What's For Dinner?

Lift the Fog

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My grandma loved eggplant.

When I say “loved eggplant” I mean that she loved to eat it, cook it, collect tchotchkes that either were or featured eggplants. In fact, I have one of her eggplants, a beautiful covered dish

Anyone who claimed to not like eggplant would get one line, and one line only: You THINK you don’t like eggplant. But, have you tried MY eggplant? Many times, people who thought they didn’t like eggplant, did indeed like hers. She had this amazing recipe for chopped eggplant that I still need to get, or try to recreate.

What’s my point? Well, I think I’ve inherited her love for eggplant. I like it curried. I like it baked, broiled, grilled, chopped and stir-fried, or roasted on a sandwich. I’m really grateful for this love of eggplant because it enabled me to create tonight’s amazing dish.

Something else you should know: I don’t think I knew what a casserole was until I was about 12 and my mom made (for the first time that I vividly remember) the Neapolitan Casserole that I love. I don’t know that I had a tuna casserole until I made it, and I hadn’t even thought to make one until I really started cooking a few years ago. Now though, I adore casseroles. I love using ONE pan and having a delicious meal come out of the oven about an hour later. They don’t photograph well, but most of the time they taste absolutely amazing.

This whole not eating flour thing has made me really miss pasta, and my love for eggplant (and a couple of friends suggestions) reminded me that I could make a lasagna with sliced eggplant instead of noodles. Originally I was going to do a roll-up kind of thing, but I was too hungry and impatient for all that prep. This prep was simple.

I sliced 3/4 of a medium eggplant into thin-ish slices. They were then quickly baked in a 400* oven (about 10 minutes) until softer and lightly browned, and more importantly, I could see the seeds.

In a bowl, while this was baking, I mixed a 15 oz. container of 2% ricotta cheese with 1 egg and 1/4 c. of mozzarella cheese. A sprinkle of garlic powder (about a tsp) and a sprinkle of oregano (about 1/2 tsp) went in and I stirred it well. Then I started with the layering.

The order was this: eggplant, cheese, leftover sauce from the other night, eggplant, cheese, sauce, plain shredded mozzarella. It baked for about 30 minutes at 400 until it was bubbly, the cheese was melted, and the house smelled good. The final result?

Ok, that doesn’t look all that appetizing. To be honest I couldn’t get a decent picture of one piece of it because it was kind of monochromatic, but I assure you, the flavors of the eggplant, the peppers in the sauce, the garlic in the cheese, and the salty mozzarella melded together for a lasagna-type party!

I was in a lovely mood this afternoon even though my school day was exhausting because it was almost 60 degrees and sunny, and the grass is green, and the sun has that warmth to it that only happens in the spring…

Little remnants of winter still remain, the mounds of snow will likely cause fog in the morning, but the fog in my head seems to be lifting. I’m happier more than I’m sad, and wide awake more than I’m tired which is a sure sign of good things to come!

Technorati Tags: cheese, dinner, eggplant, food, Italian, sauce, simple recipe, vegetarian

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 10th 2010 | Tags: cheese, dinner, eggplant, food, Italian, sauce, simple recipe, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, simple recipe, vegetarian

Simple Genius

I’m a skeptic when it comes to super simple recipes.

Wait, what do you mean I don’t have to open 5 spice jars and chiffonade a bundle of basil? You mean I don’t have to chop a dozen onions, grate a pound of carrots, and roast something for two hours? The resounding answer is YES.

Sometimes a good recipe takes 3 ingredients and a little bit of time, like what I made tonight. I saw this on HEAB’s blog today, and immediately clicked the link and discovered I only needed one thing to make this for dinner. What is this glorious thing? A simple tomato sauce as posted by Smitten Kitchen and adapted from Marcela Hazan. When I saw Marcela’s name attached to this recipe, I knew it had to be good. She’s never let me down!

The recipe:

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

That’s it. I served mine atop half a roasted spaghetti squash, scooped out, and some sauteed mushrooms with a link of leftover sausage from last night. Please excuse the multitude of photos, as I was having fun with the new camera!

