Fried Egg Sandwiches

This is almost too easy to mention but my kids are suddenly taken with them, so what the heck. Fry an egg. Make toast. Put the fried egg between the slices of toast and eat. It actually makes for a pretty quick weekday breakfast. Much better than bowl of sugared cereal!

Detailed directions:

Put the frying pan on a medium heat. Put a small pat of butter in and move it around with your spatula (if you use one) until the pan is covered. If you're only cooking one egg, only grease that part of the pan where the one egg will sit! (I've never yet worked on a level stove!) When the butter starts to bubble a bit and smell heavenly, crack the egg against the side of the pan and open it so the egg falls into the sizzling butter. We like ours with the yolks just barely set and we like then "over easy", where the egg is gently turned over and cooked for just a minute.

We cook them until the top of the whites have just begun to set, sprinkle with some salt and pepper, then flip them over. Use the spatula if you'd like. Or impress your children and/or significant other by learning to flip them by lifting the pan off the heat and pushing it away from you and then pulling it back such that the egg rotates in the air and lands upside down. Oh--you will have started the toast at some point before this, depending on how fast your toaster works and how dark you like your bread. Butter it while the egg is "over". Turn off the heat if any thingis taking slightly longer than you expect unless you like the yolks cooked through. (Some do! If this is you, you might want to actually break the yolks to be sure it cooks through.)

Eat the fried egg sandwich.

Fried Potatoes

You can use raw or cooked potatoes for fried potatoes. Call them "sauteed" if you want to sound healthier! If I have raw potatoes I tend to peel them. If I have (or create) leftover baked potatoes, I just dice them. In fact, I'll sometimes make extra baked potatoes so I can make these quickly the next morning or night.

Dice the potatoes. Heat some butter and olive oil (half and half, maybe 1 Tbs or less per large potato). Add the potato and cook over medium heat, stirring initially to coat the potatoes and periodically after that to get them evenly browned. Cooked potatoes take less time, of course. Sprinkle with salt and pepper near the end of the cooking time. Add some diced onions if you like. Green peppers are good also.

I'll serve these for dinner as a side dish to just about any dish. I serve them for breakfast either with eggs or mixed into breakfast burritos.

Flank Steak

Easy one from my mom... Trim any visible fat off the flank steak and put it in a dish or freezer bag. Mix up half and half lemon juice or vinegar and olive oil (maybe 2 Tbs each, you don't need a lot). Add a minced garlic clove, 1/4 cup fresh or 1/8 cup dried parsley, salt and pepper. Marinate the steak in this for a few hours. Bbq about 4-6 minutes per side. Let rest a few minutes. Slice thinly against the grain.

Easy Weeknight Meal: Tuna, Pasta, Tomatoes, Capers, and Olives

Needed a quick weeknight meal tonight. Thumbing through the cookbooks I ended up making this easy quick pasta dish from one of my standby weeknight cookbooks, Desperation Dinners!. Definitely a pantry meal. Everyone ought to have a list of quick pantry meals: recipes that use stuff you can keep on hand for quite a while without spoiling.

8 ounces tube shaped pasta or whatever you like
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes or 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1/8 cup dried
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 of a large 15 can olives, sliced (feed the other half to the kids while they're waiting for dinner, along with some sliced carrots and celery!)
2 small cans water packed tuna (12 oz total), drained
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Put the water on to boil and cook the pasta when it's ready. No oil; just a bit of salt in the water.

In the meantime, drain the canned tomatoes or chop the fresh ones and put them in your serving dish. Add the olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, capers, tuna, salt and pepper and stir together. When the pasta is done, drain it and add to the tuna and tomato dish and mix it all up. Add the Parmesan cheese, mix, and serve.

Roast Chicken with Rosemary, Lemon, and Garlic

There are so many things you can do with chicken, but roasting a whole one for a few hours is one of my favorites! Last night, after rinsing and drying off the chicken, I melted some butter in a saucepan with a few cloves of garlic just squashed the flat of the knife to get the juices out. I squeezed a lemon (from the garden!) into there as well and just heated it up on warm. I cut up the squeezed lemon into quarters and stuffed that into the chicken, along with a few sprigs of rosemary (also from the garden!). Brushed the chicken with some of the flavored butter and roasted it at 300 for a few hours, basting it now and then with more butter.

