Steak Pizza

Our weather in southwestern Ontario tends to be not as harsh as the rest of Canada but we still see subzero temperatures and a fair amount of snowfall each year.  That does not deter us or many in our region from outdoor grilling.  The grill is typically very close to the back or patio door, within an easy shovelling distance if need be.  Our grill is under a soon to be enclosed roof on the deck making it a three season room.

The weather was unseasonably warm so we grilled rib steaks.  Now, these were quite large steaks at an inch and a half thick as hubby does not like grilling thin steaks.  We buy our beef in bulk so the abattoir does a custom cut for our meat.  He likes his steak rare while I like mine medium rare but on occasion will eat rare.  

The real focus of this meal was the lightly seasoned rib steaks.  We served them with campstyle potatoes and a Caprese salad.  The sweet basil is homegrown mainly hydroponically and in the Aerogarden.  I currently have several basil plants on the go and honestly, you can never have enough basil!  

Campstyle potatoes is a rather simple, versatile dish always made in cast iron usually with potatoes and onions but sometimes mushrooms.  Cast iron gives the perfect caramelization for this dish!

I know many will think this funny but we always have left-over steak.  That's just the nature of the beast.  On the other hand, we love cooking once but getting two or more different meals out of what we cook.  We try very hard to minimize food waste so lef-overs are used within a couple of days or froze for later use.

Left-over steak can be used in so many ways.  One of our favourites is as a sandwich in pita bread.  This time I made sourdough flatbreads for steak pizzas.  These were a bit of a spin on the Margherita pizzas.   Toppings included red onion, sweet basil, fresh tomato, steak and of course lots mozzarella cheese.  The end result was a delicious meal with very little effort.
 

Kitchen Quick Tips - Saving Left Over Wine

Pour left-over wine into an ice cube tray then freeze for the perfect size to add a bit of extra flavour in sauces and gravies.

Grilled Rib Steak & Refried Rice Using Grilled Rib Steak Left Overs

While much of the discussion on this blog throughout the past week focused on my adventures in making no knead breads, it has been a whirlwind of activity here.  We decided to makeover the master bedroom completely including new furniture and at the same time finish the guest room.  The furniture (Vaughan-Bassett) for the master bedroom had an estimated time of arrival of three weeks giving me plenty of time to shop for accessories and work on the crochet bedspreads for each room.  The bedspreads are a huge undertaking given one is king and the other queen size, so a lot of work.  Shopping for accessories meant several shopping trips with many foodie stops!  Much of the focus was stocking up on herbal teas, K-cups, various flours and cherry picking the sales.  I did manage to find a few interesting foods to try so will talk about them as they are used.  Oh, and I just couldn't resist the cute salt and pepper shakers in just the perfect deep red for the kitchen, a new tea ball and a couple of kitchen organizers.  At the same time, I was experimenting with the no knead breads and testing the 4ever Recap canning lids.  Even though it has been rather busy, regular cooking continued.

It has been a cold, wet spring with wet snow a couple of days ago and frost on the roofs yesterday morning.  Still, we have been doing more grilling.  The deck off the kitchen is quite protected from the winds making it perfect for grilling in all but the most unpleasant weather.   Early this week the sun made a rare appearance so I thawed a couple of rib steaks for grilling.  The steaks were grilled to medium rare, served with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.  It was a delicious meal! 

We seldom marinate or use barbeque sauce on our steaks.  Instead, we let the flavour of the gorgeous, hormone free beef shine!  I love baked potatoes baked in the oven but just can't wait to start baking them on the grill again.  The grill gives a bit of extra flavour yet keeps the skin crispy and flesh tender. 

All of the steaks from our beef on the hoof purchase are large, cut to our specifications of 1 - inch thick.  While the whole steak looks luscious for the photo shoot, it is too much steak for either of us although if my husband is in the right mood, occasionally he will polish off a steak this big.  At any rate, anytime we have steak for dinner we have left overs.  Although steak does reheat nicely to enjoy as is, I also use left-over steak in other dishes.

