Leftovers Again!

Usually when you hear that phrase its someone complaining about having to eat the same thing again...not in this house! It should read, "Leftovers again? WOOOOOO!" I usually will wait a day or two before eating leftovers, or they go into the freezer for another time. But the Cassou-Lazy was too good to wait! We ate the rest last night, and it was so easy to heat up! I had saved the leftovers in the cooking container. Place the casserole dish in the oven while preheating to 350°.  Cook for 40 minutes. It was warm and bubbly, and ever more crispy on the top! My belly is sad that we can't have it again tonight too! I'm sure it will be on the menu in the months to come!

ignore the impending avalanche!

Speaking of leftovers, I took inventory of our freezer last night and I think I don't have to cook next week! Just reheat and go! To give you an idea of what we have to choose from check out this list!

• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 serving pea soup (from my mom for Eric!)
• 4 servings beef stew
• 4 servings chili
• 1 serving lentil soup
• 2 servings chicken cacciatore
• 7 pizza crusts
• 1 lb hamburger
• 1 lb chicken tenders
• 2 1/2lb pork tenderloins
• 2 can's worth black beans
• 4 cups white rice
• 4 servings sausage and peppers 
• 1/2 lb kielbasa
• 3 chicken breasts
• package of goyza
• frozen shrimp
• and much, much, more!

We sure like our frozen veggies!

I think we will have an easy grocery trip this weekend! Check back Sunday to see how we made out!

Chicken and Sausage Cassou-Lazy!

Thanks to Healthy Delicious for sharing the wonderful recipe for Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage and Turkey. I have made some slight changes due to my pantry missing ingredients, I would recommend using what you have on hand to save a trip to the store and some money! I have listed my changes to the recipe below.

While talking about this dinner a friend pointed out that this is not a genuine French Cassoulet (oh la la) and I should not call it that on my blog. He dubbed it Cassou-Lazy. I was going to argue with him (this dish takes some work after all) but I looked into what a cassoulet really is and was quite surprised.  The Internet told me that a traditional French cassoulet is a slow cooked peasant food with white beans, tomatoes, ham, pork sausage, and duck. It would cook in the fire for up to 3 days using any scraps they had left over. Three days!! Well there is no way I have time for that! This dinner only takes about 1 1/2 hours. I was even able to make sausage and peppers for another night using the left over ingredients from it! Cassou-Lazy it is!

Two dishes in one night means less work later!

 Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage & Chicken

2 links sweet Italian sausage, taken out of casings

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced 

6 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped (or a large can of plum tomatoes, drain and save sauce for another time)

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped 

2 springs fresh thyme, chopped 

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 can Cannelini beans

4 ounces roasted chicken thighs, rough dice

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook through. Remove the sausage, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add the garlic and onion and cook in the sausage drippings until they begin to soften — about 5 minutes, add more oil if needed. Add the carrot and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally to help break down the tomatoes, for about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans.

Spoon half of the tomato and bean mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish or dutch oven. Scatter the turkey and sausage over it, then top with the remaining beans. Sprinkle the bread crumbsover the top, then drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and the bread crumbs have browned (if necessary, you can put it under the broiler for 5 minutes at the end to help brown the breadcrumbs). Let sit for 15 minutes prior to serving.

mmmm look at those crunchy breadcumbs!

This dinner was so good I wish you could be here to taste it! This is a warm you to the bones, delicious, crowd pleasing dish to be shared with friends and loved ones. I will be making this all winter long, you can call me Cassou-Crazy!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

 Whole Wheat Pizza
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 packets yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp honey or sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups AP flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

Combine water and yeast, let sit for approximately 5 minutes until foamy. Oil large bowl, set aside. Mix yeast mixture, honey, oil and salt. Stir in flours with wooden spoon until sticky. Transfer to oiled bowl, brush oil over the top of dough and cover with a dry dish towel. Let rise 1 hour. Punch dough down and divide into 8 pieces. Work each piece into a 5 inch circle. Place on a corn meal dusted sheet pan and place in freezer over night. To store layer pizza dough and parchment paper in a ziplock bag. Keeps for 3 months. You can also make two larger pizzas from this. I like to do the individual size for easy weeknight dinners or lunches.

Pizza Party at my Place!!

My Easy Pizza Sauce
1 8oz can unsalted tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp each onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper, and dried parsley

Mix together. This freezes extremely well. The individual pizzas use about 1 tablespoon of sauce.
red pepper flake to taste

To bake, preheat oven to 450°. If you are using a pizza stone leave in the oven while preheating. Do not take pizza crust out of the freezer until you are ready to bake, it will defrost and get messy. Get your toppings ready, I like to use sauteed mushrooms, pepperoni, peppers, chicken, pesto, cheddar, mozzarella, whatever you have on hand is going to be good on the pizza! Once oven is preheated bake on a pizza stone of sheet pan for 15 minutes. The crust will be golden brown and delicious!

This was our dinner tonight, and we have 6 crusts left in the freezer along with at least 4 more soup servings! Talk about time savings, and money savings!

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup

Bah, November...I have not seen the sun in almost 5 days. It is cold and cloudy, and I am cranky! The best remedy for this is a pot of homemade soup and bad movies on the couch! This is one of my new favorite recipes! Its plentiful, easy to make, and CHEAP! Thanks to The Kitchn for posting it last year!

