Jumping On The Buddha Bowl Bandwagon

Go on any health-focused food blog and you will find some version of a brightly coloured Buddha Bowl. Come to think of it, do a quick scroll through your Instagram on any given weekday, and you're bound to find an image of some sort of Buddha Bowl there as well. It's clear to see that everyone is doing the Buddha Bowl, and it was my time to jump on the mindful eating bandwagon!

I'm big on eating leftovers for lunch, but not every dinner leaves me with enough tasty leftovers that I can work into a full lunch, meaning that I often turn to unhealthy quick-fixes that generally leave me feeling guilty, lethargic, and not very satiated. With some time to spare one morning last week, I figured I would take the time to jump into some food prep to get my Buddha Bowl game on for the week! Though my fridge didn't feel stocked, it was easy to come up with enough ingredients to make a delicious and satisfying bowl that I would feel excited to eat a few days in a row. 

I started by cubing up some sweet potato, tossing it in some herbs and spices, and throwing it into the oven for 20-30 minutes to roast. While my sweet potato cubes were tenderizing in the oven, I whipped up a few servings of quinoa with some homemade vegetable stock that I had ready in the freezer, and tossed some canned chickpeas in some spices and heated them up on the stove. By the time I had some sugar snap peas and cilantro chopped, and a tahini dressing whirred in the blender, my sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and quinoa were all ready! It was just that easy and fast. Throw everything in a bowl, drizzle it with dressing, and sprinkle with cashews and you've got yourself healthy and satisfying lunches for days! This dish is so simple and easy, there's no need to include a recipe at all! I just listed the ingredients, and even that is up for you to play around with. Use whatever ingredients you have on hand to make your Buddha Bowl work for you! How do you Buddha Bowl? 

Ingredients:

cooked quinoa 

roasted sweet potato, cubed

spiced, warmed chickpeas

sugar snap peas, sliced on a bias

lightly salted cashews

cilantro, finely chopped

Turmeric Tahini Dressing 

Directions:

1. Place quinoa in a bowl and top with sweet potato, chickpeas, and sugar snap peas. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle over cilantro and cashews. Serve. 

Listening To:

Slide (Featuring Frank Ocean and Migos) - Calvin Harris

Turkey & Dumplings Recipe

Last year I was introduced to what may possibly be the most comforting dish on the planet: Turkey & Dumplings. As you may know from my previous post on Turkey & Dumplings, I first had this Southern-inspired dish on my most recent birthday at the Toronto restaurant Omaw, and was totally taken by the fantastic contrast of flavours and textures represented in the dish. 

Chris and I promptly tried to recreate the dish in our own kitchen, and it turned out so ridiculously incredible! Of course, because we were playing around so much with the dish on our first go at making it, we weren't able to record a clear breakdown of the recipe. Alas, with such an amazing response from everyone on the photo that I posted of our Turkey & Dumplings copycat recipe, we had to give it another go, but this time carefully recording every step. 

So with that, I bring you our version of Turkey & Dumplings, a must-make recipe for any comfort-food lover! Last time we made this dish, we were lucky to have leftover Thanksgiving turkey on hand, so this time we decided to roast off some fresh turkey thighs, so that we could make this dish all year round. Thank you to The New York Times for providing a killer method for making roasted turkey pieces that taste like they came off of a whole-roasted bird! You can find our slightly modified recipe for roasted turkey thighs below as well. 

Tip: Save the turkey skin after roasting and fry into crispy chips to use as a garnish! 

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)

1 medium onion, small dice

2 stalks celery, small dice
2 medium carrots, small dice

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn niblets

1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, leaves picked

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

3/4 cup roasted or smoked ham, diced

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 medium/large parmesan rind

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. sour cream

about 2 cups shredded roasted turkey meat (dark meat) *see recipe below for roasting turkey thighs

kosher salt and pepper to season

Beurre Manie 

1 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. cold butter

Dumplings (Tyler Florence Recipe)

2 cups flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 eggs

3/4 buttermilk

Directions:

