What to do with Leftovers
In continuation of our stressful week today we had the leftovers from yesterday which were partly leftovers from some weeks back that we had frozen. As a first course we had the leftover chicken soup from yesterday that, as usual, was tastier on the second day. We did another quick Mexican dish with the leftover mole from yesterday which had the leftover shredded chicken cooked to make the soup yesterday.
That’s a lot of accumulated leftovers. We made some enchiladas that are essentially tortillas dipped in a chile sauce. You start with some nice corn tortillas, in our case we used some Jalapeño tortillas we bought Tuesday. You normally fry them in oil, but we just cooked them on the comal until nice and crisp.
Our nice corn tortillas with Jalapeños crisping on the comal
When the tortillas are nice and crisp, you just dip them in the chile sauce and fold them in half. In our case we dipped them in the mole and chicken from yesterday.
Dipping the corn jalapeño tortillas in the mole sauce
Once you have placed your folded tortillas on the plate you ladle more of your sauce over them.
The plated enchiladas de mole con pollo
Traditionally like yesterday’s chalupas the enchiladas are served topped with grated cheese, and like yesterday we did not have cheese so we used a dollop of heavy cream on them.
The plated enchiladas ready to eat
The meal was very tasty as usual and took a grand total of 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. Now we need to really think about what we will have tomorrow as we ran out of easily accessible leftovers and we will need to actually cook something.
Lucito
I was planning to cook some nice fish filets we have in the freezer, but then we started doing housework first passing the broom outside in front of the house while Normita was watering the garden and the trees around the house so the fruits they are loaded with do not die from the hot dry weather. After that was done we had a quick breakfast and I spent a few hours cleaning up my clothes closet and throwing away the old stuff or the stuff that I will never wear again. It was something I wanted to do for months, but never had the time to do or I was just plain too lazy to do it. Now there is a huge pile of old clothes and shoes on the floor of my office, and it will be sad to lose my best Scooby Doo tennis shirt, but I feel much better and there is an aura of cleanliness and good riddance in throwing away all of that stuff.
Before I attacked the closet I knew that probably I would not be in the mood to spend a lot of time in the kitchen after I did that, so I decided that instead of thawing the fish, I should find something else to prepare. I looked around the refrigerator and did not find much as we did not go food shopping yet this week. I decided that I should use whatever leftovers I have in there and do something with it. I still had a piece of that nice thick bacon I used with the pasta yesterday as well as some salami, there’s a bit of cheese left, some mushrooms, a small red sweet pepper and whenever I get to the kitchen I will use that and whatever else happens to fall into the wrath of my trusty knife and I will make a nice thick fluffy omelette. It should take a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes to prepare and cook and we will have a nice nutritive meal with the least amount of fuss. I will be back later with the details and some photos.
Lucito
As mentioned earlier this afternoon I was planning to make some form of carbonara, but I was not sure exactly what and how I would make it. Finally it turned out more traditional than I thought, but with a twist. I did find a bit of Parmesan in the back of the refrigerator and with that and most leftover ingredients I also found I made a nice pasta that turned out stunning. We like it so much that we had some seconds, and the boyz will enjoy the leftovers tonight with their meals.
The process, like most of what I cook during the week, was simple and fast. While the pasta was cooking, some miniature tortiglionis, I simply sauteed some diced thick bacon and salami until golden. I added some finely diced garlic and onions with some fresh asparagus and mushrooms with a splash of olive oil.
Here is the bacon, salami, garlic, onions and asparagus cooking
The sauteed ingredients with the mushrooms added
I drained the pasta once it was cooked and then added it to the rest of the ingredients. I tossed it around still on high heat then took it of the burner.
The dish almost ready prior to the addition of the eggs and cheeses
I then mixed 2 eggs with the leftover Parmesan and mozzarella I found and poured the mixture in the pasta and rapidly blended it well so it did not turn into an omelet. I served it topped with a bit more Parmesan and a generous grating of fresh black pepper.
The plated Pasta alla Carbonara with a generous grating of black pepper
We were very happy with the results which turned out great and light enough to be enjoyed on a hot day like today. Now I have to plan something to do tomorrow with that other leftover piece of bacon and the little bit of salami left…
Lucito
We have had a very busy last few days and I did not get a chance to post anything anywhere yesterday. The Daily Express for both yesterday and today is “Albondigas”, Mexican Style Meatballs. Every few weeks Normita prepares them as it is a very quick and easy meal to prepare and it last 2 days, which is great when we are very busy and do not have much time to spend in the kitchen. The meatballs can be prepared fresh with the ground meat of your choice. When Normita prepares them from scratch she does it the traditional way with some cooked rice and eggs in the meatballs. The next time she does some I will document the recipe.
When we find them at the supermarket, we buy some inert gas packed meatballs that tend to be very nice and tasty and we freeze them. This way, on days we do not really have much time to cook, we can have a nice meal with little effort. Normita cooks the meatballs in a thick sauce of fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions, celery, carrots and chipotle. We normally eat them with a side dish of Mexican style rice, like we did yesterday and we will do again today with the leftovers.
