DBD Directives & Origins

December 12-16, 2010

Winter winds were whirling in Wisconsin Sunday.  They made me grateful for a cozy home with a freezer full of leftovers from which to fashion a feast! 

But we’ve talked enough about how to handle homemade leftovers.  It’s time to stir the pot of restaurant options and introduce you to The Doggie Bag Diva’s Directives!  Please note that they are directives, defined as intended to guide, govern, or influence.  They are not rules, dictates, or dogma.  They are, however, lessons learned over many years of doggie bagging.  They’ve also been reinforced by friends, family, and food-wise acquaintances. 

DBD Directive #1:  Don’t forget the bag!

Yup, even I, the Doggie Bag Diva, have been guilty of violating this dictum.  Your server packaged the remains of your meal, but as your convivial conversation continued through your departure, the container was forgotten.  Woe are we!  Your careful future meal planning was all for naught!  So anytime you are not able to lay waste to your entire serving, request a doggie bag and REMEMBER TO TAKE IT WITH YOU!   

There is one additional tip that goes with this directive.  Visit the restroom BEFORE you vacate your table.  Stopping in the restroom on the way out provides yet another opportunity to forget your culinary treasure.

By now you’re probably wondering how I got into this gig.  There is actually a story behind it!  I’m blessed to have both of my parents here in the same city with me, albeit in assisted living.  Every so often I spring them from the facility and off we go for lunch or dinner out.  In case you don’t know, assisted living includes two meals a day, so residents have little need or use for leftovers.  But these particular residents are the wise people who raised me, instilling me with the maxim of ‘waste not, want not’, so they generously gift the uneaten portions of their meals to me!  At least my mother does.  There are no leftovers from my ‘charter member of the Clean Plate Club’ father.  I’ve learned to wait until my mother decides what she’ll order before making my own selection.  After all, who wants two chicken breasts when you can have a chicken breast and a pork chop?  With multiple vegetables? 

One day, several months ago, I hit the doggie bag jackpot.  Our server brought me a veritable shopping bag full of food!  As we rose from the table I proudly held it up to my mother saying “Look at me!  I’m the Doggie Bag Diva!”  Our gazes locked and we both froze for several seconds.  I recovered first.  “What a great name for a book!”  She countered with “What a great name for a TV show!”  Not having a network in my back pocket, I opted for to pursue the book, especially when I realized how much fun it would be to start a blog and gather a multitude of doggie bag stories and recipes.  So here I am, and here you are.  Shall we share and make the Leftovers World a better place? 

Do ahead?

December 5, 2010

Happy St. Nicholas Night cyber-friends!  There’s still time to hang up your stockings, or pick up gifts to fill the stockings of others.  You’re never too old to celebrate St. Nick’s night!

I hope you read Linda’s comment from last week – she has a VERY economical idea for in-home leftover containers! 

During these holiday weeks gifts of food and gatherings of plenty abound.  Let’s think of how we can eliminate, or at least reduce, food waste.  If you’re hosting and notice that the remains will exceed your kitchen’s storage capacity (or your family’s appetite), communicate your predicament to your guests.  Many may be delighted to assist!  How to divvy up the delectables?  Here are a few ideas:

·         Auction them off as a fundraiser for your local food pantry!

·         Play holiday trivia, the Dreidel Game, or other competition.  Winner gets first choice of the leftovers!

·         Put everyone’s name in a bowl and have a disinterested party pull them out.  Guests choose their treats as their names are drawn.

Have another suggestion?  Share it in the comments! 

How about preparing for your holiday event?  ‘Do ahead’ seems to be a favorite tip, but how much can you really prepare ahead of time?  My friend Amy gave me a terrific idea that works wonderfully on more than one level.  This is for carnivores, but I’m hoping a vegetarian reader will offer an equivalent version.  Whenever you cook meat that results in pan drippings but you’re not making gravy, deglaze the pan with a little water and pour those rich juices into a freezer container (or even just a clean margarine tub), mark the type of meat used on top, and pop it into the freezer.  When you’re making a dish that requires a sauce or gravy, use these savory juices to make it ahead of time!  An added bonus is that the fat rises to the top upon freezing, making it easy to remove before cooking.   Amy says these freezer treasures add depth and flavor to soups, stews, and other dishes.  You’re not limited to making au jus or gravy! 

What’s your favorite ‘do ahead’ tip?  Or what have you tried that flopped?  We can learn from both examples, so be generous with your experience and tell us! 

Feel free to share your favorite holiday food-related stories too – those are always fun!

May this week be beautiful and bountiful for you all.

Post-Thanksgiving Dining

November 28, 2010

Hello cyber-foodies!  I hope you had a great and safe holiday weekend.  So how did you extend your Thanksgiving dinner?  

·         Create a totally new meal from the remains of the first?

·         Replicate your terrific dinner?

·         Scrape the bones for fantabulous sandwiches or casseroles?

·         Cook those bones for delectable turkey stock?

Do tell!

