Mexican Salad

Looking for a salad loaded with veggies and flavor?  Hello Mexican Salad.  I made this up--nothing complicated, but tasty.  You could use a ranch dressing or go crazy and use salsa instead of a dressing like I do.  Figure friendly!  I also added 3 or 4 crushed up doritos on the top for some crunch.  Gotta live a little, right?

Mexican Salad

1-2 hearts of romaine lettuce
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 green onions
1 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. shredded cheese
1 cooked chicken breast, diced

Toss all together and top with a dressing or salsa of your choice.
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Comment:
c = cup

Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes

Martha Stewart gave this recipe to my neighbor Dawn and she made them when we had one of our Friday Night gatherings.  Okay, that's not entirely true….Dawn doesn't know Martha.  She got it from Martha Stewart Living, May 1999.    If you make these, I know it won't be the only time you do!  This recipe is a keeper.  They really are a good thing.

Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes

4 large or 8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 c. olive oil
1 c. water
1/2 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 T. dried greek oregano
1 T. salt
1/2 t. ground black pepper

Heat oven to 500 degrees.  Yes, that's right.  500 degrees.  Put potatoes in a metal roasting pan in a single layer.  Add water, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper.  Toss potatoes until well coated.

Bake uncovered until fork tender and brown on the edges,  about 50 minutes.  Turn the potatoes after 30 minutes for even browning.  Add water if all of the liquid has absorbed before they are fully browned.

Garnish with a shake of oregano and serve.

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Comments:
c = cup
T = tablespoon
t = teaspoon

There really is such a thing as greek oregano!  If you simply cannot find it, you can use regular.

Pasta Sauce

The kitchen smells awesome right now!  A pot of homemade pasta sauce on the stove.  That's gravy for all you italians out there. But we norwegians know the truth.  Gravy is brown or tan and is poured over mashed potatoes (You know who you are...).

Between my sister's house and ours, we had some tomatoes in the garden that needed to be used up.  I'll be honest, they were mostly hers.  My plants are pathetic and they have a magic deck that turns everything into lush green large plants.    Most of these were roma tomatoes with a couple of larger round ones.  Who knows what kind they were.  Anyways--a perfect excuse to make a batch of sauce.

You can vary the amount of ingredients based on the number of tomatoes used or your personal taste, but this is what I used for this particular batch.

Don't have fresh ingredients?  You don't have to settle for a store bought jar sauce.  See the alternate recipe at the end.  It's almost better!

Pasta Sauce

4 T. olive oil
1 small onion
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
About 25 roma tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
3-4 T. fresh parsley, chopped
2 T. fresh oregano, chopped
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. crushed red pepper


Remove the skins of the tomatoes by scoring the top of each tomato with and X.  Add the tomatoes to a pot of simmering water for about 30 seconds.  Transfer them to an ice bath.  The skins should come right off.  Super easy.

Saute the onions in olive oil.  Add garlic.  Add all other ingredients.   Simmer on the stove for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.  The tomatoes will break down as they cook.  If you want it less chunky, you can use a potato masher once the sauce is done cooking.  Another option would be an immersion blender.  That will really blend everything together in a smooth sauce.


Cheaters Recipe:
4 T. olive oil
1 small onion
4 T. jarred chopped garlic
6 28oz. cans of diced tomatoes
2 small cans tomato paste
1 1/2 T. dried parsley
1 T. dried oregano
1 1/2 T. dried basil
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 c. dry red wine, optional, for a nice rich flavor and for..why not?

Saute the onions in olive oil.  Add garlic.  Add all other ingredients, except wine.   Simmer on the stove for at least an hour, more like two, stirring occasionally, to reduce the liquid so it is a thicker sauce.  The tomatoes will break down as they cook.  About 1/2 way through the simmer time, add the wine.  Blend with an immersion blender to desired chunkiness 

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Comments:
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon

Frittata

Looking for a reason to pull out that cast iron skillet?  Here is a good one….Frittata.  A few basic ingredients along with a few customized add-ins and the possibilities are endless.  This week I went to a local organic farm and got a dozen farm fresh eggs.  The perfect beginning to this dish.  For add-ins, I included a left over chipotle chicken sausage, grated parm and fresh chives from my herb garden.

Frittata

8 eggs
2 T. bread crumbs
1/2 c grated cheese of your choice
1/2 c fresh herbs of your choice
chopped meat or bacon is an optional add-in
Olive Oil for coating the pan

Mix the eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, herbs and meat if you so choose.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, turn on the broiler.  Coat the bottom of the cast iron skillet with olive oil and heat on the stovetop on medium for 3 minutes or so to heat up the pan.

Add the egg mixture and cook it until you can peek under the egg to see that the bottom is firm and golden.    Probably about 4-5 minutes.

Stick the whole skillet under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Serve with some lovely fruit like this for a yummy breakfast!

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Comments:
T = tablespoon
c = cup