Frittata with Sundried Tomatoes recipe

Frittatas are a fast and simple way to create a breakfast, brunch or dinner option. This frittata recipe was born out of a last-minute need to come up with an idea for a meatless dish for our Monday work lunches.

Frittata with Sundried Tomatoes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch green onions, whites sliced
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup fresh parsley
8 large eggs, beaten
salt and pepper

Instructions

Heat olive oil in cast-iron skillet. Add onions and cook on medium-low for about 10 minutes. Stir in sundried tomatoes and parsley; season with salt and pepper.

Heat broiler to high. Pour eggs over the vegetables in the skillet. Stir to mix.

Cook eggs on low, scraping bottom of pan towards middle as it sets and letting uncooked egg run underneath. Continue until bottom is firm but top is still moist (about 10 minutes).

Place frittata under the broiler and cook for five minutes, or until frittata is cooked throughout and golden on top.

Serve in skillet warm or at room temperature. Garnish with parsley.

Serving ideas: Pair the frittata with crusty bread or salad.

The best gougere you will ever eat

Meatless meals in Lent always seem to throw me off. It's like it was a surprise that it was Friday. And so I stood on a recent Friday evening, staring at my mostly empty fridge, wondering what meatless dish I could make that could pacify my children.

This gougere recipe is based on a Pinterest find for goat cheese and herb gougere from Eggs on Sunday. I have made another gougere recipe in the past but couldn't find it quickly. We tweaked this recipe based on what we had on hand in our home (and our first fresh herbs of the season!), and the results were fabulous.

Herbed goat cheese mini-gougeres

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, divided
6 oz. garlic and herb goat cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan,  combine the butter, milk and salt and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Whisk for a few minutes, then return the pan to the heat and continue whisking to dry the paste out slightly. Remove the heat from the pan again, switch to a wooden spoon, and add eggs — one at a time — stirring to make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stir in the goat cheese, Parmesan and chives.

Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets (or drop by the tablespoonful). 

Bake each sheet, one at a time, in the 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned and the gougeres are puffed. Serve warm, or let cool completely and freeze in a ziptop bag.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Wild Mushroom and Yellow Potato Pizza Recipe

This Potato Mushroom Pizza recipe was adapted from a recipe in "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking in a moment of panic this week. We were counting the days until payday, and the house was admittedly quite bare. I had made bread for the kids' sandwiches as I had the ingredients, and was looking at the contents of the kitchen counter: a pound of bread dough, four meager yellow potatoes, some garlic. The fridge was even less promising, as we had just returned from nearly a week at our in-laws.

Fortunately I had stumbled on a recipe for Rustic Wild Mushroom and Potato Pizza Provencal. With a few herb changes, some reconstituted dried oyster mushrooms, a cheese swap and omission of sun-dried tomatoes, we had a winner in our house. Adding a drizzle of white truffle oil, a gift from a friend that's been far too long unused, made it even better.

Wild Mushroom and Yellow Potato Pizza
Ingredients

1 pound pizza dough

4 yellow potatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup oyster mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oils

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons dried basil

red pepper flakes to taste (optional)

3 oz. Parmesan cheese

white truffle oil (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 500. Saute mushrooms and potatoes in olive oil. Add minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Roll out dough and add toppings and herbs. Sprinkle cheese on. Bake at 500 for 10-15 minutes.* Cool and drizzle with white truffle oil before serving.

* In the book, the authors warn you to turn on your exhaust because of smoking. Since I had omitted the cornmeal as originally called for, I figured I was home free. No such luck. Do turn on your exhaust fan!

Cinnamon apple smoothie

Cinnamon apple smoothie

1 cup diced apple
1 cup skim milk

1 scoop DoTERRA vanilla Trim Shake or other vanilla protein shake

1/2 cup ice or more if desired.

Blend all.


Calories according to MyFitness Pal: 365 for the entire thing. It tastes amazing and was so filling!



