Croquetas/Croquettes (in patty form)

As I’ve mentioned before, I wage a continuous battle against food waste. Now more than ever, with my new goal to Simplify, and with it endeavor for more meaning and less cost, this battle becomes even more important. Waste not, want not, as has often been said. And so true that. Less waste means more savings, extra cash to spend on a much loved pleasure, less junk clogging our landfills and waterways…and it can also mean a delicious treat if you know your way around leftovers!

One of my mom’s favorite ways to give new life to leftovers was to turn them into croquetas (also known as croquettes). Everything from leftover mince to smoked milkfish (yes, that’s tinapang bangus!) would find their way into my mom’s croquetas. As children, we loved these little breaded logs of soft potatoes and tasty bits of meat. We couldn’t care less if they were leftovers. They were delicious and that’s all our young minds needed to know.

Just as you can’t predict what and how much leftovers you will find yourself with on any given day, I don’t have an exact recipe for these croquetas (just as I don’t have one for this cottage pie). Simply put, this is what I do: I take whatever leftovers I have, whether it’s fish, mince, pork chops, longanisa (a local sausage) leftover from breakfast, or even vegetables (roasted vegetables would be awesome in this), and I shred/chop it to smallish bits. Then, depending on how much meat/veggies I have I take a couple, or more, potatoes and boil until soft, then mash. For these croquetas pictured I actually used leftover mashed potatoes (extra points for more leftovers used!). I then season the mixture with salt and pepper. You can add any other seasoning you’d like -- have you got some extra herbs lying around that need using? Chop them up and add them in! Add cumin and chili for a Mexican flavor, or soy sauce, sesame oil, and cilantro for something more oriental. Some cheese would also be delicious if this fits the combination of flavors you’ve got going so far (think chorizo, smoked paprika, and cheese…MMM!). Then add an egg and mix well. I just eyeball the mixture to see whether I add one or two eggs…but mostly one egg is good enough, leftovers usually not being all that much to begin with. I add all the seasoning before the egg so I can taste it before I add the raw egg. Now, shape your croquetas into logs or patties or balls (or anything your heart desires) and coat each in breadcrumbs. I personally prefer patties as I feel they cook better (and quicker) that way. Shallow fry in hot oil until golden on all sides.

You can serve this with a salad and it makes a wonderful meal. It’s also great tucked into a bun for a picnic or a packed lunch. You can serve them with a dipping sauce of your choice – some garlic yogurt, sriracha, or even that old staple…ketchup!

Now that I have a child of my own, I often think of what food traditions and values I’d like to pass on to her. Definitely my love for real, home cooked meals. My respect for food and where it comes from and who brings it to us. My wariness of junk food. An appreciation for true quality…which does not necessarily equate to what is more expensive. My love for vegetables. The belief that something lovingly crafted in your own kitchen will always be better than something bought in a store. Dark chocolate over candy bars. Eating with your hands…ok, this she is already loving :)

Part of these things that I’d like to impart on little C is the avoidance of food waste. And that means no fussing about eating leftovers! For my part, I’ll promise to make them as tempting as possible :)

Henry Glass Designers Holiday Project Parade - Day 1

Happy holidays! Welcome to Day 1 of the Henry Glass Designers Holiday Project Parade. I am excited to start things off with Heather Mulder Peterson and the Little Quilts ladies, Mary Ellen Von Holt, Alice Berg and Sylvia Johnson.

Heather Mulder Peterson

Little Quilts

Here's how everything works. Each day a couple of designers will post about the holidays and share an awesome free project. You can see the links on my right sidebar. At the end of the week, there will be a drawing for a grand prize giveaway on the Henry Glass Fabrics blog. How do you enter? Each designer has a special holiday word and will share it on her post. You have to collect each word and post it on the Grand Prize Giveaway post on the Henry Glass Fabrics blog between Dec. 7-9. Contest closes Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. EST. The comments will be closed on that post so please do not re-post your answers if you don't see your comment because you won't be able to see it. What is the grand prize? Henry Glass will send the lucky winner a bundle of the latest and greatest lines of fabric and each designer will send you a special little treat! How exciting, right? You will find all of this information on the Henry Glass blog. You will find a beautiful downloadable cover page for you to print out so that you can make a booklet for all of the patterns that we are offering here.

Let's have some fun!

Let me introduce myself for those who are new here. My name is Linda Lum DeBono. I am a quilt/ fabric/knitwear/scrapbooking designer and author. I also design for magazines such as American Patchwork & Quilting, Quilts & More and Mark Lipinski's Christmas 365. I have been with the wonderful folks of Henry Glass for many years. My design director and I have been collaborating together about 9 nine years now. My latest line, Hugs & Kisses, is shipping right now! I hope that you love it!

My quilt pattern accompanies the latest American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine. Perfect for the holidays!

