Cooking For Different Tastes

I don't think our family is that unusual in that all of us have different preferences and levels of pickiness. My husband, for example, will eat anything I put in front of him. My older son, at 16, is pretty much the same way, because he's a teenager who eats everything in sight, really. My younger son, at almost 14, has always had a more sensitive palate (part of which, I think, stemmed from issues of lactose intolerance and reflux as a baby/toddler), and although he's getting better and is willing to try things (it's a rule at our dinner table), he is much more picky about what he eats. And it's hard to know, exactly, what he will eat, since sometimes he doesn't like something because of the flavor, other times it's because of the texture. Sigh.

For someone who is an adventurous cook and who rarely makes the same thing twice (really!), it can be a challenge to make things that are interesting yet will appeal to everyone. I never did get into the habit of being a short-order cook (making one meal for the kids and another for the adults), but I do like to make things that everyone will eat, so one of my tricks is to plate things in layers. Also, if someone doesn't like what I make, he is free to make something else of their own choosing, but I won't make it for them. My youngest son learned early on to make his own PB&J (not the healthiest thing, but I always had at least one vegetable he would eat, too).

One way I did this, especially when the kids were littler, is to make pasta, but before I put on a sauce, I would put some of the plain noodles in a bowl for my youngest, then a bowl of pasta with sauce for my oldest son, then pasta, sauce and extras (sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, olives, etc) for my husband and me. This is relatively easy to do for pasta, but one can only eat so much pasta. Another trick is with sauces. Grill up some chicken, keep it plain for the kids, do veggies (raw carrot sticks for one, roasted or grilled for the rest of us -- no biggie, since they have to be prepped anyway), then add a sauce (pesto or romesco, for example) that people can put on their plate as they wish. Same with salads and noodle bowls (two of our favorite types of meals), along with a "snack plate" which I have blogged about before. Tacos, of course, are also popular in our house, because I just put every part out, and they make them how they want. But sometimes, you want something a little more sophisticated.

A recipe I found on Epicurious encapsulates this idea very well, and it's relatively easy to do. It's a spice-rubbed pork tenderloin with grains (you can choose farro, rice, quinoa -- whatever the majority of your family can tolerate) and a salad with a sauce, building flavor from one level to the next.

The recipe gives three options for seasoning the pork loin. I chose the middle option, which included salt, pepper, cumin and brown sugar, because I knew my pickiest would still eat it if it had cumin on it, plus, you can add a little (not as much as in the recipe) to get a hint of the spice, without being very forward with it.

I then chose to make the grain salad with farro, which I have made before. Everyone in my family is pretty adventurous when it comes to grains, so I don't have to worry about that, but this would work just as well with rice. You can see for the simplest plate I made, I separated out all the grain salad elements, which is easy to do, since you just need to set aside unseasoned tomatoes and cucumbers as you prep them (in this case, I left the cucumbers off all together, since he won't eat them). I usually just have plates out and make my son's plate as I go along. For the next level of flavor, I knew my older son didn't like olives, so I made the salad up to the point of adding the olives and feta, serving some up on his plate before I tossed everything together. To get him to try the feta, I served a small bit on his plate, separate from the grain salad.

Then, for my husband and me, I added the olives and feta to the salad, and served with the pan sauce. Because my youngest likes broccoli, I added some steamed broccoli to everyone's plates as well. It complemented the rest of the dish, and we can always use an extra helping of veggies, right?

Do you have simple ways to serve meals that appeal to different tastes? Please share your ideas!

Your Nachos Will Never Be the Same!

What could be better during football and hockey season that a big plate of nachos, amiright? Well, I do have something better, and you will be making it again and again, I promise!

It actually started with some leftover brisket from Monk's BBQ in Purcellville, VA. The best BBQ in the area, in my opinion. Actually, if you ever get out there, just get whatever is on their specials menu, otherwise you will have regret, because you won't be able to go back and get the thing again. Trust me, I know from experience.

