Vegetable Frittata

This was a last minute dinner thrown together with low expectations, but was such a hit I thought I'd better write it down before I forget.

6 eggs
3 Tablespoons cream (or milk)
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

3 small yellow potatoes
1/3 cup diced onion
1/3 cup diced bell pepper
1 cup chopped spinach
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium bowl combine eggs, cream, and spices.

Wash potatoes and pierce with a fork. Cook according to microwave's directions for baked potatoes until soft, then dice. In an oven-proof skillet saute onions and pepper in 2 Tbsp olive oil until onions are translucent. Add spinach and saute until wilted. Turn off heat and add egg mixture and cheese. Stir to combine. Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through.

We are this with leftover muffins from the freezer and fresh pears. Not a word of complaint was uttered, and all the food was devoured.

Curried Butternut and Pear Soup

I loved this version of butternut squash soup. I liked that it leaned more to the spicy side than the sweet. The recipe is taken from here.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs butternut squash (raw weight), about 1 large or 2 small
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root (I used bottled)
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (or less depending on saltiness of your broth)
• 4 cups broth (as always, I used my favorite vegetable broth concentrate)
• 2 firm ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1 inch dice
• 1/2 cup whole milk, or half and half, or cream (I used milk

Directions

1. Prepare squash. Cut squash in half lengthwise, remove and discard seeds and stringy stuff. Roast at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until tender. You can alternately cook this in the microwave in a glass casserole dish with 1 inch of water at the bottom, for 10-15 minutes on high, until tender. Or, place it in a crock pot for 4-6 hours. When squash is tender scoop out flesh and reserve for soup.
2. Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, and salt. Cook and stir until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in the pears and squash. Reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes.
3. Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender. Puree in batches until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, stir in the milk. Reheat if needed.

Roasted Asparagus

The easiest and best way to cook asparagus (in my humble opinion).

Wash and trim off the tough ends. Toss with olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, checking that they don't burn

Potato Gratin

This is my favorite potatoes au gratin recipe from Smitten Kitchen

I've used yellow potatoes, russets, cheddar, gruyere, added spinach and mushrooms; all turn out great.

3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces, plus an additional pat for buttering gratin dish
4 large yellow potatoes* (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup milk, half-and-half or cream (if using something richer than milk, you can skip the butter)
2 ounces cheese, grated or crumbled (Parmesan or Gruyere are the classics, but that doesn’t mean that goat cheese, blue cheese or any of your favorites won’t work as well) [optional]

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9- by 12-inch gratin dish with the pat of butter. Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can (a mandoline works great for this) and arrange them in a layer, overlapping the edges slightly like shingles. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and freshly ground pepper and don’t be stingy — this is where the bulk of your flavor comes from and a third of the cheese before before repeating this process with your remaining potato slices. (If you are using a sauteed vegetable filling, this is where you’d want to add half of it.) Depending on how thinly sliced your potatoes are, you should end up with approximately three layers, with a third of the cheese between each layer. Reserve the last third of your cheese for later.

Carefully pour the milk over the potatoes. It should come up to the bottom of the top layer of potatoes; add more if this was not enough. Dot the top of the gratin with the three tablespoons of butter and bake it for about an hour. Halfway through the baking time, take the gratin dish out of the oven and gental press the potatoes flat with a spatula to keep the top moist. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the gratin for the last 15 minutes of baking. The gratin is done when the potatoes are soft and the top is golden brown.

More gratin ideas: Use duck fat instead of butter. Swap celery root, parsnips or turnip slices for half the potatoes. Add chopped herbs such as parsley, thyme, chives or chervil between the layers. Sauté mushrooms, sorrel, spinach or leeks, with or without a finely-chopped shallot, and layer them between the potato slices.

* Yukon Golds and other waxy, yellow-fleshed potatoes work best in gratins, keeping their texture without getting floury and falling apart as Russets do.

Honey-Nut Green Beans

The original recipe is found on Sister's Cafe as Green Beans with Honey Cashew Sauce, but since we are such fans of Honey-Nut Cheerios around here, giving them a similar moniker boosted their credibility. Isaac was shocked to discover he liked these, and all three boys ate them up. Not a typical reaction to green veggie dishes.1 lb green beans, fresh or frozen, probably not canned though, steamed to your liking
1-2 Tbs butter (I used half olive oil due to the high butter content of my main dish)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cashews
2 Tbsp honey

Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add cashews and toss until toasted golden. Stir in honey and cook 1 more minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add beans and toss in the hot pan (it helps to distribute the honey if the pan is still warm).

Tempura

Recipe here.

Very good, I haven't decided whether or not to add it to the top 12 because my kids didn't eat dinner at our house that night. But Dave and I liked it. We especially liked the tempura fried onions, which the recipe doesn't suggest, but my friend did.

Most of the dipping sauce recipes called for mirin or sake, and I don't think you can buy those at grocery stores in Heber so we settled for a combo of 2/3 C soy sauce, 1/4 C. rice vinegar, and 3 T sugar heated in a sauce pan until sugar was dissolved.

This wasn't particularly filling. You'll want something to go with it. Or serve it on a night when you have an awesome dessert to want to save room for.

California Grilled Veggie Sandwich

I would plant a garden for no other reason but to make this sandwich. The directions call for grilling, but you could just as easily use a panini maker.

It calls for feta, but I've never used it. I usually use swiss or provolone.