This was comfort food at its finest, and would’ve been great eaten with a spoon rather than on anything. There’s something delicate and yet still rich about this sauce, and I really can’t put my finger on it, but Julia Child was right: there’s something about butter!

Don’t forget to enter to win the amazing Organic Coconut Peanut Butter with a comment on yesterday’s post! Winner will be announced tomorrow night.

I wanted, also, to thank you all for your compliments on my openness and honesty with my “Ask Me Anything” questions. While there may be times I’ll post something cheery when I’m feeling anything but, 99% of the time, what you get on here is all me. I’m lucky enough to have truly supportive readers, and I’m grateful every day that I don’t have to field cruel comments… but if that day ever comes, you can rest assured that those commenters will be taken care of. Years of teaching have helped me grow a much thicker skin than I ever thought I’d have! So thank you all for reading, commenting, and supporting this little blog of mine.

Technorati Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 18th 2010 | Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, giveaway, simple recipe, vegetarian

Small and Stuffed (Giveaway Post)

Today, or rather, this afternoon, has been one of those that just needs to end. If I drop one more thing in the kitchen, I swear… ok, no more of that.

DINNER!

I got the idea for dinner tonight while looking over my post from the other day. I remembered that I had these micro-kabochas to cook up, and wanted to do something fun with them. Normally, kabochas are about the size of a small pumpkin. Mine are just larger than an apple

I cut the tops off of them and scooped out the seeds. There was a huge ratio of seeds to edible squash in them, but whatever…I had tiny kabocha bowls at this point. I made a filling of 3 de-cased Italian sausages, 1 egg, 5 chopped mushrooms, and 1/2 c. sharp white cheddar cheese. This isn’t really a recipe, I guess, but a process. I filled the kabocha bowls to the top with the sausage mixture, and baked them at 325 for about an hour, until the squash was soft and the meat was done. The result? See for yourself:

The squash was soft and sweet, the filling rich and spicy, and the combo together was downright dreamy. Just what I needed after an afternoon like today. Well, that and a super hot shower.

A question for today:

Do you buy organic anything? Have you seen the movie Food Inc.? I always feel like questions like these are so loaded. Yes, I saw Food, Inc. In all honesty, and call me heartless, it didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, nor did it change the way I look at food or what I buy. I knew about factory farms, and I know about GMOs, but I did think that how some of the companies treat their farmers was atrocious. I do buy organic when I can, but usually just beef when it’s available, and I plan on buying organic milk once Adam and I start thinking about having a family. And, even more honestly, I don’t have a problem not buying organic. Sure, if we had unlimited funds and a nearby Whole Foods, I’d probably buy organic a lot more. Right now though, it’s just not in our budget to buy organic most of the time. I buy what’s cheap. I buy what I like. I know a lot of people may judge me for this, but at least we’re living within our means.

ANNNNND the giveaway! The lovely folks at Tropical Traditions (who are dead set on making sure I never go without coconut anything) sent me a jar of their organic coconut peanut butter to try. Something about coconut peanut butter seemed a bit odd, yet a bit intriguing, so I agreed… man was I surprised! This stuff is absolutely to DIE FOR! It’s creamy and dense, with a light coconut flavor that’s just screaming to be used in oatmeal. I would recommend it to any of you… but only ONE of you can win a jar!

It’s simple to enter!

First and foremost, leave a comment on this post. Any comment at all, and you’ll be entered!

For additional entries:

Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Newsletter and leave another comment letting me know you did.
Become a fan of What’s For Dinner? on Facebook and leave another comment that you did.
Tweet the giveaway! “I entered to win @troptraditions coconut peanut butter with @imadedinner and you can too! http://bit.ly/9Fqg8l” and leave a comment that you did

Easy as pie peanut butter!

Good luck, and winners will be announced on Friday, February 19.

