Bacon Leek Dip

If it weren't for the kids, I'm pretty sure that dip would be a regular meal for me. This one was really tasty and since it had vegetables in it, I think I should have been able to call it a meal! 


Bacon Leek Dip
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 tblsp olive oil (or bacon fat if you have to cook your bacon)
1 leek sliced thin
1 large handful swiss chard, cut into small chunks
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cheddar cheese
My bacon was already cooked and in the freezer, but if yours isn't, you should cook it and then crumble it. Cook the leek and chard in the fat of your choosing until tender. Drain bacon, leeks, and chard on paper towels. Mix together all ingredients and place in a 3 cup oven safe baking dish. Cook at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until light brown on top. 

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers - Take Two

This is my second take on vegetarian stuffed peppers. The first can be found here. These were Mexican themed, so I served them topped with salsa. Turns out my three year old likes salsa, but not stuffed peppers. Ah well.


Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
6 poblano peppers, cut in half lengthwise
1 tblsp olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 can black beans, drain only the very top of the liquid
1 batch cooked brown rice (mine was for 2-3 servings)
1 1/2 tblsp taco seasoning
1/2 tblsp cumin
salt and pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Place peppers in a glass casserole dish. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Brown onion. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add beans, brown rice, and seasonings. Stir to combine. When liquid from beans cooks off, add 1/4 cup water and cook until heated through. The mixture should be moist, but not wet. Remove from heat and stuff peppers. Top with cheese and cook in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and a little brown.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Fall Veggies

Since it officially got all cold and fall-like this weekend, some comfort food was required! But, since I had eaten a bunch of crappy food (too much pizza), I wanted to make sure some veggies got in there so that I didn't have to feel too guilty. 


Baked Mac and Cheese with Fall Veggies
1/2 box whole wheat elbow macaroni
4 tblsp butter, divided
2 tblsp AP flour
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 cup grated cheese blend (I used colby, cheddar, and provolone)
1 small head broccoli, blanched and chopped into bite size chunks
1 small head cheddar cauliflower, blanched and chopped into bite size chunks
1/2 butternut squash, roasted and pureed
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
Cook macaroni in salted water a minute less than called for on the packaging. In the meantime, melt 2 tblsp butter in saucepan. Add flour and whisk to combine. Cook for a minute. Whisk in broth and milk. Cook over medium hear until sauce thickens. Whisk in mustard and salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted and smooth. Combine macaroni, cheese sauce, and veggies in a casserole dish. Melt remaining butter in microwave and toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over macaroni. Cook 20-30 minutes in 350 degree oven until topping is crunchy.

Honey Chicken

This is based on a Rachel Ray recipe, but I found it, as usual, to be too light on vegetables and too heavy on other ingredients. I served this over barley because that's what the kiddo wanted and when your three year old asks for barley, you get it to them!   

Honey Chicken

1 tblsp vegetable oil

1/2 package chicken breast, cut into bite size chunks

2 tblsp corn starch, divided
1 white onion, sliced

4 small/medium carrots, sliced

1 large handful green beans

1 tblsp diced fresh ginger

3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced

3 tblsp honey

crushed red pepper

1 cup chicken broth

salt and pepper
Heat vegetable oil in wok over high heat. Toss chicken with 1 tblsp cornstarch. Cook chicken over high heat until lightly browned. Add salt and pepper. Add onions and carrots. Cook for two minutes. Add green beans, ginger, and garlic. Cook for a minute until fragrant. Dissolve remaining cornstarch in broth. Add honey, red pepper to taste, and chicken broth. Cook until sauce is thickened and serve over starch of your choosing.

Turkey Breast

Despite the fact that a kitchen mishap led to me removing the skin from the turkey when I should have left it on, this recipe worked out perfectly well. It even scored the "Kevin's best" award! If you don't have a mishap, you should separate the skin from the meat and then smear the butter mixture under the skin. I served this with mixed mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy. Mmmm... Gravy...


Roasted Turkey Breast
2 turkey breasts (approximately 4 lbs)
1/2 red onion, cut into large chunks
6 tblsp butter, divided
2 cloves garlic
large handful fresh herbs (I used chives, thyme, oregano, and parsley)
salt and pepper
1 tblsp honey
Preheat oven to 450. Place turkey breasts in a lightly oiled roasting pan. In a small food processor, combine onion, 5 tblsp butter, garlic, herbs, and salt and pepper. Spread the butter mixture on the turkey breasts. Place turkey in oven and immediately reduce heat to 400. Cook for 30 minutes. Melt 1 tblsp butter in a small dish and stir in honey. Baste turkey with half of the butter/honey mixture. Cook for an additional 15 minutes. Baste again. Return to oven and cook until turkey reaches 170.

