Rice and Eggs - The Classic Brinner

When I was growing up, one of my mother's classic breakfast, and sometimes dinner, dishes was rice and eggs. Using the left over rice from Chinese take-out, my mom could whip up a delicious meal. (I realize as I am writing this that I don't know what the origin of this meal was - Mom, if you are reading, fill us in.)

Now that I am a mom,  I come back to this "recipe" time and again. Not only does it taste great, it reminds me of my mom and how much I loved when she made this for me as a little girl. Beyond nostalgic reasons to love rice and eggs, I also love that it is easy, healthy and my kids will eat it. In fact, when Jamie was about a year old, he would eat rice and eggs, with some vegetable thrown in, just about every day for lunch.

Last night Dave was out for dinner, so of course Kara requested brinner for dinner. I was happy to oblige. The kids had waffles and eggs and I had a delicious plate of rice and eggs. In this iteration of the meal, I added some red peppers, chopped spinach and green onions. And though left-over Chinese restaurant rice works best, I had to settle for the brown rice hiding in the back of our refrigerator.

Here is the "recipe" - a term I apply loosely. I generally use 2 eggs per adult and 1 per child. You do the math.

• Beat eggs with a little milk/water. Set aside.
• If you are going to add veggies or meat, get them ready. I recommend finely chopping any additions.
• Get the rice out. If it is really dry, like the kind in a take-out container, microwave it for a minute to soften it up.
• In a frying pan melt enough butter to thoroughly coat the pan. Don't be shy. If using veggies, saute for a few minutes. Add the rice. I use about 1/4 cup per egg. Saute for a few minutes until rice is warmed through.
• Add eggs and scramble. 
• You can throw in some cheese at the end if you are in to that kind of thing. 
• Serve alone or with anything that you might put with eggs: ketchup, salsa, hot sauce, bbq sauce. Personally, I love it with mango chutney. But I am a freak.

Meat!

So one of my new year's resolutions was to eat less meat. You may be wondering why, if this was the goal, every inch of freezer space in my house is filled with chicken, pork and beef. It turns out that eating local trumps the less meat thing, at least for the moment.

For the second year now, my dear friend Valerie, who is a supermom and "locovore" extraordinaire, organized a meat buying club or sorts. Val has befriended a farmer in Lancaster County and buys eggs and produce from him regularly. Now, with ten of her friends, we have become big buyers of his meat supply. Bob, the awesome farmer in question, sold us a pig and a half and a whole cow, butchered it,  packaged it all, and even loaded Val's minivan. Last Friday, Val's living room was entirely covered in frozen meat. Without an ounce of irony, her friend David pronounced, "It's like a meat locker in here."

I stupidly forgot my camera when I went to help sort out the meat into individual orders, but here is what my portion looked like when I got it home. That's $300 plus worth of locally-produced, humanely-raised chicken, beef and pork - an unbelievable price for so much high quality food.

Yesterday afternoon I roasted one of the chickens. It was so delicious and yielded a ton of leftovers. (I froze a quart bag full of meat and still had a large Tupperware to use right away.) Next to having the leftovers, I think the best part of roasting  a chicken is you get to have a mini Thanksgiving dinner. I made sweet potatoes, stuffing, peas, cranberry sauce that I had preserved in November, and I even whipped up real gravy.

There are many methods to roasting a chicken, here is what I do and it never fails.

•  Preheat your oven to 450.
• Take the bird out of the refrigerator and place it in a roasting pan. Remove any giblets, neck etc,  and let it come up to room temperature. (True story: The first turkey I ever cooked, I forgot the critical step of taking the giblets etc. out of the body. Yum!)
• In a small bowl combine a few tablespoons of softened butter and spices of your choosing. The classic poultry mix of sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley always works, but you could go spicy, or Mexican, or even Asian if you wanted. 
• Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle with lots of salt and pepper. Now slather that bird with your butter/spice mix. Don't be shy with the butter. Make sure to get inside, too. 
• If you have it, put a lemon half and a quartered apple inside.
• Use string or skewers to bring the legs in tight to the body of the chicken.
• Put it in the oven and after about 30 min check to make sure the top isn't getting too brown. If it is, just cover it with tin foil. This is also a good time to pour some chicken stock over the bird and into the pan.
• Lower the heat to 350. Check on you chicken every 30 min or so and use a meat thermometer to check if it is done. This is always a little hit of miss for me since I have 2 thermometers that never read the same. I looked it up and the common rule seems to be 20 min/pound. Take that, and all other cooking rules, with a grain of salt. Also, remember that the meat will continue to cook out of the oven, so don't overdo it.
• A tip: If you cook this early in the day to serve for dinner, you can warm up the meat very, very briefly in the microwave. Or if you are nervous that you will turn your gorgeous chicken into disgusting rubber, pouring hot chicken stock over carved meat works really well.

