cheesy spinach bake: Cooking Light

Last night I made this dish from Cooking Light (see my Menu Plan Monday post for the link to the recipe). It turned out a bit like an upside-down quiche. You make it by pouring a bit of melted butter in the baking dish, then lining it with a huge pile of spinach, sprinkling the spinach with cheese, and then pouring something like a spiced pancake batter over the whole thing, and baking it. The batter sinks down to fill all the crevices, and you end up with a cheesy-spinachy-pastry-like thing. Pretty good!

I used eggs instead of egg substitute, and full-fat cheddar cheese, and part-skim mozzarella, so I don't think it quite fit Cooking Light's idea of a low-calorie dish, but we were quite happy with it. Oh, and I used a bit more cheese than they called for. Mmmmm.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Menu Plan Monday: Chickpea-Potato Curry

So, my husband told me I'm a "spice cook" - that I choose to cook things based on the spices in the recipe. And tonight, I got confirmation of that. I had Emily over, and cooked her a curry (which she liked - thanks, Em!), and when she asked me what was in it, my answer was something along the lines of "Well, there's potatoes and chickpeas and onions . . . and then there's jalapenos, ginger, garlic, cilantro, coriander, garam masala, curry powder . . ." yep. The recipe was mostly spices.

Therefore, following this menu is the recipe for my chickpea-potato curry. I got the basic recipe out of "the best ever Indian" cookbook, but I tweaked it. And here's the menu:

Monday: Spinach-Cheese Bake and blueberry muffins
Tuesday: freezer meal
Wednesday: Black Beans and Rice
Thursday: Chickpea-Potato Curry
Friday: dinner at folks'
Saturday: huevos rancheros tostadoes

For more menus, visit Org Junkie. And now, the Chickpea/Potato Curry:

-4 T. vegetable Oil
-2 onions, sliced in half rings
-2-3 t. minced fresh gingerroot
-1-2 t. curry powder, to taste
-1-2 t. garam masala, to taste
-1 t. powdered coriander
-2 jalapenos, seeded and minced.
-1/4 c. minced fresh cilantro
-2/3 c. water, more as needed
-2-3 potatoes, diced
-1 can chickpeas, drained
-salt, to taste

1) Heat oil over med-high heat, add onions, and saute till golden. Reduce heat to med-low, and add the ginger, curry, garam masala, coriander, jalapenos and cilantro. Stir-fry for 2-4 minutes.
2) Add 2/3 cup water to pot and stir to mix.
3) Add potatoes and chickpeas to pan. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add more water as needed, to make curry saucey.
4) When potatoes are tender, turn off burner, and serve hot. (Being careful, 'cause, um, it's hot!)

As always, check back here to see how the recipes turn out! (And check out last week's yumminess.)

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Spring Pea Tarts: Vegetarian Times

Yesterday I made these tarts from Vegetarian Times. They turned out really well - but my daughter wouldn't eat hers.

These mix cooked spinach and peas with Neufchatel (cream) cheese and some other flavorings for the filling, and you put them in shells assembled from puff pastry. The puff pastry's on the pricey side, and I think you could make something very similar just by hollowing out some rolls in place of the tart crust. The filling is certainly worth making again, and both my husband and I think it'd make a good dip. I could see it as a sandwich spread too.

It is a pretty rich filling, for all that it's mostly vegetables, and in the middle of the tart I wished for a little more crust to balance out the richness. But overall, an excellent recipe. And very pretty.

(Blogger's giving me grief, so for a link to the recipe, please see my previous "Menu Plan Monday" post. I'll see if I can edit the link in later.)

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

alterations:
-I used frozen rather than fresh spinach, and so possibly a little more than was called for. But as it was all just pureed, I don't think it made a difference.

Not Your Mother's Chicken Soup: Woman's Day

Lesson 1 Learned from Not Your Mother's Chicken Soup:
-When the recipe suggests cooking "x amount of time or until vegetables are tender", don't just cook "x amount of time", actually check and see if the veggies have become tender.
Lesson 2 Learned from Not Your Mother's Chicken Soup:
-untender yams - unlike creamy-soft roasted yams - taste amazingly like carrots.

Good, gingery, sinus-clearing soup this. We shredded the chicken and added it to the soup, but you could just take the chicken out the broth and eat it seperately. If you're sick, this is the soup you'd want, I think. Nice and spicy, and no nausea-inducing soggy noodles.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

p.s. I really cook more than just soups. Honest. :D

Herb Ravioli Soup: Sunset

This soup was pretty!

I admit, I was sucked in by the title of the section this soup was under. But doesn't "Bright, savory soup" just make you want to cook up a batch? It only would have been better if it was "Bright, savoury soup". Ah, British spelling.

