Leftovers. For the longest time, leftovers were like a bad four letter word to me. I hated them and in a lot of ways, I still do hate them and it's a struggle for me because I hate to see good food go to waste. The thought of taking the prior day's food and reheating it in the microwave just really doesn't appeal to me. So how have I overcome my hatred for leftovers? I find ways to repurpose them so that it doesn't feel like we are eating the same thing from the night before. The dolsot bibimbap from last week was a great example of repurposing leftovers. Typically, you wouldn't find me reheating grilled beef of any kind but when the grilled short ribs get repurposed by dicing the meat and throwing it in a hot skillet helps to bring out the juiciness again and allow the fat to re-melt and make the perfect topping to the bibimbap.
Tonight was a planned leftover night for me. It's even on the menu that I wrote on the wall for today. We had a picnic at our house for our community yesterday and we supplied the main dishes and the neighbors all brought sides and desserts. The main course included grilled bbq chicken (that is first cooked in butter and beer before throwing on the grill w/ your favorite BBQ sauce) and also pulled pork. The pulled pork is the star of my leftover repurpose tonight. One of my favorite things to do with leftover pulled pork is to make a completely different meal out of it. Yesterday, we had the pulled pork as slider sandwiches (King's Hawaiian rolls, of course) and I just didn't want sliders again. It felt like the pulled pork was begging to be made in to pulled pork nachos and that is exactly what it became. I crisped up tortilla chips in the oven and topped the chips with shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheese and then the fun began! The nachos took shape, as I piled them high with shredded iceberg lettuce, the pulled pork, salsa, more cheese and (my personal favorite) Pancho's cheese sauce. To finish them off, I drizzled a little of our favorite bbq sauce from Memphis (Rendezvous) and a little bit of ranch dressing. The result? Pulled Pork Perfection (yes, I sure did make that a proper noun - it's THAT good). What is your favorite way to repurpose leftovers? Share and provide a little inspiration for the rest of us! Here's a pic of the nachos and a snapshot of just some of the food from our community picnic.
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What is the best thing you ever ate? It seems like a question that we should be able to quickly and easily answer but I have learned it's not that simple. A couple of months ago, while my folks were visiting, we were watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on tv and it sparked the conversation of what were some of the best things that WE'VE ever had to eat. I felt like we had to put the best foods that we've had in to categories (best Italian, best dessert, best Asian, etc) but when you strip the categories and simply ask yourself what is the BEST thing you ever ate, it's hard to get it down to just one.
After thinking long and hard about the best thing I ever ate, I think I finally have it! I've had a lot of really good food over the years; great steaks, great pasta, and even great salads but the best thing that I ever ate has got to be Dolsot Bibimbap. I first had it at a Korean restaurant in Annandale, VA and to say it checks all of the boxes is an understatement. You can find bibimbap on most menus at Korean restaurants but not all have "dolsot" bibimbap. On its own, bibimbap is essentially a bowl of rice topped with a variety of veggies (great if you are looking for meatless Monday) or you can order it topped with meat to help add a little something extra to the veggies. My favorite is topped with Kalbi. To complete the dish, it's topped with a spicy sauce made with gochujang (Korean red pepper paste). So what makes "dolsot" bibimbap different? Well the cooked rice is crisped in a stone pot (aka dolsot) that gives the rice a crispy brown bottom and then all of the toppings are added. When the dish is brought to your table, it's served in the same stone pot that the rice is crisped in and the pot usually sits on a wood plate because the stone pot is too hot to touch. You can hear the rice sizzling as it makes its way to the table and suddenly you realize just how hungry you are, as the nutty smell of the rice wafts across the room! The crispiness of the rice, the freshness of the veggies, the melt-in-your mouth shortribs and the heat of the sauce all combined together is one of the best bites you will ever eat. We like to top our bibimbap with a dippy egg that helps to create this amazing sauce when you cut in to the egg and it ties the whole thing together. I will fully admit that I am not the greatest at making dippy eggs so Paul gets called up to the Big Leagues to be on egg duty. The dish gives you a little bit of everything in each and every bite and has something to satisfy just about anybody's cravings, which is how it earned the top spot on my list! Here is the recipe that I use for my bibimbap but I add the kalbi (short ribs). I almost always make dolsot bibimbap the night after making Korean BBQ. I will purposely make extra short ribs and then use the leftovers the next night for the bibimbap. I also love this recipe because you can tweak the toppings to our liking. I typically stick with cucumbers, carrots, spinach, and mushrooms but I think this is a great dish to use up whatever veggies you have on hand! www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/judy-joo/biggest-and-best-bibimbap-2399792 If you don't have the stone pot, you can do it without crisping the rice or even try crisping it in a wok (that is what we did before we had an extra dolsot when we would make this dish for guests). What is the best thing that YOU ever ate? I'd love to hear! It's that time of year where you can smell your neighbors grilling and even if you just had a full meal, you will suddenly find yourself hungry again. I could have just eaten a huge steak dinner and then get a waft of someone else's grill and my stomach will start to growl and my nose will sniff towards the smell. Tonight's meal was one that would make your neighbors sniff and ask what's for dinner.