Disclosure: I do receive a percentage of the sales for the DoTERRA vanilla Trim Shake by following this link, however, I wouldn't use it if I didn't like it!

Chinese Corn and Egg

Cleaning out my freezer the other day, I found a package of corn frozen from the peak of summer. The kids couldn't get enough of it, grabbing the cobs as quickly as I'd removed most of the kernels. This recipe, adapted from a Chinese cookbook of mine, went quickly too. It's a simple dish for a Meatless Monday or for a quick dinner after a busy day. Quick and Easy Corn and Egg 4-5 ears corn, kernels removed 5 eggs, lightly beaten 1 tsp. sesame oil pinch of salt 1 tbsp. butter 2 tsp. peanut oil 1 tsp. finely chopped garlic salt and pepper to taste Combine eggs, sesame oil and salt and set aside. Heat skillet until it is hot, and heat the butter and peanut oil until melted. Toss in garlic, stir-fry briefly, then toss in corn and stir-fry another 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add eggs, scramble and cook until eggs are set. Serve at once.

Meatless meals: When you're in a pinch

Six o' clock in my home is the witching hour. The kids are hungry, mom is cranky and dinner needs to be done. Fast.Drive-through may have never looked so good.Relax. You can get through a dinner in short order - in fact, meatless meal prep - chopping produce aside - can tend to go more quickly, as you don't have to worry about meat being cooked thoroughly.

Here are four easy meals that you can whip up to feed a hungry crowd of kids:

Pasta with ricotta: I read this in a cookbook about a year ago, and it's a standby for our kids on hectic nights. Cook 8 oz. pasta according to directions, drain and toss with 1 c. of ricotta cheese and a bit of butter. I'll mix it up with herbs, peas, whatever I have on hand.

Quesadillas: This is the ultimate in fast-food in our house. I keep tortillas and cheese on hand just for this. Sprinkle cheese between two tortilla shells, melt in the microwave for a minute, and serve with salsa for hungry toddlers.

Spaghetti marinara: Yes, you can grab a jar from the pantry, but fresh is best. And in late summer, when farmers are practically begging you to take their tomato stash, I score by buying the "ugly" tomatoes cheaper, make huge pots of spaghetti sauce from scratch, and freeze to reheat and enjoy year-round. I usually serve this with whole-grain or protein-enriched pasta.

Veggie stir-fry: I know the idea of preparation (cutting, washing) a bunch of veggies to eat sounds like a deal-breaking. Here's the trade-off. Because of the high heat and smaller pieces, stir-fried veggies cook extremely quickly. Plus, you don't have to worry about whether the veggies are completely cooked through (crunchy is OK), and you have the added benefit of allowing them to munch on the raw deal while you're prepping.

Having an "appetizer" of raw vegetables, crackers, etc., is not a bad thing. Take yesterday, for instance. My preschooler and I were trying a recipe, and I set aside some extra cheese and cauliflower for munching as she went. It curbed the hungries while food was cooking, and admittedly kept her a bit occupied when Mom had two pots going on the stove.
Originally published at the Green Phone Booth, April 2010

Practically perfect pasta salad

Planning my daughter's tea party, I quickly realized that all the food was geared towards kids. Not that that's a bad thing.

But I wanted something for those in the double-digits as well. So I stumbled across a pasta salad recipe that remarkably (1) didn't have mayonnaise in it and (2) I had almost everything on hand. A few tweaks later, and I had a pasta salad that most moms were asking for the recipe for!

Pasta Salad

1 pound bow-tie pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch slices, then quartered
1 jar diced sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

Dressing
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh cracked pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta according to directions, tossing in the zucchini when you have two minutes left. Drain well. Toss with olive oil.

For the dressing, add vinegar to blender, turn on, and add everything but the olive oil. Blend until mixed. Leaving the blender running, add the olive oil in a slow thin stream.

Toss together the pasta, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, parsley and dressing. Serve room temperature. Parmesan optional.

This is my contribution for Meatless Monday. Check out other entries at the Green Phone Booth.