Mixed Mashed Potatoes

Okay, this is too simple to bother posting, but since it had never occurred to me to mix potato types in my mashed potatoes, I thought it might not have occurred to you either.


Mixed Mashed Potatoes
1 large sweet potato
4 small/medium red potatoes
4 small/medium white potatoes
2 tblsp butter
1/4 cup whole milk (or more depending on desired creaminess)
Peel potatoes and cut them into 2" cubes. You might want to keep the sweet potatoes a bit larger since they cook faster than the others. Cover potatoes with cold salted water and boil until fork tender. Drain and mash with butter and milk.

Ginger Peach Crisp

I bought a half bushel of peaches this weekend at the farmer's market. It was a moment of panic that peach season was ending and really, that half bushel doesn't look that big until it's sitting in your kitchen waiting for you. Anyway, a bunch hit the freezer, a few got set aside for snacking, a couple turned into bellinis, and the rest became dessert. This recipe was inspired by one in the Dishing Up Maryland cookbook, which you should totally check out.


Ginger Peach Crisp
8 medium/large peaches, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar (or more to taste)
3 tblsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp minced or grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg, divided
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup AP flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted*
Mix peaches, sugar, cornstarch, almond extract, ginger, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in a large bowl. Pour into an 8x8 baking dish. In a clean bowl, thoroughly mix remaining ingredients (don't forget the remaining 1/4 tsp nutmeg). Sprinkle over the peaches. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Let cool before serving.
*Most recipes call for you to use cold, cubed butter and to mix it in with your fingers until the mixture is pea sized crumbles, but I just watched an episode of ATK where they made a crumble and used melted butter for the topping. I thought this was genius since I lose patience with the whole pea sized crumble situation. I tried it and the topping was delicious and crispy, just like I like it. I'll be using melted butter from now on! :)

Peach Sauce

Trader Joe's used to sell (maybe still does) this amazing peach sauce and I developed quite a bit of an addiction to it. I weaned myself from it years ago, but then a couple weeks ago, I picked up some seconds peaches at the farmers' market for the freezer. Then I screwed up blanching them. Just when everything was going to crap, I remembered that TJ's peach sauce. Delicious all by itself, over ice cream, with yogurt, etc.


Peach Sauce
3 lbs seconds peaches cut into chunks
1 tblsp sugar (or more if you want)
1 tblsp lemon juice
Put everything in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens, at least an hour. Transfer to a glass container and store in fridge. 

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

I had a couple of rolls left over from making steak sandwiches the other night, so I made these to use them up. Very simple, but the sandwiches ended up tasting even better than I expected. Kevin says, "If Atwaters served that, I would order it every time." There was also a lot of rambling about it being a vegetarian substitute for cheese steak subs or Novakians (perish the thought). He says the toasted roll made the sammie, so you shouldn't skip that step.


Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
1 long skinny eggplant, cut in half and sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
1 summer squash, cut in half and sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
2 medium carrots, sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
2 portabella mushrooms
olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
1 green pepper
2 sub rolls
1 cup grated mixed cheese (I used mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar)
pickled onions
Place sliced veggies in a bowl together and mix with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper to taste. Let sit for at least an hour. Clean mushrooms and coat in oil, salt, and pepper and let sit for a half hour. Heat your grill to high. Place the green pepper on the grill and turn until blackened. Remove from grill and let cool. (Theoretically, you should be able to peel it like a roasted pepper, but that didn't work, so I just ran with it and ate the burned up skin.) Slice it and set it aside. Place all other veggies on grill and cook to your taste. Meanwhile, brush olive oil on the inside of the sub rolls. Place them face down on the grill and toast for a couple of minutes. Flip them over and top with cheese. Cook until melted. Cut mushrooms into slices so they fit on the rolls. Top with all other veggies and pickled onions. 

Janis' Potato Bar

This is not so much a recipe as it is a place to help me remember this was a fun party dinner. Plus, I figured I would take the opportunity to ask for additional suggestions. 


I wanted to make something for my MIL for her birthday, but I have never really figured out what she likes to eat. I thought a baked potato bar would be nice so that people would have options and could just skip whatever they didn't like. I went with some basic stuff (listed below), but really wished I could have thought of something a little unusual. Any thoughts? What do you like on your baked potatoes? I'm partial to turning them into tacos. I'm thinking I'd like to do a sweet potato bar sometime as well, so I'd love your sweet potato ideas as well. 


