The days this week have been flying by and it seems there has been a ton going on. We still have not made it to the grocery store and/or Trader Joe's like we planned so we've been at the bottom of the barrel - using rice and pasta often with simple combinations of veggies. We made a pasta and veggie bake on Monday and then a mexican style veggie and rice bake on Tuesday. Last night we made a fantastic vodka sauce and had it with extra large rigatoni style pasta called Elicoidale. It came out really well! Even though we had barely any canned tomatoes left we bulked it up with diced onion and a whole fresh tomato that was chopped and thrown in.
At the end of last weekend we had a good day of being resourceful with what little we had. We started with lunch - canned soup - that we bulked up with extra veggies and miscellaneous ingredients. We threw in leftover cauliflower florets and slices of mushroom. After we left that to cook and the cauliflower had softened a little we added our own spices: salt, of course, black pepper, and a little chili powder. We also added a little tomato juice and a little cream to thicken it up even more. It was a delicious lunch and surprisingly filling! We served it with our one and only remaining slice of bread, toasted and buttered.
At dinner we decided that we wanted mexican but had one tortilla left and no taco shells SO instead we made a Benny's Burrito's rip off - taco salad bowls! The fun part of our meal was that Greg made homemade chips out of the remaining tortilla and then invested in a jar of salsa to go with it. He simply cut the tortillas into little triangles and squares, sprayed them with cooking spray, showered them with salt, and then tossed them in the oven. They were cripsy, salty and delicious.
For our burrito bowls we made pulled chicken. That morning we cooked the chicken very simply: in olive oil, chili powder, salt, and crushed red pepper.
When we were ready to make dinner we took the pre-cooked chicken out of the fridge, pulled it, and threw it back into a pan, heating it and mixing it with other various veggies. We added fresh tomato, onion, zucchini, and finally the LAST of our cauliflower florets. We also cut some of the veggies to serve fresh on the beautiful serving platter my mom bought for us. After the chicken/veggie mixture had been cooking on a medium heat, had been spiced, and all the ingredients were getting soft, that part was ready. In the meantime, we had rice cooking in boiling water. Once our rice was done, we were ready to dish everything out. To top our burrito bowls (and to dip our homemade "chips" in) we had salsa (our big investment), sour cream, and a homemade, lighter version of queso. To make the queso we used about 1/2 or 1/4 packet of that velveeta type cheese that comes with some mac n' cheese. We used the leftover from that, added just a little tomato juice, some fresh chopped tomato, and then some of our light sour cream in order to lighten it up. When everything was ready, we happily dug in!
M
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