Quick and yummy–Orzo with ham and goat cheese

I love the Nieman Ranch ham steaks you can get at our natural market–PCC. I picked one up the other day and was looking through Epicurious for a ham pasta recipe, something along the lines of a carbonara when I found this recipe: Orzo with Ham and Goat Cheese. It fit the bill of “comfort” food and simplicity in preparation. I made it as directed in the recipe–yum! Better yet, the kids liked it too! Sure, it’s not a real nutritional packed meal, but simple comforting food was what I was after and it was certainly enjoyed by all. We augmented it with a salad. I’m sure we’ll be making it again some busy weeknight.

Thoughts for the future:

• Needs lots of ground pepper in my opinion.
• Could add some frozen peas or broccoli cooked to tender crisp when you add the cheese.
• Try different meat–maybe smoked turkey?
• Experiment with cooking temperature–maybe 350 for 15-20 minutes?

Cabbage Babbage

I think like many people, cabbage is not my favorite vegetable. Yes, I know cabbage, in particular red cabbage, has many good qualities that include being vitamin packed and high in antioxidants, but I just haven’t convinced my palate that cabbage is where it is at. I’m not a “slaw” person, and rarely do I see a recipe with cabbage and think to myself, “Wow, that sounds good”. This time I surprised myself–a recipe did catch my eye when I was looking for a use for some Napa Cabbage. The addition of apples and dried fruit with a light lemony dressing made me think maybe, just maybe my kids might even give it a try, too.  I was right–this was light and crisp, a great side dish. My kids who are not fans of nuts, picked those out, but otherwise enjoyed it too. I could even see adding some grilled chicken on top and turning it into a heartier entrée salad. This one is from Bon Appetit and my only substitution was to use the dried cranberries I had on hand. Some of the apples were died pink from being stored with the cabbage overnight, but it was delicious as part of my lunch today.

Red and Napa Cabbage Salad with Apples and Spiced Pecans

My new Go-To Frittata Recipe

For brunch with friends the other day, I was looking to use up some items in the CSA box–leeks and potatoes. After searching for online egg recipes that included both items, I found this one from Martha Stewart: Ham and Leek Frittata. Loved it! It is so nice to have a few breakfast recipes that aren’t heavy on the breads or cheeses. Working with this frittata also gave me a chance to experiment more with my cast iron skillet, which I’m learning to love. This time I made the recipe with the stated ingredients, though I’m sure I’ll play around with ingredients in future versions swapping out meats and/or veggies. Potatoes per the recipe were just halved or quartered, but maybe next time, I’d slice them thinner and layer them all around on top of the eggs before broiling.

Nice twist on a fall fruit crisp

I was looking for a dessert to have with company and wanted to use up some pears and/or apples. I found this recipe from Sunset Magazine: Apple-Pear Gratin. I liked the subtle addition of cream, which doesn’t make it creamy, but just adds a nice richness to it. I also used crumbled short-bread cookies on top which were delicious and a nice alternative to the standard oatmeal toppings. An added bonus–the only shortbread cookie (Pamela’s Pecan Shortbread Cookies) I could find at the natural food market just happened to be gluten-free, something we’re now exploring with our daughter. They were good on top of the crisp and by themselves!

Pumpkin Cilantro Quesadillas

This recipe was an interesting find this week and a good use of my sugar pumpkin in the CSA box. Not the fastest thing to prepare with the cutting, peeling and mashing of the pumpkin, but really tasty. Follow the ingredients and directions–don’t substitute the cheese as the feta was great and don’t skip the lime. I cut back on the jalepeno because I just wasn’t sure, but I could hardly taste it, so I’d definitely up the amount next time to what the recipe suggested. My pickiest eater even seemed to enjoy them and they’d make a fun fall appetizer.

The recipe is from Bon Appetit, October 2009: http://tinyurl.com/yacve7l

Barley Corn Salad

We needed something light to eat after a big weekend of feasting at a family wedding. I was hankering for something with veggies that would use up some things from the fridge, including corn on the cob. I searched on Epicurious for corn salad and found this recipe that I tweaked a little to accommodate what I had on hand. I love the chewy, heartiness of barley and the combination of that with some veggies and the recipe’s vinaigrette sounded good.

My tweaks:

• I reduced the green beans to about 1/2 pound because that’s all I had, but added the red bell pepper thinking that would be nice sweetness and color.
• Also, I added a can of garbanzo beans to give it some protein. I was hoping I’d find a can of black beans in the pantry, again from a color point of view, but all I had was garbanzo beans. Blander in the color scheme with barley and corn, but that’s okay because my kids love garbanzo beans.
• I even had the goat cheese in the fridge but forgot about it at the end; still tasted fine without, though I think the tanginess of the goat cheese would be a nice contrast with the dressing’s sweetness.

Would definitely make again, maybe with black beans and the goat cheese. I think it’d make a nice summer potluck salad. Here’s my version of the recipe: Barleycornsalad

Cheesy, broccoli, cauliflower soup

After I found out the contents of my CSA box for the week, and combining what was already in the fridge, I knew I needed a big, veggie consuming recipe. Onions. Celery. Carrots. Garlic. Zucchini. Cauliflower. Broccoli. I hunted around and altered one I found to meet my needs–thanks, Canary Girl.

Here’s my veggie intensive version of the satisfying soup. My modifications were pretty minor–used broth rather than bouillon. Didn’t have evaporated milk, so I used half and half. The recipe called for the use of an immersion blender, which I don’t have because mine died. I blended about half of the soup in batches in the blender which worked fine. I did learn the lesson of really trusting the DO NOT EXCEED THIS LINE FOR HOT LIQUIDS line on my blender. Still scrapping off bits of soup from the cupboard when the lid flew off during one batch processing. This makes a huge amount, so plan on serving a crowd, or enjoying leftovers!

To view and print my version of this recipe go to : Cheesy, Broccoli, Cauliflower Soup

Let’s start eatin’!

Eating. Cooking. I love it.

I enjoy cooking, though I don’t always have the time I like to do it. I have my favorite go-to recipes, but I really like to explore new ones, too. My, not always willing, test subjects–my family. Two young girls and my, “eat just about anything” husband. Things I love to tinker with–soups. Things I’m intimidated by — baking. Cookies, yes I can do. Breads, pies, pastries, not so much.

I hope to document here the good finds, the old steadies. Sharing them with others, or just logging them for posterity.

Let the feeding frenzy begin!