Gleanings of Wheat

The problem So last night I put some chicken breasts in the fridge to defrost. After lunch today I was faced with a dilemma - I had some lettuce, tomatoes, & green bell peppers that needed to be used within the next few days or risk them going to waste. I pulled up Food Network , and Martha Stewart's website to try and find something to make. Meanwhile I sent out a tweet asking for ideas and I also pulled My Fridge Food , plugged in some ingredients and started reading. I take food going to waste pretty seriously. I had a few things that looked interesting and with some encouragement I decided to go the wrap route...but instead of going and buying tortillas I decided to use the lettuce as the thing to hold everything together. They say a picture is worth a thousand words How I got it Dice two chicken breasts, a tomato, and a bell pepper. Slice a potato and a cucumber. Mince a clove of garlic. Season liberally with salt & pepper. Heat a skillet with olive oil ...

Ok, I did this dinner like a week ago, I just keep forgetting to post. I was feeling incredibly lazy when I did this, and it turned out great. I had some frozen (uncooked) jumbo shrimp in the freezer that I wanted to use up, but I didn't really have anything that felt like it went with it. Problem, yes? Not for super me! I ended up dicing one small onion, mincing two cloves of garlic & browning them in a skillet. Then I added sliced green bell peppers and cooked that for a few minutes. Pull it out and keep it near. Add the shrimp to the same skillet, sprinkle with lemon juice, once the shrimp were almost opacque I added the pepper, garlic, onion mixture back to the skillet. Meanwhile I cooked up some white rice. Once everything was done I threw it all on a plate with some lettuce & topped that with oilve oil & vinegar dressing. Super yum, guys, super yum. AND it looked pretty. And it only took about 20 minutes. Sorry about the lame picture, I couldn't find my...

3 or 4 links of Italian sausage 4 1/2 tbsp evoo 1 med eggplant, peeled & cut into 3/4in dice 2 small zucchini, halved & sliced 1 large onion, quartered & thinly sliced 1 medium green bell pepper, halved & sliced 2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 c canned diced tomatoes 1 tbsp + 1 tsp tomato paste salt & pepper 2 tbsp chopped parsley 3 tbsp chopped basil Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Puncture the links in several places & cook them at a low boil until they are no longer pink in the center - about 14 minutes. Transfer to plate & slice them into 1/4in rounds. Over medium high heat, warm 3 tbsp of evoo in a large, deep skillet. Add the eggplant & zucchini & saute them until they are lightly browned but not soft - about 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate. In the same skillet warm the remaining oil. Add the onion & bell pepper & saute them for 3 minutes. Stir in garlic & sausage & saute for 3 more minutes. Stir in tomatoe...

I planted one strawberry plant and one raspberry plant this year in addition to my hordes of pepper and tomato plants - well Julianne and I just ate the first two ripe strawberries! They were tiny, I really should have taken a photo before consuming them, probably between the size of a nickle and a quarter but very yummy! I'm still waiting for the tomato and pepper plants to start kicking butt. Hopefully soon.

Want a simple marinade with lots of flavor? Try extracting the juice from 3 or 4 limes and let your chicken breasts sit in that for a couple of hours. I then grilled the chicken with some tomatoes and served it along with the Rice & Cheese stuffed peppers and a nice spread of fresh fruit.

Here is a quick and easy recipe if you don't want any meat involved. If you wanted to do a Mexican themed spin off you could use some sort of salsa with Mexican mix cheese on top, and if you really wanted to spice it up you could put some jalepanos in there somewhere. 4 large bell peppers 8 oz. tomato sauce 8 oz. shredded cheese box of rice Cook rice according to package directions. Cut off pepper tops, and remove the seeds. Fill peppers with rice. Top with tomato sauce and cheese. Place in a baking dish; cover with foil; and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

I got this one from Food Network too. I forgot to pick up more sun-dried tomatoes so they lacked a bit of color, but over all I was thrilled. I made enough of the filling that I was able to fill some green bell peppers with it in addition to the portobellos. It was a light, easy meal. Very nice. Cooking spray 2 cooked chicken breast halves, diced 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and undrained 1/2 cup diced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, with 1 tablespoon oil from jar 2 tablespoons seasoned dry bread crumbs 4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with coo king spray. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, broccoli (with liquid from package), sun-dried tomatoes with oil from jar, and bread crumbs. Toss to combine. Arrange mushroom caps, stem side up, on prepared baking sheet. Fill each mushroom cap with chicken mixture. Roast 20 minutes, until filling is golden brown and mushrooms are tender.

I picked up some basa at the grocery a couple days ago - figured we'd try something new. Next, I hunted down this simple recipe. This fish is like the chicken of fish. It could taste like anything with the right seasoning, it doesn't have that distinct "fishy" taste as some other breeds thus making it perfect for people (like my children and mother) who don't normally like fish. 4 basa steaks olive oil black pepper lemon juice 4 oz (100g) butter handful chopped parsley Take the butter and mix into it the chopped parsley, a dash of lemon and some pepper. Roll into a sausage shape and leave it in the fridge whilst you cook your fish. Heat the grill, line and grease your grill pan. Place the basa fish steaks about 4" (10cm) from the heat and grill for about 5 minutes either side - brushing with oil to prevent them drying out. Serve immediately with a portion of the parsley and lemon butter on top. **Notes** I also threw a sliced (length wise) cucumber and a sli...

I like peppers. I have a lot of them. I have to be creative because even a food you love, if eaten every day in the same way for a month, can become boring. So I experimented. They turned out pretty well, though I think I'd like them better with some sort of seasoning in the beef. Bell peppers, tops sliced off 1 lb ground beef 1 box Rice A Roni Spanish Rice First, start the rice according to the package directions. Next, over medium-high heat brown the beef and drain. While those are cooking grab your bell peppers, slice the tops off them and remove the seeds. Preheat the oven to 350. Once the rice and the beef are finished cooking mix them together and scoop the mixture into the peppers. Place the tops back on the peppers and then put them in a baking pan in the oven for about 20 minutes. **Notes: You might want to try adding some seasoning to the beef, maybe some garlic, or even some taco seasoning. Also, when I made this the peppers ended up having a bit of liquid in them, I...

This was our Labor Day meal. The thyme and rosemary gave the butter just an extra hint of flair that I enjoyed a lot. It was a nice change from our typical grilled steak for Labor day, and was about half the cost of what it would have been to go out to eat. And we have left overs. 1/4 (1/2 stick) c. butter 1/4 c. olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. rosemary 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. Alaska King crab legs; thawed if necessary** Thickly sliced zucchini, red, bell pepper and eggplant*** Melt butter with olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, then stir in garlic, thyme and rosemary. Remove from heat. Place crab legs shell side down on a well oiled, clean grill over a medium hot fire. Grill about 4 minutes brushing with butter, until crab is heated through thoroughly. Place veggies on grill, brush with butter and cook, turning occasionally, until cooked through. Remaining Provencal butter may be used as dipping sauce. 4 servings. **I made three pounds and still did the...