Sandwiches and salad

Got an applewood smoked ham quarter for $3 at Target. It's certainly not a quality ham or a big ham, but it's sliced for sandwiches and has 1.66 pounds. I heated it with water in the crock pot.

We made sandwiches on bagels from NY Bagel & Deli in the 25th Street shopping plaza, leftover mozzarella from Calandra's in Nazareth, and that kale-zucchini-cream cheese dip from Lost Gourmet at the Pheonixville Farmers Market yesterday.

We served with an Asian style salad that began life as a Fresh Express Very Veggie with some greens and sorrel from my garden, dried peas, dried pineapple, cucumber and Newman's Own Ginger Sesame dressing.

Breakfast for dinner

I looked in the cupboards and in the fridge and felt uninspired. So, I started brainstorming with the family.

Soup. Something breakfasty. Pasta.

"Oh!" the child exclaims. "Breakfast for dinner."

Husband suggests omelets. I remember the fresh broccoli I bought at Target and all the cheese I have leftover from yesterday's spinach dip. And the last round of that HUGE bag of tator tots from Aldi.

Bingo.

Ingredients:
- leftover blueberry cobbler coffee in the carafe
- one teaspoon vegetable oil
- one teaspoon garlic powder
- two tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 5 eggs, beaten
- ridiculous amounts of fresh broccoli
- 2 ounces sharp cheddar
- 2 ounces mozzarella
- tator tots

Preheat oven and cook tator tots while preparing eggs. In pan, spread oil, garlic and chives. Stir until chives are fragrant.

In separate bowl, combine eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Pour into very hot pan. Add broccoli, cover with cheese, fold when eggs solidify.

Serve with coffee, tots and a side of 50/50 Frank's Red Hot and ketchup for dipping tots.

Cheesesteak soup

Today, I will make the transition from chicken soup to beef soup.

I prepared a pound of chip steak in the Le Creuset skillet with extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, garlic powder, oregano and a few tablespoons of Pacific Foods Organic Creamy tomato soup.

In the crockpot I mixed:
- a cheap can of condensed vegetable beef soup, with 1.5 cans water
- about 10 (?) ounces creamy tomato soup
- 32 ounces wegmans culinary beef stock
- 3/4 of the meat, with cooking juices, chopped ridiculously tiny
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- more than 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar

I did it!!! It tastes like a cheesesteak!

Mommy's five cheese mac

I made Betty Crocker's mac and cheese recipe last night with some classic Angel modifications. I don't have the recipe with me, and I didn't measure as I cooked. So this is a post based on memory.

It tasted incredible. The original Betty Crocker recipe is probably easy to find via the Betty Crocker label under this entry.

I started with about three tablespoons butter melting over medium-high heat with about two tablespoons chopped chives that I froze from my herb garden last summer. After three minutes of hearty swirling, I added about three tablespoons flour, trying not to let it degrade into a solid flour dumpling.

I added some fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Then lowered the heat to extremely low and added one cup heavy cream.  (I discovered I had no milk in the house.) I added a pinch of nutmeg. Once my flour and cream mixture had blended, I added three cups of plain soy milk. (And I am completely aware of how silly it must seem from a culinary perspective to have heavy cream and soy milk in the same dish. I am a big believer in "use what you got" cooking.)

Once that blended, I added the cheese. I probably used four ounces of velveeta (a gift from a friend), three ounces cheddar, and three or four ounces of mozzarella. Then I added the remaining fresh spinach I had on hand (about one cup, ripped into small slivers) and about a cup of frozen peas (again what I had on hand.) I wish I had some broccoli, but I didn't.

I made 16 ounces of small elbow noodles and it made two small casserole dishes full. Before baking at 375 for 30 minutes (and then cooking at 400 just to brown the top), I sprinkled each liberally with grated romano and then shredded asiago.

Fabulous. Truly fabulous. And probably a good thing, since it looks like my cooking might eliminate dairy for the next month to help with the fluid in my daughter's ears. I can survive without milk. Cheese hurts, but I can do it. How on earth am I going to cook without butter? I have a plan...

Smoked pork pockets

My daughter and I made "pockets" today. Like a cross between a pasty and a hot pocket. I had some pie crust in the freezer and I needed to use up the last of that pork.

