Susan's Sunday Surprise

Sunday Leftovers

I've really started looking forward to cooking brunch on Sundays.  I take my inspiration from a woman I used to work for who has a cooking blog. She is the most amazing fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of cook I've ever run into.  She hasn't posted in a while but if you are an adventurous cook, you ought to check out her site at CSA Mom. 

 

Today I needed to use up a few things in the fridge so I decided to make it all worthy enough to sit on a tortilla shell.  I like flour tortillas and my hubby likes corn, so we keep both in the cupboard.

 

I made a homemade salsa with my ripe cherry tomatoes.  Now you gotta know there is love in that salsa if I'm standing there cutting cherry tomatoes into quarters. Hubby said maybe I should use the food processor next time. No. I wanted it chunky.

 

So the protein here is two hamburgers I had cooked a couple nights ago. I chopped them up and added them to some already sauteed mushrooms and some chopped up red pepper that was hanging out in the fridge.  If I had not had the burgers, I would have scrambled a couple of eggs or perhaps taken some hot links out of the freezer.  Or perhaps it would have been a vegetarian breakfast.

 

The hash browns were the only non-leftover item here.

 

Mmmmm!  My hubby loved breakfast today.  That's just what I was shootin' for!

 

What would you put in your leftover surprise?

Two Ingredient Lemon Bars

SO EASY ... I made these this morning and they are delish!

TWO INGREDIENT LEMON BARS

This is all you need:
 1 box angel food cake mix
 2 cans lemon pie filling

       (I used the 15 oz. cans)
Mix dry cake mix and cans of pie filling together in large bowl. Mixed it by hand.

Pour into greased 9 x 13″ baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (or a little longer) or until top is starting to brown.  Store in fridge. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top before serving.

(I must credit FB with this recipe.)

Sunday Frittata with Aspargus

Six Egg Frittata

Aspargus: In a 10 inch cast iron pan, add cut up bite sized pieces and saute in a little olive or canola oil until tender, about 5 or 6 minutes

To the saute add:
diced red peppers
jalapeno or sorreno pepper
leftover, already cooked Jimmy Dean sausage chopped up.  Heat for just another minute.

In a bowl, scramble 6 eggs with a splash of water. Pour over the top of the saute mix.

Sprinkle your favorite cheese (cheddar, Monteray Jack, Pepper Jack, whatever) on top.

Place the cast iron skillet in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for at least 12 minutes and check for doneness.

OH SO GOOD!!

Serve with whatever fruit you have on hand. 

We like corn bread with breakfast so I baked cornbread to go along with this hearty brunch.

Enjoy!



Susan's Annual Spring "Cake Walk" Cake

Nothing too fancy to do here.  Just bake a regular white cake, or whatever flavor you like best.

 

This year I decided to use some of my raspberry freezer jam by putting a thin layer of it over the top of a thin layer of frosting on the bottom layer of this cake.  Did you get that? Lots of layering going on here.

 

I stuck 3 toothpicks in this cake to keep the top layer from sliding off while I frostedi t.

 

I love, love, love making color coconut for the grass. This is the one and only time of year I ever do it!

 

Just put however much coconut you wish to color into a ziploc bag. Add a drop or five of your favorite food coloring into the bag and squish it together until it's all colored to your liking.

 

I went a little crazy with the Starburst flavored jelly beans but I gotta tell you that my cake got picked before dozens of store-bought cakes during the cake walk. Why buy a cake when you can make one that's way better tasing and oh-so-much-fun to make?

 

If I had done this in a Bundt pan, I would have filled the middle space with a whole bag of jelly beans or perhaps some strawberries or baby peeps or fake daffodils or ..... The ideas are endless. 

 

What would you put on your spring cake?

love, susan

Susan's Saturday Kitchen Sink Stir Fry

Heat up a fry pan and add olive oil or sesame oil or a combination to heat. Add chopped up Lousiana hot links and brown to taste.

Add whatever leftover veggies you want to get rid of before you go grocery shopping.

Ideas:
celery
snow peas
cherry tomatoes
carrots
green onion
jalapenos
olives

Last, but not least, add 1/4 or 1/2 cup of black beans and heat til veggies are cooked to your liking.

Oh my goodness!  I ate this right out of the pan!

I didn't add any seasonings as the hot links are enough.

I'm trying to reduce my carb intake significantly so I'm trying new things that are bulky and hearty without the rice and noodles.  This really hit the spot and I think it would be good with kidney and/or garbanzo beans ... whatever we have left in the fridge from the week.

What would you add?

Hawaiin Chicken Haystacks

Here's what you do:

Cook several chicken breasts (I use frozen ones) in a big fry pan in oil (or butter if you prefer).

 

Remove chicken to cool and cube up in big bite size pieces.

 

In the big pan, add enough oil to heat up and add a couple of tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Brown the flour for a few minutes on medium high heat but watch carefully so you don't burn it.

Add a can of chicken broth, stir and heat to bubbling. Stir in a can of Cream of Chicken soup and heat. Lastly, add a container of sour cream. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Thickness will depend on how well you make the flour roux. You may have to add additional water or milk to make the right consistency. Sometimes it takes practice. Gravy is an art. Don't give up.

 

Add the chicken back into the gravy and heat thoroughly. I transferred it to a heated up slow cooker as I was serving a crowd. You want it to be piping hot when you serve it.

 

The rest of the story:

 

This dish is called "haystacks" because you start with a bed of rice. Pour the chicken and gravy over the rice. Then your guests can add whatever they want from this list of items you've laid out before them:

 

Shredded Colby cheese

Frozen peas

Water chestnuts

Pineapple

Coconut

Cashews

Sliced almonds

Mandarin oranges

Maraschino cherries

Green onions

Celery

Chopped olives

Dry oriental noodles (the kind you put on chow mien)

Red bell pepper

Sugar snap peas (chopped)

Anything else you can think of to put on the table (maybe jalapenos next time?)

 

This dish is over-the-top yummy!  The best part is asking your guests to bring one item to add to the buffet line.  Fun fun fun!!