The Round-Up for the No Waste Food Challenge March

It has been a wonderful month. It's good that the weather now is straightly heading for the warmer and more pleasantly type. Whatsoever, it was a wonderful month, because so many lovely entries poured in for the No Waste Food Challenge - really inspiring.
I am really glad that Elizabeth's gave me the opportunity to host the challenge for March.
Thank you to everyone, who joined in this month. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did ... at least. To many more months of not wasting food.

Right, I reckon we should start with the round-up now and get some more ideas. Let us travel through the posts as the month kept progressing ...

Quite early in the month Choclette from the Chocolate Log Blog had some Almond Mincemeat Slices for us.

So, do you think when you have some leftover chocolate mincemeat in the freezer, this is something for you? Think harder, at least the frangipane top totally intrigued me.

Next up is Alida from My Little Italian Kichen. Well, I don't know if I am allowed to say this, but she has some gorgeous little nibbles for us. There were some olives lurking in the fridge, so Alida had to do some Quick olive nibbles with puff pastry.

Isn't that lovely? Sure, you can make them also, if you have puff pastry lurking in your fridge ...

For the next post you might need to familiarize yourself with the term 'brownie detox' in connection with 'addiction'. Kate, the Gluten Free Alchemist, brings us Chocolate-Banana-Coconut Brownies. Several cheeky over-ripe bananas were brewing trouble.

Kate opens her post with a question, I couldn't find an answer to: 'Who can resist brownies?' Hm ... eh ... let's have a very very close look at that picture  and let us do a quick mini survey: Can you resist those brownies?

After you have finished pondering over this fundamental question, I like to take you back in time on my very own blog ... let's say about two years back. It was very close to my beginning of blogging. I did some risotto burgers from leftover risotto.

I just wanted to share it once more, because I liked it so much.

For all those, who thought we are doing a sweet and savoury alternating kind of round-up, I have to disappoint you, we stay savoury. But down blame me, blame Anne from Anne's Kitchen. Oh, sorry, that wasn't nice to be said, especially since Anne has such a lovely looking and delicious dish for us: Honey and Mustard Sausage Casserole. Hey, you see, there is something sweet in this savoury dish, too.

Apart from that, the dish offers so much more: stray leftover potatoes, kidney beans and some rather tired celery.

Did I tell you already that the bananas in Kate's, the The Gluten Free Alchemist, kitchen were looking for trouble? Yes, I did. Instead of going bananas because of that, Kate did come up with a more delicious plan: Coco-Banana Freeze Bites.

Now you even might to want to encourage your bananas to go over-ripe.

I still believe that Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen was tempted to serve Slow-Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket. I can't really prove it though. You can check it later for yourself. Although Janice did refrain from using green food colouring, there still were leftovers from that brisket. Good, it freezes nicely. However, Janice also made a lovely Leftover Chipotle Brisket Curry for us.

You see? There is something green ... oh, that are peas ... fine.

From something green to something red and to saving tomatoes. Manjiri from Sliceofme has something comforting and homely for us: Tomato and Lentil Soupy Broth.

Check it out and you know that you want something of it. Do you feel it already?

In case there are no tomatoes nearby to be saved, there might still be the possibility you need to save some children or even grown-ups from starving. Ness from Jibber Jabber UK has the perfect solution for it: Pasta. No, not any kind of pasta, but Hotdog pasta.

Right, I have to mention there are some beautiful vegetables like carrots and green peppers as well.

Speaking of veggies and children, Louisa over at EatYourVeg was having a photoshoot with her children and ... lots of veggies. In fact, quite a heap of veggies. This called for a Photoshoot Soup or rather a Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup.

As we got your mind working here, we conclude: lot's of veggies will do a lovely soup, so you eat a lot of veggies.

Actually I have an idea right now, that is not due to my own brain. What would you think of having some lovely croutons in that soup? I'd think it be lovely. So, why not try then Tina's Sourdough Red Pepper Croutons. Read all about it on her blog: the Worktop.

