chaos in the kitchen » Budget

Tastes like Thanksgiving

katie — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:57:10 +0000

Are you still eating Thanksgiving leftovers? For me, Thanksgiving lasts for days. Between dinner on turkey day, pie breakfasts all through the weekend, and Thanksgiving redone in the office microwave on Monday, we always cook enough food to last a week. So I don’t typically get very creative with my leftovers. I save the turkey to make tortilla soup and pot pie but I love my stuffing and green bean casserole just as they are.

This is a fun post-feast lunch or snack, turkey grilled cheese with cranberry sauce and-for me-left over Brussels sprouts.

Turkey and Cranberry Sauce Grilled Cheese

makes 1 sandwich, prep 2 min, cook 5 min

two slices bread
softened butter
cranberry sauce
sliced turkey breast
swiss cheese
stone-ground mustard

Heat a skillet or griddle to medium-low.
Butter one side of each slice of bread.
Flip bread buttered side down and spread cranberry sauce on one slice and mustard on the other.
Place turkey and a thin layer of any left-over goodies you like: stuffing, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, etc. over the cranberry sauce and then top with cheese.
Close sandwich mustard side down so the buttered sides are facing out.
Place sandwich on the griddle with cheese side up and cover with a pot lid. Heat about 2 minutes then check the underside for browning.
When nicely browned, flip sandwich and cover again for about 2 minutes.
Check the toasted side and remove sandwich to a cutting board.
Slice and enjoy. Tastes like Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday! I am so thankful for our health and happiness and for you all. I hope the holidays brings wonderful things for you and your family!

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Marinated Artichoke Salad

katie — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:17:40 +0000

There is a small cafe on the college campus near work that I love. They have a large assortment of salads, and the food is always fresh and house-made. This artichoke salad is one of the dishes they serve and it is such a nice accompaniment to their hearty main dishes.

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Click here for the recipe Marinated Artichoke Salad

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© Katie Lee & chaos in the kitchen, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Insalata di Riso: Italian Risotto Rice Salad

katie — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:32:12 +0000

I love summer food. Abundant fruit and garden fresh vegetables, light meals, and no cook recipes-this is the way I wish we ate all year! As a its-so-hot-the-thought-of-eating-makes-me-feel-sick meal this easily serves four. As a hearty, warm winter salad I’d say it serves closer to two. Whatever time of year you stumble upon this recipe, know that it is wonderful! Creamy, crunchy, filling yet light, with lots of bright flavors: pungent olives, tangy lemon, bursts of sweet peas, and creamy mozzarella. This salad is so versatile you could add capers and sun dried tomatoes, shrimp or chopped ham, or fresh basil. I think the creamy, warm mozzarella goes really nice with risotto but you could use any tender-at-room-temperature rice to make this salad. (...)
Click here for the recipe Insalata di Riso: Italian Risotto Rice Salad

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Home-made Laundry Detergent and Softener

katie — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:42:34 +0000

Laundry soap is one of those things that drives me crazy. Like paper towels and plastic baggies. It is completely disposable yet we spend huge amounts of money on it. In addition the primary ingredient in that expensive jug of laundry detergent is water. WATER. So I make my own. It isn’t hard (and yes I still do it even now that I work full-time) and it washes the clothes just as well as Tide did. I would like to think it is better for our skin, allergies, etc… but we never had a lot of problems there to begin with so the jury is still out.

So for those of you who said you’d be interested here is how I make my laundry soap. There are lots of recipes out there for laundry soap but this is the one I use, primarily because it is easy and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Let’s just get the disclaimer part out of the way upfront, shall we? Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage to yourself, loved ones or property as a result of using this recipe or attempting to make your own laundry soap. Exercise due caution with the ingredients and if swallowed or splashed in eyes call poison control. Let’s all just use our common sense now, ‘kay?

Here is the part that is going to drive you crazy. I don’t measure my laundry soap or ingredients down to the last gram or ounce. I have a large plastic cat litter jug that I cleaned out and it probably holds about 3 gallons of water. You can use a 5 gallon paint bucket or a 1 gallon milk jug. What’s important is that you have a container with a lid that will hold enough soap that you aren’t constantly refilling it and is convenient to store. For me the cat litter jug works because it has a lid and a handle and I can tuck it away in the laundry room like I would regular detergent. (...)
Click here for the recipe Home-made Laundry Detergent and Softener

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Chana Masala, Chanay, Spicy Stewed Chickpeas

katie — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 10:55:50 +0000

Indian food amazes me. There are a few cultures in the world that can take bland, cheap ingredients and turn them into rich, hearty dishes bursting with flavor and spice. I have never had much use for cauliflower, potatoes, or chickpeas. They have always seemed bland and mushy and I didn’t trust any cuisine that presented them front and center and expected me to be satisfied. Until I learned to love Indian food. The chickpeas here are almost irrelevant. The texture is nice but you could serve almost anything with this spice combination and you would find me sucking down spoonful after spoonful (and sweating from the heat). The chickpeas are important because they are healthy and inexpensive. The chickpeas also mean you can keep all of the ingredients for this dish in the pantry, to whip up at a moments notice. So, thank you chickpeas, I will try to be more respectful from now on.

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Click here for the recipe Chana Masala, Chanay, Spicy Stewed Chickpeas

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