1. Set a large dutch oven on the stove set to medium heat.
2. In a separate medium pot, heat stock to medium heat. 
3. Add onion to dutch oven and heat. Add carrots and celery and sweat. Season with salt and pepper. Add corn, garlic, and thyme and cook until fragrant (about 30-seconds to 1-minute).
4. Add 3 Tbsp. butter and melt. Add flour and stir to make a roux. Cook for about 1-minute.
5. Slowly begin adding in the stock, one ladle at a time, while stirring to incorporate. 
6. Add in ham, bay leaves, cayenne, and parmesan rind. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low, and simmer for 30-minutes. 
7. Remove bay leaves. Add in grated parmesan cheese and sour cream. Taste and season as needed with salt and pepper. If mouthfeel is off and the soup is too thin, prepare a Beurre Manie. 
8. To make a Beurre Manie: combine 1 Tbsp. flour with 1 Tbsp. cold butter and smoosh together with the back of a spoon. If you want, get right in there and smoosh it together with your fingers to form a paste. Drop the paste bit by bit into your soup and stir in. 
9. Make Dumplings. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a small bowl, lightly beat together eggs with buttermilk. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. If it feels too tough, add in another few tablespoons of milk. Drop spoonfuls of batter directly into the soup. Simmer for 10-15-minutes, flipping part way through. 
10. Stir in turkey and any drippings (you may also add in the garlic and onion that was roasted with the turkey thighs). Cook 5 minutes. Serve immediately. 

Roasted Turkey Thighs

(Slightly adapted from The New York Times)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

2 turkey thighs, washed & dried

salt and pepper to season

rosemary salt (optional)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

1 medium carrot, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, quartered

4 garlic cloves, whole 

4 thyme sprigs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. 
2. Stir together butter and thyme leaves and rub all over turkey pieces, making sure to get some underneath the turkey skin.
3. Season generously with salt and pepper, and rosemary salt (if you have any!). 
4. Toss celery, carrot, onion, and garlic with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 
5. Place thighs in a medium roasting dish or baking pan and tuck the celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and thyme sprigs around the meat. 
6. Roast for 30-minutes. Reduce heat to 325ºF and roast for an additional 15-20-minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF, while basting occasionally with accumulated juices. 
7. Remove from oven and tent with tin foil for 30-minutes. Separate the meat from the bones and shred with 2 forks. Set aside in fridge until ready to use. 

Listening To: 

The Range - Florida

Thanksgiving Leftover Lovin': Turkey & Dumplings

Leftovers, you love 'em, or you hate 'em. While I most definitely used to hate leftovers, I've found over the years, and after living on my own, eating leftovers is an essential part of reducing food waste and staying on budget. More than that, I've learned that I can actually have the power to become a leftover lover if the leftovers are transformed into something that doesn't resemble the original dish. It was this discovery that inspired my blog series Leftover Lovin', which has been terribly neglected over the past few years, but must be brought back thanks to my most recent outrageously delicious leftover transformation, inspired by my Thanksgiving dinner and a delicious birthday dinner out!

While going wild and partying has never really been my thing for celebrating my birthday, what I do look forward to the most, come my annual day of birth on September 30th, is going out for delicious meals with my loved ones. Lucky for me, this included three fantastic meals spread across my birthday weekend. 

The first dinner out was on the night of my birthday with my boyfriend Chris, where we checked out Omaw, Chef Matt Blondin's latest restaurant, doing Carolina classics with a gourmet twist. Having been to and enjoyed Blondin's previous restaurant Acadia, we were eager to see how his most recent menu would stack up. Though I have to say, the service definitely left something to be desired, the menu was thankfully lovely. Though the Shrimp & Grits (an Acadia favourite that Blondin reintroduced for Omaw) was spot on, the standout dish of the night had to be Blondin's aromatic bowl of Turkey & Dumplings with onion likkar and black truffle - SWOON! With a rich and complex turkey broth, big chunks of tender and moist roast turkey, gnocchi-like pillows of handmade dumplings, black truffle oil, and fried onion matchsticks for crunch (this would be the onion likkar), this dish blew both Chris and I away! So comforting, so well-balanced, and so not enough in one bowl to satisfy us both. It was so delicious, we should have each ordered a bowl to ourselves! 

With Canadian Thanksgiving only one week away from my birthday, all I could think about the week following my birthday was how I could recreate that incredible Turkey & Dumpling dish with my Thanksgiving leftovers. While, no, I don't have a clear recipe for you this time, with so much experimenting during the process to get just the right flavour and mouthfeel, I still wanted to share my photos of the final dish, and a little bit about my process. The response to the photo of my bowl of homemade Turkey & Dumplings that I posted on my various social media accounts was so overwhelmingly positive, that I think it's only fair to share as much as I can with you, and hopefully I can refine it soon enough so you can have the real thing!

