Green Eggs and Ham

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss...a day late yes, but Happy Birthday none the less!

Okay - if I was really good I'd have thought ahead and made my entire post rhyme...but I'm not. I've been working for about 5 weeks now, and my motivation for cooking has rapidly decreased. However, my new obsession with Pinterest, combined with some fun new products from Pampered Chef have given me a bit of a boost! This week I'm trying 3 recipes from my "recipes to try" board. In honor of the great Dr. Seuss, I made this Green Eggs and Ham recipe from pauladeen.com for breakfast. I recently got the new mini pie pans from pampered chef and decided to try them out with this recipe. They. Are. Awesome!

Ingredients:

8 slices deli ham, thinly sliced

1 slice sandwich bread, divided into 4 pieces

4 eggs

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup White Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF

Lightly coat 4 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray. Fit two of the ham slices into each cup (ham ends will be above cup edges). Divide bread among cups.

In a blender, combine eggs, spinach, salt and pepper and blend. Divide mixture among cups. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake on middle oven rack until egg is cooked. Approximately 15-20 minutes. When warm enough to handle, remove the cups from the muffin tins and serve with a slice of toast and crispy bacon.

So, I made individual little pies for Dave, Jack, and myself. I used the same quantity of ingredients except I actually used 9 pieces of ham (3 per pie pan because the pans are a tad larger than muffin cups), and I tossed the 4th quarter piece of bread to Hudson :) I just divided the egg and spinach mixture evenly among the 3 pie pans. They slid out perfectly from the pans and I didn't even use cooking spray.

Jack, of course insisted he did not like them. I, in true dork fashion, recited parts of the story to him and even resorted to telling him he was just like the grumpy old Curmudgeon in the book. He finally begrudgingly tried one bite. And, just like in the story, he immediately professed his love for Green Eggs and Ham! And he would eat them here and there, and he would eat them ANYWHERE! Yeah...not really...he almost cried as he choked down his one bite...but Dave and I enjoyed them!

DIY Pancakes

One thing that I've learned from working "inside" the home is that I can rely on myself to do much more than I ever thought. It may sound minor, but during this time I stripped, cleaned, and painted two bedrooms, took apart and attempted to repair the dishwasher (nevermind that my attempt was unsuccessful...the point here is that I tried), constructed many a bookshelf, bench, and table, started a business, and made a wreath from scratch, among completing various other home maintenance. A small and perhaps logical step, you may be thinking, but an eye-opener for me. When you've got lots of time and little money you start to learn all sorts of new ways to be self-reliant.

So this morning, when I woke up with a hankering for pancakes I thought, "I don't need you and your fancy mix, Bisquick, I have myself and Allrecipes.com!" And some flour...and an egg...and...oh, just read the recipe I used this morning!

Fluffy Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup shortening, melted
• 
  

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and shortening; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown.

They were, in fact, fluffy and very good. I had never melted shortening before, so I just nuked it for 30 seconds, checked it, then for another 30 seconds. Once melted, it looked just like cooking oil. Once I added the egg and milk to it it started to harden again so I worked quickly to combine the wet mixture then add it to the dry ingredients. Dave and Jack loved them!

Zesty Ravioli Skillet...and the Police Station

So, I got a new job! I'll be working as a Reading Specialist in Rockford starting Monday! I'm very excited and can't wait to get started. I'll miss being a stay at home mom, but we knew this day would come. I'm thankful for the time I did get to spend with Jack...and Hudsy.

Anytime you work with children you are required to have a background check and fingerprint clearance. I've had to do this several times - when I did student teaching, when I worked at Kentwood, again when I started in AZ, and finally, two months ago for GVSU. So I figured one of these places could vouch for me and forward on my fingerprint results to my new school. No such luck. The problem with this is the personal cost ($64 a pop), and the time it takes to get the results, meaning, I can't start until I'm "all clear". So while I joked with my new employers about my frequent fingerprinting experiences (luckily they all have good senses of humor), I am under a real time crunch to get them done so I can start (hopefully) Monday.

Now, maybe this kind of stuff happens to everyone, but when it happens to you (me) it feels like you are (I am) the only idiot that does these things. I wanted to get my prints taken 1st thing this morning so as to expedite my clearance, and my information said the Kentwood Police Department was open at 8. I leave home at 7:50, alone (again to expedite the process) and I'm almost there when I realize I forgot my request form. This form tells the police where to send my results. I quick change lanes, nearly side-swiping another vehicle and do a "U-ie" cutting off yet another vehicle. I reach home at 8:01, grab my paperwork and am off again. This time I actually make it to the police station at 8:10. There's no one there, save the lone fire engine in the parking lot. Hmmm...new hours, open at 9. Son of a...!! So I make a mental note that I'll have to come back, Jack in tow, before his gym lesson at 11. And all this before I've had my coffee!

Anyway, on to the recipe I wanted to post...Zesty Ravioli Skillet by the Pampered Chef. While not so "zesty", this is a delicious, filling, yet not too rich pasta dish. I highly recommend trying this one. I made it as directed, but next time I'll double the jalapenos.