Baked Potato Bar
Baked potatoes
Turkey chili
Garden salsa
Grated cheddar cheese
Plain Greek yogurt
Bacon crumbles
Steamed broccoli

Garden Salsa

This is a pretty basic recipe, but we've been enjoying it quite a bit this week. If I didn't kill my cilantro, as usual, I would have put some in, but it was tasty without it.


Garden Salsa
6-9 ripe plum tomatoes, diced
1 small cucumber, cut in small dice
1 small bell pepper, cut in small dice
2 jalapenos, seeded, minced
1 tblsp lemon juice (I would have preferred a little more lime juice, but didn't have any limes)
ground cumin to taste
salt
Place cut tomatoes and cucumbers in a small colander over a bowl. Toss with salt. Let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and mix with remaining ingredients. Let sit for at least an hour to let flavors combine.  

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes

I came home from vacation to find my tomatoes had ripened! Joy! Instead of just plopping them on a plate with every meal, I figured I should try something a little different. It was also hot as heck, which meant I was not interested in firing up the oven, so I decided to try stuffed tomatoes on the grill. They were delicious, but definitely a mess.

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes
3 plum tomatoes, halved, seeds removed
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1 tblsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tblsp fresh basil, chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients except tomatoes. Add olive oil until the bread crumb mixture just comes together. Grill tomatoes, meat side down, for a minute to warm up and add a little grill flavor. Flip tomatoes over and spoon filling into the tomato and grill until the cheese melts and the filling browns lightly.

Greek Tomato Sandwich

This is way too easy and probably doesn't deserve its own blog entry, but I'm putting it here anyway. It's mostly the mayonnaise. I tried to make this without making the mayo and it was just a mess of a sandwich. And I'm sure "Greek" is a bit of a stretch, but it's what I think of when I taste it, so that's what it is here.

Greek Tomato Sandwich
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp chopped fresh oregano
1 oz crumbled feta
1 large tomato, sliced
sliced onion
lettuce
whole wheat bread
Combine mayo, oregano, and feta in a small blender. Let sit in fridge for at least an hour. Assemble sandwich on toasted bread. Enjoy!

Herb Dressings

Two new variations for me. Both were delicious on green salad and pasta salad. I would let them sit in the fridge for an hour before serving to really get the flavors together.


Mayo Based Herb Dressing
1/4 cup mayo
2 tblsp lemon juice
2 tblsp rice vinegar
1 handful parsley
1 handful chives
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil, as necessary
Combine all ingredients in a small food processor. Add olive oil as necessary to reach desired consistency.


Vinegar Based Herb Dressing
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 handful parsley
1 handful basil
1 small shallot, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste
Combine all ingredients in a small food processor. Add additional olive oil to reach desired vinegar/oil balance.

Refrigerator Pickles

All last summer, I wanted to try my hand at making refrigerator pickles, but I lacked pickling spices and then, before I knew it, cucumber season was over. So, I kept getting my refrigerator pickles from the grocery. Now, I don't know why I never looked at a pickle label before, but a couple of weeks ago, as I was standing in the fridge munching on a pickle, I took a glance and there was my old friend - HFCS. I know I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. And so, I still have no pickling spices, but I grabbed a few cukes from the farmer's market and some dill from our community garden and got to work.


Garlic Refrigerator Pickles (Kevin called these "breath of fire" pickles)
1 or 1 1/2 cucumbers (depending on size), sliced, you know, cucumber width
1/2 small onion, sliced
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tblsp sugar (you might want to add more if you don't want them to be "breath of fire" pickles)
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, smashed
dash crushed red pepper
Place cucumbers and onion in glass storage container (mine was two cups). In a small saucepan, bring remaining ingredients to a boil. Stir and boil until sugar dissolves completely (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool for a minute or two. Pour over cucumbers and place in fridge for 24 hours before eating.


Dill Refrigerator Pickles

1 or 1 1/2 cucumbers (depending on size), sliced

1/2 small onion, sliced

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar (these were for Kevin, so I tried to reduce the "breath of fire" aspect)

1 tsp salt

4 large springs fresh dill

Prepare same as above.

Barley with Veggies

This was just something I threw together to serve the dual purpose of being lunch and cleaning out the fridge a little, but it ended up being really tasty. I normally don't like any application where feta cheese becomes warm, so I'm not sure why I put it in, but it definitely worked.


