Tuna and peas over egg noodles

I originally planned to make this to use up some leftover tuna from sandwiches earlier in the week.

But I had a really crazy shift at work and then I fell walking out of the store so my husband made his own version of my vision.

- Egg noodles

- leftover tuna

- peas

For the sauce:

- soy milk

- cornstarch 

- cheddar

- Swiss cheese

And a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan on top.

Spinach and cheese potatoes

My husband has a gift for making baked potatoes. Like these:

He cooked the potatoes in the microwave, made a sauce of extra sharp cheddar and butter, and then added spinach.

I wanted to lick the plate.

Fried ham and cheese

I heated some ham in the skillet and fried a tortilla shell in a little coconut oil before stuffing it with the ham, cheddar and ranch dressing and topping with another tortilla shell to make a quesadilla style sandwich.

Crôque monsieur Américain

My daughter has been hungry for "French grilled cheese" as she calls crôque monsieur, but since I don't have cream, or fancy ham, or an extra $15 to buy good gruyere... I whipped up an Americanized version that satisfied about 90% as much as the original.

Now, if you need measurements, I'm sorry because I don't have a clue.

I started with two tablespoons butter in my small Le Creuset saucepan. I mixed in about two tablespoons flour and melded them together over medium high heat with a rubber spatula.

I splashed in soy milk and half and half, and then cheddar, provolone, Romano and Parmesan until smooth.i added a large pinch of nutmeg and some fresh ground black pepper.

I ended up with about 2 cups cheese sauce.

In a cake pan, i toasted 6 slices of bakery bread, placed 1/3 slice gouda on each, topped with two teaspoons tuna, and then topped each with two teaspoons sauce. I added a slice of cheddar to each. Another two teaspoons cheese sauce. Put lid on.

Then I sprinkled fresh cauliflower and garden peppers into the bottom of the pan. I covered each sandwich with sauce then doused the vegetables lightly.

Baked 10 minutes at 475, then broiled until bubbly.

Sausage and apple vegetarian waffles

I promised my family a pancake breakfast. I told the family they could pick the variety. They picked waffles. My husband suggested the funky French sausage waffles. When I started to gather the ingredients, I noticed something horrible.

We had one tablespoon of butter in the house.

HOW COULD SUCH A CATASTROPHE OCCUR?

So, we walked to Bottom Dollar and bought 4 pounds of butter at $2.09 a pound.

The waffle recipe is based on this:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/03/apple-sausage-waffles.html?m=1

But since there is a universal law that I cannot make the same meal twice, here is the new version.

Keep in mind this is based on a French gaufre recipe and I think gaufre might be French for "dripping with butter."


- 1 egg
- 1 single serving applesauce
- parsley
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
- 1 cup unbleached white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup oats
- 1-2 cup diced apple
- 3 Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patties, broken into tiny pieces
- 1-2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar

I think that's everything.

Grilled cheese with apples

Simple but hearty and flavorful. That was tonight's dinner.

Ingredients:
- butter
- wheat bread (two slices per person)
- one large apple, sliced
- two slices Morningstar breakfast strips (vegetarian bacon)
- extra sharp cheddar
- mozzarella
- Market pantry sweet potato fries

Put the fries in the oven.

Heat the Le Creuset skillet with a generous tablespoon of butter. Add the apples and cook until soft. Move to plate.

Heat vegetarian bacon.

Butter one side of bread, place in pan, layer with cheddar, then apples, then bacon, then mozzarella. Top with another slice of bread and make however you normally like your grilled cheese.

I burned mine, but they were so good my seven-year-old didn't care.

Broccoli spinach rice casserole

I made a quick casserole last night that my husband said was hearty.

Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup brown rice (measured before steaming)
- 1 bag green giant steam in bag broccoli with premium cheese sauce
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 3 Morningstar breakfast patties, torn into chunks
- market pantry six-blend Italian cheese

I started with 1 1/4 cup brown rice in the steamer. Prepare broccoli as instructed on bag. Pour broccoli and sauce into rice, add spinach and "sausage." Stir well. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Honey-glazed double grilled cheese

Nothing soothes my soul like a grilled cheese sandwich. I bought Archer Farm multigrain sandwich bread at Target last night with this purpose in mind.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices Archer Farm Multigrain sandwich bread
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- about four ounces extra sharp cheddar
- about 3/4 cup six blend Italian shredded cheese (Market Pantry)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoons honey

Put your frying pan or skillet on extra low heat. Drop in the oil and grease pan with fingers or towel. Add one tablespoon butter. Add half the pepper evenly across the pan.

Butter one side of two slices of bread and place in skillet. Coat each slice with an even layer of about 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Cover the cheese with very thin slices of cheddar, covering all the bread. Add evenly the remaining shredded cheese.

Top with buttered slices of remaining bread. You, hopefully, will use less than half the butter. Sprinkle with remaining pepper.

Increase heat to medium and press sandwiches together with a turner. Flip once cheese has melted. Once almost desired brown color, drizzle honey onto the bread. Flip. Add honey to other side. Let first side cook for about a minute-- the honey will burn quickly.

Brown the other side and serve.

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.

