Katya4me

We've been going through a lot of leftovers this week, but I made this the other night: Vanilla balsamic chicken with fresh figs. Served it with smashed baby potatoes roasted in the oven with Parmesan sprinkled over them. My husband made eggnog ice cream for dessert.

Made 2 more batches of gluten-free cookies for the family Christmas celebration this weekend. The first is a savory one I've really liked for several years now: Sun-Dried Tomato and Pepperoni Crescent Bites. The other is a new one my husband wanted to try this year: spicy hot oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We substituted in white chocolate chips for the semi-sweet but no other changes. I was very pleased that we had no leftovers to bring home.

1 year later, visited again and this time got 2 growlers of the orange clove. Shared 1 with the family and kept the other for myself. So good. So last weekend, went to a cocktail party and wanted to make a batch cocktail to share. Had some fresh cranberries in the fridge so I made this cranberry Paloma punch. It went over very well and definitely staying on the keeper list. Yesterday was the family Christmas celebration and we have some non-drinkers, so I made this naughty gingerbread mocktail. I doubled the recipe and had ginger beer and sparkling cranberry ginger apple cider for the carbonated beverages in the recipe. It made for a very delicious spiced cider drink.

Last night I was ready for a change of pace and had picked up a bag of 3 chayote squash of the discount produce table earlier in the week. I peeled them and then chopped them into bite size pieces, not bothering to remove the seeds. Last year, we had a bunch of celery and carrots, so we diced them up with onions and put them in quart bags in the freezer. I defrosted one of those bags along with a partial package of bacon. Sliced the bacon up thin and then started frying it. Once that was well on its way, I tossed the bag of veggies in and let them cook, along with some fajita seasoning, pepper and a splash of fish sauce. Once most of the moisture had cooked off, I added a small can of diced green chilies and a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, along with the squash. I let that cook for about 15 minutes while I cooked brown basmati rice in the Instant Pot. The squash was soft right about the same time as the rice finished. For an unplanned meal, it came together very well and I've got plenty of leftovers for lunch.

I was on a Korean side dishes kick this week. It started with spicy bellflower root salad on Monday, then I made soybean sprouts and corn cheese on Tuesday. I had those leftovers for lunch. On Thursday, I made cucumber boats with tuna instead of crab. And finally last night, I made pickled radish wraps, and added miso to the sauce. I loved all of it, but I've satisfied my craving for a little while now.

Family is in town this weekend so did some baking. 2 new bread recipes: 5 seed loaf and cinnamon raisin bread for my sister in law. Then I made 2 batches of gluten free cookies: triple chocolate peppermint cookies and habanero sugar cookies. I really liked how the chocolate cookies turned out and the sugar cookies have been a staple for many years now. I used the Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour this time, instead of Bob's Red Mill. The Cup4Cup had absolutely no grittiness to it at all, which is great. However, I can't buy it in my local grocery stores and it is more expensive. So I'll use it for special occasions when I want no one to be able to tell something is gluten free. I just got a bag of King Arthur's Gluten Free Bread Flour but it arrived too late to make another loaf of bread so I'll give it a try at Christmas time.

My husband was gifted some persimmons from a coworker so we made lettuce cups with walnut meat. Turned out really well and tasty. Our lettuce leaves weren't the best for making cups so I had some of the filling and salsa topping on a salad for lunch yesterday. Worked great that way too.

Last night's meal was a bit eclectic. I had a bag of baby bok choy in the fridge that I needed to use, so put them in the counter. Didn't feel like cooking Asian though so stood in the pantry for a while and then came out with this Hungarian pepper paste a friend sent us for Christmas a year or two ago. I also snagged a box of pipette rigate pasta and set a pot of water to boil. I cut the bok choy in bite size pieces, then cubed up a single chicken breast. Sauteed that in some oil with S&P, then added the bok choy while the noodles boiled. Then turned to the paste. It definitely had a kick and the heavy cream and sour cream in the fridge had other claims on them. I saw the tahini and grabbed that, along with a tube of Italian herbs paste and the box of chicken broth. Mixed those together and called it good. Once the noodles were done, I added them to the bok choy and chicken and poured the sauce over and stirred. Perfect!!!

After making empanadas for lunch the other day, I still had some butternut squash remaining. I also had some leftover rice in the fridge so I made butternut squash red curry and it was just what I wanted. Came together well and perfect for a cool windy day.