The great thing about a recipe like this is that it is so forgiving, allowing you to forget about measuring your ingredients (it's all about eye-balling it here!), and play around with what you happen to have on hand. For this dish, I started out with a basic mirepoix of onion, carrot, and celery (diced small), and to that added in some minced garlic, fresh Ontario corn niblets leftover from Thanksgiving, dried bay leaves, and fresh thyme. I then stirred in a roux, and slowly poured in homemade turkey stock (thank you to Chris' mom Tracey for the tasty stock!) and some leftover ham from Thanksgiving (diced small). At this point, I brought the soup to a boil and allowed it to simmer for about 20-30 minutes to let the flavours develop and the broth to thicken.

After tasting I felt the soup still needed more flavour and more of a creamy and rich mouthfeel. Now this is where things get a little hazy, as I began to scour my kitchen for anything I could possibly find to turn my soup into something incredible. I then added a pinch of cayenne pepper, a few pinches of ancho chilli powder, a large Parmesan rind (I always save them in the freezer for soups and sauces!), grated parmesan cheese, a few tablespoons of sour cream, and lots of salt and pepper to season. To aid with the mouthfeel issue, I dropped in a beurre manié, which is like a roux, but kneaded, and added after you have added in liquid. So basically, if you messed up your roux at the start of your process and your soup or sauce isn't thickening, a beurre manié can save the day! Check out Saveur's guide on how to prepare a beurre manié to learn about your new favourite hero in the kitchen.

Once my soup was at the right consistency and flavour, I quickly whipped together Tyler Florence's recipe for dumplings, and spooned them in. Once my dumplings were lovely, plump, and cooked through, I stirred in my leftover shredded cooked turkey from Thanksgiving (dark meat will taste best here!), which was added at this point so it wouldn't dry out. After a short simmer to allow the turkey to reheat my turkey and dumplings were ready to devour! And oh did we ever devour it! Chris and I went nuts over this dish. It was, to put it simply, outrageously delicious. A true winner and a recipe I look forward to refining and sharing with you soon! Is it safe to admit that I'm now counting down the days to Christmas dinner leftovers? 

Listening To:
Happier Podcast

A Beginners Guide to Arancini AKA Fried Rice Balls

So you've mastered the art of making risotto, and despite it's delicious results, you've followed my advice and have left yourself some leftovers for the following day...Now what? There's not a chance that anyone could get you to revive the goopy, gluey mess you have in front of you by simply re-heating. Although some of the best leftovers are merely reheated to achieve the same level of flavour from when they were first served, reviving risotto requires completely transforming the rice into an entirely new dish, largely unrecognizable from the creamy risotto it once was. Yes friends, I am talking about the miraculous transformation of renovating risotto into arancini! 

Arancini are also known as fried rice balls (or 'little oranges', referring to their appearance), and are made by forming the sticky leftover risotto into a ball, stuffing with cheese or other fillings like meat, and rolling in a breadcrumb mixture, to be fried into crisp and creamy balls. I had previously made arancini once before last year using leftover risotto from my culinary class at George Brown. Although my results were tasty, they were nowhere near the crispy on the outside, and outrageously creamy on the inside arancini that I had gone gaga over at Italian restaurants and events. I knew a big issue was my not-so-successful attempt at deep frying over the stove for the first time (something that pretty much scared the pants off of me!), but I knew that there was more that could be tweaked. The cheese inside hadn't melted quite as much as I had hoped, and I found the arancini a little on the dry side. What was I doing wrong?

For my second attempt at making arancini just a few weeks ago, after enjoying a delicious asparagus and green pea risotto, I decided to take matters into my own hands and tuck into some arancini research online. The hands-down best resource I found was from Serious Eats, where the chef had gone through some serious recipe testing to perfect the little fried balls. Although this method for making arancini was not meant for using leftover risotto (this recipe skips the risotto all together and goes straight to perfecting arancini), I was still able to take my arancini to a whole new level and gain amazing results using this resource as a guide. 

Although one of the very first things I learned from that resource was the success of using sushi rice as opposed to the traditional Italian short-grain Arborio rice, I stuck with the arborio rice because, well, that's what I had made my risotto with the night before! The recipe also encouraged making a bechamel sauce from chicken stock and milk to stir into the sushi rice to achieve a molten, not dry, interior. Once again, because I was using leftover risotto, I omitted this step, though it did give me a great idea for next time! The next time I make arancini I would love to mimic the method of making croqueta filling, by making a thick roux-like bechamel, cooling it down so it's pliable, and rolling it into balls so it can be stuffed inside the leftover risotto rice, along with cheese. This would ensure that, once heated, the bechamel would become liquid once again, achieving that molten filling that is so desirable. 

