We're a good team

As part of our resolution to stay in, DJ and I have been trying to make meals at home. Yesterday, we whipped this together using leftover marinara and wonton wrappers. DJ made the salad and dressing and I made the pasta and fried raviolis.

Penne with marinara and cheese topping made from cottage, parm, and a Italian cheese blend.

Fried "raviolis" made with the cheese topping blend and wonton wrappers

Sometimes eating in is better than eating out. I love it because we get to work together to make a great meal and then sit together to enjoy eating it.

chili casserole

Hello!

Man have we been busy. DJ and I had our first Christmas together as husband and wife. We also have been keeping up on keeping things homemade and simple. One of our new years resolutions as a couple is to eat more at home. So far we have been doing really well, keeping our restaurant visits down to once a week. This also gives us more opportunity to come up with new recipes!

One our new favorites is Chili Casserole. We take DJ's chili/rice and beans and layer it with cheese in a casserole or lasagna pan. We spread Jiffy cornbread batter (with extra cheese and garlic) on top and bake it until the cornbread is golden brown. The result is a beautiful dish that we eat all week!

golden brown goodness

layer detail

Black Bean Burger

DJ and I love burgers. I think it may be the one thing that keeps him eating meat. Vices aside, I have been wanting to make a healthy alternative to our not-so-healthy favorite. I looked online for the how-to and compiled my own recipe according to what we already had. This is how it turned out.

1 can of black beans rinsed

1 slice of bread toasted

1/2 tomato diced

2 small carrots diced

1 egg

1/3 onion diced

cumin, pepper, garlic

oil for cooking

I first put the toasted bread in the food processor to make bread crumbs. Then I processed the veggies with a couple of pulses to get

them into small pieces. Next, I poured in the beans, egg, and spices. Again, I processed the mixture until it was together, but not a paste. You want to have some texture, so you could even mix in some whole beans after you have finished processing. I formed 6 small patties and fried them in our skillet. I would suggest refrigerating them before you cook them because mine kinda fell apart. However, they were so tasty. I ate mine with cheese and a spicy pepper mayo on a potato roll.

We kept the leftovers in the fridge and ate them all week. I am sure you could freeze them as an alternative to store-bought veggie burgers. These are cheaper and in most cases tastier.

here is the newest incarnation with bell peppers!

Happy eating.

Leftovers Pizza

Lately, DJ and I have been very busy, (hence the scarcity of posts) but we still make time to have dinner together as much as possible. We usually make a couple of big dinners on the weekend and then reuse the leftovers during the week. One really good way is making pizza!

We buy the wholewheat large pitas for the crust. You could always make your own pizza crust, but we find that this saves time. This week we had a pizza with left over balsamic chicken breast, homegrown tomato, homemade pesto, garlic, and mozzarella. The toppings vary with the leftovers, but we always seem to have some kind of tomato or sauce and cheese on hand to make these.

One tip if you are going to use pita for the crust. You should drizzle the shell with olive oil and any desired spices and bake it a couple of minutes before adding the topping. This makes a crispier crust.

Every week I love being creative in using leftovers. It makes me feel good in making a tasty meal and not letting good food go to waste.

Happy cooking!