Category: Leftovers - feeding my ohana

What's Cooking This Week--More Experiments

8/21/2017

Hooray for Libraries!

New 'hood means a new library. New library means new cookbooks, and this means it's guinea pig time. Here's what's cooking this week.

Teeny Tiny Friday aka Monday is #LeftoversRoulette
So I made it to the library but not Safeway. We've all been here, or maybe it's just me. On principle, we did not resort to take-out.

In-home foraging yielded the following: Cheese and tomato quesadillas, two pieces of Na-omi-take Tofu Recipe, a green onion pancake, the last of the teriyaki chicken, three fingers of milk, half a bottle of magenta vitamin water, and three fingers of pineapple cider.

New Recipe Tuesday
Lamb chops with apricot salsa from a Williams Sonoma main dishes cookbook that is pleasingly organized by color. See red book at left.

Wednesday
More from Damn Delicious (middle cookbook above). Salmon with a Lemon Cream Sauce.

Thursday is Pizza Day
A friend's homegrown crop has become Roasted Tomatoes Recipe , so we'll have Boboli Margherita-style pizza. Just add some garlic, fresh basil and some fresh mozz!

Aloha Friday with a Dr. Shintani Recipe (Top cookbook, above)
Roasted Teriyaki Potatoes. I'll have to think of a protein, but how can this not be good?!

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--New Stuff

4/29/2015

Bun me!

We are still figuring out our new groove for dinner, with Birdie's busy schedule and the "global workforce" simply means working hours that are typically inconvenient for at least half the people on any given conference call.

But we still need to sit and eat as a family, so this is how we have been rolling lately.

Freezer Monday is #LeftoversRoulette
I've started paying more attention to my yoga practice and so Mondays are now dinner by freezer. This week, we learned that Christine's Clam Chowder, despite having cream and potatoes, freezes pretty well. At least for a couple of weeks. I was very skeptical, but it was fabulous with a salad and fresh green onion bread.

Tuesday
Mango Chicken. We haven't made this in a long time and mangoes were so pretty at the market this week.

Wednesday is #MeatlessOneDay
Yakisoba. This is a great easy stir-fry made with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Thursday
Banh Mi Sandwiches. Finalizing this recipe.

Friday
S&S Saimin Salmon. My cousin made this KILLER baked salmon with S&S saimin base, mayonnaise, and chopped red, green and yellow peppers. Mu favorite kind of recipe is barely a recipe.

Bonus Saturday
We tweaked the General Tso's recipe to a General Tso's General Purpose Sauce with Chicken. A quick new stir-fry.

Enjoy the rest of the week all! I have a lot of recipes to catch up on.

What's Cooking This Week--Dinner by Costco

3/10/2015

Doctored ramen happiness

Beware and rejoice. There is a Costco that is very close to my new office. Never go there when you are hungry.

Since Monday, it has been dinner by Costco.

I bought a chicken, a bag of lettuce, a 4-pack of tortellini, a box of bok choy, a bag of Brussels sprouts, a dozen apples, blackberries and coconut water. Oh yeah, and a pillowcase-sized bag of Kettle Korn. Did I mention shopping when hungry? So in addition to Kettle Korn, here's what we are eating this week.

Rerun Monday
Hamachi and ahi (yes, again!) with bok choy and Marukai ramen. It was righteous!

Tuesday
Costco rotisserie chicken (still $4.99!), roasted asparagus, and romaine lettuce salad.

#LeftoversRoulette Wednesday
Plum sauce chicken wraps with some, with sliced apples on the side (which comes in a 12-pack)

#MeatlessOneDay will be Thursday
Costco Tortellini and pesto, with romaine lettuce.

With Love from Bacon Dinner Friday
Stuffing and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. The husband is the genius behind roasted Brussels sprouts. Toss 'em in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and (raw) diced bacon. Roast so that it is starting to get crispy. It's brilliant, and the bag of sprouts will be gone.