Anyway, back to the leftovers. So I had a little of this, a little of that (including Monk's homemade pickles), so I thought, "Maybe I should make totchos with all of this stuff," you know, trying to stretch out what I could so that the whole family could have some. What are totchos, you ask? They are nachos, but made with tater tots. Yes, you read that right: Tater. Tots. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in...

So, I lined up my varied (some might say motley) items to turn into my bbq totchos:

I threw the tater tots in the oven to bake as directed on the package (I made the whole bag, natch). Once they had baked for half the time, I turned the tots, then scattered the chopped up brisket on top. while that finished, I chopped up the scallions, pickles and tomatoes (any kind will do - I just happened to have grape tomatoes to use up).

I also went fancy and made a cheese sauce:

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 cup of milk (approx.)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I used what I had on hand, so it ended up being a mix of white and sharp cheddar)
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then add flour and whisk until no lumps are in the flour and the mixture forms a smooth paste. Cook for a couple of minutes (set the timer for 2 minutes if you need to be precise, but it's just to cook the "flour-y" taste out), then slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Keep whisking and cooking the white sauce until it is smooth and starts to bubble. Once it's thickened, whisk in the cheese and continue whisking until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a little bit more milk. If too thin, add more cheese. The sauce should be pourable, but not too runny (a little thicker than buttermilk pancake batter). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

OR, you can skip this step and just scatter shredded cheese on top of the brisket then put the sheet pan back in the oven. I made these both ways (cheese sauce vs. shredded cheese) and the boys liked both versions. I'm giving you the option. :-)

Once the tater tots are done, pull the sheet pan out of the oven, then pour cheese sauce over the top (if you didn't go the shredded cheese route), topped by the scallions, tomatoes and pickles. Those are the toppings I used, but feel free to be creative and share your favorite "totcho" toppings in the comments!

Serve and enjoy!  You might end up fighting over the last of the tots. Don't say I didn't warn you!

One final note: If you don't happen to have leftover BBQ, feel free to make your own in the slow cooker: Put a pork shoulder (pork butt) in the slow cooker (probably about 6 lbs, but it could be less, that's just what fits in my cooker), then top with your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce (16 oz). cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until it is pull-apart tender. Once you have this made, you can freeze leftovers (there will be a lot), or just make sure you have a plan for the week to use up the rest -- grain bowls, sandwiches, tacos, what have you.

Crazy Days

I can't believe that a month has gone by between blog posts!  I thought my PTA duties would lighten up a little once we got past the beginning of school, but I was wrong. Really, really wrong.  So, as much I actually like the stuff I'm doing as PTA secretary, it is taking a lot of my free time, which means a little less time to tackle anything complicated for meals. I know, however, that I'm not the only one who is busy, with kids, with work, with STUFF.  Life happens, and keeps happening, but that's no excuse to slap some spaghettios in a bowl and call it dinner (not that I am judging -- I have a couple of cans of it in my pantry, too, but I just call it lunch or a snack for the kids).

My mom, a single mother of three who worked as a nurse, is a great cook, but when we were kids, she didn't have time to do fancy stuff, either.  I distinctly remember her 3-day soups.  She would make a big pot of soup, put it in the fridge, and that's what we would eat for three days.  It was especially useful when we were in high school and coming home at different times.  Whenever we needed to eat, we would just heat up some of that soup!

What do I do when I know a crazy week is coming up?  Riffing off of my mom's three day soup idea, I make a big pot of chili! It's super-versatile.  The first night, you have the chili straight up with all the fixin's: cheese, onions, sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt), cilantro.

