Leftover Makeover : Prime Rib Roast Bone Soup

Sorry no image for this one as it was really tasty and we ate it up before I remembered to take a photo.

Beef ribs from the prime rib roast

Cabbage 

Carrots
Tomatoes
Celery
Potatoes
Tomato paste

Extra seasoning : cayenne pepper, Bay leaves, thyme, oregano, paprika 

Boil until meat is falling off bone. Enjoy!

Gazpacho

Fall means harvest time and we were passed a ton of heirloom tomatoes from my Uncle. One giant yellow one was too old and ripe to eat by itself so I thought a gazpacho would be nice to cap off the last of the summer harvest. I looked up recipes for inspiration and then made my own. Sorry, the picture should really feature the gazpacho in the top right corner and not the rest. =) But what a colorful meal no?

Tomatoes

Cucumber

Purple Onion

Garlic

Balsamic Vinegar

Lemon Juice

Cayenne Pepper

Cumin

Tomato Juice

Olive Oil

Basil for garnish

Just puree everything raw, add S&P to taste and enjoy! 

Salmon was seared with rosemary, garlic, S&P. Salad is bagged kale salad mix from Costco. And basmati rice...leftover from Indian take out. 

Fish soup

I've been wanting to make fish soup for a while. My Dad told me that these red, big eyed fish are ideal because it (and tilapia) are pretty much the only fish that will make the soup milky and creamy when you boil it long enough. That's when you know it's good'n ready. Fish soup is also supposed to be good to drink after injuries or surgery...to promote circulation and healing. I'm sure no clinical studies have been done on this...but it's a known fact for Chinese people...and they have a 5000 yr medical history so they could be onto something. Can't hurt anyways. Fish Onion Carrot Tomato Ginger - helps take away the fishiness I put the fish into a cheesecloth bag so that I don't have to deal with the bones afterwards. Make sure all the gills and guts are cleaned out well before putting the fish in the soup! Keep it at a rolling boil until the broth looks creamy (so start with more water). Add a pinch of salt and enjoy!!

Beef stew

 

Another stew...cuz it's still cold out. =)

I used veal brisket as stewing meat...and these ingredients:

 

Tomatoes
Onions
Caraway seeds
Paprika
Cumin
Ketchup
Srirracha   

Rice wine

S&P to taste

Onions were softened first with the herbs. Then the brisket pieces were browned with the onions. Then a dash of rice wine (I didn't have red wine in the house.) The tomatoes went in after that along with ketchup (I didn't have tomato paste in the house) and srirracha. Heat was turned low for a nice simmer. And the consistency turned out just fine with the tomatoes releasing the water it had. I didn't have to add any more liquid surprisingly.

The only down side was that I only had about 40 minutes to stew the meat before it was served. While it was cooked through, it remained on the chewy side. It tasted great though.

My husband made a variation of this recently but it got to sit in a thermal cooker overnight. OMG. The brisket was melt in your mouth. I just need to plan a little further in advance....like I would need to for the ox tail stew. =)

Ox-tail Stew

 

Winter is stew season....love! Hence this will be the Valentines post....though oxtail doesn't sound romantic. I'm non-cliche like that.

This is my first try at ox tail stew. Actually, I bought the ox-tail for soup, but since I didn't have any other meat defrosted, I used it for dinner instead. 

 

Ox tail

Tomatoes
Carrots
Veggie stock
Onion
Garlic
Wine
Ketchup (decent substitute for color when you don't have tomato paste)
S&p

Stews need to simmer for a while to get the meat fall-off-the-bone soft. I started cooking it at 5:30pm and we ate at 7pm. While it tasted very good, especially on rice, it was chewy. In this case, ox tail also has some tendon/cartilage that adds to the chewiness if not cooked long enough. I should've started the stew after lunch and then let it stew away in a slow cooker or thermal cooker for the afternoon before consuming at dinner. Ah well, lesson learned. Still tasty. =)

Chipotle Mayo Pork Chops on Spaghetti Squash

I asked my husband to help marinate the pork chops we got and he creatively put this marinade together:

Chipotle mayo
Soy sauce
Mustard

Quite a tasty marinade I must say. The chops were pan seared...about seven minutes on each side because it was so thick. I've started to be daring and take pork to a medium well instead of fully cooking it. It's so much juicier and tender that way. It was served topped with mango salsa (from Costco). The flavors worked really well together!

As for the spaghetti squash...after it was baked and scraped into a large pan, I added all the little extras for additional flavor and texture and color. Hard to go wrong.

