quick meal

Get Your Protein with This Buddha Bowl

A Creative Way to Mix Up Left Overs 

Sometimes you want something that works with what you have left over from earlier in the week. Most times, you want something that’s going to fill you up and not leave you hangry a few hours later. This recipe fits both of those needs. Now, as with most recipes for Buddha bowls, you’re more than welcome to mix things up. Add in more veggies, add in less grain, sub out an entirely different sauce. This is one that we’ve been loving though, and have used multiple times since dreaming it up earlier this year. 

Sauce:

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon raspberry syrup

1/2 teaspoon sweet chili sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons hot water


Bowl:

1 cup rice (cooked)

1 cup quinoa (cooked)

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 package frozen sweet potato

1 can seasoned black beans

1 zucchini

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste


Tools:

cutting board

knife

measuring cups and spoons

serving spoon

sieve or colander

microwave-safe dishes

fork and spoon

frying pan


As always: wash your produce! This is our first step every time we're not utilizing washed/ready-to-eat veggies.


If you're not working with already-cooked rice and quinoa, go ahead and start them now. (This recipe was actually born out of there being too much rice in our fridge, left over from dinner the night before... which is why we sort of glossed over the cooking of the rice and quinoa steps.)


Put your steamable bag of frozen sweet potato chunks into the microwave and cook them according to package directions - in our case, roughly six minutes on high.


Dump the can of seasoned black beans into the colander or sieve to drain and give them a quick rinse before putting them into a microwave safe dish. You can set them aside for now, as they won't need to heat very long in the microwave, and the sweet potatoes will be hogging it for a while anyway. But when the sweet potatoes are finally done, swap them for the beans and zap them a minute or two, just long enough to heat them through.


Trim the ends and cut your zucchini into chunks - whatever shape or size you like is fine, but we do half inch quarter rounds because they cook quickly. Pour your olive oil into the frying pan, swish it around a little to coat, and add the zucchini. Sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper, and saute for about 5 minutes over medium heat. You can substitute sesame oil for the olive oil if you have some, but it seems not a lot of people keep sesame oil in their pantries.


We chose to leave our shredded carrots raw, but if you'd prefer them cooked, feel free to toss them in with the zucchini about halfway through the cook time.


As your veggies heat/cook, grab a smaller microwave safe bowl and get started on the sauce. The first thing to go in should be the peanut butter. If you find peanut butter to be a little unwieldy (sticking to the spoon, landing in great blobs on the side of the dish instead of in the bottom, etc.) when you cook with it, feel free to employ the tactics of spraying your measuring cup with cooking oil before filling it and/or heating the peanut butter for 15-30 seconds in the microwave to soften it up.


After the peanut butter, use a fork to stir in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, and syrup. These normally mix fairly easily. The troublesome one is usually the garlic powder. Once you have the other items mixed thoroughly, sprinkle the garlic powder on top and pour the hot water over it. Use the fork like a whisk and swish the hot water over the powder and into the peanut butter mixture a few times to combine.Switch to a spoon and stir it to death. Leave the spoon in the dish because you'll need it shortly.


Once your grains and veggies are all cooked or warmed through, begin layering things into your bowls. We started with rice, then quinoa, then scoops of zucchini, sweet potato, and beans, then a sprinkling of carrots and a drizzle of sauce. If you have some handy, a little everything-but-the-bagel seasoning is also a nice topping.

We hope that you enjoyed this recipe! Let us know if you decide to make it over on our Facebook page. As always, we love to hear from you. 

If you’re wondering what to do with leftovers because your fridge just ran out, we can help with that too! You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We’ll work with you to set up a  time and date that works with your schedule. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again. 



Turkey Tetrazzini Takeover!

For When You're Left With A Ton Of Turkey After Thanksgiving And Don't Know What To Do With It.

Welcome back to another recipe of the week!  We almost always end up with leftovers after Thanksgiving of some sort, and you need to use them up without burning out. This week we're taking your turkey and turning it into a medley of flavors with this Turkey Tetrazzini. While the first version is a very traditional mix,  we also have a Southwest style in the notes afterward if you're looking for something wildly different. For now, let's grab that turkey and dive in! 