The following day, I cooked rice for dinner which is so nice now that I've mastered cooking it on the stovetop.  The rice comes out perfect every time, something I attribute to the gas burners that are considerably easier to control than electric burners that retain residual heat after being turned off.  I used the rice to make refried rice.

Refried rice is an extremely easy and inexpensive way to use left over rice and beef, chicken or pork that can be made in 15 minutes or less.  It uses soy sauce which is incredibly high in sodium content.  Even the low sodium soy sauces have over 500 mg of sodium in 1 tbsp!  I use Rooster Brand Dark Soy Sauce which has 800 mg of sodium per 1 tbsp but because it has a deeper, richer flavour, less is needed.  It does give a darker colour to any dishes it is used in. Neither of us are on a sodium restricted diet however, we do tend to eat fairly low sodium so refried rice is a dish we enjoy only a very few times a year.

Method:  Cook rice or use left over rice.  I used 3 cups of cooked rice.  Cut left over steak (chicken or pork) into strips or pieces.  Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick skillet.  Pour in the rice.  Stir in about 1½ tbsp dark soy sauce, mixing well.  Stir in prepared meat and about 1 c of frozen peas.  Mix.  Make a well in the centre of the rice.  Pour in three beaten eggs.  Stir and continue stirring while incorporating the rice mixture into the eggs as they cook.

Ham Chowder

One of the reasons I chose our new Italian made Lagostina Collezione Pro cookware set aside of the high quality was it really was a 'set' but rather a mult-material collection of cookware.  One of the pieces of the set was a 4.7L (5 qt)  enameled cast iron Dutch oven, orange no less.  I would have preferred red but the reality for me when it comes to kitchen equipment is colour is always second to quality and function.  In this respect, the Lagostina Dutch oven excels in both quality and function.  The lid has a self-basting design for optimal steam recirculation.   It can be used on the stovetop or in the oven.  The Dutch oven included in the Collezione Pro collection is actually part of Lagostina's Tuscan collection as well so matching pieces can be bought separately.

While the new Dutch oven was the same size as my older Lagostina Renaissance stainless steal Dutch oven, I had reservations on how I would use it.  Seriously, for me it was aesthetics because in my mind the enamel coated Dutch oven did not look like a pot that could be used on the stovetop.  At the same time the idea of searing meat for soups and stews then cooking in the same pot in the oven intrigued me. 

We had a lovely family gathering for Easter so I had left-over spiral ham to use up.   I decided to test out the new Dutch oven with a ham chowder.  The weather has been taking its time warming here so we are still into cold weather foods.  The end result was a delicious, creamy yet chunky chowder perfect for a cold spring night.

Ham Chowder
(recipe by Garden Gnome)

1  ham bone
8 medium potatoes
2 medium carrots
1 small onion
2 c cooked ham, diced
1 c instant potatoes
1 c frozen sweet peas
1 c frozen whole kernel corn
1 c half & half

Place ham bone in large Dutch oven or stock pot.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and low simmer for 20 minutes.  Peel potatoes and cut into bite size pieces.  Peel and dice carrots.  Finely chop onion.  Stir potatoes, carrots and onion into the stock pot with the bone.  Return to boil then reduce heat to high simmer.  Cook until potatoes and carrots are tender.  Remove the bone.  Scoop out half of the vegetables and set aside.  Use an immersion blender to smoothly blend remaining vegetables and stock.  Add the instant potatoes slowly while stirring to keep a smooth consistency.  Stir in reserved vegetables, peas, corn and ham.  Return to a low simmer.  Stir in half and half.  Cook until heated through.  Ladle into bowls for serving.

Despite being a bit leery on the new enamel coated Dutch oven, I quickly fell in love with it.  The ham chowder cooked beautifully in this vessel with no over heating and residual heat in the cast iron kept the chowder nice and warm for seconds.  A couple of days later I made a no-knead crusty bread (boule) in the new Dutch oven.  The bread was beyond delicious and was my first successful homemade crusty bread with chewy interior.  The enamel coated Dutch oven cleans up nicely and gives good results.  I'm impressed enough with its performance I plan on buying a matching smaller one the next time they are on sale.