So, we cut the pie crusts into four pieces each. Daughter brushed each one with melted butter. Then we stuffed each one with a few chunks of smoked pork, mozzarella, asiago, and cheddar cheese, and several peas.

Then we closed them, pinched them and brushed the top with butter and made nice little indentation with a fork. I cooked them at 350 for 20 minutes. I intend to freeze them for quick meals later.

Another Mac and Cheese

Okay, so I had a craving for mac and cheese. Guess that means Thursday's event was a success.

I used up all my noodles on this.

I started with a saucepan:
- two tablespoons butter
- about 2 cups garden fresh tomatoes, diced
- 3/4 teaspoon four color organic pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
cook until bubbly.
I added:
- one crumbled Morningstar breakfast patty
cooked a while.
Added:
- 1 cup heavy cream
Simmered. after five minutes simmering I added
- I cup milk.
Meanwhile, I layered broccoli in the bottom of the casserole dish, and topped with the noodles.
Brought the milk base to a boil as the oven preheated to 325.
Removed milk from heat and added:
- About 2 ounces mozzarella
- About 3 ounces extra sharp provolone
- About 2 ounces vermont cheddar
- About 2 ounces smoked gouda
Once melted and combined I mixed the pasta and broccoli with the sauce and stuck about 1 ounce worth of mozzarella chunks between noodles. It's in the oven now for a half hour.

Exotic Mac and Cheese

Why do I always have dinner parties on the hottest days of the year?

I have guests coming tonight for the mac and cheese party, but due to some confusion and some scheduling upheaval, I appear to be the only one cooking. I made about 4 quarts of mac and cheese. 2 varieties. One rather plain and French/ croque monsieur inspired. The other artery-clogging and Italian-inspired.

Neither are cheap.

The French-inspired Mac and Cheese

mixed in saucepan, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes:
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon four color organic fresh ground pepper
Once bubbly, add
- 2 tablespoons flour, still and heat until bubbly
Warm separately
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
Add to the butter base and heat to boiling.
Remove from heat and add
- 1/3 pound shredded gruyere
- 1/4 pound smoked gouda, grated or chopped
Stir and add to noodles. Bake in oven as you would with normal mac and cheese.

The Italian-inspired mac and cheese

- Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- one teaspoon garlic powder
- about 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
- about 8 leaves fresh basil, chopped
cook until fragrant and sizzling and add
- two tablespoons flour
cook a few moments and add
- about 1 cup diced proscuitto (spelling?)
- about six pepperonis, diced
when the meat seems glossy and done, add
- 2 cups milk
slowly bring to a boil
remove from heat and add
- about 6 ounces extra sharp provolone, chopped
- about 2 ounces mozzerrella
Combine with noodles
Top with chunks of mozzerella
Add pepperonis.
Bake.

How to make basic mac and cheese, according to Betty Crocker:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/06/spinach-herb-apple-meatloaf-and-simple.html

Eggplant Spinach Lasagne

I stopped after my haircut and splurged on some cheese from Calandra's. I wanted a twist of mozzerella, but the per pound price is up to $6 making the average twist $7-something. I had $6-something.

So, I also purchased a pound of grated romano, which brought my tab to $14.88 and seemed more appropriate if I were going to write a check.

For lunch we had mozzerrella with the leftover fried ham (think breadless sandwiches), my mom's ugly bean dip, bruschetta made with tomatoes and basil from the garden, and the last loaf of homemade bread from the freezer.

If I had thought about it, I would have also purchased ricotta. But I didn't. So when I got the idea to use some of the mozzerrella to make a lasagne (I have had one box of no boil lasagne noodles forever) I needed some other filling. I decided on eggplant and spinach.

Ingredients:
- one box no boil lasagne noodles
- garlic powder
- 2 cans tomato sauce (the normal sized cans, not the tiny ones)
- four color organic peppercorn
- olive oil
- about 2 cups spinach
- about ten pieces of breaded and fried eggplant
- 1/3 pound fresh mozzerella

The lasagne has three layers. So used about 1/3 for each layer. Except for the eggplant, it only goes on the bottom 2 layers.

In a small pyrex casserole dish, layer the sauce, noodles, spices, a little cheese, eggplant, spinach, and then repeat. The top layer has no eggplant, but does have cheese. I used spaghetti noodles to tent aluminum foil over the whole lasagne and baked at 375 for an hour. I plan to uncover for the last 15 minutes.

