirring. (If you’re using onions and garlic or the powders, add them here!) After that layer has browned on the bottom, stir to break up the big sections and expose the as-yet unbrowned sections to the hot pan surface. When potatoes have nearly reached desired doneness, remove the skillet from the heat (or turn off the burner) and allow the pan to cool slightly. This will continue cooking the potatoes somewhat, and you should have beautifully browned, crispy potatoes to doctor up as you wish.

Oh my gracious. There are no words to describe how delicious these are. They’re beyond delicious; they are an experience. When you sit down at your campsite over a hot bowl of these potatoes with a bottle of hot sauce at your elbow you just know that everything will be alright in the end. Really. Just look at them one more time.

Do you have any foods that make you feel that way? If you don’t, feel free to borrow these. But if you do, I’d love to know what it is. What food makes your heart sing?

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Camping Food, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: Campcraft, outdoor cooking

Crispy Seared Mushroom and Asiago Puffs

May 11, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

We’ve been spring cleaning like crazy around here lately. It’s so invigorating to be able to open the windows after having them firmly shut since November. And even though I hate doing laundry, there is something incredibly peaceful about hanging the first couple loads of clothes and sheets and towels on the line. Everything is fresh and crisp and the pile of laundry has dwindled to a less shameful height.

In the middle of all this frenetic cleaning my attention has turned to my freezers. They are, in short, an abysmal mess. Last Fall’s organization campaign, complete with manifests of the contents therewithin, came apart midway through the second week of December when I realized I had stashed all my Thanksgiving leftovers on top of my carefully stacked piles of this and that. Shortly after that I added several turkey breasts and some frozen peas that I had purchased on sale and it was all downhill from there. I’m in the beginning stages of clearing out the freezer to make room for this summer’s bounty.

A few days ago I decided to really crack into the frozen wasteland that is my chest freezer and make a difference. Stashed in among the frozen detritus was a half used box of puff pastry. I sat it on a cabinet to the side of the freezer while rummaging around and trying to make sense of the mess. By the time I had done enough (translation: my fingers were too stiff to pick up and move anything else) it was time to get cracking on dinner and the puff pastry had thawed to the point where it wasn’t re-freezable. I figured this was as close to a sign from God as I was going to get about that evening’s dinner plans.

Keeping with the rummaging theme, I scoured the fridge and found a container of leftover seared mushrooms á la Pastor Ryan on the Pioneer Woman’s Website, (If you have never made these you MUST make them this very instant. I’ll wait right here while you do it. *tapping desk… tap… tap…* Okay, ready? How awesome are those? I think they just may be one of my favorite things to eat. Ever. Thanks, Ryan!) and a biggish hunk of Asiago cheese. Because the mushrooms are already seasoned and cooked with shallots, salt and pepper, most of the dish was already done. Sometimes food just makes itself, doesn’t it? The mushrooms, Asiago and puff pastry made the most beautiful and delicious crispy, savory accompaniment to beef stew. Not to be forgotten was the warm, self-satisfied glow of not wasting food and almost, maybe, perhaps, kind-of beginning to clean my freezer. Cleaning never tasted so good!

*If you happen to have some crispy, crumbled bacon or pancetta handy it would not be out of place in these puffs. I didn’t have any and these tasted simply wonderful. But boy, if I’d had bacon…

For a photo-friendly, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Crispy Seared Mushroom and Asiago Puffs

Ingredients:

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
2 cups seared mushrooms
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Optional, 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water for a glaze.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

On a lightly floured countertop, roll the puff pastry sheet into a rectangle that measures approximately 10″ x 12″.

Evenly spread the mushrooms on the puff pastry to within an inch or so of the edges.

Sprinkle the Asiago cheese evenly over the mushrooms and grind pepper over the top to taste.

Roll both edges over the mushroom and cheese filling toward the center like you’re rolling up a double scroll.

When both rolls reach the center, press together firmly enough to get them to stick, but not firmly enough to squish the works.

Transfer carefully to a cutting board and cut into 1″ slices.

Lay, cut sides down, on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.

Cute. Aren't they?

