Leftover Lunch

This probably only came together because I had the right kind of leftovers, but it was so good that i'm writing it down anyway. 

1 T. butter
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced (1/8" to 1/4" cubes)
1 large apple, diced slightly larger than the sweet potato
~1 C. leftover pork roast, in bite size pieces
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 T. apple juice, or more

Saute the sweet potato in the butter until it's starting to get soft, then add the apples.  Once everything is getting soft, add the pork, sugar, and cinnamon, and season with salt and pepper.  Use the apple juice to deglaze the pan.

I'm not sure on the amount of juice, because I just used a splash straight from the bottle.  If it seems dry, add more.  And if the potatoes need a little more time to soften, you can stick a lid on it and simmer on low for a few minutes.  (This is the incentive to cut them up small).

Served 1 hungry nursing mom and 2 little girls, so that's probably 2 regular adults.  I should've taken a picture of it, because it was actually a really yummy-looking dish!

Zucchini Risotto

We had this the other night with beer can chicken, which we had on the side instead of adding in to the dish.  Easy way to get my girls to eat something green!  There's enough parmesan cheese and it's creamy enough that the girls think that the stringy-ness is due to all the cheese, instead of from the squash, which you really can't taste at all.  mua ha ha!

Zucchini Risotto

6 C. water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 T. olive oil

2 C. medium-grain rice or Arborio

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. oregano

Salt and pepper

1 small to medium zucchini, finely grated

½ C. grated parmesan cheese

2 C. cooked, diced chicken

Add bouillon cubes to the water and bring to a boil.  Saute the rice in olive oil, and add the liquid to the rice one ladleful at a time, stirring frequently in between for about 15 minutes.  Add seasonings, and when the rice is fully cooked, add the zucchini, chicken and parmesan.  Bring back to a simmer before serving.

Spiced Pecan Pie Bars

I served these as my "southern" component of our Mexibikentucky party last night (Cinco de Mayo, and a Kentucky Derby-inspired 1.25 mile bike race around the neighborhood).  I originally found this recipe in a Taste of Home cookbook, but I added the spices, based on a nut-mix recipe that I've made, I think from a Food Network website.  I also messed with the nut:goo:crust ratio a bit, since the original was more like pecan pie with a thick, pointless goo layer and not enough pecans.  You can spice these up more than the amount that I have here, because these weren't noticeably spicey, just tasty.  And most people agree - they're better than pecan pie, and a whole lot easier!  You can't really do a half-recipe, but a 1/3 recipe might work well in a 8" square pan.

Spiced Pecan Pie Bars

3 C. flour (can substitute 1 C. whole wheat flour)

½ C. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 C. butter

3 eggs

1 C. sugar

¾ C. dark corn syrup

½ C. light corn syrup

3 T. butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

3 C. chopped pecans (10 oz.)

1/8 tsp. each cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, and salt, then cut in butter until crumbly.  Press onto the bottom of a greased 15 x 10 pan.  Bake at 350° for 20 min.

For filling, combine eggs, sugar, syrups, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl; mix well.  Stir in pecans.  Pour over crust.  Bake 25 – 30 min longer or until edges are firm and center is almost set.  Cool on wire racks.  Cut into bars, and refrigerate until serving.  Yields 3-4 dozen.

Taco-ish meat

Travis has a knack for picking up something random at the store (HyVee in this case), and then it turns out to be awesome and becomes a family favorite.  He did it with the 12-grain bread that he subsists on, and also with this chorizo.  You should look at the link because the distinctive packaging is almost more helpful than the brand name (Purnell's Old Folks).  It really is SO good.  It's not hot-spicy, just a really good balance of flavors.  I believe it's mostly or entirely pork, and not the leanest of meats but not nearly as greasy as some ground beef I've used, which is pretty good considering it IS sausage. It browns up nicely and is easy to add to all kinds of things because the seasoning balance is so nice.  Really - you start frying it and suddenly the kitchen is full of people saying, "It smells good in here! What's for supper??"

Last week, I did this:
1/2 lb. chorizo
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 can of plain diced tomatoes
Brown the meat, add the veggies, and serve over fried potatoes and top with a fried egg.

The other night, I added the peppers and tomatoes in and also a bunch of chopped asparagus, and served it over leftover rice.  I suppose either version would be good topped off with cheese, but I didn't think of it and they were super tasty anyway.

My next plan is to mix it half-and-half with ground beef, adding a can of tomato sauce for a really easy taco meat, maybe to put in enchiladas?  I get tired of the taste of the taco seasoning packets, and annoyed with them being primarily salt and food coloring, so lately I've been just adding my own chili powder, cumin, oregano, S&P, and flour to plain ground beef.  But, relying on this chorizo for flavor is way easier and a nice change of pace.

Mommo's Fudge Cake

I haven't posted much lately because we have been eating some pretty lousy dinners around here.  It's sure hard to feel like standing in the kitchen for an hour at the end of a long day, so we go with scrambled eggs or pathetic concoctions of leftovers.  My family has been nice enough to not complain too much - perhaps because I seem to have kept up on the desserts well enough.  (Baby likes sweets!)  So, here is my grandmother's chocolate cake recipe that we've been enjoying this past week.  She got this recipe from a friend years ago who was reluctant to share it because she knew that replications of the cake would probably turn out different than the one she just served.  Apparently she found the batter so delicious that her cake was significantly thinner than if you bake all of the batter.  She's right - it's goooood, baked or not!  And it's easy, nothing fancy to throw this together.  My girls helped me put plain vanilla frosting and sprinkles on top, but I grew up having this cake with meringue or chocolate frosting on it... you really can't go wrong!

Mommo’s Fudge Cake

2 squares Bakers unsweetened chocolate

1 C. boiling water

1 stick butter

2 C. flour

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

2 C. sugar

½ C. buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat to 350°.  Add water and butter to chocolate, and stir til melted (or microwave all 3 together, stirring frequently until melted), and cool.  Sift together flour, salt, and soda; add to chocolate mixture.  Add sugar, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  Bake in 9x13” pan for 35 minutes.

Fruit Skewers

Again, hardly a recipe, but I thought these were tasty and easy and a bit fancier-tasting than standard fruit salad, although sticky to prepare. :)

1/2 a fresh pineapple
1 fresh mango
1/2 pint of fresh strawberries
36 purple grapes
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/16 tsp. ginger

Cut up the fruit so there are 36 bite-size pieces of each kind.  Add them to a bowl that has the spices mixed in it, mix well and let sit for a couple of minutes.  Add one of each kind of fruit onto 36 4" skewers.

Sausage with Apples and Onions

This was a seriously easy dinner.  I made mashed potatoes, and steamed some broccoli to go along with this.  I think it ends up being fewer than 10 ingredients for the entire meal, and everybody gobbled it up.  I was surprised that this ended up being a meal where I didn't have to beg my kids to take bites of things!

Sausage with Apples and Onions:

1 lb Hillshire Farm smoked sausage, sliced into 1/2 pieces
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 apple, diced
1/2 tsp. beer'n'brat mustard
salt and pepper

Get the sausage slices browned, and after flipping to the other side, add the apples and onions to the pan.  Brown until the onions are soft and the apples are starting to brown, then add in the mustard.  Season with salt and pepper.

I made a gravy out of the pan drippings by adding about 1 tsp. of flour to the fat remaining in the pan, then adding about 2 T. apple juice and 1/4 to 1/2 C. water, with salt and pepper to season.  There wasn't much fat left in the pan to work with, so it didn't make much, but it was enough to be tasty on the potatoes, anyway.