Anyway, very yummy, and perfect for a Saturday night.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

alterations:
-I didn't exactly measure the herbs. I just picked a bunch in about the right amounts.
-I forgot to pepper it.
-My package of ravioli was 9 oz, not a pound, and it was chicken sausage pesto something else, not plain ol' chicken. :D

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Not Your Mother's Chicken Soup
Tuesday: freezer meal
Wednesday: Spring Pea Tarts
Thursday: Easy Chicken Adobo with rice
Friday: dinner at folks'
Saturday: Tomato & Cheese Strata

This is a week full of experiments! I don't think I've made any of the above-linked recipes before. Check back later in the week to see how they turn out; and take a peek at the archives for past experiments - and maybe to get some ideas for your next menu or two. :D

I'm pretty sure Saturday's recipe, for Tomato and Cheese Strata, comes from Womans Day, but I can't find a link for it, so here's the recipe:

-10 slices white sandwich bread
-4 tomatoes cut in 1/2-inch-thick slices
-1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
-4 scallions, trimmed and sliced
-4 large eggs
-2 cups milk
-1/2 tsp. salt

1) Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
2) Place four slices bread over bottom of dish. Arrange half the tomatoes, cheese and scallions on top. Cover with remaining 6 slices bread (overlapping) and rest of the tomatoes, cheese and scallions.
3) Whisk eggs in a large bowl to mix yolks and whites. Add milk and salt; whisk until blended. Pour over bread, cover and refrigerate at least two hours or up to 24 hours.
4) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake strata 40-45 minutes until puffed and golden, and a narrow knife inserted near center comes out clean.


The recipe notes that a) this is a good one to make ahead of time, b) bread that's stale works fine in this recipe and c) the tomatoes should be cored. But, frankly, I don't hold with coring tomatoes, so I say take all the advice but the last. :D

Check out Laura at Organizing Junkie for more great menus!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Hummus Cakes: Vegetarian Times

I think this is the best hummus I've ever made. And it's baked: go figure.

The best as to taste, that is. They are pretty dry, but I served them in pita with yogurt-cucumber sauce and tomatoes, so that wasn't a problem.

This did take a bit of time to put together, for all that it looks simple on the plate.

peacce of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

alterations:
-I doubled the recipe, and used one can of black beans in place of chickpeas, 'cause I only had three cans of chickpeas. Turned out fine!

Better-than-ever Beef Enchiladas: Kraft Foods

Finally made this recipe. Yum.

Yep, that's all I've got tonight, folks.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

Penne and Veggies with Rosemary Garlic White Sauce

The Rosemary and Garlic White Sauce is taken from this Cooking Light recipe. (I made the Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna, btw. It was very tasty, but had a uniformly squishy texture. The tastiness came primarily from the sauce, so I figured that the sauce was repeatable, but the whole casserole was not.)

Call this mac'n'cheese for grown-ups. Sans cheese. Unless you add Parmesan to everything, like I do. And with appeal to kids, 'cause my two gobbled it up. Okay, call it refined mac'n'cheese. Or just call it yummy. :D

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

Oodles of Gingery Noodles: Vegetarian Times

Actually, I think this is misnamed: this recipe tastes a lot more of hoisin sauce than it does of ginger.

Not that that's a bad thing. Hoisin sauce isn't a bad taste. But it is a strong one, and it drowns out a lot of the other tastes in this dish. Except, surprisingly, the taste of tofu. That might sound dubious too, but as the recipe has you fry the tofu till it's golden-brown and toasty, the taste of tofu is much like the taste of nice, slightly soggy Chicken McNuggets.

Hmm. I haven't made this sound terribly appetizing yet, have I? Okay, one last try: if I got this at a corner Chinese restaurant, I wouldn't carry away any strong memory of it, but I wouldn't feel ripped off either. In fact, I'd probably think I'd gotten a remarkably non-greasy, passable and enjoyable dish, made with rather good pasta.

peaced of Christ to you,
Jessica

alterations:
-asparagus instead of watercress, because it was amazingly cheaper at the ranch market.
-fettucine instead of somen because Trader Joe's was inexplicably out of Asian noodles. How does that happen? Did they move them and just not tell me? And how could they, when there's nowhere else, that I know of, that carries green tea noodles?

Chicken and Potatoes over Sautéed Spinach

Tonight I made this recipe from Cooking Light.

I actually made it over spinach and kale 'cause I had a bunch of kale trying to go to seed in the garden. That meant that I had to steam the kale a bit, just because it takes longer to cook than spinach.