That's something lovely for leftover bread. At least it worked out perfectly for me, when I tried it this month. The croutons are great in a salad or ... hey, don't judge me ... even as nibbles.

Now to something completely different. For this we follow Jane to her blog Onions and Paper. For sure you are aware of having a plan in life. Even if you don't have an overall universal plan for your life, it's at least good to plan a few things. Jane gives us a great plan for Eating Cheep-ly - five days, no waste. It's a great post and I am sure you will get some fine ideas. That might even lead to not wasting something that you wouldn't have thought of as wasting something when you simple throw it away. Do you get me? Maybe you do, if you read the post. I even tried something of it myself already after reading it.

While you might later head over to search for what I was referring to, we now head over to Corina and Searching for Spice. There we'll find some yummy Beef Noodle Soup.

You don't have to cook the exact same soup. It all depends on the kind of vegetables you have left over and whether you want to tread the same dangerous way as Corina did. It was a battle between being economical and being tempted to eat more.

Let us see then, whether Siobhan - we know her better as Vohn - will be able to tempt you with her "everything but the kitchen sink" Meatloaf. When you have a closer look at the post on Vohn's Vittles, you will see that there was quite a list of things Vohn wanted to use up creatively. Among those things were chicken livers, beef mince, pork sausagemeat, pancetta, ground pistachios and breadcrumbs. 

You can already see, where this will lead to. That meatloaf will not be finished in one sitting, but ... see for yourself ...

I don't know how you feel by now, but I need something sweet again. I reckon a cake would do the job perfectly. Good that Ness from Jibber Jabber UK has a Microwave upside down pineapple cake for us.

When you have some pineapple slices left at home you can go for it, too. You know, those package sizes in shops can be tricky sometimes.

I hope that satisfied your craving for something sweet as we continue with my post about three uses for tomato sauce. Let me just mention one very simple and totally yummy one ...

... this Four-cheese Pizza. For the other two uses, you have to check it out yourself.

Of course I could have mentioned, that the two other uses involve pasta, but then again we are going to focus on pasta anyway with Katharine from Leeks and Limoni. It's going to be Spring Vegetable Pasta Gratin. Already the name of the post makes me happy, because of the Spring part.

Then the obvious use of cheese mad me even happier. Definitely a great way to deal with odd vegetables lurking in the bottom of your fridge.

For the next dish there have to be other items lurking somewhere. To be more precisely, it will be plantain. You can read all about it at Chef Mireille's East West Realm. Mireille has some Ghanian Street Food for us: Tatale.

I had plantains a few times already, even in more authentic environments instead of my home, but I have to say, so far I like this dish the most judging by the looks and the recipe.

When we move over to EatYourVeg again, we don't want to talk about authentic shapes, but rather original shapes. Louisa got inventive with bringing us Salmon Fishcake Stars. The kids love it.

Have a guess then what leftover-something you could use in those lovely looking fishcakes? Well ... mashed potatoes. 

Are you happy now? Oh, some seem to be quite difficult to please when it comes to that. Chase no further, but rather try Quinoa Rice Pudding with Saffron from Spicy, Quirky and Serendipitous.

Here you go with some lovely pudding using leftover rice and quinoa and ... always remember ... the little things are what brings you happiness.

Among those little things are of course also muffins. Therefore it is only fitting that we go on with Camilla from ... eh (be careful, I said this wrong before) ... Fab Food 4 All. Camilla has some scrumptious Blueberry, Banana and White Chocolate Muffins for us.

Really great, Camilla had some blueberries in her freezer and even better ... they didn't have freezer burn. So, have a muffin or two or ... if you want more, make your own.

On the other hand, you might like some more pasta. Pravina from Indo Global Food has a dish for us: Vegetable Penne Pasta.

A good way to use up some vegetables lurking around somewhere.

