Category: Leftovers

Black Bean & Chorizo Chocolate Chili

Chorizo chocolate chili is a real tongue twister, and, a real tongue pleaser too! :) I happened to read a few recipes recently that used chorizo as a base. Having seen Jack’s Gourmet at KosherFest a few months back, I knew that their amazing array of gourmet kosher sausages had recently hit the market, including spicy Mexican Chorizo, and I wanted to give them a try. To me, the absolute best chili offers sweetness, spice and depth of flavor. That’s where the chocolate comes in. It adds that little something that takes the chili from delicious, to over the top.

Chili makes a great kids meal when served in Taco shells or Tostito scoops. Serve alongside diced tomatoes, corn, salsa, guacamole and scallions with a side of rice. I was lucky enough to host my nieces and nephew (who live across the globe) when I made this for dinner, and they loved being able to eat their dinner out of miniature chip bowls!

In general, the longer you cook the chili, the better it will taste as the flavors will have a chance to blend. It tends to taste even better the second day, but this is pretty next to perfect when fresh!

Black Bean & Chorizo Chocolate Chili

2  Jack’s Gourmet Mexican Style Chorizo sausage, finely diced (use 1 if you don’t want it too spicy)
1 spanish onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 2 lb. pkg ground beef
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
salt, to taste
juice of 1 lime
1/2 bar Noblesse 72 percent cocoa bittersweet chocolate
tortilla chips (optional)

Method:

Heat a large nonstick pot over medium-high heat. Saute the chorizo until it renders some of its fat and gets slightly crispy. Remove chorizo from the pot (leave the fat for sauteing the vegetables). Add chopped onion, bell peppers and garlic and saute until tender. Remove from the pot. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up the meat until it is browned. Drain the fat from the meat and add chorizo and vegetables back to the pot. Add beans and tomatoes and mix well. Add remaining ingredients, besides for chocolate, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chocolate and simmer for an additional 30 minutes-1 hour, until the chili has thickened and the flavors have blended.

NOTE: If you are decreasing the amount of sausage, you may want to cut down on the brown sugar as well, otherwise it may come out too sweet.

TIP: Use your leftover chili to make Shepherd’s Pie! Spoon chili into bottom of a greased ovenproof dish. Top with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with paprika and bake until set.

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10 Things to do with Leftover Challa!


So many of us are stuck with leftover challa each week, wondering what to do with it.

You can:

1. Guiltily throw it away (and think about how they would give anything for a morsel of bread during the holocaust!)
2. Feed it to the birds (whenever I do this with my kids, they start feeding themselves the challa, instead of the birds!)
3. Make French Toast on Sunday morning.
4. Use it for Sunday lunch sandwiches.
5. Save it for bread pudding/challa kugel for later in the week.
6. Make stuffing for your leftover Shabbos chicken (I love to repurpose leftovers!)
7. Make garlic bread.
8. Make home-made croutons.
9. Make home-made bread crumbs.
10. Stuff it in your freezer, only to pull it out Erev Pesach and burn it with the chometz.

This week, I really wanted to make bread crumbs with my leftover Ezekiel English Muffin. Going into summer with lots of pregnancy weight left to lose, I’m trying to watch my carbs. I absolutely love Ezekiel bread because it is low in carbs (only 35 on the GI index), it’s completely flourless and made of 100% organic sprouted whole grain making it a complete protein. You can read more about it here. I especially love the muffins because I can use them as burger buns, challa rolls, and in place of bagels. I usually take two rolls out of the freezer before shabbos, one for the Friday night meal, and one for Shabbos day. This week, I took out an extra one, and decided to use it to make healthy bread crumbs to use in meatballs and other recipes.

Making breadcrumbs is fairly easy. You’ll need day-old bread (I prefer not to use stale bread, because you’ll be left with stale bread crumbs), which has been left out to dry, or toasted at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes (turning over in the middle). Once the bread has been dried and cooled, simply tear it into pieces and blend in the food processor until crumbly (but not too fine). If you wish, you may add oregano, basil, garlic powder and salt for seasoned bread crumbs.

Cool bread crumbs completely and store in an airtight container or freezer bag, date, and freeze. Lasts approximately 3 months.

You can find Ezekiel bread in the freezer section of many supermarkets and most health food stores.

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Quick & Easy Individual Trifles


I love the look of trifles. All the neat layers and colors are a feast for the eyes. I’ve made salads, as well as desserts, in trifle bowls. The thing about it is, although it looks pretty, it’s just not that practical. When serving salads, it becomes impossible to mix, and all the vegetables start to fall over the sides. Desserts are simple enough to serve, but once you start spooning out portions, it looks less than appealing on the plate. My solution? Individual trifle bowls. I found them a few years ago at Crate and Barrel, but you can easily use margarita glasses, glass cups, or any see-through dish. You can even buy those plastic margarita glasses as an inexpensive substitute for the real thing.