Though there were a few steps that I had to stray from in the Serious Eats method, there was certainly lots that I did take away. The first thing was the breadcrumbs. Although the chef found the best results by using homemade breadcrumbs, he stated that crushed panko breadcrumbs were a close contender. I didn't have any homemade breadcrumbs (nor any bread to make them with) but I did have plenty of panko! I pulsed it in the food processor as recommended in order to make the crumbs finer, so that the final result would still have the appearance of looking like little oranges. 

More than just the breadcrumbs, the way in which you adhere the breadcrumbs to the rice will also aid in achieving the ultimate crisp exterior. This method recommended making a 'slurry' out of water and flour to result in a "shatteringly crisp" exterior. To get the creamy and gooey cheesy interior that was lacking on my last arancini attempt, I cut the mozzarella cheese into small cubes, adding several to each ball, so that they would melt at a faster rate. 

The final step to getting the arancini I had dreamt of was learning to control the oil. First off, I used far less oil than I had last time. There's no need to actually deep fry risotto, you can simply add a few inches of oil (about 4-inches) to your deep pot, allowing you to turn the balls as needed to evenly crisp. By adding less oil you will have so much more control over the heat. Have a thermometer handy to keep testing the temperature of the oil so that it stays around 375ºF, and adjust your stovetop as needed. Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove the balls, allowing any excess oil to drain off, and place on a paper towel-lined wire rack. While the arancini are still nice and hot, serve them with some good tomato sauce and you're good to tuck in and enjoy all that hard work! 

Yes, making arancini sounds a little complicated, especially when it takes me this long to accurately explain my process, but I promise you after that first attempt, it will all feel like play! It's actually so incredibly simple to make delicious arancini, it just takes a little research (which I've already done for you!) and a bit of practice. I was able to make my arancini in about 30-minutes on a weeknight, along with a main course, meaning it really can't be that difficult at all! If you're concerned about timing, form your arancini in advance, and pop them in the freezer until you're ready to fry. I love this idea for last-minute entertaining! 

Big thanks to Serious Eats for providing me with so much helpful information! I definitely encourage you all to check out the page and see what you can take away from it! Let me know how your attempt at making arancini went and share your results with me on Twitter: @thisgingerrose! 

Listening To:
Alt-J - The Gospel Of John Hurt

Leftover Lovin': Arancini AKA "What To Do With Leftover Risotto"

Risotto has always been one of my favourite Italian dishes thanks to it's creamy texture with that little bit of bite from the al dente arborio rice, and the subtle savoury flavours that are worked into the rice dish. Risotto has this ability to send me up into foodie heaven, keeping me glued to my chair, never wanting to leave, happily eating bite after bite of risotto until the sun comes up. Except we know that can never happen right? You can never really eat risotto all night long, unless of course you are lucky enough to have someone cooking it for you and fitting the bill all night. The reason why risotto really can't be eaten all night long is yes, because it's very starchy and would fill you up mighty quickly, but also because those starches just get starchier and more gluey in texture as the risotto rests. Think of risotto as the Cinderella character of the meal. Risotto joins the dinner all dressed up, looking like a star, with everyone eying it for just a taste. And just when you start to get to know risotto, indulging in its complex flavours, and getting seduced by its comfort inducing creaminess, it begins to change. That beauty that you saw when the risotto arrived at your table begins to diminish, as does that creamy texture that drew you in to begin with, and before you know it, it's gone! Ok, so maybe that metaphor is a bit of a stretch, but you know what I'm getting at, right? Perhaps it's the immediacy in which risotto must be eaten that adds to the allure of the dish, as does the sheer labour involved in making it.