Appetizer Night

Okay, so tonight is appetizer for dinner night. (We're in hold over mode until grocery shopping Saturday morning) My husband's choice. He came home with:

• milk
• eggs
• broccoli
• baby carrots
• some hamburger
• some vegetarian sausage patties

And for dinner:

• Health is Wealth Broccoli and Cheese munchees
• Health is Wealth spinach munchees
• tator tots
• mozzerella

The Spinach munchees have lots of Vitamin A (40% RDA in six munchees), plus vitamin C, calcium and Iron. The broccoli munchees have 6% Vitamin A, 25% Vitamin C, and the iron and calcium.

Cauliflower Spinach Gratin

Ah, Wegmans... This week we're making Wegman's Cauliflower Spinach Gratin again. Once again, I deviated from the recipe (I don't use their Alfredo sauce but make my own sauce with basil, heavy cream, organic ranch dip mix, and butter).

Fresh cauliflower, about 8 ounces of frozen chopped spinach...

I added about 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg to the top of the gratin and added some romano cheese and garlic powder to the breadcrumbs.

And of course, today I baked it in my Le Creuset skillet.

The original post for the gratin is here:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/11/steak-au-poivre-with-cauliflower.html

or click on Wegmans or cauliflower.

Spinach dip

Since we made bread today, it made sense to get the last frozen pack of spinach out of the freezer and whip up some crockpot spinach dip.

Today's version is a tad milder than usual. First in the crockpot on high for about two hours I placed the following:

• one package frozen chopped spinach, thawed in the microwave
• about one cup water reserved from the cooking of the spinach
• 1.5 teaspoons fresh ground four color peppercorns
• less than one clove sliced garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1.5 teaspoons Inglehoffer sweet hot mustard
• herbs and spices: parsley, basil, It's a dilly

About a half hour to an hour before serving, add cheese and reduce heat to low:

• 1 block cream cheese
• a few ounces monterey jack cheese
• about 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella

I might add romano and cheddar if the flavor doesn't come out 'enough' for me, but I was trying to use up some open cheese from the fridge.

Steak au poivre with cauliflower-spinach gratin

For dinner tonight, I wanted to make another meal in my Le Creuset skillet. I opted for steak au poivre, but I'll tell you, the cut of steak I picked (a huge sirloin of 2 pounds I bought for $10) had way too much fat for my liking and I ended up cooking it medium-rare when I really don't like my meat with 'red.'

The menu:
Appetizer: dates
The meal: Steak au poivre with cauliflower-spinach gratin, with bread leftover from last night's Italian dinner with family
The wine: a French Cabernet Sauvignon, selected by a French friend

First, for an appetizer, I sliced some whole dates to get the pits out and arranged two dates on each bread plate like a flower.

Steak au poivre (Steak with pepper)
from the Internet (I no longer have the source)

• 4 (3/4 to 1 inch thick) boneless top-loin (strip) steaks 8-10 ounces each
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (I use iodized sea salt)
• 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns (I use organic four color peppercorns)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 1/3 cup finely cut shallots (I substitute fresh chives and tonight I omitted them completely, but I thought it was detrimental to the gravy.)
• 1/2 stick butter, cut into four pieces of one tablespoon each
• 1/2 cup cognac or other brandy
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Pat steaks dry and season both sides with salt. Gently crush peppercorns using the bottom of a heavy skillet and press pepper evenly into both sides of meat.

Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot (about three minutes). Add oil. Swirl evenly. Sauté steaks in two batches, turning over once. About six minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer steaks to heatproof platter. Place in oven to keep warm.

Drain fat from skillet. Add shallots and half the butter to the skillet and cook the shallots over moderately high heat, scraping, until shallots are well-browned all over.

Add cognac. (It may ignite!) Boil, stirring, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cream and any meat juices from the platter. Boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half. Add remaining butter and cook over low heat until incorporated. Serve sauce with steaks.

The gratin is an adaption from a recipe that appeared in Wegmans magazine.

Cauliflower and Spinach gratin:

• 1 head cauliflower, stemmed and cut into nice serving pieces
• 10 ounces spinach (I used 1 package frozen chopped spinach, heated and drained)
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
  
• Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup shredded mozzerella
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Combine the cauliflower, the spinach, the milk, the cream, the seasonings, and the mozzerella and half the breadcrumbs. Grease 13 x 9 pan. Add mixture to pan. Cook for 20 minutes at 350. Stir. Cook another 20 minutes. Combine remaining bread crumbs with olive oil. Sprinkle on gratin and return to oven for a final 15 minutes.