Yes, indeed, so many lovely dishes we had this month. Thank you once more to all, who had a share. Can you imagine what would have happened had we all been into wasting food? I don't want to ...

Hang on as the No Waste Food Challenge goes on. In this very April the quest will continue over at Jibber Jabber UK. I am sure Ness will be happy, too, when you flood her with all your lovely and delicious ideas ...

Burn, Burn, Burn ... Chilli Sauce, Beef Enchiladas, Chilli con Carne and ... Burn

Knock, knock, knock! Anybody home?

Silence!

I doubt it very much that anyone is home. In fact, I can't possibly be home ... at least I don't feel like it.

Pondering! Pondering! Pondering ... Error!!!

Yep, that doesn't get us anywhere. Am I crazy? I'd say, we had that subject already. So?
Fine, as things seem right now, I'm not getting anywhere soon myself, am rather tied down.
Anything we can do about it? I think I've got an idea, I am going to let things burn, burn, burn ... burn ...

For this I am going to need some chillies. Right, that could be a problem again, because it is not so easy to get nice chillies around here in the shops and if you can't even dare to think about it. Now you start to see what's wrong here.
Anyway, at least I have some dried chillies and a few home-grown windowsill chillies.

Let's burn it then and have some ...

1st burning: Chilli sauce

Ingredients:
6 tomatoes (tinned tomatoes, if you like)
2 red fresh chillies
2 dried chillies
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
A splash of olive oil
500 ml chicken or beef stock
Salt
Vinegar
Sugar

Method:
Chop up the tomatoes, chillies, onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a pan and let the 'chopped ups' have a taste of it. When that flavour has reached your nose add the stock to the pan, bring it to the boil and then let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Finally adjust the seasoning with the salt, vinegar and sugar. If you don't like a coarse chilli sauce, arrange a meeting with the blender.
Here you go.

What now? Let it burn some more ...

2nd burning: Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients:
Chilli sauce
Wheat tortillas (make your own with 500 g wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, 100 ml cream and a bit of water)
A splash of oil
500 g minced beef
1 onion, chopped up 
100 g sweetcorn
1 red bell pepper, chopped up
Grated cheese
Sour cream

Method:
So, what have you decided? Are you going to do your own wheat tortillas? Just mix the above mentioned ingredients (flour, salt, cream, water) in a bowl. Use just enough water that you get a nice, non-sticking dough. Portion it into 12-16 balls of dough, cover them and  let them rest for about 30 minutes. Then briefly bake them in a dry pan on both sides. We don't want the tortillas to be brown, but still soft and flexible.
In another pan you fry the beef, onions, sweet corn and bell pepper. Yes, exactly in that order ... eh ... that is, once the beef is browned add the other ingredients.
Let's assemble! Paint the tortillas on both sides with the chilli sauce. Place some of the filling on each tortilla, roll them up and place them tightly in an oven-proof dish. Get some more chilli sauce on top of those tortillas. We want to have it properly burning. Finally grate some cheese over it ... in fact, grate a lot of cheese over it and place it in the pre-heated oven to melt the cheese ... yes ... properly.
Serve the beef enchiladas with a good dollop of sour cream and if you have to with a salad on the side.

No, it isn't over yet ...

... a bit later, we let it burn yet once again ...

3rd burning: Chilli con Carne

Ingredients:
Chilli sauce
Beef enchilada filling
1 tin of kidney beans
Rice, tortillas or ... whatever you like

Method:
Ha ha ha ha ... oh ... sorry ... mix the chilli sauce with the beef enchilada filling and the kidney beans and heat it up to eating temperature and ... don't ask me, why I didn't have any beans in the enchilada filling in the first place.
Serve it with rice, tortillas or something completely different. Your call!

Is that all? I would say so, but there is still one thing left to do. There is no way around it, there is still the need to let it burn one more time ...

