What to do with plain yogurt?

A few weeks ago my co-worker gave me a bottle of creme fraiche.  I used it in several recipes I've posted on What's for Leftovers.  Creme fraiche is a creamier, richer, sour cream.  If you buy creme fraiche in the grocery store, it's a little pricey.  It costs more than its cousin sour cream.  However, you can make it at home quite easily for an extremely reduced price.  Here's the recipe Dawn shared with me.  Let me know how it works out.

If you're looking for a recipe to use your creme fraiche in, check out Stuffed Pasta in a Pork Sauce, Seafood Salad Melts and Tomato Basil Soup on What's for Leftovers.  You can also substitute sour cream for creme fraiche in any recipe.

Creme Fraiche
1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons yogurt


1. Combine 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 2 tablespoons yogurt in a glass container.
2. Cover and let stand at room temperature (about 70°F) for 8 to 24 hours, or until very thick. Shake your bottle periodically while it is sitting out. 
3. Stir well before covering and refrigerate up to 10 days.

What to do with a pork steak and spaghetti sauce?

Aaaahhh, I can smell it, Spring, bbq season, baseball- summer is getting closer and closer.  As a teacher, this is very important :)  We had a fabulously busy Easter weekend.  What great fun we had celebrating Christ's ressurection with friends and family.  However, we now have many leftovers.  Here's a recipe using a leftover pork steak.  The pork steak I used was huge!  If you don't have a huge pork steak, use two small ones.  It's a great recipe for after grilling; we always end up with one or two pork steaks leftover!  This solves the problem of what to do with them in a new, delicious and very easy way.

Stuffed Pasta in a Pork Sauce
Ingredients:
1 Large Pork Steak
4 TBSP Creme Fraiche
1 and 1/2 Jars of Spaghetti Sauce
3 Bags of Stuffed Pasta (I used tortellini, ravioli and stuffed mostacolli)

1. Cut up pork steak into bite-sized pieces.  Put into a large soup pot.
2. Pour spaghetti sauce and creme fraiche in with your pork.  Stir.
3. Cook until warm and bubbly.  Keep on low until ready to mix with pasta.
4. Boil a large pot of water.  Cook all pastas together according to the directions on their bags. 
5. When finished, combine pasta and sauce.  Serve with a side of parmesean cheese.

** This recipe serves 6 to 8 people.

What to do with Spaghetti Sauce?

A while back, our grocery story had spaghetti sauce on sale for ridiculously cheap prices.  Being half Italian, I never pass up a sale on anything to do with tomatoes, so I stocked up!  The other day I was looking in my pantry and I realized I haven't used any of my sauces yet.  This really surprised me.  I immediately set to remedy this situation.  Since I was on Spring Break and my kids were at the sitter, I wanted to make something fast so I could clean our house a bit between my appointments that day.  In these situations, our slow cooker is my best friend.  It was rainy and cold that day, I made a Tomato Basil Soup.  The aroma was delicious and it was so simple to make.  Our friends Erin and Drew came over for dinner that night.  We served it with roasted chicken, cantaloupe and cheesy garlic bread.  It was a perfectly simple dinner that was delicious.

Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients:
1 Can Northern Beans
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
4 Cups Milk
1/2 Jar of Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 Pack Frozen Peas
3 TBSP Creme Fraiche (or sour cream)
2 Pinches of Salt
1 Tsp Onion Powder
1 Tsp Dried Basil (Use fresh if available, I didn't have any)
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

1. Pour all ingredients into your slow cooker, cook on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally so it won't bubble up and burn.
2. Before serving, pull out about 1/4 cup of liquid.  Mix together with 1 Tbsp of flour until a paste forms.  Mix paste into soup and put lid on until soup comes to a boil.  Continue cooking until soup is at desired thickness.
3. Serve with cheesy garlic bread.

What to do with 1 fish filet?

The other day I looked in my freezer and I realized I had a single, white fish filet. I'm guessing it was Tilapia because that is what I normally buy. What was I going to do with 1 fish filet??? How did it even get in there??? I figured I probably needed to use it since I couldn't remember the last time I had bought Tilapia. So last night, we had Seafood Salad Melts for dinner. On Sunday, Andy had brought home a loaf of Rye bread from church. I cut it up into slices, piled on the seafood salad and melted cheese on top. It was a nice change from heavy, hearty meals. It was also very easy to prepare and clean up.

Seafood Salad Melts
Ingredients:
1 Pouch Tuna
 1 Package Immitation Crab Meat (8oz)
1 Filet White Fish, cooked
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1 TBSP Creme Fraiche (use sour cream if you don't have this)
1 TBSP Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
1/2 Tsp Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
1/4 Tsp Onion Powder
Pinch Salt
Fresh Bread Slices (I used rye)
Butter
Cheese Slices (I used colby and swiss)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Break up white fish into small pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine tuna, immitation crab meat, and white fish.
3. Add mayo, creme fraiche, honey mustard, garlic, onion powder and salt. Stir.

4. Cut bread into slices. Butter one side. Put in oven and melt butter.
5. When butter is melted, flip bread. Pile seafood salad on the other side, then top with slices of cheese. Put back into oven until cheese is melted.