Leftovers ...act II

So...today I had another experience with leftovers....well...one leftover - Yukon Gold potatoes from dinner last night. This morning DH slyly said...."Hmmmmm.....fried potatoes and eggs would make a good breakfast.....wouldn't they??" Needless to say that got my brain into cooking mode!!
I rummaged around in the fridge and came up with ....the said potatoes, some fresh spinach from the garden, a bit of red pepper, 2 green onions and some sliced mushrooms. I then dashed out to the garden and clipped some tarragon and dillweed. I also took three eggs from the fridge. All was assembled (more or less) so on I go...
First of all I chopped all the veggies and herbs (excepting the potatoes) and it looked like this....

and this......

I then whisked the three eggs briefly and added some kosher salt and a few twists of pepper and it was ready...

Then it was time to put it all together.....

Heat up the pan with a few glugs of EVOO (which, ironically, was not enough as you will see!) add the chopped veggies and stir for a bit 'til slightly softened. Then add the chopped herbs and slice the potatoes in as well. Keep stirring until it all looks warm and tasty....sort of like this......

Then pour in the eggs, swirling it all around letting the egg mixture run into the little pockets between the veggies and also lift up the edges a wee bit to let the egg flow underneath.  It should look something like this.....

Now here's where the "glugs" of EVOO  may not have been quite enough.  I didn't use my ovensafe skillet and in retrospect, that was probably a mistake. In any case my usual procedure is to get a slightly larger skillet, heat it up and then flip the smaller skillet (and eggs etc..) into the already hot pan, thereby cooking the top of the frittata in short order. HAH!!! The best laid plans  etc...etc...etc....
I heated the pan, tried to do the flip, but the smaller pan wasn't having any of it....it stuck and then dripped pieces of cooked egg mixture onto the larger pan. OK...I can fix this.....I put the smaller pan upright, got the flipper and scraped the bottom  and then dumped the rest of the mixture into the larger pan and kind of pressed it into some sort of circular scramble that resembled ....well, I don't know what it resembled....but it definitely WASN'T frittata!!

 

So I sucked it up and grated some aged white cheddar on the top of it....cut it in half and served it up....

 

It looks a bit of a mess....but believe me....it tasted amazing!!!! 

 

I definitely had to grit my teeth though, when DH put a rather substantial ribbon of catsup over his.....accckk!! He did concede though, that the non-catsup portion was ...well....ok....and I know that when he says that he's actually quite taken with the finished product!! As for me, I was happy to have used up something else out of my fridge and also pleased that I don't have to think about making a lunch!!! I think I'll just have a pear, thanks very much!  :-)

Slainte!!

Leftovers....

I am quite proud of myself. DH thought I was quite weird, but last night before I drifted off to sleep, I figured out my brekkers and lunch.....lunch being the more work to prepare.
Breakfast was Multigrain Cheerios, with strawberries from the garden topped with Krema Greek yogurt and leftover rosemary, rhubarb, strawberry sauce which was used the night before with a scrumptious Cornmeal,  Rosemary & Lemon Cake with Rhubarb and Strawberry Sauce.  It was a most delicious breakfast and a perfect way to start the day.

However, the emphasis in this post is on the lunch. I knew that I had some egg whites left in the fridge from the afore-mentioned cake and I also had some leftover Pico de Gallo from Sunday and an avocado, some green onions, mushrooms, and celery a load of tarragon outside in the garden. So....I chopped the green onions, celery and mushrooms and chopped tarragon and sauted them in a glug (a la Jamie Oliver) of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (hereafter known as EVOO), adding a couple of twists of fresh ground pepper and a sprinkle of kosher salt.  I then gently whisked the egg whites and added them to the veggies scraping the bottom to make scrambled egg whites. In the meantime, I seeded and scraped out and mushed the avocado with a fork and added the remainder of the Pico de Gallo to it. I also had a tortilla warming in the large skillet. To assemble....I took the tortilla and pushed it into a pretty blue bowl , scooped in the egg mixture, added some fresh picked salad herbal greens chopped and then topped with some avocado mixture (hereafter known as guacamole Pioneer Woman style...GPWS). I finished it off with a dollop of natural flavour Krema Greek yogurt (I die for that stuff...it's amazing!!)...and voila!!!

 

So there is yet another thing to cogitate on whilst sleep alludes me......who knew!!!

Slainte!!

A dinner to simmer...

Today I thought I would put together dinner early in the day....a hearty soup sitting on the back of the stove, simmering away until dinner time. I started it around one'ish...after lunch.
First I went out to the garden just as it was beginning to rain to see what I could find herb-wise. I came back in with some sage, thyme, Italian parsley, margarita mint, oregano, and rosemary......and after washing and trimming they looked like this

and then after chopping .....they looked like this....

 

While I was outside...I also picked some spinach and chard... and Russian Kale (which I have never tried before ), washed and chopped them up
 

Add to that, carrots, panacetta, garlic, leeks, celery, red pepper, some poblano pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, a large can of tomatoes (that I smushed with my fingers a la Jamie Oliver), a can of mixed beans and  some low sodium chicken broth....and at the end I added some cooked chicken thighs that we had in the freezer (chopped up) and the finished result (after much simmering....looked like this
 

and this
 

....and served up with some Olive Ciabatta Bread.......it was quite a tasty treat!!