To make gravy:

• Heat some chicken broth. Pour juices from roasting pan into a gravy measuring container, a pyrex measuring cup or ziploc bag. Put a few tablespoons of fat and a few tablespoons of butter into the roasting pan over medium-high heat.
• Add two-three tablespoons of flour, depending on how much gravy you want to make and how much pan juice you have. Whisk the flour and fat mixture. Now add the rest of the juices from the pan. If you used a ziploc, cut a small hole in the bottom to release the juice not the fat. I am typically too lazy for that, so I just skim the fat off the top of what it in my measuring cup and pour the rest in the pan. 
• Add stock a little at a time and whisk to scrape up the drippings in the pan. At this point you could pour the gravy into a pot. I use my cast iron skillet. Keep adding stock until you get the thickness/flavor you are looking for. I also throw in another pat of butter at the very end - gives it that extra boost of flavor.
• I know this doesn't seem "easy" exactly, as it requires several pans and lots of whisking, but it is SO worth it. If you make way too much, just freeze it for the next time you need gravy on something.

Thank you so much, Val, for organizing our delivery of locally produced meat. And thanks to Farmer Bob for providing this incredible bounty for us city folk.

Never Arrive Empty-Handed

On Saturday night we had an impromptu gathering at our house to watch some football, drink some beers and let our kids run wild for a few hours. My friend Becky calls this the "dinner play date." Kids play, grown ups eat, talk, or in this case watch football, in peace.

Dave invited our friend Tom and his wife Layla to join us. They have six kids. Seriously. I think that this accounts for their refreshingly relaxed take on just about everything. Layla couldn't come, but Tom said he would stop by. When he walked in with a bag from the grocery store, I just assumed it was the most convenient method for carrying beer. I was way off base. Since Tom as all out of beer, he stopped at the store to bring a tomato pie for snacking. When there was no tomato pie left, he picked up a rotisserie chicken and loaf of Tuscan bread instead. Sure. Why not? I have to say I really admired Tom's commitment to not arriving empty-handed, even if we did tease him for being such a weirdo.

I tried to get him to take the chicken home to his brood, but he was having none of it. So on Sunday, I stripped down that bird and made a big batch of curried chicken salad. If you have some leftover chicken around, or rotisserie birds go on sale, give this "recipe" a try. Much better than the run of the mill chicken salad.

-In a medium sized mixing bowl combine:

• The meat from a whole rotisserie chicken. (The bird I used from the supermarket produced about 3 cups of chicken meat.)
• 2 stalks of celery, 3 green onions chopped. If you don't have green onions on hand, use 2 tbsp or so of finely chopped yellow onion.
• One carrot "julienned." You could use a peeler, a mandoline or a grater. The idea is to get nice small pieces of carrot.
• About a half a cup of canned Mandarin oranges or diced pineapple
• 1/4 cup mango chutney. If you don't have chutney, apricot jam will work too.
• 1/2 to 1 cup of mayo - depending on your tastes. You could also use plain yogurt or a combination of yogurt and mayonnaise.
• 2-4 tsp of curry powder - again depending on your tastes. You could make this salad spicy by adding more curry, some cumin, chili powder, cayenne etc.
• Other options: 1/4 cup raisins, cut up grapes, chopped apple, walnuts, almond slivers

The Strata (aka Brinner)

Just one day after writing about breakfast casserole for brinner, there is an article in the food section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer about strata. Strata, it turns out, is a fancy name for a bread and egg concoction. I think I actually had that tidbit of food trivia in my brain somewhere.

Here is the article and a couple of recipes, too.

Another Brinner Idea

I have already posted about my deep and abiding love of brinner. If my kids had it their way, we would have fried eggs and toast every night. Though that sounds appealing on several levels, I don't think that would be the most nutritionally sound plan. To satisfy our brinner cravings, I try to work in some other dishes.

This recipe for Breakfast Casserole came to me a few years ago. I was at a parent coffee for Kara's nursery school and one of the moms brought this delicious egg, bread and sausage casserole. You know you hit the jackpot as a cook when pretty much every other mom in the room is asking you to email the recipe asap. Julia, the mom in question, being super efficient, actually followed through the same day, and I immediately copied this recipe into my book. Don't you love it when you come across a delicious recipe by chance?