I made these last week and told Dave, "Call me crazy, but I really love these sandwiches." To which he replied, "I really love these sandwiches too." I turned up my hearing aid and asked for a repeat, but he really did use the word "love" in connection with vegetable sandwiches. I think that's a fair endorsement.

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red bell peppers
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 red onion
• 1 small yellow squash
• loaf of foccaccia bread, or other artisan bread, sliced however you prefer for sandwiches
• sliced or shredded Swiss or Provolone cheese

Combine mayonnaise, garlic and lemon juice in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate while other ingredients are prepared.

Preheat grill to high heat.

Slice zucchini and squash lengthwise, a little thinner than a quarter inch. Slice bell peppers and onions the same thickness as the squash. Toss in a bowl with olive oil. Arrange on hot grill with zucchini and pepper near the middle and onions and squash around. Grill for about 3 minutes each side, or until they start to blacken. Remove from grill.

To assemble sandwiches. Spread each side of bread with mayonnaise. Layer vegetables as desired, top with cheese, and 2nd slice of bread. You may want to use toothpicks to hold it together. Place assemble sandwich on grill over low heat and cook until cheese is melted.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Pot Pie

This is only one of the reason Neisha is one of our favorite cooks. Another reason is that she always shares! She says she just made this recipe up and just throws in whatever so the recipe is more of a guideline. Made as written you'll get 2-3 pies, so scale down as needed.

Last time I made it I left out the chicken and went vegetarian. It was delicious!


Pot Pie
1 lb chicken, cut into chunks (or compensate with extra veggies)
1/2 to 1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. butter
3 celery stalks
3 T flour
28 oz chicken broth-maybe more (I used vegetable)
Small package baby carrots
3-4 baking potatoes, diced
1 to 2 C. frozen peas
1/4- 1/2 C. cream
salt, pepper, thyme, parsley

Season chicken as desired. In large pot, brown chicken pieces, don't overfill the pan or the chicken cooks without browning. Remove chicken from pan, add butter, and saute onions, celery, and garlic until tender. Stir in flour, and let cook a little bit to get rid of the flour taste. Whisk in broth and bring to a boil. Add the chicken back in with the carrots, potatoes, and herbs and simmer for 20-30 minute until desired tenderness (they will cook in the oven to so more crunchy is better). Add cream and peas. Season to taste.

Pour into pie pans (or square pans, whatever). Top with single crust. (Heather uses Betty Crocker's or a frozen one from the store. Put in oven and cook according to crust's directions. I think I cooked it at 425 for 20-30 min.

Corn Chowder

Recipe from Aunt Cheryl

I love this recipe because it is so fast and easy and my kids scarf if down.

3 C. frozen corn
1/4 chopped onion
1/2 C. water
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/4 t. pepper
4 C. Milk
3 T. flour
2 T butter
1 egg lightly beaten

Combine corn, onion, water, 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until corn is cooked. Add milk, 1 tsp salt, and pepper. In small pan melt butter and whisk in flour. Add to corn mixture. Stir until thick and bubbly (but not a full boil). Mix 1 c hot soup mixture with egg to temper it. Return to soup. Cook until heated through.

Beef and Barley Soup

Recipe from Liz's mom

1 lb hamburger, browned (or leftover roast or stew meat)
6 cups beef broth
1 qt tomatoes
2 potatoes, diced
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1/3 c. pearled barley
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Combine and simmer until vegetables are tender.

Heather's Green Salad (Not me, another Heather)

Recipe from Heather, my VT. She made this for Enrichment and I had better write down the ingredients before I forget. There are no set amounts, just throw in as you like.

Spring greens mix
Diced avocados
Mandarin Oranges
Sliced kiwi fruit
Candied nuts
Sliced red onions

Combine and toss. Serve with dressing of choice (we had ranch at Relief Society).

Chop Cheh

Recipe from Aunt Cheryl

I experimented by marinating extra firm tofu instead of beef, not a big hit. (I think we'll continue to only use tofu blended until it's not noticable, like in smoothies.) But even without the beef it was delicious. One of Dave's Young Men even declared it to be "better than Canton City."

A popular Korean stir-fried main dish of meat, vegetables, and clear noodles.

1/2 pound tender beef, sliced paper-thin and marinated in:
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons finely chopped green onions
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon ground sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 oz. package cellophane noodles (harusame, saifun, etc.) - Soak noodles in hot water
for 20 minutes until pliable, drain and cut into 4 to 5-inch lengths.
1/4 lb. Chinese cabbage, cut into think 1/2-inch strips
1/4 lb. carrots cut into 2-inch long matchstick strips
1/4 lb. bamboo shoots, sliced thin
1/4 lb. onions, sliced thin
5 mushrooms, fresh or dried (soak in water to reconstitute), sliced into thin 1/8-inch
strips
2 cucumbers or zucchini sliced into matchstick strips
1 bunch spinach, steamed and shredded
2 eggs stirred together, fried like a pancake and cut into thin 1/4-inch strips
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar
dash salt
dash pepper
MSG to taste (or not)

Marinate beef at least thirty minutes while preparing vegetables. Pour about a
tablespoon of oil into a wok or frying pan on medium heat and fry meat until barely
done. Remove from pan, add a little more oil and quickly stir-fry cabbage, carrots,
bamboo shoots, onions, cucumbers, and mushrooms until just barely tender. Add meat,
noodles, spinach and enough cooking oil to prevent sticking during cooking. Stir and
cook adding sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, MSG (or not), garlic, black
pepper and salt to suit your taste. Heat just enough to blend flavors and warm all
ingredients. Serves 6