Now, you could just freeze the rest and take it out for some other night when you're pressed for time.  I, however, used it another night that same week to make chili-mac, which is spaghetti topped with chili.  I got this idea from a summer I spent in Cincinnatti, a city known for its unique chili (they add cinnamon to it) and how they eat it. They have several different ways to enjoy chili: straight up in a bowl, two-way (with spaghetti), three-way (chili, spaghetti, and cheese), four-way (chili, spaghetti, cheese, and onions) or five-way (chili, spaghetti, cheese, onions, and beans), although, of course, my chili always has beans in it anyway. :-)  Any way you order it, though, it's delicious!  Chili is truly one of my "desert island" foods. I could seriously eat it every day.

There are other ways to use your pot of chili, besides just eating it.  Top it with cornbread batter and made a kind of tamale pie. Here's a recipe from Martha Stewart, but I just use the Jiffy mix in a box when I'm pressed for time.

Another thing you could do with your chili is top a baked potato with it, or a cheese quesadilla (yum!) or make loaded nachos if the chili isn't too soupy. I feel a little like Pvt. Benjamin Buford 'Bubba' Blue from Forrest Gump, but you get the picture!

All of that from one pot of chili!

What are your go-to tips and tricks to get you through an especially crazy week?

Let's Hear It For Leftovers! Corned Beef, Take 2.

Sometimes leftovers are even better than the original meal. I'm think especially of Thanksgiving, but you could also group St. Patrick's Day in there, too.  Even though, as we learned in my last post, corned beef isn't the traditional St. Patrick's meal I thought it was, I still like it and will continue to make it on St. Patrick's Day.  What I like even better is the corned beef hash that I make the day (or two...or three) after.  Not to dis my mom, who is a fabulous cook, but I seem to recall eating the canned stuff, which isn't nearly as good.  I think my favorite part was the soft-cooked egg on top that you smooshed around in the hash to make it gooey and creamy.  :-)

But when I made it from scratch, I always had a hard time getting everything with that yummy crispy crust that provides the textural counterpoint to the egg.  So, I thought I would try to roast everything, rather than try again on the stove top.  Guys, it turned out so well, my youngest kid (you know, the picky one) at it all up, even though he didn't like the first corned beef meal I served earlier that same week! Go figure.  I wanted to share with you, too, because I thought it was easier than the "traditional" way and had a better flavor.  It might take longer, but since it's just sitting in the oven, you can get other stuff done while it's cooking.  I count that as a win all around!

Roasted Corned Beef Hash

12 small Yukon Gold potatoes 

1 onion, chopped into 1/4 inch dice

1/4 head of green cabbage (I used the leftover cabbage I made with the corned beef, but you could use fresh), cut in 1/4 inch dice

4 slices leftover corned beef (approx. 1.5 cups - mine were thick slices)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste


Turn on the oven to preheat to 425 degrees (F).  Put potatoes in a 3 qt. saucepan, then fill the pan with water until it covers the potatoes by an inch or so.  Set the pot with the potatoes in it on the stove and bring the water to a boil.  While that's going on, chop up your cabbage:

When the water comes to a boil, turn the heat down so that the water simmers and cook potatoes until they're parboiled (they'll still be hard in the middle), about 4 minutes (you can chop up the onion while the potatoes cook).  Turn off the burner,  drain the water out of the saucepan, but return the potatoes to the pan to cool.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel then cut the potatoes into a 1/4 inch dice.  Cut up the corned beef.  Toss everything on a large rimmed baking sheet with 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil, salt and pepper.  Put it in the oven for about 40 minutes, turning and stirring the mixture about halfway (20 minutes).

After 40 minutes, there should be some dark brown, crusty parts on the corned beef hash (that's the best part).  Pull the sheet out of the oven.

