The Pig and I

I think I've mentioned before that P really hates the smaller, Moroccan couscous. Luckily for me, P's not here. I was poking through my pantry, amazed by how organised it can be while still managing to obscure things I haven't seen in ages. Like those little Japanese red beans. Hm. I'd forgotten those were there. What I love about those little beans is that they have a natural sweetness and creaminess to them that most other beans don't have. And since in addition to using up the contents of my freezer, I'm also trying to reacquaint myself with some of my pantry storage, this meal seemed like a big win for me. I have 10 or 15 different types of beans in the house, yet I normally defer to using black beans, chick peas and great northerns. Do I just forget about all the other guys? Do I simply not care? Am I just too lazy to peek around and see what's out there? It's probably all three issues. I really would like to correct this. After all, what's the ...

This is another really, really simple recipe. So simple you can even do it in the microwave (though you don't have to; but I did). It's kind of like the pita nachos, kind of like a Taco Bell cheese roll-up (which I am experiencing incredible withdrawal symptoms regarding) and kind of like a quesadilla. At one time. You guys probably already know all these simple recipes I've been doing lately, but that's okay. Maybe a couple of you don't, in which case I'm "helping." Sometimes I have trouble thinking of things that take almost no time to prepare so I don't know if you do too. Right now, simple meals that are super fast to prepare are crucial to me, as my first summer session semester draws to a close. Also, these are good to eat when you're sick because you only have to be standing up long enough to put some cheese on the pita, to push the microwave button and to get it out of the microwave. It's pretty substantial food (albeit not the heal...

This is a nice, non-food post. Don't you love how I mostly put them all in a row, so you know exactly which days to ignore me on if you're only here for the recipes? Makes life easier for me too. ;) Anyway, the people at CSN Stores offered me the opportunity to review one the items from their billion online stores (okay, really it's more like 200 stores, but you know how I love the word "billion"). They have a lot of stores, including one that has a section of like, 800 headboards . Thankfully, I already have a bed because I don't know how I'd be able to choose after looking at so many (and sadly, despite already having one, I still looked at them all). After much debate and indecision, I finally selected a product to review. From the cookware site , of course. I'm a sucker for an awesome new kitchen item, especially when it's not costing me my life's savings. I selected a Le Creuset baking dish that seems perfect for stratas and the like. I do...

This week was not so good for me, in terms of planning. Also in terms of junk food. I completely spaced getting something out of the freezer to eat one day, but by the time I realised it there wasn't enough time left to deal with it and still get to work on time. So I stopped at McDonald's and got a happy meal. It was freaking delicious, but not a really good use of my available funds. Then I had a candy bar episode at CVS, except this time without the CVS monies to cover it. So that happened too. Both of these events happened on the same day at the beginning of the week (my budget week goes Saturday through Friday), so I ended up leaving me with only slightly more than $5 for the remainder of the week. Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot I really needed to buy (especially since I'm still well-stocked on brined foods). And also I won a free massive jar of synthetic iced tea from the grocery store, which was good because it gave me a "treat" that I didn't...

This was another good week for me. I wasted: NOTHING!!!

After the chicken and rice, I still had quite a lot of rice left (despite having a guest over). I had considered just eating with some lemon juice on it, as well as that Japanese rice seasoning, as I'm wont to do. But then I realised if I did that I'd have nothing to talk to you guys about, and that just didn't seem like a very nice thing to do. Don't want to y'all, since I'm prone to neglecting you for rather large spans of time on occasion. Plus, j threw out a second challenge , and this fit nicely into it. This challenge is for a full meal that costs $5 or less. I made it barely under $5, but it would've been cheaper without the bacon. Anyway, this a primarily a pantry meal, and a super simple one at that (see a theme this week? My class is MADNESS!). There's a little fresh produce in it, but it's mostly comprised of canned stuff. This is also really easy to veganise, simply by removing the bacon (but increase the oil in that instance). Hope yo...

I found a really amazing-looking recipe for these granola bars in cookie_chef's LJ, and it neatly coincided with j 's new challenge . The premise of this challenge is to make something that normally costs a lot of money less expensive. $5 or less, to be precise. Well, I usually cook everything pretty inexpensively, so (once again, but this time with permission) I modified my participation a little, instead making something cheaply that normally is expensive to buy. Granola bars, as we all know, cost quite a bit of money to buy. They're what, $3 or so for a box of 6 of them? Not a good deal when you're on a budget. So I'm making these instead. Some of the costs I was guessing on, since I already had everything I needed to make these, and some of the ingredients I've had too long to remember what I paid for them. As per usual, my changes or added comments are in italics. Hope you enjoy! "2 cups rolled oats - $0.30 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I may drop th...