4th burning: Whatever you want to call it ... burning pancakes maybe

Ingredients:
Chilli con Carne
Pancakes (flour, milk, egg, salt)
1 egg, beaten up (go for it!)
Some grated parmesan
A lot of breadcrumbs
Oil for frying
Some mayonnaise
A splash of caramel sauce

Method:
Get your lovely pancakes. At least, I hope they are. Now place some of the chilli con carne on each pancake and ... eh ... fold them, roll them tightly together in a way that minimizes the chances that any of the filling drips out. I'd say, fold a bit in on two sides and then roll up tightly ... that is, if you get what I am trying to convey.
Anyway, on one plate you have the egg ready and on another one the breadcrumbs mixed with the Parmesan. Roll the pancakes in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Try to get as much of the breadcrumbs and Parmesan on it as possible.
Meanwhile your oil in your frying pan has turned ... eh ... burning hot, so that you can fry your pancakes.
Before you can make a mess by eating the finished product, we have to make a little dip for the pancakes. Swirl a bit of caramel sauce into your mayonnaise and ... there you go.

Stuffed!

Now I had quite some yummy food that made me feel like home for a while ...

Melting Moments with Cream and Jam

I know, I've just posted something sweet. Nevertheless I do it again right now. There was a selection on my table of various posts to choose from, but since there is just one week left of March and I still wanted to do a real post for Bloggers Around the World - Great Britain. Browsing through my British Tea Time cookbook I came to the conclusion I should have a go at melting moments.

Just thinking further for a moment I wanted melting moments with cream and jam.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
80 g icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
150 g flour
Pinch of salt
Whipped cream with yet some more vanilla extract (or use some clotted cream, if you have)
Your favourite jam (I used strawberry jam with even more vanilla in it)

Method:
As you can see from the list above, it's all about vanilla. Hey, vanilla is absolutely gorgeous and when I have the chance to use it in something sweet, I go for it.
Now let us have a go at the dough for the melting moments. First of all we start by creaming the butter with the icing sugar and the vanilla extract. 
Then comes the egg and a bit more beating.
If you are in the mood you can add the pinch of salt and sift in the flour. If not, add the pinch of salt and chuck in the flour.
Mix everything well together so that you are able to make little balls of dough afterwards.
Have a baking tray with baking paper ready and heat up the oven to 180 °C.
Choose your right kind of size for the balls depending on how big you want your melting moments. I went for slightly larger balls as you normally would. Place them in distance on your tray and slightly flatten them with a fork.
Bake them for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, but not burned. Make sure you really have the right temperature. I mixed things a bit up, because I am not 100% familiar with my oven yet. So I baked them a while on 160 °C. In the end they needed a bit longer and not all looked nice.
Whatsoever, cool them on a wire rack before putting them together like sandwiches with your vanilla whipped cream and jam. Right now this moment, while writing this down, I think of how lovely it would have been to use some lovely Cornish clotted cream to put between the two halves ... maybe next time. Or just imagine it would be.

After then you can enjoy them with a nice cup of tea. So, when you are observant it's no big deal and you have some lovely melting moments with vanilla and cream.
On the other hand, though, when the time for strawberries has arrived in your neighbourhood you can go ahead and make your own strawberry jam as well. That would be something great. In the meantime then, you have to be satisfied with the best jam you can get.

French Toast with Sheep Milk Mousse and Balsamic Strawberry Jam

I survived another day. Things can be quite dangerous ... especially when you race down the road as a lightning with your bicycle. At least I knew there would have been people nearby for first aid. Luckily the car did see me coming and all this wasn't necessary.
The other day, though, something was necessary ... and that was to have French toast, but ... not to have it in a simple way. I wanted it to look a bit more than it actually was.

