When you’ve been basically out of the house for three days at a blogging convention, the refrigerator tends to get depleted – thank goodness for leftovers.  which are now gone… Since it’s a cold (for July!) day, I decided to make a hearty chicken dish with my stockpile (and thrilled I can once more say that).
You see here the end result of two packs of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts from a Jewel $1.50/lb clearance (mostly thawed in the microwave, then browned in vegetable oil).  I tossed 2 cans chicken broth, 2 cans kernel corn, one diced tomatoes, three of those little cans of salsa verde and one large sliced onion into the pot, plus one large handful of brown rice and one of barley (there’s plenty of liquids and if you see the mix getting dry, add more broth or water).

I  added a jar of jalapeño slices for a little kick, but that certainly isn’t a requirement.  No salt or pepper because it all came together so well that even DH commented on how flavorful the dish was – and he’s the original salt first and taste later dude.

The bottom line:  Well, EE corn was free (those wonderful EE coupons from Jewel), chicken broth was a Walgreens low tax filler item, chicken was about $4,  EE diced tomatoes were also a Jewel freebie, while those cans of Herdez salsa were a Dominicks moneymaker.  EE barley was also a freebie…which leaves me paying for A HANDFUL OF BROWN RICE!

and dontcha hate when that happens?

Watching someone else cook reminded me that I have all those wonderful vegetables from Lemon Tree just waiting for improvement.  Let’s start with a very, very simple soup that you can serve cold and impress the heck out of your dinner guests – ’cause let’s face it,  your family is pretty much impossible to please, let alone impress…

I started with I several bunches of leeks, sliced and then soaked and washed.  Since these are usually very, very dirty, it’s important that you remove all the grit – unless you use coarse pepper and can blame that.  If you use thick-skinned potatoes, you will have to peel them; I used new potatoes and only washed and quartered them.  The ratio of potato to leek is a matter of personal preference:  Love the bite of peppery onions – add more leeks.  Love potatoes – more of those!

Some recipes call for softening the leeks and potatoes in a neutral oil, which intensifies the flavor, but I’ve never felt it necessary, inasmuch as I use more of the dark green leek that has a stronger flavor.

Add liquids enough to cook, but not to cover, since you’ll get water from both the potatoes and leeks themselves.  You can also use a chicken or vegetable stock if you prefer.  Again, the flavor is strong enough with the darker greens that I don’t feel it necessary.  Cover and let cook over a medium flame.

Once everything is cooked thoroughly (before mush stage), remove from heat and allow to cool with the lid removed.  You can see here how the volume has greatly reduced  Do not attempt the next step with hot liquids (voice of experience here).

Ladle vegetable mixture and small amount of liquids into either a blender or processor.  I use a Vitamix ’cause it’s big and powerful.  The percentage of leeks to potatoes doesn’t matter at this point because it’s all getting dumped into the pot at the end.  Process, pulse, blend, whatever until you have a creamy consistency.  Pour into large pot and repeat until you’ve used all the vegetables.

Now you have a mostly pureed soup, but some of the shreds will have to be removed ’cause they’re tough suckers.  You can add heavy cream at this point if you wish.  Garnish with chives, thin slices of green onions or flat parsley.  If you added cream and serve it cold, you will be presenting Vichyssoise to your astonished dinner guests!

bon appétit!

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The last couple of days around here have been Jewelathons, which meant pizza and yesterday’s Panda Express.  The jambalaya from earlier was pretty much was ignored, so I decided to revamp it a trifle.

Since I had a *cough* few *cough* containers of the Tangy Jumbo Shrimp left over, I decided to add them to the pot. First thing I needed to do was make a nice dark roux to thicken and add flavor. Then I removed the breading and tails (dogs say thank you) from the shrimp and rinsed them in cold water. Tossed in the bits of red peppers and pea pods from the containers, sliced open another package of chicken sausage, added another can of corn and one of the tomato/okra medley. Lots of Old Bay, little bit of smoked salt and smoked hot paprika later and here’s the final creation – an almost entirely new dish.  Serve it in shallow bowls with a scoop of steamed rice on top.

Here’s a shot of PITA’s bowl.

