Month: December 2008

Repurposing leftovers, part 3 (and finally caught up!)

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It is Monday night, and I am actually posting my Monday night food … finally on schedule!

Before I get around to my dinner concoction, I present to you the most re-gifted item from my family’s 2008 holiday season. This little guy started off as a present from my stepmom’s brother to his mother. Mere hours later, step-grandma had it rewrapped and waiting in my present pile. The trend continued when he reappeared at the Hannukah swap yesterday as my contribution. Unfortunately, the lucky recipient left him behind, so we seem to be stuck with him. Here’s my mom demonstrating his impressive jellybean-pooping skills:

sheep1

sheep3sheep41

I ate the jellybean :-).

For dinner, I attacked the leftovers once more. Yesterday, we had crudites: veggies1

 

 

 

And tonight, I roasted all the leftover raw veggies (carrots, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and radishes) along with half a turnip I found in the bin, olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Here’s the result: 

veggies-roasted

Leftover lettuce topped with the roasted veggies, feta, and a sprinkling of chopped chestnuts I also found lurking in the fridge.

 Seconds (roasted veggies + feta):

seconds2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert, we had more pumpkin pie pudding from this morning’s project and a square of the apple-cranberry pie, also left over from yesterday:

dessert-close

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With decaf Earl Grey on the side:

dessert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand total of eliminated containers of leftovers for the day: 10!!!

Repurposing leftovers, part 2!

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Lunchtime rolled around, so I started rummaging through the fridge again to rescue as many leftovers as possible (and to create some more fridge space by eliminating some of the 10,000 storage containers hogging the shelves!). I uncovered some cabbage salad with apples and pomegranate from who knows when, but it was dressed with vinegar and seemed sufficiently preserved, so I added it to the leftover turkey from yesterday and heated it in the microwave. I also found half an avocado, so I mixed that with some Dijon mustard and a couple Tbsp of Greek yogurt that was taking up another dish. I finished off the plate with two of my leftover curried carrot and zucchini latkes.

lunch

For dessert, mom and I split the little bit of pumpkin/applesauce/banana mixture that did not make it into the oven with this morning’s project.

lunch-dessert

A perfect, well-balanced meal that had the added benefit of eliminating five containers from the fridge. What a relief!

Repurposing leftovers (yay!)

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This morning, I woke up still full from last night. Seems to be a theme lately! My dad picked me up around 8am for another trip to the gym. We treadmilled together and then moved onto some weights. When I got home, I set right to work on my project for the day: repurposing leftovers from the party! Again, I have a crazy preoccupation with making sure that all food goes to good use. We had soooo much left over from yesterday — the fridge shelves were overflowing, and I just knew that things would start getting lost behind other things and rotting if I didn’t take action quickly.

My first order of business was to find a more palatable form for my mom’s failed pineapple-ricotta pie. Something had tasted a little too bitter in the pie (perhaps lemon zest?), so I needed to find a way to counteract the offensive flavor. I tossed all the left over pieces into a big bowl:

pineapple-bowl

I added 3/4 a can of pumpkin, unsweetened applesauce leftover from yesterday’s latkes, a ripe banana, and loads of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Then, I subjected the mess to an immersion blender:

blending

I added a bag of cranberries and spread the whole thing in a roasting pan to bake for 30 minutes at 400.

baking

The final result? Breakfast! Delicious warm pumpkin pie pudding, topped with fat free cottage cheese and served alongside my standard tea (more Nutcracker Sweet today) with skim.

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Yum!

And on the 8th night …

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When I was home last month for Thanksgiving, my mom concocted a plan for a potluck last-night-of-Hannukah gift swap family party. We used to have family parties at our house all the time, but the tradition has faltered as the kids have spread out and gotten older. It was fun to revive the tradition last night!

Treats included more of my apple-cranberry pie:

cranapple-pie

My potato-free “latkes“:

latkes-close

The black bean dip Rachel and I made:

bean-dip1

And so much more!

turkey, tomato, lettuce, latkes, salad, and my aunt's famous noodle kugel!

My plate: turkey, tomato, lettuce, latkes, salad, and my aunt's famous noodle kugel!

I went back for another big piece of kugel before it disappeared. I’m pretty sure I had a couple more latkes, too. Despite being overstuffed, I couldn’t stay away from the desserts!

Hannukah cake (I ate several slivers) and cranberry blondies (I had 3). Whoops!

Hannukah cake (I ate several slivers) and cranberry blondies (I had 3). Whoops!

Plus this upside-down pineapple-ricotta pie my mom made:

But it tasted weird, so I only had one piece.
But it tasted weird, so I only had one piece.

I ate several more things that I can’t remember (and trying to remember makes me feel ill). I narrowly escaped further caloric damage with my gift swap present. I first opened a giant box of Whitman dark chocolates (the horror), but I managed to exchange it instantly for someone else’s non-edible chocolate-scented candles. Close call! I definitely went overboard on the food, but it was a fun day overall. Still, I went to bed anxious for a new event-free day to recover from all the gluttony!

Creative kitchening

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I woke up on the 28th still full from that mammoth pancake the night before. I chugged several glasses of water and eventually got around to snacking on a clementine (but you know what that looks like!) and introducing Rachel to the wonders of pumpkin yogurt!

pumpkin-prep

with a chopped pear and pumpkin pie spice

with a chopped pear and pumpkin pie spice

This baby bowl satisfied my minimal hunger perfectly, but then I noticed Rich gathering some very intriguing ingredients:

thin-sliced tilapia ...

thin-sliced tilapia ...

slivers of carrot and cucumber ...

slivers of carrot and cucumber ...

chopsticks (plus my cousin Josh) ...

chopsticks (plus my cousin Josh) ...

Sushi!!

Sushi!!

My roll (x3!!)

My roll (x3!!)

Inspired by Rich’s culinary creativity, Rachel and I set to work developing an original black bean dip for her to bring to my mom’s potluck later that day:

fork-mashed beans (but don't they look like oreo crumbs???)

fork-mashed beans (but don't they look like oreo crumbs???)

sauteeing asparagus, onions, and garlic in olive oil

sauteeing asparagus, onions, and garlic in olive oil

 We surprised ourselves with the delicious end product!