Chard from the Garden

Picked my first crop of chard from the garden last night. After washing it, I chopped it up. Heated a bit of olive oil and some minced garlic in the frying pan until the garlic was softened, then added the chard and stirred till it was coated. Put the cover on and cooked for about 5 minutes, until it was wilted. Added a can of tomatoes, a dash of vinegar, and a spoonful of sugar and covered again, until the chard was done and the tomatoes were warmed up. Add 1/4 cup of sour cream and stirred. Mmmm mmmm!

Breakfast Burritos

My youngest has decided she loves breakfast burritos but I can't cook them every day. Sunday I made a huge batch of fried potatoes and scrambled eggs with some cheese mixed in. Then I wrapped up a bunch of breakfast burritos and froze them. Pulled one out for her breakfast today and she was thrilled! I didn't put any meat in them, just eggs and potatoes and cheese. You could of course add sausage or bacon or diced ham for variety.

My current plan is that every Sunday I make something nice for our Sunday breakfast that is freezable for midweek breakfasts or after-school snacks. We've cycled through pancakes, French Toast, and breakfast burritos so far.
Works great!

Easy Mushroom Chicken

This is a great recipe and equally good in either the crockpot or baked in the oven. I originally got it from one of those "community" cookbooks that I love to collect, where "real people" share their recipes. I tinkered with it a bit and here's what I ended up with.

Chicken parts (whatever you like)
1 can cream of mushroom soup or homemade "cream of whatever" soup
1 soup can red or white wine
1 can mushroom pieces, drained (large or small depending on how many mushrooms you want)
1 pkg onion soup mix

Put the chicken pieces in a casserole dish or in the crockpot. Cover with remaining ingredients and mix up a bit. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 325 F for about 2 hours or cook in the crockpot on HIGH for about 5 hours or on low for 8 or so. The sauce is great with mashed potatoes!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

This is an oldie but a goodie. I've seen many variations so don't be afraid to experiment a bit! The combination of the salt and sweet is really nice!

2 cups crushed pretzel sticks
1/2 cup margarine or butter
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
4 Tbs mayonnaise
8 oz whipped topping (e.g. Cool Whip)
12 oz strawberry Jello
20 oz frozen strawberries

Mix the crushed pretzels with the margarine or butter. Press into a 9x13 pan and bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool. Meanwhile, cream the softened cream cheese with sugar and mayonnaise, then fold in the whipped topping. Spread this over the cooled pretzels. Dissolve the Jello in 2 cups of hot water and add the frozen strawberries. Stir, and then let set slightly. Pour over the cream cheese mixture. Chill and serve.

Failed recipe - Cauliflower Salad

So....do I post bad recipes or not? I mean, they may not be "bad" but I don't like them. Maybe someone else would. The directions were enough to catch my eye and make me think I might like them. But then I try them and no. They just don't work. Like when you read a great review of a movie and you shell out the, what, $8.50 to see it and you're ready to leave after about 10 minutes. But you think to yourself "No, the review was good. I just need to hang in there until it gets better." And two hours later you walk out into the sunlight (I can only afford the matinees!) and think "Wow, I could have done so many other things with that time. I could have had done a few loads of laundry, weeded the vegetable garden, cleaned the downstairs...and instead I wasted that time on a bad movie. That bugs me more than the money. I can earn the money again. The time is gone.

So I tried the Cauliflower Salad in Eat This Too: It'll Also Make You Feel Better but I have to say I was disappointed. I've been trying to experiment with some different vegetables and bought the cauliflower to play around with. I thought that rather than just steam it or steam and cover it with a cheese sauce I'd try something different. This was a cold salad. Basically cut the cauliflower in chunks, steam it, drain it, toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, basil, and capers. Chill and serve. It was edible. But I threw out the leftovers. And I've never tried a recipe with capers in it that I didn't love before. Capers, Worcestershire sauce, onions, garlic--these are my basic recipe blocks! I have tried other successful recipes from this book, but generally I'm much more impressed by his first book, Eat This-- It'll Make You Feel Better: Mama's Italian Home Cooking and Other Favorites of Family and Friends. If you can find that one, it's a real winner. I found mine at a used bookstore.

