Category Archives: Leftovers

Curry and Tortilla Chips

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When Jay makes dinner he makes one of his three one pot wonders: curry, cream of mushroom-pasta-meat “thing”, and spaghetti with loads of meat sauce. This week, he made a vegetarian curry in which he threw in so many ingredients I lost count. But I could make out chick peas and mixed vegetables and crushed tomatoes in the stew-like dish. It was pretty good with basmati rice.

Now, the thing about Jay’s one pot wonders is that he makes enough to feed a family of eight and not a “family” of two. As a result, we have an obscene amount of leftovers, which means I don’t have to make dinner the following night. Or the night after that.

Yesterday, to make things a tad interesting, instead of rice we ate the leftovers with fresh tortilla chips from La Tortilleria at Bloor and Dufferin. Those chips, by the way, are dangerously addictive. With a dollop of spiced yogurt, this was a winning combination. It was like a curry salsa and chips.

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What I did with a Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout

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A few days ago I made a vegetarian dinner from the Weight Watchers Turn Around Program book. It’s called Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout and this is how it’s made:

Makes 2 Servings:

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lb fresh cremini or white button mushrooms, quartered

1/2 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, stems removed and diced

1 (15oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 fresh ground pepper

4 tsp fresh lime juice

In a pan, cook onion until soft, about a minute. Add the garlic and stir constantly for about 20 secs then add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed it, about 5 mins. Stir in the beans, chiles, spices, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (I’m not sure what they mean by this because I didn’t notice any “thickening”) for about 15 mins. Serve and squeeze some of the lime juice on top. I sprinkled some shredded Havarti cheese.

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It was tasty and flavourful…but not as fantastic as I thought it could be. It’s more of a side dish than as a main meal as the book says it should be. It’s very good because it has lots of protein and fibre but if you’re eating a whole bowl of the stuff, it can be a little boring. Needless to say I didn’t eat a full serving and I put the rest away in a container.

Two days later my little sister came over and she was hungry. “You have food at your place right? I’m reeeeeaaaally hungry.” Unfortunately I hadn’t done any groceries yet and I didn’t have much in my fridge except the leftover ragout. I brought out the container and told my sister to try it but she didn’t seem too keen on it, “Hm, smells spicy…do you have anything else?” Sigh.

1/4 of a jar of Classico pasta sauce

3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes

generous splash of heavy cream

1 1/2 servings of leftover Tex-Mex Ragout

Make 2 servings of whatever pasta you like, I used angel hair. Heat the ragout in a pot along with the tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir. Once it’s heated, add the cream and stir until it’s all blended and heated through. Serve over noodles.

So very yummy! I think I’ll be making more pasta sauces like this one.

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Oh my Food God, this is outrageous!

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See previous post on jalapeño corn bread sandwich, toasted with melted Havarti cheese. The corn bread itself was nothing spectacular, hence why I turned it into sandwich bread. For lunch today I thought I’d make myself another corn bread sandwich with perhaps some cooked chicken breast as well as Havarti cheese. But, in my mind I could predict what that would taste like: dry and a little boring. I started pulling things out of the fridge. Leftover Classico pasta sauce, onion, green pepper, Havarti cheese, cooked chicken breast, corn bread, and butter. My brain quickly devised a plan and I got to work.

I heated about a tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan and then sprinkled some garlic powder. I crumpled up pieces of the corn bread, probably about 2 cups and once the butter was bubbling I threw the corn bread into the sauce pan. I let that fry for a minute and then added the onion and green pepper, which I had chopped coarsely. Stirred and cooked for about 2 minutes. Next I dumped in the chicken, cut into small pieces. At this point I thought I would make a chicken and bread sauce with the pasta sauce but I changed my mind and I switched on the oven to 330F. Once everything in the sauce pan was heated I transferred it to a baking dish and I poured a bit of the Classico sauce over top. I didn’t want to use the entire contents of the jar so I pulled out a jar of salsa and poured that on as well. Pasta sauce and salsa; they go so well together. Next I cut some Havarti slices and placed them on top of the sauce. Into the oven it went for about 15 minutes (I think).

Best. Lunch. Ever. Wow.

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Tuna Cheese Melt

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It’s a gloomy, rainy day today, perfect for lounging in pjs and eating comforting comfort food. It was lunch time and I didn’t feel like making a full meal for myself. I was feeling a bit lazy and I ALMOST caved in to a salty, carb-filled packet of instant noodles. But I managed to contain myself and I brought out the left over rice and vegetables from last night along with a can of tuna and some egg whites. I mixed it all up with a few squirts of Sriracha sauce and I topped it with a slice of Kraft cheese (hey! it’s better than a packet of noodles!) and I threw it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.

Result: Delicious comfort food :)


Yes, you can tell I was already shovelling food in my mouth when I remembered I had to take a picture.