Chicken Pot Pies

Years ago as a newlywed, I learned a cardinal rule of frugal cooking that has never failed me.  Left-overs need never taste like left-overs.  They don't even have to look like they were left-overs.  Seriously, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to serve your family the exact same meal they had the day before just reheated.  That's why left-overs get such a bad rap.  There are so many creative ways to use left-overs that simply reheating can go by the wayside!

A couple of days ago I made a quick roast chicken dinner consisting of roasted chicken with baked potatoes and steamed carrots.  I had half of the chicken and the gravy left-over for another meal.   It has been cold and snowy here so last night I de-boned the chicken putting the carcass into the freezer to make stock with later.  I decided to make chicken pot pie with the chicken and gravy.  Pot pie involves a filling thickened to a stew consistency and topped with at least a top crust but can be in a double crust if desired.

There is nothing wrong with mixing left-overs with a bit of fresh cooked or using them as an ingredient in a new dish.  I had no left-over potatoes or carrots so steamed some for the filling then stirred in frozen whole kernel corn and the left-over gravy.  The steamed vegetables were warm which helped mixing in the cold gravy.  Once that was mixed, I stirred in the chicken pieces.

Pot pies are usually served in individual serving dishes.  You can buy the aluminium pot pie pans at the dollar store but I prefer to use re-usable oven safe stoneware of which I have a fair number of pieces.  The shape doesn't really matter.  I have round, oval, rectangular and scalloped.  The standard would likely be round the same as you would use for French onion soup.

I poured the chicken mixture into two individual serving size baking dishes and one double serving size one.  At this point the chicken mixture was very much like a thick stew so could have been enjoyed just the way it was but I decided a topping was in order.

Pot pie has at least some type of topping crust if not double crusted but you can get very creative here.  Anything from biscuit batter to pastry works well.  If I am in a hurry, I like using a drop dough that I would normally use for dumplings.

Puff pastry is a nice topping for pot pies because it is light and flaky.  You can use home made puff pastry but for this dish I used a store bought puff pastry left-over from holiday entertaining.  The rectangular piece of dough was just perfect for cutting into three pieces to fit on top of my filling.

Trust me, a pot pie topping does not get much easier than using puff pastry sheets.  Simply cut and top even if using home made.  Don't tuck or pinch, just lay the sheet of puff pastry over the filling loosely to allow steam from the hot filling to escape.  It doesn't matter if the dough touches the sides or fully covers the filling because it does puff when it is baking.  If it touches the sides sealing off the filling completely, poke a few holes in the crust with a fork to release some of the steam.  You can lightly brush the dough with melted butter if desired.  This will give a nice golden colour to the crust but it is not necessary if using puff pastry or drop biscuit dough.

Pictured are the chicken pot pies fresh from the oven.  I baked the pot pies until the filling was warmed through, just lightly bubbling and the crust was a golden brown.  The two smaller, individual serving size were served in the baking  dishes as is with a side Caesar salad.  It was a delicious, low cost meal that used up a few left-overs, just perfect for a snowy, winter's day.

Even though I used left-overs, it was fairly easy to make a completely different dish that did not resemble the first.  This is a frugal way to use left-overs.  Did you know that left-overs can actually be hidden in other dishes as ingredients.  For example, if I have a couple of tablespoons of mashed potatoes left, I often use them to thicken soup.  If I have a couple of tablespoons of applesauce left over, I use it in quick breads.  Bits of left-over vegetables find their way into meatloafs.  Get creative with using left-overs if you really want to save money in the kitchen!

Beef Noodle Soup Made with Leftover Chuck 7-bone Roast

A couple of days ago I was talking about the differences in culinary terms in various regions and between countries.  The term chuck is often used in the US to describe a cut of beef from the shoulder and neck region of the cow.  It is not a widely used term in Canada.  Since we live in Canada and our vacation home is in the US, I have found The Cook's Thesaurus to be extremely useful.

We bought a chuck 7-bone roast (pot roast) intending to grill it as a thick steak but ran out of propane so ended up broiling it.  After dinner, I divided the leftovers into two portions.  Of note, there were not seven bones at all but rather one large bone and three smaller ones.  I used the half with the larger bone to make beef noodle soup.

