Party Cheese Frittata

A few weeks ago I bought some fancy cheeses and french bread - we ate it all until the bread ran out, leaving two sad chunks of delicious cheese neglected in the fridge. One was a delicious soft goat cheese, the other a hard but very mellow cheese. I also had about a cup of Ricotta leftover from a recipe over the weekend. I mixed the cheeses with eggs, sauteed mushrooms and leeks, thyme, salt and pepper. I've made this recipe before with shredded cheddar and Parmesan or whatever cheese you have laying around. I've also used frozen spinach, green beans and kale - there are so many options, just make sure you saute the veggies first.

Ingredients:

2 large sliced leeks

1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms

1 tablespoon butter

8 eggs

1 cup chopped goat cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup chopped hard cheese

1 teaspoon thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute leeks and mushrooms in butter until soft - about 5 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before mixing with remaining ingredients. Be careful not to over mix; the mixture should be lumpy with cheese chunks and veggies. Add to a baking pan coated in cooking spray and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes until firm and a little brown at the top. If you use a deeper dish than the one I did (9x13) you may need to increase the time.

Weeknight Ham and Pasta

Day three of ham leftovers and I still had about 2 cups of diced ham. I decided to make a cold noodle dish for an easy weeknight dinner. I cooked some rotelle noodles and threw in chopped Kale Raab into the pot at the last minute to blanch. I mixed all this with cottage cheese (ricotta would work well also), salt and pepper and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups diced ham
2 cups chopped Kale Raab
4 cups cooked noodles
1 cup cottage cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook noodles according to package directions but add chopped Kale to pot about 1-2 minutes before the noodles are done. Drain both together and mix with ham, cheese, salt and pepper. Serve warm or cold.

Leftover Ham Casserole

As usual, I made enough ham on Easter to feed our little family five times over. Normally I make bean soup from the leftovers, but I bought a boneless ham this year and no one sounded excited about soup on the rare sunny day we had yesterday. And while we all really love ham, I knew we'd get sick of it before we ate it all, so I hacked half of it up and made a casserole. I added some sauteed kale, spinach and mushrooms that were languishing in the fridge, and a container of cooked rice from last weeks burrito night. A quick sauce of wine and milk to bind it all together, and some shredded cheese on top and we're done! The recipe I made is below, but this could be made with just about anything. Use whatever vegetables you have around, although I wouldn't use any more than three different kinds. Instead of rice you could use cooked noodles or leftover roasted potatoes. Any cheese topping will work, although the smoked Gouda paired quite well with the ham. 

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped kale

1 cup chopped spinach

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup onion

5 tablespoons butter

1-2 cups chopped leftover ham with rind removed

2-3 cups cooked rice

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups low-fat milk

1 cup white wine

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded smoked Gouda

Directions:

Saute the onions in 2 tablespoons of butter until translucent. Add the chopped kale, spinach and mushrooms and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Mix the cooked vegetables with the chopped ham and rice and put in a lightly greased casserole dish. Make sure the rice is broken up and there are no large clumps.




Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and mix in flour. Add salt and pepper to taste, milk and wine. Stir on medium-high heat until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.

Pour finished sauce into casserole dish and mix well. Spread shredded cheese on top and bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

Don't waste anything! Compost the veggie scraps and share the ham rind with your favorite four legged friends.

My Mom's Chicken Luau

This recipe comes from my mom and I love it cause it's super easy and makes a lot of food.

3  10-ounce packages leaf spinach

3  pounds chicken breasts

1  teaspoon salt 

1  12-oz can coconut milk

1  10 ½ oz can cream of chicken soup

4  tablespoons flour

Parmesan cheese

Thaw spinach, squeeze dry and place in a well greased casserole. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces and arrange on top of the spinach.  Mix the soup, the coconut milk, salt and the flour and pour over chicken and spinach.  Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 ¼ hours. Serve over rice. 

Yorkshire Pork Chops

 This is a popular recipe around here that I haven't made in awhile. My dad emailed yesterday asking for the recipe and it sounded good so I thought I'd make it too. I've adapted it from Harvey Steiman's California Kitchen.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel and core apples, then slice each into 4 thick rings. Heat oil in skillet with ovenproof handle over medium high heat. Brown apple rings for about 3-4 minutes on each side; remove.




I prefer these super thick boneless chops from Costco, but anything will do. Season pork chops with salt and pepper, then brown in the same pan for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Place apple rings on each chop and remove pan from heat.

Whisk together the milk, butter, eggs, flour and salt until smooth. Pour batter into pan with chops and bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Serve with apple sauce.

Ingredients:
2-3 apples, peeled and cored (use whatever kind you have)
3-4 tablespoons cooking oil
4 pork chops
salt and pepper
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
apple sauce

Clean Out The Fridge Leftover Pie Thingy

So last night I made an awesome Pot Roast from The Pioneer Woman. I've made it before and it looks so pretty and makes a delicious hearty meal. And lots of leftovers! Last night I served it with mashed potatoes, gravy and artichokes. I used a cheaper cut of meat with lots of fat and some big bones. It fed our family with one lunch for someone to take to work. I saved the rest of the potatoes, meat and gravy for tonight's frakenmeal.

We'll be getting our farmshare delivery tomorrow, so I want to clean out the fridge and start fresh! I have some carrots, an onion, and leftovers from last night. So let's make a pie! Also I want to boil the bones and fatty bits and make some beef broth to be used later.

I chopped the good parts of the meat into little chunks and threw the rest into a soup pot with the bones and most of the onion. I chopped about a 1/4 of the onion and sauteed it with two carrots in about a 1/4 cup of vermouth for about 10 minutes.



Once the veggies were tender, I added the leftover gravy and mixed it with the vermouth in the pan. I added some frozen peas to the beef and mixed it all together in the pie pan.

Spread the mashed potatoes on top and add some shredded cheese and tada! You're done! Bake until warm and bubbly and cheese is melted.