Leftover love

I love leftovers.

Mine from dinner the night before, from dinner at mom and pops and also from restaurants that we have dined in. Brock *kind* of likes them which means I generally get the lions share and am able to take it to work with me to munch on....although occasionally I do get a phone call wondering where the rest of the spaghetti/enchiladas/taco salad toppings went to.

Oops. Was I supposed to share?

Leftovers as they are can be damn good if not better than they were the night before, but then there are leftovers that can be MADE better.

Last night we had dinner at the Mandarin House Chinese restaurant in Ventura which is my new favorite Chinese Restaurant. The food is good, the service is great, the wine list pretty much sucks (typical for Chinese food), they have a full bar and they are friendly as hell-the hostess will "thank you for coming back" even if it your first time. If you get the waiter that looks like and Asian Adam Lambert, you are lucky...he is one of the best. :)

Last time I tried the "Monkey in the Bush" which sounds like a bad Asian porn film, but is really just an awesome dish made up of pork, shrimp, shiitake mushrooms and green onions in a delicious sauce. This time I tried something a little different...the crispy duck with plum sauce.

Mmmmmm......Crispy duck skin. Seriously? This is like France and China's version of the chiacharrone....or a really decadent version of what my mom and I fight for on Thanksgiving Day.

So it was tasty. Served with the plum sauce and nothing else. Yeah, really good.

Tonight I made it even better.

Saute up some chopped red pepper, mushroom and carrots. Add chopped green onion and the leftover chopped duck meat. Add in the leftover fried rice. Throw in a few glurgs of soy sauce. (Glurg being a true measurement...just picture the sound in your head and you've got it). Saute on high, scraping the pan well to get the crispy bits.

Fried Rice. King of the Leftover World.

Serve in a bowl with a spoon because a fork or chopsticks just won't get it to your mouth fast enough.

Who's so smart?

Yesterday while at the grocery store I was shopping not only for last nights dinner, but also for tonight's I had a revelation. We are really a lazy culture.

I know it's been said before, but what really struck me was that being lazy is also contributing to being broke.

Knowing that I was making a chicken Caesar Salad for dinner last night, I automatically went to the part of the produce section and stood in front of the pre washed, chopped and bagged salad mixes. $3.99, $3.29, $2.99 for a bag of lettuce that would probably feed the two of us. Then I sidled down the aisle at Albertsons and looked at these beautiful heads of romaine lettuce, whole tied up with a big blue twisty tie for $.99. All I had to do was take it home, chop it and run it through my salad spinner. I had enough for 2 healthy salads last night and enough to take to work with me today for lunch.

Then on to the meat aisle....boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 3# package for $16. OR I could buy a 3# package of skin on, ribs attached breasts for $6. Same brand.

The skin came off, the breasts and tenders detached from the ribs and the bones saved and frozen for the next time I need to make chicken stock. 2 breasts frozen for future use, about a pound chopped up for chicken skewers tonight and the remainder seasoned and pan seared for dinner last night.

I have to figure that for a little effort on my part in the kitchen dinner last night cost me all of $6 to feed both of us a very healthy and delicious dinner. And now I have the means to cook additional dinners without going back to the store. That, in my way of thinking, is smart shopping, smart cooking and smart eating.

I think a lot of America has forgotten to shop smart and eat smart. Brock and I were talking about it and he thinks I could do a Food Network show on it to help remind them...what do you think?

Thinking Thin

After a couple of months of celebration I find myself in the position of once again beating myself up for overindulging in food and drink.

Last year I went on a pretty good diet....by pretty good I mean I not only went on a diet for more than a week, I stayed pretty true for closer to 5 months. AND I joined a gym. AND I actually went to the gym. More than once a week.

OMG...what they say is true...diet + exercise actually work. Who knew?

And I lost weight, more than I have ever lost before in any stretch of time. Which is good because quite frankly I have more weight on me than I ever have in my life. Not a good feeling just to look in the mirror and not love what you see, but also not good to have your doctor threaten you with medication of you don't get your blood pressure/sugar under control.

So I made the change in my life and found that it did make a difference, the weight came off little by little, my clothes started bagging on my butt and I felt better about myself not only for the loss of the weight, but for the thought that kept rolling around in my head. "Holy crap, I CAN do this!"

And then the holidays came. I know this is a piss poor excuse, but I am using it and will probably use it in years ahead. The days are shorter and I felt less and less like skipping off to the gym with a big bottle of water and more like hunkering down on the couch in my cozy living room with a glass of wine and something that falls in the category of comfort food.

Every day I kicked myself for it knowing I was going to gain weight back and have to work harder to get back where I was at. And yet, I did nothing about it.

