It's like I'm in France... again!

It's official. I love French cooking. What, that wasn't a new revelation or anything? Alright, I lived abroad, loved reading My Life in France, loved Julie & Julia and received Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for my birthday back in April. I tried making Coq au Vin and Suprêmes de Volaille à l'Écossaise. But for some strange reason, I haven't cracked open the book since April!! Maybe because it's so rich and decadent and I never have any of the ingredients on hand.

Well that changed last night. We had some left over heavy cream -- nearing its expiration date -- and butter from Thanksgiving. When one has butter and cream on hand, what little choice is there to do with it but make a French meal?! I had a half-opened bottle of wine and some potatoes so I decided to make Poulet au Porto and a spin off Child's Gratin Dauphinois (recipes are linked to both dishes).

I don't know how I have French genes but have a strong aversion to butter. In trying to make the dishes healthier, I not only cut the recipes in half for two people with leftovers, but also cut down the butter requirements to 1/4 of what she called for haha. The woman loved to rub everything in butter: the chicken thighs, the pan, the dishes, she even told me to rub my face with butter. Ok, maybe not. But that's what it felt like. I also cheated with the mushrooms. As in, I can't stand them! You'd think after 25 years they'd grow on me... so instead I opted for carrots, which I had on hand. It was still pretty dang tasty.

So here you have it....

Poulet au Porto (Wine-steeped roasted chicken)

and Gratin Savoyard, also known as a Tartifelette in the Alps region of France and Switzerland (potato gratin with milk, butter, gruyère and bacon). I added the bacon to make it more Swiss:

(P.S. How AWESOME are the iPhone 4 pictures?! They're waaay nicer than my point-and-shoot camera haha. Hope J.D. doesn't mind me stealing his phone every now and then...)

Fun fact, my dad lived in Annecy, in the French Alps, when I was living on the beaches of the Mediterranean. We'd make the 6- to 8-hour train ride back and forth tasting regional specialties. One of my favorites was the Tartifelette and of course, fondues of the Alps. Does anyone want to go back to France with me, RIGHT NOW?!?!?! :)

Well, if I can't, at least Julia Child can take me back there for a night or two.

Stretching out leftovers

I know I've been gone awhile, it's been sooo busy in my life! I've been sitting in on French classes at Arizona State, working athletics events (not a full-time job, just game-day stuff), writing my personal statement and also putting together a four-minute spoken segment for my graduate application!

I also got to attend my very first college football game, EVER (for free)!!

That being said, a few posts ago, I gave you guys some of my tips on how to limit spending on groceries. Now I'm going to follow that up with a meal for four that I was able to stretch into several meals. J.D. and I each had a serving's worth of Indian food for dinner the first night. We really enjoyed assembling the meal and also the new experiences in cooking and eating tofu.

So with half the serving still left over into the fridge it all went for another day of leftovers. Tofu with fire roasted tomatoes and a curry simmer sauce, stewed spinach with paneer and finally chunky spicy chick peas.

Oh and don't forget about the naan still remaining! I guess we were inspired to make Indian after watching our very first episode of Aarti Party. I absolutely love Aarti and am so excited she won Next Food Network Star!!

Dinner becomes breakfast...

Anyways J.D. surprised me with a "special breakfast" on Tuesday. He wanted to make me a spinach omelet, but since we didn't have any spinach at the time, he mixed my egg whites with the spinach and paneer and also some of the roasted tomatoes. You know, your typical egg, cheese, spinach and tomato omelet! Oh and in lieu of toast, he warmed me up a big piece of naan to go with my breakfast!

Dinner turned into lunch...

I was really inspired by how much I loved Chino Bandito earlier in August. You remember, that restaurant in Phoenix that serves Asian/Jamaican food inside of Mexican preparations?! I never thought I would have loved my Jade chicken quesadilla.... but since I did, I've tried to replicate that at home. With some left over stir fry a few weeks back, I threw that bad boy right into a whole wheat tortilla. And it was AMAZING. You see where this is going....

