Last night was breakfast for dinner pajama party!!!! Dorey was doing pancakes so I did a frittata. Normally I would add cheese to the mix, but since we are both dairy AND dairy free in our family, no one eats the same cheese. We sprinkled at the end. Also Reid is very specific about vegetables so you can add anything that you like. These are the things I had and he will eat with gusto!
6 eggs 1/4 cup heavy cream (we use Ripple pea milk-it's really good for cooking) Olive oil 3 scallions trimmed and chopped 6 baby potatoes or 2 big sliced in 1/4 inch bite size slices 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped 2 cloves garlic minced 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves kelp salt and pepper grated cheese Preheat oven to 400. Mix eggs and cream. Season with salt and pepper. Beat until incorporated. Set aside. Heat a cast iron skillet. Add oil. Saute potatoes and onion on medium heat for about 5 minutes to soften potatoes. Add spinach, garlic and thyme. Wilt the spinach and add egg mixture. (If adding cheese that should go in now too) Place skillet in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Slice, sprinkle with cheese, and serve!
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In an effort to work with what I have, I found a can of coconut milk on the shelf. (not old or expired-just forgotten) I had cauliflower so I started there.
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1 tomatoes finely chopped 1 bag cauliflower or 1 head stemmed and cut into bite-size florets 1 cup chopped spinach 1 knob (2 inch piece?) ginger grate 1 tablespoon cumin 1 tablespoon coriander 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 can coconut milk 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 1-2 tablespoons Gochujang or other chili paste/sauce. Heat oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a minute. Add onions and cook to soften. Add tomatoes and cauliflower. Stir to incorporate. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer. Adjust spice to taste. Amazing flavor! At the beginning of this virus adventure I bought a large frozen cod fish. Last night it was time to cook it. I had a bowl of hazelnuts in the shell so I used those as the breading in place of flour. It turned out great, but the leftovers became tacos for lunch and that was better!
1 whole side of Cod 1 egg 1 cup white rice flour (regular AP flour if great if you're not gluten free) 3/4 cup hazelnuts 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed 1 teaspoon coriander 1 teaspoon garlic powder kelp salt pepper olive oil Cut the cod into serving size pieces. Heat a small pan and toast the cumin seeds in the dry pan for a minute. You'll smell them. Don't leave them long or they'll burn. Run the nuts through the food processor until they are bread crumb texture. You'll need 5 dishes, each big enough to hold a portion, to prep the fish. Mix rice flour and salt and pepper in one dish. Beat the egg in the second. Mix hazelnuts, cumin seed, coriander, and garlic powder in the third, Now set up your breading station. Raw fish in the first dish, white rice flour next, then the egg dish, then nuts, then an empty dish for the fish after. Take the fish one portion at a time and coat lightly in flour, then dip in egg, then coat both sides with nuts and lay on the clean dish. Repeat this with all the pieces. Heat a large skillet on the stove. Add oil. Brown the fish on both sides until the fish is done and flaky. This was great! Then today for lunch: 4 street taco size tortillas olive oil 1/2- 1 cup grape tomatoes chopped 1/4 onion sliced 1 large garlic clove minced 1/2 cup beans leftover fish sliced splash red wine vinegar chopped cilantro sour cream hot sauce Heat a frying pan. Add oil. Start sauteing onions. When they begin to look translucent add garlic. Stir for about 30 seconds and add tomatoes and beans. Finally add fish and a splash of red wine vinegar, and turn the heat to low and cover. Microwave tortillas for about 30 seconds to make them more pliable. Put 2 tortillas on a plate. Add fish and veggies. Top with cilantro, sour cream and your hot sauce of choice! Phenomenal!!! Yesterday our farm box arrived with 2 pints of sub-par strawberries. They had gotten beaten up pretty bad in transit and were quite slimy on the outside. I AM my father's child and cannot throw anything away so I decided to try to use them. I washed them under the tap real well and decided to cook them down. Side note- one of my favorite ice creams ever was a store brand strawberry peppercorn. Odd odd flavor but it worked, hence trying peppercorns in this. Don't knock it til you try it!