In Chef Skills class at George Brown Culinary College this year we learned how to make risotto in our Rice & Legumes class. Where every other dish that we prepared that night was to be handed in at 9pm, our risotto had a much earlier "service time". Because of that Cinderella syndrome that risotto seems to have, Chef wanted us to call us over as soon as our risotto left the heat and hit the serving dish, so that he could taste it at its best and test it appropriately. As proud as I was to hand in my near-perfect risotto (that's right!! It was fantastic!), it meant that all that hard work standing over the hot stove, never allowing the risotto to leave my sight, constantly stirring so that the starches didn't fall to the bottom of the pan and burn, and adding ladles of hot stock every few minutes would be for next to nothing. All that hard work for only a brief taste from myself and my teacher. By the time class was finished and I trudged to my boyfriends apartment, hoping for his approval of my near-perfect risotto, it has already turned into a pumpkin...I mean, it had already become gluey and tough. I refused to let all that hard work go to waste! 

The next morning I immediately began looking up methods for making Arancini. You might be wondering, what is Arancini? Arancini (pronounced "A-ran-TCHEE-nee") is one of the best ways to use up leftover risotto. The leftover risotto is combined with a mixture of beaten eggs, more cheese, and breadcrumbs, and rolled into little individual balls. These risotto balls are then stuffed with a surprise cheese filling, and fried until crisp and golden, and served, once again, immediately so that cheesy centre remains all ooey, gooey, and melted. So basically, Cinderella found her glass slipper and is the belle of the ball all over again! Thankfully, after all that labour making the risotto, Arancini is much more simple to prepare and can be made up in next to no time, and still give you those heaven-bound results. So the next time you fret over wasting leftover risotto, think about making a batch of crispy ad creamy Arancini to keep that risotto love going!

Tip: Don't want to fry all the Arancini in one go? Simply roll out all the balls and lay out in a container or, if you have the space, a baking tray in an individual layer and freeze. When frozen, place them in a freezer bag or container, and place back in the freezer until ready to fry up! So easy!

* If you don't have Italian-style, just add your own spices and seasonings to regular bread crumbs

Ingredients:

vegetable oil, for deep frying

2 cups leftover risotto

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 1/2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs*, separated 

2 ounces Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

salt, to season

marinara sauce, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the leftover risotto with the beaten eggs, parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs. Place the remaining breadcrumbs in a small-medium bowl. 
2. Begin forming the risotto mixture into balls, just under 2-inches in diameter. Insert a cube of mozzarella into the centre of each ball, and re-form into a ball to seal the cheese inside. Dip the balls into the remaining breadcrumbs to coat the exterior of each ball evenly. 
3. In large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, add enough oil to reach 3-inches in depth. Turn the element to medium-heat and, using a kitchen thermometer to test, bring the oil to 350ºF. Lay out a baking sheet lined with paper towel next to your frying station.
4. Working in batches, carefully add a few balls at a time to the oil (do not crowd the pan!) and fry until golden, crisp, and heated through, about 4-minutes. Turn the balls as needed to ensure even frying. Remove from oil and lay out on paper-towel lined baking sheet. Season immediately with a bit of salt.
5. Serve balls immediately with marinara sauce to dip. 

Listening To:

Sleep The Clock Around - Belle & Sebastian 

Leftover Lovin': Stuffed French Toast

I hate when food goes to waste, even worse when it's really good food! It eats me up inside, and I feel guilty all week long knowing that good food had to go into the garbage. I consider this just about every time I cook or bake anything, doing whatever I can to incorporate whichever ingredients are nearing their final days into my meal. I also consider this while I'm cooking, making sure that I always have the right ratio of sauce to noodles so that none is left over without it's partner in crime, as well as my cheese blintzes, stuffing the crêpes so they're practically bursting at the seams thanks to the overload of stuffing. The problem with trying to use every single little bit of food up all the time, is that leftovers can often be the best inspiration for other meals. Take my cheese blintzes for instance, to be honest with you, I don't really like when my cheese blintzes are filled to the brim as I had been making them. I found when there was so much filling, it distracted from the delicate flavours and texture of the crêpe. So when I opted to stuff my blintzes less, I made sure to begin my leftover filling brainstorming right away to ensure that it would indeed get used up!

For years and years I have been wanting to make stuffed french toast, imaging the incredible contrast in both flavours and textures thanks to the addition of a creamy filling. As much as I wanted to try stuffed french toast, I really wanted someone else to make it for me. It looked like way too much work to have to make a filling from scratch, just to attempt to stuff it into a tiny crevice in the bread, that I believed would inevitably shred apart. With my leftover cheese blintz filling waiting patiently in my fridge, I had found my solution to making a stuffed french toast filling from scratch! With a few minor adjustments to sweeten up the already tangy filling, and add some more flavours and textures thanks to the addition of fresh strawberries and toasted almonds I had created my new favourite indulgent breakfast!

