Potato Soup for 2

... Or potato soup for 1 if you're really hungry.

I definitely make a habit of making lunch for myself that no one else in the house will eat. It's worth it to me that I get to enjoy my favorite foods without having to worry about the rest of the family. So while the kiddos are munching on PB&J and yogurt, I get to enjoy salmon or spinach soup or whatever, and everybody's happy! (Of course, the exception is our little one. She loves anything Mommy is eating. "Mommy, you share wif me?" *big, pleading blue eyes*) Potato soup, unfortunately, is one of those things. It will get eaten at dinner with the family, but not necessarily enjoyed the way it should be.

Potato Soup for 2

1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed
1 garlic clove, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cups chicken (or veggie) stock
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons cream (you can use any milk here - 1/2 & 1/2, whipping cream, 2%, I've done it all.)
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Toppings/variations of your choice - chopped broccoli, cooked/crumbled bacon, diced ham, fresh herbs, green onions, sour cream, corn

In a small saucepan, bring the broth, garlic and potatoes up to a boil. Simmer for 12-15 minutes, until potatoes get very soft, stirring occasionally. This is important: using a whisk, stir up the potatoes. You want to break them down to get that velvety potato soup texture. Whisk until the soup reaches desired consistency - it won't be completely smooth, but I love leaving chunks of potato, anyway. Stir in cream, adding more if necessary to thin it the way you like it (add more chicken stock if it's super thick). Salt and pepper to your taste, stir in cheese. Remove from heat and serve with your favorite toppings!

(This is also a great way to use up the last bits of leftover side veggies like broccoli or corn.)

Loving Leftovers!

If you've been reading my posts for any length of time, you know I hate to waste any leftovers. The other night I made Crunchy Cheddar Chicken - and my family loved it! (As you also may know, when I say "my family" that means that one of them probably dissented. Our boy, in this case.) Anyway, we had just a little bit leftover, but it was so good I had to save it! I mean, it was like, half a cutlet. Today for lunch, though, I found a use for it!

After slicing it into four strips, I heated the chicken in the microwave. On two tortillas, I layered some shredded cheddar cheese, Romaine lettuce, and ranch dressing. I divided the chicken between the tortillas, rolled them up, sliced them in half and served them with baby carrots and more ranch to my big kids! Other than the ranch, everything was an unexpected leftover from a previous meal. I love getting "bonus meals" like that from my groceries! Another thing I loved was that our boy ate it up! He loved the roll-ups even though he had not enjoyed the chicken the first time around. His expression when I told him it was the leftover chicken was priceless!

Beef Pot Pie

This feels like a cheat recipe because it's really just a combination of another couple of recipes. It's what I served to our Sunday night crowd last night, and judging by the comments and the fact that there was only one serving left over ... they loved it! Technically, I used a venison roast, but a beef chuck roast would work just as well. If I were making this for my family, I would probably use leftovers from a roast, but considering the amount of people I cooked for last night I made the roast specifically for the purpose of pot pie.

You'll start with a pot roast: Sunday Pot Roast

Chop the leftover roast into bite-size pieces and stir it back into the gravy; set aside.

1 cup diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup chopped green beans or peas
2 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1/2 can whole kernel corn
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook the potatoes and carrots in the beef broth/water until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add in the green beans or peas in the last 2-3 minutes of cooking time. Drain the broth, reserving about a cup to add into the gravy. Combine the vegetables, reserved broth, corn, beef and gravy, and seasonings. Transfer to a greased 9x13 baking pan. Mix together topping ingredients and spread over the top.

1 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups self-rising flour

Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

The good part about this is that if you don't have a large family, you can just use leftovers from the whole pot roast dinner - veggies and all. Combine everything and bake it in a 9-inch square dish, using 1/2 the topping ingredients. When I made this last night, I used the roast to make both a square pan and a 9x13.

Spicy Thai Noodles

I found a delicious recipe for Spicy Thai Noodles via Pinterest a few weeks ago. I have loved this new addition to my lunch repertoire so much that I had to share it with y'all!

The first time I made it, I tweaked it just a bit by adding fresh chopped garlic and ginger in with the oil. Also, I  halved it, added shredded chicken and served it warm. That made enough for me to enjoy for two lunches!