Don't discard the ugly ones. Those are the cook's tax. You skim that 10% right off the pan into your mouth. You earned it.

Don't discard the ugly ones. Those are the cook's tax. When they're done baking just skim that 10% right off the pan into your mouth. You earned it.

If using the egg glaze, brush the pastry before baking. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove tray from oven and allow puffs to cool for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Drool. Eat. Repeat.

These + steamy stew= match made in heaven.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged With: Déjà Food, pan seared mushrooms

Yooper Pickled Hot Pepper Eggs: B&B Style

April 13, 2009 by Rebecca 11 Comments

I have a problem. Every single year a couple of days before Easter I tell myself I won’t go crazy on the egg-dying. And every year I go nuts. I remember sitting at our big old trestle table when I was a kid and decorating for hours. My Mom is not a do-the-holidays-halfway type person. We would have dozens of boiled eggs and I would sit and use my little white crayon to lay intricate (to my kiddie eyes and mind) designs all over them. Then I would do the ultra-complex dye-jobs on the eggs: half pink/half blue, one third yellow/one third green/ one third blended yellow and green, etc… I made an egg for every single person in my family and had a grand old time. I always strive to create the same memory for my sons. So every year, I boil way too many eggs and watch my boys do bizzarro designs (this year included my eldest scrawling ’50%’ on one egg and ’25%’ on another, my next born drawing a single ‘A’ on every one of his eggs, my third born drawing crazy faces on his eggs, my fourth born doing one with a circle, one with a triangle, one with a square and one with his first initial and the rest with zigzags.) that take them five minutes or less.

50%? What does that even mean in the context of egg dying? I don't understand my children.

Then I spend the next week fitting hard-boiled eggs into every meal whether or not they belong there (and more often than not it’s the latter rather than the former.)

There's not even one among those eggs with a pretty daisy or a winding vine of ivy... They made zombie eggs and 'times new roman' monogrammed eggs. Boys.

This year, I wised up. I called upon the wisdom of the forefathers. Specifically, my father.

My Dad is a Michigan Tech alumni (and a ‘Twig’ if that means anything to you!) from back-in-the-day. As in, before I was born. So for more reasons than one I will not be telling you the year of his graduation. I’ve heard many stories about Winter Carnival shenanigans including my Dad’s residence hall’s snow sculpture entry; a giant snow toilet whose ‘effluence’ pipe led straight to the kitchen of the dining hall. Unkind, Father! Unkind! But other than casting aspersions on the poor cafeteria staff’s cooking skills, my Dad was an angel in college. I’m sure of it. When he tells stories about kids stashing gallon jugs of apple cider in the back corner of a dark, dank, cold Yooper dorm closet to bubble, ferment and churn itself into hard cider I’m sure he’s not basing it on personal experience. And the stories about the pickled egg served with Tabasco and a cheap, ice cold beer (’cause really, is there anything OTHER than an ice cold beer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?)? Well, shoot, I’m sure he heard them from his compatriots and had nothing to do with the consumption of dozens of peppery pickled eggs and devil brew himself. Right, Dad?

At any rate, this recipe is a killer way (in more ways than one. One word. Gas.) to use up those dozens of brightly colored, hard boiled eggs that are languishing in your fridge. From what I understand, third hand- since my Dad obviously never went to the bars surrounding MTU for pickled eggs and beer-, this recipe is pretty close to the eggs served at the famous B&B Bar in Houghton, Michigan. And I can pretty confidently rely on my Dad’s fellow scholar’s opinions that the B&B egg is the egg by which all others are judged. I know a lot of people eat the ubiquitous pink eggs that are pickled in beet juice, but these babies are the bees knees of pickled eggs. They have a spicy, salty bite to them that is really amazing.

You have nothing to lose. There’s no way you stomach enough egg salad to use up all those Easter eggs in your fridge anyway. Whip up a jar or two of these, let them mellow in the chill-chest for a week or so. To have an authentic Yooper ‘boneless chicken dinner’ serve a couple these pickled eggs with a bottle of Tabasco and an icy cold cheap beer. Dose eggs pretty good, eh?