Tip: Be patient and gentle when stuffing the filling into the bread. Add a little bit at a time and you shouldn't come across any issues.

Note: I am fully aware of the many sexual innuendoes in this post, but it really couldn't have been written any other way! So laugh it up! I sure did!

Ingredients:

1 slice challah bread, thick-cut

1 egg, lightly beaten

splash of milk

2 shakes cinnamon

about 1/4 cup leftover cheese blintz filling

3 strawberries, finely chopped,

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

butter for frying

2 strawberries, sliced for garnish

handful of sliced almonds, lightly toasted

maple syrup, for serving

Directions:

1. Cut the thick slice of challah into halves, making two triangles. Using a small serrated knife, carefully cut a slit into the centre of each half, leaving a border around the edges so that the bread holds together. This is where you will be stuffing the filling. Set aside.

2. In a shallow dish, whisk together the egg, a splash of milk, and two shakes of cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the leftover cheese blintz filling, the 3 finely chopped strawberries, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Using a small spoon, carefully and gently stuff the filling inside the slits in both halves of the challah bread. Once bread is stuffed, dip and coat both sides in egg mixture.

4. Melt butter in a skillet or griddle at medium heat. Add the stuffed french toast into the pan and cook until golden on both sides. Serve immediately garnished with the sliced strawberries, almonds, and maple syrup!

Listening To:

TV On The Radio - Will Do

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Click here for my cheese blintz recipe!!

Leftover Lovin': Turkey Pot Pie

I am the queen of procrastination, as I'm sure you all know by now. I can turn any simple task into a trek up Mount Everest, making myself believe that something is much more difficult and grueling than it truly is. The mind is a funny thing, tricking me into believing that writing a blog post on how I used up my Christmas leftovers is a far more intimidating task than cleaning my bathroom, or in some cases even cutting my own hair.

"Nope, I can't write that blog post right now, I have to clean the bathroom! And what better time to see if I can give myself a haircut! And hey, while we're at it, why not walk all the way to the drugstore and buy an at home waxing kit!"

Some would call my justification and excuses for procrastination absolute insanity! The problem with procrastinating is that the longer you leave a task, the worse it gets, giving you more and more reasons to put it off even further. Which brings me to this very entry, my recipe for Turkey Pot Pie, or how I used up my Christmas leftovers...yup, you heard me! Christmas leftovers! UGH! What the heck is wrong with me?! In case you've been hibernating these past few months, we are now three days into March! March! Christmas has been over for more than two months! What the heck is wrong with me?! As ashamed as I am that I left a Christmas leftover recipe until March, I can see the bright side of this sad little situation I've gotten myself into. I'm hoping that this entry will become a reminder for me about why I should kick my procrastination habit in the bud, and in the future just suck it up and DO THE WORK!

As much as this recipe seems irrelevant at this point in time, it is absolutely a recipe that you can make all year round. No, most of us don't exactly have turkey leftovers kicking around our fridge very often, but luckily you can easily substitute cooked chicken into this recipe, making it the perfect weeknight fix all year! What I love about this recipe is that you are totally transforming your leftovers so that you don't feel like you've been eating the same thing all week long (really, how many turkey sandwiches can one have in a week?), while still achieving that same comfort factor that you originally had with a roasted turkey (or chicken) dinner. Because I was short on time, I wanted to simplify the pot pie even further. I thought back on some of the best pot pies I've had in my life and the one that stood out the most was made by my good friend Rita, who made Ina Garten's Individual Chicken Pot Pies at a dinner party once. The individual pot pies did not have a crust inside, only a thick, flaky crust on top. I initially thought that I would miss the crust on the bottom, but the filling was so delicious, and there was so much pastry on top that I didn't notice the missing pastry inside! Although I wasn't making individual pot pies as Rita had, I still only wanted to put the pastry on the top to save myself some time on a busy weeknight. I was a little concerned that the final dish wouldn't be successful because I was also not making my pastry from scratch, as Rita had also done (she's putting me to shame right now!). Thankfully the puff pastry topping turned out great! I still achieved that delicious flaky crust that I was craving, and had enough so that I could get a little bit of that yummy pastry in each bite, a great contrast in texture and flavour with the hot and bubbling savory filling. Turkey is a holiday menu staple for my family, and I have a feeling this Turkey Pot Pie will make its way onto our table as our holiday leftover staple after each and every one of those holidays!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

2 cups chicken stock

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cream, heat to hot

1 1/2 cups cooked turkey, shredded (may substitute with chicken)

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Grease an 8-inch casserole dish with butter, set aside.