I made the recipe again this week, only I was too lazy to pull up the actual instructions on the laptop. I had a couple of changes I wanted to make, anyway.  I kept my additions of garlic and ginger, and reduced the amount of sweetener. I actually used only a tablespoon of brown sugar (I'm low on honey) and it worked perfectly. I used a combination of soy sauce and a touch of apple cider vinegar (cuts the salty soy!). Also, this time I had cabbage in the fridge, so I shredded some of that to use along with the cilantro, green onion and carrots - no chicken this time. I had that for lunch one day with leftovers in the fridge for another day.

The only catch was that Day One was spicy. I love spice, but I wanted to tone it down a bit for Day Two. I decided to add in a dollop of crunchy peanut butter while heating up the noodles. Perfection.

I should note, too, that I did all the prep work on Day One. I chopped veggies for two servings, and made sauce and noodles for two servings. The veggie toppings went into a ramekin, and the noodles I tossed with the sauce and put into a container, and both went in the fridge. Day Two required only heating the container of noodles (with the dollop of PB) and topping it off with the bowl of veggies. Easy as ... Thai.

Pumpkin!

I am all about saving some money! On Halloween, a friend posted that he had just carved a pumpkin. Immediately my spidey-senses were tingling! He was planning to come for dinner the next day, so I asked him if I could have his leftover jack o' lantern. He readily agreed, and I was very excited about the prospect of fresh pumpkin! To prepare it, since I use it mainly for baked goods, I carved Jack up into smaller pieces and laid them skin side down onto two baking sheets. Then, I added some water to the pans - just enough to barely cover the bottom. I baked them at 400° until the house smelled really good and the pumpkin was tender. After cooling them for a bit, I used a spoon to scrape the meat out into my food processor. When I needed a touch of water to loosen up the mixture, I used what was left in the baking sheets. To freeze it, I divided the pumpkin into 1/2 cup containers since my favorite recipes call for 1/2 cup or whole cup amounts. All in all, I ended up with over 8 cups of pumpkin! After pricing canned pumpkin at the store, I saved about $12, depending on the brand/sales. My first project was to make a double batch of Jeni's Pumpkin Bread, which I baked into muffins plus one loaf.

It just goes to show that with a little ingenuity and a bit of hard work, you can save a lot of money!

Cake Solutions- Trifle!

One thing I hate to do in the kitchen is to waste anything! It happens, but I truly do my best to make the most out of everything we have. It's amazing what little bits of food can be re-created into for future meals. One example is cake. Ever had a cake layer fall apart when you tried to remove it from the pan? Turn the mess into a trifle! Want a cake for your small family but don't need the amount that's in a two-layer? Freeze the second layer and make it into a trifle later. I don't make a lot of baked goods to have around the house. One reason is that we flat don't need it! But last week we had The Boy's birthday party. I just needed 4 cupcakes - one for each boy - and instead of trying to adapt a recipe to make a tiny amount like that I simply used a boxed cake mix and baked 'em all! I used what I needed for the party and rather than let the rest sit around for a few days, they went in the freezer. A week later, on Saturday night, they went into the fridge to slowly thaw. Sunday afternoon, I made them into a delicious trifle!

There's no real recipe involved here. You just break leftover cake/cupcakes (undecorated) into a trifle bowl, layer with prepared pudding, add more cake, more pudding, and top the whole thing off with whipped cream. My cupcakes were chocolate and I used white chocolate and chocolate fudge puddings (since I was making this for a crowd I used 2 packages of pudding), and also crumbled a Butterfinger candy bar into the layers, too.

Trifle is so easy to throw together since you can keep everything you need on hand. It's versatile since it's hard to go wrong combining cake and pudding. Fruits make a interesting addition, too. 

Baked Chicken

Yesterday, I baked a chicken for dinner using a cool baking contraption my mom bought for me.

It works just like the "Soda Can Chicken" concept, only you can use whatever liquid you like in the middle. My favorite thing is fruit juice - orange or apple, or a blend of different citrus juices.

The chicken sits in it, like a special little chair.

I marinated the chicken this time (I don't always), in a blend of onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, and apple juice. Then you just bake the little guy (gal) for about an hour at 375°, testing with a meat thermometer to make sure it's done.

