Roast Redux Salad

Leftovers can sometimes be a hard sell.  Not many people like eating exactly the same thing for dinner then lunch, then dinner again.  Which can be a problem if you've made, say, a large roast and a LOT is left in the fridge.  For some reason, leftover roast (be it beef, pork or lamb) lingers at our house.  Maybe because no one wants to deal with slicing it once it's cold, maybe because reheated roast tends to get dry, or maybe because it can be just plain boring to eat the same meat-plus-two-veggies for back-to-back meals.

Interestingly, I couldn't persuade anyone to eat the leftovers of the roast I used to make this dish, but my husband took the leftovers of the repurposed leftovers twice for lunch.  This leftover salad is just that good.

This grain-based salad is inspired by a recipe from Julia Child's The Way to Cook for managing leftover lamb roast.  I did make this with thinly sliced leftover leg of lamb, but I think it would be good with beef or pork roast too.  I made it with bulgur as the grain base (per Julia's directions), but rice, quinoa or couscous would be good too...just be sure to cook the grain according to package directions.

Now the tomato and onion roasting is NOT a fast process and you don't really have to do it (Julia didn't, she just put these ingredients in her salad raw).  But it made the winter hothouse tomatoes de-lish-us and roasting takes that sharp, bitey heat out of the onion that you'll get if you leave it raw.

You can do all of this a day in advance, which is precisely what I did (if you roast the veggies, I'd fridge them for 2 or 3 days even, for as long as you fridge your leftover roast).  I got to walk in the door after work to a fully prepared meal.  And THAT, in addition to how good it tasted, is the real beauty of this meal.

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Lemon Turnips

Totally gratuitous butter shot...cuz butter is purty ;)

It's pretty easy in my opinion to come up with tasty ways to prep meat-based dishes ahead and freeze them for convenience.  Not so easy when it comes to vegetables.  So I'm on particular lookout for recipes that do work for vegetables in the freezer, like this one.

Turnips are maybe not everyone's favorite, but lemon butter makes everything delicious.  They do nicely in the freezer and are lower carb than potatoes.  They pack a good wallop of vitamin C and fiber, and even have a significant amount of calcium per serving.

If you want to do these as a freeze-ahead dish, you will need to basically prepare the turnips in advance and package them up for reheating.  You want to stop just short of fully cooking them so they don't get squishy.  I reheated mine as an oven packet while baking off Chicken Wellingtons, but they could get reheated on the stovetop if it's more convenient to your menu.

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Pfefferneuse Cookies

I don't sprechen much Deutsch so while due diligence has been done on spelling and noun morphology, please forgive the errors that certainly remain.

When I told my husband that I planned to make pfeffernuse (pronounced feffer-noose), he looked alarmed.  I think he related the name to the famous German game meat stew hasenpfeffer and thought I was proposing he eat rabbit-meat cookies.

What the two recipes have in common is pfeffer, "pepper" (not rabbit, hasen).  These are little spice cookies that do indeed include pepper along with cinnamon, cloves and candied citrus peel.  This the traditional "peppernut" flavor combination, but you can use this recipe as a jumping-off point for several flavor variations which I'll include at the end of the recipe.  I've made some of these variations before, and some are notes for things to try in the future.  The original recipe is from Reader's Digest's "A Family Christmas".

They are the perfect make-ahead holiday cookie as they must be baked 2-3 weeks before eating.  They come out of the oven hard but soften with storage.  They are ideal if you want to make holiday cookies but don't want to be baking in the thick of December.

Today's I Screw Up So You Don't Have To...when you toss the cookies with confectioners sugar at the end, don't knock excess sugar off the cookies by throwing them on the floor.  Or by letting a 3yo help you with that step. 

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Lemon Sweet Rolls

That sounds contradictory, doesn't it?  The lemon filling on these sweet yeast rolls is tartly sweet, and the yeast roll is just delicious.  Sort of like a grown-up cinnamon bun.  The recipe is originally from the Argo Cornstarch recipe book and calls for a gooey sweet cream cheese frosting which I left off, but feel free to make it as instructed or use a store-bought cream cheese frosting.