Bonus Saturday
Black bean sauce-stir-fried bok choy with the rest of the chicken tossed in at the end.

Spring forward we go!

Finally Cooking This Week

1/20/2015

Mahalo Contessa!

It feels like forever since I've been cooking and blogging in any kind of rhythm. We barrel through the holidays
and various early birthdays, especially now that the time when all my birdies are in the nest feels so finite.
Baby Birdie's wings seem to grow by leaps and bounds every day.

So it was nice to take the MLK break and really get going again. There is something very satisfying about setting out a good meal to eat with the family. Here's what's cooking this week.

Proper Sunday Meal
Husband roasted a chicken and butternut squash, and rounded it out with rice and salad.

#MeatlessMonday
Carnivore Husband's Experiment with Butter Chicken Sauce. Tofu with carrots, zukes, and onions with garlic naan turned out pretty well for jar-food.

On my day off, I made granola, roasted tomatoes and tried out a new technique for chicken stock more or less based the Barefoot Contessa.

Chicken Divan makes us happy!

#LeftoversRoulette Tuesday
Chicken Divan with a chicken leg from Sunday. A welcome return from Las Vegas food and Holiday food. I was so excited
to cook, I made a 9 x 13 pan's worth for three people!

Ladies Who Dinner Wednesday
Out to dinner with an AWESOME group of moms that I have known since our collective birdies were just litter peepers. Part of feeding my ohana is being with my ohana and we've all watched out kids grow up as we did too.

#LeftoversRoulette Thursday
BBQ Crockpot pork pizza. Husband (do you see the trend here?) tried out a new recipe for pork and we'll used the rest of it, plus shredded cabbage and sharp cheddar to make a variation on BBQ chicken pizza. Should be good.

#LeftoversRoulette Friday
Chicken Barley Soup with the above-noted chicken stock. Husband mistakenly made barley for dinner instead of rice...

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week? #LeftoversRoulette!

12/21/2014

Lots of shoes = happy house!

During this winter holiday season, we celebrate Christmas, mochi-tsuki and New Year's. Plus, an acknowledgement that we are in the middle of Hanukkah.

Our annual Christmas party is going strong for over twenty years, with lifelong friends who are truly part of our ohana. We have laughed and lived through all of us getting married, changing jobs, having kids, getting divorced, losing loved ones and watching our kids grow up...this party is one of the household's most treasured holiday traditions.

A full house is a happy house for me with our friends and now our kids' friends DRIVING over too. Obviously, we eat a lot. This year, we opted for pre-purchased ham and turkeys (yes, plural) from Dickey's BBQ. Even with close to 30 people, we still have LOTS of turkey and ham, plus ham bones, a turkey carcass, a Silicon Valley shutdown and lots of cooking time!

Here's what's cooking this week.

Mystery Manapua

Sunday
My Daddy's Fried Rice with leftover ham, topped with eggs of each household's preference. One sunny-side up, one over-easy, one scrambled, and one in my father's 'rubber egg' style.

Prep: I've been boiling a ham hock since this afternoon. The house smells like bacon!

#LeftoversRoulette Monday
A variation on My Mom's Portuguese Bean Soup, with hock-stock from Sunday. One of our friends (from the above-noted party) gave us a ham soup starter pack to try. Mahalo ACT :)

Bonus #1: Getting homemade mochi and an-mochi from a friend. Mahalo and Merry Christmas KU!
Bonus #2: Making Jelly granola shortbread cookies with the kids. Full house is a happy house.

Experiment: Chia Seeds with yogurt for breakfast. Apparently 1/2T goes a LONG way and you need to ramp up.

#LeftoversRoulette Tuesday
Pillsbury Manapua with leftover turkey, brie, apples and dried cranberries. I love the flexibility of this recipe!

Bonus
Ginger Sugar Cookies and requisite decorating.
I had the audacity to suggest buying Trader Joe's gingerbread non-gender specific people to decorate, and was soundly and appropriately smacked down. Even though the kids are well past the Santa Claus stage, the tradition of cookie making is still important and essential. Family rules :)

Prep: Boiling turkey bones today for another round of stock!

