Thursday, January 3, 2013

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 head cabbage, cored, slice and roughly chopped
  • 1 can white beans, drained
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3 cups beef broth
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced thick
  • 4 spears celery, diced thick
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
Directions:
  1. Place all ingredients in large stove top cooking pan
  2. Simmer an hour
Easy and plentiful. Can freeze leftover soup. Great on a cold day. I have seen a lot of variations, adding other vegetables like green beans

Friday, December 28, 2012

Mashed Potato Pancakes

Having mashed potatoes left over is normal, but they never reheat the same. So, I have begun making them into potato pancakes and they are very good.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups mashed potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 tsp. canola oil
Directions:
  1. heat the oil in a non-stick skillet on medium-high
  2. mix all ingredients well
  3. drop spoonfuls of mixture into the skillet and flatten each with a spatula
  4. cook until golden brown - about 3 minutes on each side
makes 6 pancakes


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Cauliflower/Leek Gratin

Ingredients:

  • 1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
  • 2 leeks, end and dark green removed, cut into 1/2 inch circles then halved
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1 tbsp. butter, cut into 1/4 inch squares
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, leeks, cream, 3/4 cup Parmesan and mix well
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste
  4. Transfer mixture to a 2 qt. baking dish, cover tightly with foil
  5. Bake 30 minutes
  6. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs with 1/4 cup Parmesan
  7. When baking has completed, spread the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the cauliflower and leeks
  8. Dot with the butter
  9. Return to oven and back another 10-15 minutes until topping is golden brown
Serves 6


Friday, December 21, 2012

Slow Cooker Spinach Alfredo Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • spaghetti sauce:
    • 2 tsps. olive oil
    • 1/2 small onion, chopped fine
    • 2 tsps. minced garlic
    • 28 oz. peeled an diced tomato
    • 4 tsps. basil
    • 4 tsp. oregano
Directions:
  1. Heat oil in a large sauce pan
  2. Add onion and garlic
  3. When onions are clear, add tomatoes, oregano and basil
  4. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes
Ingredients:
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Spaghetti sauce made ahead
  • 8 oz. lasagna noodles, cooked less than package instruction until just limp
  • 15 oz. ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 32 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 10 oz. chopped spinach, cooked, drained and dried
  • 15 oz. Alfredo sauce
Directions:
  1. Cook the beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet until meat is browned
  2. Add spaghetti sauce
  3. Cook until warm
  4. Combine ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and add pepper
  5. Spread 1 cup of mixture in a slow cooker
  6. Layer 4 noodles over the meat
  7. Layer 1/2 cheese mixture over the noodles
  8. Layer 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
  9. Layer with 4 more noodles
  10. Layer spinach
  11. Layer Alfredo sauce
  12. Continue to layer rest of ingredients, topping with the remaining mozzarella 
  13. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours
8 servings

We ate 2 servings for dinner, plan to have 2 more servings 2 days later, and froze rest in 2 servings each portions.


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Chili

Ingredients:

  • 5 lbs. ground beef
  • 2 lbs. turkey sausage
  • 3 tbsp. chili powder
  • 1 tbsp. paprika
  • 1 tbsp. cumin
  • 2 tbsp. garlic salt
  • 1/3 tbsp. red cayenne
  • 28 oz. peeled tomatoes
  • 1 large diced onion

Directions:

  1. Put all ingredients into a large pot or slow cooker - simmer on low for as many hours as you have
  2. Remove from stove or slow cooker and place in refrigerator
  3. Next morning, skim off fat, put back into a large cooking pot and simmer for an hour
  4. Taste and add picante sauce and jalapeno peppers to your taste
  5. Simmer all day
  6. Day 3 - Simmer again, adjusting garlic and chili powder and other spices to your taste
Enjoy on a cold day.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Eggs Florentine

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 cup milk
  • 5 oz. baby spinach - roughly chopped
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 slices beef or turkey bacon (we like the beef better)
  • 2 English muffins - split and toasted
Directions:
  • Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat
  • Whisk in flour and cook about 20 seconds
  • Whisk in milk and mustard and cook until mixture is thickened and smooth
  • Add spinach and cook about 2 minutes, stirring to make sure all spinach is wilted and coated
  • Cook bacon until done
  • Poach eggs to taste, seasoning to taste
Assembly:
  • Place 2 halves of muffins on each of 2 plates
  • Spoon spinach mixture over each muffin half
  • Cut each piece of bacon in half and arrange on top of spinach
  • Top each with an egg
  • Serve
Serves 2

This one was a real test since it was a merger of 2 totally separate recipes - one for 1 person and the other for 4. I made several changes and it come out very tasty.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Roasted Turnips and Leeks with Parmesan

Ingredients:

  • 2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 wedges
  • 1 leek, dark green removed, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/8 cup grated Parmesan
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees
  2. Coat bottom of baking sheet with oil
  3. Combine all ingredients and toss so vegetables are coated
  4. Arrange turnips and leeks in single layer on the baking sheet
  5. Cook 30 minutes - flip vegetables over at 15 minutes
  6. Serve
Serves 2