Baked spinich and eggs

I get eggs at someone's house now. Her chickens get to roam, protected by her dogs, and she sells their eggs for a little extra money. I think they need the money badly. I like cooking with eggs. They are a great comfort food. I read a recipe the other day in Michael Symon's Fix it With Food book I checked out of the library and adapted it to fit what I had. It was delicious.

1/2 bag frozen spinach
2 cups leftover rice and broccoli
about 1 cup vegan protein broth
4 eggs
fried onions (yum)

put spinach in a glass baking dish
microwave for 5 minutes (until hot)
mix in leftover rice, level it in baking dish, cover with broth
microwave 2 minutes (until hot)
make 2 cavities in vegetables to hold eggs
crack 2 eggs in each cavity. I cracked them into a bowl and poured them in.
top generously with fried onions

bake in toaster oven (house was too hot for big oven) at 375 for roughly 20 minutes until eggs are done to your taste and liquid from the broth is pretty much reduced. Better to bake too long than too short. Let sit for a minute and eat. It makes 2 servings.

No food pictures yet. I don't think about having my camera with me when I am cooking.

Quiche

We are under social distancing and a county wide stay at home order for the viral pandemic. Mom is avoiding meat at this time. She says it makes her feel better and she does have more energy and is walking more. I took up the challenge of cooking vegetarian and did a pick up order at Walmart with lots of fresh produce, frozen is limited due to the hoarders. I wanted quiche and was fortunate to have found someone selling "yard eggs" from her basically free ranging chickens. I didn't want to use the flour we were using to make bread to make a pie crust. But we had tater tots in the freezer. Hmm.

Here is what I did, and it came out really good.

Put 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large straight sided pie dish. Cover the bottom with frozen tater tots and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes.

In the mean time, wash and cut up your vegetables. I used 2 celery stalks, about 1/3 of a container of mushrooms, 4 tiny sweet peppers, and 1 tomato. Heat up 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet. Add salt, all purpose seasoning, soy sauce and your vegetables. Cook until well done.

While cooking in a big mixing bowl break 4 eggs, add what  milk you have, about 1/2 cup, and several healthy tablespoons of dried parsley. Beat well.

Take the tater tots out of the oven. smush them in the pie dish til the bottom is covered like a crust. Spread the cook vegetables out over the "crust". Pour over the egg mixture and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 400 about 15 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle has no egg stuck to it. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy.

No pictures yet. I keep forgetting.

Vegetable Sandwich or cracker spread

This is a combination of several recipes plus my own modifications. It came out really good and I will be making it again. I used 3 blocks of cream cheese and it made about 24 sandwiches. I scaled the recipe down to 1 block which will make 6 to 8 sandwiches. You could use half a block, which is what I did to test it out before the big batch. The quantities are not exact, you can play with it.  I didn't take any pictures of it, I need to remember to do more food photos. 

1 block cream cheese at room temperature

1 heaping tablespoon Miracle Whip Salad dressing (mayonnaise will probably be too heavy, but I am not a mayo fan)

1 Tablespoon Ranch dressing mix or seasoning mix

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Combine well in a large bowl, mix, mix, get a workout with this part

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

1/2 stalk finely chopped celery

abut 1 cup shredded carrots (I bought matchstick cut carrots, but grated would work, it would change the texture). Here you can use any shredded vegetable the people you are feeding like.

You want a little less vegetables than cream cheese mixture

Mix in well, you may have to use your hands to do a good job. 

Cover and refrigerate a couple hours to overnight to let the flavors mix

1 finely chopped tomato or 2 finely chopped plum tomatoes, let sit in a bowl for excess liquid to drain out

Make the sandwiches or top the crackers and top either with the chopped tomatoes, the tomatoes make it delicious

Family dinner

About once a week we try to have a family dinner. It is a time for us to get together, relive good family memories and make new ones. Sometimes we have culture night where I research and cook foods from different time periods or cultures or countries. We play themed music, watch videos after dinner, and try to decorate a little, have a trivia quiz or just discussion, and eat food close to the culture but adapted to our taste. Other times, we have old family recipes. Some weeks, it is whatever is quick in the freezer or someone's choice. Tonight it was comfort food. Baked Ziti with extra vegetables, and Grandma Chapman's cobbler. There are not pictures, we ate it too fast. Sometimes you just enjoy the moment.