Garlic scapes: Great for dinner!

Garlic scape - the long curly strands that grow from the center of a garlic plant - are a simple addition to your dinners and so easy to use. Simply slice thinly (they tend the be hard) and use as a substitute for garlic.

Right now, farmers are practically giving garlic scape away, too, since removing the scapes helps the plant refocus its energy on growing the bulbs for fall. And, since they can last months in your fridge (believe me, I've done it), they're an economical option for flavoring.

A few weeks ago, a favorite vendor gave me some of his scape, on the condition I tell him the difference between the "regular" and the elephant garlic varieties. Both have good, verys similar flavor, however, the bulblets at the top of the garlic scape have little florets inside (looks very similar in texture to broccoli...I'll post a photo later).

I've used the scape as flavoring in stir-fries and low-mein, and last night made a wonderful mushroom sautee' using them. In fact, my toddler willingly ate mushrooms for the first time - and asked for seconds!

Here's how:

Sauteed scapes and mushrooms

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

2 T. olive oil

2 garlic scapes, thinly sliced

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Sautee garlic scapes until the flavor comes out into the oil, then add mushrooms. Cook until brown.

Photo from hilladay.blogspot.com

Making do with less meat

Just in time for grilling season - meat prices are on the rise. So writes today's Indianapolis Star.

Here's the deal. You can do a lot by cutting back on meat in a meal, either by making it less of an emphasis in a meal or cutting it out completely. (And, for the record, there are few vegetables out there that are $3, $5, or $10 a pound, which is what many people are willing to pay for meat.)

To get you started, here's a few ideas to get you going on the grill the next time you're out there.

• Balsamic grilled vegetables
• Grilled asparagus
• Grilled cauliflower
• Grilled citrus radiacho
• Grilled corn on the cob
• Grilled eggplant and chickpea salad
• Grilled fruit
• Grilled fruit with balsamic vinegar syrup
• Grilled fruit with carmelized orange sauce
• Grilled green beans
• Grilled potato wedges
• Honey garlic grilled eggplant
• Spiced tomatoes
• Spring asparagus and new potato salad

Have a great vegetarian recipe? Post your link here.

Cooking up chips alternatives

Chips are the ultimate comfort food for my husband. A little salty, a little crunchy, a lot greasy. And in the midst of basketball season and bowl games, they tend to be on hand.

Trying to come up with alternative munchies in our home - for my weight's sake and for my children's healthier habits - can be a challenge. After all, home-cooked treats can be healthier and generate far less waste and cash than the pre-packaged alternatives.

We stumbled on a few recipes that we recently tried with some success. While alternatives to the butter and salt-encrusted bowl of popcorn abound (with varying degrees of healthiness), here are other ideas to consider:

Roasted chickpeas
Sounds strange I know, but hear me out. I stumbled across this recipe in Cookie magazine and figured it'd be a way to use up the random bag of dried chickpeas I had. My daughter has been happily munching on this every chance she gets.

The magazine calls for 1 cup of dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas), soaked overnight. I essentially doubled the recipe by using the full one-pound bag.

1 pound garbanzo beans
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt

Soak beans overnight (or at least 8 hours). Drain on paper towels and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl toss the oil, sugar and garbonzo beans. Spread the beans in a single layer on a ungreased cookie sheet. Roast them until they are crunchy and no longer soft in the middle, stirring a few times to prevent burning. (Note: The original recipe called for 45 minutes, however, it took closer to 1 hour for a double batch.)

Immediately toss the beans in a bowl with cinnamon and salt. Cool and serve. Store in airtight container at room temp for up to a week.

Baked pita chips
Leftover pita bread pockets
olive oil
garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut each pita bread into 8 triangles. Place triangles on cookie sheet.

Brush each triangle with oil mixture and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Bake 5 to 7 minutes, or until lightly browned and crispy.

