Juicer!! Homemade dog treats!

I got a juicer and it is awesome.

These dog treats are made with vegetable pulp leftovers from the juicer, a bit of chicken fat (skimmed from the broth I made from the carcass of a roasted chicken), and veggie pulp, and whole wheat flour. Dehydrated in the oven for many hours at 170-200°F.

Phy loves them!

Don't waste it!

I've been really into NOT THROWING ANY FOOD AWAY EVER. And two really great things have come of this: homemade broth, and (TMI) I'm really regular. More on that in a minute.

So all that stuff you usually throw away -- broccoli stalks; the thick ends of asparagus; the stems and edges of bell peppers, onions, carrots; the stems and stalks from kale and cilantro and dill and parsley; the outside leaves of lettuce and cabbage; the slimy spinach at the bottom of the bag -- all that is good stuff!! To assuage my guilt at throwing away perfectly edible food that I had paid good money for, I used to made pickled broccoli medallions (ehhh), but I've recently realized two greater ends for these means. 

1. Homemade broth! 

Seen below is my homemade broth. It's reddish because I usually cheat a little with bouillon cube and Sazon Goya, but it's made of all the ends of stuff that I put in a bag and freeze until there's enough to make a pot of broth. You can of course make this vegetarian, but if you're good with your timing and you've got, say, the picked over leftover bones from an emergency grocery-store rotisserie chicken -- that there would be dee-licious too. 

2. Green ice cubes!

(This is the TMI part) -- If you're a shake person like me, green ice cubes are the perfect use for all those extra bits -- EXCEPT ONIONS, believe me. Leave out the onion bits for green ice cubes. But talk about a serious way to get extra nutrients and stay regular, especially if you're into Brassica oleracea -- that is broccoli, kale, califlower. They're all the same species, and they all make you gassy. The good spin on it is that if you're ever not regular and you wanna fix that, juice away and take a fresh shot. Guaranteed that by morning you'll be feeling right as rain and totally empty. 

So because I usually store up a bunch of ends and bits until I have enough that makes it worth my time to get out the juicer, I bought a couple of extra ice cube trays so I can make green ice cubes with all the juice. They're not always green -- one time we just had too many carrots by accident so I juiced the ones that were on their way out, so the cubes were actually orange. 

I also have one more spare ice cube tray that I use for all little bit of coffee at the bottom of the pot every morning. Those coffee ice cubes are great in coffee, Bailey's, ice cream, and morning shakes depending on the flavor (peanut butter banana chocolate coffee shake, anyone?). 


With all this beautiful smashed up vegetable pulp, one of my goals for this summer is to get on board with composting. 


Ps, will someone please buy me this Cooking With Calphalon 9-Pc. Utensil Set?? kthx. Also this: 

Leftovers: Subverted Green Bean Casserole & Turkey Pan Pasta

Man, do I miss Thanksgiving. We ate a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers, and now I miss them too. Thankfully (ha!), my inter-holidays cooking endeavors have been even better since I inherited the rolling butcher block that my dad made. It's so beautiful and useful!


Subverted Green Bean Casserole

Everybody loves green bean casserole, right? It was the one thing I missed at Thanksgiving because this year, we did creamed spinach instead. So a couple of days after Thanksgiving when I'm walking through Target, I can't help but be drawn into the green bean casserole display right at the front in the bargain section. Fried onions, green beans and cream of mushroom soup all right next to each other for the taking and purchasing and eating.

Much to my dismay, when I got home and actually set out to make the easiest of holiday classics, I had been swindled! While I was seasoning, Nate was draining the cans of green beans. But one was practically empty!!


Well if Target wanted to play that way, then fine. We were ready to step it up and get creative. Instead of a second can of green beans, we used a can of Great Northern beans. Nate really wanted to spice it up and added a can of Rotel tomatoes and green chilis. Who says sacrilege isn't delicious?

---

Turkey Pan Pasta

When we brought home the turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving, we had segregated the meat. All of the white meat had been consumed, and we had a ziplock full of dark meat that needed to be eaten. I wanted some sort of chicken pot pie style dinner because it was cold as balls outside, so Nate and I created what we now dub Turkey Pan Pasta.