Making homemade soup is about as easy as you can, not even needing an actual recipe.  The basic requirements are a good sized bone with or without meat, bayleaf, vegetables of choice, and optional rice or noodles.  Any bone that has been roasted or grilled gives a deeper, richer flavour to the stock.  I put the bone with meat in a large pot then filled about three quarters full with water.  I added a bay leaf and brought to a boil.  At this point I usually add one unpeeled carrot, one unpeeled onion (quartered) and one stalk of celery.  These add flavour and colour to the stock.  They are removed along with the bone before completing the soup.  I let simmer about 30 minutes then removed the bone and vegetables, then cut the meat from the bone.  I added the bone and cubed meat back to the stock then stirred in 3 sliced small carrots, a half onion (chopped) and one medium potato (cubed).  I brought this to just a boil and let simmer until the vegetables were tender then stirred in a half a tomato cubed, cooking five minutes longer.  I added about 2 cups of water, removed the bone and brought the soup to a low boil then stirred in about a cup and a half of broad egg noodles.  I reduced the heat to a high simmer and continued cooking until the noodles were al dente.  I garnished with sliced green onion for serving.  The yield was enough for two adults for two lunches.

This particular soup was a bit heavier on the onions for a reason.  Quite frankly I should have added a bit more.  Both of us have been sick with some type of cold that seems to be affecting mainly the chest and throat, with little nasal congestion.  Onions have natural antibiotic properties.  They are one of the best foods you can eat if you have a cold or flu.  Be sure to include them with every meal if at all possible either raw or cooked when you have a cold or flu.

Blade Roast (Chuck Roast)

Yesterday I wrote about the chuck 7-bone roast (pot roast) that we broiled.  According to The Cook's Thesaurus, a chuck 7-bone pot roast is a cut from the shoulder and neck of the beef.  It is a tough cut of meat so should be braised or cooked in liquid.  Well it cooked up nicely under the broiler as we found out.  Even though we used a dry heat the meat was still nice and tender,

We buy our beef on the hoof  from one of two local farmers.  While the term chuck is widely used in the US is is not a common term in our part of Ontario, Canada.  I like using a blade pot roast for making a pot roast dinner but quite frankly will use any cut, adjusting the cooking temperature and timing accordingly..  A blade pot roast is the same as a blade chuck roast.

When we visited the kids last, we offered to cook them dinner as they both had to work one of the days we were there.  We went shopping for a blade roast and other ingredients to make a pot roast dinner.  The grocery stores had nothing that looked decent so we stopped at a small specialty meat shop very similar to a butcher shop where we found a lovely blade chuck roast.  They put a light seasoning on the roast for us.  Note the nice marbling?  This gives a lovely flavour to the meat, roasting vegetables and resulting gravy.

My tradition method for making a pot roast is very simple.  I place the roast in the middle of the roaster then season with garlic pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  At home I add tomato stock for a richer gravy.  The tomato stock also acts as a meat tenderizer.  I didn't add any to this particular roast as we flew so I couldn't bring that sized jar of liquid on the plane.  I usually add a bay leaf as well.  [Not having checked bags has a few downsides! I couldn't bring them a few jars of home canned salsa either so will have to mail it to them.]  I added carrot and potato pieces, sliced onion and whole mushrooms to surround the roast.   Then I covered the roast and let it cook for about four hours at 350°F.

Once the roast was done to medium rare, I removed it to rest before cutting.  If you cut a roast or steak immediately after cooking, the juices will run out losing all that yummy flavour.  Allowing the roast to rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing keeps the juices in the roast giving tender, juicy and tasty sliced beef.

Left over roast beef cooked this way slices beautifully for hot open faced or cold sandwiches the next day.  That is one reason  I prefer to use a boneless cut of roast.  Allow the roast beef to chill though before slicing.  Slice thinly with a knife or put thought a slicer for lovely fresh roast beef slices for sandwiches the following week.