Have a wonderful night. I’ll leave you with another cute Ozzy picture

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner, food, giveaway, Italian, pork, Tropical Traditions

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 17th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner, food, giveaway, Italian, pork, Tropical Traditions
Posted in Italian, beef, contest/giveaway, giveaway, pork

A Pleasant Surprise

On Wednesday night, I got a phone call from my friend Mary (which was odd, because I was JUST thinking about how we hadn’t talked in a while) and after a short chat as I made my healthy brownies we figured out that we would both be “husbandless” the following night. Her husband was away on business, and mine was at class until 9:30 p.m. so we decided to get together.

Since she works near Downtown Chicago, and I live a good hour from there, we found a place that was near the midpoint of the two places. (Hey Bender, seriously amazing places to eat on the same street, we should try them all!) There’s this odd little neighborhood on the far north side of Chicago called Edison Park. One side of the street is Chicago and the other is a suburb, and the way to tell is that the color of the street lights are different. The suburb uses standard “white” lights, whereas Chicago uses yellow sodium lights. Nonno Pino’s Italian kitchen came recommended by another friend, and I’m quite glad we decided to go there. I was immediately drawn in by their cute logo.

Since it was Chicago, parking was a little bit of a pain, but once we were both inside, it was worth it!

We sat down to peruse the menu, and immediately noticed that it was $4 martini night. While we decided which ones to get, we were pleasantly surprised by the warm, crusty Italian bread and olive oil, parmesan, and olive mixture that was placed in front of us.

We decided on a martini to drink. I got a French Martini (vodka, chambord, pineapple juice) which was as delicious as any I’ve ever had, and Mary had a mango martini which was also as fantastic as it was pretty

More bread eating ensued as we decided on entrees and caught up on the last couple months happenings. We ordered our entree after much deliberation, and soon a family-style Italian house salad arrived with two homemade dressings: creamy garlic and House italian

The entree decision for me was easy: risotto made with white wine, featuring spinach, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and shrimp.

Mary opted for a veal tortellini with Italian sausage that had one of the most hearty tomato sauces I’ve ever had outside of my own house

Now, let me tell you a little bit about Mary and my friendship: we’ve been friends for nearly 25 years (how am I old enough to have a friend for 25 years?!) since we met in Kindergarten. As long as I can remember, she and I cooked and baked together, and every single time we gone out to eat, we get dessert. It was just our luck that the dessert menu at Nonno Pino’s had what they called “Chocolate Delight”. It was a decadent chocolate cake with layers of ganache between each one. It was a good thing we shared because I could’ve eaten a lot more of it!

Soon after polishing this off, we called it a night, since well…we had to work today! I was really glad to get to spend time with Mary, and since we could’ve had a good time at McDonalds, it was even nicer that the restaurant was fantastic! Unfortunately, any alcohol at all makes me quite sleepy, so I crashed as soon as I got home at 8:45, only to be awakened at 9:20 when Adam got out of class. I do finally feel rested though, after a week of being exhausted.

Don’t forget to enter the iHerb.com $50 shopping spree giveaway (ends Sunday) and the Tropical Traditions Organic Flaxseed giveaway (ENDS TONIGHT!)

P.S. Sorry if the formatting on this post is odd… I had to use the web-based editor, and it was misbehaving. I should give it a detention!

Technorati Tags: dinner out, friends, fun, Italian, pasta

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 29th 2010 | Tags: dinner out, friends, fun, Italian, pasta
Posted in Italian, contest, contest/giveaway, dinner out, friends

Butternut In An OpenSky

*Have you entered to win a $50 shopping spree from iHerb.com yet? What are you waiting for? The lovely folks at iHerb have offered $5 your first purchase when you use the code SIF006*

When I started cooking a few years ago, there were quite a few things that I never thought I’d be able to make. Among those things are: homemade black molé, tamales, tortillas, pasta, and gnocchi. See, I love all those things, and I’m a complete snob when it comes to those things, they have to be fantastic. I just never thought I’d have the skill necessary to make any of them!