I think everyone knows this recipe, but I thought I'd post it just in case. When I first learned it, I learned it from someone who'd cut the chicken into little bite-sized bits before marinating and cooking it, but I hate dealing with raw chicken so I tend to cook my chicken in its current incarnation and then cut it afterward. Not always, but mostly. There is a big bag of chicken breasts in the freezer, and I took a large one out. I picked a big one so I'd only have to cook once in the day (and also because I have more beef barley soup to eat because it's thawed, and also more tortellini because it's already cooked so I didn't want to overwhelm myself with food to use up anymore than I already had done). What I really like about this recipe is that it requires absolutely nothing from me - some salad dressing, some chicken, some time and some heat. And that's it. Once it's done cooking I like to cut it into bits and serve it over rice. It's simple, b...

This is not really a seasonal recipe, but by some stroke of luck I managed to keep a spaghetti squash "alive and well" until I was ready to use it. I was having (more) sausage for dinner but wanted something light and delicious to offset the heaviness even a chicken sausage can have. This is what I wound up with. I had plain strawberries for dessert. Hope you enjoy! 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 red onion, diced 1/3 cup (ish) sliced celery 1 small-ish sprig of rosemary, diced very fine salt to taste 1 spaghetti squash 1 cup of water Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put in a baking dish, cut side down, then add the cup of water to the dish. Put in the oven and turn the oven onto 350F. Set timer for an hour, and come back later. When you take the squash out of the oven, scrape its insides from the shell using a fork. Set aside. In a small pan, melt butter over low heat. Add onions, rosemary, salt and celery, and sweat for 10-15 minutes. Add squash to the o...

I won some canisters from OXO, and they arrived this week. They are freaking amazing. They're airtight, and neither a hassle to open nor to close. I'm using them to hold things which I don't use often but which are prone to staling (i.e., oats, cocoa powder, cereal, etc.). I just wanted to mention this to you guys in case you were on the lookout for new cabinet/pantry containers. I'm not being compensated in any way (other than the fact I got some free containers, but that wasn't contingent on a review), but I just thought you should know these things rock. I used their picture from the website (which I hope they don't get mad about), since I still have one container I haven't decided what to fill with yet. Plus, their picture is all styled and pretty and stuff.

I decided to switch this post from Friday to Saturday. Not for any real reason, but just because I felt like it. Keeps y'all on your toes and all. ;) It's been a weird week, food-wise, for me. Lots of "leftovers" to get through. I had taken some beef barley soup out of the freezer to eat, and it was WAY more food than I thought was in one bag. So that took a couple days to eat. Plus, I made a great deal of pasta with meat sauce when I had guests over, which resulted in lots of leftovers of that to eat as well (waa. Woe is me). So I think I cooked a little less than I'd intended this week, since some of my eating this week was all about NOT wasting food. Despite cooking less than I'd intended, I discovered that pita nachos are far, far more fabulous than regular nachos (not to mention a good way to use up stale pita). So that's a plus. I also discovered I've lost my taste for lox. This makes me sad. I've eaten it my entire life, and now I just don...

This week was a pretty good week for me. Admittedly, it's really, really hard to waste food when you aren't buying any. But, you know how it goes. This week I lost: NOTHING!

I think I haven't bothered you all with the more exotic foods recently, but today is the day. Makdous. Probably my favourite of all the brined foods I've eaten (of which there are many). So much so that if I had to choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life, this would be it. I love makdous. I sing songs to makdous while I eat it and I do the "makdous dance." It's kind of stupid, but I love them that much. More, even, than olives. Who would've thought that was possible? So, for those of you who don't know the joys of makdous, let me tell you about it. Makdous is a Levantine snack, that's made from eggplant, walnuts, garlic and chile (typically Aleppo pepper), then brined in olive oil. P won't eat them (or even try them!) because he doesn't eat grey foods. More for me, I say. They're just so amazing that I can't even describe it. Well, actually, I can: they're sweet, they're spicy, they're firm and crunchy yet soft...

I mentioned pita nachos the other day, in reference to the salsa and the pita chips. But I didn't actually really tell you about the pita nachos. Like I said before, I had a lot of frozen pita, and also a lot of frozen cheddar. Some of the simplest nachos we can have are just some tortilla chips topped with cheese and baked. I didn't see a reason not to do this with the pita, since there really was a LOT of it. Now I am down to maybe 7 more loaves of pita, but I doubt they'll last that long, using this recipe. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 - 1 batch of pita chips 1/2 - 1 cup cheddar cheese (I like a lot of cheese, but I don't know what y'all like) some sort of pre-cooked meat, if desired (I didn't use this) refried beans, if desired (I didn't use this either, but I like to keep my options open) Heat oven to 400F. Put chips on an oven-proof plate (if you're like me, and don't have one of those, just use a baking dish - they eat just as easily off a baki...