Felt like empanadas and we had a massive butternut squash so made 2 different recipes: spiced butternut squash empanadas and butternut squash and mushroom empanadas . I think I liked the spiced ones better but both are very good. I use frozen empanada wrappers and it makes it so easy.

I picked up some more nopales and made this tonight: https://grillinfools.com/grilled-nopales-tacos/ By the time I got home it was too dark to grill so I did them in a cast iron skillet. Really tasty and so easy. Dessert was fish waffle ice cream sandwiches in the brown sugar boba flavor: https://www.melonaicecream.com/other-products?type=samanco

Definitely a win. Fajita night is always a win at our house. In the winter, turning leftovers and cheese into nachos is up there too. We always keep a couple of cans of refried beans in the pantry to make easy meals like those.

I'd say it added some bitterness, but that didn't bother me nearly so much as the 2 Tbs of lemon juice and a large lemon for 4 chicken thighs.

Apparently tonight was the night to make WaPo recipes. I made lemon chicken with potatoes for dinner. Super easy and my potatoes were starting to grow eyes so I put in 24 oz instead of the 16 oz it called for. The lemon flavor was a bit more intense than I prefer, so I'd probably do 1/2 a lemon next time.

Tonight's dinner was a fesenjan made with jackfruit. I did buy pomegranate molasses and that made it come together very easily. However I spaced and forgot to buy walnuts, so I used almonds instead and had it over farro. Nice mix of flavors and outside my normal lane of cooking.

We had some soft tofu and rice in the fridge along with some rice and the remaining marinade from our spicy watermelon poke bowls. So I made Gochiso-Dofu (Decorated Tofu) for lunch. I used the marinade for the sauce and cut up some basil and green onion to top it. Super easy and great for a workday lunch.

Yesterday was tofu day. Had the leftover rice and baby bok choy in the fridge so decided to make this spicy maple tofu. Swapped the bok choy for the broccolini and it turned out delicious.

Ooh, that does look good. It's not quite cold enough for that yet, but I might file it away for a month or so. I had grilling on the mind yesterday, but the weather was not cooperative. So I got out the cast iron skillets and cooked up shishito peppers. I'd marinated some chicken thighs to do chicken satay. Did those on the stove and served with peanut sauce and brown jasmine rice. Except that I had almond butter in the fridge so I used that instead of peanut butter. Worked out well for a rainy evening.

I picked up a butternut squash the last time I went shopping but without a plan for it. Looking around for a recipe, I decided to make a baked casserole with it. Outside of prepping the squash, it comes together very easily as the remaining work is done while the squash bakes in the oven. Very good flavors and nice one dish meal.

I had nopales at a restaurant recently and I was curious to try them at home. I found this recipe for vegan breakfast tacos and decided to give it a try. I roasted the cactus the night before and then made the tofu scramble in the morning. I really enjoyed how it turned out, but I would probably halve the recipe in the future because it made a ton of servings.

The other night, we made this pickled ginger salad but skipped the toasted flour step. It was really good but used up all the lettuce we had. Still had plenty of napa cabbage, so I remade it with that decided to skip the jalapenos as well. Had it with some grilled shrimp and it is definitely a winner. Love the crunch and the tangy flavors.

On today's agenda, leftover Asian sesame noodle salad. I had 1 cucumber, a large carrot and 1/2 of a very large daikon, so they all got spiralized and tossed in the bowl. Really tasty and easy to make.

I had some leftover heavy cream in the fridge as well as some ground chicken and a quarter head of cabbage. I made meatballs in a Cajun cream sauce and shredded the cabbage. I sauteed the cabbage while the meatballs baked in the oven and then did the sauce. I also did a quick batch of couscous to have as a carb. Definitely delicious and great as leftovers too.

Made a salad for yesterday's and today's lunches that I'll call Italian inspired. 2 cans of tuna in water, 1 can of butter beans and 1 can of artichoke hearts. Drain it all and add to bowl. Sliver up 1/2 a yellow onion, chop up some frozen orange bell pepper slices, add to the bowl along with the last of a jar of capers. Mix up some prepared pesto with olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice and some S&P, then mix in with the salad. I divided it up and had part yesterday but I think it tastes even better today.

Breakfast this morning was rice paper eggs. I did a filling of ham, basil and grated parmesan and then a spicy mayo drizzle. I think I should have used a slightly larger pan but really liked this new easy twist on eggs.