Leftover Veggie Hash

Okay, this might seem like a no brainer but it's worth a discussion.  Tomorrow morning I'll head to the market to stock up on veggies and fruit.  This means I need to  empty out as much space as possible in my fridge.  It's Friday night.  Perfect night for Steak. So I'm combining my needs with my wants and making a Swedish inspired Pytti y Panna which is just a hash topped with a sunny side up egg on top. 

Here's some hash basics
All your veggies should be cooked or par cooked.
Dice everything up in 1/4 -1/2 inch squares, including your meat.
Heat some butter and olive oil in a pan over medium high heat.
Toss in your onions and meat first and cook until browned. 
Don't overcrowd the pan!  You can always do separate batches, just take out the finished food, keeping it warm while you do the rest of the food.
Take all the food out of the pan and use it to cook the eggs instead of dirtying another pan plus you get the leftover yummy flavour bits in the eggs.

Some items you can put in a leftover veggie hash:
Onions, Potatoes (I know, how obvious), beets, turnip, carrots, parsnip, squash, cabbage.
Use whatever meats you have on hand, precooked or not... beef, pork, chicken, sausage, bacon, ham...
Top with a sunny side up or poached egg!
Serve with Worcestershire Sauce, A1 or steak sauce, pickled beets and/or veggies.
Oh yum!

If you're making a hash out of holiday leftovers toss in the cranberry sauce - seriously, it's delish!  And top with leftover gravy! 

Ravioli Soup

Want a simple, quick, cheap soup to make next week?  Well here you go.  You're welcome.

Disclaimer!  Because you open a bunch of cans and packages to make this dish it has the potential to be VERY high in sodium (as in like... you're entire daily content!) so be sure to use no salt added tomatoes and black beans and low sodium broth (I made homemade with no added salt so I can control the overall sodium content when I use the broth in dishes). 


Ravioli Soup
Serves 4 -6

Ingredients:

• 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (low or no added salt)
• 19 ounce can of black beans (low or no added salt), drained and rinsed
• 900ml or 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning, or a mix of oregano, thyme and rosemary
• 350g cheese ravioli
• 2 cups fresh spinach or 5-6 chunks of frozen spinach (the frozen spinach I get comes in chunk!)
• Parmesan cheese to top each bowl

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan heat the tomatoes, black beans, broth and seasoning over medium high heat until it comes to a boil
2. Add in the ravioli and boil until the ravioli comes to the top, about 3 -5 minutes
3. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the spinach. 
4. Serve in bowls topped with a bit of shredded Parmesan cheese.

This soup does not keep really well as the ravioli will continue to absorb liquid.  I have had luck with it in the fridge for a couple of days but eat it quickly!  Luckily it's very popular as a lunch item around here.

Enchiladas

The life of a blogger...
I caught Julie and Julia last night on the telly.  I wonder, do people still get famous from their blogs?  Do all of us foodie bloggers hope we'll magically get a book deal?!  Or better yet, a tv show on the food network?   I started my blog hoping for all those wonderful things but alas, fame did not come knocking.  Instead my blog became a place I could send people when they asked for a recipe.  I still do that but these days I keep my blog more for me than anything or anyone else.  It's become my recipe database.  One of the biggest complaints my mother used to have was that I'd make a dish out of my head and then it was never to be seen again so I started writing them down so I could recreate my own dishes.  Thankfully the techno world intervened and now instead of going through mountains of paper (okay, I have all my handwritten recipes in a binder, all neat and tidy but still...) I can use that handy dandy search tool right up there in the top left corner.  I may never be famous but I'm a heck of a lot more organized.  I keep a knitting/craft blog too but I'm way more slack about updating it.  And guess what... I tend to forget what I've made for whom because I don't blog it!  My blogs have become my memory bank!  Awesome.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog entry.

I made some enchiladas this week and they were really tasty, cheap and healthy (seriously full of fiber!).  All my requirements for a recipe to repeat so here it is.

Enchiladas
Serves 4 -6

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 mexican sausages
• 4 green onions, chopped and separate the white parts from the green parts
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1 roasted red pepper (you can use fresh, red or green), diced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 6 whole grain 6-7 inch tortillas
• 1-2 cups of salsa (I didn't measure so I'm guesstimating here)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat
3. Remove the outer casing from the sausage and break it up in the pan.  Cook until browned
4. Add in the white parts of the onion and garlic. Saute for a minute.
5. Add in the rest of the ingredients up to and including the lime juice.
6. Cook for a minute or two until blended and heated through
7. Divide the mixture into 6 portions
8. Pour a bit of salsa in the bottom of a 8 X 11 inch baking pan, just enough to barely cover the bottom.  Add a tablespoon or two of water if your salsa is really thick.
9. Spread each portion in a tortilla, roll it up and place it seam side down in the baking dish
10. Top with a good spread of salsa over each enchilada
11. Sprinkle with the cheese
12. Spray the shiny side of a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray
13. Cover and bake for 20 minutes
14. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.
15. Serve with some sour cream, guacamole, avocado slices or a drizzle of ranch dressing.

ps. the leftovers freeze really well!

Superbowl Chicken Drumsticks and Sweet Potato Fries

Here are my first thoughts on my Superbowl menu.  I keep getting emails, watching cooking shows and visiting websites that are full of ideas for Superbowl eats.  But I have all the ingredients for these dishes so I'm trying to stick with them.  Did you know that in the US Superbowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day after Thanksgiving?!  That's some serious eats!

You have to marinate the chicken overnight so all you have to do on game day is toss them on a pan.  You can prep the fries in the morning so come game time you can just toss them on a pan.  Nothing more than "tossing" to be done when you're busy with the games and/or guests!

Tandoori Drumsticks
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 - 1.5 lbs chicken drumsticks (at least 2 per person)
• 1cup yogurt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 3 cardamon pods (or 1/2 tsp ground)
• 1 tbsp chopped ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• red food colouring (optional)
• juice from one lemon
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

1. Remove the skin from the chicken drumsticks
2. Mix the yogurt through red food colouring in a dish big enough to hold the drumsticks
3. Toss in the drumsticks and marinate overnight
4. An hour or so before you are going to put the drumsticks in the oven, mix in the lemon juice to the marinade and drumstick dish
5. Preheat the oven to 425F
6. Remove the drumsticks from the marinade and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil
7. Bake until the drumsticks are cooked through, about 50 minutes
8. Sprinkle on the fresh chopped cilantro and serve!

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1.5 -2 lbs sweet potato, scrubbed clean and cut into 1/2 inch thick strips
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 beaten egg white
• 1 tsp curry powder
• Ranch dressing for dipping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or cover the bottom with parchment paper
3. Toss sweet potato strips in a bowl with the olive oil, egg and curry powder
4. Spread the potatoes on the baking sheet
5. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake another 10 minutes. 
6. Serve with the ranch dressing on the side for dipping