Tag: food

Recipe Sunday: Spinach, Onion, and Swiss Frittata

l210500737I know, Recipe Sunday is mad late, but, better late than never is what they say. I am dying to get into this one though. I decided to switch it up a bit so this is a breakfast recipe. You can however make it a dinner if you’re a 24 hour breakfast eater like me. I’ll make pancakes and eggs for dinner in a heartbeat. But enough about me, you will need:

2 Teaspoons canola oil
2 Cups vertically sliced onion
4 Cups baby spinach leaves
8 Large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 (3/4th cup) shredded Swiss cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat a 10-inch ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Add spinach; cook 2 minutes, stirring just until spinach withers.

3. Combine eggs, salt, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in pan; cook until edges begin to set, about 2 minutes. Gently lift edge of egg mixture, tilting pan to allow uncooked egg mixture to come in contact with the pan. Cook 2 minutes or until egg mixture is almost set. Sprinkle with cheese.

 
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes or until center is set. Transfer frittata to a serving platter immediately; cut into shape of choice and devour. 🙂

Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce

It really don’t make no sense how good this looks. Beef stew anyone? We’ll need:

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• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds trimmed beef flatiron steak or chuck, cut into 8 pieces
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• One 750-milliliter bottle dry red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme sprig
• One 5-ounce piece of pancetta
• 15 pearl or small cipollini onions, peeled
• 15 cremini mushrooms
• 15 baby carrots, peeled
• Sugar
• Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, melt the butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the meat in the casserole in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, 8 minutes. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat the meat with it. Add the wine, bay leaves and thyme, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.

2. Cover the casserole and transfer it to the oven. Cook the stew for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is very tender and the sauce is flavorful.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, cover the pancetta with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain the pancetta and slice it 1/2 inch thick, then cut the slices into 1-inch-wide lardons.\

4. In a large skillet, combine the pancetta, pearl onions, mushrooms and carrots. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of water and a large pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until almost all of the water has evaporated, 15 minutes. Uncover and cook over high heat, tossing, until the vegetables are tender and nicely browned, about 4 minutes.

To serve, stir some of the vegetables and lardons into the stew and scatter the rest on top as a garnish. Top with a little chopped parsley and serve.

– Contributed by Jacques Pépin

Chicken Noodle Soup

Winter has its perks, among which are soups. The warm feeling of delight as it travels your inward parts is deliciously heartwarming—literally. If there is one meal to enjoy during the cold it is Chili’s and Soups.

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We’ll need:

• 1 (3 1/2-pound) whole chicken
• 3 quart(s) low-sodium chicken broth
• 6 carrots, peeled
• 4 stalk(s) celery, ends trimmed
• 3 medium onions, peeled
• 5 black peppercorns
• 1 clove(s) garlic, crushed
• 10 sprig(s) parsley
• 2 sprig(s) thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
• 4 leeks, tops and root ends removed
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
• 3 cup(s) (5 ounces) medium egg noodles

 

Make the stock: Place the chicken and chicken broth in a large stockpot and set it over medium heat. Roughly chop 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, and 1 onion and add to the broth. Add the peppercorns, garlic, 2 sprigs of parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and enough water to just cover the chicken. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the chicken is very tender — about 1 1/4 hours — skimming the surface periodically. Remove the chicken and place in a large bowl. Strain the broth through a very fine sieve into a large, clean bowl or stockpot. Discard the vegetables.

 

Make the soup: Skim any fat off the top of the strained broth and discard. Slice the remaining carrots, celery, onions, and leeks into 1/4-inch-thick pieces and set aside. Remove and discard the skin and bones from the chicken, cut meat into 1/2-inch pieces, and set aside. Chop the remaining parsley leaves and set aside. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the vegetables and cook until the onions are translucent — about 7 minutes. Add the chicken, the reserved broth, salt, and pepper. Simmer the soup until the vegetables are tender — about 1 hour. Stir in the egg noodles and parsley and cook until the noodles are tender — about 10 more minutes. Serve hot.

 

Add toasted bread or tortilla for an added treat :).