Squash
Onion
Garlic
S&P
Tomato
Cilantro
Parmesan

Green Chives & Eggs

A super easy dish to make when lacking ingredients and/or inspiration. And it tastes good.

Eggs
Green Chives
Tomatos
Ketchup squirt
S&p to taste

Pot Braised Ribs

I love eating ribs...the meat is especially tasty and tender. Probably because of all the fat...but whatevs. If you're going to eat ribs, it better be fatty and good. Just don't eat it often. I cut up the ribs into two's and then boiled it in water for ten minutes to get rid of some of the fat and scuz. Then I drained the ribs and in another pot, started the marinade in which I'll eventually braise the ribs in:

Onion - sauteed until almost carmelized
Tomatoes
Paprika
Bbq sauce
Ketchup
Sirracha
Honey
Chicken stock
Apple cider vinegar

The ribs simmered in that sauce for...I dunno....40 minutes? Until the meat was soft and everything smelled heavenly. Then it was served and paired with the Beet and Brussel Sprouts salad.

I liked the sauce with onions and tomatoes more than I liked the ribs...but I think that's account my pregnancy tastebuds still throwing off the taste of meat. One day...in five months or so...this will taste as good as it smelled.

Baked Portobello Caps

The picture doens't look like much...but those are baked portobello mushroom caps. I've always wanted to try cooking portobello...this was my first time! I didn't know it's actually a tedious process to scrap the brown gills looking stuff from the underside of the caps first. It ended up taking way longer than I expected so the stuffing for the caps overcooked on the stove (and then I had to bake everything afterwards.) Oh well...live and learn.

Stuffing:
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Onion
Diced mushroom stalks (cut from the portobello)
Panko
S&P
Dried herbs
Cumin

Sides were couscous and Shanghai bok choi.
It tasted good...but yeah, stuffing was over cooked. Next time!

Yam Latkes and Egg with Tomato Salad

Sorry the lighting wasn't very good on this one. I saw something about sweet potato latkes in a magazine somewhere so I thought I'd give it a try. SUPER DELICIOUS...especially with a fried egg on top and when the yolk oozes over the crispy yam latke!!

Latke:
Shredded yellow yam
Eggs
Flour
Cumin
Paprika
Curry powder

Tomato Salad:
Regular tomatoes on the vine
Some kind of darker heirloom tomatoes
Yellow bell pepper
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Dried herbs
S&P to taste

Cold Noodle Salad

This is perfect for a summer meal. And it can cover nearly all the food groups at once.

Zucchini cut into thin strands
Boiled eggs
Tomatoes
Cooked, cooled Asian noodles
Turkey bacon
Chopped green onion
Dash of chili flakes
Goddess Dressing (from Trader Joes)

Zucchini Pasta with Kale & Tomato

I've been seeing posts about a gluten free zucchini pasta...and what makes it gluten free is because you're actually using whole fresh zucchini pieces cut into pasta shaped noodles as opposed to processing zucchini with other ingredients to make noodles. It's a bit labour intensive...I used a mandolin then stacked and sliced the zucchini down to fettuccine sizes. And then I made "pasta sauce" by just sauteeing and simmering the rest of the incredients together. Season to taste.

It's REALLY good. =) Hope you'll enjoy it too!

Zucchini

Pasta sauce:
Garlic
Onion
Basil
Savory
Salt
Soup stock
Kale
Tomatoes
 

Baked Miso Tofu on Salad and Burnt Tomato Soup

I can't remember where I saw a recipe for baked miso tofu, but it sounded interesting. I had both medium firm regular and soft egg tofu. I've been buying organic since I hear soy is a major GMO product now.

Miso sauce:
Miso paste
Soy sauce
Sugar
Grapeseed Oil

Mix this all together and then spoon over the cut tofu in a baking sheet. Bake at 350-385 F until the liquids dry and it starts to brown. Serve over salad with a garlic balsamic vinegar dressing that you can also easily throw together.

Tomato Soup....sadly was a bit of a fail. I was browning the onions and had added cut tomatos to simmer with it, except I didn't include enough liquids in the pot...or maybe the stove was on too high. Anyways....the bottom burnt. I picked out what I could, added veggie stock and then put the immersion blender in until I got the desired consistency. My husband said it tasted good...so I'll go with that. But I'm not aiming for a repeat performance for sure. =)

Tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Vegetable Stock

Caprese Salad

I wasn't sure whether to post this since the idea is not original or inspired at all. ha ha. But here it is...one of the easiest and yummy salads to make.