Barley with Veggies
3 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp sliced onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1 zucchini, sliced into half moons
1 small bunch spinach, chopped
1/4 tsp fresh basil
crushed red pepper
3/4 cup leftover pearl barley
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
salt
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and zucchini. Cook until zucchini begins to get tender. Add spinach, basil, and red pepper (to taste) and cook until spinach is wilted. Add barley and cook until warmed through. Remove from heat and add feta and salt to taste. 

Herbed Lamb Loin Chop

Lamb is Kevin's favorite, but I've never actually made it at home. These were quite tasty, but next time I will try to marinate the chops in the herb mixture before cooking. I served these with a pearl barley and green beans.


Herbed Lamb Loin Chop
2 lamb loin chips
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp chopped parsley and oregano
1 clove minced garlic
salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients but lamb in a small bowl. Heat an additional tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Slather a quarter of the herb mixture on one side of each chop and place it herb side down in the skillet. Cook for approximately 3 minutes. Slather the remaining mixture on the chops, flip the chops, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook to desired doneness. 

Eggs Benedict

I made the most beautiful, picture perfect eggs benedict for Kevin for his father's day breakfast. I so wanted to take a picture because I never make anything that's picture perfect, but my camera batteries were dead. So were the backup batteries. Sad.


Hollandaise
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
pinch cayenne (I actually used a bit more than a pinch by accident, but it was quite tasty)
2 tsp warm water
1 stick butter, melted
Add all ingredients except butter to a food processor. Turn on processor and slowly drizzle in melted butter. Serve warm over toasted english muffins topped with canadian bacon and poached egg.  

Vegetable Pie

Hmm... I don't have much to say about this one. I was basically looking to use up some veggies and some pie crust. Exciting, right?


Vegetable Pie
1 pie crust
2 tblsp olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 large zucchini, sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bunches spinach (I'm guessing this is about one bag), chopped
1/4 cup leftover pizza sauce (or, you know, any tomato option you like - I was going to go with chopped tomatoes and some fresh herbs, but the kids had other ideas)
1/2 cup fresh peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute zucchini and onion until onion is softened. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Add spinach and cook until wilted. I then set about trying to dry out the veggies. First, I dumped everything into a colander and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then I dumped all of them out onto some paper towels and let them sit while I rolled out the pie dough and fitted it to a 9" pie plate. Spread spinach and onion as the bottom layer of the pie. Layer zucchini on top. Drizzle pizza sauce on top of zucchini. Sprinkle peas on top of that. Top the whole thing with cheddar and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Crazy Green "Pesto"

I've been hearing all about garlic scapes for a while, but since they've never appeared at my farmer's market, I had never tried them. That all changed this week. I picked up two bunches since I think they're only available for a short period of time and I wanted to take a stab at more than one preparation. Tonight, I went with a "pesto" sauce. Wooey! These guys are pungent. Since I have the baby to consider, I tried to tone down the bite of the scapes, but no dice. Here's hoping the baby still wants to talk to me tomorrow!


I think I'm going with roasting the next batch of scapes. What do you think? What do you do with your scapes?


Garlic Scape Pesto
1 bunch scapes (7 in my bunch), cut into 1/2 inch chunks
leaves of one stem of basil (about 10 leaves)
leaves of 3 stems of flat leaf parsley
5 large leaves of spinach
1/2 cup romano cheese
1/2 cup reserved starchy pasta water
extra virgin olive oil
salt
Place scapes, basil, parsley, and spinach in food processor. Pulse until everything is lightly chopped. Add cheese and turn processor on. Stream in pasta water and olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Salt to taste and serve on warm pasta.

Brown Sugar Glazed Ham

So, I got cabbage at my CSA pick up last week and that always leads to ham in our house. Alas, I was out of honey, so I set out in search of a different glaze and came up with this very basic, but tasty option. Not surprisingly, I served the ham with sauteed cabbage.


Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
1 3-4 lb. ham roast
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp brown mustard
1/8 cup water
Place ham on roasting rack. Bake at 350 for full cooking time less 30 minutes (so, assume 30 min per lb). While the roast is cooking, combine sugar, mustard, and water in a small saucepan. Stir until combined and then simmer to thicken. Slather all over the roast and return roast to the oven for final 30 minutes of cooking. Once ham is to temp, remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Small Birthday Cake

It's even crooked!

