STUFF ON HAND

Sometimes you buy to much fresh produce or forget what you have on hand-or just get stumped on what to make.
I occasionally start with a recipe and substitute with what I have in the veggie bin.
Often it is just ok but every once and awhile you have a winner.

Tonight I made Quinoa Stir fry with Vegetables and Chicken I got the recipe from Self Magazine which has come up with quite a few winners in the past.

http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2010/02/quinoa-stir-fry-with-vegetables-and-chicken

I had the quinoa, carrots, bell pepper, ginger and garlic in the house. I left out the chili pepper and no snow peas but I had some green beans (half green half purple)from the farmers market that needed to be eaten and I also had chicken from a bbq the night before-I grow cilantro and always have soy sauce in house. I don't like raw onions so instead of the scallions I had a shallot that I stir fried with the garlic and ginger.
I will certainly make this again I think I will add more cilantro maybe the chili pepper the next time. Lars likes a bit more kick so he added sweet chili sauce.

I am not the only person who uses what they have on hand- here are two examples from MBJ in Baltimore.

Two super lazy recipes today. The first is barely a recipe really, I like to steam frozen mixed vegetables in the microwave when I realize that I haven't had any veggies for a day or more. Today I added some black eye peas for a little more substance, and then spontaneously decided to put in some sour cream and hot chunky salsa. That's it, so it's not really a recipe, but it was so surprisingly tasty.

Second is for pizza Bianca with potatoes. Again very simple, though you need to either boil potatoes or have some already. You could make your own dough, but in my case I just used whole wheat flour tortillas. Put slices of potato and mozzarella on top, grate Parmesan and add salt (not too much, Parmesan is salty), pepper, fresh basil and rosemary (dried is fine too). Put in oven about 10 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, until it's golden. I use one good sized potato and around 50g of mozzarella per pizza. Again, not much of a recipe, but tasty. You can obviously use the same tactic for regular "instant pizzas", just adding tomato paste, mozzarella and toppings.

Sometimes the best tasting things come out of creative ways to use what ya got on hand.

GRANOLA ALA MBJ

Here is a recipe for granola-again from MBJ in Baltimore-it looks healthy and delicious a win-win combo!
Lots of ways to change and add whatever you like to this recipe-which is good if you have things on hand.






Basically I took the recipe from here: http://www.chow.com/stories/11878, with a few modifications.




You mix together the dry stuff in one bowl: 3 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats, three tablespoons brown sugar, a quarter teaspoon salt, and a teaspoon cinnamon.


Then the liquids in another: one-third cup honey (real honey,not US honey/corn syrup mix), a quarter cup coconut oil, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.


Mix it together with your hand, and savor licking off all the stuff that sticks. Then put it all on baking paper in a pan, and into the oven at 300 F.


I gave mine something like 20 minutes, then stir followed by another 15. That was just on the limit, any longer and it would have tasted burnt. As it was it made it extra sweet and crispy.


Once it was a little cooled I added dried cranberries, raisins, and crushed walnuts. The first two are great, walnuts didn't add much. Not bad though.


It didn't really form clumps, a couple of oats sticking together at most. Maybe using butter instead of oil would help. The mix of honey, cinnamon and vanilla really gives it a delicious taste, though definitely very sweet. Suitable for plain/Greek yogurt, not sweetened.

I am going to give this a try now that the heat spell has broken-I will probably use canola oil because it has less calories-will get back with the results!

