Tuesday's Twist: Easter Leftovers

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I have countless recipes to share with you, but every last inch of our fridge is packed with Easter leftovers.  It would be slightly ridiculous for me to make more food for you today.  I mean, I like you and all, but you're going to get leftovers.  Actually, sharing leftovers means you're practically family.  I'm not even going disguise these leftovers by turning them into something new.  We're just going to reheat and eat.  Or maybe we'll just eat them cold.  I don't know, what do you feel like?  I'm kind of thinking cold, but I suppose you can pick since I've already had them a few times.

While these leftovers taste great, they look a little, well, leftover.  I didn't bother with pictures on Easter so I'll just give you a recap of the recipes and events of the day.

* This Lemon Orzo with Asparagus is the only thing that looks, what shall we say, not-quite-as-leftoverish?  What's not to love about a dish that's flavorful, simple and comes together quickly?  I guess I can dig out the camera, but only for this one or we'll never empty out that fridge.

* These hot cross buns were one of the first things I ever made with candied ginger.  Needless to say I've been hooked (and slightly obsessed) with it ever since.  Candied ginger, golden raisins and dried cranberries are kneaded into a whole wheat dough flavored with spices and orange and lemon zest.  But you should have some of the leftover plain white rolls, I don't really want to share these.

*Save room for red potatoes roasted with rosemary and a touch of honey.  Sorry, no recipe here, I just chopped, tossed and roasted.

* The same goes for the salad, minus the roasting of course.  Chopped romaine layered with sweet peas, crunchy celery, radish slivers, green onion and a sprinkle of cashews, lightly dressed with a dill vinaigrette.

* I also threw together a quick fruit platter with strawberries, red and green grape clusters, fresh pineapple and oranges.

* Oh yeah, I almost forgot, ham.  Just help yourself.

* I'll even get you a clean plate for dessert, Grasshopper (mint) pie.  Well, sort of.  The crust was too hard and the filling didn't really set up, not a recipe I'd use again.  But if you throw the leftovers in the freezer it's just about right.  Actually, forget the plate, let's just eat it right out of the pan.

My mom's coworker brought us this fresh herb pot, ahhh so fragrant.  Rosemary and oregano have poked through so far, but the label has quite a few others listed.  Let's hope I can keep it alive long enough to see what else comes up.

After dinner we spent the afternoon viewing old family slides from the 60's and 70's.  My aunt and uncle have been diligently sorting boxes and boxes of slides from my grandma's house.  It was fun to see pictures of my dad's side of the family and hear the stories that went along with them.  After a few hours of that we got out the munchies like this Cranberry Orange Party Mix.

Food for Thought: "If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come." -C.S. Lewis

Tuesday's Twist: Cranberry-Orange Party Mix

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

You should probably know that I'm the annoying type of party mix eater who picks out all the corn Chex and leaves the wheat ones behind.  My handfuls just happen to be more strategic, especially if honey roasted peanuts and dried cranberries are involved.  I really did put wheat Chex in this batch, I promise.  I didn't even notice until afterwords that my subconscious selected mostly corn and rice cereal for the bowl above.  I'm also guilty of snitching the pretzels, but let's not start on that.

Tuesday's Twist: Orange-Ginger Caramel Corn

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I found a new way to predict winter storms and snow days.  When Melissa has the urge to make popcorn, a winter storm is coming.  Even though I'd just made these popcorn balls during last week's snow day, I had the urge to make caramel corn.  Not long afterword a winter storm blew in another snow day.  While it's not much in the way of a weather pattern it does warrant a winter storm warning: imminent danger if stranded inside with a bowl of this crunchy orange-ginger caramel corn with cranberries and peanuts.  Proceed at your own risk.

While my popcorn impulses don't necessarily indicate winter storms, they are often times a result of the ever churning storm in my brain.  This recipe randomly jumped out of my brain around Christmas, right after I made gingerbread popcorn.  It came without warning and with such intensity that before I knew it, there was a batch of popcorn at my finger tips.  A friend asked me where I got the idea, and I said  "umm...I don't know?...my head?"  In the aftermath of said storm I happened to scribble down the measurements I used.

Random Recipe Wednesday: Carrot Cake Breakfast Bites

Sometimes I get things a little backwards and eat cookie dough for breakfast.  This time I made what some would call breakfast cookies and ate them for supper, snacks and pretty much everything but breakfast.

I hesitate to even say breakfast cookie, because these really aren't cookies.  Let's call them breakfast bites.  Without any butter, oil or sugar you can not have a cookie.  What we do have is a hearty and satisfying breakfast/snack that leaves you feeling full, healthy and energized.  Dried fruit, nuts and oats are ground in the food processor then mixed with shredded carrot and apple and a mashed banana.  See, it's breakfasty but it's not a cookie.

Fermented Friday: Leftover Oatmeal Turned Bread- Cranberry-Sage or Multigrain

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation.

Guess what happens when make a batch of rather bland slow cooker steel-cut oats one day, and then make Chocolate-Pumpkin Quinoa the next day?  That's right, leftover oatmeal.  I'm not one to let leftovers stand in the fridge, they always turn into something else.  It would be pretty fun to make cookies or granola bars with cooked oats, but we need a little yeast action for Fermented Friday.  If we can make bread with rice why not bread with leftover oatmeal?

Tuesday's Twist: Slow Cooker Steel-Cut Oats

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I think I still have a Thanksgiving food hangover.  So before I jump into my usual overkill of Christmas treats I figured some oatmeal was in order.  Somewhere along the line I bought a large bag of steel-cut oats. Why?  Hmmm, a good question.  I wish I remembered my exact plans for these little grains.  But alas, there they sit in the pantry, nearly untouched.

Steel-cut oats are oat grains that have been cut into 2 to 3 pieces rather than rolled and flattened into flakes. They retain a chewier texture than rolled oats and take between 20 to 40 minutes to cook (depending on you texture preference). Time has been the deal breaker thus far.  I just can't wait that long for breakfast.  So instead of 40 minutes at the stove, I threw them in the slow cooker to cook for 6 hours.  I know.