Make some wells in the hash, then crack one egg into each well, like this:

Return to the oven for about 7-8 minutes, until the white is set, but the yolk is still jiggly:

Serve with toast (I made another batch of that soda bread from my previous post - so easy I didn't even need to read the recipe).  You might also like to add a little hot sauce on the top or (what I do) ketchup.  Seriously. It's good. Great, even.  :-)

Two for One: Making weeknight meals easier

I am all about easy prep and quick weeknight meals.  An easy way to make dinner happen is to prep ingredients ahead of time, then all you have to do is throw everything together and voila! Dinner is done.  For example, this week I made a sausage and cheese strata, but cooked all of the sausage (one pound's worth) and saved the other half to put in a soup later in the week.  Similarly, I bought a whole head of savoy cabbage, but used it three ways (in a citrus slaw with roasted salmon, in soup, and as a side dish).  Makes easy work for weeknights AND it's economical.

Here's what I did:

I cooked all the sausage, along with half a chopped up onion and 4 oz. of chopped, fresh mushrooms. Beause there was some great crispy bits of sausage left in the pan, I put half a cup of water in the hot pan to scrape up all those bits of flavor, then put everything in a bowl and stored it in the fridge for later.
 

When it came time to make the strata, I ended up only using about 1/3 of the sausage, which I scattered over a mixture of 4 eggs, 1 1/3 cups of milk, salt and pepper, 5 slices of thick-cut bread (cut into 1-inch cubes) that had soaked together for about 15 minutes.  On top of everything, I scattered some grated cheddar cheese, then baked it in a buttered 8-inch by 8-inch pan at 375 for about 30 minutes (until the top was golden brown in places and the cheese was all melted).

The next night, I took half a head of savoy cabbage (it was a large head), sliced it into 1/2 inch thick slices, then sliced those slices across into 2-inch lengths.  I also took a whole onion, cut it in half length-wise, then sliced across in thin (1/4 inch) slices.  I tossed the cabbage and onions with salt, pepper, and some olive oil and roasted it on two large baking sheets in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 minutes (some of the cabbage might get dark brown, and that's okay), tossing the veggies once about halfway through.

With one pan of the cabbage, I tossed it with a little soy sauce and sesame seeds and put it away for a snack, some lunch or for a side with another dinner later in the week.

With the other pan of cabbage, I added that to a 4-quart pot, which was already simmering with 32 oz. of chicken broth and the rest of the sausage mixture that I made the day before, with a little bit of dried coriander (about 1/4 teaspoon) and dried marjoram (1/2 teaspoon).  After I added the cabbage to the pot with the other ingredients, I let them simmer together for about 10 minutes, just to let the flavors unite.

And there you have it!  Actually, the original recipe I was using was supposed to have some sweet potato in it, but I forgot.  It was okay, though, because it was still really tasty and even my picky eater liked it!

The Fresh Market Opens at One Loudoun in Ashburn

Open for business!



Gorgeous produce!



I seriously wanted to try a little of everything in that case!

(above photos copied from The Fresh Market's Facebook page)


Some of my friends have been buzzing about The Fresh Market ever since they announced earlier this year that they would be opening a new location at One Loudoun in Ashburn.  I was lucky enough to get there on opening day and it was a lot of fun!  Lots of specialty items that I haven't been able to find in other stores (high quality tuna in oil or different varieties of capers, for example) and just a beautifully laid-out market.  Because the store is on the smaller side, by necessity the items they carry are well-edited, even if some are on the pricey side.  I've signed up for their weekly specials newsletter, because the specials they were running were really good (BOGO on quick bread loaves -- I bought the banana chocolate chip and the pumpkin), but generally the prices do run a little higher on a lot of things, but seems comparable on others.  Go take a look and see what you think!

Check out all the fun things I bought!

It will be really fun to go back when I need to put together any foodie gift baskets for friends or other winter events coming up!  I could also see popping in there to pick up fun items for a picnic lunch (go out and enjoy this beautiful fall weather) or when you need some quick appetizer ideas.  I stocked up on some Stonewall Kitchen jellies and jams (also a BOGO special) to have on hand.  Their red pepper jelly spread over a block of cream cheese makes a delicious and easy appetizer if you need one at the last minute.

