Posted in Food Pics, Thoughts & Musings, tagged Ham, Salad on January 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I have been feeling the need for a salad for quite some time now. However, it being winter and all, I’ve also been feeling the need for something warm when I get home. Thus, the salad idea had been pushed aside, until tonight.
I went with sun-dried tomatoes, instead of the turned-mushy ‘regular’ tomatoes that I had. I wish I could save the taste of fresh tomatoes from the summer into the winter, but alas… We had some leftover ham from the weekend, so into the salad it went. I actually warmed mine up first, the ham only, before adding it. I have no idea where I got that idea, but I actually found it pretty darn good! Drizzled some blue cheese dressing over it all and voila. It all tasted very good, and sometimes more importantly, it felt good…
Next will be Super Bowl Sunday shopping and planning and cooking. That’s what’s in store for the weekend! 
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, tagged Mushroom, Quiche, Spinach on January 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So, I came across this diary last night and it got me thinking. We also picked up a ‘Finger Foods’ cookbook yesterday, and I came across some mini quiche recipes in there too, which got me thinking too.
So, this morning I decided to try and bake a quiche. I knew there were ready-made pie crusts in the freezer… which in and of itself is interesting, as it’s not usually something that I’d keep as a stock item, but they were there. There were also some mushrooms in the fridge, waiting for somewhere to go. I put some garlic with the mushrooms, then added some frozen spinach and cooked it all down. That mix went into the pie crust, along with some shredded cheese.
The egg mixture was six eggs and almost one cup of 1/2 and 1/2. That was poured over the mushroom mixture in the pie crust already. Of course, I poured a bit too much of the eggs over the filling, so it ran over the pie shell onto the stovetop a bit. Nothing too unusual, really…
And now, the quiche is cooking. I’m hoping that it turns out yummy. I’m actually not sure if I’ve ever made my own quiche beforehand. Well, the timer just went off and the quiche is now out of the oven. It’s slightly browner than I would have liked, but not by much. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 50 minutes… Next time I’ll have to check it sooner. After some time to cool, I’ll call this breakfast and see how it turned out!
Verdict: Not bad, could use some improvement. Actually, what it needs is probably some salt, for a start. And some seasonings. A bit more cheese is never a bad thing. All in all, not bad. I could also go the fritatta route and skip the pie shell next time. We shall see…
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, tagged mushrooms, pasta, turkey on January 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This dish didn’t come out as tasty as I remember my earlier one being, but it was still a quick and easy meal with plenty of lunches afterwards. The original recipe can be found here. I did mostly the same things, so I’m not sure where the difference came from. Perhaps it’s because I forgot the main ingredient (the turkey) when I did the grocery shopping. That just ticked me off, at the time, so I wasn’t able to put this together when I had planned on it. Still, it’s a good meal to have in the fridge and then put in the oven one night after work.
There are basically 4 steps:
1. Brown the turkey and season.
2. Cook the onion and mushrooms, add turkey and season.
3. Cook the pasta.
4. Toss everything together, adding some stock, tomato paste, a jar of your preferred sauce (I went with a four cheese alfredo), and put into a casserole dish. Then I put it into the fridge until I’m ready to warm it up.
It did take awhile to heat up this time. Maybe I need to up my oven temperature. I was getting a bit impatient and hungry that night… 
Posted in Food Pics, Tips, tagged Grocery Bags on January 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
These are the three bags that I used while transporting our groceries from my car into the apartment the other day. They really work very well. And of course, they save on not using plastic bags all the time. I’m getting better at remembering to bring these bags before I get to the store… It did take some getting used to, at first. I’ve got one smaller bag (a Colts one, as a matter of fact) that stays in my car for smaller and/or spontaneous trips into the store.
Anyway, I thought this pic of my loot for the weekend looked cute. There’s the Yearly Kos bag, which is actually made of a wonderful grocery-toting material; there’s the paw print bag, just cuz; and there’s a bag that D.’s mom made, which is nice and large and has two big handles sewn all around the bag for extra support. I do enjoy this trio of tote bags. If you look closely, you might see Puggles in the corner, as she pretends not to be sneaking a peek at what is inside… She’s being a bit more obvious in the pic below… Believe me, she had her head in the bags earlier, sniffing away…
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, tagged Pizza on January 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Friday night is often pizza night, every other week or so, but we usually order it from the local pizza place. This Friday, we decided to make our own. It’s really simple, and yummy. Plus, we can put whatever the heck we want on it!
