Innovative Leftovers Part 4–Summer Vegetable Stew

I absolutely love split pea soup, but you know how canned soups are, for the most part, disgusting?

Unfortunately, the same holds true for canned split pea soup. So I decided to jazz mine up a little when I was making dinner for myself. (My brothers weren't gonna feed me, that's for sure.)


Summer Vegetable Stew
Serves 1-2


Ingredients:

1 can split pea soup
1/2 zucchini, cut into quarter-rounds
1/2 carrot, cut into half-rounds
1/2 can black beans

1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water (if soup is watery)
Salt and pepper
Spices (garlic powder, oregano, cayanne)
Olive oil


Instructions:

Drain black beans into a bowl, reserving some of the liquid. Rinse. Place zucchini, onion, carrot, and beans into a small pan over medium heat with some olive oil and stir.

Add spices, salt, and pepper to taste. Place pot lid over pan and allow to cook until zucchini is soft.

Pour split pea soup into a medium saucepan over medium heat.

If soup is watery, mix cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water to form a smooth slurry and add to soup.

Add vegetables and stir.

Stir in reserved bean liquid.

Allow to come to a gentle boil and thicken if needed, then remove from heat. Adjust seasonings if necessary.

Serve.

Well, it's not perfect, but it's definitely better than the soup alone. It's also better than whatever my brothers would have made. Just kidding. Maybe. The vegetables give it a nice fresh feeling and the spices make it taste a lot better than the soup normally does. I recommend serving with naan or flatbread. (Trader Joe's makes a great tandoori naan.) Or you can make toast. That works too.
So even though this improved the soup quite a bit, homemade soup trumps canned any day.

Innovative Leftovers Part 3–Pulled Pork Fajitas

When my mom made pulled pork the other night, I think my brother's vow of vegetarianism was sorely tested. It was tested even more the next day when I made fajitas for lunch with the leftovers. We had a couple of ears of barbecued corn left over as well, so I threw those in too.
For the record, fajita is pronounced fa-he-ta. My friend insists on calling them fa-ge-tas. Are you reading this, Gabe?

Pulled Pork Fajitas
Makes 6 fajitas, serves 3

2 bell peppers (or 6-7 small peppers or 5 small peppers and 1 large pepper)
1/2 onion
4 ears cooked corn on the cob (or however many you have; supplement with frozen corn)
3 cups pulled pork
5-10 button mushrooms

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

6 small tortillas
6 slices cheese

1/2 pouch red chile enchilada sauce (We love Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday sauces.)
1/2 jar roasted garlic and tomatillo salsa (We love his salsas too.)


Instructions:

Slice onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms.

Cut corn off cob.

Pour olive oil into large pan over medium heat and place onions, peppers, corn, and mushrooms inside. Stir.

Continue cooking and stirring for about 3 minutes, then add beans and pulled pork. (I put the pork in a separate pan so my brother could have veggie fajitas.)

Stir, then cover and cook until onions are nearly translucent. Turn off heat.

Meanwhile, place tortillas with cheese in toaster.

Toast until cheese is melted.

It's melted. Yeah, I know it doesn't look like it is.

While tortillas are toasting, combine enchilada sauce and salsa in a bowl and stir to combine.

Fill each tortilla with sauce and filling. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

You're gonna need a fork and knife for this fajita.

Mmm... Pulled pork is just as good in a tortilla as it is on a bun. While it may sound strange to combine enchilada sauce and salsa, the sauce is very good. It doesn't clash at all with the barbecue sauce on the corn and pork. The cheese adds a nice gooey element, while the vegetables are slightly crunchy. I have to say, I wasn't expecting Mexican-American fusion to be this good!
Enjoy your fa-he-tas!

Innovative Leftovers Part 2–Coulis Stir-Fry

When you have a severely depleted fridge, what do you make as a vegetable for dinner? Hint: You have a random bag of shredded carrots, some peas from your garden, two paltry scallions, and a blender half-full of tomato coulis.
What do you do with this mish-mosh of produce? Gnaw on raw scallions? Sit in a corner by yourself and eat a bag of raw carrots? Chug the coulis from the blender? Aside from being completely disgusting, where's the fun in that? No, you have to cook something. And that something is stir-fry.

Coulis Stir-Fry


Ingredients:

1 bag shredded carrots
2-3 scallions

3-4 cups sugar snap or snow peas
Meat of choice (optional)
1/2-1 cup tomato coulis
1-2 tablespoons olive oil, depending on pan size


Procedure:

Chop the scallions into small pieces.

Place pan over medium heat. Pour olive oil into pan and use spatula to coat bottom entirely.

Put vegetables and meat into pan and stir with spatula. Stir periodically until cooked, roughly 5 minutes.

Scoop stir-fry into bowl and pour coulis on top.

Though the coulis wasn't great on chicken, it was fantastic on stir-fry! It coated the vegetables nicely and enhanced them with its tomato flavor. The vinegar definitely wasn't as noticeable as it was on the chicken. Also, the stir-fry was so pretty! The colors were so bright and happy-looking.

See? Look at those peas. They're smiling.

This is a perfect summer dish!

Innovative Leftovers Part 1–Hamburger Panini

This is the first in a series of fun and creative ways to use the leftovers in your fridge.

You've all had that moment. You look in the fridge and go, "Yes! There's still a hamburger leftover from dinner! And some cheese, too! Sweet! This will be the best lunch EVER!"
But then you realize two things:
1. You're way too excited about a hamburger.
And 2. You don't have a bun, just some frozen sandwich bread, and the only condiments you have are mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.
As you stare, devastated, into the fridge, and resign yourself to a lunch of frozen bread with mayonnaise, a revelation hits you.
PANINI!

Hamburger Panini:


Ingredients:

1/2 leftover hamburger
2 slices sandwich bread, frozen
Cheese

Barbecue sauce (or sandwich spread of choice)
Mayonnaise, butter, or olive oil
Lettuce, tomato, and/or pickles (optional)


Procedure:

Turn on panini press or place frying pan over medium heat. Spread thin layer of mayonnaise, butter, or oil on the outside of both slices of bread.

Spread preferred sandwich spread over inside of bread.

This is a mango-pineapple barbecue sauce.

Cut hamburger into slices and place on bread with cheese and any other toppings.

I gave the extra piece to my dog.

Arugula and provolone

Cover with second slice of bread and place in a panini press or hot frying pan. Place lid on frying pan.

Cook until cheese is melted and bread has golden brown grill marks.

Immerse yourself in my burger panini!

I love paninis! The cheese is so gooey and delicious and you can stuff pretty much anything inside them. In this panini, the sweet barbecue sauce I used cut down in the arugula's bitterness perfectly. Because of the oil (or mayo or butter) that is spread on the outside of the panini, the bread is amazingly crispy. I recommend that you start with frozen bread because the oil is easier to spread on a frozen surface. This panini is really adaptable; you can use any cheese, veggies, and condiments in your fridge. I especially love a spinach/mozzarella combo.