Now, it would take a lot to tear me away from Wegmans as my main grocery store, but here is what I will go back for regularly at The Fresh Market:  Nueske bacon (if you've never had it, you are so missing out), their peanut butter power chews (bulk food bins), chili lemon rounds (rice crackers - also found in the bulk food section), their cucumber salad (at the olive bar) and their coconut shrimp with mango dipping sauce.  Nom, nom, nom.

Because I am a baker, and have lived in France, I do have a quibble with what they call "napoleons." The Fresh Market version looks like cake layers with cream and fruit layered between.  A true napoleon (or mille-feuille in French), in my opinion, has to have the puff pastry layers.  I am a traditionalist like that, and I want to make sure we Americans know the real thing.  :-) They do, however, have lovely baked goods that would be a hit at any dinner party, or just a sweet treat (they have many single-serve options)!  I tried their apple pie (very tasty, although I like mine with lots of cinnamon), banana chocolate chip bread (yum!) and pumpkin nut bread (good, but needs more nuts) and two types of cupcakes -- a chocolate and vanilla (with swirled frosting) and their cannoli cupcake.  Both were really good!  They had a lot more varieties that I will want to try...

I also wasn't a big fan of their sushi. I got their spicy tuna roll, but thought the rice on their version was too soft and "glue-y" and the tuna wasn't all that flavorful.  My husband and son, on the other hand, liked the tuna, even though they agreed with me on the rice issue. Just a matter of opinion, of course.

I bought some of their name brand items to see how they compared to what I would make, and we really enjoyed their cornbread stuffing mix and their "Anything Goes" spice rub.  I used the spice rub on their chicken breasts (a good deal at $2.99/lb) and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes (until the thermometer registered 170 degrees).  Supper tasty and moist. I think the spice rub would taste even better on pork, so that's up next.  I highly recommend getting a tin of it, and this is coming from a Penzey's girl.  :-)





















Below is my take on their cornbread stuffing:


The Fresh Market Cornbread Stuffing, Marna's Way

Adapted from The Fresh Market Basic Stuffing Recipe

3 slices of Nueske bacon
One medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 2/3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 Box of The Fresh Market Cornbread Stuffing Mix
Pepper to taste

Cut bacon cross ways (across the short side) into 1/4 inch strips.  Heat a large skillet and sauté bacon until the fat starts to render, but before it is crispy.  Add celery and onion and cook together until the bacon is crispy and the onions are soft and translucent.  Add butter and chicken stock and cook until butter is melted.  Take off heat and set aside. Open stuffing mix box and pour onto a large, heat-proof bowl.  Add the onion/celery mixture to the dry stuffing mix and stir until all the stuffing has been moistened (you might have to let it sit a few minutes to soak up all the broth). Put the stuffing in a buttered baking dish (the one I used was 10x12 inches) and bake, covered with foil, for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. If you like your stuffing with a little crispity crunchiness on top, remove the aluminum foil for the last ten minutes of baking. 

Pintester Challenge: Meat. Balls.

So, it wouldn't be a Pintester Challenge without inappropriate references and childish sniggering over innocuous words (like, "duty" gets me every time).  So today I made meatballs.  Let the sniggering begin.

I have to admit that I'm pushing up against the Sunday, Sept. 22 deadline, so I can't be very witty or snarky. I just need to get this shit done, so here's what happened:

I found this pin for Thai Green Curry Meatballs on Mel's Kitchen Cafe:

I mean, who doesn't like a good meatball (snigger)?  And I like curry, especially green curry, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Here's the deal. They were delicious!  Sorry, no fails, no ball-rolling nightmares (har har).  Just full on goodness. :-)  I did change up the recipe a little by decreasing the oats (hate too much filler) adding finely minced carrots (I try to get veggies into my kids any way I can) and baking the balls (ha!), 'cause mama ain't got time for sauteing in batches. But other than that, made it just like the pin. ;-) True confession, though. One of my kids didn't like the sauce, but liked the meatballs.  I still count it as a win.