The lovely part about this is that you can use the meat for your meal, then make broth with the bones! I have a pot working right now (it smells SO good!) full of my chicken bones, carrots, onion, and S&P. After simmering it for a couple of hours, I'll strain everything out, then let the broth sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning I'll skim off the fat and store the broth in the freezer.

Bonus: I only paid about $3.50 for this chicken and it will provide two meals, plus the broth for another one or two meals.

Stretching Leftovers

For dinner Thursday night, I made pork tenderloin in a simple marinade of garlic, rosemary, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It's one of my absolute favorite marinades for pork! After feeding my family, plus a friend who had come over to babysit the little ones (praise the Lord!), I had about a four-inch section of tenderloin leftover. Not much, but I rarely throw anything away! I'm glad I kept it because today I needed a simple dinner to come together quickly for Handsome and me. I ended up doing two different things.

#1: I NEVER fix sandwiches for Handsome for dinner. He eats sandwiches every single day for lunch: I know the last thing he wants to see on his dinner plate is a square of bread staring at him. But ... he had Dairy Queen and ice cream for lunch, so I bent my rule a bit. His dinner was indeed a sandwich: sliced pork tenderloin, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, fresh spinach, and Swiss cheese. He loved it!

#2: I didn't want a sandwich. I made pasta with my portion of the pork tenderloin. I mixed angel hair pasta, spinach, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cubed tenderloin, freshly ground black pepper and feta cheese. I loved it!

I love taking bits of leftovers and remaking them into something delicious.

Summer's Bounty

Ah, summer ... the time of year when all manner of veggies and fruits are in season! Of course, in today's world our diet can be more varied than ever before, with nearly every type of produce imaginable being available year-round. But, there's nothing like being able to get fresh, local fruits and vegetables in the summer.  The problem I find is that we can't eat it all fast enough! Often I find myself scrambling to use up that lone zucchini or the handful of grapes or the solitary kiwi before it's too late. There are lots of ways to make your produce last, though, so be proactive and plan ahead not only what recipes you'll use the produce in, but what you'll do with the leftovers.

Canning - I'm not a "canner" myself (too lazy!), but I know lots of people who are, and it's a great way to preserve summer's bounty.

Freezer Jam - A delicious, simple way to use berries and other fruits. My favorite is Strawberry Freezer Jam.

Creative Salads - "Lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and Ranch" doesn't have to be where your salad ideas end! Think outside the box with different combinations of veggies, fruits and dressings.

Smoothies - A great way to use up not only fruits, but vegetables, too!

Freezing -  The link I've provided leads to a really comprehensive site on freezing all kinds of produce! It's a good site, overall, too, and is the same one I recommended for canning.

I hope these suggestions help you make the most of the beautiful, delicious abundance of summer!

Sunday Pot Roast

I suppose if I had to name the quintessential Sunday dinner, it would have to be pot roast. My mom makes pretty much the best I've ever eaten, and it's amazingly simple. I know a lot of people cook their vegetables in with their roast, and that's certainly one way to do it. I prefer to cook just the roast, with the veggies on the side. With this recipe, you can throw your carrots (the standard side!) in the slow cooker, but it's best to wait until about 2 hours before your roast is done. Unless you like your veggies mushy - this is the South, after all!

Sunday Pot Roast

3 pound chuck roast
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can (10-3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup
fresh-ground black pepper

Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Place roast in crock; sprinkle with soup mix and pepper. Pour mushroom soup on top. Cook on low heat for 8 hours. I usually turn the roast over about halfway through the cooking time.

If there are any leftovers, I always use them to make Beef Pot Pie. They go so much further that way, and it's delicious!

Veggie Stirfry

I don't eat many vegetables - far fewer than I should - but I do appreciate good produce and I enjoy cooking them. This simple saute is one of my favorite ways to round out a meal that I'm fixing for someone else. Obviously, many other veggies would work well in this, too, just keep in mind that carrots will take longer, broccoli not as long, etc. Also, though I like the tang of lemon-pepper seasoning you could substitute your favorite spice blend or combination of chopped fresh herbs.

Veggie Stirfry

1 yellow squash, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt-free lemon pepper seasoning

In a skillet over medium heat, saute squash, zucchini and onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic and seasoning, and cook for 3-5 minutes longer, until veggies are crisp-tender.

Make plenty of this and use the leftovers to add flavor and vitamins to an omelet, quiche, pasta dish, or quesadilla.

