Leftover Wednesday - Breakfast Hash Curveball, Bagel Pizzas and Pork Fried Rice

I got busy today with leftovers!  We had leftover steak in the fridge and I wanted to make My Breakfast Hash this morning.  Sadly, I discovered we were out of potatoes.  *sniff, sniff*  Hungrily, I decided to clean out the bread cabinet and found 3, plain, mini bagels in the back.  I had made a batch of spaghetti sauce last week and still had half a jar left.  Ding! Ding! Ding! Bagel pizzas for B!  I looked in the fridge's cheese drawer but no mozzarella.  I went looking for mozzarella in the freezer and found something else I didn't know I had - half a bag of Arby's Curly Fries (not from the restaurant.  You can buy them in your grocer's freezer now).  I decided to try substituting the curly fries for the fresh potatoes in my hash.  Then I found an unopened bag of mozzarella for the bagel pizzas.  We also had half of the hubs pork loin from Monday night's dinner, so I assigned him pork fried rice.  Phew!  Here we go....

Opened bag of curly fries, bag of steak leftovers and an onion.  With the seasoned fries, I didn't need salt, pepper nor paprika in this dish!

Since I have so many pictures in this post already, I won't add play-by-play ones of my cooking; I'll just tell you.  I heated vegetable oil in my pan and added a handful of curly fries.  Once they crisped up on both sides, I removed them to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and added half an onion, chopped, to the pan.  While the onions cooked a few minutes, I chopped the curly fries up and added them back into the pan to crisp up some more and let the onion continue to cook.  I chopped the steak added it to the pan and heated it through a couple of minutes.  Here is the finished product!

These are the ingredients I had for pork fried rice.  Slim pickin's this week, I tell ya!  I'm trying to get better at buying less and not buying anything else until the next shopping day.  You get creative!  I only had 1 carrot left, half a bag of frozen peas, a tomato from my mom's garden, a shallot, some garlic, some ginger, the other half of the hash's onion and Wegmans Stir Fry Sauce.  No, I've never had a tomato in fried rice before, but it needed to be used up so we gave it a try. It worked.

The hubs grated the ginger, diced everything else and stir fried in our wok with sesame oil.  Carrot, shallot and onions first, because they take the longest.  Then peas, garlic and ginger.  Removed all that from the pan.  Tossed the pork around to reheat but not to overcook.  Removed from pan.  Threw a few portions of cooked brown rice into the wok and crisped that up, then added 2 eggs and continued to fry.  Once eggs were cooked, he turned off the flame, added veggies and pork back in and added some stir fry sauce to taste.  It was so good!  It made enough to feed both of us for dinner and lunch leftovers for both of us tomorrow.  Leftovers from the leftovers!  I love it!

B had bagel pizzas for dinner.  Not because he does not like pork fried rice; he really does.  But I wanted to use things up and he was thrilled to be eating pizza.  And, as the hubs said, "More leftovers for us!"  This is a shot of the ingredients for the pizza, but I don't have a shot of the result.  I'm sure you can use your imagination, though.  While the pizzas were in the oven, I ran out to chase and catch a full rainbow!  While doing that, the pizzas were done and B chowed down on 4.  I came back and ate one while the hubs was cooking our dinner and the last one fell on the floor.  Totally forgot about a picture.

But, I do have a video of the rainbow to share with you!  It was so big, I could not fit it in a picture.  Not the best quality, as it was on my phone.  Later, a 2nd rainbow appeared above it!  It sure is nice to be reminded of His promise, especially in these hard times.

Leftover Wednesday - Steak Soup

Once again, I found myself with leftover steak this week.  I also had leftover baked potatoes, but they got eaten by someone around here.  I didn't even get to make any breakfast hash with the leftovers.  So, I made Steak Soup for dinner.  Soups are a great way to use up leftovers; I'm a big fan.  I use Simple Comfort Food's Steak and Potato Soup recipe as my base but, as usual, I make modifications.  That's the beauty of cooking - it's an art - and art is subjective.  So we can change anything to our tastes, dietary needs and what's on hand.

SCF's recipe calls for adding the onion and garlic to a hot pan at the same time.  I rarely add garlic to a pan first.  It burns quickly; the smell is unpleasant and the taste will negatively effect your dish.  I'm allergic to olive oil, so I heated half butter, half Wegmans Basting Oil over medium heat and sautéd a whole Walla Walla Sweet onion, diced.  (So excited that the shipment of Walla Wallas arrived from my aunt in Washington!)

While my onions softened in the pan, I scrubbed and chopped the last of the carrots in the house (they were on their last legs so I was glad to use them up).  Because we buy organic carrots, I don't peel them.  A good scrubbing is all they need and you get more good-for-you parts in your food.

While the carrots and onions were enjoying themselves in the pan, I peeled and chopped 3 good-sized white potatoes ($1.99/5# bag, that's why I had white potatoes on hand).  I usually don't peel potatoes, but decided to do it tonight because B does not like the peels and I did not feel like hearing about it.  I threw the potatoes in the pot and put the garlic on top of them.  There is now plenty of cushion between the garlic and the bottom of the pan to save it from burning.

The hubs' tummy is sensitive to cooked tomato products so I don't add the 1/2 cup tomato sauce called for in the original recipe.  Below, you'll see my squirt of tomato paste.  I stirred that in and let it caramelize for a minute to add depth and flava!

Below, I've already stirred in salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.  The author of the original recipe is so right about the worcestershire - it is key to the flavor.

Added in my diced up leftover steak and stirred...

...then added beef stock and brought it to a boil.  I did not add in the full 4 cups of stock, probably 3 or slightly more than 3, just enough to cover everything in the pot.  Since it cooks for a while with the lid on, more liquid will be created.

Yummy Steak Soup served up with fresh, homemade bread; it doesn't get any better than that!

Oh, yes, it does - I had enough for a freezer bag full of leftovers.  :oD