I actually managed to get something done downstairs whilst it was simmering away...and...there is enough left for dinner tomorrow night and to put in the freezer for a quick lunch some day.

Today was a good day....rainy though ...and although I never thought I would say this.....I WANT SOME SUN!....if only for my poor basil. On the upside though...our rocky, root infested front lawn has never looked greener!!

Slainte!!

Garden time!!!

On Tuesday I did manage to pot up some basil for Ty and we have left it on the patio close to the house to see if it will survive....and the good news is that IT DID!! Well...at least so far, but the night time temps for the next few days are supposed to be in the 'teens so I'm hopeful that they will thrive. Those night time temps also mean that I may be able to plant basil in the garden as well.....keeping fingers crossed.

This is what the basil looked like before I potted it up.....in small containers sitting on a card table inside our patio doors..and below is what it looks like after I potted it up.  (Excuse me...can I scream now....the Blogger picture upload stuff is driving crazy!!!! It should be so much simpler than it is....nothing ever comes out the way you want it....ARRRRRGH!!!!) Ok, now I have that out of my system......on to some more pictures...I hope.

and below is a picture of the remainder of the basil to be planted as it sits on my patio in the sun....sun??? sun???did I say sun???  Oh well, at least the rain will keep it watered!!

 

...and to finish things off ...a few more pictures from our garden....

my hops ...which is definitely up and running 

 

 

.....and then there is the dill among the grape leaves....

 

....and it is so prevalent in our garden it has almost become a weed as shown by this picture...

 

I don't think I will run short of it this summer!!

Then there is the strawberries....

 here.....

 

...and here

mesclun and chard.....

         .....and finally

The Rhubarb

 

...which we've already had one cutting from. ....oh and that plastic bag...it's a potato experiment!!!

So there you have it...our garden....well..not all of our garden....I mean, there is the carrots, radishes, beans, peas, onions, garlic, lettuce, beets......oh and then there's the fruit trees....but that's another story....

Time to head off before I scream at Blogger....either I'm not doing things right or it's just too confusing.....

One final ARRRRRGH!!! and then I'm outta here.....

Slainte!!!!

Me again!!

Well.....here I am again....

I thought last night that I should really blog much more than I do....and make an effort to make things interesting....well ....at least not endless streams of text.
So...here goes.......

I have a few things to do today....one particularly is to pot up basil plants for daughter Ty, now a date for the visit has been finalized.  I have pots, I have soil....I will pot!!

I also have decided to try to think of blog topics and that's not as difficult as it sounds. I always can think of blog topics...when I'm lying in bed unable to sleep, when I'm sewing, when I'm listening to music, when I'm working on the computer....but I never remember them when the time comes to post....so THAT'S why I never post. I have decided to keep a notebook handy to jot down things that occur to me that may or may not make it to the blog. I'm also going to take a few more pics and regularly upload them into the 'puter so I can post them if and when I want to.  I'm so lazy about uploading pics....wait a minute....I'm so lazy period!!

Having said all this, the trick is to actually follow through on it. I think that setting a specific blog time...to read and post..is a good thing. I know that if I don't watch it, I will be on here all day!!

Now for a picture....this morning, I actually made my brekkers grabbed my coffee and headed downstairs (followed by Chauncey) so I took a couple pics of my brekkers and workstation.

This was my brekkers....Multigrain Cheerios, banana and thick creamy Greek style yogurt topped with a splash of Summerland Sweets Peach Brandy syrup.....creamy and crunch all at the same time with a few little round Cheerios for the pooch to nibble on.....



...and here's where I sit....with my Hawthorne Vineyards coffee cup. I'm so good, I actually had my second cup black this morning. I usually start my morning with coffee with milk and 2 sugar and then the rest of the coffee during the day is just milk or black. I so need that boost of sugar in my first cup though.

I have a few other projects to work on, sewing and organizing, but those will be previewed on another day. I also have a load of food pics that I took with the intention of posting on the blog.....the results of my attempts with new recipes...and most are not too bad.  Those also are for another day.

Today, however, is to start now....almost 11 am....wow, I'm doing good !! (Note the tongue firmly planted in the cheek here!!)

Slainte!!

Sitting in the Rain....

Sometimes there is a definite benefit to having a patio with a roof.....
Tonight I was sitting watching TV (as I am wont to do most nights) and I suddenly got the urge to go sit on the patio...which in itself is remarkable because it was pouring rain and thunder was beginning....but I was bored.

I have to say....it was wonderful....and just what I needed. I grabbed my hoodie and went and sat with my feet up on the lawn chairs and just absorbed the lovely moisture and fresh air. Chauncey (our Bichon) roamed around the yard in the rain and came back to be dried off and paws wiped and then retreated inside to his perch by the front window. However when the thunder started (not a lot) he came roaring out and sat looking mournfully at me until I picked him up and he snuggled up on my arms and we both sat quietly dry...but in the rain.

It was a nice break from routine.......

Slainte!