So, it's the little guy's birthday and there are only three of us and there's a party in two days for which I'm already baking cupcakes. I'm no baker, but I know you're not just supposed to half a baked good recipe and call it a day, so I set out in search of a recipe for a small cake. I found this one. Again, I'm no baker, but I started out to make this and had a heart attack. 1 1/2 sticks of butter?? 1 cup sugar?? The full size cake I made for MDH last month didn't have that much butter and just had that much sugar. But, there I was with the oven preheating and so I did what I always do when I disagree with a recipe and adjusted it as I saw fit. Remember, I'm no baker, so I was a bit terrified.

The result was really quite tasty. The crumb was a little dense, but it was delicious. I can't really figure out how I screwed up the icing. It should have just been a simple buttercream, but it turned out too thin. That part I know how to fix. The weird thing was that it was also a bit gritty. I don't know how something becomes gritty with butter, milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla.

Thoughts? Save me from the internet research - What did I do to my frosting that would make it gritty? Do you have a recipe for a small cake? Have you seen an uglier cake?

Small Birthday Cake

1 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

approximately 1/3 cup milk

Butter and flower two 1 quart round Pyrex baking dishes. In a small mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add sugar and mix until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time (At this point, I needed to stop and scrape down the side of the bowls) until well incorporated. Add vanilla. Add the flour mixture slowly (don't be like me - turn down the speed on the mixer before you start). Once I had the flour incorporated, my batter looked more like a dough, so I started adding milk a little bit at a time until your batter looks battery (yeah, battery. What else would I call it?). Split batter between the containers and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Let cool for five minutes in the baking dishes and then remove and let the cakes cool on a cooling rack before icing.

My Year of Local Food

First, for the record, I have been cooking - I've just been having a lot of problems getting time to post recipes. Today, I've given the older child to my mom and ditched my cleaning responsibilities so that I can post here while the little girl is sleeping. I'll regret this later, but oh well. Moving on...

Since the community garden is underway again, my CSA starts this weekend, and I've already been in the kitchen prepping and freezing lovely produce, I figured I had hit the end of one year of local eating. Last year, I joined our community garden, bought a full share in a CSA, and did my best with my own pitiful garden with the goal of buying no veggies from the grocery for an entire year. Here's how it went:

• I hear you saying, "Surely you didn't actually go all year without buying anything!" Well, you're right. I ran out of frozen carrots incredibly quick, so I had to buy a few of those. Also, there's no way to freeze lettuce and I can't go too long without salads. And, of course, I have a little munchkin who loves bananas and cucumbers. So, yes, I was in the produce store for things, but the majority of our stuff came from my frozen local supply.

• The Good:
• Zucchini. Who knew? The folks at the garden told me to shred it and freeze it. I also took a stab at slicing and freezing. Both worked great. 
• Tomatoes. I knew the plum tomatoes would work, but I also froze some cherry tomatoes and some of my heirlooms. They all worked out fine.
• The Bad: Butternut and Acorn Squash... at least the batches that I tried to freeze cubed. The stuff I pureed was awesome.
• The Ugly: The freezer. So disorganized. So bad. So cold. So very, very cold. Since it was disorganized, it took forever to find things and my fingers froze. Must organize and wear gloves next year!
• What's left: Two bags of zucchini, one container of peppers, one container of blueberries, some basil, and some beans. Two bags of cubed squash got composted.  Not too bad.

I'm not looking forward to another summer of blanching veggies every weekend, but it's worth it!

Stir Fried Noodles and Veggies

I pretty much default to making garlic ginger noodles whenever I make "Chinese" food for dinner, but since Natty doesn't really eat them, I thought I'd try a different sauce. I combined a few recipes I found and came up with this one. Natty still didn't eat them... Maybe he just doesn't like rice noodles? 


I'm pretty lost with any style of Asian cooking. What are your favorite sauces/dishes that I should try?


Stir Fried Noodles and Veggies
2 tblsp peanut oil

1 small head broccoli, cut into bite size chunks

1 bunch thin asparagus, cut into bite size chunks

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tblsp fish sauce

1 tblsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

pinch crushed red pepper

2 tblsp rice wine vinegar
1/3 package thick rice noodles, soaked
1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped
Heat peanut oil in wok over high heat. Add veggies and cook for about 2 minutes. Mix all ingredients except noodles and cilantro in a small bowl. Add sauce to veggies and stir to coat. Add noodles and toss again to coat. Add cilantro and serve.