Christmas Eve Wednesday and #MeatlessOneDay
Spinach Salad is our annual responsibility for Christmas Eve potluck. I'm eating sides and so at Ieast one household member will be meatless.

Merry Christmas Thursday to All!

#LeftoversRoulette Friday
Japanese Turkey Curry, with leftover turkey and some of the stock from boiling the turkey bones.

Thank you all Ohana-ers for hanging with me. Wishing you and your ohaha Mele Kalikimaka and onward we go toward the year of the Sheep!

What's Cooking This Week--#MeatlessOneDay

11/4/2014

I'm giving up on Meatless Monday.

While I LOVE the idea of meatless once a week, not to mention some catchy alliteration, a specific day was too confining. I ended up freezing fresh stuff, extending leftovers and perishing perishables.

So instead, we shall have #MeatlessOneDay and #LeftoversRoulette when needed. More flexibility, fewer biology experiments, and maybe some new hashtags along the way. Here's what's cooking this week.

Bonus Sunday
Did I mention I have missed my oven? Roast chicken, baked sweet potato fries (minus the peachy catsup) and a small batch of stuffing (a half package of bacon instead of Portuguese sausage, and 1/4 of an Asiago cheese bread loaf that was on the verge of going very badly). Small in this case means a very full 9" x 9" pan for three people. I'm practicing for Thanksgiving.

Not Meatless Monday
Orange Salsa Pork Chops (fresh pork chops), Chinese Chicken-less Salad (enough for the whole week and keeps well), Jasmine rice.

Sabih--All-in-one sandwich + salad

#MeatlessOneDay is Tuesday
Sabih from the Jerusalem cookbook. Think of it as an open-faced sandwich and salad at the same time. Plus hummus and fresh pita from the Falafel Stop. This is becoming a habit, but their fresh (warm) pitas are simply ono.

Wednesday
Chicken Chili Verde (from a salsa container), kinda homemade tortillas and guacamole. Braised kabocha for balance.

#LeftoversRoulette Thursday
Chicken Divan, with the leftover chicken meat from Sunday. Waste not.

Friday
Korean Chicken Soup, with kim chee on the side. Cold weather likes spicy soups.

Find your #MeatlessOneDay. What's your go-to no meat dinner? Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Leftovers Roulette

9/8/2014

There are a lot of great reasons to have a dinner party. Eating, drinking and laughing your guts out with 6 of your closest friends ranks pretty high up there. I had full run of cooking for the first time in awhile, so I went big.

And now we are happy to have leftovers this week.

Edamame 'who-mus' and homemade pita chips

Meatless* Monday
Leftover Edamame Hummus with homemade pita chips and veggies. Let me just say that FIVE cups of edamame makes A LOT of hummus. I also learned that 'hummus' is pronounced closer to 'who-mus' rather than 'hum-us'. Someone will have eat the last bit of even-though-it-is-fish-it-is-not-considered-meatless misoyaki butterfish in the name of not wasting food. I will take one for the team today.

Leftovers Tuesday
My Daddy's Killer Fried Rice. 8 cups of rice for 7 rice-eating people is about 3 cups too many. But leftover rice is perfect for fried rice.

Leftovers Wednesday
Leftover Kale and Brussels Sprouts salad (yes, and it was awesome, and I need the recipe), and leftover bulgogi.

Semi-Leftovers Thursday
Mayonnaise Chicken, snow peas with leftover Okinawan Sweet Potatoes and Peachy Catsup. Picking up fresh poi today.

Fresh Fish on Friday
Thinking Ex-Pat Poke, poi and rice. I like my fish and poi, even though I'm not a big boy. Thank you Sean Na'auao, I'll be singing this all week now.

