Category Archives: Food

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu

After a weekend of birthday excess for Little Now-I’m-Five, this week is all about cleaning up, getting back into a routine, and looking forward to Christmas. Once again, the Hub did the meal planning and shopping, and I’ll be in charge of execution. It’s a very good division of labor. (We still need to train some more dish washers, though.)

Monday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, Carrots with tahini dressing

Tuesday: Creamy roasted broccoli soup

Wednesday:  No-Pain Lo Mein, edamame

Thursday: Veal stew, rice, salad

Friday: Pasta (sauce TBD)

 

What are you cooking this week?

 

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with

Miss Seven and I are curled up in the family room right now, working away. She’s at home for some R & R after an unfortunate injury during a Sunday afternoon game of catch. She’s blasting through her school work and rejecting all the ice packs I’ve offered, so I think her recovery will be quick. But our evening trip to the ER derailed our lazy Sunday, and I never got around to making a menu, maybe sneaking in an extra trip to the grocery, or helping Little Four decorate his construction paper gingerbread man for preschool. The kids and I did hang our two strings of snowflake lights on the porch, though. That’s an accomplishment.

But what to eat for dinner this week? I don’t want to drag my patient through the grocery store when she should be resting on the couch watching Arthur. We have enough running around today just getting everyone to dance class and Christmas Eve mass reader practice and choir practice. I’m still not sure when we’re going to eat dinner tonight. Succumbing to the McDonald’s drive-thru seems like giving up. Luckily, I read enough food blogs that there are plenty of good ideas out there to steal. The grocery shopping can wait until tomorrow.

Monday: Homemade Hot Pockets (with the no-knead dough in the fridge, leftover beef roast, and cheese–maybe some broccoli and cheese ones, too)

Tuesday: Spaghetti with roasted eggplant pesto

Wednesday: Harvest Roast Chicken with grapes, olives and rosemary (from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook)

Thursday: Tomato soup and panini (some of them with caramelized onions…)

Friday: Little Almost-Five’s Birthday! He gets to choose the menu!

 

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with ,

With a fridge still stuffed with Thanksgiving leftovers, you’d think I wouldn’t need to plan meals this week. But as much as I love turkey and trimmings, we’re ready to see them dressed a little differently. I made some turkey noodle soup last night, which will make some nice lunches this week. I got a request for turkey tetrazzini, and I plan to recast the gravy, potatoes and cranberry sauce with some Swedish meatballs. My plan today is to repackage and freeze everything else and make another batch of turkey stock. I’ll also my part to make sure the pies don’t go to waste. You can count on me.

Monday: Spinach pesto, fruit salad

Tuesday: Swedish-style meatballs, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Chili

Thursday: Pork chops, barley with carrots and scallions

Friday: Turkey Tetrazzini, green beans

 

What’s your favorite post-Thanksgiving meal?

Monday Menu: Thanksgiving Week

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , ,

So sorry I’m late with the week’s menu. Instead of blogging, I was busy getting my Smitten Kitchen cookbook signed by Deb Perelman herself. There were even salted brown butter crispy treats to sample. It was a pleasure meeting Deb–however briefly–and I would have liked to invite her over for dinner. (Preferably one of those “let’s all cook together” dinners.) I’m just warning you now: you’ll be seeing a lot of recipes from this book. I suggest you go get one right away. It will just be easier for all of us.

But back to the menu. Though all our attention is on the big feast (we’re having two), we do have to eat the rest of the week. It’s not a week to try new recipes or shop for unusual ingredients. Pantry meals are where it’s at. The kids are home from school all week, and it’s time to put them to work making pies, peeling potatoes and cooking the cranberry sauce.

Monday: Hoisin burgers, Asian slaw, fruit salad

Tuesday: Spaghetti cacio e pepe, green salad

Wednesday: Homemade pizza

Thursday: Migas (brunch), Thanksgiving Dinner, Take 1

Friday: Turkey sandwiches, more pie

Saturday: Thanksgiving Dinner, Take 2

Spinach feta quiche

Posted by Melissa in Baking, Food, Recipe and tagged with , , ,

To be honest, I’ve been struggling with pie crust lately. Blind baked crusts have been emerging from the oven shrunken and puffy, and my pretty crimped edges have turned out deformed. I suspect it’s a case of trying too hard, attempting techniques from a variety of recipes from memory–a faulty and distracted memory, unfortunately.

So I abandoned blind baking for a time and tried this crust recipe. The cornstarch gives a nice crispiness, and though it still shrank slightly, it didn’t make much difference in my deep dish plate, which I like for quiche because it makes a nice hearty slice and I’m less likely to slosh the unbaked custard onto the bottom of the oven. (What? That never happens to you?)

I had spinach, feta and some leftover sliced leeks in the fridge when I made this quiche. You can vary the filling ingredients all you like, but this combination was particularly rich and tasty. We ate it for dinner, and finished the rest for breakfast. Quiche is something I can eat any time of day or night. It’s the little black dress of mealtime. Accessorize with a green salad and a glass of wine for dinner, or add a cup of coffee and some fresh fruit for breakfast time.

