Yesterday afternoon I went a little crazy on my freezer, fridge, and pantry and threw out…well, I threw out almost everything. I have this bad habit of buying something and using it once (frozen raspberries), or buying something and NEVER using it (capers), or, the worst to me, buying something we only need SOME of, and what’s leftover is not enough to use (TACO SHELLS). Taco shells are a never-ending circle of Hell. There’s always a box of stale taco shells in my pantry. And there are still capers, because I couldn’t find an expiration date on them. What the hell are capers anyway?
So, yeah, I threw away everything that was expired. I filled a big black trash bag. I was embarrassed. And now we’re mostly out of food.
BUT I don’t want to go shopping and just start all over. I don’t want a pantry so stuffed full of shit we don’t need that I have to do this all the time. I want this to be a fresh start, an organized pantry, a fridge that smells pretty good, a freezer that you can find stuff in.
What I’m going to is (this is so dumb, honestly, I admit it) list the foods we have that need to be used NOW so I can stop thinking about them. Some part of my brain is not being used to something useful because it’s worried about why I bought so many carrots (sale!) or one stupid can of French onion soup (recipe I never made and have long sense forgotten!). Hopefully someone will read over this list and think, OH WOW! SHE HAS ALL THE INGREDIENTS FOR MY PINTO BEAN SALMON FIG PANCAKE. AMAZING.
And then you’re going to give me the recipe that correlates to my list, without having to buy a shitton of other groceries. Easy enough, right? Com’n y’all, I need you.
A work dude already beat you to it by suggesting Taco Soup! Are you going to let a dude show you up? No, no you won’t.
Ready? Ok, here’s my list.
Carrots (no, really, I have a LOT of carrots)
Pinto beans (2 cans)
Black beans (2 cans)
Kidney beans (2 cans)
French onion soup (1 can, haha)
Broccoli Cheese soup (ew? 1 can)
Tomato soup (1 can)
Pimentos (1 jar)
CAPERS (1 jar)
Cream of mushroom soup (1 can)
Cream of chicken soup (2 cans)
Cream of broccoli soup (2 cans)
Beef broth (2 cans)
Crushed pineapple (4 cans!)
Canned salmon (4 cans)
Canned tuna (4 cans)
Alfredo Sauce (1 jar)
Pizza sauce (1 jar)
Whole fig preserves
Penne noodles
Bread crumbs (so many bread crumbs)
Pancake mix (about to expire!)
Now, yeah, obviously I could make tuna salad, or pancakes, or a pizza, I get that. But I went ahead and listed that stuff anyway, just in case you wanted to play. A caper pizza, perhaps. God speed!
Showing posts with label winging it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winging it. Show all posts
Spinach Artichoke Dip
You inspired me. Friday night, as I was trying to decide what to do about dinner, it occurred to me that I had been putting off making this recipe for too long. It was never the perfect time. I don't have this, or I'm out of that. But after your last "Gatorade is close enough to orange juice" post, I decided to quit my bitching and just make it already.
The recipe was iffy. It didn't say how much of some ingredients to use, or how to prepare half of it. It assumed you could read its mind. It assumed you could wing it. SO I DID. I made it with what I had on hand, and fleshed out the recipe. I even wrote in some wiggle room for next time I make it.
________________________________
Spinach Artichoke Dip
1 package (10-16 oz WHATEVER YOU HAVE) frozen chopped spinach
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced (or 3-4 cloves roasted?) garlic
4 oz mozzarella cheese
1 can (12-14 oz WHO KNOWS) chopped artichoke hearts, drained
1 stick butter
Salt, black and white pepper – to taste (what recipe doesn't use pepper? ridiculous. added.)
Oven temp: 350
Microwave spinach in an oven-safe glass dish, according to package directions (about 6-8 minutes, covered). THE RECIPE DID NOT TELL ME THIS NEXT PART, but definitely do it. I could eyeball it and see how crucial a step it is:
Drain well, and press dry. Seriously. I drained it, but I didn't press it. I should have pressed it. There was a hint of spinach water pooling in the bottom of my dip, and that can really DAMPEN (hahahaha) your experience.
Return spinach to casserole dish. Pepper to taste, and add a little salt – but sparingly. The other ingredients, plus any chips you eat with the dip, will add salt.
