Tag Archives: leftovers

Saturday Things

Posted on January 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

Hi Friends! How’s your weekend going? Mine has been quiet and relaxing – exactly what the doctor ordered!

Surprisingly, I woke up much earlier than expected yesterday morning. It must have been from a quiet Friday night. I was able to be productive so I wasn’t complaining!

Breakfast was a mini yogurt parfait using up the last 2 spoonfuls of yogurt with some blueberries and pomegranite arils. I also had an English muffin, egg white, and the last quarter of my pomelo from Wednesday.

I did some things around the apartment and then was struck by the strong urge to go for a walk. I had a couple of errands to run so I bundled up and hit the sidewalks. I ended my little stroll at Whole Foods for my weekly grocery shop and headed home.

Lunch utilized more leftovers – salad with roasted veggies and a roasted red pepper hummus, red pepper spread, and Swiss cheese sandwich. There were also some nibbles of random things :)

In the afternoon I got the urge to go walking again but didn’t want to head to the gym. Once again I bundled up and took myself walking for well over an hour, trying out a new exciting purchase for myself :)

I babysat again last night and am up early again today to take care of a couple more errands and chores before brunch.

Do you hibernate and stick to the indoors or get out and enjoy the cold winter weather?

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Bouncing Back… like a Brick

Posted on November 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

After diving back into work yesterday, I was really looking forward to getting home for the evening. I had to be up at 5am yesterday and on 4 hours of sleep, was fading fast.

After quickly unpacking I ran to the grocery store to stock my bare fridge and spent the night catching up on some things. I should have gone to bed at 8:15pm when I got tired but instead tricked myself into staying up until midnight, which led to a little over-tired tantrum. Whoops!

When my alarm went off this morning to Christmas music, I was quick to turn it off but less than eager to get up. I guess I need more sleep! I didn’t bounce back from yesterday like I thought I would.

In the mood for a simple breakfast, I had hot cereal with cinnamon and blueberries mixed in. Peanut butter was drizzled on top as well as a crushed honey roasted pecan which I brought back from Dallas. Mmmm!

Lunch was leftover Turkey Chili with some corn bread and brussel sprouts. I wish I had brought back more chili but might just have to whip some up for myself later this week!

Are you sick of the corn bread stuffing yet? I’ll be posting my mom’s recipe soon and don’t worry, I still have more in my fridge. An intervention might be necessary! Just not yet…

I had a few afternoon meetings and snacked on a large apple in between. After work I did a quick Trader Joe’s run and came home to start on part of dinner. I roasted up a pan of veggies: carrots, acorn squash, broccoli, and green beans. Roasting up veg is my go-to quick and easy meal option plus the leftovers make packing lunch easy!

I had veggies, a bit of turkey, and baked beans with some brown rice for dinner.

I am now taking care of a few things and then getting ready for bed. I will be in bed by 9pm, right after Glee. Biggest Loser starts an hour later tonight and I am exhausted and know I need the sleep.

Christmas music on the radio – love it or hate it? On how little sleep do you become utterly useless?

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Posted in breakfast, dinner, food prep, lunch, Uncategorized

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Thanksgiving Leftovers Recipe, Part 1

Posted on November 28, 2010 | 2 Comments

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my post on Thursday, but my mom lovingly cooks 2 turkeys for Thanksgiving. She roasts one and brines one. Both are good but the brined turkey is the crown pleaser year after year.

Knowing this, I’ve been scheming this recipe since Wednesday night when the roasted turkey came out of the oven. It’s a great way to use up leftover turkey, veggies, stock, and also utilize some pantry items. The prep time was about 20 minutes and cook time about 40. I’d recommend more for a thicker, deeper flavored chili but this recipe definitely didn’t disappoint.

Leftover Turkey Chili

  • 2 handfuls of baby carrots, chopped
  • 4 celery stalks, chopped
  • 5 garlic cloves, roughly minced
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed
  • 1 can corn, rinsed
  • 1 diced bell pepper
  • 1.5c portabello mushroom slices, roughly chopped
  • turkey, cut into small pieces (I used white meat, maybe 6oz or so)
  • 2c vegetable broth
  • 1 can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 1 T tomato paste
  • 1 small can sodium-free tomato sauce
  • ~2c water
  • bay leaf
  • oregano
  • basil
  • paprika
  • dash of BBQ sauce

In a non-stick sprayed pot, saute your carrots, celery, and garlic on medium heat until the veggies begin to soften. Add splashes of vegetable broth to help with this. After 5-7 minutes add the rest of your ingredients and bring to a boil. Stir and lower heat to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and let simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chili is done when the vegetables have softened and the mix has thickened up.

I enjoyed my chili alongside some cornbread stuffing and was in heaven.

My dad went back for seconds = a true success!

What’s your favorite recipe utilizing Thanksgiving leftovers?

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Posted in cooking, healthy, new recipes, Uncategorized

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Treadmall not Treadmill

Posted on November 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Thankfully there was no intense Thanksgiving “hangover” when I woke up this morning. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits still. And it appears that Cody might be the most exhausted out of everyone!

I mentioned making breakfast and my dad requested one of whatever I was having. Of course I had to whip up hot cereal! For 2 servings:

  • 1/2c Bob’s Red Mill gluten free hot cereal
  • 2/3c almond milk
  • 1c plus a few splashes of water
  • 1T chia seeds
  • cinnamon
  • generous 1/2c fresh blueberries

I brought the milk and water to boil and then stirred in the cereal and turned down the heat. After a few minutes of stirring I added in the chia seeds and cinnamon. A couple of minutes later I added the berries and a bit more water to make the cereal creamier and stirred until the berries softened and the grains thickened up.

I topped both bowls with a drizzle of peanut butter and a spoonful of leftover cranberry sauce (that has pecans and mandarin oranges in it). Mmmm – this bowl was great and my dad was pretty impressed with the flavors!

We then headed out to do some Black Friday shopping. We don’t do the hardcore 4am wake up calls but for the last couple of years we’ve found our way to the mall to take advantage of some sales. My dad suggested a day off from the gym and I concurred, saying we’d get our exercise from walking the mall. Not one to miss a beat, he replied he’d rather be on a treadmill than doing the treadMALL thing but he got dragged along anyways :)

I made a to-go bowl of leftovers: brussels, cauliflower, acorn squash, cornbread stuffing and a drop of cranberry sauce.

After a few hours of walking the mall and popping into 2 other stores we wrapped up our adventure at Whole Foods. While picking up a few items we also got a little hot bar snack since we were hungry once again. I got kale, golden beets, some lentil salad with onion and cranberries, and some black beans.

Cody and I just got back from a walk and it might be nap and TV time for a bit with the fam :)

Do you get excited for Black Friday? What do you do instead if you avoid the malls?

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Posted in lunch, shopping, Uncategorized, vacation

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