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup
1 head garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
3 cups chicken stock
1 large white potato, peeled and diced
1 inch cube Parmesan or small piece of Parmesan rind
1 cup milk (2% or whole is best)

Heat the oven to 400°F. Slice the top off your garlic and place on a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, and wrap foil up around it. Roast for 40 minutes, or until the cloves are very soft. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Before Roasting...

Delicious Goodness!

Melt the butter in the bottom of a saucepan. Add onion and thyme to the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the stock and potato. Squeeze half the garlic cloves out of their skins and into the soup. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until potato is very soft. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup or use a regular blender. Return to heat and stir in the milk. Cook until just heated through. Taste and season with additional garlic or salt as desired. This serves 4-6 depending on bowl size.

And now, I am on the couch not feeling so grumpy, thanks soup and pizza!

Warm Up for Thanksgiving!

I wanted to make an easy cassoulet this week which calls for roasted chicken thighs, so tonight I had to make.....roasted chicken thighs! Thinking about sides for this I was drawn to Thanksgiving dinner inspiration! Lucky for me stuffing was on sale and I had veggies on hand.

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs (my package had 5)
1 carrot chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 celery stalk chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3 slices lemon
3-5 sprigs of thyme and rosemary
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400°. Layer all ingredients on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Make foil into a packet and bake for 30 minutes.  Open foil packet and bake 15 more minutes. I served with individual casseroles of stuffing and veggies.

For dessert I made baked apples with raisins. Slice one large apple (or two) and mix with raisins, cinnamon, and sugar to taste. Butter inside of casseroles and layer apples mixing raisins in between layers. Bake at 400° along with dinner. Eric was very happy to have something sweet at the end of dinner!

Chicken Cacciatore

This is a dish that I always try to keep on hand in the freezer. It had just the right amount of sweetness and is hearty enough to warm up when you don't have time to make a meal. This is another recipe handed down to me from my mom. Hope you like it as much as we do!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 1/2 - 3 lbs chicken tenders, cut in half the short way
2 cloves minced garlic
1 medium red pepper sliced
1/2 box cremini mushrooms sliced
1 large can whole plum tomatoes
1 8oz can unsalted tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil

Add all ingredients except chicken to skillet. Cover and simmer 40 minutes. Add uncooked chicken pieces and simmer 20 more minutes. Serve over pasta, with salad and bread, or as a sandwich!

What a Deal!

Here at Delicious Recession we are all about saving money! Not just on food but on every day items. Sometimes there are deals that are so good we can not pass them up!

Meet my new lover, Le Crueset 5.5 quart casserole!

Usually over $235 we found this at a steal for $149.99 at Homegoods! Merry early Christmas to me!!! Just think of all the great things I will be able to make in this! In a way I guess its also Merry Christmas to Eric!

Weekly Budget Update!

This weekend I spent $63 at Stop & Shop. We are still going to eat from the freezer, that lentil soup was great this weekend and we still have 2 more servings!




Major Purchases: package sweet sausage, chicken thighs, and chicken tenders.

Good Deals: 1L Flavored Seltzer water for $0.75 each! 

Meal Planning:
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Thighs with Stuffing (so what if we are preparing for Thanksgiving!)
White Bean and Sausage "Cassoulet"
Shrimp Stirfry
Pizza and Soup
Steak with Sweet Potato Fries and Arugula Salad (Date Night!!)
????

As much as I try and plan out my weeks, there is almost always a night that I can not pin down. This week we will have had red meat, chicken, seafood and vegetarian meals. Who has a suggestion for night 7?

Lemon Garlic Tilapia with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

I made a slightly different version of this dish a couple of weeks ago and liked it so much I knew I wanted to make it for date night. This is one of my favorite ways to make potatoes, you can switch the seasoning to match any dish.

2 fillets tilapia (about 6oz each)
3 medium red potatoes
1 cup baby carrots
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
fresh chopped parsley
garlic powder
paprika
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450° (I use my toaster oven for this). Cut potatoes into one inch pieces, cover by 1 inch with water, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain potatoes and mix in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Spread out in a pan lined with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Boiling them for a short amount of time gives the insides a fluffy texture and roasting makes them so crunchy and delicious!

15 minutes before serving slice the baby carrots in half. Place in pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until tender.

Fish cooks so quickly so you will want to start this right before serving. In a large nonstick skillet combine 1 tsp butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When butter has melted add 1-2 cloves crushed garlic. The garlic is just to flavor the oil so don't worry about chopping or mincing, just place your knife blade flat over the clove and bang with your fist. Pat fish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Place fish into pan and cook 4 minutes. Flip with spatula, add 1/4 cup white wine, squeeze of lemon, and chopped parsley. Remove fish after two minutes. Heat remaining pan sauce over high to reduce, remove garlic and pour over fish to serve.

This is a quick and easy dish that can be made for a date night or weeknight! Enjoy!

COOKIES!

Well, the Halloween candy is running low and Eric's sweet tooth is still craving something yummy. He requested cookies but I was not willing to slave over the stove, the timer interupting my night every 12 minutes, so cookie bars it was! I added 1/2 cup craisins and 1 cup walnuts to the standard Tollhouse Recipe. Make these in a jelly roll pan or a 12x17 if you have one. Man were they good!

Alright, maybe it was my sweet tooth too!