Make Way for Lots o' Lettuce!

Lauren and I have always dabbled in salads for dinner, providing a nice break from the average spaghetti or rice dish. So the other night we decided to make a good dinner salad and found ourselves without any greens of any kind and not much else in the way of veggies. Earlier that afternoon a friend of ours had come by the trailer and reminded us that it was food bank day. As we had our card to the food bank already and knew we had enough gas to get there, we went to check it out.

There was quite a variety of baking supplies, breads, chips and such. We got a bag of bagels and come cupcake liners, then went on to the fresh vegetables where they had carrots and big bags of lettuce, both of which we got.

Lots o' lettuce!

When we got home, I turned my attention on the lettuce, dividing to what turned out to be three gallon-sized realizing plastic bags. Whoa! that was going to be a lot of salads! Obviously lettuce is not freezable and it won't keep forever in the fridge so I decided to see how many ways I could use lettuce in a very non-traditional way. What vegetables could be substituted with lettuce? Can I cook with lettuce? Can I toss lettuce into a warm dish to give it a fresh juicy crunch?

Below is what I've come up with so far.

Each time I come up with a new way to use lettuce, 

I will pose the link below:

Egg Lettuce Tacos


 

Egg Lettuce Tacos

I was hungry this morning and kind of wanted a taco. Had tortillas, but what to put in them... What I had the most of, in the fridge, was eggs and lettuce. Ok, why not?  Pair up with a corn tortilla and you have a quick, yummy breakfast... or lunch or whenever. It turned out great... I'll make this again! There is definitely room to play with the taco filling too.

Egg Lettuce Tacos

1 corn tortilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 t olive oil
1 medium handful of lettuce
a few sprinkles of garlic powder and onion powder
salt and pepper
hot sauce (optional)

In a microwaveable bowl add oil and coat bottom of bowl. Add egg and season to taste with onion and garlic powders, salt and pepper. Tear up any extra large pieces of lettuce and add whole handful into the egg. Mix thoroughly until lettuce is well coated.

Put bowl in microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir to re-incorporate egg and lettuce. Egg should be thickened but not completely cooked. Lay tortilla on a microwaveable plate (I just used a cheap disposable plate). Top with egg mixture. Microwave for another 30 seconds.


Fold taco style and nosh

It mostly tastes like the egg. The lettuce gives it a slightly juicy texture as it maintains most of its crunch.

You can change out or add different ingredients... Next time I make this I might do green onion and cheese along with the lettuce. Instead of lettuce, I could use steamed broccoli, kale, collards, spinach, sauteed cabbage, peas.... the list of possibilities are endless... use up leftover vegetables from the previous night... on and on. Change out the hot sauce for BBQ sauce, avacado, pico de gallo, ranch dressing, whatever sounds good

Confetti Rice

The inspiration of this dish came from having a bunch of little bits of carrot, onion, garlic and other things. Once all veggies were chopped, and mixed with rice, they looked like confetti! the beauty of this dish is you can use up any bits of leftover vegetable, fresh, frozen or from dinner the night before and because you're using instant rice, you don't need to worry about overcooking.

Confetti Rice

Ingredients:

2c chopped veggies, any that you have available (I used green onion, tomato, carrot, and garlic. I also had two single serving packages of frozen vegetables in sauce that needed using up, plus a partial package of ramen with the broth packet.)

• 1c instant rice
• 1 1/2c hot water
• 2T vegetable oil for sauteing

In medium saucepan, heat oil, and chopped vegetables. (Note: I put my crushed up ramen in after the vegetables were almost done. Then added the broth packet and mix together.)

Mix in rice then add hot water. Bring to boil, then remove from heat. Cover and let sit 10 minutes.

Served with Chicken Kabobs with Roasted Broccoli.

Saucy Sausage Pizza

Is it a wind in the air?

No, you can taste it, smell it ... the unrelenting craving... this time a ferocious one.

Pizza!

Ok, no funds for order in or take out. So how do we deal with this situation?

Simple. Go to the pantry. Go to the freezer and fridge. Make a pizza.


From the Pantry:

I recommend doing this.... my recipe for Dough for One, is in reality just dry ingredients, to which, just add water. So I started pre-measuring the dry ingredients, of my recipe, into quart zip lock baggies, therefore, when needed, I can just add water.