Mozzerella Sticks with veggies

While I was gone, Daddy made mozzerella sticks with mixed vegetables and some type of garlic sauce...

Splurge: Tomato Basil Pizza

My daughter went to visit her Mimi for a while yesterday and like most of the weather around here recently, it's wet and miserable. So it felt like a pizza-and-movie day.

We stopped at the warehouse store and spent about $25 on food: two 30-count packages of Nature Valley granola bars (in my eyes the only ones with adequate nutritional value), a 2 lb block of cheddar, and two huge jars of JIF peanut butter. I leave the granola bars where my daughter can reach them. That way when she wakes up early on days we could sleep in, and says she's hungry, she can help herself to a snack.

On the way home, we stopped by a nearby Italian restaurant and ordered a tomato-basil pizza. We also got a chicken-bacon-ranch super slice to snack on while we waited. It was a $22 splurge. The tomato basil pizza had fresh mozzarella balls that melted it the oven, fresh cut tomatoes and basil. Bruschetta and fresh cheese on a pizza crust. We didn't eat dinner last night because we were so full. We have three slices left for lunch today.

And I could have gotten a pie of the chicken-bacon-ranch, but that had no redeeming nutritional qualities and this seemed the healthier choice.

Brown Biscuits

I decided to experiment with Brenda's biscuit recipe that I found the other day:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/biscuits.html
Brenda Hyde's Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients:

2 cups sifted flour

2 tsp. baking powder

4 tablespoons butter or shortening

1/2 tsp. salt

about 3/4 cup milk Sift Flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut in shortening or butter. (this is where I use my hands by rubbing the butter into the flour). Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly "knead" for 30 seconds, enough to shape. Roll 1/2 inch thick and cut with 2 inch floured biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased sheet in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits. You can also make tiny tea biscuits that are only 1 1/2 inches wide with a small cutter or glass bottom. These are great served with tea, jam or honey. Makes 24.

I wanted to double it, and somehow my efforts went crazy. So I decided to make brown biscuits.

Angel's Brown (Wheat) Biscuits
(Which once we made them we ate with maple syrup or with peanut butter and raspberry organic fruit spread)
Ingredients:
2 cups white flour
3 cups wheat flour
1.5 cups dehydrated milk
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
4-5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
@1.5 cups water

I mixed the flours, the baking powder and the dry milk. Then I added the salt. Then I added the butter. Then I whisked together the soy milk and molasses and diluted with about a half cup of water. I worked the dough with my hands, adding additional water as needed. I think I ended up using 3/4 of the cup. So my estimate on how much water is 1.25 cups total.

For lunch, we made broccoli/mozzerella biscuit pizzas.

Ice Cream Man and Spaghetti

My daughter had a meltdown today when I told her we didn't have money for the ice cream man. She must have cried for ten minutes. A little while after she settled down, I offered her an ice cream cone Mommy-style and she enthusiastically said yes. I warned her this would be the best ice cream cone ever.

I started with a wafer cone, the kind my father-in-law brings. I packed in some vanilla bean ice cream and lined the top with Goldfish honey grahams, a gift from a neighbor who visited the Pepperidge Farm Outlet. I spooned on some butterscotch topping, added another portion of ice cream and topped the whole mess with rainbow sprinkles.

My daughter is so over the ice cream man.

For dinner, I wanted to use the leftover beef BBQ. My daughter had eaten most of it for lunch yesterday. I opted for spaghetti. We made meat sauce with the beef BBQ and then served with grated parmesan and shredded mozzerella. We all had two big plates.

Spinach Lasagne

I did not put forth my best effort on this one. My daughter requested lasagne, and it's not one of my favorites to make, but since her father is preparing dinner tomorrow I thought it would be a nice treat for them. A hot meal when Mommy's not here.

This is a small lasagne in I believe a 14 by 9 Pyrex dish, only about two inches deep.

For the cheese filling:
about a pound and a half fresh ricotta
one can spinach
garlic powder
basil
pizza and pasta seasoning

I mixed everything together (including the liquid from the spinach) with about a tablespoon garlic powder, two tablespoons basil, two tablespoons pizza and pasta seasoning.

