Holiday stress? No way, Jose!

Check out this article about ways to cut down on holiday stress, costs, and cooking. Yours truly contributed a few thoughts.

leftovers to hold you over

I’m always up for a culinary challenge. I mean, who am I kidding? I’m not Top Chef material, here. If you gave me wagyu beef, skittles and canned pinto beans you’re not getting a masterpiece from me.

But I do like to think that I’m rather sharp at taking regular refrigerator items and random leftovers and turning them into something fun and tasty.

So I started thinking about all the things you can make out of….just about anything. Steak becomes stir fry, chicken becomes cobb salad, risotto becomes risotto balls. Here’s what I’ve got. Please feel free to add your own:

Fried Rice- if you’ve got celery, carrots, onion, rice and an egg (and you know, oil and soy sauce), you’ve got fried rice. You can add any meat or other veggie, too.

Omelets- eggs taste great with just about anything. When I met my husband, he scored big (ahem) with a ranch dressing, maple syrup and cheese omelet that he claims was his bachelor stand by. I know, it sounds gross. But it worked. (and look at us now)

Wraps- toss lettuce with cheese, veggies, leftover chicken, rice or anything else and smother it into a tortilla. Or if you want to fool yourself into thinking your being “healthy”, take the same ingredients and put them over the lettuce…you’re eating a salad…oh, and cut those tortillas into triangles, brush them with oil and salt and broil them for a few minutes. They’re perfect with the salad.

Pureed soup- any veggie can be cut up, mixed with chicken stock, cooked like hell, and then pureed into a gorgeous soup with a food processor. I’ve tried zucchini, peas, butternut squash, white beans, lettuce…

Much love for Food Buzz

If you haven’t checked out foodbuzz.com please do. You will not regret it. This site is packed full of passionate foodies, educated chefs and just plain good people. Last night I met a group of them at Central, Michel Richard’s more casual take on French food. What could be better than tender lamb shank, red wine and hours of conversation with like-minded food obsessors?

Nada.

Cheers to my new friends!