For lunch yesterday, I did the same thing. I had all the essentials for any burrito. Whole wheat tortilla, check. Jasmine rice, check. Beans... not quite, but the spicy chick peas worked just like magic! Vegetables and cheese, check, in the form of spinach, paneer and tomatoes. Protein, check, with the tofu and curry simmer sauce!

Oh my gosh, it was so good!!! I even threw in a tiny bit of salsa, you know, just to make it more weird that it already was. Seriously guys, I challenge you to make weird combos like this. First of all, it's fun! But secondly, you might happen across something you absolutely love and can't live without!!

If you're still skeptic, it's really not all that weird (with the exception of the salsa). Just think about any Asian-inspired wrap you've had in the past. Because that's all this really is! If I wanted to get funky, I could have ditched the tortilla in favor of a naan wrap :) Did I mention that I still had enough left for one small lunch bowl?

So in conclusion, it is soooo easy to keep a simple batch of leftovers going for several meals! A "normal dinner for four" was able to stretch into two dinners, a breakfast and two lunches with just a little bit of creativity and outside ingredients.

Next time you make dinner or feel like you're in a pinch, go ahead and make way more than you need for one meal. You'll thank yourself later when you end up having two+ meals for a rainy day :)

Monday Randomness

...Get it, because I used a random generator to determine who won my Gracie's Gear running top?!

Well, it's also Monday Randomness because Amy from Second City Randomness won the giveaway! Congrats, girlie!! Send your info to me (shesgoingdistance@gmail.com) and it will make its way into your mailbox :)

Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway! If you didn't win and still wanted to get at a piece of that top, you can find it in my shop. Lucky for you, it also comes in a pretty blue color:

Now on to my day of leftovers...

The morning started off with another piece of that hideous waffle and a cornucopia of fruits. Can I even say cornucopia if it's still summer? I guess fall's nearing closer and closer. So it was day two of ugly waffle smothered in frozen berries and their thawed juices, a slice of watermelon, grapes and the end of the butchered mango.

Enjoyed next to a cup of chocolate soymilk. I usually indulge in chocolate soy lattes if I have the time in the mornings, but it's just too hot for that here. Maybe I'll venture into the world of the iced latte, but to me, coffee tastes stronger when it's iced. Is that weird? Note the stemless martini glass. Move over Carrie, that's how I roll in the mornings.

Then the DirecTV guy came and finished up his job that was left partially completed last week, while Woodstock and I played catch in the backyard. After running around and doing errands, lunchtime came and went and I still hadn't showered. Yikes, I need a job.

More leftovers! Recognize this?

And yes, that's leftover orange mangosteen tea! I'm all out of my yummy Archer Farm's fruit teas. I think a trip to Target is in my future!

Dinner consisted of, big surprise, leftovers. We had two spinach chicken sausages left in the freezer and I wanted ravioli so J.D. got creative. He mixed up his tomato sauce, cooked the sausages and then threw them in. They went on top of spinach and mozzarella ravioli with a side of steamed broccoli and spinach. Wow, lots of spinach for one day. I hope I'm not green for tomorrow's interview.

The disaster of the meal, however, was the evening's beverage. We opened up a white bottle of wine given to us from J.D.'s parents. I nearly spat it out when I realized it was a SWEET DESSERT WINE. I am not a fan of ports or sweet wines. So that was upsetting to me. I dumped it into the sink and cracked open a Pilsner Urquell to go with my dinner instead.

After dinner we rolled up our sleeves -- once the sun set of course -- and washed our cars! Seriously, driving mine today was like reliving the Dust Bowl. I couldn't see out the windshield. Not the impression I want to make before my interview tomorrow. Despite the lack of sun, it was still pretty frickin' hot. I got super disgustingly sweaty during our 30 minute two-car wash and a trip to YOGURTLAND was very much in order. Much to my content, they had a new, awesome flavor: passion fruit lemonade. Deeee-lish.

I leave you now with some images of the beginnings of my bathroom décor. It mirrors the brown/teal scheme of our bedroom, but with a FRENCH bathroom-y beach feel. Thank you, Wal-Mart!

Good night, my loves! xx