MEANWHILE. Saute onion and garlic in butter until clear. I only had half a stick of butter in the fridge, so I fleshed out the rest with margarine. I used minced garlic, but next time I will increase it. Or - no, next time I'll probably try it with roasted garlic instead, because roasted garlic is almost always better (to me). Also, I did not have a single onion in my house, so I dug way down in the bottom of my freezer and found some frozen onion. Not...ideal. But whatever. Fresh onion will give off much more flavor and fragrance, but heeeyyyy. Times like this are why I let a little bag of frozen onion live in my freezer.
Mix cream cheese and artichoke hearts with spinach (I thew the artichokes in a food processor, because I only had whole ones). Add butter and onion mixture. Adjust seasonings again, if you need to, and add more pepper or salt. Mix in a small amount of mozzarella cheese, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.
I didn't have 8 oz of cream cheese, but I had most of a tub of the whipped kind that I used for my cucumber sandwiches - so I dumped that in, and fleshed out the missing part with extra mozzarella. Voi-freakin-la, half an hour later we had some pretty good dip. Not incredible, like it could be if I did everything just right, but good enough for Friday night. A couple glasses of wine later, and it was even tastier.
Note: this made a pretty big batch, and because I used such a large package of spinach and not quite enough cream cheese, it was weighted to the spinach side of things. But I like that. I am usually disappointed if I go out and order the spinach artichoke dip, and it's mostly cheese. So, whatever floats your boat. Just be warned. Bring friends (not Will, he won't eat this JUST A GUESS), or cut the recipe in half, and adjust the veggie/cheese ratios to fit your taste.
I may even leave out the artichokes entirely next time, because you can also do that. And artichokes fancy it all up, but they're not my favorite thing to eat, you know?
We ate this with tortilla chips, but I really wanted pita chips, or those round bread crisps. That would have been awesome - but damn, those things are expensive.
The recipe was iffy. It didn't say how much of some ingredients to use, or how to prepare half of it. It assumed you could read its mind. It assumed you could wing it. SO I DID. I made it with what I had on hand, and fleshed out the recipe. I even wrote in some wiggle room for next time I make it.
________________________________
Spinach Artichoke Dip
1 package (10-16 oz WHATEVER YOU HAVE) frozen chopped spinach
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced (or 3-4 cloves roasted?) garlic
4 oz mozzarella cheese
1 can (12-14 oz WHO KNOWS) chopped artichoke hearts, drained
1 stick butter
Salt, black and white pepper – to taste (what recipe doesn't use pepper? ridiculous. added.)
Oven temp: 350
Microwave spinach in an oven-safe glass dish, according to package directions (about 6-8 minutes, covered). THE RECIPE DID NOT TELL ME THIS NEXT PART, but definitely do it. I could eyeball it and see how crucial a step it is:
Drain well, and press dry. Seriously. I drained it, but I didn't press it. I should have pressed it. There was a hint of spinach water pooling in the bottom of my dip, and that can really DAMPEN (hahahaha) your experience.
Return spinach to casserole dish. Pepper to taste, and add a little salt – but sparingly. The other ingredients, plus any chips you eat with the dip, will add salt.
MEANWHILE. Saute onion and garlic in butter until clear. I only had half a stick of butter in the fridge, so I fleshed out the rest with margarine. I used minced garlic, but next time I will increase it. Or - no, next time I'll probably try it with roasted garlic instead, because roasted garlic is almost always better (to me). Also, I did not have a single onion in my house, so I dug way down in the bottom of my freezer and found some frozen onion. Not...ideal. But whatever. Fresh onion will give off much more flavor and fragrance, but heeeyyyy. Times like this are why I let a little bag of frozen onion live in my freezer.
Mix cream cheese and artichoke hearts with spinach (I thew the artichokes in a food processor, because I only had whole ones). Add butter and onion mixture. Adjust seasonings again, if you need to, and add more pepper or salt. Mix in a small amount of mozzarella cheese, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.
I didn't have 8 oz of cream cheese, but I had most of a tub of the whipped kind that I used for my cucumber sandwiches - so I dumped that in, and fleshed out the missing part with extra mozzarella. Voi-freakin-la, half an hour later we had some pretty good dip. Not incredible, like it could be if I did everything just right, but good enough for Friday night. A couple glasses of wine later, and it was even tastier.
