Pops De Milk » Leftovers

Curry and Tortilla Chips

Pops De Milk — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:57:56 +0000

When Jay makes dinner he makes one of his three one pot wonders: curry, cream of mushroom-pasta-meat “thing”, and spaghetti with loads of meat sauce. This week, he made a vegetarian curry in which he threw in so many ingredients I lost count. But I could make out chick peas and mixed vegetables and crushed tomatoes in the stew-like dish. It was pretty good with basmati rice.

Now, the thing about Jay’s one pot wonders is that he makes enough to feed a family of eight and not a “family” of two. As a result, we have an obscene amount of leftovers, which means I don’t have to make dinner the following night. Or the night after that.

Yesterday, to make things a tad interesting, instead of rice we ate the leftovers with fresh tortilla chips from La Tortilleria at Bloor and Dufferin. Those chips, by the way, are dangerously addictive. With a dollop of spiced yogurt, this was a winning combination. It was like a curry salsa and chips.

What I did with a Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout

Pops De Milk — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:56:17 +0000

A few days ago I made a vegetarian dinner from the Weight Watchers Turn Around Program book. It’s called Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout and this is how it’s made:

Makes 2 Servings:

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lb fresh cremini or white button mushrooms, quartered

1/2 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, stems removed and diced

1 (15oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 fresh ground pepper

4 tsp fresh lime juice

In a pan, cook onion until soft, about a minute. Add the garlic and stir constantly for about 20 secs then add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed it, about 5 mins. Stir in the beans, chiles, spices, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (I’m not sure what they mean by this because I didn’t notice any “thickening”) for about 15 mins. Serve and squeeze some of the lime juice on top. I sprinkled some shredded Havarti cheese.

It was tasty and flavourful…but not as fantastic as I thought it could be. It’s more of a side dish than as a main meal as the book says it should be. It’s very good because it has lots of protein and fibre but if you’re eating a whole bowl of the stuff, it can be a little boring. Needless to say I didn’t eat a full serving and I put the rest away in a container.

Two days later my little sister came over and she was hungry. “You have food at your place right? I’m reeeeeaaaally hungry.” Unfortunately I hadn’t done any groceries yet and I didn’t have much in my fridge except the leftover ragout. I brought out the container and told my sister to try it but she didn’t seem too keen on it, “Hm, smells spicy…do you have anything else?” Sigh.

1/4 of a jar of Classico pasta sauce

3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes

generous splash of heavy cream

1 1/2 servings of leftover Tex-Mex Ragout

Make 2 servings of whatever pasta you like, I used angel hair. Heat the ragout in a pot along with the tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir. Once it’s heated, add the cream and stir until it’s all blended and heated through. Serve over noodles.

So very yummy! I think I’ll be making more pasta sauces like this one.

Oh my Food God, this is outrageous!

Pops De Milk — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:24:20 +0000

See previous post on jalapeño corn bread sandwich, toasted with melted Havarti cheese. The corn bread itself was nothing spectacular, hence why I turned it into sandwich bread. For lunch today I thought I’d make myself another corn bread sandwich with perhaps some cooked chicken breast as well as Havarti cheese. But, in my mind I could predict what that would taste like: dry and a little boring. I started pulling things out of the fridge. Leftover Classico pasta sauce, onion, green pepper, Havarti cheese, cooked chicken breast, corn bread, and butter. My brain quickly devised a plan and I got to work.

I heated about a tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan and then sprinkled some garlic powder. I crumpled up pieces of the corn bread, probably about 2 cups and once the butter was bubbling I threw the corn bread into the sauce pan. I let that fry for a minute and then added the onion and green pepper, which I had chopped coarsely. Stirred and cooked for about 2 minutes. Next I dumped in the chicken, cut into small pieces. At this point I thought I would make a chicken and bread sauce with the pasta sauce but I changed my mind and I switched on the oven to 330F. Once everything in the sauce pan was heated I transferred it to a baking dish and I poured a bit of the Classico sauce over top. I didn’t want to use the entire contents of the jar so I pulled out a jar of salsa and poured that on as well. Pasta sauce and salsa; they go so well together. Next I cut some Havarti slices and placed them on top of the sauce. Into the oven it went for about 15 minutes (I think).

Best. Lunch. Ever. Wow.

Tuna Cheese Melt

Pops De Milk — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:18:00 +0000

It’s a gloomy, rainy day today, perfect for lounging in pjs and eating comforting comfort food. It was lunch time and I didn’t feel like making a full meal for myself. I was feeling a bit lazy and I ALMOST caved in to a salty, carb-filled packet of instant noodles. But I managed to contain myself and I brought out the left over rice and vegetables from last night along with a can of tuna and some egg whites. I mixed it all up with a few squirts of Sriracha sauce and I topped it with a slice of Kraft cheese (hey! it’s better than a packet of noodles!) and I threw it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.

Result: Delicious comfort food

Yes, you can tell I was already shovelling food in my mouth when I remembered I had to take a picture.