I scooped out the roasted potatoes, then set about making a thin gravy with the pan drippings using a flour slurry.  A flour slurry consists of flour, dash of salt, sprinkle of pepper and water or milk  The slurry should be the consistency of maple syrup.  In this case, there wasn't a lot of liquid left so I stirred while scraping and poured into a small saucepan to make the gravy.  I brought the liquid to a boil then while stirring slowly poured in the slurry.

Vegetables roasted in this manner take on a rich depth in flavour that you can't get from other cooking methods.  They are truly delightful!  Part of that flavour comes from caramelization of the vegetables mixed with meat juices and seasonings.  They are perfect just the way they are topped with a little gravy.

Left over roasted vegetables can be used in soups as is or using the stick blender for a smooth soup.  Simply stir them in if using as is.  If using a stick blender make the basic cream soup then add the roasted vegetables, warm the blend with the stick blender.  Add a bit of extra seasoning if desired and garnish with dried parsley.

Easy Acini de Pepe Salad

A salad does not always have to be vegetable and/or fruit based.  Most salads are very easy recipes.  While it is true that many are vegetable based, some of our favourite salads are pasta or potato based with added vegetables.  These salads include the traditional tuna fish salad and potato salad.  Pasta based salads are quite versatile as a wide range of pasta shapes lend themselves nicely as a base for salads.

I made an easy acini de pepe salad to complement left over chicken breasts and grilled corn on the cob.  I cut the grilled corn on the cob off the cob then froze to see how that would affect the flavour and texture when reheated.  I must say I was quite impressed with the results so will be freezing corn that way this year.

Acini de pepe is a pasta often used in Italian wedding soup.    It gets it's name for the Italian term for peppercorns.  When cooked acini de pepe is a bit smaller than peppercorns.  I think it has a lovely mouth feel, little balls of pasta.  Acini de pepe if lovely to use as a moldable salad similar to what you would do using rice.  I cooked the acini de pepe to al denté then drained and cooled the pasta.  I stirred in an Italian viniagrette.  I molded the pasta then placed on a bed of lettuce and topped with cherry tomatoes from the garden and chopped green onion.  It was a delightful pasta based salad!

Left-over Porterhouse Steak

Our first home cooked meal at our vacation home during our recent vacation was grilled porterhouse steaks.  Steak is normally the first meal we cook there and we always buy extra.  The reason being, leftover steak is quite versatile, suitable as the meat portion for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Left-over steak gives all the wonderful flavour of the grill without having to do the grilling.  There was a fair amount of steak leftover.  We warmed some for breakfast with the kids then froze the remainder for later in the week.

We like our steaks medium rare to rare.  Re-heating not only cooks the steak a bit more but has the potential to dry it out.  I like using a quick stir fry method for warming slices of grilled beef, often adding the slices to caramelized onions.  A couple of days before our departure we were into use it up mode.  I thawed the steak then cut into strips.  I didn't have an onion so used a little olive oil.  The warmed steak was served with the last of the carrots along with a micro-waved potato.  Unfortunately we bought too many potatoes so I gave the rest to a neighbour.   I also made a small side salad.  It consisted of the last of the lettuce, tomato and cucumber sprinkle with a couple of shredded baby carrots then topped with the small packet of salad dressing I found in the deli section at Publix.  I also managed to use up most of the butter leaving just enough for a couple of sandwiches the next day (last full day in Florida). 

This was a simple, quick to prepare meal.  There was nothing fancy about it but I sure felt good knowing that food wouldn't end up being tossed out.  The cost of food just keeps going up.  My husband said we have to expect some food loss under the circumstances.  I am trying to minimize that food loss as much as possible. 

Spaghetti with Sausage

Our meals tend to get a bit on the creative side during using easy recipes the last few days of being at our vacation home.  That is because most things that need refrigerating can't easily be brought home when we fly and only and limited number can be brought home when we fly.  My frugal bones tells me to use up what we can rather than wasting it by throwing out.  So it does get rather interesting but out of that experimentation born of necessity comes a few good dishes worthy of tweaking a bit further.    So it was with the spaghetti with sausage dish I whipped up.  