I grab my baggie of pre-measured bread ingredients, add my 3/4 c water and mixed my pizza dough. (A little extra flour was needed as the recipe says, but dough still turned out great). Dough was set aside to rise for about one and a half hours.

Once risen, the dough was flattened into a sheet pan form. I pricked the dough with a fork, drizzled lightly with olive oil, and generously seasoned with:

• oregano
• Italian seasoning
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper

Also from the pantry:

• 1 4oz can sliced black olives

In 375 degree oven dough was par-baked for 7 minutes.

From the Freezer:

• 1 lb sausage (whatever kind you like)

From the Fridge:

• 1/2 medium onion coarsely chopped
• shredded cheese... any that you have. I used the last of three bags of cheeses (still good of course): mozzarella, parmesan, sharp cheddar.
• ketchup... enough to spread over the dough

While the dough was rising, Nut browned up the thawed sausage. It smelled great, and once it was browned he nibbled whenever he thought he was out of reach of my wooden spoon!

Meanwhile, I started soaking the chopped onion in a coffee mug, in a simple brine of:

• 1t salt
• 1t sugar

... and filled to cover with water. This was just to take the edge off the onion. They sat in the brine for about 30 minutes and were drained before adding to the pizza.

The crust is out of the oven, and time to assemble the pizza.

Ketchup...all over the crust. Then sprinkle with all of the spices listed above. Then whatever order you want, the following toppings.

(remember, you can use any toppings to your taste. This is just what Nut and I did this night)

• parmesan
• onions
• olives
• sausage
• cheddar
• mozzerella

Then bake for 25 minutes 375 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing it up.

Taste Tester Results: Yummy! He even liked it for breakfast this morning!

Chicken Kabobs with Roasted Broccoli

Our large freezer is in need of de-icing, which means I'm really trying to use up any partial bags, at least to start. I had a bag with 8 smallish tenderloins, which I decided to make into dinner. I was getting tired with the casserole idea, and we just had a stew, so no on soup either. I wanted to do something different. Kabobs?

Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients

• 8 small chicken tenderloins (if frozen, thaw before using)
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• oregano
• olive oil

In a gallon plastic bag, put chicken tenderloins. Sprinkle liberally with onion and garlic powders. Add a good pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Next add enough olive oil to generously coat chicken. Squish the bag to distribute the spices and thoroughly coat each piece of chicken. Set aside for about 20 minutes for the chicken to absorb the flavor of the seasonings. Meanwhile prepare broccoli for Roasted Broccoli (recipe below). If you are using bamboo skewers, time to get them soaking now too.

After 20 minutes, thread your tenderloins onto your skewers. I got two decent sized kabobs, which was perfect for just Nut and me.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients

• 1 medium head broccoli, cut into long stemmed florettes
• olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• parmesan cheese, shredded

In plastic bag or bowl, toss broccoli with olive oil, lemon juice, a heavy dusting of garlic powder, good pinch of salt and 3-4 grinds of pepper.

Transfer broccoli to cookie sheet, leaving room for the chicken kabobs a bit later. Cover loosely with foil.

Baking Them Both

In preheated oven, place broccoli and bake for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove broccoli from oven. Uncover and stir. Add chicken to cookie sheet. Return to oven for 35 minutes, turning chicken chicken and stirring broccoli half way through. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle parmesan over broccoli while still hot.

Serve with Confetti Rice.

The Stew that Grew into a 5 lb Casserole!

The Stew

It was in the air. A storm was coming (well, for Arizona standards). First came a day of ferocious winds. The next day it was supposed to rain. This spelled a piping hot, fragrant beef stew simmering in the crockpot. I brave the wind to get some stew meat out of the freezer. Tomorrow is stew. That morning I will get out the mixed vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds beef stew meat
• 1 pkg frozen mixed vegetables for soups and stews, containing lima beans, corn, carrots, celery, onion, okra, green beans. You can really use whatever to your taste and what is on hand.
• 1 14.5oz can chopped tomatoes, unsalted, in juice
• 1/2c flour
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• oregano
• Italian seasoning
• fresh ground pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• worchestershire sauce
• 1/2 box beef stock

Putting it Together

Add thawed stew meat to crockpot (no need to brown ahead of time). Next add the flour. Mix together until all the flour is incorporated with the beef. Now the seasonings.