About a pint and a half of strawberries (once I picked through and tossed the truly bad ones) 1 cup water (enough to cover the berries in your pan) 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (to taste depending on how sweet the berries are and how sweet you like it- start small and add as you go) 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper(I use a grinder so I have no idea how much I used-definitely to taste) sweet biscuits powdered sugar Cut the tops off of all of the berries and rinse well under cold water. Place berries in a sauce pan and cover with water. Add balsamic and some sugar, maybe 3 tablespoons, and a few really good grinds of pepper. Put over lowest heat and simmer for 3 or 4 hours stirring occasionally. You want to liquid to slowly thicken and develop and really rich flavor. Low and slow. When the juice start to get good and thick, use a potato masher to break up the berries. I like big chunks so I did not puree them, but you could. Put it back on the heat and adjust the sugar and pepper ratio. This you can cool and save in the refrigerator for another time, or eat right away. When ready for dessert, make biscuits. I don't do scratch biscuits. Maybe that'll be another blog entry, but not today. 1 1/2-ish cups Bisquick 1 tablespoon of soft butter 1 tablespoon of sugar And enough milk to make a pliable dough. Sprinkle Bisquick on the counter and knead the dough. Roll it out and cut into biscuits using the rim of a glass or a cookie cutter. Bake at 400 until they smell good and are brown on top. Maybe 10 minutes. The recipe is on the box. I make it up as I go along. (sorry) When you're ready to serve, split the biscuits open. Drizzle sauce over the biscuit and top with a good sprinkle of powdered sugar. SO GOOD!!!! OK. Before you say EWWW and move along. We get a farm basket delivered every 2 weeks. We get what they are harvesting that week. I don't remember eating turnips growing up and it's not something I gravitate towards at the grocery store. Still I had turnips and wanted to something interesting with them. Here's my take on recipes I combined.
6 turnips on the small side- I had 2 that were large so I cut them in half 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 garlic cloves minced salt and pepper 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese herbs for sprinkling-I like thyme Peel turnips and boil until fork tender. About 20 minutes (ish) Preheat oven to 400. Set aside turnips to cool in a colander. Lay out a kitchen towel or layers of paper towels. Gently flatten each turnip to make a patty kind of shape. Let them drain for 15 minutes or so and then flip them to a dry part of the towel to drain on the other side. Mix olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place turnips on the sheet. brush with olive oil mixture and sprinkle with parmesan pushing into the turnip slightly. Carefully flip the turnips and repeat on the other side. Bake about 20 minutes. Flip and bake another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with thy,me. They're surprisingly good! I realized yesterday that I had a bag of dried red lentils. Hmmm... There's bound to be a fun way to use those. I made lentils with dinner but wasn't entirely please with them. The extras turned into soup today which, once I played with it, was really great!
1 1/2 cups red lentils 1 onions chopped 1 large or 2 regular carrots peeled and chopped 2 stalks celery chopped 1/2 fennel bulb chopped 3 cloves garlic minced 1 can diced tomatoes 1 quart chicken stock salt and pepper 3 teaspoons cumin 3 teaspoons coriander 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne 1/4 teaspoon all spice 1/2 cream Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add olive oil and saute onion, garlic, celery, carrot and fennel until translucent. Add lentils, tomatoes and stock. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add spices. Reduce heat to low and cook for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and blend using an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender. Return to heat. Add cream and adjust seasonings to taste. Mine was still a bit grainy so I ran the soup through a sieve before serving. Top with sour cream. I served the soup with grilled cheese for lunch and it was divine!!!! Yesterday Lidl was out of fresh herbs and garlic and several other things I had hoped to get in an emergency run for dog food. I grow rosemary in the back yard so that was the flavor of choice.
4 thick cut pork chops olive oil 1 onion sliced 2 teaspoons brown sugar 1 apple peeled and cut into chunks 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves removed and chopped 3/4 cup apple juice 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 2 teaspoons dijon mustard salt and pepper Salt and pepper both sides of the chops. Heat your pan and add olive oil. Sear the pork on both sides to get a nice brown crust. Remove the pork. Add a touch more oil. Saute onions and add brown sugar. Stir to coat. Add apples. When the apples begin to soften, add rosemary. Then add juice, vinegar and mustard. Stir to combine. reduce heat and put the chops in the liquid. Cover and cook another 10 minutes. Yum! Our lawn mower broke at the end of last season and it was TIME to cut the grass yesterday. All of the weeds were tall and proud. Before Chris tried out a new mower, I decide to forage for food. Nick handed me a purple violet and I popped it in my mouth to which he replied, "For real?" Yes, violets are edible, so are the leaves, and we have a lot in our yard. So I picked those and all of the good dandelion leaves I could get. All of this, and many other common back yard edible weeds (look it up, it's fun!) need to be washed more thoroughly than normal. They come in the house full of dirt.