And that’s all the fashion advice I’ll be giving out around here. Promise.

Spinach Feta Quiche

Crust:

1 1/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. cornstarch

pinch of salt

6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, diced

1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:

1 cup finely chopped leeks

5 ounces spinach, washed and spun dry

1 Tbsp. butter

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta

4 eggs

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp. pepper

Sauté the leeks in the butter over medium heat until they are soft and lightly caramelized. Add the spinach (I ripped the larger leaves into smaller pieces) and stir into the leeks. Cover for a couple minutes until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch and salt. Add the chunks of cold butter and cut it in with a pastry blender (or use the food processor). With a fork, stir in the egg and mix until a dough forms. You may need to use your hands to press the dough into a ball.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a deep dish 9-inch pie plate or tart pan. Trim and crimp the edges and chill for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the cream, sour cream, eggs, nutmeg and pepper in a large bowl. Spread the leek and spinach mixture into the pie shell. Add the crumbled feta, then pour the custard on top. Bake until puffed and golden, 30-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu

Let me tell you, that freezer inventory is working really well. You know, as long as I remember to cross off the things I’ve used up. I just realized that the Hub made this menu based on the inventory, but the ground chicken is long gone, eaten up in last week’s chili. While I was at Aldi on Saturday, congratulating myself on only spending $25 for the week’s groceries, I should have grabbed more chicken. Ah, well–I have to return later in the week, anyway, to stock up on Thanksgiving essentials.

Monday: Pasta with Guiltless Alfredo Sauce, bacon and cherry tomatoes; roasted beet salad with feta

Tuesday: Split pea soup

Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread

Thursday: Gingery ground chicken, rice, edamame, fruit salad

Friday: Sandwich Night

Are you clearing space in your refrigerator for Thanksgiving?

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , ,

After a summer with empty cupboards in the basement (our overflow pantry) and a mostly empty extra freezer, we have finally restocked some staples. Staples that we stockpile a little include cereal, pasta, frozen vegetables, canned goods (like beans and artichoke hearts), juice, flour, shredded cheese and condiments. Oh, and bacon. You know, things that have a high turnover.

I’ve saved a significant amount of money by coupon shopping in the past year, but it does take a little more preparation and concentration, difficult to achieve with three kids in tow during the summer months. But yesterday while Mr. Nine was at a birthday party, I had a couple hours to leisurely cruise Dominick’s and Walgreens with my coupon file. So when I made this week’s menu, I consulted the pantry and freezer first.

Monday: Pasta with artichoke hearts and oven-dried tomatoes

Tuesday: Mexican beef and tortilla casserole (Oh 1980s, we have not forgotten thee!)

Wednesday: Veal schnitzel, arugula and tomato salad, spaghetti squash

Thursday: Chicken noodle soup

Friday: Spinach and cheese lasagna (though for a weeknight, I’ll be making this with jarred sauce and no-boil noodles)

 

What staples do you stock up on?

Organizing the freezer

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Food, Organizing and tagged with , ,

Cleaning out the freezer has been on my mental list of things to do for months. No, years. It must have been on my husband’s list, too, because one morning he just started pulling everything out and stacking it on the counter. (You never know when he’s going to snap like that.) We said goodbye to unidentifiable leftovers and tiny containers of mysterious sauces. The lack of labeling was a serious problem. We tossed everything that had excessive freezer burn. To be fair, our freezer is not that big, and we didn’t have some kind of stockpile going to waste. Mostly, it housed bits of things we felt bad about throwing away, so we stashed them in the freezer for another day. Too bad another day never came.

Once the freezer was empty, I vacuumed up the crumbs and scrubbed all the sticky spilled somethings out of the drawer. I don’t have a before picture–just use your imagination. I grouped like items together, consolidating the packaging if possible, and labeled everything. I designated the upper basket as the lunch supply area, and corralled the smaller ice packs in a bowl. The coffee is up there, too, because when you need coffee, you shouldn’t have to dig for it.

As I put everything back into the freezer, my husband wrote each item down on a list. A few days later I googled “freezer inventory sheet” and was rewarded with a huge selection of choices to print. Some were broken into categories, some were not. I decided to go category-free (I’m a rebel like that) because the categories didn’t seem to fit our items, which mostly fall under “Other.” Sure, I could have made my own inventory, but why? Excel is not one of my strong points, and there wasn’t a good reason to reinvent the freezer inventory. I bookmarked the one I printed so that I can print another when this one is used up.

I have a few rules for maintaining this freezer nirvana.

  1. Always label everything. Always. Everything.
  2. Freeze leftovers in single-serve containers, easy to pull out for lunches.
  3. Cook and freeze extra meals more often.

Maybe next week we’ll inventory the pantry. But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. The pantry is a lot bigger than the freezer.

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , , ,

We are way ahead of the game, here, and if I don’t watch it, I could get pretty smug. By Saturday afternoon, not only was the weekend’s menu all planned, but all of next week’s, too! AND the grocery shopping was done, AND the freezer was cleaned out. By Sunday afternoon, the Hub had already cooked the soup and pasta sauce for later in the week, and had dinner well on its way. The Hub took the lead on all these tasks, but I washed a lot of dishes and cleaned the gunk out of the bottom of the freezer drawer. I’d say we’re even. If I make some dessert, he’ll say we’re even.