I made tortillas last year at one point, and while they were ok, they were definitely not anything to be proud of. I’ve yet to conquer the other dishes, that is, until tonight. Yesterday at the grocery store, butternut squashes were inexpensive, so I got a nice big one (TWSS?) I had every intent of roasting it and using the flesh for something, but I didn’t know what yet. Then, Adam showed me a new game he got on his Nintendo DSi called Personal Trainer: Cooking. It’s not a new game, but new to us.

Anyway, we looked up squash recipes, and low and behold, since the game is from Japan, all the squash recipes featured kabocha (so I thought of a few of you). Since kabocha is sweeter than a butternut squash, I figured that any of those recipes would work for the big butternut sitting on our counter. One in particular caught my eye: squash gnocchi. I had my mind made up. That’s what I’d make tonight.

Of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and cook the recipe as dictated by the nice little chef guy in the game, I had to muck with it. What I did end up with though were sweet, garlicky, peppery, doughy little dumplings which I tossed with sauteed spinach and mushrooms and topped with some parmesan cheese.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (about 2.5 lbs)

3 c. whole wheat flour

1 egg

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

fresh ground pepper

salt

Heat oven to 375*. Cut the squash vertically, clean out seeds and fibers, and roast on a baking pan for about 45 minutes to an hour. When done, allow to cool slightly and scoop the flesh into a large bowl (I used my KA Mixer with the dough hook to do this). Allow to cool 15 minutes. Mix in garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Rub the thyme between your fingers to break apart, then add to the mixture, stirring gently. Gradually add in the whole wheat flour until the dough comes together and is no longer sticky. At this point, bring a large pot of water to boil. Take handfuls of the dough in lightly floured hands and roll into a log on a lightly floured surface. Cut into bite sized pieces, then drop them into the boiling water. When they float, remove them with a slotted spoon to a colander.

Now, to be completely honest, I think I overworked the dough. It was a bit chewy for my taste, but the flavor was fantastic! I do realize that it’s not that daunting to make gnocchi! I’m totally trying regular potato ones soon.

Now, for the big news. I alluded to this on Twitter earlier, and being the newlywed that I am, everyone assumed my “big news” was that I’m pregnant. MOST DEFINITELY NOT! I do however have an exciting announcement!

Last week, you may have noticed that I focused on many of the gadgets, appliances, and cool things I have going on in our kitchen…heck, I even called it “gadget week”! There was a reason behind this besides just showing off the cool stuff we have. I have decided that, along with many of my blogger friends, I’m opening an OpenSky shop! See, I was always one of those people who said “I wish I could make that but I’m missing (insert gadget or ingredient here)”. I’m hoping that my shop can be the place where you find the elusive gadgets, ingredients, and fun stuff to make your kitchen complete! Right now, I only have 11 items up, but I’ll be adding as I find new ones. I’m looking forward to working with OpenSky…they seem to be the COOLEST company! You can find my shop under What’s For Dinner on OpenSky. I hope to “see” you all there. Feel free to let me know if there are items you’d like to see, and I’ll do my best to get them on there. Happy shopping!

Technorati Tags: cheese, dinner, giveaway, gourmet, Italian, pasta, recipe, simple recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 25th 2010 | Tags: cheese, dinner, giveaway, gourmet, Italian, pasta, recipe, simple recipe, vegetables, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, contest/giveaway, giveaway, simple recipe, vegetarian

Holy Moly Stromboli! (Giveaway Post)

Last week, I decided that it was a great time to start exploring all the fun gadgets and small appliances that Adam and I were lucky enough to receive for our wedding. I coined it “gadget week” and started with the mandoline, then the rice cooker, the fancy schmancy blender, the immersion blender, and tonight…the piece de recistance: The Kitchen Aid stand mixer. We registered for the standard enamel 5 qt. stand mixer with the top that lifts up to allow access to the bowl and paddle. Much to my surprise, my mom was generous enough to get us the KitchenAid Professional 5 qt. deluxe super duper mixer with the lever that raises the bowl to the paddle. Just look how pretty it is:

I never in a million years thought we’d get the smaller mixer we’d registered for, let alone this one… so mom, again, THANK YOU!

