Leftover Magic

Well guys, if you’ve noticed that I’ve been posting more recipes after taking a break from doing that, it’s because I have a new-found love for my kitchen.

Maybe because it’s huge compared to my last kitchen.

Maybe because we have a brand new refrigerator that I love to fill up with delicious things. And a new oven that is begging to be used. Every night.

Or maybe it’s because we went a long time while we were moving and packing and getting ready to move when we were eating pretty much only frozen pizza, hamburger helper, and other not so blog-worthy meals.

Well, last night was going to be one of those meals as well.

See, we brought home some leftover cooked meat from the fair. Things like steak that had been sitting too long to served but still tasted fine, burgers and hot dogs that were leftover at the end of the night…you get the idea.

Leftovers…getting old. Taunting me every time I open the fridge.

Well, last night, we were going to use some of those up.

And I have a half-gallon of milk that’s going to go bad in a few days I wanted to use.

And we haven’t had zucchini in awhile.

So I planned out dinner to be pretty easy. I would heat up the steak to make steak sandwiches, make Kraft mac’n'cheese with the milk, and then something more creative zucchini.

Afterall, I cook with zucchini all the time so it’s really not a big deal to whip something up that makes the leftovers and plain, easy macaroni feel more special.

But then I added extra milk to the macaroni because I knew Hubs wouldn’t be home for awhile yet and it would start to tighten up and get too sticky if I didn’t put extra moisture in there early on.

And the milk made it extra extra creamy tasting.

So I added some fresh ground pepper, and some chives, and some parsley. And more milk.

And, oh my goodness, so creamy and delicious.

My mouth is actually watering just thinking about eating the leftovers for lunch.

And then I started to work on the zucchini. I had planned to make some sort of zucchini fries, like I did here. But then I saw this post from The Pioneer Woman (Do you read her blogs? You totally should.) and I wanted to add some lemon to the party.

So this is what I ended up doing.

Lemon-Crumb-Coated-Zucchini-Fries.

(Yes, that’s what I’m calling them.)

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs.

2-3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 packet of ranch seasoning

2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1 egg

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 average-sized zucchini, sliced into thin strips

Combine all the dry ingredients. I did this in my blender since I used it to make the bread crumbs anyway.

All in there, ready for mixing.

Combine all wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add in zucchini pieces and toss to coat. 

I didn’t do a great job of cutting our fries in equal sizes…

Add in dry ingredients. Toss again to coat.

Spread the zucchini pieces out on a baking sheet. 

See how many crumbs? Crumbs=yum. In this case.

Then, since I had plenty of leftover “crumbs,” I didn’t want to waste them so I sprinkled them all over the top of the cookie sheet I would recommend you do this, too.

Then bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn them, and bake for 12 more minutes.

By this time, some of your extra crumbs will be brown enough to taste. Do that. Yum. 

Turn again and bake/broil until your desired level of “brown-ness.” (We like things a little extra crispy in this house.)

See what I mean about the yummy crumbies?
(I think of Monica from FRIENDS when I say “crumbies”)

Then you’ll serve them ranch dressing, or just plain, because I didn’t think they needed anything else, but Hubs loves his condiments.

They tasted so fresh and yet creamy at the same because of the lemon and the cheese and the bread crumbs and the egg. Sooooo good. I’m telling you.

In the meantime, Hubs came home from work and asked what we were having. He’d forgotten that we had decided the night before to eat the leftover steak. And that no longer seemed very exciting to him. So he said, “Ok, but I want cheese on mine.”

Then we talked for a little bit about how if we added onions it would be a cheesesteak sandwich.

So we did that.

First, we sauteed the onions in butter.

I think onions and butter may smell a little like heaven.

And he chopped up the steak.

Cold steak looks awfully dry and boring.

And then we added the steak to the onions and butter.

Yup. This is way better than what I’d planned to do for dinner.

And then we melted cheese on top.

Yes, I put some of the leftover crumbies on my macaroni and cheese. No, I did not regret it.

(I went without the top bun because I just didn’t want it. I wold actually recommend some kind of hoagie roll for this, but since we were working with leftovers here, crumbly-sorta-old-hamburger-buns were all we had.)