Cheeseball broccoli buffalo mac and cheese

To celebrate the end of the school year (and use up some very stale utz cheeseballs), I wanted to make cheeseball/buffalo blue cheese dip broccoli. I thought I could mix it into a Mac and Cheese for a one dish meal, but I had some ingredient malfunctions.

My daughter helped me, and by the end I was sure we had invented something inedible.

It was surprisingly incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:
- 7 ounces whole wheat rotini
- 2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine
- 5 fresh stalks of chives from the garden
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened Silk soy milk
- 1/2 cup vanilla silk
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
- 6 ounces extra sharp cheddar
- 2 ounces mozzarella
- 1/4 cup Archer Farms buffalo blue cheese dip
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 6 broccoli spears
- 2 cups crushed Utz cheeseballs

Preheat oven to 375. grease skillet withthin layer of canola oil. Cook pasta. Drain. Set aside.

Melt margarine and cook chives in a 3 quart saucepan. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat. Add milks, cheese, and dip. Stir constantly until well melted. Add spinach.

Pour 80% of the sauce over the pasta. Pour pasta into skillet. Sprinkle a light layer of garlic powder over the pasta.

Add broccoli artfully on top. Cover with remaining cheese sauce. Sprinkle cheese ball crumbs over everything. Cover skillet with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more.

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.

Crazy Zucchini Cakes

Crazy Zucchini Cakes and mango slices

The Crabbiless Crab Cakes from the Imus cookbook are a favorite in this house, but no one -- until today -- has shared zucchini with me.

Clicking on the Imus link should take you into the recipes from that cookbook.

Tonight, I'm nervous as my mixture is feeling too wet and I mixed up some ingredients big time. Using up leftovers.

So, instead of regular cheese (they recommend soy cheese), I mixed cottage cheese, cheddar and smoked gouda.

Instead of breadcrumbs, I used homemade bread crumbs, cornflakes and wegmans whole grain breadcrumbs.

Cheesy Stuffed Peppers

I made a cheesy version of stuffed peppers which is in my Pfaltzgraf (sp) casserole dish in the oven now.

I started with seven peppers picked from the garden after a hail storm Monday. I cleaned them, cut the tops off, took the seeds out and boiled them for five minutes.

Then, I steamed (as in my steamer) some Israeli couscous with some garlic salt. Israeli couscous is huge compared to its "standard" cousin.

Next I made a sauce:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon four color organic pepper

Heat. Add:
- 1 can plain tomato sauce
- 5 torn basil leaves from the garden
- About 1/2 cup torn homemade bread, stale

Add:
- The couscous (I made one cup dry = hell of a lot prepared)
- About 1 cup shredded cheddar
- About 1/4 cup grated romano
- About 1/8 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 tomatoes from garden, diced

Stir. Stuff peppers and arrange in casserole dish. Plop extra filling around the peppers. Pour a second can of tomato sauce all around. Cover with lid. (My casserole dish is ceramic)

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

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.

Cream Cheese and Tuna sandwiches

I made these open-faced tuna sandwiches as an attempt at a quick lunch when we are low on groceries.

Ingredients:
- 2 everything bagels
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1.5 teaspoons mayonnaise
- 1 can tuna
- 1/2 teaspoon four color pepper
- about 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar for each half a bagel, which is about 1/4 cup
- 1 tablespoon grated romano
- about 1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese for each bagel half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the Le Creuset skillet, I melted one tablespoon butter on low and placed the four bagel halves face-down in the pan to toast. After about two minutes, I turned the heat to medium, let them toast for a minute and flip over.

As soon as you flip the bagels, turn off the heat to the burner so you can leave the bagels in there. Spread about a tablespoon of cream cheese onto each bagel.

In a separate bowl, mix tuna, mayo, pepper and romano. Place about 1/4 of the tuna mix on each bagel in an even layer. Top with cheddar, about 2 tablespoons each sandwich.

Place the skillet in the oven for five to ten minutes to melt the cheese on top.

Oops! Grilled Cheese

I set out to make grilled cheese with tuna using our last four slices of bread. Since we only had those two sandwiches, I planned to cut them into three slices each so each person got two grilled cheese with cheddar and tuna "fingers" and a salad of romaine lettuce and raisins.

When I went to help the child flip the sandwich, it flew across the room and landed in the middle of the old brownie tin I use to bathe the tortoise. I took the side of the bread that landed against the pan, threw it out, and used cut the remaining guts and bread in half to make a double stuffed sandwich.

Otherwise, instead of 2/3 a sandwich each, we'd have gotten 1/3. This way we each got half, though the child got the HUGE stuffed half.

I also served some homemade granola to make up for the missing sandwich.

cheesy bread

I found myself hungry with no real plan for what to do for breakfast. So, I took a big slice of homemade bread, topped it with shredded Jarlsberg, velveeta and white cheddar and toasted it under the broiler.

Nachos

For a late lunch yesterday, we used the leftover browned hamburger from the "Daddy Pasta" my husband made the other day (I don't think I blogged about that), added some cheddar and Velveeta on multigrain chips and some Wegmans mango salsa and sour cream leftover from my cake.