Ingredients:

1 lb of dried pasta 

3 Tbsp butter

4 garlic cloves

1lb onions 

3 1/2  oz of button mushrooms

1 cup white wine

2 C chicken stock

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 C turkey stock  (can be substituted for more chicken stock if you don't have any)

1/2 C heavy cream

1 C milk 

14oz cooked turkey

1 tsp ground nutmeg

10 oz Cheddar cheese

3 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese

8 oz frozen peas

salt 

fresh ground black pepper

1 lemon 

1 C panko bread crumbs 



Recipe: 

Start by gathering up your garlic, onions, mushrooms, turkey, cheddar cheese, and your lemon. Each of them needs to be prepped in different ways, so you're also going to need your chef's knife, a pair of forks, a juicer, and a cutting board, as well as dishes for each ingredient.

Start by crushing your garlic cloves with the side of your knife and thoroughly smashing them.  Then take your onions, remove the tops and bottoms of them and chop the rest into 1/2 inch pieces. 

Next up is the mushrooms, for those, you'll want to slice them into 1/4-inch slices. These are thick enough not to melt but thin enough to cook easily.  When you're done with those, take your turkey and shred it. You can even go so far as to chop the shredded pieces after so that nothing is longer than bite size if you like, but the shredding is the important part here. 

For the cheddar, you're going to want to shred that all and set it aside in the fridge for the time being. Lastly, grab your lemon. Roll it firmly across the counter with your palm and then cut it in half, making sure to get out as much of the juice as you can from both halves.

Once you've prepped all of your materials, set a pot of water on the stove, add 1/4 c salt to the water and bring it to a roiling boil. Toss in the pasta and cook it until cooked but still firm. This is so that you don't get pasta-flavored mush later on.  Drain the pasta and set it aside. 

-Add the butter to a large frying pan and allow it to melt. When done, add in your garlic and onions and saute for 7 minutes or until the onions are tender.  Stir in your mushrooms and cook for an additional 5 minutes stirring frequently. 

-Stir your wine and 2 cups of chicken stock into the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer. Allow the mixture to reduce for 10 minutes. Next, add in the flour and mix thoroughly to incorporate. When you don't have any clumps left, stir in the turkey stock a little at a time. (Or the third cup of chicken stock if you went with that.)  Whisk it all together to form a sauce. 

-Reduce your heat to medium-low and stir in the cream, milk, turkey, nutmeg and both types of cheese.   Season it well with salt and pepper, mixing to incorporate. Allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Finally, add in the pasta and the peas while you preheat your oven to 350*F. 

-Remove the pan from the heat and mix in your lemon juice. 

-Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish and coat the top with your panko.  Bake the casserole for 25 minutes or until the top, is golden brown and bubbling. 

For a tasty variation, you can sub out the cheddar cheese for cream cheese and the Parmesan for a little bit of Monterey Jack. 

Remove the peas and add in fresh red and green bell peppers instead. We would say two of each type, diced and sauteed, prior to adding in. 

Finally, add in 2 tsp of chili powder,1 tsp of smoked paprika, and 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. 

Follow all of the directions otherwise and enjoy a delicious southwestern-style tetrazzini. 


With that wrapped up, that is our recipe for this week! Let us know how yours turned out or any variations you've tried in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 


If you wound up here because your appliances are malfunctioning after Thanksgiving, give us a ring! You can reach out to us via phone at (214) 599-0055) or by going to our contact page. Wherever you are in the Dallas Metro area, Appliance Rescue Service is here to help. Whether you're in Coppell, Allen or Plano, we'll work with you to get your home running smoothly again.

Lazy Weekend Mushroom Pie

Who Wants To Stress Over Meals When It's This Close To The Holidays?

When you can’t be bothered to try new or complicated recipes in the lead-up to the holidays, check out this week’s recipe. It’s warm, filling, utterly delicious and most importantly, it’s easy to make! 



Ingredients:

850g of assorted mushrooms 

3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil 

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 medium leeks

1/2 C heavy cream

1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg 

PIe Dough- Extra flaky 

Egg wash 

Fresh rosemary - garnish

Fresh thyme - garnish

A note on mushrooms: 

When it comes to mushrooms, you have a lot of different options that will work well with this pie.  Some examples that work well are chanterelles, trumpets, creminis, oysters, or morels.  You could go with any of the ones in our list as one type or pick a few of each to see how they interact.  Just make sure that they're properly sourced and cleaned before eating them! 

Recipe : 

-Preheat your oven to 425*F, and remove your pie dough from the freezer, setting it to the side on the counter, so it begins to defrost. Ideally, you don't want it frozen, but you don't want it warm and extra soft, either. 

