Tag Archives: Cheese

The Thursday Stash and Potatoes-Beets au Gratin

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Ashley| 3 Comments

Some Stash

It’s another Thursday where I have produce aplenty to share with you!  I’ve got some repeated vegetables from last week, and then a few new ones.  Also, I received two juicy peaches (one of which I immediately devoured all by itself).  And I’ve got high hopes for baking that other peach.  I’m completely into the idea of making a brown sugar crumble inside of it.  Ah, in short I am just giddy on my post-CSA retrieval high.

Veg

So this week I got more green beans (still have to come up with something killer to do with them- I’m not good with green beans), more corn (that’s easy!), garlic, green bell peppers, and a pretty little basket of cherry tomatoes.

I already made a heartstopping salad last night with the corn and some of the tomatoes, which I will share with you soon.  And tomorrow I’m making a vegetable tart for a work party.  I really want to use up the basil quickly because it’s already picked, and who knows how long it will last.  I could always dry some, of course, but the faster I can eat it fresh the better.

Yum

Also, I’m going to be spending some time at my parents’ house for the next two weeks or so, so I’m feeling like I should use up my stash pretty quickly and then bring the rest with me.  Luckily, my planned veggie tart should handle the bell peppers, some corn, and the tomatoes.  Too bad you can’t put green beans in a tart… can you?  I don’t think I’m going to go there…

Beets

I also wanted to include a recipe for a meal I’ve been eating for the past week.  I used up the rest of my beets and potatoes from my last Thursday Stash by making a filling, creamy, and lightly spicy Potatoes and Beets au Gratin (or Potato-Beet Casserole?).  And when I say that I’ve been eating it for the past week, I really mean it.  That’s no exaggeration.  I made a big dish (which lasts one person for quite a while) that I haven’t gotten sick of yet.  It’s eggy, cheesy, spicy, and filling.  And it makes the perfect lunch, dinner, or breakfast.  Here she is:

Au Gratin

Recipe: Potatoes and Beets au Gratin

Ingredients

  • 2 cups potatoes sliced (that was two medium potatoes and 6 small ones for me)
  • 1 cup yellow beets sliced (about two medium ones for me)
  • 1 white onion sliced
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheese (sharp white cheddar was delicious)
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Slice your vegetables.
  3. Whisk eggs into the milk, and then add cheese.
  4. Stir in the spices.
  5. In a casserole dish, layer half of your potatoes, beets, and onions.
  6. Pour half of the egg mixture evenly over the veggies.
  7. Layer the rest of the potatoes, beets, and onions.
  8. Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the dish.
  9. Place in oven for about 45 minutes.
  10. Remove when a fork easily pokes into the potatoes and beets.

Quick notes

There is not a lot to the egg mixture, in fact it’s quite sparse. The idea is to have a dish that mostly features the potatoes, beets, and onions, rather than a dish that is mostly eggy. You, of course, can increase the amount of egg or milk.

Preparation time: 10 min

Cooking time: 45 min

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Very German!

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Ashley| 1 Comment

Guten Tag!
I was at my parents house this weekend raiding their pantry and came across some spätzle that we decided to cook up for dinner.  When we lived in Germany, these funky little noodles graced every meal, from little hole in the wall restaurants to oompah band bedecked biergartens.  As I was twelve at the time and not very adventurous, my inevitable meal of choice was wienerschnitzel and spätzle.  Although I don’t eat meat anymore, I still think of that combo fondly.  And I can still eat the spätzle!