Here is the original, courtesy of Julia, aka Jack's mommy, aka home cook extraordinaire.

-Cook up one package of breakfast sausage and dice into small pieces
-Slice 6-8 thick pieces of crusty bread and then cut into 1-2 inch cubes
-Grate 1 cup cheddar cheese or measure one cup from the bag of shredded cheese you keep in your fridge.
-Mix 8 eggs and 2 cups of milk. Add in salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder.
-Butter a deep dish casserole and layer bread, cheese and sausage ending with bread on top. Gently pour egg mixture into casserole and press bread down so that the bread is all wet.
-Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Note: If you are making this for brinner,  you can assemble it all in the morning and it will be ready to cook by dinner time.)
-Bake for 1 hour at 350

In addition to being delicious, this recipe is incredibly flexible. (The version I made yesterday morning and baked last night used half a loaf of stale baguette, onion, red pepper and mushrooms all finely chopped and a Mexican cheese mix.) You can add veggies, omit/change the meat, change up the cheeses, use more or less bread to vary the size of the finished product. It is a great pot-luck addition, and it is also perfect if you are hosting a brunch because all the "work" is done the day before. Finally, it is good leftover. Just pop it in the microwave and it is nearly as good as it was out of the oven.

Gotta love brinner!

Turkey Pies

One of my favorite post-holiday pastimes is figuring out what to do with the leftovers. I know I am the coolest woman alive. Seriously, though, when you spend a ton of time cooking a great meal, the last thing you want to do is watch it all rot in the refrigerator. In the spirit of cool people who love leftover cooking, I thought I would share some ideas this week.


The most obvious, but certainly one of the best uses for Thanksgiving leftovers: The Thanksgiving sandwich. Turkey, mayo, stuffing, lettuce and cranberry sauce. I like Swiss cheese on it too. A sandwich that uses another bread product as a filling - what could be more emblematic of the indulgences of the holidays?

I also love to make turkey pot pie in the week after Thanksgiving. Here is a really easy recipe that will yield great results. If you have a lot of turkey, I would recommend doubling the recipe and freezing a pie for later. You will be glad you have it on some cold winter night when you really don't feel like cooking.

-In a large sauce pan, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter and/or olive oil.
-Add to the pot one small onion chopped, about 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms, and 1 medium potato peeled and cubed.
-After they have cooked down a bit add 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables. I usually use the peas/carrots/corn/beans mix, but any variety will work. If you don't have frozen veggies on hand you can, of course, use fresh vegetables. I really like peas and carrots in my pot pie. The corn gives it a nice sweetness, too. But you should use whatever you have and you like.
-When the vegetables have cooked enough for everything to get warm again, add 2 tbsp of flour. Stir the flour in to coat all of the veggies.
-Add about 2 cups of milk. I often use some half and half as well. (Because after eating a bazillion calories a day last weekend, I don't want to come back to reality all at once.)
-Stir it all up. The milk should thicken up as it heats up. If you think it is getting too thick, just add more milk or some chicken stock.
-Pour the filling into a pie dish and top with a pie crust, home made or store bought. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes or until the crust is browned.

When I was making my pie yesterday, I was hit with a moment of inspiration. What if I topped the pie with mashed potatoes instead of a crust? It would be like turkey shepherds pie. But it would need another name since shepherds herd sheep or cattle, not turkeys. Hmmm...What is the poultry equivalent of a shepherd? Farmer, I guess.

So here is what a mini Farmer's pie looks like. I just used the turkey pot pie filling, put a cup or so in a ramekin,  topped with leftover mashed potatoes and browned it under the broiler for a few minutes. Oh my, it was so good. Give these pies a shot. You wont be disappointed.

Super Easy Spaghetti Pie = Dinner Victory!

 I love pie. Really any kind of pie. Cherry, apple, rhubarb, chicken pot, shepherds. You put it in a pie dish, and I bet I will like it. Given this predilection for pies, it is no surprise that spaghetti pie has been one of my go-to meals for years.

I would like to say that my children, really my eldest, shared my enthusiasm for all things pie. But unless it's a cherry pie, Kara's not interested. Yesterday while the baby was napping, I  whipped up a spaghetti pie using the leftovers from the weekend. I tutor on Tuesday nights, so I miss the dinner and bedtime routine. And since Dave is usually running in as I am running out, I try to make something that he can just heat up for everyone. I rarely succeed in these attempts, however.  So I was feeling extra proud of myself for getting a meal ready ahead of time. And I flattered myself that this would be a dinner everyone would like and eat without complaint. It's really just spaghetti is a pie plate, for goodness sakes. What's not to like, right?

