Leftovers Galore

Both my pantry and my freezer are getting rather full. Since I live an hour away from a real grocery store (not an over-price store that barely carries anything), I tend to stock on everything in the chance that I *might* need it someday to cook something. However, my readiness to be prepared for anything has left little room for things I actually need, like freezer space to put my ice trays in so I can have ice! To make matters worse, this weekend I went to a banquet that had lots of leftover Chinese food that I was graciously sent home with. One of the items was white rice. I'm not a rice person but I didn't want it to go to waste. After looking over my pantry, I had a brilliant idea to reuse and reinvent the rice. My thought process was a tropical rice using fruit in my freezer and pantry to serve with the grilled pork chops I (also) had in the freezer. Below is my recipe which I must say I am very proud because this is the first time I have created a recipe from scratch with no outside inspiration. It came just from my pantry! It's almost like the German version of sweet rice, but not as sweet or as milky. Make sure to add the red pepper, it adds a nice little kick every now and then. Enjoy!















Tropical Rice

4 c. leftover cooked white rice
1 can coconut milk, unsweetened
1 sm. can mandarin oranges, drained and reserve juice
1 sm. can pineapple chunks, drained and reserve juice
3/4 cranberry sauce*
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. cinnamon
2 t. red pepper
heavy pinch salt

Place rice in large saucepan over medium low heat. Begin by adding enough milk to almost cover rice, about 1 in from top of rice (I used 3/4 of the can, but it will vary depending on how moist your leftover rice is), cranberry sauce, oranges and pineapple. Stir until mixed. Added 1/4 c. of desired juice to add flavor. Once rice is moist and fruit is throughly mixed in, add sugar and seasonings. Bring rice mixture to a simmer, then drop heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Turn heat off and let sit for an additional 5 minutes. Serve with grilled pork chops for a delicious and easy dinner!



*My cranberry sauce was actually what I had made at Christmas using fresh cranberries, water, sugar and orange juice brought to a boil until the berries began to pop. If you don't have any lying around, try using fresh cranberries and add a little more sugar or you might try it out the can, or just add more orange and pineapples!

**I'm also working on my food pictures so bear with me.

Quick and Easy Pasta

It's been a busy week and tonight was the first night I've had the opportunity to cook. However, referring back to the previous sentence, it's been a long and hard past 7 days and I was not in the mood to cook anything complicated or even go to the store for that matter. Yes, a pantry raid was in store. I pulled a package of Knorr "Sides Plus Veggies" off the shelf. It was the roasted garlic, olive oil and broccoli rotini version. I had originally planned to add a can of cannellini beans and a handful of frozen spinach, however when the pasta got dry, I decided to add a can of stewed Italian tomatoes. I cooked the beans separately because I can't stand undercooked beans and overcooked pasta. Maybe one day I'll try cooking them together. It turned out EXCELLENT and very easy. So think of it Semi-Homemade, Amanda Style.



1 pkg. Knorr Sides Plus Veggies, Roasted garlic, Olive oil, and Broccoli Rotini
1 can stewed tomatoes, Italian style
Handful frozen spinach
1 can cannellini beans
Italian seasoning, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary seasoning

Begin cooking Knorr sides pasta as directed on the package. While the pasta is cooking, begin cooking beans in a separate pot. Bring beans to boil and let simmer. About three minutes before pasta is done per package directions, add tomatoes and additional seasonings and let simmer 3-5 minutes, or until pasta is done. When pasta is done stir in beans, do not drain. Serve warm with bread.

Fuentes - San Angelo

Since I'm back into traveling for work, I thought I'd start postings of restaurants across the state because I can never find any reviews online and I mean really, who better to give you food advice than me? ;) That is in case any one ever reads this besides me. If not, then it'll simply be a reminder of the good (and not so good) places to eat.

For the readers, let me start by telling you what I look for in restaurants and food in general. I generally tend to stick to non-chain restaurants when traveling out of town. I love a cozy atmosphere where I can feel welcome no matter if I'm dressed up for work or in jeans and a shirt relaxing. I like food to be spiced nicely. I hope the never have to add salt or pepper.