Here's my version:

Thai Green Curry Meatballs (adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)

YIELD: SERVES 6 

INGREDIENTS

Meatballs:
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 cup finely minced carrots
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3 green onions, white and green parts finely chopped
Sauce:
• 2 cans (13.5-ounce each) unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch stirred into 1 tsp cold water to make a slurry
• 1/4 cup lime juice (from about 2-3 limes)
• Hot cooked rice for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oats and milk. Let the mixture stand and soak for 5-10 minutes. Add ground beef or turkey, carrots, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, cilantro, salt, garlic and green onions. Mix to combine and distribute all the ingredients through the meat. The best way to do this is to use your hands. Really.  Just get in there and squish everything around.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Roll meat mixture into balls (about golf-ball size - I like big meatballs) and place onto lined baking sheet.  Once all the balls have been rolled and placed on the sheet, bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
3. While the meatballs bake, heat a large skillet to medium heat and stir in the coconut milk, green curry paste and sugar. Bring to a simmer, then add the cornstarch mixture and stir to combine.  Cook on low heat until thickened.  
4. When the meatballs are done baking, pull them out of the oven and place the meatballs in the skillet with the sauce. Go ahead and pile them all in, trying for a single layer. Simmer the meatballs and sauce for 8-10 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through, flipping the meatballs once or twice.
5. Stir in the lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

See? These directions just write their own jokes, really.  Giggle away, friends!

Does this qualify for the Pintester Movement? I'm pretty sure Sonja, the original Pintester, didn't make this, but I don't have time to search through her pins and find it (or another pin she DID do), so I'm submitting this anyway. It IS something that I pinned, but I'm not sure that counts. Personally, I consider this a public service, because it's one less dinner you have to think about.  You're welcome. Seriously, though, you have to make these Thai balls (snort)!

The Recipe I Wanted To Hate

 There I was, planning meals for the week, when I asked my oldest son what he might want to have for dinner this week. I happened to be looking at my Southern Living cookbook at the time.  Big mistake.  He saw a picture of a recipe called "Smothered Enchiladas."  The son, who is a pretty healthy eater (actually chooses and eats salad at school for lunch) and generally does not like very gooey, creamy stuff, wanted these crazy creamy, smothered enchiladas.  I looked at the nutritional information per serving, which was one burrito: 712 calories (65% from fat), 51.3 g fat (nearly half of which was saturated). Gah! 

Against my better judgement and, because I love my son and he actually showed some interest, I told him I would make them.  Friends, I have to confess, this recipe made me do things.  Horrible things that I never thought I would ever do.  Like buy Cream of Chicken soup and use it with ground beef.  Like buy reduced fat cheese and light sour cream, in the desperate attempt to make this less fat-laden than a Big Mac with fries. The only redeeming ingredient in this thing was the green chiles, and it was a very small can.


 Here's the recipe from Southern Living for Smothered Enchiladas:

2 lbs. ground beef
1 (1 1/4 oz) package of mild taco seasoning
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, divided
2 (10 3/4 oz) cans cream of chicken soup (I substituted 1 cup of 2% evaporated milk for the 2nd can of soup)
1 (16 oz) container sour cream (I used light)
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese (I used 50% reduced fat cheddar)

Garnishes: salsa, sour cream, green onions, chopped fresh cilantro

Cook ground beef in a skillet, breaking up bigger chunks, until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain off any fat. Stir in taco seasoning mix and half of the chopped green chiles. Set aside.

Stir together remaining chiles, soup and sour cream.  Pour half of sour cream mixture in a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish.  Spoon beef mixture evenly down center of each tortilla.  Roll up and place tortillas, seam side down, over sour cream mixture in baking dish.

Here is my tortilla-filling and -rolling set up.

Spread remaining sour cream mixture over the tortillas and top with grated cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  The enchiladas should be heated through and bubbling around the edges.  Garnish, if desired.  Serves 8.