We used a box of Campbell's Supper Bakes of the Garlic Chicken with Pasta variety. I always keep a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer because I've loved mixed veggies since my elementary school lunchroom served them to me twice a week. I boiled some veggies while Nate picked through the turkey meat and pulled of the icky bits.

Ugh, he's SO CUTE.



Then we mixed it up and followed the directions on the box. These Supper Bakes come with "baking sauce" and crumb topping, so it makes a lovely little Minnesota hot dish when you're done.



Yum!
Now that all the turkey is gone, get ready for some serious Christmas cooking in the next post. Holiday cookies, anyone?

Breakfast Crescent Rolls!

My best friend Amanda came to visit from Chicago a few weeks ago with Dannielle (who has an up-to-the-minute photo blog). The morning after the Hanson concert -- yeah, I said Hanson -- I fixed these super easy deliciousnesses.

Basically, you just scramble some eggs (usually 3), put some stuff in it and then roll it all up in a tube of crescent rolls. I like the big 'n' flaky ones best. I like this so much I generally keep a tube in the fridge. Otherwise, I'd never fix eggs for breakfast -- though the pyramids might change that. Stay tuned.

This particular Friday morning after Hanson rocked First Ave and I had blisters on my feet from walking downtown, I took inventory of my fridge and my leftovers. I put spinach, shredded cheddar, diced seasoned potatoes I had in some tupperware and just a little bacon that I Foremanned real quick. It ain't breakfast without bacon, right?

Again, this is the kind of meal where to take what you got and stick it in. I've also made this with sliced green onions, tomatoes, brie cheese... whatever you put in your omelet(te) will good. Peppers, mushrooms, salsa... I don't know, what do you put in your omelet(te)?


Then you roll it up real nice into little pockets. I make sure that it's sealed all the way around so there's no spillage because I hate cleaning my oven.

Follow the directions for baking, I guess. I don't use a timer in the kitchen anymore; I just watch and wait 'til they're pretty and toasty brown -- like this!


Bon apebreakfast.

Haha. Ape breakfast. I called you an ape.

... Which I guess, technically, you are.

Cereal cookies, Trial (and error) 1

I love recycling food. It all started one day when I was cutting up some broccoli and realized that I always just throw away the stalks. I saved them and experimented. Next time I have fresh broccoli, I'll share my pickled broccoli medallion recipe.

I always buy cheap bagged cereal -- frosted shredded wheat, to be exact. There is always tons of crumbly bits at the bottom, but I really think frosted shredded wheat is the worst when it comes to leftovers. I decided I would find a way to recycle it all.

I scoured the Internet looking at cookie recipes, and I actually did find a cereal cookie recipe, so I'm not quite a pioneer on this one (though I thought I was going to be when I thought of it). I started with about 1 1/2 cups of frosted shredded wheat shreds, butter (1/2 cup), one egg, baking powder (1 tsp) and some flour (1-1 1/4 cup). It needed moisture, but I didn't have any orange juice, which is what most healthy, natural, trendy cookie recipes are using lately for moisture and sweetener -- so I used some mango peach V8 Splash (maybe 3-4 tblsp). I didn't put any sugar in the recipe since the shredded wheat is frosted in it.


I made one batch of cookies like this before adding a bunch of sliced almonds. Yes, I'm baking cookies on a broiler pan; my (really nice!) cookie sheets are too big for my tiny tiny oven.


I've got to say, I consider this trial kind of a bomb. They were edible, but were a lot more like scones than cookies. They were incredibly dry. I ate them with Earl Grey and a dollop of jam -- raspberry on some, blackberry on others.


I ran out of time while baking because they ended up taking longer in the oven than I thought they would. I don't actually remember how long they took... maybe 15-20 minutes at 350? But I had some leftover 'dough,' so I rolled it up in some wax paper and stuck it in the fridge for later baking. Phydeaux was impressed.



I've got some more leftover cereal now, so expect another trial soon.