Sliced tomatoes
Sliced fresh mozzarella
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Basil (fresh basil would've been WAY better)

Broccoli Mushroom Quinoa Salad

Another Meatless Monday and I was toying with the idea of a warm salad. The broccoli, yellow heirloom tomatoes and mushrooms in my fridge was asking to be used but it wasn't quite enough to make three meal-size servings. (I like to have enough to pack my Husband lunch the next day.) I was tired of pasta so the next carb-type substance I thought of was quinoa. It cooks quickly, has great protein, is low in gluten and has a low glycemic index. I love the stuff.

I cooked the broccoli, 'shrooms and quinoa separately then tossed it together with the tomato and dallops of ricotta in a casserole dish before putting it in the oven for 15 min to meld the flavors together. I guess you could call this a casserole too...but I'm sticking with the warm salad description.

Broccoli - tossed in grapeseed oil, S&P and roasted
King oyster mushroom - sautéed with onion in cumin, paprika, salt, garlic salt in butter
Ricotta
Yellow Tomato
Quinoa

Super yummy...it will be going into rotation...when I next have these ingredients in my fridge at the same time. =)

Veggie Casserole

I'm still working on the vegetarian repetoire of meals. It can't just be a regular salad because there isn't enough "stuff" in it to fill me up. A lot of people think that's what a vegetarian meal is like but there's so much more. What I'm trying to learn is how to create a healthy, hearty and tasty vegetarian meal...that won't leave me hungry 2 hrs after I eat.

So, after rummaging through my fridge for suitable veggies (I'm not very proficient with meal/grocery planning in advance...though mind you, it's sometimes the more economical way to just buy whatever is well priced and then figure out the meal later) I have:

Five cheese ravioli
Zucchini
Tomato
Onion
Eggplant
Goat cheese
Tomato paste
Various dried herbs


I chopped the onion and tomatoes and sauteed it first to make a tomato-y type sauce. I added tomato paste to thicken and add flavor. And then I layered it all together.


And ta-da!

The starch and cheses from the ravioli made the dish quite filling. Yes, I could've cooked it all separately and had ravioli with roasted veggies on the side, which I will probably do one day, but I was lazy and just wanted everything in one dish. =) Enjoy!

Veal Flank Stew and Spring Salad

I bought some veal flank meat and thought a stew would be nice....but as Spring is here, pairing it with a fresh salad would be even nicer.

Stew:
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Veal flank
Onion
Garlic
Cumin
Paprika
Sugar
Sriracha
BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Tomato Paste
Various herbs that seemed to smell good together

Salad:
Spring Greens
Naval Orange cut to bite sizes
Chopped Almonds

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Grainy mustard
Honey
Lemon Juice

Warm Corn Salsa

This makes a fantastic side dish....I can't wait until BBQ season because it would totally go well with smoky ribs and chicken and steaks.

Corn
Peas
Plum Tomatoes
Onion
Lime Juice
Salt
Pepper

The lime juice really brings out all the flavors....LOVE it!

Meatless Rotini Casserole

It was another Meatless Monday and this time I was going to experiment with tofu. I had grown up eating it Asian style...but was told that it really takes on whatever flavors you cook it in...so I was going to use it in a "meat" sauce for a pasta casserole....that didn't have meat in it.

Tofu
Tomatoes
Onion
Tomatoe paste
BBQ Sauce (for smoke)
Basil
Oregano
Parmesan
Goat's milk gouda
Tri-colored rotini

End result....it was really really good! I could still tell tofu was tofu...but it wasn't as if I was trying to hide the tofu in the first place. Now I know that I can experiment more with cooking tofu like meat. However, as most of the soy products in North America are GMO....I also have to be wary about where the tofu comes from. It's unfortunate because tofu can be so good for you otherwise.

Leftover Makeover: Beef Stew

Remember the sirloin tip with very little meat fat, and wasn't slow cooked/braised so it came out rather chewy? Well it wasn't a big sell unfortunately. This meant I had a fair bit of leftovers and I needed to turn it into something yummy.

What better to hide it in than a stew! Stews hide everything. And because you're slow cooking it for a while, everything also gets quite tender. So that's where the roast went.

Sirloin tip roast leftovers
Carrots
King oyster mushrooms
Tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Lentil stew leftovers
Paprika
Cumin
Rosemary
Red Wine

And it was good! Over rice and over pasta.