Re-use...Re-duce...Re-pose.

It happens to all of us, right? Maybe we overslept (obviously, my excuse. weird hours and all:) or didn't thaw out meat to be used in tonight's dinner or maybe we were just dead tired and cooking was the last thing that we wanted to be doing. Well, whatever the case, it has and will happen many times. for those times, it is always nice to have a few recipes in your back pocket (metaphor alert!! unless of course, you'd actually like to keep a healthy cache of quick dish ideas stowed away in your pants) that you can whip up in in a meager amount of time. one of these dishes that I like to make is called chilaquiles. It is a mexican dish that uses up stale corn tortilla chips and you could probably make it in your sleep. The chips are usually simmered in a mole or salsa until they begin to soften and are commonly paired with eggs or shredded chicken.

as you can see in the middle pic, I made some veggie tacos the other night, composed of smashed pinto beans (previously dried, of course! and mixed with some green onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and chile powder), fried potatoes, and some squash and peas from the garden. Well, I had some of this mixture left over so I just combined it with some tomato sauce (also left over) and chicken broth, to make a really rough sort of sauce for the chips. dropped in some smashed chips and let them simmer until softening, and I also poured in an egg I had beaten and let if firm up a little, folding it into the mix as I went. So, yeah, this is a dish that can be made a million ways (I've even made it just by combining salsa and chicken stock and then throwing a heaping pile of chips in, super easy, and it was still tasty, I really don't think you can mess this one up.) and I'll bet that every one of those ways is delicious. Top with cheese of your liking (traditionally they use cotija, I used jack, I'll bet that feta would make a thrilling substitute, should have thought of that) and maybe some sour cream, avocado, and definitely some cilantro. Somebody should try this with doritos, seriously...

I also made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I made a batch of dough and rolled it into balls and then froze them on a silpatted (yes! new dish word!), covered cookie sheet. once they were frozen, I just bagged them up, now I have cookies ready to bake whenever I want, booyah! I love thinking ahead, just wish I could apply it to other areas of my life:)

A little tip:

cutlery and more has a pretty wicked clearance sale going on right now, worth checking out, especially if you are into all-clad stuff. give it a gander: here (that all clad mc-2 stuff is soooo sweet! must save pennies...)

Also--going to hit up the berry farm with the iskes (holla!) this weekend, should be a jam- (sorry, couldn't resist) packed delight.