On Christmas day, our friend Niki was kind enough to make us a perfect turkey and the most rockin' stuffing. And yes, she is a believer in stuffing as opposed to dressing. It was absolutely fantastic and flavorful, and no one died (so take that Alton Brown.) The bird was so moist and the stuffing was chunky and rough-cut.



Her gravy was also fab. And all we had to do was bring the salad and some asparagus. Oh, and do note the pathetic offering of our Christmas cookies in the background. Luckily for us, she also had pumpkin cheesecake on hand!



In Niki's honor, I also including three ideas I've had in the past for leftover turkey. Sure, make the soup and the tetrazzini and the casserole... those are all great. But if you're looking for something different, and if you STILL have more turkey on hand...

This first one was stolen directly from Trader Joe's. They serve brie, turkey, and apple sandwiches already made. But since I had all that bird left, I made my own with a simple balsamic vinegar and oil dressing. And if you plan really well, you can actually have all this stuff left over (from salads and stuffing and whatnot) and just rearrange it all in sandwich-form.





I'm sure you've thought of this next one. I just rough-cut some turkey, and instead of re-heating, put it cold on a salad with some candied nuts. I made those in a skillet with just a little oil, sugar, and I like a little cayenne pepper in there. I served it with squash soup so it still warms you up.



Chris really liked this last one. I used my food processor, and pulsed the turkey and shredded some red bell peppers, celery, and walnuts. I combined it with lowfat mayo and plenty of curry seasoning and coriander. I think it'd also be good with golden raisins, cilantro and green onions if you have those around. It could also be a hearty dip.


If you can work any of those into the party you throw on New Year's, that's really the hat-trick! Have a good one!

Christmas Cookies in L.A.

For Christmas this year, in case you haven't already gotten this, we went to L.A. and saw the bro. We ate (both at restaurants and at home) so much freaking food that I will be posting feverishly for the next few days!

David had requested some Chicago gear so that he could "represent." We followed through, and he was able to fully represent while eating his salami, toast and eggs on Christmas Eve.



While watching the Bears game and not climbing out of our pajamas all day, Chris sampled his first bloody mary... the first of his many "first drinks" on our trip.



I don't think he was a huge fan, and while they aren't my favorite drink either, you can't argue that Dave makes the best ones. He makes them spicy with horseradish, worcheshire and hot sauce, and gives you plenty of skewered snacks.



That day, we also baked sugar cookies (per Chris' request.) We got plenty of Christmas cutters from the 99 cent store. I made the cookies from a box and still managed to mess up the directions with too much butter (I failed to use the "roll out" recipe.) So I had to keep adding flour. I also managed to overbake most of them slightly (I like to watch the game.) Still, despite my lack of baking prowess and a failure to purchase many decorative items, they came out pretty good.



I can't believe our trip is over and we are home, already! Hope yours was happy!

Happy Belated Chanukah... and Christmas

I've just gotten back from California! I will be posting tons now in an effort to make up for dropping the ball on my "daily posts" promise while I was out there. But you know, sometimes you are just too busy eating to post to your blog about eating.

Last Christmas, brother David and our friend Niki were out here in the midwest to celebrate... and this year I got to be out with them. This is the festive cookie they brought me last year, which came with its own edible food markers with which you could decorate the cookie. I took a picture of my efforts, of course.



It was fun to do, and a great tabletop item... But I had dropped it (note the crack) and upon hearing the sound of shattered ceramic, decided not to attempt eating it.

Stay tuned for this year's cookie decorating efforts!

Honey Mustard

It never occurred to me until I worked in a restaurant that one could make one's own honey mustard dressing. With just honey. And mustard. I worked for years as a waitress, and everywhere I worked, someone would ask me, "Do you have honey mustard?" If you have a good server, the answer is yes. If your server answers, "No," he or she is lazy. And believe me, I answered "no" on a very busy night or two.

If you like it sort of zippy and spicy, then just use those two ingredients. I like mine a little creamier (like shown), so in that case you just whisk in a little mayo (of course I'm still using the Just Too Good! stuff). That's it!



This photo is from a little get-together I had in which I just chopped up a bunch of salad toppings, had some crumble cheeses and meats out, and let everyone make their own chef or Cobb salad. It was a fun idea for a fairly hot day. Remember those?

Leftover Fried Chicken Salad

I had stored the leftover chicken limone and the sauce separately. Unfortunately, I made a lot more chicken than I did sauce. Or, not so unfortunately! I gave Chris the rest of the chicken and sauce, and made a really good salad out of what was left for myself.



My favorite salad dressing lately is just balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a little brown or dijon mustard whisked together. I had some dried blueberries, some goat cheese, and some snow pea pods in there too, and squirted a little fresh lemon over the top.

Chicken Limone

Forgot to post yesterday, so... two today!

By the by, I have begun to resize my photos. So if they take a while to load, I apologize. This will be corrected in future!

Here is another instance of me looking at no recipe and getting away with it fairly well. I had some chicken breast strips that I wanted to use, and I thought they would be tasty double-dipped in flour and fried. At first, that's as far as my thinking went.



After removing the chicken, I mopped up a lot of the leftover oil and only some of the crispy bits from the pan, then added butter and a little more flour. I added some wine, chicken stock, and fresh lemon juice alternately to de-glaze the pan and thin the sauce as it thickened.



I boiled up some pasta, added drained capers and poured the sauce over the chicken and voila! Chicken limone.