Cous-cous masterpieces v.2

My sister just moved out of Minneapolis -- real quick too. She asked if I could go to her apartment and clean out the rest of the stuff there. I thought it would be quick and painless, but there was actually a bunch of junk there, some Haley's, some the bitchy roommate's, some old roommates'. It was an exhausting but good day of organizing and recycling and giving things away to neighbors in Uptown. One old lady was so happy to get Haley's ironing board, and some dude got a really nice desk chair.

I got a few consolation prizes: a small crockpot, a crappy blender, a metal bowl that's now Phydeaux's water dish, a maybe-working electric blanket and my black corduroy jacket that I thought had been lost forever. Maybe my favorite find was a fun kitchen toy: STACKS - the pyramid kit. If you look close, you can see that Haley bought it for $1.69, my guess is at Arc's Value Village thrift store. And I got it for free! Sucka.

The first thing I thought upon finding the box was cous-cous. They're basically metal molds in the shape of a pyramid. They also come in triangle, square, round and heart shapes -- though I've heard that surrounding yourself in pyramids helps the energy flow in your life or something. This even extends to eating your food in the shape of pyramid. Plus it looks awesome. You can read some cool stuff about the feng shui of pyramids here; note the angry tone when the author says that the awareness of the impact of geometrical shapes on human energy is disappearing thanks to modern feng shuists. I blame the fat guy on Trading Spaces.

Now the tricky part about the pyramid shape is that you have to find some way to balance them while you fill them. The tiny booklet in the box suggested bowls, but I didn't have any that were deep enough. I ended up using the steamer top of the big pot I usually cook chili in. Two of the pyramids happened to fit side-by-side, and the point of the pyramid fit perfectly into one of the holes, so they didn't slip around. Much. I won't lie and say it was perfect, but it worked.

There were a few recipes in the box, but they were gross and complicated and stupid. Apparently the "creator" of the Stacks system has a whole series of cookbooks you can buy. She posits, "Why cook a meal when you can create a sensation?" Why indeed. I say, "Why use someone else's recipe when you can use your own?"

The idea that really makes the Stacks system beautiful is that of layers. It'd still be cool to eat your cous-cous in a pyramid shape, as a quick plating gimmick, but the layers are totally where it's at. I had a few things in the fridge I wanted to use up, leftovers from a giant chili party we had for Nate's birthday. So that's where I started, but of course this meal is completely versatile, depending on what you've got on hand. Easily vegetarian, easily themed. No cous-cous? Use rice, like on the box.

I left the cous-cous (~1 cup) grossly underseasoned by my usually standards so that it could stand alone as its own flavor. The main centerpiece of these pyramids was the yellow onion (~1/2), yellow squash (~1/2) and zucchini (~1/2) medley that I sautéed with a little butter and olive oil, never forgetting my trusted Tony's.

I also had one extra chicken breast that I seasoned and cooked up on a skillet real quick. While it was sizzling, I chopped up one tomato and a bunch of walnuts into tiny little pieces. I julienned some spinach as well. Then chopped the chicken real small too.

Then all I did was stuff the pyramids. I started and ended with cous-cous, thinking that it'd definitely keep its shape best. Next layer was walnuts, then a thick squash and zucchini layer. Under that was the chicken, then the spinach and the end layer of cous-cous. Firm but gentle pressure is the key to making it stick. My honeybee spatula was just right for firm, flat, even pressure. I put the plate on top of the pyramid, flipped them together and gently removed the pyramid form. (Also, the recipes always recommend spraying the inside of the pyramid with vegetable spray or something. If I were baking, I'd do this, but I skipped this step and they came out just perfect.)

I had a little cous-cous and squash & zucchini left, so I used some tiny condiment thingies for some contrastive shapes. I made a dessert cous-cous mound with walnuts, cranberries and cous-cous. Delicious.

Here are some amazingly beautiful photos of this amazingly beautiful meal.




I thought that the once you stuck your fork in the thing, it would all be ruined, but actually, they kept their shape pretty well. It was like cous-cous pyramid Jenga. Always play with your food.

I'm most looking forward to baking with theses puppies. Stay tuned!