Great side dishes...

Determined to not have any of the veggies in the fridge go to waste, I made the following 3 side dishes to go along with the Crock Pot Spare Ribs. All 3 recipes can be found in the Canadian Living magazine Make Ahead Meals Boy, was I impressed...

Green Beans and Sherried Mushrooms (p.68)

Ingredients:
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 package mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp each salt and pepper
1 tbsp each dry sherry and butter

Directions:

In skillet blanch beans in boiling water, until tender-crisp and colour deepens, about 5 minutes. Drain and chill under cold water, pat dry.

Wipe out skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; sauté mushrooms, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper until golden all over, about minutes.

Add sherry; cook until evaporated. Add beans and butter; cook, stirring, until beans are hot and butter is melted.

Basmati Rice with Pesto (p.70)

Added 1 ½ cups of rice to 1 ¾ cups of water in the rice cooker and once done added 2 tbsp of pesto… Stir well. Yummy alternative to just your plain rice.

Crunchy Coleslaw (p. 48)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (50 mL) vegetable oil
2 tbsp (25 mL) lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and pepper
1 ½ cups (375 mL) shredded cabbage
½ cup (250 mL) grated carrots

Directions:

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Add cabbage, and carrots; toss to coat.

Enjoy!

Leftovers in a Pie...

With so many leftovers from last night’s Slow Cooker Pot Roast, I was excited once again to revisit my Canadian Living Special Issue magazine… With 3 options for these leftovers, I decided to select The Shepherd’s Pie recipe on page 46. Now if leftovers could taste like this all the time, I’d be in heaven and have way more time for myself. This recipe was definitely a keeper for our family, hope you think so too…

Canadian Living Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme
2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour
4 cups chopped cooked Sirloin Tip Oven Roast
1 cup Porcini Mushroom Jus (recipe below)
1 bag of small potatoes (454 g)
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1 cup (250 mL) milk, warm
4 tsp (20 mL) butter, softened
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each salt and pepper
1 cup (250 mL) leftover peas & corn

Directions:

In large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onion and thyme, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add beef, jus and ½ cup water; simmer for 2 minutes. Spread in 8-inch square glass baking dish.

In saucepan of boiling salted water, cover and cook potatoes (with skin, chopped in ½ ) until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to dry saucepan; mash together with warm milk, butter, salt and pepper until smooth.

Scrape beef mixture into 8-inch (2 L) square glass baking dish. Cover with shredded carrots, peas and corn; spread mashed potatoes over top. Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven until filling is bubbly and potatoes are golden, about 40 minutes.

Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; add 20 minutes to baking time.

Porcini mushroom Jus:
1 pkg (14 g) dried porcini mushrooms
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch dried thyme
Pinch salt
1 tbsp (15 mL) brandy or sodium-reduced beef stock
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) sodium-reduced beef stock

Preparation:

Soak mushrooms in 1 cup (250 mL) boiling water for 20 minutes. With slotted spoon, remove mushrooms and chop. Strain liquid and set aside.

In saucepan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat; fry garlic, thyme, salt and mushrooms until softened, about 2 minutes. Add brandy; cook, stirring, until no liquid remains.

Add stock and reserved pan/mushroom juices; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 8 minutes or until reduced to about 2 cups (500 mL).

Note: I ended up using all of this jus in my Shepherd’s Pie as it was that yummy :)

Enjoy!

Frugal dinners and yummy leftovers...

..who would have thought...

My husband and I are really trying to make healthier and more frugal choices for our meal. Some months we can rack over $800 on grocery bills and dining out… Lord, forgive us for the amount of food that some months we may throw out due to spoilage or lack of time and ideas as to what to do with all of the food in our fridge.

So during a grocery store run for little essentials, I came across a Canadian Living Special Issue: Make Ahead Meals: Cook Now, Save Time Later. So this month this little magazine of 96 pages will be my inspiration.

Today I start with a recipe from page 45: Sirloin tip Oven Roast with Porcini Mushroom Jus … This basic recipe was to provide for at least another 4 recipes that would use leftovers but of course I had to make a little change to accommodate for my lack of time, placed it into the Slow Cooker with all of my vegetables for a one pot dish…

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Ingredients
3 pounds outside round roast
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp each dried thyme and pepper
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 cup beef stock
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
12 mini white potatoes
1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions

Mix the garlic, oil, thyme and pepper. Rub over top and sides of roast. (Will do this next time: Brown on all sides in a large skillet over high heat)

Place onions in slowcooker. Mix onion soup mix with beef stock and add to slowcooker. Place roast in the slowcooker and sprinkle remainder of ingredients around the roast.

Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures this week but couldn't seem to capture a picture before we all dug into the yummy meals...