Beans and Greens Fagioli

Okay, I promised to post an idea for a way to extend your leftover bacon and greens (turkey bacon for me) with onions into another meal.
So here it is... I added pasta, rinsed white beans, and chicken broth. It made kind of a smoky bean soup. Of course, had I made the greens without the turkey bacon, it would be a vegetarian soup, so that's an option.

I call it the "Soul Fazzole."

Red Beans and Brown Rice

Long ago and far away, I was a vegetarian for four whole years. During this time (now nearly ten years ago when I began) I was not a great cook. I don't even know if I was a good cook, really. Rather than turning to, you know, vegetables -- I subsisted mostly on Cheetos and other non-food items that I wouldn't go near today. Why did I start eating meat again? I often say this can be summed up in one word. And that word is "Cheddarwurst." Surprisingly however, I ended up with a healthier diet as a meat eater than I ever had before.

Back to my original point -- I probably wouldn't have lasted nearly so long in this veggie endeavor without Curtis Aikens' red beans and rice recipe. It has a complex, hearty flavor that keeps even meatitarians interested, and piling it up on the plate. Back in the day, it may have been the one thing I did right.



1 pound dried red beans (soaked overnight)
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup olive oil
3 to 4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 cups cooked rice
I add plenty of Red Hot at the end, as well

Drain the beans, discarding the water, and set them aside in a pot. Place the onion, celery, garlic and bay leaves in a medium mixing bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over them and let the mixture sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Don't skip it!

Pour the oil and veggie mixture over the beans and let that mix sit at room temp for 10 to 15 minutes. Add enough of the water to cover the beans and bring to a boil. (Here, you could also place the mix in a slow cooker.) Lower the temp to a simmer, add S & P, cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours. Remove the bay leaves and add final seasonings to taste. Serve the hot beans over the rice.

I also serve this with greens with Trader Joe's turkey bacon, because it has a thick cut that seems like a ham-hock texture (hey, I still try to cut out the pork and the beef whenever possible) and biscuits (these were from a mix.)

Tomorrow, a quick post about what to do with your leftover greens!

BBQ Chicken and Goat Cheese Pizza

This is probably my favorite pizza that I've come up with so far. I don't actually remember if I invented it or saw it somewhere else, all I know is that it tastes great.



For the bbq chicken, I usually make my own in the crock pot during the day, and then I assemble the pizza at night. My bbq sauce is a mish-mash of ketchup, mustard (about a cup ketchup to 1/2 cup mustard), brown sugar (a lot -- about 1 and 1/2 cups packed at least), diced onions, about 1/4 cup of beer (no more, or this will be runny), a small can of tomato paste, garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, hot sauce, and a little bit of liquid smoke. Molasses also works well in there, but I don't always have it on hand, so honey will also work. I whisk that all together, then I add four or more chicken breasts. Then I drink the rest of the beer, and go to work for a few hours!

If I haven't had the time to do all that, I have also just coated leftover chicken in bottled bbq sauce (Famous Dave's is my fave) and that works just dandy.

After 6 hours on low, or 4 on high, the chicken should be loose enough to shred with a couple of forks in the pot when you get home. For this pizza, I toasted a whole-wheat crust from Trader Joe's, and then put down some pasta sauce (thinly), and piled on the bbq chicken. Then I crumbled goat cheese all around, and some long-sliced red onions. Drizzle bbq sauce over that, and then add shredded cheese. Then shake a little Italian seasoning on, and just a light drizzle of olive oil, bake at 375 until done, and be careful not to change past and present tenses as often as I have.



This pizza has a rich, deep flavor and Chris and I pretty much eat the whole thing every time!

Breakfast Casserole

I'm gonna start this post with a pledge for the four of you that read this blog. I'm done with the semester until mid-January, and you can look for a new post from me every day (yeah that's right, I said EVERY DAY) until I get back to school. And then I promise to update at least once a week after that. K?

Onto the food.

This stuff is gooood!

This recipe was given to me by my friend Sarah that I used to work with. When she sent it to me, it said, "submitted by Peggy R." Submitted to, I know not what. But cheers to Peggy!

1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper (I leave this out, because in terms of cookery, I think green pepper is the facist vegetable that makes everything way too... facist and green peppery)
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup half-and-half cream (I used milk)
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, diced (fat-free works fine, but integrates less than the regular does)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices whole wheat bread, cubed
ample salt and pepper

Sautee the veggies and set aside. Cream together the eggs, cream cheese and milk. Stir in the cheddar and bread cubes and veggies, and pour everthing into a greased baking dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until center is set. Excellent hot and amazing cold.



I made the one on the right without onions and brought these to the onion-hating in-laws home. Jason devoured the one with onions, and so did Wilma. They were like, "it's way better with the onions." I could have told them that.

Which brings me to my other promise to self: convert all picky-eaters and onion heathens.

Paula's Pot Roast

When the weather turns as cold as it has here in Chicago, a girl's thoughts turn to her best friend (the Crock Pot.) There is nothing like the comforting little chatter of the lid on the pot when you walk in the door. It says, "dinner's hot and ready for you!" More specifically, my thoughts turn to pot roast when the weather becomes inhospitable.



I use Paula Deen's recipe, which you can still find here. The only things I do differently is that I add potatoes, carrots, and celery to make it a "one-pot" meal. It would be just as nice without the potatoes, though, and over some egg noodles. I also tend to use red wine instead of the Chardonnay, because I think it tends to have a deeper flavor with red meat. Also, we hardly ever have Chardonnay because I drink red.



I've also diced raw squash (like acorn squash) and added that, which turned out great as a fall-themed meal. It tastes great when there's leaves on the ground, or four feet of snow like today!