This recipe requires some planning as the dough is a yeast-leavened dough.  However, you can do all the raising over a period of several hours in the refrigerator if that works better.  You can also make this up to the point of slicing the rolled dough and freeze the slices!!  Just arrange them in a pan to freeze, take it out at night and put it in the fridge to thaw/raise overnight, then bake in the morning.  Or make them totally ahead the night before for instant yummy breakfast in the morning.

This is also a handy way to use up a bit more of your Thanksgiving leftovers...1 pan of the rolls needs 1/2 cup of spuds.  Just be sure to use pretty plain cream-and-butter mashed potatoes (or bake a medium potato in the microwave to mash) rather than a heavily herbed or garlicked version.

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Pasta mezzavera

Everyone knows pasta primavera...the heavily sauced pasta dish with tender early spring veggies.  This is pasta mezzavera, made with heartier mid-summer veggies, fresh herbs and a light lemon-infused olive oil.  I like using zucchini and broccoli, but any combination of fresh, seasonal produce will work.  For a slightly more rib-sticking meal, add a cup or two of cooked white beans.

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No-work freezer meals

These aren't recipes, really, but just ideas of very quick ways to perk up plain-jane food and a reminder that you can usually do what little work there is ahead of time to make life just that much easier on yourself. 

For the salad dressing chicken, I made a double batch to use up all the dressing from one bottle (2 batches of 1.5lbs. marinated chicken breasts each).  Salad dressing tends to hand around at my house, and I'd rather just use it all up in one fell freezer swoop.  I used Greek Vinaigrette and Roasted Red Pepper Italian flavors, but just about any kind of prepared dressing would be good.

Pacific sockeye salmon is particularly good RIGHT NOW (it's the season for Copper River sockeye in particular), so give this one a try even if you think you don't like fish.  Especially if you think you don't like fish b/c it's dry.  Baking it at a lower temp makes a huge difference in the final product, and I'm not sure I'll ever fix salmon another way now.

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Lower Carb (and freezer friendly) Lemon Custard Pie

My husband adores lemon meringue pie, but I rather dislike meringue (making it as well as eating it, and it doesn't freeze well to boot).  Cool Whip is the absolute right answer to all meringue-associated problems.  Yes, it's cheating.  In case you haven't read any of my previous pie posts, I cheat at pies and do so with great celebration (I have all that extra time to celebrate, you see, since I don't spend any making homemade pastry or meringues). 

So, on request for a no-sugar version of lemon meringue pie, I give you Splenda lemon custard pie with sugar-free Cool Whip topping and nut crust.  Making the custard with splenda instead of sugar actually speeds the process up...sugar takes eons to melt and thicken properly, while the Splenda version took less than 5 minutes to achieve the proper thickness.  The flour and cornstarch still contribute carbs, but the result is much lower than what you would have with sugar.  You can, of course, use sugar, tbsp for tbsp, in place of Splenda.

Btw, for those playing at home, I saved 2 tbsp (ETA: needed 4 tbsp) of the almond grindings for a chicken wing recipe (Almond Sesame Wings) I'll make in a few days.  Put the "almond flour" in a small tupperware and stashed it in the fridge.  I like to plan ahead.

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Grilled Tofu Mexican Wraps

This is a partial freezer meal...you can freeze the marinated tofu, the tortillas, and the dressing for the slaw but not the slaw itself.  You'll need a fresh veg to complete this meal, either a package of cabbage slaw, shredded carrots, shredded lettuce or some other shredded crunchy veggie, or a combination of the above.  If you want insurance against forgetting to pick something up for Dinner Day if you're freezing ahead, get a package of frozen Mexican vegetables.  In a pinch, you can nuke them, dress them and fold them into your wrap.

Lime is the dominant flavor in the tofu marinade and in the slaw dressing, the former with the juice of a 1 lime and the latter with its zest.  You'll need a bit more juice to round out the dressing and marinade...orange juice would be great, but I rarely have OJ in the house any more and I used apple juice today.  The slaw dressing was a bit sweeter than usual as a result, but it went over very well with the under-3's. 