It makes for a nice and quick meal that is both tasty and easy to prepare.
Lucito
We went food shopping this morning and the supermarket was full and the people there behaved like animals. Actually that is insulting animals as most behave better than that. We absorbed so much bad energy that we returned home dead tired. I was planning to prepare something nice for this afternoon’s meal, but we returned so late and tired that we decided to eat the leftover pork curry from yesterday with the leftover chicken soup from Friday. This way we will clean the refrigerator and get rid of and clean all of the pots stored there.
I spent some time in the kitchen anyway as I prepare some nice banana bread for breakfast tomorrow and marinated something for tomorrow meal. I will see if I have the energy to post my banana bread recipe later tonight while Normita attends a webinar, and I will adjourn to the kitchen now to reheat the soup and the curry. Until later…
Lucito
We have been doing house chores since around 7am today and it is now 4pm. We do not have time or the inclination to do anything in the kitchen so it wil be the leftover pizza from Saturday, at least the few slices that the Boyz did not steal from us. We'll see about preparing something interesting tomorrow.
Lucito
We had not been out food shopping for a few weeks as we were very busy working here at the office. This morning we really needed to go as we were running out of everything and even the Boyz were out of doggy treats. After doing our morning chores we went out and we returned with a truck full of stuff and we finally had breakfast around 1:30pm. We were both starving and exhausted and the weather down the hill where we live was very hot with a sun beating on our heads. Luckily up here on the hill it is fresher and more comfortable. Normita is currently taking a nap, and in a few hours I will prepare something simple as I am not in the mood to cook anything complicated.
Luckily I had some frozen balls of pizza dough in the freezer that I made a month or two ago and they are thawing now and later I will prepare some nice homemade pizza. Normita’s half will be vegetarian with a bed of fresh spinach as a base with some red sweet peppers, mushrooms, onions, basil from our potted reserve and whatever other veggies I will find. My half will be simpler with some salami, mushrooms, and sweet pepper.
The next time I prepare some dough I will publish the full pictorial recipe, as it is very simple and yield enough to make 4 medium-sized pizzas. I freeze what I do not use the day I make the dough and it is very useful when you want to prepare something quick and simple. Besides pizza I have also done some “calzones” with it, roll it with some olive oil, garlic, fresh basil and cheese to make a stunning bread, and even made some “empanadas” with my homemade spaghetti sauce and another time with some sauteed fresh “chorizo de Toluca” that Normita bought while visiting Toluca with her parents. It is very versatile and a staple in our kitchen. More on that when I prepare the next batch, which should be in a week or two…
We found some great pork on a great sale this morning and have enough for 6-7 meals. So tomorrow I will prepare something “Porky”, but I have yet to decide what. Stay tuned…
Lucito
In this first entry of the “Daily Express” I prepared something very quick. For the past few days we have been frenetically working to give a new look for both this blog and the main site. We were supposed to go food shopping yesterday as we normally do, but with both of us concentrating on finishing this work (Normita on the main site which should be uploading as I write this, and me on the blog) we decided to finish the work instead and leave the shopping for later in the week.
I had a look at what we had in the refrigerator early this morning and found out I had a bit of frozen medium-sized cooked shrimps, and found that we still had half a pot of Mexican-style rice Normita prepared yesterday. She had made it with a bit of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn) and used some sushi rice as we had an old bag of it we recently found hidden in the back of the larder, and we want to use it before using fresher stuff. Due to the type of rice it is a bit stickier than normal, but it is very tasty indeed.
Quick and easy stir fry
About an hour before lunch I threw the frozen shrimps in a bowl of water to thaw them and about 10 minutes before we wanted to eat I went to the kitchen. I took out my trusty wok and stir fried the leftover rice in a bit of soy oil. I then added some May Ploy oriental sweet chili sauce, some soy sauce, a big handful of crushed nuts and tossed in the shrimps.
It turned out to be so tasty that we ended up finishing even the portion we were planning to give to the dogs tonight… It’s their lost!
Lucito
As of today we will be launching a new feature. It is called the “Daily Express”. It is not really a post about specific recipes, but more of a log of what we cook here at home on a daily basis. We tend to recycle a lot and do lots of things with leftovers. There are many reasons for this, but it is mainly because I hate throwing anything away, and ever more throwing away food.
In this way we can both record what we do in the kitchen on a daily basis, and also help stimulate and inspire people to create something with what they have at home instead of eating junk food or buying prepared food all the time. During the week I normally spend less that 10-15 minutes to prepare our main meal of the day, which we normally eat at 4pm more or less the customary time (2pm to 4pm) for the main meal here. Besides that meal we normally have breakfast around 10am and have a snack in the evening if we get hungry. On weekends, if times permits, we normally try to prepare something a bit more elaborate. We rarely eat out as we work at home unless we go to town on business and come back too late or too tired to cook.
Enjoy these daily tips and give us some feedback if you have any suggestions.
Lucito