Monday: Mote pillo (an Ecuadorean hominy dish), green salad

Tuesday: Garlic-Potato Soup, kale chips

Wednesday: Rustic Slow-Simmered Tomato Sauce with Meat, pasta, broccoli, Halloween candy for dessert

Thursday: Quiche (I’d like to try this crust recipe, but will streamline the rest), Carrot Salad with Creamy Lemon, Yogurt & Chive Dressing

Friday: Chili (I don’t exactly use a recipe, but this one is the same general formula), tortilla chips, fruit salad

Last week on Home Baked

Käsekuchen in America

Homemake Halloween costumes

Monday Menu

Do you have a special dinner planned for Halloween, or at least something you can heat up after trick-or-treating?

Käsekuchen in America

Posted by Melissa in Baking, Food, Recipe and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Last weekend I inhaled my new library book, My Berlin Kitchen, by Luisa Weiss. Those of you who spent a few years of your childhood in Germany, as I did, might recognize some familiar details. (Like a reference to the ubiquitous textured white wallpaper.) The book is a memoir with recipes, and the recipe that lodged itself in my brain was that for Käsekuchen, or German cheesecake. As a child, whenever offered a choice at a German bakery, I most often chose Käsekuchen. I spent the better part of Wednesday lamenting the high price of Quark cheese at the local specialty grocery ($4.99 for 8 ounces!), and then researching how to make homemade Quark and acceptable substitutions for Quark.

But back to yesterday. After reading a comment on another Käsekuchen recipe I dug up on the ‘net, I dashed over to our regular market that carries a wide selection of international foods. Sure enough, they had Swiss-style Twarog (apparently a Polish version of Quark) at only $3.99 a pound. Sold! I raced back home, mixed up the cake (I did contemplate the other recipe, because I’m fairly certain I used to eat Käsekuchen with a crust, but in the end, I went with Luisa’s simple crustless recipe–turns out, the farina in the pan magically creates a little crust), slid it into the oven, and then dashed off to the preschool carpool line. When we returned home, the warm, vanilla custardy aroma about knocked me over. People need to start baking cheesecake instead of burning scented candles.

I think it must have been that aroma that spurred me to stay in the kitchen and mix up a batch of buttermilk bread dough (that, and realizing that there is but a single slice of bread left in the cupboard), and some chocolate granola (which I fully intend to hoard). Little Four kept himself busy in the basement all afternoon with playdough and some vintage Muppet Show (especially the Joel Grey episode). It was late in the day before I got to the dirty dishes, but by that time I was scraping every last cake crumb and drop of cherry preserves off my plate.

A few recipe notes, especially if you’ve read the book (go read it!). I had to adapt the instructions a bit from the original, perhaps because the cheese I used may not be as creamy as Quark. I first mixed the batter with the paddle attachment on my stand mixer, but the batter seemed lumpy with noticeable curds (see the first photo below), and the recipe said to beat until “smooth and creamy.” I switched to the whisk attachment, which didn’t help. Since I had seen recipes that used a mixture of cottage cheese with a little sour cream blended smooth in the food processor (after tasting the twarog, I think the cottage cheese/sour cream combo would be a fair substitute), I got out the immersion blender and it smoothed out the batter considerably (second photo). Maybe those curds would melt and smooth out on their own during baking, but I didn’t want to take the chance. So I recommend you use a food processor to mix the batter–it’s one step, and the batter will be smooth from the start.

Even with those hiccups, it didn’t take long to put the cake together. It did take significantly longer to bake than the recommended 45 minutes. The center didn’t puff and turn golden brown until 75 minutes in, but this left the bottom of my cake just this side of burnt. I used a dark nonstick springform pan, which unmolded perfectly, but probably contributed to the overly-browned bottom. If your pan is dark, go ahead and put the cake in the middle of the oven (not the lower third), and remove it as soon as it puffs up and gets a little color on the top.

But despite those tweaks, this Käsekuchen satisfied my longing. The kids liked it, too, and I didn’t feel guilty giving them a slice as an afternoon snack. I think it’s even better eaten cold the second day (I tested this theory just for you, dear readers). You don’t even need a plate.

Käsekuchen in America

2 lbs. Quark, or Swiss-style Twarog fresh cheese

2/3 cup sugar

1 T. vanilla extract

4 eggs

3 T. cornstarch

8 T. melted butter

2 T. farina (regular Cream of Wheat, not instant)

2 tsp. baking powder

Grated peel and juice of 1 lemon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch springform pan (I used baking spray) and sprinkle a few extra tablespoons of farina to lightly but thoroughly coat the pan.

Put the cheese in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until you have smooth batter, scraping down the bowl several times. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, careful not to smear the farina coating.

Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until the cake has puffed in the center and turned a golden brown. Let cake cool completely in the pan on a rack before releasing the latch and unmolding. Serve at immediately or chill for later. Some people like a little fruit preserves or puree alongside.