This is very seriously my favorite tofu recipe ever.  Ever, ever, ever.  That's why there are two totally gratutitous food porn pics above...couldn't decide which looked scrummier :D

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Breakfast cookies

I was feeling stuck in a pancake/waffle/muffin/fruit/yogurt rut with the kids' breakfasts (and eggs before noon make me feel blarky), so I thought I'd give these a whirl.  I'm not sure I can say that this is an adaptation of the original recipe, since there are only 3 ingredients that are the same, but the *idea* comes from Natalie Haughton's Cookies.  You can store them in the fridge or freezer.  The kids scarfed them down this morning.

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Mixed Grain Granola

We've hit the time of year that if I need to turn on the oven for dinner, I'll go ahead and make something else that requires the oven at the same time.  If you're going to heat up the house, you might as well make the most of it and avoid doing it again later.

Since I had to bake tofu for dinner tonight, I decided to make some granola too.  This is a recipe from Martha Stewart's Favorite Comfort Foods (gotta say, she and I have really different ideas about what constitutes a "comfort food" in general).  I change ingredients to use what I have on hand and I always make a double batch and freeze half.  It's like the oven...if you're going to the trouble, you might as well get twice the use out of it.  It's yummy eaten like cereal with milk, sprinkled into yogurt or eaten out of hand as a snack.

Martha calls for oatmeal, soy flakes and wheat flakes.  I don't think I've ever found soy flakes, but I've used quinoa flakes, barley flakes, wheat flakes and "mixed grain cereal".  It's all basically like oatmeal, but made with grains other than oats.  You might need a trip to a natural foods store to find alternate grain cereals, or you might find them in the natural foods or "special diet" section of your grocery store.  You can just use all oatmeal, but the mixture of grains brings nutritional variety as well as different flavors.  Just be sure to get 6 cups total of grains.

If you plan to freeze part or all of this recipe, try not to break the granola up too much as you bag it.  I don't recommend using a vacuseal bag as the pressure of the vacusealer will smash the granola into near-dust.

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Gasp! I didn't prep ahead for dinner tonight!

Here's how my dinner prep went tonight (recipe adapted from Bon Appetit)...


Stella de Oro daylilies


5:38pm Get back inside after dividing and transplanting gifted daylilies (Stella de Oro, for those who were interested)
5:39pm Scrub fingernails
5:41pm Draw water for pasta and start it boiling
5:43pm Head upstairs to change out of dirt-covered clothes
5:49pm Return downstairs; water not boiling yet 5:50pm Zest orange, put half of zest into citrus zest freezer bag
5:52pm Slice bologna
5:54pm Realize we have no cream or half-and-half, only milk and sour cream
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Lime-Herb Tilapia

 

Chives and Sage

This is a spin-off of a South Beach Recipe that calls for a quick marinade of the fish in lime juice.  To make it freezer-friendly, I use zest instead of juice as lime juice goes from marinade to ceviche in about 3 or 4 hours.  Tasty, but not what we're after here.

I love that this recipe uses fresh tarragon and chives, two of my garden's early risers.  Well before you can get parsley or thyme starts in the ground, these two are up and at 'em, ready to snip and cook.  If you garden and cook at all, a little bit of space for perennial or self-seeding annual herbs is well worth it.  Sage, tarragon, and chives will come back year after year with no effort on your part, and annuals like savory and basil require very little encouragement to drop seeds and pop up the following year. 
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Grapefruit Shrimp

Grapefruit isn't just for breakfast.  Here is some delicious citrus shrimp goodness.  If you like, you can peel the shrimp first though they turn out less dry with peels left on if you're sauteing/grilling. 
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Eat It the Way You Found It: Lemon

I am not a professional nutrionist, so what I propose is merely my own crackpot theory.  Disclaimer over. 

In general, I think food is better for you when you eat it the way it comes in nature...leave the peels on fruits and vegetables, leave the bran on grains, eat meat in the proportions it grows on the animals (fyi...there is shockingly little actual bacon on a pig despite the disproportionate number of appearances bacon makes in this blog), and so on. 