I need fresh basil so always buy a small pot for harvesting when we are at our vacation home!  Dry pasta stores well so I can still buy that at Sam's Club but a lot of other foods are problematic.  I had a half package of bulk breakfast sausage and butter to use up.  My husband wanted pasta for dinner, specifically buttered garlic pasta.  I decided to kick the dish up a notch.  Normally I would pair butter garlic pasta with shrimp but this time I added browned breakfast sausage, chopped onions, shredded carrots and a sprig of basil.  The dish was quite tasty!  It surprised me because normally I would have gone for a saucier type of topping and in hindsight this would have been very good with a béchamel sauce but the last of our milk was in reserve for my morning coffee.  What I really liked is the flavours melded nicely even though that wasn't apparent when I first set out to create the dish.

Steak and Noodles

We have had our house on the market for the last thirteen months.  The biggest inconvenience to this is keeping the house ready to show in short notice has really cramped my cooking style.  The kitchen can't be a mess not that it ever really is and cooking odours are not always conductive to showing a house well.  We held an open house last weekend so I had popped the indoor grill cartridge into the stove.  I'm not really sure why other than it makes the stove look fancy which really doesn't matter because the stove is not included in the sale.  Following the open house we hosted games night then the next day I eyed up the very chilly weather outdoors while taking a couple of steaks from the freezer.  By dinner it was quite cold with high winds so we decided to grill the steaks indoors.  Oh my gosh, did the house ever smell scrumptious!

There was a fair amount of leftover steak so Monday I divided it in half with one portion going into the freezer and the remainder for dinner.  I cut the steak into thin strips.  I used one large spanish onion cut into thin slices then cooked that in butter and olive oil until just golden.  Then I stirred in the steak slices.  While the onion mixture finished cooking I cooked broad egg noodles and peas.  The resulting meal was quite delicious, perfect for a lazy and snowy day.  I can't believe we had about two inches of snow on the ground overnight on a later April day!  It wasn't a fancy meal but it was practical.  A bit of beef gravy would have been a nice addition as well but I used the last of that from the freezer a couple of weeks ago.  At any rate, we enjoyed a lovely dinner while pondering the snow on the ground outside thinking we have more than had enough of winter!

Roasted Chicken Casserole

Last month we were able to take advantage of whole chickens on sale.  Whole chickens have been on the high priced side in recent years.  I was quite happy to cook three whole chickens while putting the other three in the freezer.  I'm looking forward to rotisserie chicken on the outdoor grill!

Creamed turkey is traditionally a leftover meal when I roast a turkey.  I decided to make a similar dish from the leftover roasted chicken.  We ate half of the roasted chicken the first night.  The next day I de-boned the other half freezing the bones for the next stock making day. 

This is a no measure casserole in that I just add what amounts look right and fit the size of the casserole dish.  This casserole had roasted chicken, home canned mushrooms, niblet corn, condensed mushroom soup, milk and garlic pepper.  We had about half of the small casserole for dinner with enough leftovers for two lunches the following day.  

Planned Left-overs Using Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken

Having spent the majority of our time at our vacation home in temperatures above freezing and reaching as high as 72ºF we arrived at one of kids home in well below freezing temperatures.  We had take-out fish the first night and they made us a wonderful homemade cheese soup the second night.  Well that soup was enough to give the craving for good old fashioned, homecooked comfort food!  We arrived home to ice and snow with an almost empty fridge but since I wasn't cooking that night we left it to the following day when my husband picked up potatoes, milk, cream, sour cream, chicken thighs and a few fresh vegetables.  His request was he wanted homemade shake & bake chicken for dinner.

If you have been following this blog for any length of time you will know the story behind shake & bake chicken.  There were 6 chicken thighs so I decided to coat them all with   homemade shake & bake mix and bake along with potatoes with planned left-overs in mind.  I seved the chicken and baked potatoes with home canned green beans. Now you might question how I could possibly use left-over baked potatoes and with shake & bake chicken but as I pulled the first meal together the second meal was already in the planning stages.  My goal was to create another comfort type meal that would mimic some of the flavours of the first while introducing a couple of new flavours using the left-overs.

