Like I said, it got cold again here in WI. The last two evenings, I’ve had online meetings with one of my library school classes. My students are giving short presentations on new technology, and we all meet using web conferencing to hear them. Six students presented in an hour and a half on Tuesday; we got through 8 last night in about 2 1/2 hours. There’s another session tonight, and then two more next week. I’ve been logging in from home, and managing to get some kind of dinner dish into the oven beforehand.
Tuesday I came home a little early, because we wanted to take Al’s 10-speed to the bike shop for a tune up. Which we did, only to find out that it’s junk – he was in a two bike accident, and the frame got bent – he got a concussion. The bike shop didn’t even want it for their red bike program, where they take old bikes, paint them red, and leave them around town for people to pick up and use for free. So we came home, stuck it in the back of the garage, and I quickly layered up the Splendid Table tortilla casserole I’d been wanting to make. Stuck it in the oven, everyone else ate while I was web conferencing, and I had my slice while watching season 2, episode 3, Downton Abbey on DVD.
Last night I got home in time to make a chicken rice pilaf – cooked a chopped onion in butter & olive oil in one of my heavy Le Creuset Dutch ovens, added the chopped up meat from the 3 chicken thighs I had roasted on Passover – to have chicken thigh for the shank bone on the Seder plate – then put in 2 cups of short grain brown rice, and the last of the cleaned spinach – also chopped – about 3/4 of a bunch. Poured in the quart jar of turkey broth I had strained off the matzoh balls (and a little water – I had always heard that you need to add a little water when cooking rice in home made broth – it’s so gelatinous that the rice needs a little help to absorb it – and this broth was really gelled in the jar). Brought the whole mess to a boil, put the lid on, and stuck it in the 350°. Al got home from the gym an hour later and reported it was looking rice-y, not soupy, so I declared it done and he dug in. Between then and 8:30, when I took my portion, the 6 of us in the house ate it all. Even Rach, who’s on a no processed grains, no dairy, no sugar, regime right now would’ve been able to eat it, if we had left any.
So, pretty good for using up Passover leftovers, although today, trash day, I still threw out more stuff than I like to – I hate throwing away food – but I just didn’t know what to do with the last two matzoh balls, the dried out farfel stuffing, and the greasy purple onions that had flavored the brisket – so I binned it all, as the Brits would say. At least there were still pretty blossoms to look at when I went to walk, to make me feel better about throwing away all that stuff, not to mention the satisfaction of the neat & tidy looking, cleaned out refrigerator.
