My Culinary Achilles Heel

I am a sucker for a runny egg yolk. Not only do I love over-easy eggs for breakfast, but there aren't many savory main dishes that can't be improved by the inclusion of a runny egg. Salads, burgers, pizza... you name it. If a dish includes fried or poached egg on top, I'm most likely ordering it.

There's just something so sensual about taking a perfectly cooked egg, poking it with your fork or knife, and watching that golden liquid ooze out onto your plate.

It's the same kind of pleasure one gets from taking that first crack at the sugared crust of creme brulee.

What kinds of things are you a sucker for on a restaurant menu?

Inspired by other bloggers, I bring to you.... MacGyver Meals

Last weekend, Beth Fish Reads wrote about Desperation Cooking, which she referred to as

"when the thought of dirtying up the kitchen, chopping veggies, and waiting for flavors to develop in a simmering pot are just to too much to bear."

But this week, I'd like to talk about a different kind of Desperation Cooking, something I'd like to refer to as: MacGyver Meals.

Meaning, by the time you realize you have a virtually empty fridge and freezer, you must, in desperation, improvise and create something delicious to eat for dinner.

But what does MacGyver have to do with this? Well, if you remember anything about that old show from the 80s (besides Richard Dean Anderson's ability to make a mullet look good), it was that MacGyver could get himself (and whatever damsel in distress he was attempting to save that week) out of any predicament using some string, a box of toothpicks and some bubble gum.

In my case, these were but a few of the minimal items I had laying around in my kitchen:

eggs
milk
Gruyere cheese
onions
frozen pie crust

Hmmmmm.... how could I possibly save dinner with those few items.

I KNOW! Quiche!

Let me just explain to you, quiche is not on my normal repertoire of items I make on a regular basis.  But desperate times called for desperate measures, and with a little bit of ingenuity, I managed to create dish that was not only tasty, but fancy too: French Onion Quiche. Out of my desperation and my MacGyver skills in the kitchen, I managed to save the day and whip up a meal that satisfied both me and The Husband.

put the cheese and caramelized onions in the pre-made crust

pour milk and egg mixture into crust

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375. ENJOY!

Don't ask me for measurements for this recipe because I totally made it up on the spot. But that was the fun of it. So next time you're running low on staples in the kitchen, rather than calling for take-out, just ask yourself: WWMD, What Would MacGyver Do?

Repurposing Leftovers

In our American society, excessive waste it seems is a by-product of our excessive lifestyles. We go to the store and allow the cashier bag the one item we just purchased that we could have easily just carried out on our own without any regard for the plastic bag we just guaranteed a place in a landfill. I'll never forget a trip to Target over Christmas when my husband and I were purchasing a few small items. When I realized the cashier put the items in a plastic bag, I said, "Oh, we don't need a bag, we can just carry them ourselves," she proceeded to take the items out of the bag and then THROW THE BAG AWAY!!! I wanted to castigate her for such thoughtlessness, but alas, I didn't want to make a scene, so I proceeded to grumble under my breath to my husband, "Well we may as well have just taken the bag if she was going to throw it away."

In addition to our unnecessary packaging waste, I have also become more conscious of food waste. Americans throw away a staggering amount of food every year that could easily feed hungry people in our own country and even all over the world. If you ever come across the Food Network TV special The Big Waste, it is a HUGE eye-opener. An equally eye-opening book from what I have heard though I have not read it yet is American Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom

Even before watching the Food Network special,  I had become quite vigilant about finding ways to repurpose leftovers in my fridge to make them into new and exciting meals. It's like my own mini Iron Chef battle with myself.

One of my favorite repuroses for mashed potatoes is to make Giada DeLaurentiis's dish, Eggs in Purgatory which is a fried egg and a potato pancake lying on a bed of marinara sauce. Where most people throw away leftover mashed potatoes or, at best, reheat them in a pot with a little extra milk, I have found it an extremely satisfying challenge to find a way to make a whole new meal out of them (loaded baked potato soup is another favorite reuse).

Last weekend, I happened to have some extra mashed potatoes in the fridge, so I made the intensely satisfying Eggs in Purgatory: (For recipe measurements, click the link above)

Add egg and flour to mashed potatoes

Form patties and saute in a nonstick pan

Add potato pancake to a bed of marinara and top with fried egg. Dust with parmigiano-reggiano.

There's something so luscious and sensual about a runny egg yolk in a savory dish. Mmmm....

So the next time you're cleaning out your fridge and about ready to throw out some perfectly good leftovers, why don't you dig deep and ask yourself, "Can I do something else with these to make them into a whole new dish?" Your wallet and the planet will thank you.

ETA: I should note that I have no idea if the book American Wasteland gives any advice on how to repurpose leftovers since I haven't read it yet. I merely mentioned it in this post as a way to refer to the vast amount of food waste in this country. I have challenged myself in my own kitchen to find ways to reuse leftovers to reduce the amount of food waste in my own house.