Fried Grits

I have many food-related memories of my dad - Rocky Road and Butter Pecan ice cream. The year he bought me mint chocolate chip Hubba Bubba bubble gum for my birthday. Banana Popsicles. The story of how he told Mom he could eat fried chicken every night for dinner and be a happy man, and Mom did it. For, like, a week.

I also have a few memories of my daddy's cooking. Mom was the one who baked the bread and fried the chicken on a regular basis, but now and then Dad would whip out his specialties. For some reason, his double-decker-crunchy-peanut-butter-on-whole-wheat-sandwich was SO good. And he was the "grill sergeant", laying out on a lounge chair wearing cutoffs with a hat pulled down over his eyes, a spatula hanging loosely at his side, ready to pry the perfect burgers off of our little Weber. But one of my favorite memories is Fried Grits. Yes, you may be skeptical at this point, but you must trust me. Fried Grits are divine.

They have to be started the day/night before. Essentially, you just put leftover grits in a plastic container in the fridge until  the next day. It's best to make sure they are firmly in the corners and grooves of your container.  They will turn into a beautiful grit-brick.

Grits, sharp knife, butter.

Slice the grit-brick thinly (I usually cut it in half, then slice) while you are heating a skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter thrown in. Lay the slices in the hot skillet, being very careful.

 When they have begun to brown (4-5 minutes), carefully flip them over to the other side. Grits will pop out at you! Dad kept a mesh screen thingy over the grits to minimize that occurrence. I slide the skillet off the burner to flip them and that helps a lot.

This is just after I flipped them onto the second side. Aren't they pretty?

... because I know you wanted a close-up.

 Cook them for another 2-3 minutes on the second side, then slide them onto a plate. Lather, rinse, repeat. Well, slice, butter, repeat, anyway.

All done!

Sensational Salmon Cakes

This is one of those recipes that is so stinkin' good it's embarrassing how simple it really is. Salmon patties really get a bad reputation for being densely compacted with bread crumbs and mysterious ingredients. When stripped down to essentials, though, so that the salmon is the star, the flavor is out-of-this-world!

Sensational Salmon Cakes

8 oz salmon fillet, baked
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese - shredded (in the bag) or grated (in the green container)
1 egg
1 green onion, diced
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Using a fork, break up the salmon fillet in a bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients. In a skillet drizzled with olive oil, drop the salmon mixture in scoops of about 2 tablespoons. Flatten slightly as you go along. You're just making sure the egg is cooked through, so they should only take 2-3 minutes per side over medium heat.  Yield: about 8 cakes

This is a great way to use up leftover salmon, since it really doesn't matter how you bake it in the beginning. Since I'm the only one in my family who enjoys salmon, I typically buy a one pound fillet, bake it, eat half for lunch, and use the leftovers to make salmon cakes another day. If I'm making the salmon just for these cakes, though, I do it one of two ways:

1) Place the fillet skin-side down on a foil-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with lemon juice. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

2) Place the fillet skin-side down on a foil-covered baking sheet. Drizzle with lemon juice and spread with Caesar, Italian or really any creamy salad dressing. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

When baked this way, the salmon fillet lifts easily off of the skin when you slide a spatula in just right. You can use the salmon right away to make cakes, or let it cool in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

You can serve these with the dipping sauce I use for Carrot-Zucchini Fritters, too.

Pizza Joes

I'm a big believer in using up leftovers creatively. Who wants to just heat old chicken casserole in the microwave? It's much more fun to re-create leftovers into new meals. I also like to use things up quickly, partly because I'm just picky and a little paranoid that way about food. I rarely place food in the fridge that doesn't already have a purpose laid out in my mind. For dinner recently, I combined leftover cooked ground venison with leftover spaghetti sauce, with leftover pepperoni, with leftover mozzarella cheese, with fresh sandwich buns to make Pizza Joes!

Leftover.

Just wanted to say it one more time.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 lb ground venison, turkey, or beef
1 26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (or less if you'd like the mixture to be thicker)
32 pepperoni slices
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

8 sandwich buns

In a large skillet, cook onion, garlic and ground meat until no longer pink. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and heat through. Meanwhile, separate sandwich buns, placing the bottom buns on a baking sheet. Spoon 1/2 cup meat mixture onto each bun. Top each with 4 slices of pepperoni and 1/4 cup of mozzarella. Broil for 4-5 minutes until cheese is melted.  Add the top bun and serve!