There are no rules to making trifles. You can use your creativity to flavor the toppings and add exotic fruits. Brownies, chocolate cake and vanilla sponge cake are good starting points. Personally, I always fall back on the simple and classic sponge cake-vanilla pudding-whip cream-strawberry trifle.

The basic recipe for a trifle includes (in said order):

1. cake (sponge cake works well because it’s dry and can soak up the juices)
2. syrup or liquor (optional)
3. custard or pudding
4. fruit or pie filling
5. whip topping (you can flavor it with coffee, or chocolate if you’d like)
6. chopped candy bars, toasted coconut, chocolate shavings, etc. for garnish
(if you have room, repeat the layers)

A few weeks ago, I had an entire leftover French Coffee Sponge Cake (similar to a marble sponge cake but with coffee instead of chocolate) that wasn’t touched. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to whip up some mini trifles, along with a quiet game night, for just my husband and I. It took about two minutes to put together (I used ready-made pudding and the air-canister of whip topping) but it tasted like a decadent dessert.

Quick & Easy Individual Trifles

Store-bought sponge cake
Store-bought pudding
ready-made whip topping
chocolate liquor or syrup
chocolate shavings or chopped candy bar, for garnish

Method:

Cut the pound cake into small pieces. Fill the bottom of the trifle bowls with 1/3 cake. Drizzle with chocolate liquor or syrup. Top with 1/3 pudding. Finish with 1/3 whip topping. Garnish with chocolate shavings or a chopped candy bar (nutty chews and viennese crunch work well).

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Perfect Pareve French Toast

If you oftentimes have leftover challah, as I do, I’m sure you couldn’t think of a better way to use it then for delicious french toast smothered in maple syrup (ok, maybe for some bread pudding with some raisins and rum!). Now since I’ve got a child who’s severely allergic to dairy, I have to come up with ways to substitute for the real thing. In this recipe, almond milk does a great job. It’s rich, sweet, and flavorful. And between the eggs and the almonds, it helps add some protein to what feels like a loaded carbohydrate meal (talk about deguiltifying comfort food!). So go ahead, whip up a batch for breakfast, brunch, or even dinner (as I did!)

Of course, if you’re able, go all out and use the real thing with whole milk and fry in good old butter!

Perfect Pareve French Toast

4 eggs
1 cup vanilla almond milk (or 1 cup almond milk + 1/4 tsp vanilla)
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg challa
canola oil, for frying
maple syrup or sugar, for serving
assorted berries, for serving

Method:

Slice your challah into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces (depending on how you like it). Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar and salt. Dip challah into egg mixture on both sides, making sure to fully saturate the challah (you can soak it in the mixture for a minute or so). Cook the challah in an oiled skillet on medium heat until golden on both sides (about 2 minutes per side). Serve with syrup or sugar and berries or fruit of your choice.

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Asian Chicken Salad

I love coming up with ways to repurpose my leftovers. Lets face it. Life is busy, and putting a fresh and healthy dinner on the table isn’t always possible. I’m sure you’ve had to resort to fish sticks and french fries every now and then, just as I have. Sometimes, it helps to make a double portion of chicken or pasta so you can use the leftovers the next day in a different way. When I made this dinner, my daughter came home from school with a fever, and I had to run to the doctor at the last minute. I didn’t have time to prepare dinner earlier in the day, so I was glad to have lots of leftovers from the previous night when I made teriyaki vegetable linginui with marinated chicken breast. I decided to throw together an Asian-style salad to serve alongside some of the leftover pasta. I hadn’t started with the salad yet when my husband came home saying, “I’m not in the mood for salad.” I told him to at least give it a try because he would definitely get in the mood when he tasted it! Sure enough, he loved it, and had two bowlfulls! This salad is so light and fresh-tasting. You can go ahead and add in other veggies if you’d like. I think some white cabbage or bok choy would be a great addition, I just didn’t have any.

Asian Chicken Salad

1-2 heads rommaine lettuce
2 jars mandarin oranges (reserve 1/4 cup of the juice)
1 avocado, cubed
3 scallions, sliced
1/4 c craisins
1/3 c raw cashews
Grilled or pan-fried chicken, sliced

Dressing:

1/3 c oil
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c mandarin juice
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tbsp black sesame seeds

Method:

Strain mandarin oranges, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Slice romainne lettuce. Top with oranges, avocado, chicken, scallions, craisins and cashews. Mix dressing and pour over salad before serving. (I use about 3/4 of the dressing, you don’t need to use all of it).

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