I went a little mixer-crazy yesterday and today in preparation for this post, and you’ll see partially why when you get to the dessert at the bottom of this post, but trust me, you’ll want to see dinner too. One of the cool things about KitchenAid mixers is their ability to make dough. Now, I’ll probably still use the old school method for making challah, but the dough hook made tonight’s dinner that much easier.

Stromboli are kind of like calzones, but also kind of like a thin-crust pizza rolled up into an Italian-style burrito. I made this wonderful whole wheat pizza dough from AllRecipes.com, except I did the kneading in the KitchenAid. It was so much easier!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

Then, after I allowed it to do all its rising, Adam and I rolled them out and put our choice of toppings inside. I chose Canadian bacon, mozzarella, red peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. Adam chose the same but left out the “fungus and peppers” as he called it. They got rolled up, sealed, and scored on the top and baked at 425* until they were done on the outside. They looked fairly boring at first (Adam’s on the left, mine on the right):

DSCN5532 DSCN5538

But upon slicing into them, we found some spiraled treasure:

We topped them with some pizza sauce and dug in. They were delicious! It was like eating pizza with significantly more toppings and less cheese, and the dough was nutty and delicious!

Now, on to the dessert I made yesterday. There was something special about it… it had ingredients in it that I wouldn’t have normally bought: almond flour, organic cocoa, and sunflower seed butter. Why did I have these ingredients? Well, the lovely people at iHerb.com offered me a $50 shopping spree to test out their website and sample some of their products and I happily obliged! I got an opportunity to sample some things that I haven’t tried before due to cost or availability, and their website is fantastic. Some things I knew I wanted to try, so I just typed them into the search interface. Some things though, I found through a category search, or an alphabetical search. They have over 18,000 natural products, so it was a bit overwhelming! I ended up with:

1 case PB&J Larabars
agave nectar
organic cocoa powder
Bob’s Red Mill almond flour
Bob’s Red Mill high fiber oat bran
SunButter

I had something in mind when I picked these items, besides the fact that I wanted to taste them. I wanted to use this (from Adam’s mom):

to make some brownies! I found a recipe to adapt, and ended up with this result:

The recipe for SunButter Cocoa Brownies:

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. almond flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 c. milk
2 heaping Tbsp. SunButter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs until slightly frothy, then add oil and mix well. Add sugar and cocoa and mix well, then add flours. Once the batter has come together, add milk and SunButter and mix well. Pour into pan and bake 22-26 minutes. Enjoy!

These were great, and it was so much fun trying out new ingredients! Do you want to try new ingredients from iHerb.com? This is your chance! For the low low cost of a comment below, you can be entered to win your very own $50 shopping spree from iHerb.com! To get extra entries, you can:

Post about the contest on your blog and link back to this post. (http://www.imadedinner.net/2010/01/24/holy-moly-stromboli-giveaway-post) Then, leave another comment telling me you’ve done so.
Tweet about this contest by saying “I want to go shopping @iherb with @imadedinner! http://tinyurl.com/iherb” then leave me another comment telling me you’ve done so.
Visit iHerb.com and tell me the ONE item you’re dying to try! Then (you guessed it) leave another comment to let me know you’ve done so.

Only comments will be counted as entries, so if you just comment, that’s one entry. You will need to comment that you’ve posted, tweeted, or visited as well. Good luck! Winner will be announced next Sunday, January 31! You may have noticed that it looks a little different around here… what do you think? Can you read the posts ok? Let me know if you’re having trouble…

Have a great Sunday night, and a pleasant Monday!

Technorati Tags: Baking, cheese, dinner, gadgets, giveaway, Italian, pizza, simple recipe

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 24th 2010 | Tags: Baking, cheese, dinner, gadgets, giveaway, Italian, pizza, simple recipe
Posted in Baking, Italian, contest/giveaway, giveaway, simple recipe

A Warmed House

Happy Sunday!
Normally, I’m in end-of-weekend bummed out mode, but we have a day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Jr. day, and I’m still in full-out weekend mode!