This recipe, like most of mine, is pretty easy to adapt to your family's tastes. Any of your favorite pizza toppings like green pepper, black olives, mushrooms, would be great in here.

Apple-Walnut Pancakes

Instead of making breakfast and lunch today, I decided to make brunch around 11. That suited my family just fine since brunch rarely involves vegetables! I served scrambled eggs and Apple-Walnut Pancakes. The great thing about pancakes is that they usually make a big batch and I can freeze half of them. Here's how I prepare them for the freezer:

As I cook them, I lay them out in a single layer on a wire rack to cool.

Then I tear off strips of wax paper to place between each pancake. Each strip will cover two pancakes.

Then I slide the wrapped pancakes into a labeled freezer bag.

All done! Now I can thaw all of them for a family dinner, or I can take out one or two at a time. My favorite way to reheat them is to place them straight from the freezer on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 7-10 minutes. I flip them halfway through.

Leftovers

One Sunday night after church, a few friends asked if they could come over to hang out. I was planning to make calzones for the family, so I told them that rather than stop for fast food, if they wanted to stop by the store to pick up their favorite fillings I would make calzones for them, too. They readily agreed and showed up with Italian sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella and mushrooms.

Later in the week I knew I had to do something with the leftover pizza ingredients in the fridge! I boiled up a big pot of penne and rotini pasta, defrosted a bag of spaghetti sauce, diced the pepperoni, and cooked up the Italian sausage. I also defrosted a lone leftover (raw) chicken breast, which I diced and sauteed in the same pan I'd used for the sausage. In a large bowl, I stirred together about half of the pasta, the pepperoni and sausage, a couple of cups of sauce, and a cup or so of mozzarella. I poured that into a foil-lined baking dish, topped it with more cheese and popped it in the freezer. Once frozen, I wrapped it in another layer of foil and labeled it, placing it back in the fridge.

In the same bowl, I stirred together the rest of the pasta, the cooked chicken, a couple of cups of sauce, and more mozzarella, topping it with cheese. I froze it the same way I did the other casserole.

The mushrooms were cleaned, sliced and sauteed in a bit of olive oil. Then I placed them in a freezer container and froze them, too, for another day.

It's always a good idea to cook or freeze your leftovers like that so that they don't go to waste, languishing in the fridge. I've learned, after throwing away lots of good intentions, that the freezer is my friend! If you're not sure what freezes well, a few quick keystrokes in an internet search engine will tell you.

I'm planning a post soon on freezer tips so let me know if you have any suggestions. 

Pumpkin Waffles

My Sweetie loves waffles. His favorite are Belgian-style, but these Pumpkin Waffles are pretty high on the list, too. I always make a few changes when I make waffles or pancakes from a basic recipe. I use whole-wheat flour in place of most or all of the all-purpose, I reduce the sugar if necessary, I add in chopped pecans (we're obsessed!), I use buttermilk if I have it, and I sometimes add in fruit flavors like shredded apple, mashed banana, or orange zest. Many recipes would adapt well to hiding veggies, too, by adding in a half to a whole cup of pureed carrots, pumpkin, or other squash, or shredded zucchini or carrots.

Waffles are so easy, too. Just mix up the batter, heat the waffle iron, and every three minutes you have two more beautiful waffles! Or one more, depending on your style of waffle iron. You get the point.

Another thing I love about waffles and pancakes is that they freeze beautifully. Layer them with waxed paper and place in a freezer bag -- then you can pull out just what you need to reheat. I usually do that in the oven at 350 for 10-12 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.

Making Every Penny Count -- Leftovers

I know you've seen it here before, but leftovers are your friend! I saw an article on-line yesterday that said the average American family throws away $600 worth of food every year. I don't know how they came to that figure, but I bet it's fairly accurate. And it's very true that one way of "saving" money is not to waste what you've bought with it. Here are a few ways I do it:

1. I buy only what I'll use or can store. For example, I'll stock on meat when it's on sale because I can freeze it. Other things aren't worth stocking up on because we won't use them before they go bad, like potatoes or other fresh veggies that don't freeze well. I take careful stock of what I have in my freezer/fridge/pantry before shopping so I don't overbuy.

