Spinach Soup

In a quest for something different to do with the spinach we got in our Bountiful Basket this week, I went on the search through recipes on the Internet. I found this recipe for Tuscan White Bean & Spinach soup that caught my eye. If you have been following my blog for very long you know that when I hit the kitchen I seldom ever follow a recipe exactly. When making soup, I can’t put enough hearty foods in the pot. I sat out on Monday to create a soup that I hoped would be as wonderfully tasteful as it looked. The first taste was everything I had hoped for.

Ingredients

One large can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
diced carrots
2 cans white beans
garlic to taste
2 Tbsp. of Leek greens finally chopped
cayenne pepper to taste
black pepper to taste
egg shell noodles
3 cups spinach

For my stock I combined the tomatoes, chicken broth, carrots, white beans, garlic, leeks, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Brought it to a full boil, then turned it down to simmer for 4 hours.

 

Bring the pot back to a boil and add the noodles. While those cook for about 8 minutes I washed, removed the stems and tore the spinach up into smaller pieces. When I still had about a minute left on the noodles I stirred the spinach in. Immediately remove from heat and serve.

 

We had sour dough bread with ours. The soup was so hearty and oh so delicious. This is one of those soups that you could dress up anyway you desire, with a little potato, really the sky is the limit to what you might want to add to this pot of soup.

 

This will be a soup that we will make again and who knows what I might add to it.

Spaghetti Pie

Yesterday I was very hungry for Spaghetti, but I just felt like I didn’t want our normal Spaghetti. After a quick search on the Internet I found this recipe for Spaghetti pie. Of course I can’t just follow a recipe with out adding or leaving out ingredients that I feel will make it better.

My Version

Browned 1lb. hamburger, then added one can of spaghetti sauce and one small can of tomato sauce, seasoned with salt pepper and garlic salt.

Cooked my spaghetti noodles as normal in boiling water.

In a small bowl I mixed 8 ounces of cream cheese and 3/4 cup sour cream.

In a 9x12 baking dish lightly greased I layered the Spaghetti, cream cheese mixture, then the meat sauce. I sprinkled some green onion, mushrooms and black olives, then covered this with shredded cheese.

Baked in a preheated oven for 25 minutes covered then an additional 10 minutes uncovered.

Now what changes would I make the next time I make this, I think I would cut down on the cream cheese and sour cream mixture, one could even cut it in half. This seemed pretty rich and I feel it would be just as good with just a little less of the richness.

We really enjoyed this dish and I served it with a tossed green salad and French bread. Michael really enjoyed it and he isn’t much of a spaghetti eater, of course it was a hard sell for Selena, but hey even when I make spaghetti she pretty much only picks out the noodles. Out side of seeming very rich when you got into the cream cheese and sour cream mixture, I thought it was very delicious. Would be a great easy meal for company, or a potluck, of course a great family meal.

Mexican Goulash

If there is one dish that my Dad made sure all of us kids knew how to make it was his special bland goulash, consisting of hamburger and potatoes. Through the years I have dressed this up in many different ways, and yes, sometimes we have had it just the old bland way. Dressing it up last night to have a Mexican flavor and a little spicy touch was fun, easy, and turned into a yummy meal.

• 1 lb hamburger
• 4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 can beans…kidney, pinto, (or one of each)
• 1 can corn
• Taco seasoning to taste, since I make things easy I used about 1/4 package of Taco seasoning
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• Salt and Pepper
• A small amount of corn starch just to thicken the juices

In my electric skillet I browned my hamburger, I did not drain any of the fat. tossed in my potatoes, which had been peeled and diced soaking in some cold water (drain the water before adding the potatoes). add one can beans with juice and one can of corn with the water. Now start having fun with the spices and seasoning. Cover and allow to simmer until potatoes are tender. Thicken the juices with a bit of cornstarch or if you have some mesa that would work as well.

Serve with bread and butter, corn bread, or I thought as I ate this it would be so yummy in a taco salad shell with all the garnishing of a taco salad. Really the sky is the limit to how you might want to serve this dish, as well as to what you might want to add to it. Such a simple recipe that one can have so much fun fixing it your style. 

Baked Pork Chops with Italian Breading

When my family asked for pork chops for dinner this weekend, I set out to get creative and fix them differently. Now Selena at first was very disappointed as she doesn’t think they are pork chops unless they are simmered in Rice-a-Roni.

I checked out a few recipes online and found this one that sounded good, though one thing I don’t follow recipes very often and love to take off on my own twist.

I like the thick boneless pork chops for most all my cooking, but you can use thinner ones bone in if you desire. The original recipe says you can prepare 6 pork chops, since I use the thick ones, I only prepared three.

Ingredients

• Pork chops
• two eggs
• flour
• Parnassian Salad Croutons
• Pepper
• Johnny Seasoning Salt
• 2 small cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 a cup of milk

I threw my croutons in my blender and made them into a fine breading, perfect for coating my pork chops. Beat up the eggs in a shallow dish. Rinse Pork Chops and season them with pepper and Johnny Seasoning Salt. Coat them with the flour, slightly, dip them in the egg, then coat them heavily with the croutons. Place them in a pan, cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Mix the Cream of Mushroom soup and milk, pour this over the pork chops, cover and return to the oven for 30 more minutes.

I served ours with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Everyone including Selena gave them a two thumbs up, so this will be a recipe I will prepare again. They were delicious!

New Years Day Crab Cakes

This year I decided we would finish up our crab by making crab cakes. I looked at many recipes here on the Internet and finally decided I would just have to make my own.

I used two whole Dungeness Crabs that I removed from the shell. I am guessing there was about a pound to a pound and a half of crab meat.

In a mixing bowl I softened 8 ounces cream cheese. I added 1/2 cup of very fine bread crumbs, that I had rolled out with my rolling pin. Added 1/4 cup each of green pepper, green onion, and celery (these had been sautéed then set aside to cool. I added a teaspoon of black pepper and a couple drops of Tabasco sauce. At this point you can taste the mixture and add more pepper, Tabasco sauce, or maybe even a little bit of lemon depending on your taste.Then with a spoon I added my crab meat, mixing it in all together. Then just form your patties.

I used peanut oil, since it can be used at higher heat then most oils. You can use any type of oil you want, just remember to keep it hot so that the crab cakes do not absorb the oil. Before I fried them I sprinkled them with some more finely chopped bread crumbs. (a little hint croutons work really well for the bread crumbs)

Fry them until they are golden brown on both sides. Serve them with tarter sauce, or cocktail sauce. We ate ours plain with french fries on the side.

What did the family think? Well, let’s just say Papa ate two, Selena ate a half of one and I ate a whole one.