First came the salsa. Now come the chips. This is a general, all-purpose way to make pita chips. You can use them for pita nachos, to dip in things, in salads or for whatever your imagination tells you they'd be great with. Feel free to add any spices you like. I made mine intentionally un-spiced because I knew I would want to use some (all?) of them for nachos, and the salsa has a lot of flavour that I didn't want the chips to compete with. Hope you enjoy! 4 small-to-medium pitas, cut into eighths or sixths, depending on how big you like your nachos (I cut them into triangles, basically) 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons salt (you can reduce it if you're a low salt kind of person) Preheat oven to 400F. Brush the pita with oil and sprinkle salt all over it. Put on a baking sheet (you can put either parchment down on it, or you can use a silpat) and bake 5-7 minutes.

I found a surprisingly large number of pitas in my freezer, in addition to quite a lot of cheddar cheese. It seemed to me that I like nachos, and I like pita chips, and maybe I could combine the two concepts and make pita nachos. But nachos just aren't very good if you don't have any salsa to eat. I didn't really want to make a traditional salsa, because I knew I wouldn't actually eat it all in a timely fashion. But by making a bean and corn salsa, it's more than likely that I'd eat any leftovers with a spoon. I like using the white corn because the contrast between the black beans and the white corn is really striking. So here it is. Hope you enjoy! 1 can white corn 1 cup black beans 1 diced tomato 1/4 cup diced red onion 1 stalk diced celery 1-2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeno (you could use fresh if you have it) juice of 2-3 limes salt and pepper to taste Mix well. Chill before serving. Makes about 3-4 cups.

Since I last posted about this, I've done pretty well with my food planning and buying. As you've seen, I've been posting a lot - because I have been going to town making foods and then eating them. My food waste is even lower than it normally is, because nothing has been escaping me as I peer around looking for new things to make with things I've had for ages. I'm going to start doing an update every Friday, so that it posts on the same day as Food Waste Friday. Apparently Friday is my no-recipe-just-tell-you-guys-random-stuff day I've spent about $14 since that last post on food. And $6 on Vitamin Water. I'm not including those Vitamin Waters in my food budget, because they're a twice a week treat that I will stop having as soon as they stop being on sale 2 32-ounce bottles for $3. Plus, they're really not food. Aside from those (which I drink Friday and Saturday), I've pretty much just been drinking juice (yay POM!), water and tea (of which I ...

This week was nearly perfect, once again. And then, when I went to get an onion, I discovered the onion in my hand was moldy. Not fun. So, this week I lost: 1 yellow onion

I had some lox leftover from P's most recent camping trip, but this time I knew it was in the fridge before it went bad. I don't have any bagels and I really don't have time to make any (this new class has a truly extraordinary amount of reading in it, plus projects and papers). Plus, I'm trying to do that whole, "don't go to the store" thing so I didn't buy any. But it was still there, in front of the orange juice where I'd have to see it, staring at me (in as much as something that has no eyes can stare at a person). So I decided that since I somehow wound up with almost 2 dozen eggs, I should use up some of those with the lox. Enter deviled eggs. Hope you enjoy! 2 ounces lox 11 large eggs, hard boiled 1 teaspoon dill 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste Slice eggs in half. In food processor, combine the severely deformed whole eggs and all the remaining yolks, plus all the rem...

Thanks to an unintentional memory nudge from a friend, I actually remembered to pull a filet of tilapia from the freezer. Holy cow, pre-planning. Who would've expecting me to capable of it when I'm just cooking for myself? Certainly not me! Anyway, tilapia thawed, I had originally considered using it with loads of capers like I usually do. But then I thought I'd do something different with it. In the spirit of trying to use up some of the things hiding out in the freezer, I opted to look for some veggies I normally don't pair with tilapia. In the end, I settled on corn and spinach. It was a surprisingly refreshing dish. The vegetable medley on its own was really delicious, so it might make a nice vegan or vegetarian side dish. I hope you enjoy! 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup red onion, sliced thin into half moons 1/4 cup thinly sliced celery salt and pepper 1 cup frozen corn 1 1/4 cup frozen spinach grated zest and juice of 2 limes salt and pepper to taste 1 ...

It's so hot here already. Summer didn't even consider waiting for spring to be over. In fact, I don't think spring even happened this year. It's sad. My tomato plants are definitely going to stop producing with this insane heat. As I mentioned yesterday, the POM Wonderful people sent me juice to play with. With the heat, I can only thing of cold things to do with it (okay, that's a lie - I've thought of other things, but the thought of roasting lamb right now is more than I can bear). And a granita sounded really lovely to be eating after time outside with the dog. Even his fur is hot to the touch when we come back in from playing in the yard. Anyway, I like granitas because they don't actually ask you to deal with special equipment - just a whisk and/or fork and a pan. They don't take too too long to make, and they're light, refreshing and delicious; perfect for a summer day. Like a snow cone, but not so cloyingly sweet. Hope you enjoy! 16 ounce...