- Take your leeks, halve them and slice them thinly. You do not want huge chunks for this.  Toss them with salt and pepper, and then measure to make sure you have 2 cups, firmly packed. 

- Prepare your mushrooms. Take your paring knife to trim the mushrooms into medium to large size pieces, leaving clusters of whole mushrooms whenever possible.  (They're great for texture and appearance when you do this!) 

-Transfer your mushrooms to a dish and toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper to season. 

- Spread your mushrooms out in one even layer on a baking sheet and pop that into the oven. Roast the mushrooms until they're tender, 25-30 minutes. They will shrink quite a bit, but don't expect them to brown much.  Set the pan aside to cool when done. 

- In a medium saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat.    Add the leeks into the pan and cook them, turning down the heat to medium-low. Keep cooking for 8-10 minutes or until the leeks are very soft, almost a melted texture. 

- Add the cream and nutmeg to the pan, bringing it to a simmer. Simmer until the cream reduces, and the mixture thickens, around 3-4 minutes.  Set that aside to cool while you prep the dough. 

- Set your oven rack towards the base of the oven, if possible, with a baking or pizza stone on it.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

-On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough into a rectangle a bit larger than 10 x 16 inches.  Use your rolling pin to wrap the dough around and transfer that to your baking sheet.  Brush the dough with your egg wash, then lightly prick the dough all over with a fork.  If you want, you can use a paring knife to straighten up the edges. 

- Spoon your cooled leek mixture into the center of the dough and spread it into an even layer, leaving a border around all edges, 1 inch wide that's uncovered. Arrange the mushrooms on top of the leek mixture, overlapping and layering as needed, but don't stack them. You want them in a single layer to ensure that they cook evenly. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. 

- Pop the pan into the oven and bake until the crust is a deep golden brown and your mushrooms are crisp 40-45 minutes. Garnish the pie with herbs as soon as you take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.  

And that is how you make Lazy Weekend Mushroom Pie! If you do give it a shot or have suggestions, let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 


If you're worried about the holidays, though and would like to have a professional do a maintenance check, give us a call! We'll work with you to find a time that works for your schedule and send out one of our technicians to go over all of your appliances. We'll help you make sure that everything is running up to standard or find any problems before they become major ones. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to keep your home running smoothly. Wherever you live in the Dalals Metro Area, we want to work with you. Give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or reach out to us via our contact page to set up an appointment today.

5 Smoothie Recipes For Quick Meals

Smoothies make a great grab-and-go meal when you need something filling but not over the top.

We love making smoothies because you can grab them and go. A bit of prep, a bit of noise and then toss it all into the freezer and you can have a week's worth of breakfasts or lunches that are healthy and filling ready to go.  If you do it right, you can even use them to lose weight. We're not promising crazy results, we're looking at recipes that are shown to be filling, taste good and are actually healthy for you. 

The one universal tool that you're going to need for this list is a blender. It doesn't have to be the most expensive blender on the market,  you just need it to be powerful enough to chop through frozen fruits, vegetables and ice. As to those fruits and veggies. While fresh ones are fantastic, you can work with frozen just as easily. Finally, we did something we don't usually do and that's given the calorie count for each recipe.  We've done that so that you can see how much goes into these and make your choices accordingly. Keep in mind that calories aren't necessarily bad so much as  a "my body needs x number of calories to function." 

Now, on to the smoothies.

Peach Crumble Smoothie

  • 1/4 c rolled oats

    1/2 Banana - Frozen is best so that they chill everything

    1 c peaches - Fresh is best, but the frozen is tasty and easy to get hold of.

    1 c milk - You can swap out cows milk for any other type that you like, including almond milk which turns out very nicely, and lowers the calorie count further. If you do decide to go with almond milk, we suggest upping your vanilla to 2 tsp.

    1 tsp brown sugar

    1/2 tsp cinnamon

    1 tsp vanilla

  • With this one we're going to start with a choice. Do you like boba? If you don't know what boba tea is yet, consider instead whether you like texture in your smoothies. If the answer is yes, go ahead and skip this step.

    If the answer is no, then you need to take your chia seeds and add them to your oats and toss both into the blender. Pulse those until you end up with a fine powder, dump it into a bowl and set it to the side.