2. In a large skillet, melt the 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, oregano and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft. Add the chicken stock and bay leaf and continue cooking over medium-low heat, until stock is hot.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt the 1/3 cup butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot cream and continue cooking f while stirring until mixture thickens. Slowly begin adding in the chicken stock mixture a little at a time, while stirring. Remove the bay leaf. Add the shredded turkey, frozen peas, salt, and pepper.

4. Pour the mixture into the greased casserole dish. Roll out the puff pastry to cover the top of the casserole dish. Place puff pastry over dish trimming excess pastry. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until puff pastry is puffed up and golden. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls.

Listening To:

DoYaThing - Gorillaz ft. Andre 3000 and James Murphy

Leftover Lovin': Pulled Pork Shepherds Pie

I honestly don't know how I could get through a workweek without a fridge full of leftovers. I rely on leftovers almost every day to give me the fuel I need on my quickie 15-min lunch break at work to get me through the rest of the day. Yeah, a sandwich will do in a pinch, but you can't compare a cold (and often soggy) sandwich that you have to rush around to prepare in the morning before flying out of the house to catch the bus, to warm and comforting leftovers that you simply transferred to a travel container. But what happens when leftovers extend beyond two days? This year for my 24th birthday fiesta at my house I accidentally made enough pulled pork to feed an army! My army of drunk friends just wasn't enough to tackle that immense batch of sweet, smokey, and tender pork. In fact a family dinner with my pulled-pork loving aunt, uncle, and cousins STILL wasn't enough to tackle all that pork the next night. By the third night my parents and I were all pulled porked out. We didn't want that delicious pork to go to waste, but there was no way we could bring ourselves to have pulled pork tacos for yet another night. I needed to transform the pork so that we could still enjoy it, but it could be disguised in such a way that we wouldn't even think about the fact that we were eating the same thing for the third night in a row.

I've been wanting to make a really good shepherds pie for a while now, and with the meat already prepared and a bag full of potatoes on the counter I knew I had found our solution to the pulled pork leftover blues. Following my instincts, I quickly boiled some potatoes, sauteed some onion for extra flavour, pulled out the leftover fiesta salad (two birds one stone!) to add even more flavour and texture, thawed some green peas from the fridge, and pulled out some already shredded cheese. In hardly any time at all I had prepared my family's new favourite comfort food! Warm and fluffy mashed potatoes are topped with salty melted cheddar cheese, resting on a bed of sweet, smokey, and tender pulled pork, with a layer of sweet vegetables in between. What a winner! It's worth it to make a giant batch of pulled pork all over again just to be able to make this fantastic quick dish!

Click here for Pulled Pork and Fiesta Salad recipe!

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, chopped

1/2 onion, sliced

olive oil for sauteing

2 tbsp butter + more for sauteing

1/4-1/2 cup hot milk

2-3 cups leftover pulled pork

1/2 cup leftover fiesta salad (or a mixture corn and black beans)

1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed (add more if not adding corn and beans)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Add potatoes to a medium pot filled with cold water. Bring to a boil. When water has boiled reduce to a gentle boil. Continue to boil until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 min.

2. While potatoes are boiling, add a dab off butter and a bit of olive oil to a medium pan set at medium heat. When butter and oil are hot and bubbling add the onions and saute until golden brown.

3. When potatoes are tender, drain water and let potatoes sit in the covered pot for another 5 minutes to dry them out slightly. Add the butter and hot milk and mash using a potato masher until potatoes are fluffy and smooth.

4. Grease a medium-sized glass baking dish. Spread the leftover pulled pork evenly into the bottom of the dish. Top with the sauteed onions, leftover fiesta salad, and green peas.

5. Layer the mashed potatoes evenly overtop and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Broil for about 20-25 minutes to allow pork to reheat and cheddar to melt. If topping begins to burn, cover with tin foil. Serve hot.

