beans and greens and more leftovers

This is comfort food to me. You can use any bean you like and any green veggie with it. I have particularly enjoyed this dish with kale or broccoli. This is one of those dishes that tastes like more than the sum of its parts.

You will need: beans, greens, a lemon, a clove of garlic, a pinch of cayenne and a handful of grated parmesan, and some cooked grains like rice or quinoa.

Chop up your greens into bite size pieces. Don't forget to rinse them well! I once was surprised by a bright green little (live!) worm on my fork as I was about to bite into a piece of organic marinated broccoli. I ran around the room crying and gagging as my family laughed and laughed. Scarred for life now.

Here's the flavour section of the dish...grated parm, chopped garlic, lemon zest, cayenne and the juice of that lemon I zested. Booyeah!

Start by quickly stir frying the broccoli in a little olive oil. When it turns bright green, add the garlic and cook until slightly tender, or however you like your veg. Add the beans, lemon zest and juice, cayenne and stir fry that shizz up. When it looks ready add the cooked grain and parm and mix well.

That's it! Enjoy.

What do you do when the fridge needs emptying! That's right, have a leftover party challenge! What I had left in the fridge: out dated organic goat cheese, stale bread, 3 zucchinis, boiled carrots, mashed potatoes and beets.

What I made: stuffed zucchini with goat cheese and buttered thyme crumble, potato carrot soup and balsamic roasted beets.

Good times! The soup was pretty impressive because it did not taste like mashed potatoes and boiled carrots one bit. I embellished these humble ingredients by frying an onion and some grated ginger and garlic in some coconut oil. Then I added some veg stock, salt, pepper and curry powder and threw in the leftover veg. Simmer that and when it smells great blend it. Done!

The zukes were prepared by hollowing out the seedy middles and stuffing them with goat cheese and bread crumbs that I had lightly toasted with butter and fresh thyme. Sprinkle that magic on top, cover with foil and bake until soft.

fun with leftovers

Sometimes I wish I had the time to cook but I don't. Sometimes I can't be bothered to cook at all. And then I remember that I am hungry so I check the freezer. Hooray! Frozen leftover time! By making extra batches of pasta sauce you can have a very good meal in no time at all. I like to freeze tofu dishes, as the tofu gets super spongy once frozen and thawed. The texture is great in curries and sauces.

So here is some tofu veggie pasta sauce jazzed up with some frozen veg and quickly fried in a wee bit of olive oil. So good and so quick!

To make freezer food more exciting, it's best to pair it with something fresh. We found this delicious fresh flatbread crust and I embellished it with a mix of butter, minced garlic, olive oil and pesto and slices of dying zucchini on top.


Gourmet garlic bread I tells ya.

It never hurts to include salad and wine with almost every meal.