What could be better than a soup that picked up the essence of a favourite comfort meal while at the same time becoming its own unique comfort meal?  The snow was blowing, roads were closed, buses weren't running so making the left-over based soup while it howled outside was a nice diversion.  The kitchen smelled wonderful!

I had left-over chicken and baked potatoes to work with so that's what I started with and built from there.  The end result was a rich, creamy, filling soup full of warm, comforting flavour just perfect for a wintery day.  I used sour cream as a garnish but when stirred into the soup it really adds a nice flavour element.


Baked Potato and Chicken Soup
source:  Garden Gnome

2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
2 chicken thighs, pre-cooked with skin and chopped
3 slices thick cut bacon
3 cold baked potatoes
6 c chicken stock
1½ c asparagus pieces
1½ c sautéed mushroom slices
1 c heavy whipping cream
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp sour cream per serving

Cut the bacon across the slices.  Place in fry pan on medium.  Add onion and celery.  Cook until onion is just becoming translucent.  Cut baked potatoes into smaller chunks.  Place in fry pan with the onion mixture.  Warm through.  Cut chicken from the bone leaving the skin on the chicken.  Set aside.  Cut into bit sized pieces.  Transfer the potato/onion mixture to a stock pot.   Pour the stock into the pot and bring to a low boil.  While that mixture is heating sauté the mushroom slices in butter and set aside.  Wash and cut the asparagus into 1 - inch pieces.  Using a slotted spoon mash the potatoes in the stock mixture leaving just a few smaller pieces.  Pour in the mushrooms.  Let heat through.  Add the asparagus pieces.  Cook just to warmed through.  Stir in the whipping cream.  Remove from heat.  Ladle into bowls.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream.

Sautéed Zucchini Mix

Many home gardeners lament over the prolific nature of zucchini complaining that one plant produces much more than they or their family, friends and neighbours can use.  I beg to differ in opinion.  We love zucchini and I normally put in at least five zucchini plants.  I pick the zucchini when it is about 8 - inches long and no longer.  It is nice and tender at that stage, full of flavour perfect for grilling or sautéing.

One of our favourite side dishes is sautéed zucchini with mushrooms and onions.  We make this combination quite often, adapting it to cook in foil packs on the grill or open fire as well.  When sautéed there is a wonderful caramelization that takes place giving a depth to the flavour that is unbeatable.

We had a couple of left-over potatoes that had been baked on the grill.  This gives a smokiness to the flavour that can't be duplicated in the oven.  I heated a fry pan with a little olive oil and butter then added the cubed left-over potatoes.  When they just started caramelizing I added the onions followed by the mushrooms and finally the zucchini.  Each vegetable is added just as the previous one starts to caramelize.  The end result is a tasty side dish that is sure to please!

Left-over Easy Peasy Turkey Dinner

Turkey is one of my favourite frugal meats.  Not only can I get several meals out of one turkey I can also get several jars of home canned stock from the carcass.  Any time I cook a turkey I like to put enough turkey for a meal for two along with a cup or so of gravy into a freezer container then freeze for later use.  This makes for a wonderful meal quick start that only needs to be thawed and reheated.

A few days ago I pulled a container of turkey with gravy from the freezer.  I decided to make a left-over meal surrounding the turkey.  I used one jar of  homemade stove top stuffing from the pantry then added left-over mashed squash and cabbage.  The only component of the meal needing actual cooking which was quite minimal was the cabbage that was simply cooked to translucent in olive oil and butter.  It was an easy, low prep and low cook meal that was quite yummy!  Better still the meal was extremely low cost so quite low cost taking less than 15 minutes to put on the table.

This is the type of meal every busy home cook needs to keep on hand.  Using the quick start meat with gravy it is as simple as adding a couple of left-over sides or even adding cooked noodles with vegetables for a very quick, inexpensive meal.  It becomes a sanity saver during the week as you really don't have to think of what to serve with the meat and gravy, just raid the pantry, and at the same time you are saving on the cost and temptation of eating out or ordering take-out.