I also forgot to take a photograph of this one; but I really don't think it would have photographed well. It didn't look amazing.

And, initially, it didn't taste amazing. The first bite of chicken was a bit bland, as was the first of potato. But then, a taste of the broth, and the dish came alive. The broth had all the concentrated flavors of onion and ginger, of five-spice powder and sherry. Pretty soon my mouth was burning, in a really good way.

This taste very different than anything I've made before, probably a result of the five-spice powder. There was a bit of licorice to it (from the anise in the powder), which was really interesting. I'll make it again.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

alterations:
-I took the ends of the green onions and the skin of the ginger and boiled them from a couple of hours, then took the resulting veggie broth, salted it with boullion, and used that in place of the chicken broth. Yum.
-I used a bunch of green onions in the place of each leek, 'cause the ranch market was out of leeks.
-I didn't peel the potatoes. Why throw out all those good vitamins and all that good fiber?
-added kale, as mentioned above.

Menu Plan Monday

I'd like to point out that though the first meal sounds boring, it's actually the one I'm most excited about: it is, to quote the article I clipped it from, an example of "the Chinese technique of red cooking - braising meat in a flavorful combination of soy sauce, ginger, alcohol, and spices." Mmmmm. It's also to be my first chance ever to use Chinese five spice powder, and I've been curious about that for awhile. Aaah! Cooking is so exciting! (I'm such a nerd.)

Monday: Chicken and Potatoes over Sauteed Spinach
Tuesday: freezer meal
Wednesday: Oodles of Gingery Noodles
Thursday: Sausage and Pepper Calzones
Friday: dinner at folks'
Saturday: bagel melts

Yum, it's gonna be a good week! Check back here later in the week for pictures and reviews of how the recipes turned out! And check out Org Junkie for more yummy menus!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

for Sharon

Here's the recipe for African Chickpea and Spinach Soup, as I made it (I altered it slightly from the original). I got it from Vegetarian Times, but look as I could, I could not find it on their website. So, here it is:

-2 tsp. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-2-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 c. chunky peanut butter
-2 c. chicken broth
-1 tsp. paprika
-1 tsp. ground coriander
-1/4 tsp. chili powder
-1 can chickpeas, drained
-1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
-2.5 oz. frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

1) heat oil in large pot over med heat. Add onion, saute 5 minutes, till soft and golden. Add garlic, sautee 2 minutes, or till lightly browned.
2) Mix peanut butter and chicken broth, set aside. (This was easier for me because I used reconstituted boullion, so my broth was hot. By the by, the easiest way I've found to reconstitute boullion into broth is to put the boullion in a glass Pyrex 1-qt. measuring cup, then pour boiling water - heated in a tea kettle - over the boullion, and stir. Easy to see how much you ought to add when it's in a measuring cup.)
3) Add paprika, coriander and chili to onion mixture, and saute 1 min., or until fragrant (like you would with a curry, mmm!). Stir in peanut butter mixture, chickpeas and tomatoes. Simmer. Stir in spinach. Simmer on low with lid on till suppertime. In my case, about an hour.


Warning: for some reason, this dish smells funny, but tastes good.

Enjoy!
-Jessica Snell

Sausage, Apple, and Cheddar Bread Pudding: Cooking Light

It's not a casserole folks, it's a bread pudding. Doesn't that make you feel delightfully snobby? :D

So, last night I made this recipe from Cooking Light. I'd like to make a declaration of alteration: if it's a Cooking Light recipe, unless I say otherwise, I am always substituting real eggs for the egg substitute, I am using regular, full-fat cheddar cheese, and I'm using skim milk in place of whatever variety they needed to get their calorie count right. There.

Declaration done, on to the review! This is yummy. This is very yummy. This is also something you should make soon, as the ingredient list simply smacks of fall, and while you might get away with it in the cloudy early spring, this is definitely not a dish for the dog days of summer.

I know it looks like it doesn't use a lot of cheese, and it doesn't, but with all the other rich and taste-heavy ingredients (sausage, onion, green apple, egg), you really don't need to add extra. It's fine with the amount they suggest.

You could probably alter this recipe pretty easily - use different kinds of bread or cheese or meat or veggies, and get some really good original dishes. Taco Bread Pudding? Ham Mushroom Asparagus Bread Pudding? I can see a lot of possibilities.

Also? This doubles really easily.

-Jessica

alterations, those listed above plus:
-I used hot Italian sausage, and accidentally about doubled the amount. A happy accident, I'd say.
-I used a bit more sourdough bread than called for, just because of how big the loaves I bought were. It turned out fine. I think this recipe is fairly elastic.