Note: this made a pretty big batch, and because I used such a large package of spinach and not quite enough cream cheese, it was weighted to the spinach side of things. But I like that. I am usually disappointed if I go out and order the spinach artichoke dip, and it's mostly cheese. So, whatever floats your boat. Just be warned. Bring friends (not Will, he won't eat this JUST A GUESS), or cut the recipe in half, and adjust the veggie/cheese ratios to fit your taste.
I may even leave out the artichokes entirely next time, because you can also do that. And artichokes fancy it all up, but they're not my favorite thing to eat, you know?
We ate this with tortilla chips, but I really wanted pita chips, or those round bread crisps. That would have been awesome - but damn, those things are expensive.
Labels:
i dip you dip we dip,
veggies,
winging it
Spinach 101
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a recipe. I've added a rough recipe to the bottom of this ridiculous post! This is me rambling about spinach and kind of half-ass telling you how I cooked some last night.
I'm having a thing with spinach right now. I've been buying the big salad bags of baby spinach leaves and basically stuffing them into everything.
It started with the smoothie. Mom called one day while Curt was over there and was bragging that she got my child to DRINK SPINACH. I was impressed. So I tried it myself. I made a basic smoothie (strawberry, banana, applesauce, and a dab of yogurt and milk for my dairy serving) and threw in some spinach. Dang. Who knew? It was delicious and I felt super good about everything the whole day.
So I've been making the spinach smoothies, eating spinach salads, sticking spinach into my sandwiches and - my favorite - having spinach and fresh tomato with my hummus and pita for lunch.
However, there is one thing I hadn't figured out. Cooking it. I mean, I've added it into omelettes before, and that's sort of like cooking it, but no. I mean, preparing straight up hot spinach as a meal or side dish. I never tried it. I had no interest in it before, because I never did like cooked greens. At least, I didn't think I did. This was an old grudge, from childhood - what kid likes the green stuff? (Not mine!)
Then I got a craving. There's this lunch menu special at Serrano's just off campus. I get it every time I go, because it's delicious. It's the "Pollo Asada" - a grilled chicken breast smothered in sauteed spinach and cheese. OH HEY. That's totally cooked spinach, and I love it. Let's start there!
Googling "pollo asada" led me nowhere. That apparently just means "roasted chicken" in Spanish, which isn't even a good description of what the dish is. You're right, Serrano's. I don't know enough Spanish to have caught onto that before, but it sure sounds authentic! I forgive you. Then I tried every variation of "spinach," "smothered" and "chicken" I could think of. Nada.
OH WELL, moving on. Gonna have to wing it. So last night, as I was roasting some green beans in the oven (yes, more sesame green beans, what?) I wrapped up a garlic clove (dipped in olive oil first) in a little piece of foil and roasted it, too. I took the roasted garlic clove (which smelled like heaven), and mashed it in an oiled skilled with some chopped onion, and stirred it all around a little bit. When the onion was softened, I went for it - I dumped in two big handfuls of spinach leaves and I cooked them.
EDIT: Salt and pepper! I also seasoned them with salt and pepper.
When the spinach was just wilted, I scooped it out (along with the garlic and onions) and transferred it to a small, one-person (ME ME ME) serving bowl. I topped it with Mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmesan (because I don't have any Monterey Jack or Asadero on hand ever) and microwaved it to melt the cheese, and now I love cooked spinach forever.
Since this experiment worked, the next step is to top some chicken with it, and recreate that recipe. I found a good green rice recipe, which doubles as yet another great place to hide some spinach, AND a good use for spare cilantro.
Will report back on that.
--------------------------------------------------
SAUTEED SPINACH
1 ½ lbs spinach leaves (give or take)
2 tbs olive oil
Small diced onion (or half medium onion, let's say about 1/2 cup or so?)
4-6 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Mozzarella and Parmesan (or Montery Jack and Asadero) cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 425. Leave the skins on the garlic cloves, and just lop the very tips off. Coat the cloves in oil, wrap in foil, and bake 20-25 minutes until tender. I'm sure you can substitute regular minced garlic here if you're in a hurry, but I was trying to recreate the restaurant flavor, and that is roasted.
