Pesto Cubes - Save your herbs!

We have an issue that I think many people our age have - it is difficult to eat all of our herbs before they go bad. It tends to be more cost efficient to buy in bulk for fresh herbs (and in the summer time I take advantage of fresh as opposed to dry). But they can come in some pretty big bundles. And after a bit you can get sick of eating that same herb on everything. We even tend to buy a couple at once - usually basil, cilantro, and parsley. So 2 people with bushels of herbs who really only eat dinner at home. So when I saw multiple postings on Pinterest suggesting freezing pesto, I went for it.

Here is the scenario. I came across some parsley that was on its way out when I was sorting through leftovers in the fridge for lunch (We love leftovers in our house! They tend to function as second dinners and lunch the next day for me. Leftovers never go to waste). The entire cast of character includes parsley, lemon juice, Romano cheese, olive oil, and a little salt. All of these things went in to a food processor until they were pesto-fied (that just means smooth and mixed well).

I then poured that pesto in to our deep silicone ice tray and let freeze for 4 hours. Then they were placed in a freezer storage bag with the date and details, waiting for a day when we had no clue what we wanted didn't want to make anything super intense... Then came dinner last night. I was tired, The Mister was tired, but tilapia was ready to be dressed for dinner. 

I threw 2 cubes in to a nonstick pan with 2 Tilapia. Cooked and shredded the fish and placed some rice beside it. Veggies of your choice on the side.

 My favorite thing about this idea is that you can do this with any herb, really. And you can make several different kinds of pesto to throw in any dish - pasta, veggies, proteins of your picking.

Chris LOVED this meal. He said it was the best fish he has had. Honestly. And it was so easy to make. So get to saving your herbs that are a day away from the trash can and freeze some pesto!

Here is the recipe for my pesto (super flexible! add almonds, more garlic, other spices, switch up the cheeses...):

Parsley Romano Pesto with Lemon

1 cup parsley (curly)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 medium lemon
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup grated Romano
Pinch of salt

1. Put ingredients in your food processor until the consistency you prefer - I pulse mine for about a minute.
2. Freeze in your preferred container (muffin tin, ice cube tray...) or serve right away!

 Enjoy!

Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

When The Mister began talking about how we needed to go grocery shopping, I went through his usual list - lunch meat, some kind of sliced cheese, power bars, quick breakfast sandwiches...

So I looked to see what we already have and saw eggs, liquid egg whites, sausage patties, bacon, cheese... Only a few ingredients were missing for those breakfast sandwiches we kept buying at a ridiculous high price for convenience. And I never trust what is in the stuff that is kept in the freezer aisle. We have been making the switch to more homemade, from scratch, whole ingredients at home. But with our tiny budget right now and my busy school schedule, we are making the transition slowly.

So, we picked up some english muffins and jelly.

The Mister wanted your standard english muffin, and the cinnamon raisin kind. So, we mixed it up.

First - I love me a time saver. So, the egg whites were measured out and placed in my large muffin tin. If you are using a liquid egg, 1/4 cup equals 1 standard egg. These buddies were slipped into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then cooled. I cooked the sausage and bacon in the oven as well on a broiling rack, but for 10 minutes. I prefer cooking it this way because you get to get rid of some of that fat. While those were cooking, I split open my english muffins, measured out my foil, and scooped The Mister up a bowl of ice cream.

See those perfectly round egg whites? There must have been some bubbles in it when I put them in the oven, because there were some awful large mountains of hollow egg white. But that's ok.

The most important part of making anything ahead and then freezing it is to make sure it cools before you start assembling. It is never a good idea to just pop something in the freezer right after it comes out of the oven. 

This is such a fun thing to make because you can absolutely cater it to your liking. Here is my first breakfast sandwich:

Sourdough English Muffin

Egg Whites

Sausage Patty

American Cheese

I am not a fan of freezer burn (but then again, who loves getting psyched about something you pull from the icebox just to bite in to it and get that yucky taste - happened to me with what was supposed to be delicious garlic bread). These puppies were not going to lose their luster, so I wrapped them first in plastic wrap, and then in aluminum foil. The foil also gave me a handy way to label the sandwiches, too. 

Sandwich numero dos didn't sound as traditional to me, but The Mister wanted it! 

My next set of sandwiches had these ingredients:

Cinnamon Raisin sourdough english muffins

1 egg

Sausage Patties or Bacon Strips (I had used up all of the sausage patties, so I finished off the rest of the english muffins with bacon.)

Strawberry Jelly

These were assembled and wrapped up the same way. I grabbed my sharpie and labeled each after I wrapped it so the hubby would know which one he was diggin out of this very cool ice cream container turned freezer storage. 

And there you have it, folks. A quick breakfast sandwich you can just pull out of the freezer, unwrap and microwave while you put on your shoes to go out the door. Enjoy!