Dandelion greens- enough for 2 salads violet flowers maybe 1/2 cup fresh spinach 1/2 a grapefruit sections removed juice reserved olive oil pinch of sugar Toss greens and spinach in 2 bowls. Separate grapefruit sections into the bowls. Top with violets. Mix grapefruit juice, olive oil, and a pinch of sugar and dress the salad. It was a little bitter for Chris, but I loved it! I watch a show on Hulu now and then called Struggle Meals. It's specifically about cooking meals for less than $2.00 a plate. The guy is charming and he has some fun ideas. He did a mole recently and I decided I'd try my own. It turned out great! I made it less spicy as we were sharing with Reid. For Chris and I, I would add some chipotle or adobo or both.
1/2 a big onion chopped 3 big cloves of garlic 4 teaspoons chili powder 1 jalapeno (Depending on heat level and how spicy you like it. Mine was fairly mild so I used the whole thing) 2 tablespoons corn meal (you can also use regular flour, but I was making gluten free) 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon coriander 1/2 teaspoon oregano 2 1/2 cups stock 2 tablespoons creamy peanut, or another nut, butter 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder olive oil Saute onion on olive oil. Mix chili powder, all of the spices, and cocoa. Once the onion becomes translucent add garlic and jalapeno. Cook until fragrant. Add spice mixture and corn meal and stir to coat well. Remove from heat and add stock. I used chicken stock, but anything will work. Use an immersion blender to puree all of the veg. Return to heat and add peanut butter and tomato paste. Reduce heat and let simmer until thick. You can use this right away, or let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator until you need it. In these days of quarantine I did a pretty extensive grocery run at 7am yesterday. I figured that would be the least busy time. I bought a giant pork loin so the next few recipes will be pork centric. I had some really nice leeks from our farm basket so I decided to do some research and found prasotingania, a Greek dish with both pork and leeks. It was amazing!!!! I thought it needed something so I tried gnocchi for the first time and it rocked! Here's the recipe:
About 1 pound of pork loin cut in 2 inch cubes (I cut the giant piece of loin into sections myself so I don't really know how much I had. Enough for 4 people) 2 big leeks cut in half long ways and then in 1/4 inch slices 1 lemon zested and juiced 2 good cloves of garlic minced 1 green pepper cut in pieces roughly the same size and the leeks 2 cups fresh spinach chopped 1/2 fresh parsley chopped olive oil 1/2 cup white wine 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon coriander 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon grainy mustard 2 bay leaves Rinse the leeks to get all the dirt out of the layers and set in a colander to drain. In a large pan with a lid, heat the olive oil and saute the pork until golden. Add leeks and peppers and cook until translucent. Add garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add lemon juice and zest, white wine, and enough water to come up to but not completely cover, the pork. Stir in all the spices, mustard, and bay leaves. Reduce to low heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile make the gnocchi. I made gluten free. I assume the proportions would be similar for wheat flour. 3 potatoes baked and skinned 1 egg rice flour almond flour Mash/rice the potatoes so they are smooth. Add (guessing) 1/4 cup of each flour and mix. Add egg and mix. This is where it becomes all feel. Add enough of the flours to get to mixture to a doughy consistency you can work with. Flour your board. Separate dough into 3 pieces. Take 1 of the pieces and roll it with your hands to a long 1 inch wide stick. cut the gnocchi in 1 inch pieces. Repeat with the other 2. Drop gnocchi in boiling water and wait for the pieces to rise to the top. Heat a large frying pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Remove the gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and place in the butter skillet. Cook until golden brown and yummy. Back to the prasotigania, When it's done,turn off the heat and add spinach and parsley. Stir well. Serve over gnocchi and dust with parmesan cheese. This is not a traditional preparation of the dish, but it includes all my favorite things! Enjoy!!! |
AuthorI'm not a chef. I have no training. I just really like food. I grew up eating processed food and over time, as a grown up, decided I wanted to cook the kinds of foods I got in restaurants. I have one problem. The doctor put me on a low sodium diet. You'll find there very little if any salt/sodium in this recipes. Just add to your own taste. I will probably do things wrong/differently on this website, but hopefully we'll all learn from each other! Archives
March 2024
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