Leftovers! And the Spiciest, Creamiest Pasta Ever...

Oh.... Aren't you lucky? You get to see a couple great meals all in one post!

A couple nights ago I decided to clear the fridge of the leftovers, the half eaten veggies, little bits of things that needed a purpose. "Leftovers for dinner" can be such an ominous pronouncement. But leftovers at my house are rather upscale.

A half a cabbage, leftover corned beef, a few potatoes, a small package of tomatoes, half a cucumber, and a couple lemons that were beginning to toughen were the inspiration for this lovely dinner.

Of course I set the table as I normally do, cloth napkins, wine glasses, salad forks and all that.

This is the picture of the roasted cabbage before I roasted it.

Cut up half a cabbage, making sure to get rid of the core.

Cut or slice up carrots, any shape you want, though the thinner the better, so they will roast more quickly.

A little bit of onion is good, too.

Over the top of the veggies that you've placed in a baking pan, trickle olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe a little ground chili pepper, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Roast until tender.

Tomato, cucumber, and onion salad.

Dice tomatoes. I kept all the seeds and juices, although you don't need to.

Dice cucumbers. Again, I kept the seeds, but you don't have to. I didn't peel them either.

Dice a little bit of onion. I think I used a quarter of an onion.

Toss them all together, and mix in some salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Yum!

Upscale corned beef hash - again, before I baked it.

Dice up leftover corned beef, mix up with a bunch of chunks of red potatoes, a little bit of the broth from the corned beef, then bake. Less fat than the fried version.

Last night I made a great spaghetti sauce. It's spicy and creamy and totally satisfying! The picture is before I added the sour cream, but you can clearly see the thick consistency of the sauce.

One package of spicy pork sausage

Half a package of pepperoni (I used the little tiny ones, but you could use regular ones, or just cut 'em up)

One bell pepper

One onion

One or two carrots

Two Roma tomatoes

Some Vodka (or wine if you prefer. I like the vodka in this case)

Two cans of tomato sauce

Bloody Mary mix, maybe 3/4 c or so

Seasonings as desired

Half a regular container of sour cream

Cook the meats in the pot, then toss in the diced veggies. Deglaze the pot with some vodka. Once it's all sort of melting together and tender, add in the tomato sauce, Bloody Mary mix, and seasonings. Simmer for a while, then stir in the sour cream. This is a spicy and creamy sauce to pour over any pasta you like.

A note - I don't make a singular kind of pasta. I take several packages of different kinds of pasta and mix them together. It's more fun, and if you have colored pasta, it makes for a brighter dish.

Thank you for checking in. I like showing people the possibilities when it comes to our daily meals. Share with me your own favorite meals! Your blogs! Your photos! I'd love to see and be inspired by them.

Sushi and Hot and Sour Soup

Fast post because I have to get my hubby from work in a few...

Tonight I made sushi and hot and sour soup from scratch. Unfortunately for you, I only have sushi pictures.

That gives me an excuse to make hot and sour soup again sometimes soon so I can share it then!

I made two kinds of rolls... one was wrapped in nori and filled with surimi, cream cheese, cucumber, and sriracha. The other roll had no nori (I ran out) and was filled with surimi, cucumber, and avocado.

Enjoy!

I Heart Squash!

This is a squashy post.

It's Autumn time, and although I don't have a garden, squash is still a bit part of my life right now. Squash is cheap because it went on sale. $1.49/lb. I don't know about where you live, but that is a great deal for us. And I bought a medium pumpkin (16 lbs.) for $12 - about 75 cents per pound.

So today I have conquered my fears... prepped the pumpkin... dug out my pressure canner that I've never used before... and I am about 20 minutes away from *pinging* jars!

There is normally no reason to can things I buy, because, really, who wants to spend more money and time on canning a fresh item than you have to when there is a cheaper, pre-canned product out there??? But it was just worth it, since canned store-bought pumpkin is at least $3.75/pound up here, and I had a free Saturday.

I have a few pictures from this week to share with you. I hope you enjoy squash as much as I do!

Spaghetti squash with a butternut squash, onion, and tomato sauce. I roasted it all together with massive quantities of butter, then mashed everything except the spaghetti squash into a big pot with a can of stewed tomatoes. Served it up like pasta. SO good!!!

I always, always, always use gloves when handling squash. Some squash has a secretion that really bothers my hands, so I just wear gloves with all of them I am cutting up.

They say it isn't safe to can pumpkin puree. So, The next best thing is to open it, gut it, slice it, peel it, dice it, and boil it for about 2 minutes before canning.

I was able to fill a big mixing bowl twice with the flesh from this pumpkin.