I didn't give measurements, because I didn't measure the spices.

Here's what I did do: For the garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, and pepper, just sprinkle liberally over the entire top surface of the meat/flour mixture. Then mix those seasonings into the meat/flour mixture as well.

Add undrained can of tomatoes, thawed vegetable combo, 5-6 good dashes of worchestershire sauce, bay leaves, and beef stock. Stir until well combined.

Cover and set to high, and have a great day until dinner. I started mine at 9am and we ate at 3pm, so 6 hours should be great.

Beef was so tender, flavor was savory with just the right herb hint to the thick broth.

Notes: As you approach serving time, a couple things:

• Give a taste. You may want to add some salt and extra pepper. We did and we did!
• At the six hour mark, turn your crockpot off and let sit for maybe 15 minutes. This should allow it to cool enough so that no one burns their mouth in their first bite.

This is a very hearty stew, which can stand alone. However, if you prefer bread with it, try out this very easy bread recipe. It is so quick to put together, and if you don't have a warm place for the dough to rise, put it next to your crockpot. Mine radiates quite a bit of heat...so much so that in summer months I don't use it indoors, I put it outside so extra heat is not trapped indoors.

Taste Tester Results: Nut loved this stew. He kept saying over and over how great the beef came out. That's my carnivore!

...and now we have leftovers!

We have a favorite recipe which is a meat-only chili with cheddar cheese topped with cornbread. This is one of Nut's favs. (I'll get the recipe on this site soon)

We decided to adapt that idea to the leftover stew. I decided to go a bit further and make a cornbread casserole for the topper.

The cornbread casserole was a recipe I got from Food.com. This is abnormal for me but I really didn't change it much other than the cooking time, and omision of the cayenne pepper. My Nut doesn't like it hot!...Oh and I added more butter.

Cornbread Casserole

• 1 14.5oz can corn, drained
• 1 14.5oz can creamed corn
• 1 box cornbread mix
• 1/2t garlic powder
• 3T butter melted

Mix all ingredients together.

Assembly of Beef Stew Cornbread Casserole

Cheese. Whatever you have. I had a bit of shredded cheddar, and a small piece of mozzarella that I pulled into shreds. Scatter all this over the stew. I also added some shredded parmesan cheese as well, but whatever cheese you have, put it in!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a well greased 9x11 pan, (or I used that nonstick foil which worked great), pour all leftover stew into the pan. We had about half the recipe of stew leftover. Add your cheese. Then pour over your cornbread casserole. This is optional, but I sprinkled some paprika over the top just to make it more pretty.

Warning! This pan is going to be heavy, so be ready. I'm estimating it was at least 5 pounds! This is a very inexpensive way to feed a serious bunch of people.

Put in oven for 1hr. Cornbread topping should be slightly crispy and browned. Take out and let sit for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and let the yummy noises begin!

Taste Tester Results: "Mmm..Hmmm!" He doesn't talk with his mouth full. Good sign. You still get the beef stew flavor, but then the mild sweetness of the corn casserole comes through and the stringy cheese. It was yummy.

But guess what... more leftovers!!

Part Two coming soon!

Hamburgers Down Memory Lane

Food has a way of bringing back memories. In this case, today was a busy day, so Nut helped out with dinner, making one of his favorite go to dishes, hamburgers. It was just a burger for each of us, so it was not worth firing up the grill for just that. So he pan fried them, warmed the buns in the microwave, and we each dressed our own.

Now the memory. Nut and I have been in and out of penny pinching phases our whole lives together. During one such time, our favorite thing to do was hop in the car and go for a drive (gas was much cheaper back then). It gave a little escape, a mental vacation before we had to go back to the reality of our financial hardship.

The first stop would usually be to top off the tank. While we were at the gas station, we would pick up a burger for breakfast. They were 2/$1.00, and had a little mini bar of condiments and toppings that you could dress your own burger before you paid for it. There was no limit to how much you could put on your burger, so, along with the usual mustard and ketchup, I would pile high with onion, pickle, and pickled jalapeno.... salad and a burger in one.

So tonight when I dressed my burger, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and loaded on the pickles and onions. We didn't have any pickled jalapeno, but I did break form and sneak a slice of tomato.

Tonight I'm the taste tester because Nut cooked the burgers. I say it was yummy, maybe because this time, the burgers were fresh!