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Yooper Pickled Hot Pepper Eggs

Ingredients:

2 dozen hard-boiled eggs, peeled
4 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 jar (13.5 ounces) pepperoncini, with liquid
1 jar or can (about 16 ounces) pickled hot peppers (I used pickled Thai peppers for some serious HEAT, you can use pickled jalapenos or habaneros if you prefer)
1 Tablespoon salt

Place eggs in a large clean glass jar that has a tight fitting lid. If you need to, divide eggs among a couple smaller jars, just be sure to leave about 3 inches of headspace in the jar to accomodate the hot peppers.

Add cider vinegar, water, pepperoncini and their liquid, pickled peppers and their liquid and salt to a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour boiling brine and peppers carefully over the eggs. Tightly fix the lid on the jar and place in the fridge for at least a week before eating. If you remember to, give the eggs a little shake once a day during the week. These eggs are good for three months in the fridge.

How 'bout dem eggs, eh?

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Eggs, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Happy Healthy and Wise, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: Easter eggs, hard boiled eggs, Yooper recipes

Spicy Chicken and Cheese Calzone

April 8, 2009 by Rebecca 5 Comments

Déjà Food

Pronunciation: \ˌdā-ˌzhä-ˈfüd\

Function: noun

Etymology: Yo Momma. (Actually, my step-momma… but I wanted to say that)

1. Leftovers. But with a French name, therefore, more sophisticated.

Among the catalog of wonderful things my step-mother, Valerie, introduced me to when she and my father married are many now-standards for me: SOB Smoothies (‘Strawberry’, ‘Orange’, and ‘Banana’ Smoothies. What were you thinking she meant?), Colcannon, The California Raisins Christmas Special, Dorothy Sayers mysteries and Déjà Food. Déjà Food is nothing but leftovers, but isn’t it amazing how a simple change in words make it sound less like drudgery and more like something exciting?

The only person I’ve ever met who gets thrilled at the word ‘leftovers’ is my third born son, Ty (also variously known as Tyger [for Tiger Woods- his hero], Tylo [for our cat Milo- his favorite creature on earth] and Ty-Tron [his robot alter-ego].) He would do nearly anything, including selling one of his brothers, to ensure that he has leftovers he can eat the next day. …And if there’s just enough of an entree to serve us one meal, he’ll deliberately under-eat his portion of the dinner, conscientously wrap his own precious leftovers in foil and deposit them in the fridge. The next morning, he’ll shake himself out of bed early, run downstairs in his jammies, grab his silver wrapped goodies and plunk himself down at the table. He unwraps it reverently and munches it in silence with big blue eyes then smiles and says, “Thanks Mom!” before running off to face the day.

I am less devoted to leftovers than Ty. Once the initial thrill of the evening’s dinner wears off, there are very few dishes that I want to eat two or three or four nights in a row. Because I am mighty frugal, I always find a way to get the extra food consumed. But it takes a déjà food approach to make me excited about leftovers…

The Spicy Chicken and Super-Sharp Cheddar Calzones were made entirely of leftovers and standard pantry items making this a frugal and fast meal. With a salad, this would make an ample dinner for two adults. On those nights when you’re really, REALLY hungry, it will feed one ravenously hungry adult. Or it will be a sufficient lunch for one eleven-year old Liam who we all know has two hollow legs.

Calzones are a wonderful way to make déjà food of your leftovers. You can do just about any combination you want. As long as you keep a batch of the Master Dough Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, you can whip up calzones at a moment’s notice. Do you have last minute dinner guests? A busy night of running from practices, rehearsals, games, meetings, etc…?(That was a bit of the old subconscious showing, eh? I meant running ‘to’ practices, rehearsals, games, meetings, etc...) Leftover meat, cheese, veggies and other odds-and-ends, bits-and-pieces in almost any flavor combination can come together to make an amazing dinner. You can combine leftover taco meat, shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, chopped onions and olives for a Mexican Calzone and serve it with sour cream and salsa. You can use a few pieces of pepperoni, some browned bulk pork sausage, shredded or cubed mozzarella cheese and serve it with marinara sauce for a Meat-Lover’s Pizza Calzone. How about leftover steamed spinach (squeezed dry, of course), browned lamb (or no lamb), feta cheese, thinly sliced onions and a pinch or two of oregano served with a Tsatsiki sauce? A Greek Calzone! It can do ANY flavor combination. You have to work this into your rotation. You’ll be so glad you did.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Spicy Chicken and Super-Sharp Cheddar Calzones

Ingredients:

A grapefruit sized piece of bread dough from the Master Dough Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes.