Skillet Salmon & Parmesan Potatoes

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I LOVE potatoes: French Fries, Baked Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, all kinds of potatoes. So, today’s recipe is a nice easy dish that takes just a little bit of time to prepare. You can make this meal in less than 15 minutes and it is delicious. For tonight’s quick fix, we will need:

1 (6-ounce) salmon fillet (about 1-inch thick)
Cooking spray
2 medium potatoes
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups mixed salad greens
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette
1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a nonstick skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat fish with cooking spray. Add fish to pan, and cook until it’s well done ( 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork).

 
2. While fish cooks, pierce potatoes with a fork; arrange in a circle on paper towels in a microwave oven. Microwave on HIGH 8 to 10 minutes, rearranging potatoes after 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.

 
3. Cut cooked potatoes in half, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cheese.

 
4. Combine greens, tomatoes, and vinaigrette in a bowl; toss gently.

 
5. Cut lemon in half, and squeeze lemon juice over fish. Serve with potatoes and salad.

Tomato and Beef Casserole With Polenta Crust

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Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Caroline Murphey

Today’s special recipe is a feature from Kathy Gizzi, of Rotonda West, Florida. It looks so tasty I cannot wait to try it myself. This time, we’re all going to do it together, yall with me? Tonight’s dinner is: Tomato and Beef Casserole with Polenta Crust. We’ll need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper < or zucchini. I don’t care too much for it so I substituted with bell pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, drained
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bring 3 cups water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in cornmeal; reduce heat to low, and simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in steak seasoning and 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Spread cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

 
2. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is well done; drain and transfer to a bowl.

 
3. Sauté onion and bell peppers in hot oil in skillet over medium heat until crisp-tender. Stir in beef, tomatoes, and tomato paste; simmer, stirring often, 10 minutes. Pour beef mixture over cornmeal crust. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

 
4. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle casserole with parsley just before serving.

Enjoy!

Do you have a tasty recipe you would like me to try? Send it in! I love recipes and will try it seriously, no joke. :). Just be sure to send a picture along with it so I can feature it on Recipe Sunday. 

Whopper Pie

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Today’s Sunday Recipe is a nice sweet treat for all of our sugar addicts out there and is super-duper easy to make. There is also so much more you can do with this. You can make a cake or fill your pie with whatever ingredients you like. For this basic recipe you’ll need:

1 Pt. Softened Vanilla Ice Cream
8 oz Cool Whip
8 oz Whoppers Crushed (or Malted Milk Balls)
1 Graham Cracker Crust

 
Mix all of these delicious ingredients together. Make sure the Whoppers are crushed and be sure to leave some for the final touch.

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Pour mixture into the Graham cracker crust and top with crushed or whole whoppers.
Freeze for 4 hours and top with whipped cream, more whoppers and anything else that tickles your taste buds.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Potato Casserole

If there is one meal most appropriate and easy to make during the winter, it’s casseroles. I especially like them for those days when you’ve either had a late night or the times are hard, and you need to throw together a quick meal. Either way casseroles are a great idea to compliment your time and your appetite.

So today we’re making a Chicken and Potato Casserole.

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You will need:

 
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
Medium Russet or Idaho Potatoes
Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Shredded Cheese
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder

 
This is gonna seem a little backwards compared to how most do it, but I’m an overtly paranoid “Must Be Well Done Or Else” kinda cook so I bake my chicken first actually before cutting them into pieces.
So set your ovens to 350 F and let your chicken cook. After it is done (make sure it’s not dried out though), slice the chicken into 1 inch pieces

 
*clearing throat* > in real life I don’t do much measuring. What I really wanna say is to just cut them into small pieces, but I don’t want the experts to get lost 🙂

 

Cut your potatoes into 1 inch pieces as well (for those of you who really don’t know how to cook or your on a low budget, just use frozen potato wedges. The world will never know).

 
Grease your roasting pan or baking pan of choice with some spray oil.

 
Spread the diced chicken, frozen veggies, and potatoes evenly on the baking pan.

 
In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over the chicken, veggies, and potatoes; make sure to coat everything nice and evenly.

 
Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes. Since the chicken is already cooked it’s not going to take that long, but if your chicken is cooking with everything else, bake uncovered for about 50 minutes – 1 hour.

 
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake again for another 5 minutes so the cheese can melt.

 
Remove from the oven and smash the game < code for devour.