Potato Pork Produces Pot Pasta

Who doesn't love that alteration?  Lot of pasta of late, that probably means the weather is turning cool and the stove's lure tends to win over going outside to grill. Although I do grill year round it is funny how READY I am to head out to grill in the springtime and how equally READY I am to focus on indoor cooking in the fall, or to be more geographically specific, when the temperatures start to dip.  The older I've gotten the more I really look forward to and really crave the foods of the various seasons.  Menu items in the short future include butternut squash, collards, sweet potatoes and caramelized onions.  I find myself turning to baked, roasted and pan searing as preferential cooking methods.  I think the simple act of turning the oven on warms me.  The cooler temps and darker days encourage us inside and focus us on home and the special people in our lives that make it so.

In this vein, I made a quick weeknight supper of stuffed baked potatoes baking up some russets and topping with ground turkey, broccoli and a cheddar cheese sauce.  Friday found me with more time to devote to dinner and I decided to take my PlannedOver turkey and turn it into a tasty treat!  Michael loves pasta and it, along with eggs, and salad can pretty much turn anything into a PlannedOver!  I started a roux with butter and flour and made a sauce using PlannedOver greens broth as well as a can of chicken broth, finished it off with a generous handful of Parmesan cheese.  Into the pot went the ground turkey, cooked pasta and broccoli.  I like to slightly under cook my pasta and let it finish in the sauce.  I feel like the pasta absorbs some of the sauce and becomes infinitely more flavorful.

I would love to hear what you do with your PlannedOvers and Pasta!

Enjoy!  Happy Eating!

PlannedOver via MIL

We were out of town recently to attend a convention for our travel company Take the Trip and my husband's mom graciously offered to house sit and keep an eye on the baby doggy and the not so baby teenager.  I am always grateful for Spencer to stay at home rather than board him for any length of time, and the teenager is also very grateful to NOT have a change in his routine.  As a show of my appreciation I like to cook a few things for them to have on hand for suppers and snacks and the like, upon our return it seems as though my plannie nature has rubbed off and she created the ultimate planned over!  What began as our farewell dinner of pasta, greeted our return as soup combining many elements of many meals planned in our absense!!!  Brilliant.

Planned Over Rotisserary Chicken
Stock 
Planned Over Greens
Planned Over Pasta

Enjoy!!! Happy Eating!!

What was once Pot Roast is now Pasta

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I live with two very carnivorous males.  One of which is of the teenage species, and I'll use that term lightly.  For anyone who has been one, or has been around one, you know, I know you know.  The teen male in my house can eat large quantities of well, pretty much anything, but especially meat.  So it should not have really come as any surprise to me that as the end of the week neared and time to survey the scene of the inside of my refrigerator unfolded, I found this.  The container which had previously held the plannedovered chuck roast in it's delicious sauce, now contained only sauce.  But it was really good sauce and destined to once again serve a starring role.  I decided on an uber savory mac and cheese of sorts and got to work. A quick whir of the immersion blender got things started and I began a bechamel on the stove with a little, flour, butter and milk.  To that I found some odds and ends cheesed which was quickly grated and added to the bechamel as was the plannedover chuck roast sauce. Some sauteed spinach, onions and mushrooms amped  up the umami factor and it all was tossed with spiral pasta.

Happy Eating!!! 

Sundried Tomataoes and the bits

Since it has been grey here for 10 solid days, the lure of the grill has been absolutely absent,  and I find myself creating menus and planning dinners that all involve the oven.  We had a roast on Sunday, and baked ziti another.  I find myself hungry for and wanting something WARM, and wanting something that comes without the requirement for me to go outside.  Did I mention the grey?  For days?

Towards week's end, rifleing through my veggie drawer turned up quite a few vegetable odds and ends.  I had lots of a little bit.  A little bit of brussel sprouts, a little bit of onion, a little bit of Asparagus, and a little bit of green beans, and a bag of shredded broccoli. If you have never used this product it is beyond fabulous.  Stir - fries - sauteed with pasta- a nutritionally packed powerhouse coleslaw- and in it's current application  - roasted - it's, as Martha would say, A Good Thing.
Splitting 12 green beans three ways was out as was cooking three separate vegetable dishes. So in PlannedOver fashion I took it all and turned my leftover veggies into a fantastic dish.  All my bits plus a bag of shredded broccoli spent about 45 minutes in a 425 oven creating not only an enticing aroma but a delicious use of spare parts.
Green beans- snapped and rough chopped
Brussel Sprouts - halved lenghthwise
Asparagus - woody ends trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
Onion - large chopped
Bag O Broccoli Slaw - open and dump
Toss all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil or Garlic oil if you are so fortunate to have that on hand.  Add about 1/4 cup sun dried tomato puree or pesto, and salt and pepper - toss again to combine and spread on a oiled sheet pan.  Bake for 45 minutes stiring twice.

The bonus PlannedOver?  Taking the remaining roasted deliciousness and tossing it in a salad the next day with a crumble of goat cheese..........