I've written a couple of books for the awesome people at Martingale & Co.

 

I've written many for terrific team at Leisure Arts too!                                                                                

                      

I'm excited to have introduce my first on-line class, Chirp! for the awesome, Donna Kato, at CraftEdu. I've just started my classroom there. I'd love you to join me there. I will post new classes and I'm going to start a lot of conversations about crafts there. It's free to join the community only.

Chirp!

My latest adventure is being an Aurifil Expert. Words are not enough to explain how much I love this thread. I'm a featured designer on their new iPhone app too! Next year, there is going to be some special things going on. Stay tuned and I'll let you know as soon as I can.

I had to think a little about my post. It's not that I have no stories to tell about the holidays. You can check out many of my stories here. I've written a lot about my holiday memories and traditions. My kids are mini-Marthas. They love to decorate and they have been known to tell the gift wrapper at the school's holiday bazaar how to wrap their presents oh so perfectly. They've knocked down my tree and they love to give me a hard time when I am trying to take their holiday photo. They also love the holidays and appreciate that I encourage them to participate to make it kid-friendly fun.

One of our traditions is to guess where we're going to sit at the dinner table. I make these silhouettes, frame them and them as place cards.

This year we've been working on making some crafts. Our first fun activity together was to make these frozen wreaths using my mini-bundt pans, cranberries and twigs. We love to hang them outside on our deck.

I can't wait to take out my two Christmas trees [Christmas trees, by the way, is my special holiday phrase so remember it for the Grand Prize Giveaway!]. I had fun making up these glamorous tree toppers for each tree. 

Through it all, it's not the gifts, the food, or the decorations that make the holidays extra special. I'm sure that you all know that. It's the special trip that my husband and I took to spend Christmas with friends on Jekyll Island and the extra bonding time that the kids, hubby and I spent while driving to Toronto when the entire New York Thruway was closed from Buffalo to Syracuse because of a huge snowstorm. Oh, then there was that road trip when my Dad and I drove from Toronto to our other home in northern Ontario. We had to stop at a hotel over night because of a blizzard.

The holidays make me feel extra thankful for all of the friends that I've met here and on Facebook and helps me remember the happy and sad, but mostly happy way, the four people whom I lost three years ago, touched my life. The holidays are also a reminder that the new lives that enter my world can fill my heart with warmth and that new memories can be made.

Let me introduce you to a new little friend of ours, Finnian, baby brother of Little A's best friend Aidan. [Oh dear, he's almost outgrown the hat that I knit for him!] We look forward to lots of new memories with our little friend, Finn. Happy first Christmas!

The holidays are also a wonderful time for sharing. For many reasons, giving and sharing are much more important than ever. So, you've come to the right place! Let's get started with my project of the day!

This year, I am totally into pillows. I don't know why but maybe it's the need to cuddle and hug. My boys asked for some new pillows on their beds. As I was designing this pillow, I thought about how I could inject some personality into a normally boring pillow. Words on quilts have always been my signature. So why not a cute little saying to brighten up your room? My friend, Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup sent me some of her totally fun fabrics to play with. Thanks, Barbara! You can download the pattern here. Enjoy!

I made a another pillow for the folks at Aurifil. Go over to their site for the free pattern because the pillow is so darned cute and so easy to make, don't you think? GOOD NEWS! The pattern is up on the Aurifil site now! Yippee!

Alex and his team at Aurifil gave me some thread to give away as a holiday gift to you. [Colors may differ from the photo.] All of the rules will be listed below.

I  also "met" Mary Covington, of Cue Cosmetics, through another friend on Facebook. She makes these beautiful soaps. Yes, they are soap and definitely not edible! She's generously offering to send one of you a little box of soapy treats. She makes these beautiful chocolate soaps. Same rules apply as below.

Oh, I have some generous friends. Martingale & Co. has generously given me some books to give away.  Even my personal pal, Mark Lipinski, has given me a copy of his latest issue of Christmas 365 to give away to one lucky winner.

Martingale & Co.

Leisure Arts has given me a couple of books too.  Ooooh, do you recognize that name? Why, that's Miss Carrie Nelson!

Leisure Arts

Leave your name here and you get a chance to win. Follow this blog, join my CraftEdu classroom or be my friend on Facebook and you'll get another chance [only counts as one more chance no matter how many of these that you do]. Just let me know in the comments that you've done that extra thing. I don't know how I'll split up the prizes but it will be random. Please be clear with your contact information. If I can't figure it out, I will offer it to the next one in line.

Finally, remember to read each and every designers' blog, collect the special holiday words and post all of the words in the Grand Prize Giveaway post at the end of the Henry Glass Project Parade on the Henry Glass Designers Holiday Project Parade.

Happy holidays. 

xo, L