Listening To:

Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - We Found Love

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Cheaters Handbook: Rice Stir Fry

The rushed mid-week meal, the bane of my existence. Why is that whenever I'm the most rushed, tired, and stressed I'm also the most hungry? I mean really, give me a break here! Luckily I have a few quickie meals up my sleeve that I know I can turn to when my schedule goes out of whack. One of my favourite quickie meals is a little cheaters stir fry dish that I picked up from my parents. My Cheaters Handbook Rice Stir Fry is super quick to put together, uses up leftovers hanging around your fridge, it is healthy, and of course it tastes so good you'll be happy to eat up the leftovers for lunch the next day! How's this for a quickie weeknight meal: Warm and nutty brown rice enveloped in sweet and savory honey garlic sauce, tossed with crunchy vegetables, crisp toasted almonds, and leftover meat, with bursts of sweet green peas throughout. I may as well call this dish Stress Be Gone Stir Fry!

Tip: If you know you're going to be rushed later in the week, prepare some of your stir fry in advance. Wash and chop all your veggies, pickup a roast chicken from your local grocery store to shred up later, and toast your almonds. When you're rushed and stressed later in the week, you'll be happy you did the prep work in advance.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 can green peas, juice drained (if you have fresh green peas use them!)

any other veggies you have on hand (ex. mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers, etc.), chopped

about 1 cup shredded or sliced leftover chicken, turkey, pork, or steak

4 servings of quick cook brown rice

about 1/4 cup of your favourite bottled honey garlic sauce (I like VH Honey Garlic Cooking Sauce)

a handful of sliced almonds, toasted

Directions:

1. In a large skillet or stir fry dish, heat olive oil at medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent. While onions are sautéing, make rice, following the directions on the box.

2. Add the green peas, and any additional veggies to the onions and continue cooking until veggies are tender but still crisp. Add the leftover meat part way through cooking to heat.

3. Mix the cooked rice into the skillet and stir to combine. Add the Honey Garlic sauce and almonds, stir together and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Serve hot.

Listening To: Sam Roberts - Bridge To Nowhere

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Leftover Lovin': Butternut Squash Cannelloni

Love it or hate, everyone seems to have an opinion on leftovers. I myself have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. There are some foods that truly taste better a day or so after it's made, while others, after sitting in their tupperware for days on end, will inevitably end up in the compost, making me feel bad for wasting food. In order for me to feel the love for leftovers, I generally have to use my imagination to transform them into something else entirely. Leftover chicken gets tossed into a stir fry; grilled vegetables get stuffed into an omelette or panini; baked potatoes get cut up and seasoned to become home fries; almost any leftover can easily be transformed into a completely different dish so that you feel like you haven't been eating the same thing all week long.

A few weeks ago (er...maybe even a month...damn procrastination) I decided to experiment with some leftover roasted butternut squash. The evening prior, my family roasted butternut squash tossed with some butter and brown sugar and there was a great deal left over. We also had a few sheets of fresh pasta leftover from our homemade lasagna, so I wanted to use those up as well. In hardly any time at all I had a completely reinvented, delicious meal steaming hot, ready for me to devour! The sweet butternut squash had the perfect texture and flavour for my filling. The cannelloni was topped with tomato sauce and the same cheese sauce my mom uses for her lasagna, which added a fantastic creaminess to the dish. Needless to say, I loved eating every last bit of these leftovers!

Note: You don't have to be meticulous with leftovers. I have given a guide as to the amount of each ingredient goes into this dish, but it is all approximate, and you by no means need to follow it exactly.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

about 2 tbsp butter, melted

about 1 tbsp brown sugar

salt and pepper to season

about 1 cup tomato sauce

3-5 sage leaves, chopped very fine

1/2 250g container cottage cheese

1/4 - 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 package fresh lasagna pasta sheets (you may also use fresh cannelloni tubes or fresh large shell pasta)

Directions:

1. If using fresh butternut squash, not leftovers, toss squash with butter and brown sugar. Spread squash in an single layer on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and bake at 400º for 45-55 minutes.

2. Mash cooked squash with a fork, add the sage and stir to combine. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, puree the cottage cheese and parmesan cheese using an immersion blender. Set aside.

4. Lay out pasta sheets and cut them in half widthwise. Spoon about a 1/4 cup - 1/3 of the filling down the centre of the pasta sheet, and roll up to enclose the filling. Repeat with remaining squash and pasta.

5. Spoon on a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of a medium baking sheet. Place in the cannelloni, seam side down, in a single layer, The cannelloni rolls should be touching.

6. Spoon over the tomato sauce and top with dollops of cheese mixture. Bake in a 350º oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Listening To:

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

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(If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that this has been my favourite home-alone-belt-it-out song for the past week! Ginger love!)