Since I’ve got no energy left (aka too pooped to party syndrome), decided to use up some deal stuff and make my own Mardi Gras dinner.  Into the slow cooker went two cans of the tomato & okra blend.  Good thing I checked because this is more than half okra, which means a can of Rotel gets added.  One can of kernel corn (not traditional, but we like it), one can of tomato sauce (Wags filler), one can of Bush’s black beans (clearance with coupon – – cheap!), one package of sliced chicken sausages, one cubed butterfly pork chop and one small package of fish fillets ($2.39 clearance and I had a $2 coupon).  A little bit of oil for mouth feel (pork has zip fat nowadays).

Now dinner can cook on its own for a few hours on high – I’ll start the rice cooker about an hour before dinner. FirstBorn won’t eat it ’cause it contains FISH!  Mr. Crispy will tell me what I should have done differently.  PITA will eat it, tell me how good it is and take a second bowl. You just know who I’m saving from the Zombies…

Well, I don’t know what else to call it!  That huge pot of chicken thighs I cooked for New Year’s went through a couple of incarnations (tacos, burritos, fajitas) before being frozen.  I knew I’d have to come up with something completely different or my family would mutiny.  Since I had a couple dozen corn tortillas and lots more Kraft shredded cheese, a germ of an idea was planted – Mexican lasagna!

I poured a coating of the cilantro oil on the bottom of the pan and lined it with tortillas, then added the chicken, cheese, corn and tortillas in alternating layers, sprinkling in some of the cilantro oil.   Top layer was the shredded cheddar cheese.  The cilantro oil came from BlogHer; it’s made from cottonseed oil and it’s good enough for me to buy!

So that’s it! I covered it tightly in foil and placed in a 350º oven for over an hour.  Since the chicken was already cooked, it’s just a matter of melting the cheese and allowing all the flavors to meld.

And here’s PITA enjoying her second helping!  She’s not thrilled that I interrupted her while eating/reading (she’s working through the Alton Brown series), which explains “The Look.”

We used to make pizza lots more often than we do today – probably all the cheap and free frozen pizza deals has something to do with it!  Decided to make a semi-homemade one using those frozen pizza dough lumps they sell at Dominicks – they’re actually pretty good and a breeze when you decide to make pizza at the last minute. You see the dough, free olives, two small onions sliced, a container of free Wholly Salsa, the Kraft shredded cheese from Ultra for which I spent about 25¢ (oh, you big spender, you!).  Was in the mood for a veggie pizza, which pretty much guarantees FirstBorn will not only leave it in peace, but this personal attack on his carnivore lifestyle will give him one more reason to put me in a cheap nursing home.  i know my family…

Put it in a pre-heated oven at 425º for about 15 minutes and here’s the result:

I never really know exactly what I’ll put in the slow-cooker.  I mean I’ll have the main idea because most of the items will be frozen or in the basement stockpile, but seasonings, etc. are always last minute additions.  First I was thinking chicken and curry over rice, then I switched and pulled out the chicken sausages from the Jewel deal, plus the ham bits also from some deal (they start to blur after awhile – don’t you agree?).  PITA won’t eat red meat, but will eat these sausages – FirstBorn considers anything other than red meat a communist plot and complains that I never make anything HE likes.  Starve, boy.  Used the vodka pasta sauce because it has a creaminess I was looking for.  Tossed in the can of corn for a touch of veggies.

Used a couple of smallish onions, just peeled and sliced.  A cooking instructor once said that you can easily tell how to slice onions because they show you how!  Slice off the top and bottom and then halve from top to bottom, not sideways.  Also tossed in a couple of large russet potatoes, cut into smaller cubes.  I’d prefer red or those baby potatoes, but not enough to run to the store!  And it’s always better to use up what you have, right?  The Hot Garden mix was a last minute addition – tasted and tasted the sauce and knew it needed something else.  The cauliflower and other crunchies won’t be too hot since they were rinsed before adding to the pot.

And there you have it! It will cook on its own for the next three or four hours, blending all the flavors together and making the house smell heavenly. Think I’ll serve this over a bed of rice, to absorb the liquid.  PITA adores rice, rice, rice…