Eating Leftovers Plus Tomatoes

What to do when a friend asks if you want their leftover veggie enchilada at the end of dinner out because they are going out of town and won't eat it?  My answer will of course be...Yes!  Why waste good food?

To round out the meal, I sliced a garden fresh tomato and topped it with just a bit of salt and pepper.  This is something I don't do often enough.  Summer in Texas is great for tomatoes and when they are so fresh you really don't need to do anything to them to make them delicious.  Tomatoes have been plentiful in my parent's garden this year.  They have been kind enough to share :)

A great and free dinner.  Doesn't get much better.

Food Waste Friday

I am going to try and start joining Food Waste Friday every week hosted by TheFrugalGirl so wish me luck in keeping the food waste to a minimum.

First up is a bowl of home made cilantro bean dip.  Of course, I forgot to take a before picture so you just get the empty bowl.

The dip was great and I had pulled it out of the fridge to use in a Quesadilla and saw the top quarter inch was a different color than the rest with a slight film over some liquid that had pooled up in one of the spoon holes.  I was really quite sad because I was looking forward to that Quesadilla.

On a happy note, this onion was not wasted.

The black mold is Aspergillus nigerand can easily be washed off or the outer layer can be removed before use.  No reason to waste a whole onion.

Meal Planning

Sometimes I actually have to plan out what I am going to make for the week because there are so many moving parts that I can't keep them all straight.  Other times, I just wing it.

This particular week there was a plan

Cabbage Potato Hash

 Potato Salad

Ingredients for Portuguese Fried Rice

This was an amazing dinner.  In a screaming hot pan, with some olive oil, start with the onions and potatoes.  Once they are mostly cooked start adding in everything else.  Stir regularly to keep it from burning since the pan is hot.  The only thing not pictured above is the brown rice, which was just cooked on the stove.

Greens ready to be sauteed

This was quite the week of food.  The hot dog and kraut was eaten Friday night as we were headed out the door to go to Weatherford.  Not a bad on the run meal at all, but as you can imagine no picture was taken.

Office Lunch

Yes...I confess....I am a lunch bringer, not a lunch buyer.  I miss out on a lot of great restaurants and some socializing, however, I like the food I make.  A restaurant rarely makes me as happy about a lunch as what I could have brought from home.  That doesn't mean I am bringing gourmet meals, actually far from it.

I present you with Exhibit A...

At 7 am while making my morning smoothie, I pull out of the fridge, a cucumber and fennel fronds (remember they taste like dill?).  From the cupboard came a small onion, roughly 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, a pinch of sugar and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.

Dice the onion first, sprinkle it with the sugar and set aside while you do the rest.  That allows the onions to soften and some of the bite will be taken out.  This particular morning I was feeling brave and used the mandolin on the cucumber.  Lucky for me, no fingers we cut off in the process (a valid concern since it has happened before).  I'm guessing that is about 2 tablespoons of diced fennel fronds.  Toss it all together and package to take to work.

Then consume at your desk like a lonely person...

Just in case you are wondering about salt, I didn't add any when I put everything together in the morning.  I keep salt and pepper shakers at my desk and then try the food before adding.  This solves a few problems

1. I don't feel like tasting for seasoning at 7 am.
2. Salt will pull the moisture from the cucumbers and make them softer by the time lunch comes around. Not particularly a problem, but I like crispy cucumbers.
3. If I am not in the mood for salty food, I can leave the salt out all together and give my heart a break. 

Of course, go ahead and salt if you feel like it.  It is your cucumber salad after all.

P.S. I don't actually measure things when I am putting them together.  The above are just estimates so give it a go and just give a splash rather than measuring.  Saves some dirty dishes and adds a bit of adventure to the day.

Fun with Fennel Fronds

...and alliteration

My parents had this massive fennel plant that came up as a volunteer right next to the steps that lead down from their back patio.  As most volunteers are it was very much in the way, so much so that they have cut it down multiple time for it to just grow right back.  I really wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but of course I wasn't thinking.

Anywho...I took some cuttings from the fronds home with me and after some thinking about what to do with them I decided on a dip.  I strained a bit of plain yogurt to make it a bit thicker (or you could just use Greek) and added sour cream, green onion, fennel frond, salt and pepper.  Doesn't get much simpler than that.  Adjust the measurements to your taste, but start with about a cup of each of the yogurt and sour cream, one stalk of green onion and 2-3 tablespoons of the chopped fronds.

Fennel fronds taste very much like Dill so if you don't have any on hand go right ahead and substitute.  I ended up using this dip as a sauce for Quesadillas, a sandwich spread and salad dressing.

"Date" Night

Does sitting down to watch a Netflix movie with dinner and drinks count as a date?  I'm not really sure, but it was certainly enjoyable anyway.

Spoiler alter...this picture is terrible...

As you may or may not be able to see this is a baking sheet of nachos.  Topped with black beans, spring onion, cilantro, both hot and mild peppers, and of course plenty of cheese.  Sides included sour cream, salsa and some of my mom's famous margaritas.

Let the movie begin!

Missing again?

Wow, I didn't expect it to be a month since I would post again.  Don't worry, I have been cooking and taking pictures, I just haven't had the chance to sit down and write about it.  Life has been crazy between getting back to work, all the summer birthdays and getting back in the bicycle saddle.

Where I left left off was the Greenling box that was delivered on June 13th.

Mixed Potatoes - Yellow Prairie Farm
Hot Pepper Mix - My Father's Farm
Lettuce Head - Acadian Family Farm
Noonday Sweet Onions - Northeast Texas Sustainable Food Center
Radishes - Acadian Family Farm 
Cilantro - Acadian Family Farm

Tomatoes - Northeast Texas Sustainable Food Center
Avocado - G&S Groves 
Blackberries - Lightsey Farm

This particular box has been one of my favorites because of how many of my favorites there are.  All of the fruit promptly made it into my morning smoothies.  The night I opened this up, the first thing I did was make a very French sandwich out of those radishes for dinner.

I had some leftover crusty bread, a slather of butter, the radishes thinly sliced, salt, pepper and a bit of the Cilantro.  This dinner made me really happy.

The only other meal that came out of this box was a salad to use up the lettuce and tomato.  You will also notice a creamy fennel frond dressing that I made, olives, spring onions from a previous Greenling box, and a few pieces of leftover lamb.

(Say hi to PW in the background!)

It shouldn't be another month before I check in again, but you never know.  I am going to be elbow deep in making Pierogis as a birthday present all week.  Wish me luck!