Anyway, it ended up being a pretty spectacular meal.

And I was reminded once again, why I love spending time with the man I married. Because he’s fun. He’s creative. He’s spontaneous. He’s open to try new things. He will experiment with me. Play with me. Laugh with me. Eat ridiculously better than anticipated leftovers with me.

And then he’ll do the dishes.

Reason #47 husband roommates are the best.

Advice from you! Best way to make a meal on a weeknight

Ok, so recently, we’ve been doing a lot of quicker, weeknight-type meals. The idea of homemade pizza has come up a few times. As well as the idea of fish that comes canned…besides tuna, and what we can do with it.

Please help! I know you guys are good cooks, so tell me how to make this work!

“Z”ucchini

It’s the last of the A to Z blogging challenge posts, and I’m excited to end with something I LOVE:

Zucchini.

Remember when I got those giant zucchinis from my grandma and wanted to use them all up?

Giant zucchini, how I learned to love you. Now I can't wait for more garden-fresh goodies!

Well, that began my love affair, and now, I’m hooked.

Here’s our most recent zucchini adventures.

Try them, they’re yummy!

Steak, with potatoes, zucchini, and red peppers, sauted with Italian seasoning. YUM.

And a bit less healthy, but so yummy, fried zucchini.

Start by slicing it pretty thin.

About a quarter inch works well for this.

Then it’s time for batter.

Egg wash and crushed cracker crumbs are perfect and delicious.

And then time for frying!

Turn then pretty often to avoid burning, especially if you slice them super think and make them more like chips.

We also baked some and they turned out good, but I think I’d use a bread crumb base for those to help them get more crispy and golden faster.

Still, they were delish!

Hubs liked them, too. And how could you not? Zucchini is awesome!

Your turn! How do you love to cook zucchini? 

Tonight we went out to dinner…and other thoughts…

When I got home from work tonight, I was hungry. And craving fried chicken. (I was craving it last night, too, but didn’t give in, so it carried over.) All of our chicken was frozen in the freezer. So I sweetly suggested we go out.

So we did.

And we went to “Restaurant A” and sat down and remembered their chicken wasn’t so hot. And they didn’t come greet us for almost five minutes (and they weren’t busy…) so we left and went to “Restaurant B.” We’d never been there before but didn’t go in there because we looked in the window and didn’t see what we were in the mood for from the car. We’ll try it another night. So we went to, and ate at, “Restaurant C.” What a perk of living in the city! All those places were within five minutes of our apartment.

Then we came home and Hubs helped me get the invites for my best friend’s bridal shower all trimmer, stuffed, and addressed so I can mail them tomorrow. Don’t worry, it wasn’t too much of a job for him, and he got to play some video games and watch TV for most of the time I was working on it. Still, I was super thankful for his help.

Also, our new neighbors have a huge pile of trash outside their door. It’s been there since last week. We don’t want to be bad neighbors, but we’d like to have the trash not there…when is it okay to call the office? Hmm….

And, I have a pretty big day tomorrow, work-wise. So be watching for an update there soon.

Oh, and we made about 100 meatballs together yesterday before the Super Bowl party we went to with friends. We don’t cook together all the time (a lot recently, but still not as often as we’d like)because it’s not that often we’re both free and home to work on meals. Plus, there’s not a ton of room in our kitchen for two people. But we managed to be good partners for the meatball adventure. And though he “forgot” to wash the dishes while I was at work that afternoon and he was at home on the couch, and while I went to work and had to listen to people say, “I smell sausage or something…” whenever they were standing next to me…it was a grand success.

And we have the leftovers to prove it.

Overall, the Super Bowl party was a fun way to top off our fun weekend. We had a visit from my friend Liz and her fiance, Matt. It was great to have a “double date” for dinner that night and we stayed up way too late on Friday playing games and talking. I’ve missed her, and everyone! Moving away from friends and family is the only negative I’ve found from marriage so far. And it’s a great excuse for fun visits like that, so I won’t really complain. I love our home here, and our new life together.

As a side note, thanks to a message from a friend, we spent the last part of our night on the couch eating a small bowl of ice cream and watching the Diners, Drive Ins, and Drives KC BBQ episode. Great way to end a night.