As I was about to leave, Kara shouted from the living room, "What's for dinner?"

To which I replied, "Something delicious!" She greeted this answer with a look that communicated her full knowledge that I was trying to put one over on her.

Apparently, it went downhill from there. After I left, Dave had the privilege of listening to Kara complain in advance about her dinner. And when it was actually dinner time, Dave had to "practically drag her to the table by her pigtails" (His words, not mine. I would never get that frustrated by our child...)

But it was all worthwhile because once our little one tasted the pie in question, she couldn't even pretend to hate it. In fact, she loved it. Ate two helpings. Dave, basking in this dinner victory, got to actually enjoy his dinner, too: a delicious plate of spaghetti pie without a side order of whining and drama. I imagine him thinking, "I love the smell of spaghetti pie in the evening...smells like victory."

. There are a lot of spaghetti pie recipes out there. This one is a variation on the dish my stepmother made. I have simplified it quite a bit. Spaghetti pie is a good way to use up all kinds of leftover vegetables, cheese, meat and of course pasta. This recipe is easily made meat-free and/or gluten free too. Get creative - you wont be disappointed.

-Combine about 1/2 lb of cooked spaghetti with 2 eggs beaten and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. If the pasta is cold, just run a little hot water on it to warm it up. This will make it easier to coat with the egg and cheese. On the other hand, if the pasta is fresh out of the pot, let it cool off before you pour egg into it, otherwise you will get scrambled egg in you noodles.
-Pour coated pasta in to a pie dish or a 9 inch baking dish. Set aside.
-Chop up one medium onion, one bell pepper and about 1 cup mushrooms. I used baby bellas, but white work too.

-Saute one link of Italian sausage in a large pan. After about 5 minutes, move sausage to the side, add a little olive oil and cook the veggies.
-Saute until veggies are soft. Remove sausage and set aside.
-Take pan off of heat and add about a 1/2 cup sour cream and stir into veggies.You could also use ricotta or some marscapone here. I bet chevre would be yummy too.
-To assemble the pie - Pour the creamy vegetable mix onto the spaghetti "crust." Next cut up the sausage and place a layer of  pieces on the vegetables. Cover it all with a layer of spaghetti sauce and then a layer of shredded mozzarella.
-Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
*This dish is also great for freezing ahead of time. It will keep for months - then just defrost a bit and bake.

Easiest Dinner Ever

When I can't think of anything else to cook, my go-to meal is quesadillas . All you need is tortillas, cheese and beans and you have a hardy, healthy dish that even picky kids will like. (It's like a folded over pizza! It's like a Mexican grilled cheese! You can choose your own filling! You can add as much cheese as you like!)

Other advantages of the quesadilla include: they are great for using up left overs; they look impressive if you serve them to guests, they are easily gluten free if you use corn, not flour/wheat, tortillas

We used to make our quesadillas in the oven (450 for about 10 min.), but ever since I got a cast iron skillet last Christmas, I like to make them on the stove top. It's quicker and you get a nice crispy finish on the tortilla. Just be careful to keep the heat lowish so that you don't burn the tortilla before the cheese melts.

My kids like just cheese and beans, but if you want to branch out, consider some of these suggestions:

• Try a different cheese than cheddar or the "Mexican blend" sold in stores. Goat cheese, blue cheese, Gruyere, feta, all work great. Heck, I have been known to throw some velveeta in there. (Don't knock it until you've tried it.)
• Any left over meat works great. Obviously the remnants of last nights chicken are prime candidates. But try left over steak, pulled pork, brisket, roast beef, meatballs, bacon. (Because everything is better with bacon, as Dave always notes.)
• Veggies taste that much more delicious when smooshed between cheesy tortillas. I love onions, peppers, mushrooms, green onions, broccoli, corn, but my all time favorite addition...spinach. Again, give it a try. You'll be surprised. 
• Spices! Whatever you've got in your spice rack is a possibility. Go Indian and curry it up. Stay traditional with chili powder, garlic & cumin. If I have it fresh, I love cilantro, parsley and chives.
• We love the traditional toppings of salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Chutney, sweet salsas (peach, pineapple etc), steak sauces, ranch dressing, tzatziki are also fabulous additions.

Have fun!

Kara wanted everyone to see her love for quesadilla dinner.