Have Leftovers Got You Down?

I despise throwing away anything that at one point had been perfectly good food.

Kenny and I decided to forgo our Costco membership this year. Although we had mastered the art of checking out without buying the kitchen sink we would still end up with too much food that would eventually land in the trash. We called these endeavors "hands only" shopping trips. Pretty effective for shopping Costco on a budget; although, we still ended up with food we wouldn't ordinarily buy. For instance, we currently have a whiskey soaked English cheddar which has been sitting in the back of the fridge for about a month. Its pretty gross if you ask me; unfortunately, about a pound remains.

I approach eating all my groceries in two ways. The first is by cooking meals for "two." I have a great cookbook created by Eating Well Magazine, called Eating Well Serves Two. It is probably my most used cook book ever, surprising as it was published only about six months ago. So far my favorite meals have been Caramelized Onion & Green Olive Pizzas, Chicken & Fennel Flatbread, and my favorite, Fennel Sauerkraut with Sausage & Potatoes. I have yet to try a disappointing recipe. Eating Well is also a great magazine that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in learning about and cooking healthy cuisine. In the winter we fell in love with the Oven Barbecued Brisket, and the Butternut Squash and Leek Lasagna.

My second, and far less successful, method of preventing grocery spoilage is to eat the same thing over and over again until gone. This really doesn't work out very well. I eat too much of one thing, get tired of it, forget about it, discover it moldy in the back of the fridge a month later.

Luckily after buying four pounds of salmon for Mother's Day and having quite a lot of it left over, I devised a way to make use of it quickly along with a slew of other ingredients hidden in the produce drawer. The salmon already had a light spattering of Soy Vay Island Teriyaki marinade so I went with an Asian theme when choosing ingredients. The end result was delicious, so good I even ate the leftovers of these leftovers cold over lettuce with some vinaigrette.

Monique's Leftover Salmon Cakes
Makes 6 servings

• 3 1/2 cups cooked salmon
• 1 large shallot minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 1/8 cup cilantro
• 1/2 cup scallions
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (regular are okay too, Panko are Japanese and coarser than regular bread crumbs)
• 2 extra large eggs
• Extra Panko to coat patties
• Canola Oil
• Lemon for garnish

Break the cooked salmon up into little bits with a fork. Add shallot, ginger, tamari, cilantro, scallions, Panko, and eggs to salmon and mix together.

Pour extra Panko onto a plate. Form mixture into six balls (they should fit into your palm), then lay in the Panko and smoosh down to a patty about 3/4" thick.

Heat Canola oil in a pan over med-high heat. Cook patties in the oil turning when golden, about 3 minutes per side. Unless you have a humongous pan, you'll probably have to cook in batches. When you remove the browned patties lay on a papertowel to soak up excess oil.

Serve over greens or on a hamburger bun.

Enjoy!

Nothing says springtime like muffins

Muffins?

It was a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz today. I suspect the weather was up to 80 degrees, pretty warm if you ask me. It certainly feels like summer is around the corner. So why the desire the crank up the oven to 375 degrees in an effort to make a not so refreshing treat? It's thanks to the newest member of my cookbook collection: Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

The first food blog I ever came across was Heidi's 101 cookbooks, and I've been going back to her blog daily ever since its discovery. I haven't spent any time with her previous cookbook, Cook 1.0 , but her new book is gorgeous. She incorporates stunning photography with delicious recipes, with a focus on natural and whole ingredients. It's the first cookbook I've wanted to read cover to cover as it's packed with great information about incorporating natural and whole foods into your cooking. Some of the ingredients I've already discovered while working in the natural food industry, like agave syrup; others are a bit more esoteric, and I suspect, pretty difficult to find. She does have a list of resources in the appendix for anyone who has trouble finding ingredients at their local grocery or natural food store. I'm looking forward to making her Risotto-Style Barley, Crema de Guacamole soup, Gnocchi alla Romana, and her Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens. I'm eager to recommend her book to everyone, especially those who haven't jumped into the world of natural foods yet.

So back to the muffins. The black bananas on my fridge were begging to be baked, so I gave them what they wanted. I've truly only baked a handful of times, usually trying banana bread, or a derivative. I've found in my limited experience that it is extremely difficult to get the right amount of wet ingredients to ensure a a moist end product. I was optimistic about the mixture of butter, bananas, and yogurt in Heidi's creation. It seemed destined for a successful end product. And sure enough I ended up with muffins with a nice moist interior, but subtly golden brown on the outside.

I did improvise quite a bit when it came to the ingredients. Choosing to be frugal, I opted for the three year old, unsealed bag of Unbleached All Purpose Flour thats been hiding in my cabinet (I chose to ignore the purpose of the chapter which was to incorporate a variety of whole grains into cooking.) I used salted butter, Greek yogurt instead of regular old plain, and omited cupcake papers. On the flip side I was happy to incorporate organic walnuts that I purchased at my local farmer's market, use some of the vanilla paste I bought at Trader Joe's, and take advantage of the sample of organic cane sugar I received at my last job. I do eat a good amount of all-natural and organic products, but at this point I'm still using up ingredients I have on hand exchanging them for better quality organic products whenever the opportunity arises, and in some cases, like the poor flour, the opportunity doesn't arise frequently.

Either way the end product turned out well. The batter base seems to me a good template for more varieties of muffin. Next time I would probably try the same recipe sans Espresso powder, with the addition of other fruits and spices. I found the espresso was fairly subtle, so don't expect this to replace your daily coffee craving; although, I would still recommend this to anyone looking for a yummy breakfast muffin.

Here is Heidi's recipe with my own instructions (I'm still trying to figure out copyright laws, so bear with me. . .):

ESPRESSO BANANA MUFFINS

Makes 12 Muffins

• 2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts (toast in the oven about 4 minutes at 350 degrees)
• 1 tablespoon fine espresso powder
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup natural cane sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line your muffin tin with papers.

Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sea salt, 3/4 cup of the walnuts, and espresso powder. Set aside.

Cream the butter using a mixer, or good ole' fashioned hand mixing. Add sugar, continue to cream. Stir in eggs. Mix in the vanilla, yogurt (my favorite plain yogurt is Greek style), and mashed bananas.

Pour wet ingredients into dry mixture, and combine just until mixed through.

Spoon mixture into the muffin tin.

Bake for 25 minutes, or longer. Check for doneness with a toothpick (it comes out clean when it's finished baking). Let the muffins rest in their tin on the counter for about 5 minutes, then take them out and rest on a rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy for breakfast, or anytime you need a little pick-me-up.