For this dinner, we did a mushroom, garlic and sun-dried tomato pizza with a white sauce. One of these days I’ll start making my own pizza dough and playing with some different sauces, but for a Friday night dinner, Pilsbury pizza dough and a jar of alfredo sauce works very well. Cook up the mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes in some olive oil… Lay out the pizza dough in a baking pan… Spread the alfredo sauce over the dough… Add toppings and cheese, and bake for about 10 minutes. Can’t get much simpler or tastier than that!
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, tagged Bagels, Cheese, Pesto on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Well, meals this week have really been not all that exciting. I had been feeling a hankering for some pesto, so I pulled a jar out of the freezer the other night, and last night it came to fruition… First, a lightly toasted bagel. Next, spread some pesto on it and cover with cheese. Lastly, warm until the cheese is melted and call it dinner. As I said, not too exciting, but it did give me my pesto fix for the moment.
We also had turkey sausage wraps the other evening… Turkey sausage, cheese, wrap and warm. Again, not too exciting, but actually nicely satiating. I’ve had the fixings for a big salad ready for some time now, but by the time comes after work, it’s been so darn cold that we’re more so ready for something warm. Maybe a salad tonight or tomorrow, alongside a homemade pizza or some pasta. We shall see…
We have lunch plans out on Saturday, and I haven’t thought ahead into the weekend yet. I should probably start doing that shortly… I might pull out a rice soup that’s currently in the freezer also. It seems to be the time to start using up some freezer fare… There’s some yellow tomato salsa in there that would go wonderfully with some burritos… I think I’ll add that to my upcoming list.
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, Recipes, tagged Carmelized Onions, Dip, Goat Cheese on January 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This dish was an attempt to recreate the Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Dip that we had at the South Water Kitchen a couple of weekends ago. It was good, but still not quite the same. The consistency was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be… I may have to try adding some more butter next time. I’ll have to look into some other recipes using Goat Cheese also. It’s a new ingredient for me and something I’d like to investigate further. I may also end up modifying the recipe by adding some cream cheese or sour cream… we shall see.
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, Ingredients, tagged Broccoli, Eggs, mushrooms, onions, Rice, Zucchini on January 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t think of Rice as particularly exciting… but sometimes it just feels good. This was a throw-together dish, with brown rice made in advance and waiting, as I was feeling the need for some rice and veggies sometime this week. And really, it hit the spot. Again, after the richness of the holidays and eating out at times (reminder: blog about yummy birthday dinner), it’s feeling pretty good to get back to the basics.
Plus, it was for a quite tasty lunch the next day. It could have used a bit more flavor… the last time I made something like this, I also had fresh ginger in there, which was perfect. I’ll have to remember to keep some on hand for times like these. D. added a bit of sweet and sour relish to his rice dinner, and although I’m not a big relish fan, it did add a nice amount of extra to it. I may have to try that next time too.
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics, Ingredients, tagged turkey, Turkey Burgers on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
These were a welcome dinner the other night, as we get back to more ‘normal’ eating for us. During the holidays, we did eat rather richly. I’m feeling it now, and I’m looking forward to getting back to a healthier pattern of food. Don’t get me wrong, because I do enjoy rich and decadent meals sometimes… I’ve just had enough of those for awhile, so it will be good to get back to some of our traditional daily dishes.
D. made his Turkey Burgers here… he does the burgers and I do Turkey Meatballs. I’m thinking I’ll have to make some meatballs soon too, and stick the extras in the freezer. Anyway, here’s what I believe to be in his burgers:
I think that’s basically it. D. also cooks up some mushrooms and onions to go on top, yet underneath some Provolone cheese. I think our favorite is putting them on some Onion Rolls, as shown above. Simple, fairly healthy, and yummy!
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