FINNISH RYE PIES

LAST WEEK I WAS READING THE BLOG "DAILY CANDY" AND THEY MENTIONED THESE TWO FINNISH GIRLS WHO MISSED HOME COOKING AND WERE MAKING FINNISH STYLE PIEROGIES CALLED "PIIRAKKA".
I HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE OF EATING THESE ON MY TWO LUCKY TRIPS TO FINLAND AND THEY ARE SOOOO GOOD.
SO LARS AND I GOT ON OUR BIKES LAST SUNDAY AND HEADED FOR THE COMMUNITY MARKET IN PARK SLOPE-TO DIGRESS A MOMENT IT' S A VERY NICE MARKET WITH QUITE A FEW SPECIAL VENDORS AND TWO NEW YORK STATE WINE SELLERS.
IT WAS WELL WORTH THE TRIP IN THE 90 DEGREE HEAT, THEY WERE DELICIOUS. BESIDES THE TRADITIONAL RICE FILLED VERSION , THEY HAVE A BEET-FETA COMBO, SPINACH-GARLIC COMBO AND SWEET POTATO. MY FAVORITE IS STILL THE TRADITIONAL RICE HEATED UP WITH A PAT OF MELTING BUTTER. I WOULD RECOMMEND HEATING THEM UP IN THE OVEN AS OPPOSED TO THE MICROWAVE BECAUSE OF THE SOGGINESS FACTOR. I HAVE COME TO REALLY APPRECIATE RYE AND NOT THE TYPICAL DELI STYLE RYE BREAD. I HAVE BEEN TRYING AS I MAY HAVE MENTIONED TO MAKE A REALLY GOOD DANISH STYLE RYE BREAD. I HAVE MADE ONE AND IT TASTED GREAT BUT MISSED OUT ON PRESENTATION (NO POINTS IN THE LOOKS DEPARTMENT). WHEN THE HEAT BREAKS HERE IN NYC-I WILL TRY AGAIN RIGHT NOW IS THE NOT THE BEST TIME TO HAVE THE OVEN ON.
I TOOK A SHOT OF FINNISH RYES BUSINESS CARD BUT IT DID NOT COME OUT VERY WELL SO HERE IS THE BLOG ENTRY FROM DAILY CANDY. http://www.dailycandy.com/new-york/article/84467/Northern-Rye-Savory-Pies-and-Treats.
GIVE THEM A TRY, THEY ARE VERY SPECIAL, AND ALSO TRY THE RYE SHORTBREAD COOKIES.

BRUNSVIGER ALA MARTIN BORCH JENSEN

Brunsviger
A traditional Danish cake, roughly pronounced “brun-SPHERE”. Simple but delicious.
Ingredients, dough:
• 40g butter or margarine (butter is tastier, margarine healthier).
• 2 dl whole milk
• 20g sugar
• 1 cake of live yeast, or ½ pack dry yeast
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ~400g wheat flour
Ingredients, topping:
• 250g dark brown sugar
• 225g butter or margarine
Procedure:
Warm the milk and butter for the dough, until the latter is melted. Add yeast, directly if live cake, in warm water with a bit of sugar if dry (I’ve had best results with live cakes, but hard to find in America). Add cardamom, salt, sugar, flour in a bowl, knead thoroughly and let rise until doubled or tripled in size (~45 minutes if placed warm. Always cover with damp cloth).
Transfer dough to a flat, greased pan, spread it out and pull the edges up along the sides of the pan. Let it rise for ~20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the topping: simply heat the butter and brown sugar until it blends together and forms a homogenous caramel-y mass. You need sufficiently high heat for this, and constant stirring, but it’s critical for a good cake. I use setting 5 of 10 on my electrical stove. Let this cool before pouring on the cake. Turn oven on at 200 degrees Celsius (400-450 degrees Fahrenheit).
When the dough has risen, pull the sides back up on the pan if needed, then make deep indentations all over the surface (this is to get a heterogenous distribution of topping; the deeper the better, and you can even make holes through the dough if you want, letting the topping seep through). When the topping starts to solidify, pour it on the dough, spreading everywhere. Make sure to get some on the bumps as well as in the holes, and on top of the sides. Everywhere basically.
Stick it in the oven for about half an hour. The topping should start to bubble, and the dough get a little brown. Like a loaf of bread really. Do not insert into mouth immediately after removing from oven, or you will get burned.
Et voilá, the greatest cake that will never win an award.

I have nothing to add except YUMMMM!