Finally I decided I wanted to support the bakery across the road ... or at least give it a try ... and got a loaf of white bread, not something of that pre-sliced stuff.
Accordingly a few days later, I used the bread to have some French toast. 
I went for two thick slices of the bread and removed the rind. So I had a few little snacks before starting with the French toast.
On the side I had a bowl ready, which received an egg, about 200 ml of milk, a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract ... all beaten nicely together.
On the stove top a pan was getting ready ... the use of butter is apparent.
Well, the slices of bread get properly soaked in the egg and milk mix before they get fried in the pan. Is there enough time to get something ready to go with for the French toast while it is getting fried in the pan?
Luckily, I had some sheep milk mousse in the fridge. For sure you won't have. Consequently I would advise a bit of vanilla ice cream or some mascarpone mixed with sugar and vanilla. 
What about something fruity or a sauce, too. There was some strawberry jam lingering in the fridge. That wouldn't do. So I put a few teaspoons of the jam into a small bowl and added a splash of balsamic vinegar. Off the bowl went into the microwave for a minute.

So, get your French toast onto a plate, add the ice cream, mousse or vanilla mascarpone, spoon over the balsamic strawberry jam and add some toasted nuts or almond slices for texture.
Well, I think the thicker slices of the bread and the added balsamic vinegar to the strawberry jam did really do a good job to lift this pudding. I enjoyed it very much. 
What do you think of it?

No matter what you decide, I think it's a delicious and dead easy dessert. That's the reason why I also enter it to Sarah's Dead Easy Desserts challenge at Maison Cupcake.

Have a go ...

... and while I'm at it, this post goes as well to Recipe of the Week Emily is doing at A Mummy Too ...

Still Italian - Saltimbocca alla Romana with Roasted Vegs

I am still in the mood for Italy or was it Italian food? I would right away do a food trip to Italy, if I could. However, as there is no room for thinking about that at the moment I have some more Italian food: Saltimbocca. It may be strangely, but that was something popping into my mind when thinking further about Italian food. I wanted to make it for some time now. The only problem so far was, to come across some nice veal escalopes.
A few days then, it was the case, so I started searching for some ideas and found something from the Jamie Oliver magazine: Saltimbocca alla Romana.

That sounded perfectly good for me ... eh ... almost good for me. I just made a tiny bit of adjustment.
First of all, I concentrated on what to have with my saltimbocca. The original idea was to have some rosemary potatoes. Instead I went for a bit more colour. So, feel free to use any kind of vegetables you love to have or want to use up.
I used potato, courgette, carrot and celery. I simple chopped up the vegetables in different shapes, seasoned them with some dried rosemary and salt and dripped enough olive oil on top of them.

Because that wasn't good enough for me, I tossed in some whole garlic cloves, which to squeeze over the vegs after roasting them for about 30 minutes at 200 °C in the oven.

Just before the roasted vegetables are ready, you can prepare the saltimbocca.

Ingredients (for 1 person):
1 veal escalope (about 100 g)
Black pepper
Some sage leaves
2 slices of Parma ham
A splash of olive oil
2 knobs of butter
A splash of sweet white wine

Method:
I started my saltimbocca with flattening it out. Sometimes I need to make some noise, so the neighbours know I am still alive.

Then I went on seasoning the meat with some black pepper. After that I placed a few of the tiny sage leaves I still had left from the bunch of sage I had bought a few weeks ago.
Just a few stems had survived them. I had put them in a glass with some water. One of the stems had developed some roots now. So I planted that one into a pot and used the leaves from the other stem.
Over the sage leaves then, the two slices of Parma ham were placed.

Time to heat up the pan with some olive oil and a knob of butter. From here on, things go quite fast. The saltimbocca needs two minutes on each side. Then you remove it from the pan, cover it with aluminium foil and leave it to rest until you are finished with the sauce.
In order to do that, you add another knob of butter and a splash of sweet white wine to the pan you have still on the heat. Add some more sage leaves to the pan and quickly reduce the sauce, because I am hungry.

Plate up the Saltimbocca alla Romana with some of the roasted vegetables and enjoy a very delicious meal. Now I remember, why I always wanted to make saltimbocca, because it tastes so great - that is, if you have used good quality ingredients.