Until now. :)

Like most Americans at the beginning of the New Year I tend to set goals for myself that include diet, exercise and depriving myself of tasty adult beverages for a period of time. Most often I do 2 out of three as it tends to be a bit much for me. I don't really want to turn in to a cranky brat and my friends thank me for this. :)

I didn't gain as much as I thought I had, but it is just enought to piss me off and make me want to get rid of it and more ASAP. I am not sure how much fun my food blog will be this month since I am probably going to be eating a LOT of salad, but I will try to bring something fun to the table.

Tonight I made an old favorite of my family's out of LOTS of veggies leftover tri tip from last nights dinner. Very good diet food as it is heavy on the veggies, light on the meat and little or no carbs. Think Chinese omelet with savory gravy. It makes for a good breakfast too which is good because this recipe makes quite a bit! Note the positive words scattered throughout the recipe. :)

Egg Foo Yung

1 cup Bean Sprouts (Good DIET veggie!)

2 SKINNY Carrots, peeled and grated
2 Green Onions, chopped SMALL

1 Celery Stalk, sliced THIN (another good DIET veggie!)

1 can drained Straw Mushrooms, chopped in to SMALL pieces

1 1/2 cup Tri Tip, sliced THIN & chopped in to SMALL pieces

You can also use chicken, pork or shrimp...I tend to use whatever meat I have in the fridge that is healthy & seasoned well.

7 Eggs (preferably from HEALTHY chickens)

Beat and season with...
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all together and pan fry in a non stick skillet, if needed, use Pan or nonstick spray. Should make about 8- 5" cakes.

I like to use a small omelet pan to help keep the shape so the egg doesn't leak everywhere.

LIGHT Gravy
1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1 T Rice Wine Vinegar
2 T Soy Sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne

Thicken with 3 T water and 3 T flour

Serve hot with gravy and keep thinking THIN!!

Cry Baby Soup

OK really? Refrigerated onions? Don't cut the root end until the very end? Chewing gum? An unlit matchstick under your tongue? Lighting a candle? Bread in your mouth? Carrot up your nose? Cutting underwater? A lit cigarette in your mouth (a la Peg Bundy!) Breathing just through your mouth?

And don't even mention putting on swim goggles while slicing up an onion, it just ain't gonna happen. Although I am assured by my moms best friend from college that it does indeed work for her.

Maybe I am sensitive, but I ALWAYS cry when cutting onions. There are none of the above that have worked for me and believe me, I have tried most of them. Fresh onions, old onions, shallots are especially bad....my eyes tear up and I dab. Then I dab again. Then I use my bicep and sleeve to rub away the tears. Then I rub my knuckles in to my eye sockets to try and alleviate the burning. (Yes, I know this is bad for me and my skin, but like a 3 year old I really don't care). With mascara and tears running down my face I then slap my knife down, wash my hands and run to the bathroom to wipe off the evidence and blow my nose.

Because we all know, crying makes your stupid nose run. Especially in allergy season. Which is year round for me now.

So glad I was home alone for this because truthfully I looked like hell. And if I can't be truthful with you then why am I here?

Oh the lowly onion. You are kind of a pain in the ass to peel. Stinky and sharp when raw (except those few lovely sweet varieties!). Exuding amino acid sulfoxides when we cut you, our eyes well up with tears...I cry....I cry.....

Sorry, momentary lapse in to what I thought might be poetry.

For reals though...the onion is the base for all stocks and broths....the foundation of sauces on every continent...they come in multiple shapes, colors and degrees of stinky & sweet. Yet there are a multitude of ways that onions are prepared to complement or enhance a dish, but only a few where it is the star.

Tonight I made French Onion Soup with Guinness where the onion is the true star of the meal. A nod to a version Brock & I have enjoyed many times in downtown Ventura at Dargans combined with my own culinary idols recipe from her book "How to Cook". Um, that would be Julia just in case you didn't know.

Remember how I have waxed poetic on the virtues of homemade stock????? This is where it comes in to play. No bouillion in the world is going to make this soup taste as good as a homemade stock or broth.

Guinness French Onion Soup

3 Large onions, sliced thin
3 T butter
1 T peanut or vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 T flour
48 oz (6 cups) Beef stock
1-16oz can of Guinness
(They come in 4 packs, drink the rest or serve to your loved one)
Salt to taste

Sourdough bread slices, about 3/4" thick
1/2 C Gruyere Cheese
1/2 C Swiss Cheese

Melt the butter and add oil, add onions and saute on high for 10 minutes until translucent. Add sugar and salt and turn on med/low. Stir often for about 30-45 minutes until brown and caramelized...scrape the bottom of the pan as needed.

**Note & FYI the sugar helps the onions to caramelize...as referenced in the pear bread pudding, sugar + butter = caramel flav-ah = goooooo-ooood!

Add flour when the onions are dark and stir thoroughly. Add 2 cups of stock and stir....add the rest of the stock and stir. Then turn up to a simmer and cook for about an hour.