My family loves the dinner, so we replicated it on Saturday night.  I made sure to save sufficient turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce for my most favorite sandwich though!  After that I took the carcass home for soup, the remaining meat and gravy for some terrific turkey and gravy over biscuits.  I’d made sure to have plenty of containers for a variety of dishes, and some plastic bags for whatever would fit in those.  What worked for you?

I had the added bonus of leftover buttermilk waffles – YUM!  My mother taught me to make them this very morning, and a batch yields more than the four of us could eat, although we gave it a good shot!  They weren’t nearly as hard to make as I’d always feared!  What do you do with leftover waffles?  Wrap each of them individually in plastic wrap, and then put enough for a breakfast into a freezer bag.  The individual wrapping is the same as what you do for bread or rolls – it ensures that when you take out what you need, they taste just right! 

I apologize, as I just realized that my grandmother’s waffle recipe is still at my mom and dad’s assisted living residence.  If you’re interested, please request it in Comments and I’ll share it with you!

How do you serve the waffles?  With the tastiest toppings you can think of!  If you want whipped cream, I prefer (and strongly recommend) REAL whipped cream.  It doesn’t take very long to whip, although it does require some type of mixer.  While electric is the fastest, I’m old enough to remember doing it by hand – it can be done!  Do you have some good jam on hand?  Ohmigosh, great jams or natural fruit toppings are terrific on waffles!  Especially the kind you may have purchased at the farmer’s markets this summer and fall.  Butter (REAL butter, please) and good syrup, nuts, yogurt, fruit, and just about everything else makes for an amazingly delightful breakfast.  If you’re a meat-eater, you can add bacon, sausage, turkey bacon, ham, or the protein of your choice on the side.  Someday I hope to enjoy the fried chicken and waffles I learned about on TV! 

I can’t forget to tell you that my family’s traditional holiday breakfast consists of incredible Slovenian nut bread called potica (pronounced poh-TEE-tzah) with Slovenian sausage or Polish Kielbasa (depending on which side of my family we’re honoring that day).  There are NEVER any leftovers from that breakfast! 

So what are you holiday traditions?  Remember that some families are newly formed and looking to start their own traditions – your ideas could be just what they’re seeking!  Let’s share and grow together!

Happy dining!

Hello!

Introducing Doggie Bag Diva!

November 25, 2010

Welcome fellow foodies, to a new player in the realm of eating well and wisely. 

Are you:

·         one of those fortunate college students whose relatives visit and take you out to dinner?

·         empty nesters at a loss with only two of you at home for meals?

·         a single person wondering what to do with those tasty tidbits remaining on your restaurant plate?

·         eating on a budget?

·         striving to eat less when dining out in spite of the large portions served?

·         a former member of the Clean Plate Club who just can’t stand to see food wasted?

Doggie Bag Diva to the rescue!

This blog will share what I’ve learned from a lifetime of maximizing dining experiences along with tips from servers, chefs, chefs-in-training, restaurant managers, and practical people who I’m fortunate to call my friends.  I’ll also be researching answers to such deeply puzzling questions as “Why do French fries always taste like cardboard when you reheat them at home?” 

Of course, this is a blog, so you are also invited to join my virtual picnic.  Do you have a favorite tip to share?  A terrific recipe for doggie bag leftovers from your favorite restaurant?  A classic doggie bag horror story?  Do tell! 

Or you might be one of the many who are confused as to when it is and is not appropriate to ask for a doggie bag.  What items on the table may you purloin with impunity?  Ask Doggie Bag Diva!  If I don’t know the answer myself, rest assured that I’ll find it for you! 

Where to start?  Thanksgiving, of course!  Are you gathering together with friends and family?  Is everyone bringing a bit of the dinner and snacks for the day?  Is it possible there will be more leftovers than the hosts or providers will want to keep?  After all, who can eat an entire bowl of the ubiquitous green bean casserole?   Check that – I have some friends who would be perfectly willing to do so! 

Since this is appearing on Thanksgiving, and you didn’t have time to prepare, you may not have brought your own containers or plastic bags.  Here’s where you can take advantage of the stores that are open on the holiday.   Is there at least one attendee who is not needed in the kitchen or for watching the kids and *gasp* not interested in football?  Take stock of the potential remains, make a list of containers and bags (of varying sizes) that might be needed, and send them off to the store.  And don’t forget to pick up a permanent marker and some labels!  That way things can be packaged as the table is cleared, labeled for each recipient, so when the tryptophan hits, the leftovers won’t be mixed up.  After all, Uncle Bob relishes the cranberries, but could not care less about the dressing.  Aunt Johnellen savors the dressing, but abhors jello.  Let people take what they’ll eat.  If there are conflicts, let them duke it out whenever it seems easiest to absorb in the mix of the milieu.  You might even make note of the conflicts to better prepare for the next shared holiday.  If everyone wants gravy, plan ahead and make LOTS! 

Obviously this has not addressed all of the possible Thanksgiving leftover issues, but I hope it’s given you food for thought.  If additional issues or ideas have arisen throughout the day, please share them here.  After all, if they happened at your gathering, you can bet they’ve arisen elsewhere and your complaint, idea, solution will be welcomed by many!