Before I come to end here I like to add this post to some challenges.
First of all to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays. I didn't see anything wrong in the ingredients I used. It's all from scratch here.

The herbs in that dish are obvious. You can even see them on the photos, the rosemary and the sage. So I even used herbs according to this month's Cooking with Herbs, which is managed by Karen from Lavender & Lovage.

Now it's just time to continue thinking of Italy. I don't know whether reading Romeo & Juliet will help ... or some Italian wine is necessary ... who knows!?

Chain Reaction: Italian Week - Tomato Sauce, Pizza and Lasagne

Sometimes one thing leads to another. I like to have some kind of cooking chain reaction, when the leftovers of a meal come to star in another meal or two or even more. I dreamt of five meals or so. Well, I will be satisfied with less ... for now.
It all started with a tomato sauce. No, not exactly, it started when I found some lovely celery sticks and carrots smiling at me. When celery and carrots smile at a man, the only thing you can do is smile back and ... cook with them.

Meal 1: Pasta with Tomato Sauce (call it vegetarian bolognese, if you like)

Before I go on, I just want to tell you, I couldn't find the photos of the pasta with tomato sauce. Maybe that's because I didn't take any.

I put a large pan with olive oil on medium heat. Then I went about finely chopping two cloves of garlic, an onion, four celery sticks and two large carrots. All the tiny bits of vegetable ... eh, maybe I didn't chop them that fine ... went into the pan in order to be soften. Have patience and enjoy the process.
Next I poured a tin of tomatoes (400 ml) into the pan with some extra water. I better should ave taken two tins or a larger one. That's why I added some fresh tomatoes and a bit of tomato puree later on. Oh, some chopped up red chillies will give the sauce some extra heat, too.
It's important not to forget the seasoning. Good I didn't forget it the same way I forgot the photos and (you will see later) something else.
Anyway, now you want to get the content of the pan boiling and then leave it simmering for 30 minutes.
At this point you check the seasoning again. Better safe than sorry.
Now a splash of red wine vinegar comes in handy and ... you have to make a decision. You could just break up the tomatoes with a spoon or put the whole sauce into a blender and ... let things go. I went with blender. I wasn't in the mood for coarse consistency this time.
Finally I added some chopped up fresh basil.
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, if you are not doing fresh pasta.
Again, if you don't forget, you could catch up some of the cooking water to add to the sauce.
Whatever the case, have a plate of pasta with the tomato sauce and some parmesan on top. It won't disappoint you.

Of course we have some leftover tomato sauce in order to continue ...

Meal 2: Four-cheese Pizza

I had to do this. It was about time I do a post with pizza again. You can never have too much.
I want some tomato sauce for my pizza before I put the final topping on, no matter what it is. At least that is what I think right now. Well, I can't remember it otherwise right now, I forgot it (with all this forgetting, I reckon I am getting old).

Fine, we already have our tomato sauce for the pizza. What else? Of course, the pizza dough. You can use your favourite pizza dough or have a look here for a recipe.
More? Sure, the four cheeses. I took buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan and a fourth very delicious Italian cheese, which unfortunately I (here it comes again) forgot the name of. The cheese was very creamy and in fact you get the most of that cheese when you eat it just the way it is. Yum!
Once you have all the components read, heat up the oven to 250 °C (unless you have a pizza oven). Roll out your dough and thinly spread on some of that tomato sauce. Then scatter as much of the cheese all over the pizza. Make sure to taste small bits of cheese to survive the time until the food is ready.
If you feel like it, you can finish off the pizza with a splash of olive oil. Since we are having an Italian week here, in fact, you can put a splash of olive oil to anything we are having.
My pizza was ready after 15 minutes ... well, I cut it into pieces ...

... and went for it ...

It was so yummy, I could have had more. Luckily, I already had frozen the remaining pizza dough. In time, that would be meal 4, but until then it is resting in piece.
So, if you love cheese, that's your pizza. At least it's mine. Even now while I am writing this done I am starting to salivate again. Or is this due to the fact I had some of meal 3 ...