Pineapple, mango, chicken, rum, cilantro, jalapeno....I really don't know if the flavors could be any fresher than the kebabs we had for dinner tonight. This is one I've been making for years, out of the Cooking Light cookbook that I've mentioned a few times (see picture below of the cookbook literally coming apart at the seams...if that can give you an idea of how often I turn to this book!). Everything about it screams summer to me. The glaze is a mix of pineapple juice, rum, jalapenos, lime zest and cilantro with a little bit of apple cider vinegar. The kebabs of pineapple, mango, and chicken are simply seasoned with salt and pepper and then grilled while brushing the mouth-watering glaze all over them. I added a red bell pepper to the kebabs to add a little color and to say we had our veggies too! I save some of the glaze to pour over at the end and the result is pretty close to perfection. The pineapple and mango manage to become even sweeter from the char of the grill and nearly burst in your mouth during that first bite. This will make you coming back for more (and don't forget, it came from Cooking Light so it MUST be good for you! LOL). Make this dish for your family and they will all be thanking you! (Recipe is in pictures below) What is your favorite grocery store shortcut? (it's okay to admit that you use them!)
I have no problem admitting that there are certain grocery store shortcuts that I will allow myself that help to make my life a little easier. After being away for over a week and being in desperate need of groceries but without a chance to make it to the store yet, I raided my freezer for dinner tonight, in search of one of my go-to grocery store shortcuts. What did I find, you ask? Marinated spicy Korean pork shoulder! When we make the trip to H-Mart, I make it a point to stock up on the freshly marinated meats (bulgogi, pork shoulder, pork belly, chicken thighs) and then I bring them home and vacuum seal and freeze them for nights just like tonight! This grocery store short cut made cooking a breeze tonight! All I had to do was thaw the pork, cook it until brown and crispy, and cook some rice in the rice cooker. Speaking of not having time to go to the grocery store, I made the list of what I wanted to make for dinner this week but didn't know when I'd find time to actually go to the grocery store since we just got home from a trip on Sunday evening and it was back to work early Monday morning. While mentioning to my co-worker how empty my fridge was and that it was in need of a refill, he mentioned InstaCart. While it wasn't the first time I've heard of it, it was the first time that I thought it might be a good time to try it out. I quickly downloaded the app and added everything I needed to make this week's meals, skeptical the entire time, wondering if they would actually get my order right. Less than two hours later, they arrived at my door! The app was great! While they were shopping, if something I wanted was out of stock, I would get an alert and be presented with an option to replace the item. Out of my entire list of 35+ items, there was only one that they didn't have (lasagana noodles) and that was okay since I wasn't going to be using them until next way anyway. Will I use the service all of the time? No, but that is only because I am one of those crazy people who actually enjoy going to the grocery store. Will I use them when I'm in a time crunch? Absolutely! Here's tonight's grocery store shortcut (and my dinner lifesaver when we had nothing else to eat)! Spicy Korean pork shoulder and rice. YUM! We've all had it at some point in our life...hamburger helper. You remember...the box with the creepy hand that only had four fingers but we never really knew why his fifth finger was missing. Straight out of the box, filled who salt and who else knows what! Well tonight's meal is a throw back to hamburger helper but it's taken on an all new grown-up flavor! Skip the box and make this with a few staple ingredients that you probably already have on hand! The ground beef is swapped for Italian sausage, the penne is cooked in beef broth (use low sodium to help control the salt!) and evaporated milk is used to add that little creaminess. This is a great weeknight meal and is sure to please both the grown-ups and the kids!
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AuthorWife, food and wine lover, design enthusiast! Join me as we discover new ways to cook and make our houses feel like homes! |