1 cup cooked chicken, cut into small cubes (about equivalent to one grilled or otherwise cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast)

1/2 cup (or more) extra sharp cheddar cheese cut into small cubes

1/2 cooking onion, sliced thin

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

1 1/2 teaspoons each olive oil and semolina or cornmeal for pan

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Drizzle olive oil over the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet or pan. Sprinkle semolina or cornmeal evenly over the oil. Set aside.

In a bowl or on a cutting board, gently toss together the onions, chicken, cheese and crushed red pepper flakes.

Behold the best mixing tool in the whole wide world. Your hand!

Set aside.

Lightly flour your work surface, dough, and rolling pin.

Use rolling pin to roll the dough into an approximately 8 to 9 inch circle.

Transfer the chicken, cheese, and onion mixture onto half of the circle of dough, leaving about 3/4 of an inch of bare dough around the edge.

Carefully lift the empty part of the dough over the filling, tucking in any stray bits of filling that want to poke out.

Tuck those little onion bits back in there. No onion left behind.

Fold edges back in on themselves and pinch together tightly to hold dough shut.

After folding back in on itself, pinch that dough pretty firmly.

Gently transfer to the prepared pan. Use a very sharp knife to slash two small steam vents in the calzone.

Just two slices of one inch long each will vent this perfectly. If the steam can escape, it doesn't make the bread soggy.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on how brown and crispy you like your calzones.) Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes prior to serving.

Can't you almost smell this?

If the calzone is really done, you should have a firm enough crust that the calzone doesn't bend when you transfer it to a plate or cutting board.

Serve alone or with bleu cheese dressing or marinara sauce.

Use a serrated knife to cut your calzone... A non-serrated knife will mangle the bread and filling.

When steamy hot from the oven there really is nothing better than this.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes, kid friendly, quick meal

According to Jim, it’s Pretty Good Soup

October 25, 2008 by Valerie 1 Comment

Now, admittedly, I do follow some recipes for a lot of dishes I prepare, but soups and stews are very forgiving foods to make, very flexible and a great way to use up those bits and pieces that don’t seem to have anywhere else to go. And most of these creations are dubbed by Jim as being “Pretty Good Soup.” This is high praise indeed, and I always know there won’t be much leftover when I hear those words floating on the air.

So, today’s venture: Outside of a few minor chores, I spent much of today reading, but when this afternoon rolled around, I knew I wanted to come up with something warm and savory for supper, since Jim was spending a good deal of the day outside dealing with some hefty chores in the cold Northern Michigan air. (We are preparing for our first major snowfall that is expected tomorrow night, and he was ‘battening down the hatches.”) When I checked the refrigerator looking for supper inspiration, I found a few slices of fairly lean bacon, some sliced mushrooms and a couple cups of leftover beef broth, and that was enough to get things going. I started by chopping the bacon into large pieces and threw them into a pot to brown and render their fat. While the bacon fried, I took a couple of minutes to roughly chop some onion and a handful of potatoes. Once the bacon was browned, I tossed in the onion for a few minutes, threw in the mushrooms for a bit longer, then tossed in the potatoes, letting it all cook together for a couple minutes more. Everything in the pan went into the crockpot, I deglazed the pan with the beef broth, pouring that over the ingredients in the pot, added a little more water, some pepper and a good amount of dried thyme leaf. Popping the lid on, I turned the pot on high and went back to my book.

Before…

About a half hour before dinner time, I added some bits of buerre manie (flour and butter creamed together) into the soup to thicken the broth a bit, wrapped a loaf of cheese bread in foild and tossed it in the oven to heat. Half an hour later, dinner is served! Bowls full of good hearty soup, warmed slices of bread, followed by a handful of cold, juicy green grapes. Simple, warm, delicious and satisfying–Pretty Good Soup.