Wash and drain the spinach. When the garlic is done, remove from skin and mash.
In a saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Sautee until the onion softens. Add in spinach by handfuls, and stir until wilted. Remove from heat.
If you like, you can transfer to serving bowls and top with cheeses. Melt the cheese in the oven (if using oven-proof bowls) or microwave. Also makes an excellent topping for baked or grilled chicken, if you want to fancy it up into an entree.
I'm having a thing with spinach right now. I've been buying the big salad bags of baby spinach leaves and basically stuffing them into everything.
It started with the smoothie. Mom called one day while Curt was over there and was bragging that she got my child to DRINK SPINACH. I was impressed. So I tried it myself. I made a basic smoothie (strawberry, banana, applesauce, and a dab of yogurt and milk for my dairy serving) and threw in some spinach. Dang. Who knew? It was delicious and I felt super good about everything the whole day.
So I've been making the spinach smoothies, eating spinach salads, sticking spinach into my sandwiches and - my favorite - having spinach and fresh tomato with my hummus and pita for lunch.
However, there is one thing I hadn't figured out. Cooking it. I mean, I've added it into omelettes before, and that's sort of like cooking it, but no. I mean, preparing straight up hot spinach as a meal or side dish. I never tried it. I had no interest in it before, because I never did like cooked greens. At least, I didn't think I did. This was an old grudge, from childhood - what kid likes the green stuff? (Not mine!)
Then I got a craving. There's this lunch menu special at Serrano's just off campus. I get it every time I go, because it's delicious. It's the "Pollo Asada" - a grilled chicken breast smothered in sauteed spinach and cheese. OH HEY. That's totally cooked spinach, and I love it. Let's start there!
Googling "pollo asada" led me nowhere. That apparently just means "roasted chicken" in Spanish, which isn't even a good description of what the dish is. You're right, Serrano's. I don't know enough Spanish to have caught onto that before, but it sure sounds authentic! I forgive you. Then I tried every variation of "spinach," "smothered" and "chicken" I could think of. Nada.
OH WELL, moving on. Gonna have to wing it. So last night, as I was roasting some green beans in the oven (yes, more sesame green beans, what?) I wrapped up a garlic clove (dipped in olive oil first) in a little piece of foil and roasted it, too. I took the roasted garlic clove (which smelled like heaven), and mashed it in an oiled skilled with some chopped onion, and stirred it all around a little bit. When the onion was softened, I went for it - I dumped in two big handfuls of spinach leaves and I cooked them.
EDIT: Salt and pepper! I also seasoned them with salt and pepper.
When the spinach was just wilted, I scooped it out (along with the garlic and onions) and transferred it to a small, one-person (ME ME ME) serving bowl. I topped it with Mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmesan (because I don't have any Monterey Jack or Asadero on hand ever) and microwaved it to melt the cheese, and now I love cooked spinach forever.
Since this experiment worked, the next step is to top some chicken with it, and recreate that recipe. I found a good green rice recipe, which doubles as yet another great place to hide some spinach, AND a good use for spare cilantro.
Will report back on that.
--------------------------------------------------
SAUTEED SPINACH
1 ½ lbs spinach leaves (give or take)
2 tbs olive oil
Small diced onion (or half medium onion, let's say about 1/2 cup or so?)
4-6 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Mozzarella and Parmesan (or Montery Jack and Asadero) cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 425. Leave the skins on the garlic cloves, and just lop the very tips off. Coat the cloves in oil, wrap in foil, and bake 20-25 minutes until tender. I'm sure you can substitute regular minced garlic here if you're in a hurry, but I was trying to recreate the restaurant flavor, and that is roasted.
Wash and drain the spinach. When the garlic is done, remove from skin and mash.
In a saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Sautee until the onion softens. Add in spinach by handfuls, and stir until wilted. Remove from heat.
If you like, you can transfer to serving bowls and top with cheeses. Melt the cheese in the oven (if using oven-proof bowls) or microwave. Also makes an excellent topping for baked or grilled chicken, if you want to fancy it up into an entree.
Labels:
cravings,
experimentation station,
veggies,
winging it
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