Happy Eating!!! Enjoy

Crack.....I mean Roasted Green Beans

Why are you rereading this particular post?  See below

a. Because I've had a very busy week 
b. Because for the past two weeks I have been fortunate enough to get green beans in my CSA delivery
c. Because they are just so, so, very good
d. all of the above

Lets go with D and call it a day!  I hope you have a wonderful week and happy eating!!!


So you make some marinara or a lasagna or some sloppy joes and you find your self with an open half empty can of tomato paste.  Instead of putting it in the fridge only to be discovered weeks later covered with a grey green mossy layer, not that I’ve ever had that experience, PlannedOver and use it to make Roasted Green Beans with Tomato and Goat Cheese

Unlike the crack dealer who will give you a free sample to get you hooked, I’m telling you in advance these things are good.   I hereby issue a full disclosure that I, am almost certainly, full fledged addicted to these beans.  I could eat them daily, probably more than one time a day to boot.  Unfortunately for me, the other two members of my household feel quite fondly of them as well.

My love of roasted vegetables began in 2004 and if it can be chopped and put on a sheet pan, I have more than likely roasted it.  Green Beans came to me via a Cooks Illustrated promotional magazine.  I never got the subscription but I certainally have gotten a LOT of use out of this recipe. A Brief Google search located  The Cookbook Critic which has the original recipe from Cooks.  That particular issue also had a variation to include sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and Olives.  One winter evening I was stark raving craving green beans and tomatoes.  I really don’t have any clue as to why, but this little stunner was born that night and has been enjoyed countless times since!

Tomato Paste

Garlic Oil

Goat Cheese

Salt

Mix above ingredients in a mixing bowl, then toss trimmed beans with the tomatoey goodness.

Bake in a 400 oven for 30-40 minutes taking out to stir about half way through cooking.

Eat.  Enjoy. Repeat.

Do you see the little black charrie parts?  That is proof of goodness in this world, and there is really nothing else I can add to that.

Costco and "Crumbled Croutons"

So like millions of American’s I too am a Costco shopper.  I go for produce, #10 cans of tomatoes for Sunday Gravy, an excellent meat, wine and CHEESE selection, and various other odds and ends. I am not quite to the level of my parents, whom, I’m quite convinced might perish if it closed as I’m pretty confident that approximately 90% of their diet is procured from said megastore. There are riots and mass email campaigns started by the aforementioned when the oatmeal cookies were discontinued.  Riots.  Don’t judge, it is what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got my weekly staples too, Romaine, Mushrooms, and the big ole giant bag-o-Broccoli- well I guess the last one is biweekly it is a rather LARGE bag.  And what do I DO with all of said broccoli?  Well, probably the same as you.  I roast it, I steam it, sometimes it gets pureed and made into soup, or pasta sauce.  One day fairly recently I found myself with not really much left but the smallish dregs at the bottom of the bag and wanting to find a use for them, I decided to create a “crouton” of sorts for my favorite Grilled Ceasar Salad

It really added a nice crunch and gluten free!!!

Heat oven to 425

Toss broccoli “crumbles” with EVOO and a little salt

Bake 25 minutes

Top Grilled Ceasar.

Enjoy

Happy Eating!

Tor Tee A, or Tor Till A for you Midwesterners, and my mother in law

If you were like me, some 13 plus years ago, you believed that a tortilla was used as a wrapper of sorts for all kinds of goodies.  Be it a cheese and onion filled and sauced enchiladas, or a meaty, beany, ricey stuffed to the gills burrito, or even a deep fried version filled with crispy lettuce, spicy meat and cheese taco, the tortilla was the common denominator.

Tortilla according to Wikipedia,  is a type of thin flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour.

Tortillas are a staple food of both Mexico and Central America, and my very own sister, who has officially won, even at her tender young age of (not really going to tell) the Guinness Book record for number of tortillas eaten by the person with the fairest complexion.  Just saying, the girl can eat her some tortillas.

But did you also know that the very name or the humble wrapper is based on the Spanish tortilla meaning small “torte” or small cake.  And it is THIS tortilla of which I had no knowledge of prior to my stint at a tapas bar in, “Famously Hot”  Columbia, South Cackalakie.  While researching just what we should be serving in a Spanish style tapas bar, as well as the wonderful Mezzes of the Greek Isles, and the Venetian cicchetti, I came across a tortilla that was very unlike it’s flatbread namesake.

This tortilla could be served warm or room temperature and, like so many recipes as old as time the variations are endless.  Common ingredients include, egg, and onion and potatoes.  Sometimes the potatoes are cubed, sometimes sliced au gratin style and sometimes, as in my case, they are PlannedOver.  So mashed potatoes become mashed potato cakes, but what do mashed potato cakes become?  You guessed it, Tortilla Española.

• 6 eggs beaten
• 2 PlannedOver Potato Pancakes
• Chopped Onion
• Oil

Saute onion until translucent in oil in an oven proof skillet.  Break apart potato pancake and add to skillet stirring to mix.  Pour eggs over potato/onion mixture and let bottom set.  Transfer to a 350 oven and bake until set.  Invert pan over a plate, cut into wedges and serve!

Tortilla Española