After…

Sorry, we gobbled it all up before we even thought about getting the camera out!!

Filed Under: Getting Creative With Leftovers, Recipes, slow-cooker, Soups & Stews, Valerie Tagged With: leftovers, Soup

Frito Pie

September 29, 2008 by Rebecca 2 Comments

I think it is safe to say that with five sons, one loving husband, two useless male hound dogs and a male goldfish I inhabit a man’s world. I am outnumbered 9 to 2. That the cat is also ‘non-male’ is immaterial. She can run and hide under beds or our vast piles of laundry. Me? Not so much.

Don’t misunderstand me, please: I’m not complaining. I like being the one who makes everything a little more exciting. The Queen Bee, the salt pork in the can of pork and beans *Even a can of beans is nothing without the salt pork, right? , the chocolate wrapped in croissant- that’s me. I dig it.

Digging it does not preclude me living a life thoroughly confused by their manly-male antics. Growing up in a family where sisters had a 4 to 2 lead over the brothers the girls ruled the roost. We pestered the boys into submission, dressed an unnamed brother in our nightgowns, ‘did his hair’, painted little stubby boy finger nails, mercilessly teased the poor boys about how they loved Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Circle in the Sand’, and other humiliating things like that. I missed out on a stellar opportunity to prepare myself for my adult life. I should’ve figured out what made my brothers tick.

Over the last almost eleven years I have had ample opportunity to make up for my juvenile slights to my brothers. I have learned some of the ways of man and pre-man (that’d be boy…) Please allow me to share some of my observations with you.

Sports are more important than anything else. Period.
Girls are okay as long as they like Star Wars, Avatar and/or Bionicles. Any girl who likes all three is worthy of marriage.
Hannah Montana is pure evil.
Watching and photographing the entire, horrific, two-hour long process of a snake swallowing a frog in the side-yard is more than ample justification for skipping an extended family picnic.
The answer to the question, “How long does it take 6 males to eat a full ‘family-sized’ bag of chips?” is “2.4 minutes”. Also acceptable is the answer, “Five seconds less than it takes the mother to excuse herself to wash her hands before eating.”
Food should be plentiful and constantly available or starvation of a very dramatic and vocal sort will occur almost instantly.
Football rocks.
Baseball rocks.
Hockey rocks.
Golf rocks.
Tennis rocks.
Bowling rocks.
Gymnastics rock.
Televised sports rock.
Johnny Damon= Benedict Arnold
Food. More. Now.

I feel some guilt for the treatment of my little brothers. I feel guilty enough to have been convinced to play Fantasy Football this year with my little brother Luke and his buddies who’ve been paying attention to NFL statistics and trends since they were 12. Luke is now 27. They have a few years on me. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m trying really hard and so far I’m not in last place. Whether this is through undiscovered skill or pure beginner’s luck remains to be seen. All I know is that I’ve risen in the esteem of my sons and I’ve impressed my husband since I wondered aloud how many receptions Frank Gore had in a game last week.

Speaking of football and fantasies, last Sunday was close to the best sports fanatic’s day ever for my husband. The U.S. won the Ryder Cup -”It’s like the Super Bowl of golf, but only once every two years, honey. You can see why I have to watch the whole thing, right?” , the Cowboys won an exciting game and the Red Sox took a step closer to closing out the Yankees for the wildcard slot in the AL East. The only way it could’ve been better is if my husband was sharing his Sunday sports grub in our living room with Tiger Woods, Papi Ortiz and Troy Aikman. Oh yes, life was good last Sunday.