Happy Moon Day and have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Leftovers & Favorites

11/26/2012

It's Monday and none of this is left

I thought I would not be cooking much this week when I looked over the fully stocked fridge on Black Friday.

Silly me. The teenagers were in the house all weekend. It's more like Mother Hubbard Monday in the fridge now. A half-bowl of cranberry sauce, a bit of turkey and mostly skin, roasted vegetables, three mouthfuls of stuffing and a bit of CoolWhip and apple pie are all that's left.

Monday and Tuesday should finish off the rest of the leftovers, and off to the grocery store I go tomorrow. Here's what's cooking this week.

Meatless Monday
Japanese Curry with leftover vegetables. I used the last shallots and half-onion, plus all the leftover parsnips, carrots and even Brussels sprouts for this curry. With the last of the Okinawan sweet potatoes and kabocha on the side. Curry makes everything taste good.

Chinese "Turkey" Salad

Tuesday
Chinese Chicken (Turkey) Salad. This is the perfect use for the "kuzu" (i.e., leftover small bits) of turkey are always at the end of turkey leftovers.

Wednesday
Spaghetti and Meatballs, with Simple Spaghetti Sauce, as requested by the husband. And a simple salad with romaine hearts. A good break from all the heaviness of Thanksgiving food.

Thursday
My Mom's Chicken Katsu, Co-Worker Kale Salad and rice. November is now too cold for my Mom to make the trip for Thanksgiving, so we'll make Mom-food this week instead.

Possibly-Meatless-Friday
Yakisoba. Meatless, or perhaps with just a little bit of pork. This is one of my son's favorite meals.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Quick Updates & Head Colds

9/10/2012

My son's fully-dressed katsu curry

Another head cold has entered my sinuses so this shall be an abbreviated post. I'm downing gobs of honey/lemon/li-hing mui tea, going to bed, and then hoping to make jook.

Leftovers roulette ended up pretty well. Only 2 spoonfuls of coleslaw and about a chawan's worth of Japanese pickles are left. A few raspberries did end up getting fuzzy, but it was a generally a successful fridge cleanse.

I added the recipe for what I'm calling Almost Alfredo Pasta from last week. We had it last week with chicken, but it could easily go meatless.

Katsu Curry was a a restaurant-worthy leftover hybrid. Just make a simple Katsu with chicken instead of pork, and then reheat leftover curry. My son's masterpiece, which lasted about 3 minutes before being inhaled after soccer practice, is shown on the left.

Will try to get a weekly menu out in the next day or two. In the meantime, wash your hands and stay healthy!

What's Cooking This Week--Leftovers Roulette

9/4/2012

Photo: Cooking Light Chicken Pasta

JapaDog party was loads of fun, and I'll post the popular combos later this week. Like any good potluck, we have a few leftovers. Thus, the success of this week's meals will be based on how many Tupperwares we empty by the end of the week. Here's what cooking with leftovers this week.

Monday
Grilled Chicken Florentine Pasta, from Cooking Light
This was a quick, creamy bowl of ono, and a great foil to the JapaDog fest. The husband made a few changes, and it was yet another use for Costco chicken. Will post revised recipe this week. 1 Tupperware down.

Tuesday
Teriyaki Salmon and rice using the leftover Teriyaki Sauce from the JapaDog party. With leftover Lana's Coleslaw and Cool Corn Salad. Also posting this recipe this week. 4 Tupperwares down.

Wednesday
Chicken Divan, using the last of the Costco chicken. The children have requested broccoli. 1 Tupperware done.

Thursday
Katsu (using chicken) curry using the leftover curry sauce. Just thinking about this meal is making me happy. 1 Tupperware.

Friday
Nachos (tacos) with frozen taco meat. One of our friends brought over
a Costco-sized bag of tortilla chips...so nachos to end the week.
2 Tupperwares cleaned out.

Between dinners and lunch leftovers, this should get rid of a least 9 Tupperwares' worth of leftovers, and hopefully, no biological hazard waste.

Have a great short week! Eat Well. Be Well.