White bean dip
The original recipe came from Whole Foods, but I rarely follow it anymore, instead basing it on what I have had on hand. Dress it up as "White bean crostini" or dress it down as dip and crackers or chips. The kids and I happily made a meal of it this weekend.

1 can canelini beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
roasted garlic (or other herbs)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water (until desired consistency)
1 cup parmesan

Blend in a food processor or blender. Serve it over bread (sprinkled with additional cheese and baked) or serve as dip with crackers, pita or baked chips.

More meatless recipes to share

You'd have to be hiding with your head in the sand to not know what's going on with our economy crumbling, and more and more people are trying to shave what they can from their budgets.

My post two weeks ago on meatless meals got a lot of response, and readers on and offline asked me for other ideas. So, here are a few other recipes to try. I'd like to state for the record that the 3 year old ate them all, so they are kid-friendly!

Gougere
Otherwise known as "cheesy bread," this is great to make late at night to have on hand for breakfast. Warning: It takes a half-hour to prep and an hour to bake, but we think it's worth it.

I'm including the "base recipe," but you can tweak it by adding such things as Italian herbs, cheeses, bacon, green onions or whatever sparks your interest.

1 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature (set out 2 hrs. early)
1 cup parmesan, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9-inch cake pan.

Cook milk, butter, salt and pepper in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently, until full boil. Take pan off heat. Dump flour in at once, stir. Return to heat. Stir vigorously until mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

Beat eggs one at a time into dough, stirring vigorously until eggs is completely incorporated. Add parmesan. Pour dough into pan; bake 50 min. Make a few cuts with a sharp knife; bake 10 additional minutes. Serve hot or cold.


Pita Salad
Loosely adapted from Every Day with Rachel Ray Magazine, September 2008, this was a great way to use up some odds and ends from my CSA share.

3 pitas, cut into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°. Transfer the pitas to a baking sheet; bake until crisp, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cucumbers, tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, parsley, mint and pitas. Add the lettuce and toss.

Vegetable Low Mein

We'd planned to make another recipe, but our bok choy in the box was no good. ("Mush," my husband described it as.) So we tweaked the original recipe as follows.

12 ounces vermicelli, uncooked
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot
1/2 cup mushrooms

Cook pasta according to package. Drain and set aside. Coat a wok or large nonstick skillet cooking spray and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Heat at medium-high temp. (375 degrees) until hot. Stir-fry garlic for 2 minutes. Add onions; stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add broth, soy sauce and red pepper. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add carrots and mushrooms corn. Stir-fry for approximately 2 minutes. Add cooked pasta; toss gently.


[The name of this organic CSA was deleted from this post on January 28, 2009. I have been falsely accused of libel by this CSA and will no longer promote them by using the name of the organization. I only hope that their representatives learn to appreciate the beauty of the First Amendment that we have achieved in this country. As I am open to all opinions and discussions on my site, I maintained their comments even though I disagreed with them.]
[Edited Jan. 30, 2009, to remove link to my former CSA's blog, where the other low mein recipe was posted. Sorry if you wanted a different low mein recipe, but there are plenty online!]

Meatless meals for the whole family

Meatless meals. Too often that brings visions of tofu, soybeans or other food that is just too adventurous for some.

But meatless meals don't have to be a scary concept; in fact, there are easy options for even the pickiest eaters. Whether you're trying to reduce the amount of meat you eat because of the impact on the environment or simply on your wallet, there are many family-friendly options out there.

The best part? You're probably already doing it without realizing it.

The most basic meatless meals you're probably already including in your diet at least once in awhile. What kid doesn't enjoy macaroni and cheese? A basic spaghetti marinara is another inexpensive option. It's simple, and it's easy to increase the iron in it simply by using a cast-iron skillet.

Other meatless dinner options include:

• vegetable fried rice
• cheese quesadillas
• black beans and rice
• grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup
• "breakfast" such as pancakes or oatmeal

Interested in branching out? Here are some links to get started:

• Kid-Friendly Recipes
• Meatless Meals