I'm Strong to the Finish Cause I Eats Me Spinach

I love spinach. It's one of the best foods ever. And, seriously, so diverse. You can have spinach salad, spinach lasagna, spinach frittata's for breakfast, spinach bars for appetizers, savory spinach pie...well maybe that's not the best dessert, but this could be. Fresh or frozen are great ways to eat spinach. I'm not a fan of the can, but if you are, by all means. So this recipe for Pasta Florentine calls for fresh spinach. I used frozen because I happened to have it on hand. Still super yummy. I also used quinoa linguine which ups the protein and lowers the carbs.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tbs butter or margerine
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 quarts water
1 package pasta
2 lbs fresh spinach (chopped)
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 c pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Saute pine nuts in olive oil until lightly browned
Remove & set aside
In same oil, saute garlic for 3 minutes, set aside
Cook pasta until tender & drain
Reheat oil containing garlic
Add spinach & saute until wilted ,about 3 minutes
Stir in butter
In large bowl, toss pasta, spinach, pine nuts & cheese
Add s&p and serve

Sometimes I add a little pancetta or italian sausage but it's great the way it is. Also, for a mediterranean flair, substitute the romano with feta and add a few tomatoes and maybe some kalamata olives.

Another Food Pyramid

So the name of my blog is taken from the movie title "28 Days Later". I'm a huge fan of splatter and grindhouse films, especially zombie ones. I have a special place in my heart for "28 Days Later" partly due to the music, the fantastic direction of Mr. Danny Boyle, and it's just pretty darn good all around. Anywho, whenever possible I try to link my love of zombies with food. So here is another food pyramid you may want to look at. Also, stay tuned, I plan to make myself a zombie cake for my birthday at the end of the month. I'll post pictures if it turns out well.

Pixel Cookies

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/02/do_it_yourself_how_to_make_pix.php

Garlic Confit

I was at a party this weekend and the host had a wonderful assortment of dips, spreads, and cheeses. He made a fabulous olive tapenade but, by far, my favorite dish was the garlic confit. I've had roasted garlic before and it's so wonderful and sweet and this is similar but without any carmelization. It's also a good thing to do when you have a lot of leftover garlic or garlic that is beginning to smell. It's a good way to keep garlic on hand because it lasts for about 2 weeks in the fridge and when a recipe calls for it you don't have to peel it, just spoon it out.

Ingredients:
Garlic
Olive oil to cover

Directions:
Heat small saucepan on low
Add peeled garlic(as many cloves as you want)
Add olive oil to cover
Simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes
Test 1 clove to see if it can be pierced with a fork
Don't carmelize

This is great served on crackers or sliced baguette

I save mine in rinsed out spaghetti sauce jars. It really needs to be in glass because I swear you can smell the garlic through plasticware.

Grapefruit Halibut

First off, I don't love fish but my husband adores it, thus I have to make it at least once a month. We also have a freezer full of halibut from an Alaskan fishing trip my husband took that we have to use.
I don't like the smell of fish being cooked, so I wanted to try a recipe that could be grilled. I really don't like the stuff, so I didn't want to have to smell it in the house. I know that everyone says good fresh fish doesn't smell or taste fishy. We had the freshest of fish, so I know that's a bunch of bollocks. I know I sound so whiny but I'm getting to the point here.
So, as I said previously, fish is not my favorite food, so I wanted a very easy recipe that took very little handling. In this recipe I used grapefruit because we had a grapefruit tree, but I assure you lemons or oranges will be equally as good. But there's something about the sour-sweet of the grapefruit that is a nice balance.

Citrus Halibut

INGREDIENTS:
2 1 inch thick halibut steaks (other firm white fish works well too)
1 Grapefruit
4 cloves garlic smashed
2 T olive oil
course salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Heat Grill to medium high
Make sure the grill is clean otherwise the fish WILL stick
Squeeze juice of the grapefruit into a reclosable plastic bag
Add smashed garlic and 1 T of olive oil and let sit for 10 minutes
Rub salt and pepper onto steaks
Add halibut to bag and let marinate no more than 5 minutes
(This is an extremely acidic marinade and if it is left for any longer the fish will break down) Brush grill with remaining olive oil
Grill halibut for 4 minutes then turn and grill 4-6 minutes longer
Thinner steaks will grill in as little as 5 minutes

So quick, so easy, and seriously no mess. You put the mess in the plastic marinating bag and no smell.

Leftovers Rock

Leftovers are great because they make for a quick and easy meal. I love doubling recipes and freezing 1/2 for this reason. But there are quite a few foods that freeze much better than others. For instance potatoes don't freeze well at all, and things that are heavily starched have problems too, like rice and pasta. That being said, my favorite left over dishes to freeze are soups and casseroles, which almost always contain some type of starch. Potato soup probably wouldn't hold up very well, but lasagna does because the starch is more balanced. Also, having good freezer containers really helps, as does dating the foods and proper thawing.



That said, one of my favorite leftover dishes is lasagna.

This is my favorite lasagna recipe. The only changes I make are substituting ground beef or sausage for the suggested veal (I'm just not a veal gal) and using skim milk as opposed to whole. But seriously, bechamel and lasagna, so effing good!

Easy Sunday Supper

I love Sunday supper. I feel like it should be a healthy, yet hearty meal shared with family around a dining room table. Because it's only Adam and I we usually end up sitting in front of the TV. Here is a hearty recipe, laden with vegetables, that requires no knife, so it's table or sofa friendly. It's also super easy, so you don't have to spend the last day of your weekend in the kitchen.

Chicken Stew and Dumplings

INGREDIENTS:
3 chicken breasts (You can use frozen breasts without defrosting)
4 c chicken broth at room temperature (I like low sodium, you can always add a little extar salt if needed)
1 c water
1 boullion cube
1/2 c white wine
2 T flour
2 T olive oil
4 green onions chopped
4 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
a few fresh sage and thyme leaves or 1/4 t dried sage or thyme or poultry seasoning
1 clove garlic crushed, or 1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t ground black pepper
3 c vegetables ( chose from: corn, peas, green beans, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, etc.)

boxed biscuit mix and skim milk ( I like the Trader Joes Multi Grain Baking Mix, it's always good to get extra fiber)

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot or dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium-low heat
Add the white parts and some green of the onions, reserving enough of the green for garnish
Add chopped carrots and celery and sautee for 5 minutes
Add water, wine, seasoning and chicken breasts
Reduce heat to low and cover
Cook until chicken is no longer pink in the center
Remove breasts and chop into bite size pieces and return to pot
Add in 3 cups of the broth and whatever vegetables you choose to use
Raise heat to medium and cook until vegetables are tender (about 10 mins)
Then mix the flour and remaing broth until flour is disolved and add to stew
While vegetables are cooking make 1 serving of the biscuit mix according to the box
If the stew is boiling, reduce heat, if too gentle of a simmer, raise heat
When the stew is at a nice simmer drop the biscuit mix by large T into stew
The dumplings will sink but will rise to the top
When most of the dumplings have risen give the stew a very gentle stir
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes

Serve in bowls with crusty bread to sop up the creamy sauce

Enjoy