Crazy Amounts of Leftovers
(pictured above: blueberry bread pudding)
I haven’t posted in awhile because we’ve been in birthday party mode around here. Rocco turned one today and we threw him a fantastic French themed party over the weekend. Once the party dust settled we set to work on using up our many leftovers, particularly a TON of carbs (I underestimated the will power of our friends to stick to their healthy diets even at a party!). I refuse to throw food away so this was my challenge: Use up 5 baguettes, 1 loaf of brioche, 2 dozen pate-a-choux, 1 pound of strawberries, 1 pound of blueberries, miscellaneous cut veggies, and 4 bags of salad greens before it all goes bad. This post is clearly not for those of you terrified of carbs, but if you want an occasional indulgence definitely go for the bread pudding!
As of today we’ve made it through everything! Thankfully I had my personal chef here (my dad) to help with ideas and execution. I will post more of the actual recipes over the next week, for now here’s the list:
Seasoned Croutons - cut a baguette into 1” cubes, drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until browned and crisp. Store in a ziploc bag for up to one week. Use on soups and salads.
French Toast w/ Fresh Berries - one morning it was baguette, another morning it was brioche. Topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries - both were fantastic!
Blueberry Bread Pudding (shown above) - this was made of the pate-a-choux, we ate it as dessert but it would also make a great breakfast. Our version had no added sugar so we drizzled a bit of pure maple syrup to sweeten it.
Panzanella Salad w/ Dover Sole - this was a way to work in a good amount of our baguette croutons, the salad greens, and some miscellaneous veggies. The sole was cooked in a skillet piccatta style.
Open-Faced Quinoa Parmesan Sandwiches - this used the quinoa cakes we love so much. We breaded the quinoa cakes with our freezer bread crumbs and used large slices of baguette for the base of the sandwiches. We layered marinara and cheese and baked at 350 until they were hot and bubbly.
Salade Carole - using up more salad greens and miscellaneous veggies, this salad is a family favorite especially in the summer. Use any fresh cut veggies you like over a bed of salad greens and top with a scoop of tuna salad and half an avocado. We dress this salad with a dijon vinaigrette.
Freezer Bread Crumbs - the final baguette was pretty dried out so we used a box grater to turn it into bread crumbs. They will store in the freezer and can be used for breading like we did on the quinoa cakes or stuffings, such as for stuffed mushrooms. Seasoned, toasted bread crumbs also make a wonderful topping for pasta in place of cheese for vegans.