Cheesy Creamed Turkey Casserole

Last Monday we celebrated our Thanksgiving with a lovely turkey dinner and all the fixings.  There are three guaranteed uses for leftover turkey in our home.  It's a given that creamed turkey casserole and open faced hot turkey sandwiches will be served later that week.  It is also guaranteed that I will be canning turkey stock during the week.  Along with those must makes with leftover turkey I usually put turkey pieces with leftover gravy in the freezer for a later meal as well as slice turkey breast for sandwiches. 

The creamed turkey casserole is a family tradition passed on from my mother-in-law.  The beauty of this dish aside from using up leftovers is its simplicity.  It only takes a few minutes to mix the ingredients together then pop in the oven. 

I tweaked the recipe slightly to use Asiago cheese.  This time I tweaked the recipe to include ¼ cup provolone cheese, ¼ cup mozzarella cheese and garnished with parsley flakes.  The result was a rich, creamy dish similar to a risotto but without the work.  This really is a very easy dish that fits into the comfort meal category.  Serve with bread and a side salad for a complete meal. 

Kitchen Quick Tips - Leftover Ketchup

When the bottle of ketchup is empty, pour ¼ c of hot water into the bottle.  Shake vigorously to mix the leftover ketchup with the water.  Pour into small freezer container and freeze for later use in soups, stews or gravies.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Homemade Popsicle Idea

Pour milk into an emptied jar of jam that has not been scraped out.  Put the lid on and shake to flavour the milk.  Freeze in popsicle molds for a frozen treat.

Angel Hair Pasta with Vegetables

October is National Pasta Month!  As if I need a reason to serve pasta.  I'd love to tell you that for the next 30 days I will be featuring pasta dishes but that isn't going to happen although there will be more pasta dishes presented this month.  I think like many pasta started out somewhat as a frugal, inexpensive meal choice then blossomed from there.  Pasta is so versatile it takes little effort to make a dish from scratch or using up leftovers.

There were a couple of grilled boneless pork loin chops left over from dinner the night before so I decided to use them in a pasta dish.  I used a light butter garlic sauce for the angel hair pasta then topped with the cubed pork that had been warmed in a fry pan.  The meat was topped sautéed onions and zucchini and slightly warmed home canned mushrooms.  Finally I topped with coarse chopped tomatoes and fresh grated parmesan cheese.

This was a simple, easy to make dinner that was packed full of flavour and texture.  It was also a very quick dish to make.  Angel hair pasta is a quick cooking pasta at only 6 minutes cook time to al dente.  From start to finish the meal took less than 15 minutes to prepare!

Using Up the Leftover Ribeye Steak

We eat a lot of beef which means we eat a lot of steak as well but it is good quality meat.  We are very fortunate that we are able to buy organic, hormone free beef on the hoof from a couple of local farmers that we have dealt with for years.  When the cow is ready for slaughtering it is taken to a local abattoir that we have dealt with forever where it is custom cut to our specifications, wrapped and frozen ready for our freezer.

I'm always thinking ahead to the next meal or two whenever I'm cooking.  In essence I'm planning how to use whatever leftovers there are.  Quite often if I know we will be grilling steaks for dinner I will take out an extra one to be grilled then used over the next couple of days for easy meals like steak wraps.

Once grilled the extra steak along with any additional steak leftovers are cooled then refrigerated.  I find that slicing just before reheating gives the best results too.  In the pictured dish I sliced red onion then sautéed until translucent in olive oil with a tablespoon of butter.  The butter really boosts the flavour!  Then I added sliced portobello mushrooms and continued cooking until the mushroom were cooked through.  I leveled the onion and mushroom mixture the placed the steak slices on top while continuing to cook on low heat.  A couple of stirs an the meat was warmed through for serving.

This particular leftover ribeye steak ended up feeding three adults with healthy appetites while leaving enough of the meat mixture left for sandwiches the following day.  As pictured the prepared steak leftovers can be used for wraps, sandwiches, the meat portion of an entrée, or as a topping for mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.  It can also be cooled then froze as a quick meal start.  The possibilities are endless!