And so...lemons.  My grandmother ate citrus fruits peel and all.  I mean, she chomped into an orange and ate it like an apple.  It turns out that my 2.75 year old is the same way.  I'm not going to go that far, personally, but I do freeze the zest from citrus that I've peeled for eating or juicing.  I mix all types of citrus zest together, but you can keep them in separate zip-top bags as well.  Here are a few other ideas for ways to use the whole lemon.
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Stay-In Take-Out: Spicy Orange Beef & Broccoli edition

I just got the Argo Cornstarch product cookbook in the mail (free with $2 S&H), and I am drooling over the many stirfry recipes.  But I am genetically incapable of leaving well-enough alone, so I already have tweaks to report.

The original recipe calls for just 12 oz of beef.  I'm sure it's very authentically Asian to use less protein and more veg, but I live in the Midwest and there's no grocery store in a 100-mile radius that sells meat in such piddly quantities.  So I'm using 1.25 lbs of flank steak.  I could have bought a full 1.5 pounds and split it to make dinner tonight and freeze a kit of the same recipe, but I didn't want to commit a kit to a totally untried recipe.  Next time! 

The original recipe also calls for using the zest of an orange to marinate the beef in and plain ol' water for sauce.  Why not be less wasteful and more flavorful and squeeze the juice to use instead of the water?  So zest AND juice the orange for this recipe, unless you're using some of your frozen stash of citrus zest.

Tips: I don't peel ginger before grating any more.  It's bothersome, the peel is very thin and really doesn't cause problems and I'm a lazy cook.  Grate away!  Also freeze the beef for about an hour before slicing.  It's easier to cut thinly when it's got a little more backbone.  If you plan to freeze a meal kit for this dish, you can include frozen broccoli rather than needing to get fresh broccoli when you're ready to cook, but the veg won't be nearly as crisp.

And now, I present the Improved Argo Spicy Orange Beef & Broccoli...

Spicy Orange Beef & Broccoli (makes 4 servings)

1 lb (or so) flank steak OR sirloin steak, cut thinly across the grain
grated peel of 1 orange (or 2 tsp frozen zest)
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp cornstarch
--------
3 tbsp sherry
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp beef bouillon granules
1 tbsp sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup orange juice (or water)
2 tbsp cornstarch
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2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cups broccoli florets

Rice, pasta, or shredded lettuce for serving

If prepping ahead to cook the same day or the following day or for freezing, combine the steak with the orange zest and ginger.  For same-day/next-day prep, combine the sherry, soy sauce, bouillon granules, sugar, crushed red pepper, orange juice and cornstarch and whisk. 

Showing the grain on the flank steak (right-slant) and the perpindicular angular of cutting (left slant)

For freezing, omit the cornstarch from the sauce mixture.  Put the marinated beef, sauce and frozen broccoli (if using) into a large vacu-seal or zip-top bag and freeze.  Make sure to have cornstarch in the pantry when you're ready to cook.

When ready to cook, toss 1 tbsp cornstarch with the zest-ginger-beef mix and set aside.  Add 2 tbsp cornstarch to sauce mixture if preparing from a frozen kit and whisk well.

Heat oil in wok or skillet over medium-high heat.  Add beef and stirfry for 2 minutes until nearly cooked through.  Add broccoli and stirfry 3 minutes or just until tender.  Whisk sauce mixture well and add to pan.  Stirring constantly, bring to a boil.  Cook 1 minute, until thickened.

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Chicken Villaggio

This is one of our favorite recipes ever.  EVER.  I've been making this one for nearly 8 years, and that's saying something.  A lot of recipes come into vogue at our house for a couple of years and then fall out of favor, but this is one of the few that's lasted.  Easy, tasty, low-carb, versatile, quick-cooking, freezable, inexpensive...what isn't good about this recipe?  Although you gotta like lemon.

I bought a big package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale this week for another recipe that only needed about 1/2 the package.  This is what I'm doing with the extra chicken.  I already had packages of pepperoni frozen from a sale several weeks ago and just needed to pick up 3 lemons to turn this out.  Shopping magic!

Note on breasts vs. thighs: I really think you need to use thighs for this recipe.  I've tried chicken breasts because my husband, known hereafter as The Princess, used to claim that he would only eat white meat.  It comes out criminally dry.  If you're going to ask an animal to give up its life so that you can eat, the least you can do is prepare it properly and with dignity.  Using chicken breasts here does not meet that standard IMHO.  If it's more important to you to use white meat than to eat a meal that tastes good, by all means, sub in breasts.  Rant over.