Make-Ahead Breakfasts

When you make pancakes or French toast, make LOTS. Layer them on a cookie sheet and freeze till they're solid. Then put them into a freezer bag or container. In the mornings, pull out what you need and either microwave or toast the pancakes or French toast and have a nice hot breakfast with no mess. Much cheaper (and better tasting) than the ones you can buy in the freezer aisle of your grocery store!

You can also make "Egg McMoms" or breakfast burritos and freeze those.

Do Ahead French Toast

If you're having company for breakfast or brunch, here's a bit of a special do-ahead of French Toast. You can also do a plain version, with just milk instead of orange juice, of course, but the OJ really adds a nice touch.

1 loaf French bread
4 eggs
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup melted butter

Cut bread in 1” slices. Arrange in a 9x13 pan.

Combine remaining ingredients, except melted butter. Mix well and pour over the bread. Cover pan and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400.

Melt butter and pour into a pan with a 1” side. Arrange bread slices, leaving a small gap between them. Pour butter on top. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn over and bake another 10-15 minutes.

Deviled Eggs

A great party food that has gone in and out of favor.

6 eggs
1/4 mayonnaise and perhaps more
1-2 tsp prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste

First the basics. The best and easiest way to hardboil eggs!

Prick a hole in the wide end of the eggs and place in a pan. Add enough water to go one inch over the eggs. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn OFF the heat, cover, and set your timer for 12 minutes. After the 12 minutes, drain the hot water and immediately add cold water. Add a handful of ice cubes to help cool the eggs so they stop cooking.

Cut the eggs in half lengthwise. Put the whites on a pretty plate. Mash the yolks in a bowl with the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. If you have a cookie press, fit it with a tip that you can squeeze the yolks out of and use that to fill the eggs. If not, you can put the yolk mixture in a plastic sandwich bag and cut the tip off one corner and squeeze it through that. If all else fails, use a spoon and a knife to scrape the yolk into the egg whites!

Variations: Use Dijon mustard and/or add chopped olives.

Worcestershire Shrimp

Here was an easy way to fix up some frozen shrimp. I had the tiger shrimp in the freezer and was looking for something somewhat plain to do with them as my kids aren't into stuff "all over" their shrimp! This fit the bill. This also came from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman. Nice and fast and easy and tasty!

1/4 cup butter
1 pound shrimp (peeled)
2 Tbs Worcestershire
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a small frying pan and turn to high. Add the shrimp. (I started with frozen and ran cold water over them until I could peel them. They thawed the rest of the way while I was fixing the Coconut Rice and Beans.) Cook for 5 minutes or so, until done, stirring occasionally.

Add the Worcestershire, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve. Goes great with the Coconut Rice.

Coconut Rice with Red Beans

I made the Coconut Rice and Beans from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman tonight, but the ratios seemed off to me so I adjusted things without even waiting. The recipe in the book calls for 1 and 1/2 cups of rice and I suspect it is supposed to be 1/2 cup. Here's what I ended up with:

1 cup rice
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup water - or perhaps a bit more
salt and pepper to taste

Put the beans, coconut milk, water, and beans in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn down and cover and cook for 20 minutes, until the rice is done. You may need to add a bit more water.

Salt and pepper to taste. This went great with the shrimp I made from the same book. I thought it was a nice "islandy" version of red beans and rice! It was especially tasty with sauce from the shrimp all mixed in with it.

Broccoli Cheese Custard

Trying my first recipe from the Lost Recipes : Meals to Share with Friends and Family book tonight.

2 cups cooked chopped broccoli (or cauliflower, etc.)
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1.5 cups milk or cream
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Put the broccoli in a greased 1.5 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle the cheese over it. Mix together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper and pour over the broccoli and cheese. Put this dish in a larger dish and fill the outer dish with hot water until it comes about halfway up the sides. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until set.

Review to be posted later. It looks and sounds good so far

Easiest Fruit Cobbler Ever

This is just too easy. Mix the batter up and pour it in a greased 9x9 pan. Put the fruit on top. Bake.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

2 cups fruit

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix the sugar, flour, milk, baking powder, and salt together. Pour in a greased 9x9 pan.