Fresh Pasta with Bacon Tomato Sauce

This weekend's adventure was fresh pasta! Here's what I learned:
1) Don't make fresh pasta the same day you are making two different kinds of dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls, trying to clean the house for brunch the next day, and trying to pay attention to an infant and a toddler.
2) The pasta machine is a total PIA - unless you get the dough rolled out to the correct width. If the pasta isn't cutting correctly, it's probably not the right width. I'll be trying to cut by hand next time to see if I prefer that method.
3) Pasta dough comes together wicked fast. While cutting the first batch of pasta, I realized I didn't have enough for dinner for five people. I put together a second batch in just a few minutes. 
4) Cleaning your kitchen floor before making pasta is really pointless.


Fresh Pasta
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
hot water if necessary (which it was at first, but I think I might have left out an egg)
Put the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the middle (make it bigger than you think because three eggs are going in there - I blew that the first time) and add the salt. Then crack an egg in the well and beat it in. Do that with the next two eggs too. When it comes together, remove it from the bowl and knead it for a minute. You can roll it out and cut it now or you can store it in the fridge for a while.


Bacon Tomato Sauce
6 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 red onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I actually used diced because I could only get preseasoned tomatoes)
1 1/2 tblsp fresh basil
1 1/2 tblsp fresh oregano
pinch crushed red pepper
salt and pepper
1 cup peas
Cook the chopped bacon and onion over medium high heat until lightly browned, but not crispy. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Add peas and cook for a few minutes, just until the peas are warmed through.

Gnocchi

Another score for Mark Bittman! This gnocchi was much lighter than I've ever had in restaurants and, for that, I was very thankful since I could score some seconds and not feel horrible afterwards. Since I used Bitman's recipe, I'm not posting here. I made a simple garlic and olive oil sauce to go with it.


Garlic and Oil Sauce
1 cup olive oil
3 tblsp garlic, minced
1 tblsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tblsp fresh basil, chopped
1 cup chopped tomato
salt
red pepper
Saute all ingredients together until the garlic is lightly browned.

Pitas

I decided to try something different and make pitas instead of a loaf of bread. Since I just used Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything, I'm not posting the recipe, but I wanted to share the picture since they turned out nicely. Pitas are crazy easy to make, so you should give it a go if you like pocket sandwiches!

Tomato Frittata or Something

So, I thought I'd make something different for my friend's baby shower. I settled on Julia Child's Tomato Quiche because I had a bunch of frozen tomatoes ready to go and I was all about not going to the store. Then life got in the way and I didn't have time to make the crust. So, I had to change up a few things and made a frittata or maybe a gratin or something.... Whatever it's called, it ended up being a gorgeous red color and it had a wonderful, rich taste.


Tomato Frittata
1/4 cup minced onions
olive oil
2 lbs. fresh or frozen chopped tomatoes
1 clove minced garlic
2 tblsp basil
salt and pepper
5 eggs
1 tblsp anchovy paste
3 tblsp tomato paste
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses
Sweat onions in 2 tblsp olive oil. Add tomatoes, garlic, basil, and salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for five minutes. Remove lid and cook on high until all liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Beat eggs, anchovy paste, tomato paste, paprika, cayenne and salt and pepper together. Mix cooled tomato mixture into eggs. Transfer to a 9" pie plate and top with shredded cheeses. Cook at 375 until eggs are set and cheeses are lightly browned.

Basil Egg Sandwich

I totally stole the idea for this from this recipe, but since I didn't have pesto on hand and don't know how to successfully make an eight egg omelet (or a two egg omelet), I made it this way... This ended up being too much egg for the four sandwiches I made, so you probably want to cut this back to six eggs if you're making four sandwiches. Also, she posted an instructional video of the original recipe if you want to watch someone make an omelet without being a spaz.


Basil Egg Sandwich
8 eggs
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup grated parmesan
heavy splash milk
salt and pepper
2 tblsp butter, divided
whole wheat bread
1 cup cheddar cheese
Beat eggs, basil, parmesan, milk, and salt and pepper together. Melt 1 tblsp butter in large skillet. Scramble eggs. Remove from pan and wipe pan clean. Melt 1 tblsp butter in skillet. Assemble sandwich with cheese on both sides and grill in pan.

Braised Short Ribs - Take Two

I revisited this recipe this evening and changed up a few things. It was delicious, so I figure it's worth posting the changes.