Chicken Villaggio (serves 6)

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
3 lemons
3 oz. pepperoni (any kind you like)
black pepper

Zest the lemons.  Put the zest aside for the moment.  Then cut away the white part so that you have the whole lemon peeled down to the flesh.  Either cut the segments out or just dice up the lemon flesh.  Put the diced lemon in a small zip-top bag.

Combine the thighs, lemon zest, pepperoni and black pepper to taste in a zip-top bag.  Mush it all around, making sure none of the pepperoni slices stick together.  Marinate at least 24 hours, if you're going to cook this without freezing.  Otherwise put the bag of chicken and the bag of diced lemon into a larger zip-top bag and freeze (don't put the lemon into the chicken bag, tempting though that is, since once it's time to cook, the lemon bag will be all raw-chicken-y).

To cook: Thaw.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Dump the contents of the chicken bag into the skillet, NO OIL NEEDED, making sure the chicken is in good contact with the bottom of the pan.  Sauté 10 minutes on the first side, flip all the chicken pieces and as much of the pepperoni as you can manage, and sauté for 10 minutes more.  Add the diced lemon and cook another 3-5 minutes until the pan juices thicken a bit. 

I don't have a picture of the finished dish because it is still sitting in my freezer.  I'll update when I make it.

UPDATE: The particular brand of chicken I bought this time released a lot of water as it thawed.  I had to drain the pan a couple of times to get a good sizzle going, and alas, the chicken didn't brown as much as I usually like.  But here are the pictures!


First side





Second side, with lemons added



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Egg Substitutes & Olive Oil Cake

Thanks to the Midwest Icepocalypse plus a "light" snow that's put 5" on my driveway, I am snowed in and out of eggs.  A few moments on the Googles, however, offered a potential baking solution to the no-egg situation using ingredients I have, ground flaxseed and water, with the promise of "light, fluffy cakes!!" 

I decided to test this proposed mixture on Giada deLaurentiis' Almond Citrus Olive Oil Cake since I am also nearly out of butter (I'm also subbing dried fruit for almonds because...surprise!...I'm out of those too).  The use of flaxseed instead of eggs, in combination with the olive oil, should make this a fairly heart-healthy cake as well...apropos since today is Go Red For Women Day.  Serendipity! 

The results are mixed...it's a good moist cake with a nutty, not-oversweet taste, but not surprisingly the slice doesn't hold together well.  The cake broke slightly in turning it out, so it looks rather "rustic" LOL  Probably baking in a springform pan for a few minutes past the toothpick-comes-out-dry stage would solve that problem.  In any case, the two-year-old taste tester scarfed it down, so it's a winner in spite of the aesthetic shortcomings.

Finished product:

The extra bonus of this recipe is using my frozen stash of citrus zest (a prep-ahead freezer staple) and my husband's stash of ground flax.  And the double-extra bonus...the accompanying compote recipe uses orange blossom water,one of those ingredients that I bought because I needed 2 tbsp for a recipe and am now constantly on the lookout for ways to use it up.  Thanks to my on-hand ingredients, this cake has literally taken less than 10 minutes to whip up.

  So here is my egg-less version of Giada's cake...

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons ground flax
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted, coarsely crumbled

Citrus Compote:

• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 3/4 teaspoon orange blossom water, optional
• 3 oranges, segmented
• 2 pink grapefruits, segmented

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8-inch-diameter cake pan. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, eggs, and zests in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the milk. Gradually beat in the oil. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the almonds. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Place cake pan on baking pan to collect any possible spills. Bake until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool for 15 minutes. Remove cake and place on serving platter, top side up. Sift powdered sugar over the cake.


To make the citrus compote: Stir the orange peel, blossom water, and 2 tablespoons of accumulated juices from the segmented fruit in a small bowl to blend. Arrange the orange and grapefruit segments decoratively in a wide shallow bowl. Pour the blossom water mixture over. Cover and let stand 15 minutes for the flavors to blend.

The cake after the liquid combination step:

In the oven:

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