The lovely people at POM Wonderful sent me more pomegranate juice to play with. I had several ideas for its use, but a friend of mine from work mentioned that she might like to taste it in "Jell-O" form. Given that she tends to be averse to any food item that has nutritive value (she primarily subsists on things like pizza rolls and questions me at length about any foods I try to feed her as to whether or not they're "healthy"), I couldn't resist the chance to feed her something that she knows is healthy for her but wants to try anyway. So, "Jell-O" it is. Because pomegranate juice is often tart-sweet, I sweetened this up a touch. Hope you enjoy! 24 ounces pomegranate juice 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup cold water 2-4 packets Knox gelatin (2 if you like it loose, 4 if you like it really stiff) Sprinkle gelatin over the cold water and let it sit for 5 minutes or so (this is called blooming the gelatin). Combine juice and sugar in a saucepan and heat, ...

I discovered some oil-cured olives tucked into a corner of the fridge. They must be leftovers from the last time I made puttanesca. Luckily for me, there was enough for me to not only have a pizza, but to munch on a few as well. Since I had the last half of the pizza dough to use up before I started cooking new meals, it seemed like the best choice for them. Again, it was a simple meal that was easy to make and tasted amazing. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 batch pizza dough 1/2 - 3/4 cup pizza sauce 1/4 cup roughly chopped and pitted oil-cured olives 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion 1 cup mozzarella or pizza cheese mix 1/4 cup crumbled feta Preheat oven to 500F - 550F. Roll, press or toss out your dough (I've really enjoyed pressing them out recently with my fingertips). Top with half the onion, then sauce, then cheese, then olives and remaining onion, then sprinkle feta on the top. Slide into oven and bake 5 minutes, then rotate the pizza 180 degrees and bake another 5 minutes. Let ...

Oh, pizza. How do I love thee. Let me count the ways. Anyway. It's been a while since I last made pizza. Happily, that while has ended. I used some of the sauce I made earlier this week for pizza sauce, and I sliced a garden fresh tomato with it. It was simple, filling and emotionally satisfying. Sometimes, all you need to be happy is an awesome pizza. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 batch pizza dough (today I used this recipe) 1/2 - 3/4 cup pizza sauce 1 tomato, sliced 1/2 cup sliced red onion 1 cup mozzarella or pizza cheese mix 1/2 cup crumbled feta Preheat oven to 500F - 550F (I like to preheat for an hour or sometimes more, since I have a stone). Roll, press or toss out your dough (I like to make 8-10" pizzas, but you could use a full batch of dough and make one big one). Top with sauce, then cheese, then tomato and onion slices, then sprinkle feta on the top. Slide into oven and bake 5 minutes, then rotate the pizza 180 degrees and bake another 5 minutes. Let rest 5-10 m...

So close. So, so, so close. There goes my no waste streak. This week I lost: 2 slices of lemon

I have a package of puff pastry, and I have too much frozen fruit. Unexpectedly, I wound up with 2 extra bags of frozen fruit and since they're mixed fruit instead of single fruits (these bags have mango, peach, pineapple, grapes and strawberries; their intended use, according to the bag, is smoothies) I was kind of at a loss for what to do with them. Enter puff pastry. I figured I could use one bag of fruit and 2 sheets of pastry to make a billion little hand pies. Perhaps I'll make a regular pie with the other bag. I have no idea, but I suspect it'll be a while before it comes up. By using puff pastry, we get the flaky, wonderful crust without doing any actual work. The process is pretty simple, which is important to me in all I cook right now because I'm reading about 50 pages a day for the class I'm taking right now. Either way, it's not a bad deal to open a couple packages and wind up with a lovely pastry as the result. I'm eating one then bringing th...

Apparently I'm not quite ready to eat that tomato sauce, because I ate a bunch of hot dogs today. I didn't have any hot dog buns, but I did have hamburger buns so I just cut them in half and stuck them in the burger buns. Yum. Anyway, that's not really the point. I felt a little snacky a few minutes ago but didn't feel like eating more hot dogs at the moment nor did I feel like making pasta (it's possible I'll change my mind later), and I remembered I had some mushrooms still in the fridge. I figured they'd be nice to saute and be done with it. So that's what I did. Okay, I didn't really saute it, because this was some pretty inactive cooking, but you get the gist. These were simple and incredibly delicious to me just by themselves, but you could eat them with rice, burgers, steak or whatever you like. Hope you enjoy! 4 ounces mushrooms 1 1/2 tablespoons each: butter, lemon juice sprinkle of salt Take a small pan and heat it to medium high with...