Braised Short Ribs
2 tblsp olive oil 
10 short ribs
flour for dredging
4 carrots
1 pt button mushrooms, quartered
1 1/2 cup red wine 
2 tblsp tomato paste
beef stock
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Dredge ribs in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown all sides. Remove meat from pot and brown the onions, carrots, and mushrooms in the fat. Season veggies with salt and pepper. Deglaze pan with wine. Stir in tomato paste and season to taste. Return meat to the pot and add stock until meat is almost totally submerged. Simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is tender. Remove meat and veggies from pot and increase heat. Reduce sauce until it reaches a gravy consistency (15-20 minutes). Skim fat periodically while reducing. Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or just with a hunk of crusty bread for sopping up the sauce.

Po-chilis?

We've always made potacos, but it's equally delicious to slop up a potato with some leftover chili as well. It's lacking in the cute nickname department... Kevin calls them phillies, but that reminds me of cheesesteaks, so it's not really working.


Po-chilis
4 baking potatoes
olive oil
salt
4 cups warmed leftover veggie chili
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
plain yogurt
Poke potatoes repeatedly with a fork or knife. Microwave on high for 15 minutes. Coat with olive oil and salt and place in 400 degree oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and bring together a light roux. Whisk in milk and heat over medium heat until milk thickens. Remove milk from heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Cut open the potatoes, top with chili, cheese sauce, and yogurt. 

Veggie Chili

So, after the arrival of baby girl, people brought us food that somehow, always included a can of corn. I'm totally grateful for all the delicious food that people brought, so if it sounds like I'm poo-pooing the arrival of corn in our house, please know that's not the case. Anyway, I ended up with a few cans in the pantry and remembered this recipe from our friend, Rachel. She always downplays her cooking skillz, but this was a good recipe. 


Veggie Chili
2 tblsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup banana peppers, chopped (I used banana peppers because I have a ton of them left over from an overproductive garden. If I had jalapenos, I would have used those instead.)
2 1/2-3 cups black beans, soaked overnight (or 2 cans black beans for a faster recipe)
2 cans sweet corn
1 can chopped tomatoes and the juice
2-3 cups additional veggies (I like zukes, carrots, broccoli, but use whatever you like)
chili pepper
cayenne (probably not necessary if you use a pepper more powerful than banana)
garlic powder
salt and pepper
Heat oil in a soup pot (if you're switching to a crock pot, use a smaller pan) over medium high heat. Sweat onions and peppers and then season with salt and pepper. If you're switching to a crock pot, now's the time. Add beans, corn, tomatoes, and additional veggies. Season to your taste. You'll have to come back a few times to get it right because the heat will bring out the spices. If you're going for a quick cook, bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it come together for 30 minutes. If you're using the crock pot, cook everything on high until the beans are tender (around 4 hours) and then reduce to low until you're ready to eat. I let the whole thing go for about an additional 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream and cheddar cheese.  

Vinegar Smashed Potatoes

This recipe is from our friend Grant. It's a nice change for standard mashed potatoes. This makes enough for three servings.


Vinegar Smashed Potatoes
3 white potatoes, cut into 1" squares
salt
2 tblsp melted butter
3-4 tblsp red wine vinegar
Just cover potatoes with cold water and salt. Bring to boil and cook potatoes until fork tender. Drain potatoes, return to pot, and add melted butter and vinegar. Mash potatoes to mix, but leave them on the chunky side.

Quinoa Salad

Is it just me or do the cooking instructions for grains always make waaaaay too much? This is my favorite thing to do to get rid of some of the leftovers. If you have any ideas about what else to do to use up grains, let me know.

Quinoa Salad

Chopped romaine lettuce

chopped cucumbers

sliced onions

1/4 cup leftover quinoa (mine had peas and banana peppers) or couscous

1 handful sunflower seeds

honey balsamic dressing

Honey Balsamic Dressing

This dressing is super simple and has been a hit in our house.


Honey Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup wildflower honey
1/2 cup balsamic vineagar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tblsp yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Put all ingredients in a shaker or empty dressing bottle and shake like crazy.

My Favorite New Rice

Since Natty has been groovin' on rice, I've been looking for ways to a) enjoy rice and b) prepare rice without burning it. Rachel Ray made this rice on her show one day and it looked interesting, so I thought I'd steal the method. Turns out it's my new favorite. A nice bonus is that it's super easy to change the spices and veggies to match whatever you're serving it with. 


Yummy Rice
2 tblsp olive oil (or butter)
1/2 cup orzo
1 cup rice (I went with quick cook brown rice)
salt and pepper

1-2 cups veggies depending on how you want to balance the dish. I have used onion, banana pepper, zucchini, broccoli, and peas in different versions.

