Forty eight hours before shopping day finds me scouring the cupboards to find the answer to What's for Dinner today? I've made some tasty meals this week with it being the last week before grocery shopping, and I find I am pretty proud of my results.
Using the last three chicken breasts in the freezer I managed to pull together one of my favorites, Chicken Parmesan. Having only a few mini Bocconcini balls left in the drawer I simply sliced them up for the cheese topping and found that it was just enough to cover the breasts. While I had no bread crumbs and no bread to make do, I simply dredged the chicken in some seasoned flour before pan frying them in a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a bit of butter.
I truly am a fan of homemade sauce and managed to pull this off well with the constant staple in the house, garlic, combined with a few very ripe tomatoes, the last can of tomato paste, and the last can of crushed tomatoes. There was even a half bottle left of the beautiful red wine we shared on my sweethearts birthday last week. Add all of that together with some sauteed diced onions and peppers and you have all the makings for a great sauce.
The feeling is nice when your partner shares with you that he swears he can't remember ever having a better Chicken Parmesan. Now that's pulling magic out of some near empty cupboards. My next dinner was a yummy Jumbo Shrimp Red Curry dish with Basmati Rice. With only eight shrimps left, it was a perfect serving for each of us, these shrimp are really jumbo : )
What was I going to do tonight though I was left wondering. The freezer held a few pie shells and some Kaffir Lime Leaves and a half bag of peas, besides the ice cream of course, but we couldn't eat that for dinner, could we? I had used all of the meats and seafood and the bare frig held very few vegetables, a few bits of cheese, a couple of eggs, and two pieces of thick sliced bacon. The cupboards were sparse although there were a few cans of soup for those easy throw together lunches. Hmmm...Ah......a light bulb moment, I had a plan. Did I have cream? No. Was there half and half? No. What to do, what to do.
On the Web there is a wealth of information at our fingertips, I love it. Anything I need to know is only a few keystrokes and a click away. So....was there a substitute for heavy cream? Yes, a little melted butter mixed with a cup of milk was all that was needed. So, what was the answer to "What's for dinner tonight?" Quiche of course! Easy Schmeasy.
Bacon and Cheese Quiche with Roasted Red Pepper and Butternut Squash Soup.
My first step was to dice up and saute the two pieces of bacon and drain on a paper towel, saute the red and green pepper, onion and some mushroom and I have my filling.
Next step...grate the small bit of Cheddar and Parmesan Cheese I found
Mix the meat and vegetable filling with the cheese
Mix four eggs, a tablespoon of melted butter with a cup of milk and pour over the vegetable and bacon mix in the pie pan. Bake at 400-450 degrees for about 15 minutes and then lower the temp to 350 degrees and finish cooking till the top is a golden brown, approx. another 25 minutes or so.
For coming up with the idea and being able to pull it off with what felt like close to nothing at all in the frig, I can say, another yummy dinner was had by all.