Meal 3: Lasagne (do I have to say more)

Still I am doing Italian ... thanks to that lovely tomato sauce. I was so glad I still had that much left over.
Another pan goes onto the oven and again some olive oil is heated up.
I have 500 g of minced pork that needs some browning in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Watch as the heat does it's job. Add the tomato sauce when the meat is ready. Stir through well and heat the sauce up.
Meanwhile you have a sufficiently large tin (mine was 35 cm x 25 cm) ready. Add some - I told you so - olive oil to the bottom of the tin. then lay out a layer of lasagne sheets.
Oh, we would need some kind of bechamel for the lasagne as well, I reckon. Nah, forget about it. We are doing a cheat version. Mix 200 g of crème fraîche with salt, pepper, a large hand full of grated parmesan and an egg.
Next onto the lasagne sheets goes a half of the minced pork tomato sauce, then half of the bechamel cheat, then some lasagne sheets again, followed by the remaining meat, followed by the remaining bechamel cheat. Well, how does that look?
Obviously something is missing. Ah, here we go, I topped the whole thing with 200 g of grated mozzarella cheese and ... you know.

30 - 35 minutes in the oven, which has been heated up to 200 °C, will do. The cheese will turn brownish.
Now you would only need to slice the lasagne up and serve it. Dig in! The lasagne was as delicious as the pizza. Dangerously delicious!

You might get some further ideas and serve a rocket and tomato salad on the side. However, I was satisfied with as it was. After all, I know about all those vegetables hidden in that meal.

When some lovely ingredients smile at you, smile back and get cooking.

Now, what about you, do you have any chain reactions going on in your kitchen? While I don't want to turn this into a blog challenge necessarily, why not share your Food Chain Reaction Stories with us by linking up a post in the comments and ... see what will happen.
Since I also made good use of the leftover tomato sauce, this is a fitting post for Elizabeth's from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge, which ... what a coincidence ... is hosted by my own self this month.

Udon Noodle Stir-Fry ... kind of

At some point I had bought some udon noodles. They have this lovely package, where you have these nice little portions inside with a small ribbon around. Anyway, I had them neglected for a while, so I thought it was time to bring on some Asian flavours.

Being careful or not ... Harissa Wings with Couscous

I know I should be more careful with what I say. Most of the time others get me wrong or just don't understand what I am trying to say, but ... am I really trying to say something. Maybe! Sometimes I even don't get it myself.
Along that line I should be planning for some kind of crisis. No, nothing to dangerous, just for myself. I am not even talking about taking over the world. On that I am working for years already anyway and ... in some ways it is already working out. Hey, after all this is Cooking Around the World and I have Bloggers Around the World.
About more personal crisis things I let you know, when I know more. After all, I already have been working on seeing things more clearly now.
Enough about unintelligible babbling. The last few times I didn't really cook anything for you, so it is about time again, but ... be careful ...

... that one might be hot, it's not called Harissa Wings for no reason.

Bloggers Around the World: Great Britain

Don't be afraid!

No Waste Food Challenge March

I already know that I will be walking a very thin line here, but I do it anyway. I totally and honestly think it is absolutely unreasonable to go and buy shoes just because the price is right and it is an offer, when you in fact don't really need those shoes. Here it comes, where quite a lot will disagree: you can never have enough shoes.
Straightly following after that comes my point: I have exactly the same thinking when it comes to food. I am quick to buy things on offer or other food items where I think they might be lovely to cook with, while in fact, I haven't made any definite plans to use them.
For example I almost every time buy ricotta when I see it on offer. The same is true to a lot of other cheese. You can never have enough cheese. Can you?
There might be a slight chance, that food items start to pile up, when you have a thinking like this. The same can be true to other items apart from cheese, of course, as well. This is where the No Waste Food Challenge comes into the picture ...