This is the All American Pressure Cooker Canner #925 that I was given years ago and have never used. I'm pretty handy around the kitchen, and my grandmother is the Canning Queen, but I have to admit I was shaking in my boots at the prospect of actually using this monster.

This will actually fit 9 pints on the bottom and another 9 on the top, but I only had 12 pints, so I decided to even it out a bit.

This is how to pack in the pumpkin. Pack as much as you can...

...then fill it up with the water from the pot you boiled it in. Make sure ALL the air bubbles are released.

Almost looks like peaches, apples, or pineapple, huh? Wipe down the tops and edges VERY well or you won't get a seal.

Jars ready to go into the top of the canner.

And this is where I freaked out. I turned it on and immediately called my grandma to make sure I was doing it right!

 Well, the jars are still cooling in the cooker, so as soon as they are done, I'll let you know how they turned out!

While we're waiting, I had a bunch of leftover pumpkin. I froze a little bit, and made some into pumpkin pancakes. I used the little bit of water left with the vitamins and pumpkin goodness and boiled it down, added sugar, and made a syrup for the cakes.


I'd like to get your favorite pumpkin recipes! Since I have about 13 pints available, and I'll probably can more later this week, I need some fabulous recipes! The more unique, the better!

Lazy-Chef Salad, Pot Pie, Mushroom Mashed Potatoes, and Strawberries

Ah, the semi-formal dinner. I put in "semi" because you can only be so formal with your herb garden on the table and no one to serve your dinner to you! Today I made sure that my entire table setting was the most formal I could make it. I find that presenting a formal dinner helps bring everyone to the table, instead of retiring to the couch and television literally three feet away.

I'm trying out a new camera for most of the photos, so let me know how the new pictures look.

Dinner last night was Lazy-Chef Salad, Turkey and Chicken Pot Pie, and Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms. For dessert we had strawberries and whipped cream.

There is a story behind "Lazy-Chef Salad". When my husband, Chef Gerrard, was in Culinary Arts school, the instructors and chefs were working with the students on different salads. The typical salads were covered, wilted spinach salad, chef's salad, Caesar salad, etc. When they came to the wedge salad, Chef Gerrard decided that it had been poorly named. To this day he calls it Lazy-Chef Salad, because it's ridiculously easy to prepare.

Our table.
Same clothes and napkins and flowers as before, but set even more properly, and I left my herb garden on the table.
I love plants, so to me, plants on the table make dinner all that more special.

One of the first pictures with the new camera. You have to admit, this one is pretty awesome!

Another picture of my proper table setting. Had there been a soup course, I would have had a soup spoon to the right of the knives, and we didn't have bread for bread plates, so thankfully that is left off. Not much room on my little table!

Lazy-Chef Salad, otherwise known as Wedge Salad. I chose not to top it with bacon, because the rest of our dinner was rather heavy. Chef Gerrard appreciated the healthy portion of onion on his plate.

Can someone teach me how to photograph food that tends to be the same color as it's surroundings???
This is the mushroom and onion mashed potato dish. It was beyond delicious because I believe in using a ton of butter and heavy cream in my potatoes.

Seriously, can anyone show me how to take pictures that look as great as the food tastes???
Our turkey and chicken pot pie. Not much of it is left for lunches this morning!

Thank you to all those who look at my pictures. I firmly believe that if you set it, they will come. I hope that I can inspire others to set enjoyable meals and spend quality time with their families.

Mexican Casserole and Yummy Coffee

Rural living can be difficult. Now, let me say right away, for you locals reading this blog, I do hesitate to call this town "rural" because I have lived in much more rural locations than here.

That said, my town has a Safeway grocery store, a couple gas stations, three bars, and fourteen churches for its 4,032 residents. We also have a health food store, a daycare, a community college, a hospital and clinic, and a large harbor.

The reason that rural living can be difficult is that food is often not fresh and the food that is worth buying is typically very expensive. Someday I'll post pictures of the prices we have here. So, when you have limited options for fresh eating, you tend to stock up at Costco whenever you go to town. When you stock up at Costco, you buy canned food. Last night was a canned food dinner, but it was pretty flippin' delicious if you ask me! (Or my husband who had thirds.)

Rice and bean casserole. I spread two cans of refried beans on the bottom, cooked rice over that, a can of kidney beans and a can of olives over that, then poured a can of tomato sauce and some hot sauce sprinkled throughout. Topped it with cheese and jalapenos, and baked it. We ate it with diced avocado, and it was beyond delicious. I was hard-pressed to save any for our lunches today.