Adam and I spent some of the afternoon at my friend Kristin’s housewarming party at her new condo in Chicago, and after many phone calls helping her with recipes and food ideas, I was thrilled to find that the lighting in her place was perfect for some food photography!

Her spread was fantastic, and I’ll be sure to get the actual recipes from her soon, but here’s a glimpse at what we had:

Mini pizza-type bruschetta with garlic tomato sauce, basil, and parmesan cheese

DSCN5496

Delicious cookies and other sweet snacks:

DSCN5497

Meatballs cooked in the crockpot with chili sauce and apple butter:

DSCN5498

A taco salad with taco meat, tomatoes, black olives, lettuce, crunched up Doritos, and a side of shredded cheese. The whole thing was then tossed with French dressing… SO GOOD!

DSCN5500

black bean, corn, tomato, onion, and red pepper salad:

DSCN5501

My weakness: guac and chips

DSCN5502

There was also an unpictured plate of tater tots, and a delicious chipotle ranch dip. I had a nice variety of everything pictured, and am just now, at 7 p.m., getting my appetite for dinner, so we’ll be indulging in some leftovers.

Have a great evening and Monday!

Do you have tomorrow off? Any big plans? I think we’ll be spending a good portion of the day finishing wedding thank you notes and cleaning house…not anything exciting, but it’s gotta get done!

Technorati Tags: beef, food, friends, fun, Italian, simple recipe

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 17th 2010 | Tags: beef, food, friends, fun, Italian, simple recipe
Posted in Italian, Mexican/Latin, beef, friends, simple recipe

Six-in-One

A couple of months ago, a coworker and I were talking about how we make our “gravy”. Now, to any Italian cook or someone who associates with an Italian cook, “gravy” is not the brown stuff that goes on your Thanksgiving dinner. “Gravy” is tomato sauce. John (my coworker) was telling me about his recipe and process, and while some of it sounded familiar, there was one thing he used that I’d never heard of before (which for me, is weird. I know my food products!) Apparently, the tomatoes he uses in his sauce are these:

[source]

Six in one?! I looked at him like he was crazy! He explained that this kind of canned tomatoes were perfect for off-season sauce making when the fresh tomatoes were few and far between. There are SIX different kinds of tomatoes ground up into this one can, and it adds a depth of flavor that is usually only able to be achieved with the variety of tomatoes we can get in the summer. John was nice enough to bring me a 34 oz. can to try the next time I made my gravy, with the agreement that he’d get to sample it. I agreed, and tonight was the night.

I made The Best Bolognese sauce with a few changes. Since I had the can of 6-in-1, I used slightly less tomato paste, and reduced it down a bit before I added water for the next two reductions. Usually, I only use 1.5 to 2 lbs. of ground beef because, well, lean ground beef is expensive! BUT, I finally happened upon the meat deals that Biz is always talking about and got over 3 lbs of lean ground beef (that the recipe calls for) for under $7! I also got to break out our brand new food processor! It pureed the veggies like a champ!

The result?? AMAZING! I’m definitely going to seek out these delicious tomatoes from now on! Apparently, a few markets near me sell them, and it will be worth the trip. Thank you John!

Oh… you want to see the finished product, do you?

That’s some delicious whole wheat and flax seed Al Dente pasta left over from my stash… still fantastic!

**On a more serious note, if you have any money to spare, take a few minutes and donate to the Haiti relief effort. Every penny helps!**

I’m off to enjoy some low-fat peppermint ice cream, and another early night… big things coming up for you readers, including QUITE the giveaway!

Technorati Tags: beef, dinner, friends, Italian, pasta, product review, red meat, simple recipe

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 14th 2010 | Tags: beef, dinner, friends, Italian, pasta, product review, red meat, simple recipe
Posted in Italian, beef, friends, simple recipe

Obnoxious Inspiration

I made good on my promise for today and cooked a new recipe for dinner. Aren’t you glad I’m FINALLY back on the whole blogging what I cook thing? I know you were all sitting up nights wondering when I’d stop blogging about my darn honeymoon and get to recipes…

Of course there’s a back story to dinner tonight. See, yesterday, I took a package of ground turkey breast out of the freezer and had every intent of cooking. Then I made the mistake of taking a nap and I lost any motivation to cook, so Adam put the turkey in the fridge and I had to use it today.