Toast the bread in the oven, remove and cover with the shredded cheese. Broil until melt-y. Serve the soup topped with the cheesy bread and enjoy! Just like my handsome guy below. :)

**And for the cheap eats tag....if you don't have enough to buy Guinness, just make it all with beef broth or stock. :)

When the man is gone....

I eat what he won't... Hee hee hee!

Can you see me hovering over my counter & stove, chopping, dicing, stirring and concocting???

Brock is definitely what I term a "good eater" he will try anything I (or mom) makes at least once without batting an eye. And trust me, he has tried more new "interesting" items in the time he has been with me that I can count. But if he doesn't like it, he isn't afraid to say so and I just don't make it again, no biggie. If he likes it, it goes in the cookbook with a star next to it or posted here on the old blog just in case I need reminding.

And then here comes hunting season. As the nights get dark earlier and the temperatures drop, my darling man leaves me at night to go hunt the elusive wild pig in the hills of the Ventura foothills. Or takes off on a day trip with his buddies to find quail, dove or duck. Or leaves for multiple days to hunt deer or elk. And then I am what my mom and I term "hunting widows"-ladies left alone at home without their man for a time. Maybe a gruesome term in some respects, but what it really is for us is a time for us girls to relax, unwind, watch a girly movie (or several episodes of Sex & the City), open a good bottle of wine and perhaps make a meal that we love that our spouses don't.

Tonight, after leaving the warm confines of the Ojai Valley, I arrived in a Ventura that was enveloped by fog. A night that just begged for slow cooked, comfort food. A quick stop at the market found beef shanks & beef bones just waiting for me to make them in to something delicious!

As much as I appreciate (and use on occasion) items such as bouillon, pre-made stock or broth, I do find that any time you have even a half an hour to make your own stock or broth, your meal turns out 200% better tasting than if you used a product that has MSG, corn syrup, yellow #5 or mechanically separated chicken (my favorite) or "chicken flavor" in it.

How exactly does one get "chicken flavor" aside from making the stock I would like to know....I wish you could see my visualizations....

I know these things are there for our convenience, but I do try to make my own stock when I have the means and the time, it makes a huge difference.

So quick quick quick...I trim the fat from the package of 2 beef "soup" bones, wash them under cold water, toss them in a sauce pan with 1 peeled chopped carrot, 1 celery stalk and a chopped white onion. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Skim the funk from the surface as it cooks. Strain, remove any fat that is left and wait for the next step. Or freeze in ice cube trays and wait for the next time you need yummy meat flavor. For even MORE meaty flavor (if you have the time), roast the bones at 400" for a half hour-45 minutes until they are crispy and brown and then make the stock.

And now for my delicious beef shank...

When shopping for it, get ones that are well marbled, somewhat smaller and about 1" thick. This recipe makes enough for 2, so now I have lunch for this week, yay!

(2) 4"-5" round beef shanks, bone in (they are cheap too!!!)

2 T flour
S&P
1 small fennel (anise) bulb-sliced thin
1 Portobello Mushroom-sliced 1" x 1/4"
1 dozen (ish) pearl onions, ends removed, skinned*
2 garlic cloves, minced

*Easy skinning technique as these guys are a pain in the you know what-sies to skin raw....boil some water (or your stock!) and thrown them in for a few seconds, the skins just slip right off!

Season the shanks with salt & pepper, dredge in flour

Heat 1 T olive oil + 1 T butter and brown the shanks in a medium sized sauce pan, set the meat aside. Add another 1 T olive oil and add veggies, stir until slightly softened.

Add

1 cup red wine
2 cups beef stock (or bouillon if you must) :)
1 T salt

Add meat back in and cover, turn on low/simmer and leave for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, uncovered, until meat is pretty tender. Add liquid if needed, but you shouldn't if I have steered you right. :)

Skim off 1/2 cup of liquid and add 2 ice cubes to cool it. Add 2 T flour and whisk until blended. Add this back in to the pot and stir until thickened, season to taste.

Now I should clarify that this totally IS something my darling will eat...but I served it with polenta and broccoli, which he doesn't care for. So next time I make this, I will make sure to serve it with pasta or gnocchi and a big old salad, now that I know this recipe kicks ass.

On another note, in regard to meal cost....I know that many of use are not as comfy as we used to be "considering the economy" (blech!). This is a meal that I think cost me all of $10 and served 2 people. The beef shanks were $4, the bones $.98, the broccolini $3 and everything else I actually had in my house as what I consider staples. Cuts of meat like this are more affordable and often way more flavorful than pricey cuts and you can do a whole heck of a lot with the veggies that are hanging out in your crisper drawer. Sub the polenta for the bag of pasta in your pantry and you are good to go.

Any questions, feel free to email me. :)