Using Up Product

A love of cooking definitely runs in the family. I've mentioned what an excellent cook my mother is, but her younger brother is also amazing in the kitchen. I would lay my money on their cooking talents having evolved more out of a reaction to their mother's cooking than on any genetic predisposition towards mad kitchen skills. Anyway, my uncle has taken all sorts of courses on professional cooking and running a restaurant. In the process, he's picked a bit of the lingo.

One of his kitchen phrases is "using up product" which basically means using up the stuff in your kitchen before it goes bad or goes to waste. His other main kitchen saying is SHIT, which I don't believe he learned from a cooking class, but was guaranteed to bring his dog racing in to clean up any product that had made its way to the floor.

This week, in part because of the crazy schedule disruption last week and in part because of some tasty veggies turning up in the sale bin, my menu planning is all about using up product. I've still got leftover ricotta to deal with, some yogurt (which will probably be baked into a lemon cake), cabbage, a few scallions, a cauliflower and a pair of avocados. Ack.

SUNDAY - Sausage Calzones. Ricotta used up. Check.

MONDAY - Stir Fry Chicken with Chinese Cabbage - out of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I can use up the scallions and the cabbage. OR Cabbage and Mushroom Galette which would use up some of the yogurt in addition to the cabbage. We'll have to wait and see what I'm in the mood for.

TUESDAY - Roast Chicken with Crash Hot Potatoes and Cauliflower Cheese. There were these delicious looking red potatoes on sale and then I came across the recipe for Crash Hot Potatoes and realized, clearly this was meant to be. The cauliflower was also on sale, which was just as well, because on Iron Chef's recent challenge involving the White House Garden, Bobby Flay made a delectable dish using cauliflower in place of macaroni in mac and cheese. Two of the judges, both British (weird right, that they had two British judges for the White House episode?), exclaimed over how wonderful it was, and how British. I was sold. I love cauliflower, I love macaroni and cheese. Excellent.

WEDNESDAY
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili - So easy to make, it's great for a midweek meal. The avocados which were hard on Sunday should be ready to chop on top or use for guacamole.



THURSDAY
Broccoli Soup - I've been feeling a bit veggie deprived since being sick. This should take care of my vitamins. Also, if Ry doesn't think it's enough for dinner, there's bound to be some leftover chicken from Tuesday that he can nibble on.

FRIDAY - Ziti with White Beans and Sausage - This week features tons of new recipes and not quite recipes, but I still have to deal with those old Cooking Light magazines. This is the test recipe for this week!