    Next up grab your pears and blueberries and toss those into the blender. You can take your choice on whether you want to add in the juice of the pears or not. If it's for a dessert smoothie, we think it's a great idea. If not, you might want to avoid that idea.

    Now add your powdered goods back in and blend till smooth. Congrats, Smoothie!

Tropical Smoothie

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats

    2 large peaches (Frozen is fine, fresh is better.)

    3 cup frozen mango

    1 medium banana (Ditto on the frozen vs fresh)

    1/4 cup Greek yogurt

    1/8 cup orange juice

    1 cup coconut water or almond milk

  • Start by adding your oats to the blender and pulsing until your oats are a fine powder. Pour them into a bowl and set them aside.

    Then, if you're working with fresh bananas and peaches you're going to need to slice up the banana and pit and slice the peaches.

    Next, toss your fruit into the blender and let it go. Add in all of the other ingredients together and blend till smooth. For your blogger, this is a full meal thanks to the addition of the oats. Make sure to test it yourself before you rely on it though.

Peach and Mint Smoothie

  • 2 large peaches (as per everything else, you can use frozen and be just fine, although yes, fresh is better. If it's the right season we suggest trying both white and yellow peaches and see which you like better.)

    ½ cup plain yogurt

    12 large fresh mint leaves (no, dried really doesn't work here)

    2 teaspoon lime juice (fresh is always better, but if you can't, bottled will work just fine)

    12 ice cubes (or you can play around and add more. This is for how thick you want your smoothie to be.)

    2 teaspoon honey or your sweetner of choice, but it really does taste good with clover honey

  • Alright! Grab everything and chuck it into your blender. Hit blend until it's smooth. Enjoy!

Irish Cake Smoothie

  • 1 1/3 cup Rolled Oats

    4 tablespoons Flaxseeds

    5oz Frozen Spinach

    1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

    1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

    2 1/2 cups Water

  • This is a surprisingly filling recipe, although we're still trying to wrap our heads around /why/ it is.

    Start off by putting both your rolled oats and the flaxseed into your blender and pulse until you've got a fine powder.

    Add in your spinach, ginger, cinnamon and water and mix until smooth.

    Thanks to the amount of water this is a thinner smoothie than others on the list, but it will give you plenty of get up and go.

Blueberry and Pear Smoothie

  • 16 oz frozen blueberries

    1 14 oz can of pears

    2 Tbsp of chia seeds

    1 cup of rolled oats

  • In your blogger's house, this is one that's turned to often, as bananas are actually pretty easy to freeze. Just slice them up when they're at peak ripeness and toss them into the freezer in a freezer safe bag or container. Then you can use them as you need, rather than worrying that they'll go bad.

    When you're ready to make your smoothie, don't just toss everything in at the same time. We suggest starting with the rolled oats. Pulse those until you have nothing but powder left so that it mixes into the smoothie more easily. Dump that into a bowl and set it aside. Now add in your frozens and your milk, and blend until smooth. At this point you can add all of your other ingredients in, including the oats, and blend until smooth. If you find that you want the smoothie to be thinner than it is, feel free to add in more milk, keeping in mind that that is going to boost the calorie count.

For any of the recipes we've shared, you can make adjustments, in fact, we suggest that you do. Take them and try out more of one thing and less of something else. Add in more oats if you want to be full for longer and less if it's meant to be just a light snack between meals. 

All of these can be stored in one of two ways, depending on the space you have.

- You can get yourself a silicone ice mold (choose your shape and depth preference), pour in the smoothies and let them freeze, then transfer those into a freezer bag or container for easier storing. 

-Alternatively, you can freeze them in freezer safe glasses/jars so that all you need to do is transfer them to the fridge 24 hours before you plan to drink them and let them defrost that way. 

Both options work, and it's really just dependent on how much freezer space you have available. 

You've probably noticed that our recipes have a LOT of peaches in them. That's because peach is a super sweet fruit that's easy to freeze and get your hands on year-round, but it's hard to overpower. So it works well with different vegetables and other fruits that you want to work into your diet. 

If you try out any of our recipes, please let us know how it goes! We'd love to hear from you in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.  


If you're turning to smoothies because your stove is currently not working (rather than the Texas heat..) we can help. You can give us a call at our office ((214) 599-0055), or reach out via our contact page to set up an appointment. At Appliance Rescue Service, we'll work with you to figure out what the problem is and get your home running smoothly again.