Put 2 cups fruit (fresh, frozen, canned) on top of the batter and bake for 40 minutes. I've made this with frozen blackberries, canned cherries, and I can't remember what else.

Lost Recipes - A New Cookbook

I wasn't supposed to be buying any cookbooks today. But my kids had gift certificates (Christmas presents from a neighbor) to spend at our local downtown bookstore and it was a lovely day outside, so we went downtown to stroll around and check out the books. The danger is that while they were browsing, I was browsing as well! I stumbled upon Marion Cummingham's "Lost Recipes". I'd been wanting it ever since I read a review of it actually but I'd been able to resist actually looking for it somehow. But there it was in front of me, begging me to be picked up and looked at. How could I resist? Several recipes caught my eye. It's funny how your method of choosing cookbooks changes over the years. I saw some recipes in here that were very similar to some of my favorites. That made me want to get the book and explore the ones I didn't have yet! Earlier in my cooking life, I might have merely been looking for a specific recipe when I picked up a book. Now I look for things that are unique but sound good and use common ingredients.

I'm picky about cookbooks. I want to actually be able to have them lay open while I'm cooking! I realize that costs more but come on, we're cooking folks! Now, I may be unusual in that I will actually sit down and read a cookbook while I'm lounging on the couch, but most of the productive time with one is spent in the kitchen, where I need my hands for chopping, dicing, slicing, etc. Yes, I do have one of those plastic cookbook stand things and yes, in general, they work great. But I'd rather just lay the book down on the counter so I can make notes on it while I'm cooking. Of course, it means that often there is evidence of the poor recipe left on its pages as spatters and spills seem to occur quite regularly. But I wish more publishers would pay attention and bind thee cookbooks so they could lay flat.

More Easy Bean Dress-Ups

The same friend who showed me his easy black bean dress-up came over tonight for some barbecued burgers--and forgot the baked beans he was going to bring. I rummaged through the pantry looking for a substitute and pulled out a can of small white beans. Another friend had long ago taught me these were an easy pantry side dish just as they were so I was going to just heat them up. But Tom added a bit of brown sugar and some ketchup to them to make sort of a faux baked bean dish out of them. We debated about some mustard as well, but ended up leaving it out. They came out great: just the right amount of sweetness with a bit of tang. Not as rich or sweet as the Bush's Baked Beans that we all like so much but very good!

Fajitas

I had some round steak I'd pulled out of the freezer and decided to make some fajitas. Before the steak had thawed completely, I sliced it into thin pieces. It's much easier to slice meat thinly when it's partially frozen. I made a marinade:

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder

I marinated the meat slices for a few hours in the frig.

I sliced up 1/2 a green pepper and an onion and pulled some red pepper slices from the freezer. (I always buy a lot of red peppers when they go on sale and freeze some sliced and some chopped so I can pull them out later for cooking. They're only good cooked this way, not eaten raw.) I put a tsp of oil in the frying pan and started the vegetables cooking. Drained most of the marinade from the meat and added it to the pan as well and cooked over medium heat until the meat was done and the vegetables were soft but still slightly crispy.

On the table I put bowls of sour cream, grated cheese, and salsa, as well as some hot tortillas and the beans from the previous post. Everyone made their own meal using whatever they liked.

I heat up the tortillas, by the way, in a tortilla warmer I bought quite a few years ago.

Dressed Up Black Beans

A friend just taught me a great easy way to dress up a can of black beans. Saute a half cup or so of sliced or chopped onions very slowly until caramelized. Then add the can of black beans (without draining them) and mix it all up. Simmer slowly until the liquid has dissipated and serve! These make a great easy side dish or can be mixed into burritos or fajitas. If you'd like to spice them up a bit, sprinkle some red pepper or chili powder or cumin in them before simmering.

Cheap Magazines

Just found this site for cheap magazines while I was reading Cooking with Amy. I have not yet ordered through it but the prices sure look great! I've let almost all my magazine subscriptions lapse. I have a love/hate relationship with magazines and was being overwhelmed with them when I did not feel like reading. But I do like having new recipes to play around with. Hmmm....