Ingredients:

4	cups (1 L) loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves
6	oz (175 g) provolone cheese, grated
1	tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
1	small jalapeño pepper, seeded
3	garlic cloves, pressed
2	cans (14.5 oz or 398 mL each) diced tomatoes with onions, undrained
1/2	tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2	tsp (2 mL) coarsely ground black pepper
1	pkg (24 oz/700 g) small frozen cheese ravioli (about 65)
1/3	cup (75 mL) heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Wash spinach in large Stainless Mesh Colander; drain. Grate cheese using Ultimate Mandoline fitted with grating blade. Set aside spinach and cheese.
2. Add oil to (12-in./30-cm) Skillet; heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Finely chop jalapeño with Food Chopper. Add jalapeño to Skillet; cook and stir 1 minute or until crisp-tender. Press garlic into Skillet with Garlic Press; cook and stir 15-20 seconds or until fragrant.
3. Add tomatoes, salt and black pepper to Skillet; cook and stir with Bamboo Spatula 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Add ravioli; stir to coat. Cook, uncovered, 4-5 minutes or until tender. Stir cream into Skillet. Cook, uncovered, 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Sprinkle spinach over ravioli; cook, covered, 1 minute or until spinach starts to wilt.
4. Remove Skillet from heat. Top with cheese; cover Skillet and let stand 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Feel free to ignore the PC specific tools :) I used a 10 inch skillet. When you cut the jalapeno, stand it upright and hold the stem in one hand. Cut down the 4 sides around the stem, avoiding the seeds inside. Then discard the stem with seeds attached - you never have to touch them!

Bruschetta Pasta

My favorite thing about being a Pampered Chef consultant is that I have learned how to love cooking again! Now, it doesn't hurt that I'm unemployed and much of day is spent devising ways to save money...such as cooking virtually all of our meals at home. Then, as a part of our schedule, I saunter into the kitchen around 4:00 each day and get to spend the next hour doing my own sort of play. Sometimes Jack helps, though this happens most often at breakfast and lunch. At this moment he is playing trains...or cars...or car-trains, and I am waiting on Dave, who is running late, so I have a surprise moment to post about the Bruschetta Pasta I finally made from thestockedkitchen.com.

Ingredients:

• 
  Mix together vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic. Whisk in oil well to emulsify.1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 C fresh tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 C fresh basil chopped
• 1/2 lb pasta, cooked and drained

Directions:

1. Fold in tomatoes and basil.
2. Toss with cooked pasta and Parmesan cheese. If desired, top with cooked chicken or shrimp.

The only ingredient I had to substitute was the fresh basil. This was maybe the most important ingredient because the final product was not as imagined. Unfortunately I didn't even have dried basil so I had to substitute Oregano. Using a 3 to 1 ratio for converting fresh to dry, I put in 2 Tbs and 2 tsp of Oregano. The taste was fine, perhaps Thyme would have been a better substitute than Oregano. One thing is for sure, I will never again make this recipe without the fresh basil. The dish had a very fresh look and taste, and made a nice meal when I added cubed chicken.

My stocked kitchen

One of the greatest joys of my "housekeeping" life is finding I have the ingredients I need for a new recipe on hand already. I feel like I've won the lottery...a whole meal, ready to prepare, without purchasing new ingredients! When I recently came across The Stocked Kitchen at Barnes and Noble, I was intrigued. Now, being the worst decision maker in the world, I decided against buying the book, at that time, but made a note to check into it more once I got home. I found the website, and a few recipes online. I'd still really like to own the book...does anyone have any experience with the stocked kitchen method?

I did print out a copy of "the list" and found my kitchen is more stocked than I thought. What I particularly like is the idea of using the list to stock up on sale items from the list. I was planning on making Bruschetta Pasta for dinner tonight (because, joy, I have all the ingredients!!) but wanted to have fresh bread as well. It will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime I'm already crafting my grocery list for next week using my trusty The Stocked Kitchen Grocery List.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

After my success with Butternut Squash soup, I was tempted to try another soup, one of my favorites...Broccoli Cheddar.  The texture of the Butternut Squash soup reminded me of Broccoli Cheddar, so I used basically the same recipe, using broccoli of course, instead of  squash.  Here is my, somewhat unsuccessful, attempt:

Ingredients:
6 Tbs chopped onion
4 Tbs butter
4 heads of broccoli, steamed (this is 2 packages, next time I will cut the amount of broccoli in half)
3 cups water
4 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp paprika
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese (not enough!  Next time I'll use 2)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (not enough!  Next time I'll use 3)

Directions:
1.  In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add water, bouillon, thyme, black pepper and paprika. Bring to boil; cook about 20 minutes.

2.  Puree broccoli and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth.  Add to saucepan, along with cheddar cheese and heat through. Do not allow to boil.


This soup was definitely chock full of broccoli, and it was too runny.  I'll need to thicken up the base next time (any suggestions are welcome!)  I'll also make it cheesier, with the addition of more cream cheese and cheddar cheese.  A thumbs down (yes, I actually did receive two thumbs down from a taster) on this version!

Artisan Bread

At a recent Pampered Chef meeting, someone made this delicious bread in the Deep Covered Baker.  The recipe was easy enough, it just needed time and planning.  For my first attempt at making bread, this is the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose or bead flour, more for dusting (I used all-purpose flour, thanks Bri;))

1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups tap water

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.  Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably 18, at room temperature.

2.  Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.  Liberally flour a pastry mat (I used a flexible cutting mat), and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself 3 or 4 times.  Place on parchment paper and place in the deep covered baker with lid on to rise for 2 hours.   (I covered the dough by placing plastic wrap over the top)  

**Here the recipe has changed, the original recipe called to preheat the Deep Covered Baker, the Home Office says not to do this, and that the warranty would be voided if the the baker broke while making the bread, I preheated the baker at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, dumped the bread dough in, and baked covered for 30 minutes.  Then I uncovered the baker, and baked another 8 minutes until the bread was golden brown.**

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place the filled Covered Baker with lid on in oven for 30 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes then take the lid off. Bake for another 8 to 15 minutes until the bread is golden brown on top. Cool on a rack. 

It was very good, especially warm.  I think I may have folded it over itself too many times, it wasn't as "airy" as the bread I'd sampled at the meeting.  Next time I'll follow the new recipe, and only fold it over 3 or 4 times!