Plain

I didn’t have time to take very good pictures, so unfortunately I’m going to be leaving much to the imagination.  Maybe the best option for you would be to check out your closest specialty store (military commissary?  Cost Plus?  German store?) and buy a pack of spätzle and try it for yourself.  Also, in the near future I might try making the yummy noodles from scratch!  Until then:

Spätzle with Cheese and Mushrooms
Ingredients:
-package of spätzle noodles
-dash of salt
-1 tbsp butter
-1/2 cup sautéed mushrooms
-cup of cheese (we used mozzarella, but experiment with other white cheeses)
- 1/4 cup milk
-salt and pepper to taste

Mushrooms

Make it Happen:
1.  As you would with any kind of Italian packaged noodles, bring a pot to a boil and then toss the spätzle in with a dash of salt.  They will be done when soft and noodlelike (yup, great explanation, but I have a feeling you’ll know when the time is right).
2.  In the meantime,  sauté the mushrooms in the butter until they shrink up and become soft and buttery.
3.  When the noodles are done, strain them and put in a bowl.  Add the cheese and milk and mix all together until everything has a nice cheesy consistency.
4.  Add the mushrooms in and continue to stir.
5.  Finally, add salt and pepper to taste and eat up!

Spaetzle

This is truly one of the most delicious noodle dishes ever, and it’s so easy.  My dad and I made these without much effort at all, just much anticipation!  Although it’s definitely not winning any health awards, this dish wins in the realm of comfort food, and,  as my dad would say, “It’s very German!”

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Alterna-Pesto

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Ashley| 6 Comments

Chop

Okay, so I have to state the obvious here: I am merely an experimental cook.  I have no experience whatsoever besides my daily forays into the kitchen.  And usually I’m really hungry, so I’m not the world’s strictest critic either.

Basically what I’m trying to say here is don’t expect me to bring you stories of eternally successful and flawless recipes.  Expect me to tell you the mistakes I made and what I learned in the process.  Then, maybe you will be able to build upon them.

Kale

I kind of see cooking as a grand experiment.  I don’t have the budget to go out and buy every precise expensive ingredient, so I work with what I have on hand.  I have a feeling most of us do this.  I love throwing ingredients together based upon a loose idea and seeing what comes from it.  Yes, that doesn’t make me the most precise cook, but I’d like to think it makes me versatile.  And I’m always learning.

Pasta

So what this is all leading to is the fact that I made pesto yesterday.  Except I didn’t have basil, and I did have a lot of kale, so it became a kale pesto.  And I didn’t have parmesan, so I used mozzarella.  And I didn’t have pine nuts, so I used walnuts (I think you can see a trend here…).  And I didn’t really feel like looking up a recipe, so I thought back to when I’d made pesto (once!) with my mom and just went with it.

Surprisingly, it turned out tasty.
When I do it again, I’ll make a few slight changes, but I’ll pass on the wisdom to you and you shall prosper because of it:

Blender

Alterna-Pesto

Ingredients:

-2 cups of chopped kale leaves
-2 cups of cheese (I used mozzarella.  It’s mild, so if you have parmesan, use that)
-2 cloves garlic (I suggest making it 3)
-3 to 4 tbsp olive oil
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup walnuts
-black pepper to taste

Make it Happen:
1.  Put a small handful of your chopped kale leaves, as well as about 1/4 cup of cheese and the garlic cloves in your blender (I wishwishwish I had a food processor, but blender it had to be).
2.  Add about a tablespoon of your olive oil and start the blender action.  If you have a kind of crappy blender like mine it probably wont do much.  This is when you start using that 1/2 cup of water.
3.   Slowly add a bit of water, just enough to get the blender working.
4.  Continue adding handfuls of kale and cheese along with olive oil and water (I think some people use all olive oil, but I didn’t want it to be thaaat oily.  You, of course, may like more oil and less water!).  Be sure to reserve a handful of kale.
5.   Once things are pretty well mixed, add in your walnuts and black pepper.
6.  Finally (and this is the step I forgot to do) add in that last handful of kale and mix, but not completely.  This will give it a nice chunky pesto body.  (Mine became more of a pesto puree.)

Bread and Pasta

Anyways, as you can see from all of my editorializing, I could have done a few things differently (more garlic, less puree).  But in the end I still really enjoy the taste of my Alterna-Pesto.  You can really make pesto out of many different variations of herb/nut/cheese/etc, according to wikipedia (ultimate source on all things true and pure).  In fact, after reading that article I really want to bust out my mortar and pestle to make some real legit pesto.  Next time!

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