Pommes Anna

YUM!

Ingredients

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. butter

1 onion, thinly sliced

1-1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/8-inch -thick slices

1 cup reduced-fat Swiss cheese

Preparation

1. Combine salt, thyme and pepper. Reserve. In skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Remove from skillet, reserve.

2. In same skillet, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Remove from heat. Arrange 1/3 of potatoes, overlapping slightly, in circles. Sprinkle with salt mix. Top with half of onions, and 1/2 cup cheese.

3. Repeat layering, ending with potatoes sprinkled with remaining salt. Mix. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Uncover during last 5 minutes. Run spatula around edge of skillet and under potatoes to loosen.

4. Place serving plate over skillet, invert potatoes onto plate. Remove skillet. Garnish with fresh chives.

*Recipe from www.cooks.com

- Sarah

Eggplant Parmesan

This is a different (and healthier) recipe for eggplant Parmesan.  It is very delicious.

Ingredients

2 T olive oil

1 garlic glove, minced

1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 T minced fresh basil

1 T grated Parmesan cheese

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Combine oil and garlic; brush evenly over both sides of eggplant slices.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes; turn.  Bake 5 minutes longer or until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

2. Spread half the eggplant in a greased 1 qt. baking dish.  Sprinkle with half the basil and Parmesan cheese.  Arrange tomato slices over top; sprinkle with remaining basil and Parmesan.  Layer with half of the mozzarella cheese and the remaining eggplant; top with the remaining mozzarella.  Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes; uncover and bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

3.  Serve over pasta with some fresh crusty bread.

Side Note - I love cheese! and basically I used a lot more Parmesan and mozzarella than the recipe calls for - just a heads up! 

*Recipe from Howard of Dominion Harvest - the company that delivers our fresh produce every other week.

-Sarah

Bulgur Wheat with Dried Cranberries

Easy, yummy, healthy side dish.

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/2 cup dry bulgur wheat

1 1/2 T chicken bouillon granules

1 t. butter

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil in a pot, and mix in bulgur, bouillon granules, and butter. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes.

2. Fluff cooked bulgur with a fork, and gently mix in the dried cranberries. 

I didn't have chicken granules so I used beef granules.  It was still good, but I would go with chicken if you have it.

*Recipe from www.allrecipes.com*

-Sarah

Strawberry Banana Bread

I know, I know; I just did blueberry banana bread.  But hey, I love bread with fruit in it, what can I say?

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1.2 tsp. baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter softened
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 over ripe bananas mashed (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup strawberries, pureed

1 cup fresh chopped strawberries, chopped

1/2 c. chopped pecans (or any other nut you prefer) (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375, and grease a loaf pan.

In a small bowl add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk together.

In a larger bowl (or stand-up mixer bowl) add butter, sugars, and eggs. Cream together until smooth and well combined, then add the vanilla. Add mashed bananas, and strawberry puree and blend until combined.  Add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time blending until no white is visible. Add chopped strawberries and pecans and gently fold into batter.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a thin knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

I always like to eat my fruit breads with cream cheese, but butter or nothing at all is good too!

*Recipe adapted from 

http://culinaryinfatuation.blogspot.com/2009/02/strawberry-banana-bread-with-pecans.html

- Sarah

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/2 cup flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grease and flour 1 loaf pan.  Cream together butter and sugar; beat in eggs.  Add mashed bananas and mix.

3. Measure flour, reserving 2 tablespoons of flour to coat blueberries.

4. Stir baking soda and salt into flour, mixing well.  Fold into banana mixture; stir in vanilla.

5. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, then fold into batter.  Stir in chopped nuts.

6. Transfer batter to greased loaf pan.

7. Bake about 50 minutes (This is what the recipe said - it took me about 65 minutes).

Serve with butter or cream cheese on top!

**As someone who bakes a lot, I felt that the order of putting ingredients together was a bit weird (fold in flour instead of adding it while in the mixer? add vanilla AFTER stirring in flour?), but I decided to just follow the recipe and see what happened.  The bread is delicious so I guess it worked out well.**

**As you probably know, I do NOT like nuts in bakes goods, so you will not see nuts in my bread, but feel free to add them if that's what you like.**

*Recipe from www.cooks.com.

- Sarah

Shrimp Fajitas with Homemade Guacamole

For the Fajitas:

Ingredients

tortilla shells
1 lb shrimp, peeled, rinsed
1 large onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper
cheddar cheese
sour cream

Preparation

1. Saute peppers and onions until tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Once peppers and onions are tender, add shrimp and saute until opaque.  This takes just a couple minutes.  Do not overcook the shrimp!  They take maybe 2-3 minutes to be completely cooked!

2. Pile chosen ingredients onto a tortilla shell, including cheese, sour cream, and guacamole.





For the Guacamole:

Ingredients

3 ripe (but not mushy) avocados
1 small (or 1/4 of the inevitably giant) red onion, minced
1 small tomato, diced
1 lime
salt
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. While the onions and peppers are cooking, this would be a good time to make the guacamole.  Before cutting open the avocados, you should diced all other needed ingredients and have them ready, because avocados turn brown quickly once they hit the air.

2. Mash up avocados and mix in all other ingredients, adding salt to taste and squeezing lime to taste.  The lime also serves the purpose of extending the life of the avocado, so don't be stingy!


They were quite delicious!  The guacamole is also good with chips as an appetizer.

**Fresh guacamole is really only fresh for one day, so be generous when you eat it.  It's possible to make it last another day, but the best way I've found is to line a very air-tight container with Saran wrap, put the guac inside, wrap the saran wrap over it, seal the container with the lid, and then put it in the fridge.  The guac should be good enough to eat the next day, you'll just have to scrape off the top layer of brownness.  But you should really eat all the guac that second day.  That is absolutely the only downside to fresh guacamole, and it's still totally worth it cause it's so delicious!**

- Sarah

Italian Chicken & Dumplings

Italian Chicken and Dumplings

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 pounds chicken tenderloins, diced into bite-sized pieces (I used chicken breasts and cut them up)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 12 large white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup shredded carrots, store bought
• 4 ribs celery from the heart, very thinly sliced
• 1 to 2 fresh bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken stock, divided

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• A generous handful parsley leaves
• A handful pine nuts, lightly toasted
• A couple handfuls grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

(Instead of making this homeade pesto sauce, I had store-bought in the fridge so I used that.)

• 1 lemon , zested
• 2 (10 to 12-ounce) packages, fresh gnocchi

Place a large pot of water on to boil for gnocchi.
Heat a pot with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and lightly brown. Remove to a plate and add another tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter and heat. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery, and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper. Soften 5 minutes, sprinkle in flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in 2 1/2 cups stock, slide the chicken back into the pot and simmer to allow sauce to thicken.
Place the remaining 1/2 cup stock in food processor with basil, parsley, garlic, pine nuts and cheese, salt and pepper. Turn processor on and pour in the remaining few tablespoons oil.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat with the zest of 1 lemon.
Salt cooking water and drop gnocchi in the water, cook until the gnocchi floats, drain and add to the lemon butter and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toss the gnocchi 2 to 3 minutes in lemon butter until light golden at edges.
Turn heat off chicken and stir in pesto sauce. Serve the chicken in shallow bowls and top with lemon butter dumplings.

*This was a very hearty and delicious meal. I can't complain when I get to use gnocchi as dumplings! We watched Rachael Ray make it and thought to try it ourselves! It wasn't as time-consuming as I thought it would be.

Rachael Ray, Food Network, 2008.