I searched for a ground turkey recipe that went a bit farther away from the “normal” ground turkey recipes of meatloaf, chili, and pasta sauce. I came across a recipe for Turkey Florentine Meatballs with an Italian Cheese sauce. They sounded fantastic. Then I looked at where the recipe came from…

I’ve said it before.

I’ll say it again.

I can’t STAND Rachael Ray.

BUT, the woman does have amazing recipes! I took her recipe for Turkey Florentine Meatballs and tweaked it a bit to be a little healthier. I used white meat turkey, fat free milk, and only 2/3 of the cheese. I made a side of whole wheat gnocchi to go with it and I’m thrilled with the result.

Do you know why Florentine dishes are called “Florentine”?

According to www.mrbreakfast.com, “Florentine refers to foods that are cooked in the style of Florence… specifically egg, meat and fish dishes that contain spinach and, most often, a creamy Mornay-style sauce.” Thanks Mr. Breakfast! Without further adeiu…

Ingredients

1 box frozen spinach, defrosted in the microwave

1 1/3 pound (1 package) ground turkey breast

1 medium onion, finely chopped, divided

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large egg

1 3/4 cups milk, divided

3/4 cup bread crumbs, 3 handfuls

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 palm fulls

Coarse salt and black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken stock

1 (10-ounce) sack shredded provolone or blend of Italian cheeses, available on dairy aisle

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it

1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wring defrosted spinach dry in a clean kitchen towel. Place turkey in a bowl and make a well in the middle of it. Add the spinach, all but 3 tablespoons of the onion, all of the garlic, 1 large egg, about 1/4 cup milk, bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form into 12 large balls and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange on a nonstick cookie sheet and roast 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

While balls are in the oven, heat a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Melt butter, add remaining finely chopped onion and cook 2 minutes then whisk in flour. Cook flour 1 minute, then whisk in 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 cup stock. Bring liquid up to a boil then stir in shredded provolone or blended Italian cheeses. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg, turn heat to lowest setting.

Place 3 balls on dinner plates and top with sauce, garnish with parsley.

Seriously. Try this. You’ll love it!

Now, about a week ago, the lovely Christina awarded me with this Beautiful Blogger award:

The rules are that I have to name 7 things you might not know about me and then pass this on to 7 other bloggers. Someone else passed this to me as well, and for the life of me, I can’t remember who… so if it was you, please tell me!!!

Here goes:

1. I have no idea what color my hair naturally is. I’ve been dying it in some way since I was 12 years old!

2. I haven’t been to the dentist in a really long time. Like, way too many years. I know its bad, and I’m going soon.

3. I’ve only ever been out of the country twice: once to Spain when I was 18 and once well, to Jamaica a couple weeks ago.

4. I still try to watch 90210 reruns on the Soap Network as often as I can.

5. I’ve never cooked any red meat with bones in it. No ribs, roasts, anything. They kind of scare me.

6. Cooking scallops freaks me out too. They’re so expensive and SO easy to mess up!

7. I quit smoking over a year ago. Yes, I smoked. I found myself hating myself for still doing it after my grandma died and it took me that long to really truly quit… And I quit cold turkey last New Year’s Day. I gained 15 lbs in the process, but I can breathe now!

And 7 bloggers I pass this to:

Thanks for the award Christina!

There’s a new House on tonight, and I have a chocolate wafer calling my name… have a great night all! EVEN MORE COOKING tomorrow!

Technorati Tags: awards, cheese, dinner, food, friends, fun, Italian, simple recipe, turkey, vegetables

19 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 11th 2010 | Tags: awards, cheese, dinner, food, friends, fun, Italian, simple recipe, turkey, vegetables
Posted in Italian, chicken/turkey, friends, simple recipe

Honeymoon, Take 2 or We Went Chasing Waterfalls

Did you miss Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of our honeymoon recap? Go catch up… I’ll be here when you get back!