Grandma Chapman's Cobbler

melt 1 stick butter in a glass 2 quart oven safe baking dish (Square or round with high sides, round better)

mix 1 c milk, 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt together well

pour into center of melted butter -- DO NOT STIR

pour 1 can pie filling into center of batter -- DO NOT STIR apple is best, then peach, then and not as good blueberry.

bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. til edges brown, center light tan

Baked Ziti

bring pot of water with 2 tablespoons salt to boil

add box of vegi pasta and cook til al dente

meanwhile....

add 2 tablespoons oil to skillet and heat.

add 1 pound sliced muchrooms

and 1/2 pound ground turkey broken into pieces. 

add all purpose seasoning and dried basil

add about 2 cups frozen peas

add about 1/2 cup chopped fresh curly parsley

cook til turkey done, doesn't take long. 

remove from heat

stir in a1/2 small container regular ricotta cheese

drain pasta and return to pot.

add meat mix and 1 jar marinara sauce

stir well. 

in rectangular baking dish put in 1/3 pasta mix

sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese (1/3 small bag each) 

layer 1/3 pasta mix, 1/3 of each cheese

rest of pasta mix, rest of cheese

top with 1 cup chopped fresh parsley

bake mostly covered with tin foil at 350  for about 20 minutes. 

let sit for 10 min before serving.

ingredients....1 box vegetable rotini pasta, 1 pound sliced mushrooms, 1/2 pound ground turkey, 2 T cooking oil, 2 cups frozen peas, all purpose seasoning, salt, dried basil, 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, 1 jar marinara sauce, small tub whole milk ricotta cheese, small bag shredded Parmesan cheese, small bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Rennaisance dinner

About once a month we have a themed family dinner. This month the theme was the English Renaissance. I enjoyed doing the research and finding recipes I could cook and we would like. I did have to make changes in the recipes. These recipes are as I cooked them. The Renaissance started in England after western Europe. I think it started in Italy. There are a lot of good Youtube videos on the history of the Renaissance period including the art, food, and music of the times. I also found some great websites with recipes as they were written and trannslated. Unfortunately, I didn't save my references. I will remember to do that next time.

Renaissance Style Poached Chicken4 chicken thighs

3/4 of a large onion3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon capers

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground garlic

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups water

heat olive oil in large pot. add onion and saute' until translucent. add chicken skin side down and brown it. flip chicken over trying to get most of the onion on top. add salt, pepper, capers, cloves, garlic, rosemary, bay and enough water to almost cover chicken. bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and simmer covered about 30 minutes or until chicken is done. add raisins and simmer uncovered about 15 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Serve with warm french bread.

Renaissance style peas

1 pound frozen peas

1/4 large chopped onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

plenty of water

bring onion and peas to a boil in the water. lower to simmer. add olive oil, salt, sugar and turmeric. simmer about 20 minutes. drain.

Renaissance sugar cakes or jambals

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 stick room temperature butter

1 beaten egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon whipping cream

extra sugar (raw if you have it, I didn't so used white)

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter like you would for biscuits until mixture resembles sand. add beaten egg, vanilla anc cream. mix til mixture resembles a paste. you may need to add a few more DROPS of cream. it gets wet fast so go easy. sprinkle extra sugar on cookie sheet lined with parchment or silicone pad. place in mounds on cookie sheet. flatten mounds slightly, sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 350 about 15 minutes until firm. they do not brown by much. let cool.

Poached pears

4 peeled and cored pears

1 small orange cut in half

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 cup sugar

water to nearly cover pears

Bring water to a boil, add sugar, cloves and cinnamon stick, carefully add pears. lower to simmer and simmer about 30 minutes or until pears are very tender. time depends on how soft the pears are when you start. remove pears from pot, boil remaining liquid until very reduced. pour over pears.

Notes on the Renaissance time period in England

There were no ovens in the houses so women went to the baker every day for bread and to the market or farm every day for the meat and vegetables they didn't grow. Peas were one of the most common vegetables. They also ate a lot of vegetables raw and salads. The rich ate a lot, the poor got leftovers and porridge made with split peas, oats, or other grains.

Renaissance England was basically late 1400's through early 1600's. King Henry VII was one of the influential monarch as was Queen Elizabeth the first. This period of time was the beginnings of easier times for people. They, at least the richer ones, had more food so more time to develop literature, music, and science.

Main points....

King Henry VII made peace with France and Scotland, probably the lack of war is what allowed the renaissance

Protestant Reformation under King Henry VIII

Printing Press was invented. A key invention that changed lifestyles

King James Bible in 1526ShakespeareMusic, poems, theater was important

Beginning of capitalism ... ruling class no longer owned everything

Trade with Russia and the Far East

no sewers or clean water...typhoid, dysentery, cholera, the Plague

the English language stabilized into modern english

navigation and ships improved leading to world exploration

Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in 1582

the beginning of pirates as riches and spices were brought back from new world

more middle class people

Popular sports and games. People actually had time to play

archery, gambling, card games, chess, backgammon, billiards, marbles, hopscotch, bowling, soccer and volleyball started, hammer throwing, wrestling, cockfighting and other blood sports involving animals

Food  mostly cooked over open fire. could use the baker's oven.

Wealthy had big multi course meals twice a day and ate a lot of meat.

poor had leftovers and porridge from grain and water.

food was highly seasoned because spices were a sign you were rich and middle class wanted to copy rich so used herbs they could grow

drank ale and beer, water wasn't safe to drink, wine was imported

No tea or coffee around yet

Turkey was imported in 1525, potatoes in 1580, tomatoes after that sometime

no forks, only spoons and knives.

silver, gold, pewter, wooden dishes, not ceramic