2. I save my leftovers. Just last night I made spaghetti using hamburger patties I'd stored raw in the freezer. Leftover meatloaf can be repurposed in the same way. Most meats can be diced and frozen for later use in soups, sauces or casseroles. Leftover corn and mashed potatoes make wonderful fritters or "cakes", as well as corn chowder. Most leftover casseroles freeze well, and you can portion those out for your Sweetie's lunch, or your own.Vegetables can be saved for soups and casseroles, as well as omelets or quiches.

3. Small family? Make the recipe for a 9x13 dish but divide it into two 8 or 9 inch square dishes. Line one of the dishes with foil, then freeze it for later. Once it's frozen, you can remove it from the dish and wrap it well with foil, label it and save it for another day -- for your family or a family in need.

4. Fresh vegetables need not languish in your drawer until you throw them away! Many of them freeze just fine, especially if you cook them first. Check your drawer often and if you won't use it that week for a meal, go ahead and prep it for the freezer.

Making Every Penny Count -- Slowcooker Chicken

My grocery store rotates what meats are on sale each week. As I'm shopping for what's on my grocery list, I always keep my eye out for the sales. Chicken is one thing that is expensive at full price, but goes on great sales. That's when I snap it up! Occasionally I put the packages in the freezer for later; more often I fire up my Crockpot.

I layer aromatic veggies, seasonings and the chicken together in the slow cooker and several hours later I have chicken fully cooked, ready to be shredded and placed in the freezer.

3-4 pounds chicken (I prefer bone-in, skin-on and a mix of dark and white meats)
1 onion, peeled and quartered
handful of baby carrots
a few celery ribs with leaves, cut into 3 inch sections
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups of water/chicken broth
(seasoning of your choice, optional)

All this just goes in the slow cooker for  6-8 hours. Boneless, skinless breasts will cook faster and will require the use of low-sodium chicken broth instead of water. Depending on what I'll be using the chicken for, I sometimes add lemon-pepper seasoning or herbs, but mostly I just use S&P since the chicken is going in the freezer to use at a later date.

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, de-bone it and shred it (or dice it) placing it in quart-sized freezer bags. Don't forget to label the bags with the contents and date! Allow the chicken to cool fully before placing the bags flat in the freezer. Keeping them flat makes for easier storage and faster thawing when it's time to use them.

Finally, you'll want to strain your broth and reserve that, too. Make sure it's cool, then pour it into labelled freezer bags and freeze it flat. 

Leftovers for Lunch

For Sunday lunch this week, I made soft tacos. They're fast and easy which meant that within 30 minutes after getting home we were sitting at the table eating. Along with store-bought tortillas, I served up a pound of ground beef with seasonings, rice, corn, shredded cheese, sour cream, and salsa. (I usually have lettuce, too, but tacos were a last minute addition to the list after we'd already left the produce section.)

One great thing about these is that I can hide stuff in them that the kids won't normally eat. If I put rice and corn on a plate in front of The Boy, he wouldn't touch it. But if I roll it up in a tortilla, he'll eat every bite! I hide beans this way, too. At any rate, my kids love Mexican-style food.

After we finished lunch on Sunday, I simply piled all the leftover rice, corn and beef into one storage container. At this point, I could have put it in the freezer for another time, but I had a feeling we'd need it soon and into the fridge it went. Monday, I plopped the contents of the container into a pot and reheated it all together. I added a bit more seasoning (chili powder, salt and pepper) and salsa. (See how I snuck the salsa in there without the kids knowing? I'm good like that!) I was out of tortillas, so I whipped up a batch from scratch -- they're not nearly as hard as you might think! Lunch was ready in less than 30 minutes since all I had to do was make the tortillas, reheat the filling, and get the toppings from the fridge.

Amazingly, there was enough filling leftover that I can use it for yet another meal! And we didn't skimp on eating, either, I'm here to tell you. The first meal, my sweetie had three tacos and the kids and I each had two. The second meal, we each had two and were full since the homemade tortillas are so much more filling. It's really pretty cool how far leftovers from a meal can stretch when you get creative!


Homemade Taco Seasoning
1 pound lean ground beef (93%)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons chili powder (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. Stir in chili powder, cumin, pepper and salt. Cook for a few minutes longer. This freezes really well so don't be afraid to double it if you've got enough beef.