Now, where were we? Oh right, I had a sunburn, and after a day of pure relaxation including massages (i left that out in my Part 2!) we decided there was a need for just one more day at the beach before heading out on our scheduled excursion.

We spent Monday of our honeymoon at the beach on a pier jutting out into the Caribbean sea, soaking up rays, reading, and enjoying each others’ company. Dinner that night was an easy decision, as only 2 of the restaurants on our side of the resort were open, and we’d already been to one!

This restaurant was “Mediterranean” themed, and, much to my delight, many of the dishes on the menu featured some of the amazingly delicious and bright red tomatoes that were everywhere on this trip. First off was a trip to the “antipasto bar” which was a fantastic array of cold cheeses, salads, meats, and smoked salmon as well as a few focaccia type pizzas. I helped myself to a nice assortment:

I didn’t care for the soup that night, so I ended up with another plate of green salad instead. My entree was one of my favorites of the whole trip: a grilled filet mignon atop a potato cake with fried onions and spicy tomatoes

And, after a couple of days of trial and error, I finally found a chocolate dessert that was worthy of my chocolate-snob palate:

And Adam got tiramisu.

We finished off the evening with a “reggae” show. I say “reggae” because, well, when YOU think reggae, you usually think of this guy, right?:

When we went to the “reggae” show, the performer we got was well, a lot more like this guy:

Yeah, that’d be Carlton Banks of Fresh Prince fame. It was, though, without a doubt a very fun night! We decided to head to bed because we had quite the excursion in the morning!

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, we awoke and had a light breakfast, and by 8:30 we were aboard this gorgeous boat:

It was a large catamaran that would take us along the northern coast of Jamaica to climb Dunn’s River Falls, go snorkeling, and then on the way back, turn into a “party boat”.

We had about a 20 minute boat ride until we got to the falls, which, at first glance were beautiful:

Little did I know that climbing these 600-foot falls would be one of the scariest moments of my life! We were instructed by the tour guides to hold hands in a long line (about 15 of us) and we’d be climbing the falls together. I made it up the first level of the climb just fine, but upon reaching the 2nd level, the water fell a bit faster, the terrain was rougher, and the ground was harder to see. At one point, I was crying and yelling “This isn’t fun anymore!” BUT, after much thought about getting out and taking the stairs down, I toughed it out with Adam and we made it to the top!

I’m pretty proud of myself for doing the climb even though I didn’t feel up to it at the time, but I have to say, I don’t know if I’d do it again! Maybe I’d take the stairs…

We hung out on the party boat and relaxed, and then a group of the people went snorkeling out on the reef. I was too shaken up (regrettably) to go, but Adam went and had a ball. Upon returning to the resort, we were just hungry and tired… so we ate and napped… ah vacation…

Dinner though, was quite fun! Coincidentally, Adam’s sister and brother-in-law were on their honeymoon too at the same resort! We didn’t think we’d overlap at all, but when our trip got bumped up a few days, we had a couple days together. We all decided to do one dinner together at the resort’s fancier Asian-style restaurant.

We started with a shrimp and scallop skewer on garlic noodles:

I got a spicy pumpkin and green bean soup (my favorite of the trip)

And my entree was a sweet and sour duck breast with veggies:

Dessert was a coconut cream cake:

It was definitely nice to have dinner with another couple, and great to see Riv and Alex again! We hadn’t seen them since our wedding!

The final installment of our honeymoon recap will be tomorrow, featuring our favorite-by-far food from Jamaica, and some beautiful scenery.

Don’t forget to enter the Progresso Soup giveaway!

Technorati Tags: family, friends, giveaway, holiday, honeymoon, Italian, travel, Tropical

12 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 6th 2010 | Tags: family, friends, giveaway, holiday, honeymoon, Italian, travel, Tropical
Posted in Italian, contest/giveaway, family, friends, giveaway

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