Greek "Spanakopita" Spaghetti and Meatballs

My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pasta.  They really don't care how it comes as long as it involves pasta.  However, they have a strong aversion to anything green.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe for a Greek-style pasta dish and I just had to try it, even if it had a lot of green.  I think what drew me in was the Feta cheese.  You see I've discovered this new love affair with Feta.  I'm not quite sure what kicked it off but we've been putting Feta deliciousness on just about everything coming out of our kitchen for the past week.  Creamy, salty, tangy, yumminess!!!

So tonight, I nervously prepped all of the ingredients for this new dish.  I rarely make homemade meatballs and I had never made a creamy pasta dish on my own before.  I have to say if you get all of the prep work done ahead of time, this recipe is a breeze!  From start to finish it was about a 45 minute dish, which probably could have been faster if I wasn't so nervous.  :)

I promise you that this recipe will not disappoint!  And if you have picky kiddos, you might be surprised by how much spinach they will willingly eat when it is surrounded by pasta.  Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 lb of ground lean ground beef
1 Tbs of lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic - grated
1/2 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of red chili flakes
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2 Tbs of milk
salt and pepper to taste  

For the Pasta Sauce:
1/2 medium onion chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic - grated
1 cup of milk (whole)
1 cup of chicken broth 
1 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp red chili flakes (or to taste) 4oz of crumbled Feta
4oz of onion and chive cream cheese 
1lb of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed) 

Preparation Instructions:

1. Cook 1 lb of pasta according to instructions.  Cook just shy of done since pasta will cook more in the sauce.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water in case it is needed for the sauce. 
2. Mix ingredients for meatballs - beef, lemon juice, garlic, mint, oregano, red chili flakes, bread crumbs, milk, salt, & pepper.  Shape into meatballs and cook in a large skillet with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.  When meatballs are browned, removed from skillet to a plate.  
3. With the remaining oil and drippings from cooking the meatballs, saute onion.  When onions are softened, add garlic and cook for another minute.  
4. Next, create the sauce for the pasta dish by adding the milk, chicken broth, mint, oregano, chili flakes, Feta, and cream cheese to the onion & garlic mixture in the skillet.  Cook, over medium heat, until the Feta and cream cheese have melted into the sauce.  Add the meatballs and any drippings from the plate where they were reserved.  And finally, add the spinach and then taste for seasoning.  Adjust the salt and pepper if needed.
5. Finally, add the cooked pasta to the sauce.  If needed, thin the sauce with the reserved pasta water. 
 

Adapted from Curry and Comfort post found here:  

http://curryandcomfort.blogspot.com/2011/09/greek-spanakopita-spaghetti-and.html

Pear & Blue Cheese salad

Well, the school year got off to a fantastic start.  However, on the fourth day of school, I dislocated my shoulder.  Yes, you read that right, on just the FOURTH DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  In the process of dislocating it, I tore the ligaments from the bone of the front of my shoulder, some from the back of my shoulder, fractured the back side of my socket, and lengthened the ligaments in the joint.  I've since had surgery to correct it and will start physical therapy next month.  It's been an incredibly frustrating process and I'm dealing with doing things with just one arm.  But I've been blessed by tremendous support from my family and my work family.  :)  So my cooking for now is extremely limited but we are still eating home-cooked, wholesome meals.  It may not be fancy, but I have missed blogging and I am committed to getting back to it.

Over the summer, Dusty and I ate at some "fancy" restaurants.  You know, the kind of places where they don't have kiddie menus or crayons or color sheets.  On one of our trips. we went to RDG Bar Annie with my mom, my brother and my sister.  One of the dishes in the four course meal we enjoyed was a pear, endive, and blue cheese salad.  I did not like blue cheese at all before this salad but I stepped out of my comfort zone and I was truly surprised.  I loved the creamy texture and tang of the blue cheese.  That combined with the sweet crunchy pear and delicious salad greens, and I was in heaven.  Salads at my house up until this past week have been pretty boring.  Salad greens, grated cheddar cheese, bagged croutons, and bottled salad dressing.  With this salad, I'm kicking up the bar a bit.  :)  And I invite you to take a step out of your comfort zone and try a new salad this week!

Ingredients:  (enough for 2 nice sized side-salads)
5 cups of mixed spring greens
2 Tbls. italian dressing
1/2 pear, peeled, cored, and diced
2 Tbls. chopped walnuts
2 Tbls. blue cheese

Preparation instructions:

1. Toss mixed greens with Italian dressing in a bowl.  Divide between two plates
2. Peel pear.  Cut in half (reserve remaining half for another salad).  Dice pear into small pieces.  Sprinkle pear pieces on top of mixed greens.
3. Sprinkle walnuts and blue cheese on top of pears and mixed greens.  
4. Abandon blue cheese fears and dig in!!! 