I ended up only being able to fit 7 in the pan, but for my family of 4, it was plenty, with almost half left over. These are really filling, and actually pretty good.  You couldn't even tell I used reduced fat stuff.  And it was really good with salsa on top -- the acid from the tomatoes help cut through the richness.  Knowing that we needed vegetables with this thing, I made my favorite corn salad recipe.  I doubt I will ever make this again, unless someone asks for it for their birthday, maybe.  But I thought I would share, if only to serve as a cautionary tale: don't give your kids an open-ended question like: "What do you want for dinner?" You might not like the answer...

Refrigerator Roulette

Have you ever watched the TV show Chopped on the Food Network? In case you haven't, it's a show where 4 chefs compete against each other to make a tasty meal for 3 judges (one chef gets eliminated after each course).  The catch is that they have to use specific ingredients provided to them in a mystery basket.  Sometimes the ingredients aren't not so bad, but there's usually one crazy ingredient like chicken feet (appetizer round, and FYI, don't forget to clip the nails off) or blue cornmeal (dessert round). There was one episode where they had to use specifically use leftovers (I think leftover rice turned up at some point).  I could totally relate to that one!

Frankly, I don't see the huge challenge, 'cause I do something like that all the time.  After a few days of cooking, I always have a few odds and ends hanging out in the fridge.  And so it was that I found myself checking out the refrigerator for stuff that needed to be used up.  What did I find?  A cup of cream, some old bread (actually, that was in the freezer), ham and some smoked cheddar that I bought on a whim the week before.  Certainly not as crazy as chicken feet, but still.  What to make?  A strata, of course.

Strata is basically a savory bread pudding, with stale bread soaking up a custardy egg and milk mixture.  You can add whatever flavors you like. I adapted a recipe that I found on sticky gooey creamy chewy, a really fun blog, if you're interested in the original.  But the main thing is, a strata is pretty simple to make, and is a great way to use up extra ingredients that you might have lying around. I often buy a baguette or a ciabatta loaf and end up only using half, so, unless I have a plan for the rest of the loaf, I'll slice it and put it in the freezer.  That way, it's ready to go if I get an itch to make a strata, bread pudding, french toast, or just need some breadcrumbs.

A strata is pretty forgiving, as well. If you want a richer, eggy-er flavor, add another egg or two.  Don't have smoked cheddar? Regular cheddar is fine. Or swiss, or provolone (although I'm not sure you'd want to leave out cheese all together, but that's just me. I needs my cheese.)  Don't have spinach? Leave it out.  Like broccoli better? Switch it up.  My youngest son doesn't like cooked spinach, so I left it out of a couple of the layers.

Ham and Spinach Strata with Smoked Cheddar

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• about 12 slices of ham
• 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
• 7 eggs
• 1 cup milk (I used a mixture of cream and 2% milk)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
• 12 slices (3/4 inch thick) crusty, day-old/stale bread (baguette, ciabatta, batard)
• 1 1/2 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Lightly butter a 3-quart ceramic baking dish with at least 2-inch high sides.
2. Sauté onion in butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Starting with the bread, layer one slice of bread, then a slice of ham, then a little of the spinach, repeating layers until you've used up all the bread, ham, and spinach.
4. Scatter the sautéed onions on top of the layers.
5. Whisk together the eggs, milk/cream, mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Pour over the strata and let it chill in the fridge, covered, for several hours or overnight. (confession: I got a late start and only let it soak for a couple of hours. It turned out fine)
6. When ready to bake, let strata sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 F. (here's another tip: if you forget to take the strata out of the fridge to get to room temperature, you can also just put it straight in the oven while it's pre-heating. I swear it won't blow up or anything)
7. Bake, uncovered, on the center rack of the oven until puffed and golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

What creative stuff do you like to come up with to use up leftovers from the fridge?  Feel free to share your ideas!