This morning I woke up early enough to make choco-nut muffins in pretty little flowered paper cups for breakfast. Fresh from the oven is the best way to enjoy these muffins. I can type in a recipe if anyone is interested!

This is my typical cup of coffee in the morning, made at home. I've been talking about it a lot lately, so I thought I'd show it off. When the sprinkles melt, they look like fireworks on clouds!

Today I felt like tie-dye butterflies instead of my typical sprinkles though. Dessert for breakfast, YUM!

Well, I hope you all like the pictures, and I hope you all have a tie-dye butterfly sprinkle day!

Chicken, Parmesan Potatoes, Asparagus, and Apple Cider in the Fall

A few days ago, my husband, in his infinite desire to be helpful, pulled a TON of meat out of the freezer, but then didn't get it cooked before going back to work this week. SO! Today I roasted a bunch of turkey and chicken! I made some Parmesan potatoes and pan fried some asparagus and garlic cloves to go with it, and got some rolls at the store just to round it all out. Following are my photos of the first nice, sit-down dinner we've had in a while. My camera is about 9 years old, and I never learned how to use it properly, so sorry if the lighting is crappy!

A somewhat good view of the dinner table. Sunflowers in a big jar just seemed like the right decoration for a chicken and potato dinner. I do wish I had a more impressive backdrop instead of my bike, the front porch, and the neighbor's truck...

Crispy roasted chicken on my Grandma's Corelle-Ware platter. I know most people who want to live longer than 40 take the skin off and stick to the meat, but not this girl! I live for that crispy, salty, seasoned chicken skin!

Ah, the asparagus. I always struggle with explaining certain cooking methods. Braised? Nooo.... Sautéed?  No, way too much butter for that! Basically, I dropped several garlic cloves into my frying pan, flung a huge hunk of butter in there, then tossed in the cleaned asparagus, salt and pepper, and moved it around until everything was tender.

Roasted potatoes with Parmesan, salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil. You gotta have potatoes at a meal like this, that's what fills the men-folk up!

Yeah, I bought these at the store. 'Nuff said.

Because country style dinners deserve a country style centerpiece!

Served on my Grandma's everyday dishes that I sort of stole on my last trip to Washington State... Real apple cider served with dinner was fabulous!

Well, that was dinner tonight. I kind of threw it together at the last moment, but it turned out great! We save our chicken and turkey bones and boil them into soup stock. Right now they are in the freezer, waiting for a good rainy day to stick them into the crockpot with some rough cut veggies. Maybe I'll get ambitious and actually make my own rolls next time!

Do any of you make your own broth or stock for soup? Has anyone else claimed their Grandmother's (or Grandfather's) things for themselves, just because they are full of memories?

Introductions

I thought I'd open with a few photos of some tablescapes, meals, and dining treasures I've played with in the past.

A springtime tablescape. Sure, it's nothing fabulous, but remember, this is The RURAL Table! I use what I have and make an enjoyable meal of it. If I remember correctly, this dinner was home made egg drop soup, sushi rolls, and spicy stir fry. I love how my napkins match my bouquet of flowers!

This was probably what I served that spring day. But now it's mid-September, and my mind has turned to other deliciously naughty dinners, with lots of butter, cream, extra virgin olive oil, home made bread, squash, and the like.

 Ah, creamy home made potato soup in bread bowls topped with homegrown chives! An autumn treat. Of course, squash is a mainstay in our home once it hits the produce section.

 Roasting two onions, a shallot, garlic, and butternut squash topped with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. After the long, slow roast, the soft and caramelized flesh was poured into the blender with some chicken broth and pureed, then simmered until perfect. So good, so simple, and one of my favorite parts of autumn, as long as it's paired with some great chunks of bread.

 I love using real pumpkin instead of canned. For these muffins, I roasted and mashed a *real* pumpkin, then mixed it and some raisins into my basic muffin recipe. I made cream cheese frosting, and realized (As this was my first time using home made cream cheese frosting) that it's better to frost when things are absolutely cool... But glittery leaves on toothpicks make any frosting challenges disappear, right?!

I should introduce you all to my husband, Chef Gerrard. He's the one that took me from boxed macaroni and ramen to gourmet living. Here he stands with our friend from church, posing with their freshly made truffles, last year. I should also mention that right now, there are 180 truffles packed and prepared to sell on a shelf in our cool room. Until you have assisted in the making of 180 truffles, you will never understand how much 180 truffles is.

Well, that about covers the introductions, next time I come, I'll bring pictures or stories of my kitchen and dining joys. I'll leave you with a picture of me in the macaroni ramen years... so sad... 

~Treasa Eire