1 tblsp spices to match your main course. Cumin and crushed red pepper for Mexican, basil, garlic, and oregano for Italian, saffron and paprika for Spanish.
2 1/2 cups stock or broth
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add orzo to oil and lightly toast. Add rice, veggies, spice, and season with salt and pepper. Add broth, reduce heat to medium low, and cover. Cook 15 minutes, until rice is tender.

Granola!

This smells like cookies while it's cooking. Dangerous. I didn't add in dried fruit since I wanted to be able to change it up depending on what I was doing with the granola. Future batches will involve experiments with other nuts, peanut butter, maple syrup, etc. If you have any good granola ideas, let me know. It's based on a recipe I found in a Disney magazine.


Granola
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1 cup dried fruit
Combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Combine until well coated. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 for 40-50 minutes until lightly browned. Stir occasionally while cooking. Once the granola is cooled, add dried fruit if using and store.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Langostino

I normally don't post recipe variations, but this one was particularly yummy, so I thought I'd throw it out there. 


Here's the base recipe. Then: 

Remove the mushrooms and the thyme.


Substitute champagne for white wine and vegetable stock for chicken stock.


Add 1 1/2 cups butternut squash and 1 1/2 cups langostino (pre-cooked). I also meant to grate some fresh nutmeg over the whole thing once it was done, but I forgot. You might try it though.

Butterscotch Cannolis

The other night, I went to my parents' house for a big Italian dinner. Afterwards, my dad asked where the cannolis were, but there were none. That was about it for me. I couldn't stop thinking about cannolis. Little did I know how ridiculously easy they are to make (provided you buy the shells). I thought I had chocolate chips, but I ended up having every kind of chip but chocolate. I opted for butterscotch and Kevin thought it was better than the regular chocolate chip. These were Natty's first cannolis. I think he approves!


Butterscotch Cannolis
8 oz marscapone cheese
3 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
6-8 mini cannoli shells (depending on how much you like in each shell)
Combine cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl with a hand mixer. Stir in butterscotch chips. Cut the corner off a sandwich bag and use it as a piping bag to fill the cannoli shells.

Tarte Normande Ice Cream

I wanted to make a couple of small tarts with the leftover tart dough I had, but I ran out of frangipane. So, I decided to make an ice cream with the same flavors and serve it in the shells I made. I'm happy to report - it worked!


Tarte Normande Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp lemon oil
pinch salt
1 pear, cut into small pieces
1 handful frozen wild blueberries
Mix all ingredients up to salt together. Add to ice cream maker and prepare according to maker instructions. When the ice cream reaches soft serve consistency add pear and blueberry. Freeze to desired consistency.

Tarte Normande

Thanks to KT for the awesome tart pan for Christmas. Here's my first tart - Tarte Normande. It was delicious and I'll be making another one for a gift for our midwife tonight. Thanks KT! 

Beef Stew

I've never actually made beef stew before since that has always been Kevin's ballywick, but I got this dutch oven for Christmas and it seemed like a good first recipe for the oven. Kevin liked the stew a lot, so I call it a win. I served it with homemade biscuits, which were also delicious and way too easy to make for something that is not at all good for you!


Beef Stew
2 tblsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat
1/4 cup seasoned flour
1 large onion, cut in bite size pieces
3 large carrots, cut in bite size pieces
4 white potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
1/3 bottle red wine
2-3 cups stock (I used chicken since that's all I had on hand, but of course beef would make sense here)
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Toss beef cubes in seasoned flour and then brown all sides in hot oil. Add onion and carrots. Cook until tender. Deglaze pan with red wine. Add potatoes and tomato paste and cover with stock. Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low. Cook over low heat for 3 hours. Adjust seasonings before serving.

Felishki

Alright Andrej, you might be the only other person I know who has ever heard of this dish. If you have and you know how to spell it, let me know. Apparently this is a Czechoslovakian dish that my parents learned from my dad's family. It's not a terribly exciting dish, but it's really tasty and an excellent use of leftover ham if you, like me, happened to make an 8 lbs ham for three people. I always loved the noodles that would get crispy on the top. Yummy!

Felishki

1/4 bag egg noodles

1 1/2 cup leftover ham, cut into bite size chunks

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

paprika

salt and pepper

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Combine noodles and ham in a medium casserole dish. Combine eggs with enough milk to total 1 cup of mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture over noodles and ham. Sprinkle top with paprika to your taste. Bake at 375 until casserole is set and top is lightly browned.