Odds and Ends

We've all got leftover foods in our fridge. I find it an interesting challenge to try and use up as many bits and pieces in our fridge as possible while still delivering something tasty. In Boy Scouts we called this hobo stew, where each scout would bring a can of something and we'd mix it all together in one pot. There was always some idiot who'd bring sauerkraut, but I digress.

Yesterday I combed the fridge for ingredients and came up with the last of a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, fresh baby spinach, half an onion, some cherry tomatoes and a bit of chives.

I've always tried to think of a meal in four parts: meat, carbs, seasoning and veggies. Ideally, you'd have a bit of all four. To complete my meal I reached into our pantry and prepared a box of couscous.

I simply seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and browned it in a non-stick pan. I sauteed the onions with a bit of minced garlic and added the spinach to wilt in the juices in the pan. I finished it by chopping the chicken and tossing in the tomatoes (halved) and the chives. Let it heat up until the tomatoes have started to get cooked and serve it up. No sweat, done in about 15 minutes.

Besides preventing the waste of good food, doing the leftover shuffle also finds new flavor combinations. Sometimes it turns out pretty bad, but learning by experimenting is part of cooking.