2 weeks (+) in Review (continued)

After that, I made a spinach salad with cilantro avocado dressing mushrooms and hard-cooked eggs. Simple but good.







Then, to use up some of the left over tamarind chutney, I made some tofu pad thai. This was last week. Since then I have invested in some thai fish sauce, because without it, Thai and Vietnamese dishes are definitely missing something. Still this was really good, especially as partially recycled leftovers.



The leftover robiola mashed potatoes went into this shepherds pie, which also made use of the orphaned bits of vegetables that were extra from other meals (carrots, mushrooms, onion, celery) and the part of the extra broth from the vietnamese beef soup that I didn't freeze.



By this point, I had used up most of the fresh things that were in my refrigerator and had to come up with something using the nonperishables in my pantry. I went with dried pinto beans and sausage, homemade tortillas, and avocado and shredded lettuce garnish (the last of my vegetables). The pressure cooker is key to putting a meal like this together without having planned ahead for it. Otherwise, you'd have to soak the beans and boil them for hours, and who has the time or foresight for that?




Finally, after having gone to the store, I made a goat cheese turnip and sweet potato mash with turnip greens and thick diced bacon. Most of my meals make use of something that is on the verge of spoiling, or that already has spoiled [the bread that is currently keeping me up was actually baked in order to use up some failed yogurt. I always get distracted when I make yogurt. Usually I leave the oven on and kill the bacteria; this time I boiled the milk so long it practically caramelized. I imagine the bacteria didn't have enough sugar to eat, because when I woke up this morning, instead of yogurt I found a sour soupy goo. So I used it instead of milk in the bread recipe]. This dinner was no exception. We always end up with three kinds of stale fancy cheese in our fridge, because we go crazy when we got to capone's and buy more than two people could possibly eat without getting a heart attack. Luckily, even soft cheeses don't really 'spoil' in the sense that they make you sick. They just get harder and stronger tasting. You can grate cheese that is much to old for eating (I'll censor the actual age in case any of you come to dinner at my house) into your dinner to add richness or sharpness, and no one will be the wiser.