As for Mexican food, I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD. You might even say I'm a connoisseur. Let me rephrase though, I love Tex-Mex. I like seasonings and bold flavors. I expect cheese with my beef tacos, enough enchilada sauce to mix with rice and salsa good enough to eat with a fork! (yes, a fork, I like chunky salsa). So I might be a little overly picky with Mexican food, so take that into account. My mediocre might be okay for you.

Here is my review of Fuentes in Downtown San Angelo:

Cheese Enchilada - Great sauce!, cheese not melty, not enough sauce given on the plate
Beef Taco-No cheese (which sucks), sliced tomato (how am I supposed to eat that on a taco?), DRY beef (I like a little juice running out of my taco)
Rice-dry (bleck)
Beans-okay
Tortillas-good, homemade, but she charged me 85 cents for 2! What a stinking rip-off! I could make fifteen tortillas for that rate. Jerks.
Queso-Just okay, came out late, actually AFTER my dinner was served. No extra stuff in it, just cheese.

The atmosphere was very nice and typical Mexican. Mexican style decor was everywhere, including brick archways inside. The waitstaff was very rushed and hardly friendly. It was decent Mexican food, but not something to write home about. If it was cheaper, I'd go back, but it won't be at the top of my list.

Overall: 3.5/5 stars

http://www.fuentescafedowntown.com/pages/home.html

Opa! It's Greek Night!

So if you don't know, I live in a very secluded area of the Gulf Coast. To give you an idea, the nearest Wal-Mart is an hour away, so needless to say a Greek restaurant is NOWHERE to be found. So when I had a craving for tzatziki sauce, I couldn't run down to the local Greek restaurant in town. I decided instead to hit up the local supermarket and try and make it for myself, which turned out to be quite the success. To compliment my tzatziki sauce, I decided that I actually needed something substantial for dinner and used things I had lying around in my kitchen (seriously, I only bought the feta cheese) to make Greek Turkey Pitas. Dinner tonight was truly greek-tastic! (And comparable to any Greek restaurant you'll find in your corner of the world.)

Tzatziki Sauce

8oz. nonfat PLAIN yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, finely diced
4 springs dill
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2 T. fresh lemon juice, (or more/less to taste)
salt, pepper

Line a colander with cheesecloth (you can also use coffee filters or multiple paper towels). Dump yogurt into colander and let sit over a bowl for at least 30 minutes (or you can leave it overnight inside the refrigerator). While yogurt is draining, place finely diced cucumber on multiple paper towels and salt. Let cucumber set for at 30 minutes to remove excess water. After cucumber and yogurt have drained, combine together in a bowl. Add dill and garlic. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve with warmed pita bread.

Greek Turkey Pitas

Cooked ground turkey (leftover from the turkey burger mishap)
Handful of Feta cheese
4 Sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves of Roasted garlic
8 Kalamata olives
1 whole pita, sliced in half (place in microwave for 20 secs to warm before stuffing)
Tzatziki sauce

Mix turkey, feta, tomatoes, garlic and olives together. Stuff into pita halves. Serve with tzatziki sauce. *Makes 2 pita halves.*

An easy and excellent Greek dinner for any night of the week. (I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure I'll make this again, so I'll repost then!)

Turkey Burgers

I was totally craving MEAT tonight. (It had been a rough day.) What better way to consume meat than in burger form. Yum-o. However, an assessment of the freezer lead to only ground turkey, surely, I thought, turkey can make a decent burger. So after going here, I found a tantalizing recipe for turkey burgers. After making my first 3 burgers and having them crumble in the pan, I added more breadcrumbs, so here is my adjusted and revised recipe. *Below picture shows all forms of turkey: the burnt part because my pan was too high, the crumbles because lack of bread crumbs, and the successful burger!*



Turkey Burgers

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup bread crumbs (+up to another 1/2 c. depending on the moistness of meat)
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
4 chopped fresh garlic chives
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
A couple generous shakes of Tabasco Garlic sauce
4 green onions top, sliced

Mix all ingredients together with fingers. For moist turkey, you'll need to add almost full 1/2 cup of additional bread crumbs. Form into 5 patties. Patties should firmly remain together when handled.