I, of course, played a major part in last week’s sports fantasy fulfillment. I made the food. What did you THINK I would say? One super important component of a successful sports Sunday around here or Monday night depending on whether the Cowboys, Bills and/or Jaguars are playingis the spread of food. Food that can be eaten in the living room is a must. Anything on a stick is great. Anything with a dip is even better. Some of my XYs favorite game-day munchies are:

Frito Pie
Snails (pretzel wrapped little smoked sausages)
Bones (chicken wings)
Supreme Nachos
Homemade Pizza
Bread: Fully loaded!
Chili with cornbread

The Frito Pie recipe, as I make it, is based on the one my Mom brought back from a brief sojourn in New Mexico, but with much, much more meat including an indecent amount of bacon. Of course, the bacon and beef can be omitted for a vegetarian version of this. It’ll be great, but I lurve the bacon. Truly. Madly. Deeply.

And score another point for meals that please the whole family. I whip together the refried beans, taco meat and bacon and put that in a casserole dish, line up the other toppings in bowls on the countertop and let everyone top their own plate. Then there are no, “But Mooooooom! I hate tomatoes!” greeting me. One word of warning: When once you’ve made Frito pie you must be prepared to make it again. Frequently.

You can make the beans and meat a day or so ahead of time. It’ll save you time on game day!

Foodie Frito Pie

Serving the toppings in separate bowls has another advantage: Not only does it store better, but you can reheat the beans and meat without having to wilt your lettuce, mush-up your tomatoes and cook your green onions.

If you would prefer, you can use canned refried beans in place of the homemade ones here. Just substitute 3 cans refried beans.

Ingredients for the refried beans:

1 1/2 lbs dried pinto beans, rinsed and picked over.
Several cups of boiling water
1 whole onion, peeled, but otherwise intact
2 whole cloves garlic, peeled, but otherwise intact
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons plus 2 Tablespoons chili powder, divided
1 Tablespoon plus 1 Tablespoon paprika, divided
2 teaspoons plus 2 teaspoons cumin, divided
4 Tablespoons bacon fat and drippings
salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb of uncooked bacon, sliced into thin strips

Method:

Put rinsed and picked over pinto beans into a large slow-cooker. Add enough boiling water to cover by at least 2 inches. Pop the whole, peeled onion and garlic cloves in, cover and cook on high for three hours. Keep an eye on the crockpot. If it looks like the water is getting low, add a little bit more boiling water just to cover the beans. After three hours, check the beans by removing a couple from the pot with a spoon and blowing gently on them. If the skins curl, you’re ready to proceed. If the skins don’t curl away from the beans, cook them an hour longer and check again.

Add 2 Tablespoons of chili powder, 1 Tablespoon of paprika, 2 teaspoons of cumin, and salt and pepper to taste to the beans, cover again, lower heat and cook for one more hour.

When the hour is up, remove onions and garlic and discard. Do not discard liquid from the beans. That stuff is like gold!

In a large, heavy bottomed skillet -I use my biggest, baddest, meanest cast iron skillet for the job- over medium high heat, add the bacon strips and cook until they reach the desired crispness. Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Remove all but 4 Tablespoons of bacon drippings from the pan. If you don’t have sufficient bacon drippings add olive oil until you have about 4 Tablespoons of fat in the bottom of your pan. Using that slotted spoon again, scoop your now cooked beans into the skillet. Turn your heat to medium, add minced garlic, remaining chili powder, paprika and cumin, salt and pepper to taste and mash with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon, adding liquid from the bean pot (this is called bean liquor) until you reach your desired consistency. When the beans are as thick or thin, as smooth or lumpy as you’d like them, transfer to a clean casserole dish or heat-proof bowl. Cover with a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap and move on to preparing the meat.

Ingredients for the taco meat:

1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons stone ground corn meal
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat, break up the ground beef until it is browned. If there is excess fat, drain the beef and return to the skillet. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to allow the meat to simmer until the sauce is thickened and most of the water is evaporated. Scoop the meat over the refried beans in the casserole dish. Top the whole thing with the crispy bacon and stick a few spoons around the perimeter of the dish. Serve with plentiful corn chips and a variety of toppings. Our usual toppings include:

Chopped tomatoes (when they’re out of season we fall back on jarred salsa picante)
Sliced green onions or chopped sweet onions
Shredded cheddar, asadero or Monterey Jack cheese.
Sliced avocados
Shredded lettuce
Sour cream or plain yogurt
Hot sauce
Black olives
Salsa Verde
Chopped fresh cilantro