For sauce, I use one can (the little 8 ounce cans) of generic no salt added tomato sauce. That's why I put so many seasonings in the cheese mix. Commercial tomato sauces have a ton of salt and sugar. And they're expensive. I've tried making my own. So far, it's not worth the effort.

Some mozzarella would me nice. And of course the no boil lasagne noodles.

I poured at least half a can of sauce on the bottom of the dish, layered in a single layer of noodles and put in the other half a can of sauce. Then I plopped in half the ricotta spinach mixture, which filled about half the dish. Oops. More sauce. More noodles. A layer of mozzarella. The rest of the cheese. More sauce. More noodles. A second layer of noodles. More mozzarella, more sauce. Done.

Update: It's not my best work, somewhat bland, but edible. Easy to doctor on the table if needed. I had a small serving for dinner. My husband packed some for lunch and I had cold lasagne for breakfast. With the remaining portion, I sliced two pieces for future lunches and packed those in aluminum foil to freeze.

I like my lasagne crispy, so I took a piece the size of a loaf pan, wrapped it in foil with the seam on top, and placed it inside a pyrex loaf pan. This particular pan has a lid that I had planned to put on before I froze, but now I can't find it. My thought was to freeze in the dish, thaw in fridge, remove the lid, crack the foil and toss back in oven for another meal.

Cheese platter

Normally, I would never advocate two cheese-oriented meals in one day, but today I went to Calandra's Italian cheeses in Nazareth... And everyone knows Calandra's mozzarella must be eaten while still wet to enjoy the full flavor.

I spent $13.57 at Calandra's on some ricotta salata, some fresh ricotta (lasagne to prep today so my husband can cook it when I work late tomorrow) and the last hunk of fresh mozzarella of the day.

Then I went to Giant and got strawberries, bananas, and watermelon. I also grabbed some no-boil lasagne noodles and some no-salt added tomato sauce. Half a gallon of Turkey Hill lemonade because I've needed a lemonade fix and a 32 ounce container of vanilla yogurt. $13 and some change.

Then I went to the liquor store. Two bottles of Vouvray and one bottle of Bordeaux. $36. Ouch.

So for dinner, my husband arranged a platter of apples, strawberries, watermelon and banana with cheddar and the mozzarella. Plus Aldi brand triscuits. JIF Natural Peanut Butter (so smooth and yummy). And Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Mustard for me. The mustard was for the cheddar. The peanut butter was for any of the fruits but the watermelon.

My husband asked what a French person would think of this dinner. I replied that a French person would consider it a cheese course and be wondering what I did with the rest of the dinner. Now, to get him to uncork the Vouvray.

Omelets

I've finally caught the plague the rest of the family has been carrying around for two weeks. And we had a snow storm. So, for dinner tonight, I made ham-cheddar-mozzarella-broccoli omelets and my husband made homemade french fries.

We went to Sam's Club last night and spent about $50, our first grocery expenditure for March. 4 pounds of cheddar, 2 lbs of colby jack, 18 Egglands Best eggs, Cool Ranch Doritoes, tortilla chips, and Puffs plus... Pet supplies... but that's an additional $20. Oh! And multigrain crackers. I think that's the grand tally. No... wait... I also bought a 12-pack of Dannon Natural Yogurt. (As opposed to unnatural yogurt.)

Poor Man's Calzone

I emerged from class this afternoon starving... and I also had an acute awareness that several dairy products in my fridge were approaching their expiration date. Among them was a $4 container of large curd cottage cheese. I don't have any riccotta, and we're low on cheese in general, so I thought maybe I could somehow make the cottage cheese more riccotta-like and make some homemade pizza dough and build funky calzones.

I mixed the

 cottage cheese, shredded mozzerrella, italian seasoning, fresh garlic, grated parmesan and drained c

an spinach (someone gave the spinach to me, 

I usually buy fresh and frozen). 

I also mixed in the last of the commercial spinach dip.

I can't help but think it won't be gross as Mimi used to always use cottage cheese for such things. I don't know if she didn't know about riccotta or what but...

I made my usual pizza dough and made five little calzones to serve with sauce. Hopefully they are edible because I have a freezer bag of stuffing for another batch.

The verdict is in. The family loved

 them. It made so much we have enough for lunch AND one to freeze. For dessert, we're having Lindor Truffles from Valentine's Day.