Let rest while heating a non-stick skillet over low heat,(too much heat will burn the outsides, which is not good eats). When skillet is warm, place patties in pan, but be sure not to overcrowd, you'll need flipping room. Leave burgers alone for 5 minutes, then check. If the bottom is nice and seared and the top is beginning to turn white, flip; if not, cook an additional minute or two.

After flipping, cook an additional 5 minutes until a nice sear develops. Remove from heat, top with cheese while still warm. Serve on a toasted bun with tomatoes and bread and butter pickles.

Original recipe modified from Simply Recipes

Sweet Potato Chips

So tonight I had a hankering for chili dog and fries. Yum. But I'm trying to eat healthy, so lucky me, I had turkey dogs and turkey chili and whole wheat buns lying around. But alas, I knew fries couldn't be good. Well, I remembered I bought a swanky little apple peeler, corer, slicer at Target a few month ago. So I thought I'd make spiral cut sweet potato chips (only after realizing my bag of potatoes were missing, where they went, I have no idea!). The result of my swanky peeler/corer/slicer was not too keen. The ultra-thin ribbon chips I had hoped for were more thick and chunky. But ALAS! I also have a mandoline that I drug out. Sliced my sweet potato on the thinnest slice possible, covered a cookie sheet with foil, arrange the sliced chips in a single layer on the cookie sheet, sprayed with cookie spray and put in the oven at 450 for 8 minutes. I flipped, sprayed with oil again, then added salt, fresh cracker pepper, and cayenne (It's not THAT hot, and gives a little surprise to the sweetness). Baked again for 8 minutes. Unfortunately that last 8 minutes was a little too long. Some of the chips ended up a little burned.

*Second attempt: I sliced the long thick ribbon into single "O's" if you will. Baked them about 400 degrees for 8 mins on one side, flipped, oiled and seasoned, 8 mins again. THEN I cranked up the heat to 450 and baked for 5 more minutes. Not crispy but definitely good!!! I think lower heat first is the key. I'll definitely have to revisit this idea. After all, I have 4 more sweet potatoes in my pantry still!!!

Meatball Minestrone

so, i just found my friend flo posted my blog on her blog, so now i feel obligated to update it. i have a stack of recipes that i've either created or severely changed from the original that i can say they are all mine. yet i can't seem to find the time to post the pictures and write the recipes out. at first, i searched all over the net for an easy recipe manager, but haven't found one. so if any of you find one or know of one, you should let me know. but now, i'm just gonna write my recipes out, and for those of you who know me, you'll know they're gonna be good, and for those who don't, i guess you'll just have to trust me. SO my first recipe for the new year is Meatball Minestrone soup. It's been FREEZING cold here and a good soup always warms the body up. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments and suggestions. (I'll take a pic when I heat up my leftovers.)

*Sorry for the bad presentation in the bowl!*











3 cans diced tomatoes, Italian recipe (with juice)
1 can stewed tomatoes, Regular (with juice)
2 cans V8
2 cups water
1 chicken bouillion cube

1 sm. box frozen spinach
1 sm. bag frozen mixed vegetable
1 can each: dark kidney beans, light kidney beans, northern beans, cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 sm. bag frozen seasoning mix (onions, celery, bell peppers)

1 lb. Italian meatballs
2 c. macaroni

Mix 1st section of ingredients together over high heat until bouillion cube dissolves. Add frozen veggies and beans. Bring to boil. Drop heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Taste for seasoning, add salt, pepper, italian seasoning if desired. Add meatballs. Once soup begins to simmer again, add macaroni. Cook for 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Serve hot with fresh bread and cheese!!

(This makes a LOT of soup in case you can't tell. It will freeze well and gets better the following day. BUT know that the pasta will absorb a lot of liquid, so when reheating, add another can of V8 and a can full of water to match. Add as much V8/water as needed to bring back to soup-like consistency.)