Eating Dinner With My Family

The origin of this dish is a little interesting. (at least to me;)  Long ago in the dark ages of my culinary experience, I created "Jalapeno Fish" for my son.  While not the culinary masterpiece my son thought it was, it isn't bad.  I decided now that I am a significantly better cook than I was then, I would play with the idea, so when he requests it (which he often does), we will have a better dish to eat.  We all loved the spicy butter that went with the grilled corn we had with the spicy lamb burgers a while back.  I thought that would be a great way to to jazz up the old recipe.  It is way more garlicky than hot, but it had a little heat.  In addition to the fish, I served a baguette and a salad.  I had some lovely tomatoes from my Front Porch Pickings basket.  They were wonderful. Good ingredients don't need a lot to make them tasty.  I have been making my own salad dressings for a while now, and I can't stand bottled dr...

I am totally not a fan of sausage.  In small bits its workable for me.  I can enjoy it on pizza or in sausage gravy but I never get it as a breakfast side or eat it as the main component as the meal.  I was making this one for the boys who love sausage. (that and my quest for an excellent burger for our next progressive dinner;) Imagine my surprise when I found myself totally digging the burger! I loved the spinach; it was awesome. I did use the anchovy paste and used only mild Italian sausage.  Next time I would like to try 1/2 mild and 1/2 hot. Italian-Sausage Burgers With Garlicky Spinach 10    ounces baby spinach 2 T  extra-virgin olive oil,plus more for brushing 2    garlic cloves,minced 1 t  anchovy paste (optional) Salt 1 lb sweet or hot Italian sausages (or a combination of both) casings removed 4 sl of provolone cheese 1/4 c  sun-dried-tomato pesto 4    round ciabatta rolls,split an...

While the tide is turning in my favor in my battles with my food supplies, I know that if I am not vigilant they will regroup and then I will have to start over.  The food had some sneaky troops stationed neither in the fridge nor the pantry!  There were a plethora of tortillas, never opened, from a long time ago.  I turn to the fridge and note that there is a large block of queso fresco left over from our chilequiles.  Seeing as they are both ingredients for Mexican, but knowing that quesco fresco isn't exactly 'melting' cheese, I decide to experiment with it all and make a quesadilla and hope for the best.  So I am taking out the tortillas  and the queso before they go bad.  That's two.  I notice one lone small red pepper that some how was hiding behind the fruit and a small 1/2 of a red onion that needs to be used.  Ok all working so far.  I had the remnants of a large bag of shredded mozzarella.  Ha I will clean that up too:)....

It seems that my belief that I struck the fridge a mortal blow the last time we met in battle was presumptuous.  It has retaliated by actively breeding its contents in the dark of night and doubling its number of suicide troops. (you know those items that are stacked on top of other items and leap at you when you open the door!) It is hoarding its leftovers in order to keep the temperature cooler in there and there just so it can start freezing items and ruining them just for spite.  I am tempted, with the same spite, to just blitzkrieg its a$$ by throwing out all the contents and starting over. But I can't, there are too many pricey condiments in there to justify such a drastic action.  The only way I am going to beat this monster is to make a meal that resembles heavily patched jeans. (IE 1 leftover pizza slice, 1 burger, some random 1/2 portions of sides and some odds and ends of cheese blocks.  yummy, NOT!) I don't know if I can do that. ...

With a moniker with all the doubles, this burger was not as amazing as one would think.  Not bad mind you, but it didn't make want to, as they say in the colorful vernacular of the south, "slap your mama!"  I have to say, while I am trying to make every recipe exactly following instructions, (for learning the process and giving me a starting place to work on the recipe for my family's tastes) I am really getting tired of a recipe for four burgers calling for a pound and a half of meat!  These burgers were monsters! I would never make larger than 1/4 pound burger for myself.  Often when I make burgers of my own creation, I make the pound in to different size burgers based on the person. (think like papa bear, mama bear and baby bear) The absolute best thing about these burgers was the Camembert!  I love Camembert, but it is just amazing on a burger.  It melts in to almost a sauce.  It was also perfect in that it mellowed the Gorgonzola.  Double-P...

I love having breakfast for dinner because eggs are such a quick and easy dinner fix.  Not only are frittatas fast, but they are adaptable to so many ingredients.  I particularly like this one with the spaghetti squash.  I love the earthy sweet flavor.  A frittata is also an easy way to get some veggies in kids that they may otherwise turn their nose up at.  I know a big bowl of the squash with some seasoned butter would make my day, the boy not so much, but this dish he doesn't complain at all. I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light.  Of course in the adaptation I made it a little less light, but not horribly so.  and because I hate waste (and only for that reason lol) I am going to make a coconut cream pie  with the 4 egg yolks I had left over after I made the frittata;). Spaghetti Squash, Onion, and Potato Frittata 1/3 cup 1% low-fat milk 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (2 tsps dried )* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 te...

In anticipation of our next neighborhood progressive dinner, in which the theme with be burgers, I decided to try another burger recipe.  It was really good.  It wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be considering how many peppers are in it, but I did make sure to remove all seeds and ribs which contain most of the capsaicin. I didn't make 6, I made 4 burgers.  I have a recipe program called accuchef that I really like that will recaculate the recipe for you, but I wanted to share it in it's original form.  (I like my accuchef but it costs, pepperplate  is a free on line recipe management program that I have but I use accuchef the most) I also had some corn that I needed to use. (yes the epic struggle between a cook and her fridge is still in full swing.  I needed to use up some yogurt, hence the burger I chose to try)  I remember seeing Aaron Sanchez on The Best I Ever Ate talking about a grilled corn with cheese and lime.  I found this recipe ...