"Accidental" meals

What has been your most successful meal made by accident?  And by that I mean, a meal that you just threw together with random ingredients because your cupboards were bare, and it actually came out great, even if it seems weird.  Or a meal that started out as one thing, but something went "wrong" and it became something else.  You know, serendipitous recipes!  Let's hear 'em!

Fried rice~!
I took leftover boiled rice... threw it in a pan with some olive oil, soya sauce, canned mushrooms, and chopped onions! Then I sprinkled it with Mrs. Dash. SO SO SO good!

There's probably a recipe like this somewhere.. but at the time I was just throwing ideas around. =)

Well I have been trying new things lately to branch out from the "safe" side. I thought I would do veggies with chicken, but then I had a vibe to go for the extreme and add whole wheat penne pasta! So after I added the penne to the chicken, I mixed in the veggies (mushrooms, baby onions, and sweet peas) and then saw that I had a cocktail shrimp ring in my fridge that I needed to use up before it went bad. So I added the shrimpies....threw in a little bit of the cocktail sauce to substitute the pasta sauce (totally didn't have any)....and then combined it all together with a nice glass of rose wine!!

It was quite the meal!

My bf is always experimenting and throwing things together.  It's usually some combination of frozen veggies mixed w/ whatever he feels like: veggie patties, noodles, beans, potatoes, nuts, etc.

My dad makes soup from leftovers... The best one was this:

Sorry about no exasct quantities.

3 containers Christmas borscht [mushroom/vinegar/sour cream soup - family tradition, but eww]

potatoes

carrots

mushrooms boiled and strained out

egg noodles

beef broth

diced pot roast

I started put making a Pakistani garbanzo bean dish that my cousin makes for her husband. I ended up giving it more of a Latin flavor. It was just a can of whole tomatoes, a shallot, some garlic, cumin, and a packet of Goya seasoning run through the food processor. I put it a pan to heat and added the garbanzos. I served it over rice (yellow rice was really good with it) and a bunch of veggies. My kids even loved it.

I tried throwing things together to make a dish reminiscent of something that I had in a middle eastern restaurant more than a decade ago.  This probably isn't low cal, but it was FABULOUS!  I've made it a few times since and doctored the ingredient list and quantities a bit to make it reproducable.  Here goes:

1 C Wild Rice, cooked (measure before cooking)2 C Dark Meat Turkey, Chicken, or Rabbit - cooked and diced1 C Raisins (I use golden raisins)½ C Dried Cranberries or Cherries½ C Chopped Walnuts1 C water3 Chicken flavored bouillon cubes½ Tbsp Cinnamon24 sheets Phyllo doughMelted butter      &nb sp;               &nb sp;               &nb sp;               &nb sp;               &nb sp;     Powdered Sugar Mix together first eight ingredients in a large bowl.  Set aside.  Place one sheet of phyllo dough on counter and brush with butter to coat.  Place a second piece of phyllo dough on top and brush with butter to coat.  Repeat for a total of four layers of phyllo.  Place 1 Cup of mixture in bowl on the phyllo dough.  Fold phyllo over top of mixture and tuck ends underneath.  Transfer to a greased baking dish.  Brush top and sides with melted butter.  There should be enough mixture to make 6 pastries.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Top with powdered sugar and serve hot.

 

 

Grilled Plantain, Broccoli and Grapes..
My grapes are the "dessert "

Tikki Masala style sauce.  I make it without the cream for nutritional purposes..

-Crushed concentrated tomatoes (I discovered this beautiful product in Walmart, however I've only found ONE Walmart that carries them - they come in a purple can and strangely they're the best I've ever eaten)

 -Cumin, garam masala, chili powder, ginger to taste.  You can also throw in some onions and/or garlic.  You can also toss in grilled/baked/broiled chicken coated in the same seasoning.

 -Let simmer as long as you want

 Pour over a serving of rice.  The sauce is something like 70 calories/cup I think and then whatever the rice is.  It's warm and filling and piss cheap.  The tomatoes cost just under a dollar and one can is around 23 oz I believe.  Makes a great side dish or snack (though I'm known to eat it as a meal with apples and cashew butter for dessert)

ok, starch alert, forgive me!

Frozen southwestern sweet corn mixed with orzo and some leftover shredded chicken.  This was an emergency lunch one day and it was GREAT.  Green Giant (I think) has this frozen corn that is so sweet and delicious I'm afraid to look and see if it has added sugar in it. 

I started out poaching cut up chicken in salsa and a little bit of chicken broth.  Then I thought some brown rice would be good.  Then I thought it was a little bland, and some veggies would be good, so I added some more salsa, chili powder, and some sweet corn.  Then I thought of the leftover black beans I had in the fridge, and I added those.  Then I thought, this would be great if it were somehow creamy, and I melted in a half ounce of goat cheese.

It was fabulous!

 

I'm forever and a day throwing random crap into a pot with vegetable broth to make soups...my favorite was left over chicken with a taco seasoning packet, black beans, corn, peppers, and onions.

Once I was craving butternut squash soup but had none on hand, and no fresh squash on hand. I looked in the freezer and I had some frozen, so I took it out, microwaved it with veggie broth and some skim milk and it was fabulous.

Gosh, I think 95% of what I cook is an accidental meal. I start rummaging in my crisper drawers and pull out several veggies that look yummy. Find a protein source and add it too the mix. Add some grains if I feel like it or didn't get enough earlier in the day. Season like crazy. Eat.

I am terrible at planning (especially for dinner) so I just buy any vegetable I want when I am at the store and I buy meats and freeze them in single serving baggies so I am prepared to my thrown together dinners.

one day my kids were pestering me about being hungry but i needed to go shopping so i cooked some mashed potatoes, didnt have anything i thing  to go with it i thought so in a n ovenproof dish i added tinned sardines in tomato sauce to a bowl added peas ans sweetcorn topped with mash, sprinkled with cheese and grilled till hot. the kids loved it and ate everything on their plates.

I had a pound of 99% fat free ground turkey, about 1/2 glass left in a bottle of chardonnay, 5 fresh tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 small can tomato paste, 1 small can of corn some olive oil and some reduced fat cheddar. I sauteed the garlic in a tsp of olive oil, added the turkey, then added the wine, then the tomatoes after I had chopped them cooked a few minutes added a few spices from the cupboard (basil and oregano) a little salt and pepper, the tomato paste and the corn and we ate it like chili topped with the cheese. This was created during a typical Rochester NY snow storm when mother hubbard's cupboards were very bare and I was not going to attempt the store in the snow! It was fantastic! My daughter and I ate it 2 nights. I added it here as one of my recipes and it works out to about 335 calories (if I remember right) and serves 4. I should note I only used a few Tbsps of the tomato paste just enough to make it a chili like consistency. Now we make this all the time. My daughter asks for it!

My DH is always throwing stuff together, esp when I complain there's nothing in the house to cook for dinner. He made this one time and it's since became a staple meal for our family. I made it for my folks a few months ago, and now they are eating it all the time too:

- Pasta (any kind will do, but the tricolor rotini makes it pretty)

- Chicken sausage

- Canned diced tomatoes

- Dark leafy green such as spinach or kale

- kalamata olives

- parmesan

- basil or pesto (if you have it)

While the pasta is cooking, stirfry the sausage (cut into bite-size pieces). Remove from the wok. Stir-fry the leafy green. Drain pasta, toss all ingredients together and serve.

Making a sandwich but there was no ham so I made a cheese and banana sandwich YUMO