Tortilla Soup

To start, I have to say that I typically only eat soup during the winter.  But out of nowhere, I had a hankering for tortilla soup.  I checked my freezer and pantry and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had most of the items needed already on hand.  So last weekend, I whipped up a yummy batch.  With some crushed up tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and a dollop of guacamole, it was a delicious summer treat and not heavy winter food at all.  So now, I'm not sure why I had regulated soups to a winter-only menu item.  I was surprised by the fact that I had a hearty dinner on the table in 30-45 minutes.  And I really only dirtied one big pot.  I'm thinking I should start searching for some more soup recipes.  :)

This soup had the right amount of kick and lots of delicious vegetables.  If you'd prefer a meatless meal, I would suggest adding another can of black beans or some frozen corn.  And rather than add tortillas at the last stage of the cooking process, we opted to top the soup with crushed tortilla chips.  Have fun experimenting with different toppings, between pico de gallo, guacamole, shredded cheese, sour cream, and more, you just can't go wrong!   

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 cup Diced Onion
• ¼ cups Diced Green Bell Pepper
• ¼ cups Red Bell Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 cups of shredded chicken
• 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 4 cups Hot Water
• 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
• 3 Tablespoons Cornmeal
• 5 whole Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches

Preparation Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the spices (cumin, salt, chili powder). Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.
Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.
Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check seasonings, adding more if needed—add more chili powder if it needs more spice, and be sure not to undersalt. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.


adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe
 

MIA - San Antonio trip

I know, I know, I've been MIA.  This is the crazy time of year at work.  The time of year when you could work all day and still need a couple of extra hours.  Truth be told, our dinners have come from jars, or boxes from the freezer.  Not at all blog worthy.  At our house, we call it junk food night and I just can't say enough about taquitos and poppers from the freezer. 

Dusty also whisked me away to San Antonio for the weekend.  You see, my 30th birthday is coming up in a week.  I'm actually really excited about it, not nervous at all.  But Dusty loves to spoil me and I love to be spoiled, so it kind of works out.  We had a great weekend in San Antonio and ate the most delicious dinner at Biga on the Banks.  You simply must try it and it is a post all to itself.  The delicious items above (plants, giant zucchini, baby red onions, and yellow grape tomatoes) came from a farmer's market near Pearl Brewery.  It was amazing to see all of the different produce and be able to purchase directly from the people that poured their heart and soul into it.  Dusty and I have been researching farmer's markets here in the Houston area and have found this one and this one.  We are making plans to take the family to one really soon.  More posts to come soon about my amazing dinner at Biga on the Banks and some more dinner ideas for the busy working mom. 

Elote - Mexican style grilled corn

Hi - my name is Amy - and I'm addicted to grilled corn.  It really is a problem, well, maybe it's not.  I like grilled corn and it's sort-of a vegetable.

Ok, I digress.  On to the recipe!!!  Ears of corn have been a on sale at the grocery store and we've been grilling at least once a week.  The perfect side dish has been grilled corn.  But I was reading on another blog (check out Bon Appetempt here) about her recipe for elote - corn, mayo, cheese, spicy delishishness.  Now I have to admit, using mayo for anything other than sandwiches kind of grosses me out.  But I'm growing and I'm stepping out of my mayo-belongs-only-on-a-sandwich box.  The grilled corn was fantastically sweet.  Add to that the creamy mayo topping and cheesy-spicy mix - wowie!  It's grilled corn magic.  Give it a try the next time you and your family grill up a meal and let me know what you think.

Elote:

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn (silk & husk removed)
3 Tablespoons lite mayo
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder (can substitute regular chili powder)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. In one bowl, mix mayo and lemon juice.  Set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix parmesan cheese, chipotle chili powder, cumin, and salt.  Set aside.
4. Grill corn, until bright yellow and/or slightly charred on all sides.  (I like mine with just a few black spots, Dusty likes his mostly black.  Your choice.)
5. Remove corn from grill.  Using a silicone brush "paint" the corn with the mayo mixture.  Sprinkle cheese/spice mixture immediately afterward onto the corn.

Red Velvet Brownies

I have had an insatiable sweet tooth lately.  But, I do not bake.  Baking is precise.  Not only that but you have to follow the steps exactly, you have to measure everything, and it's just not my cup of tea.  But my fantastic husband, Dusty, does bake.  Dusty is lots of things, patient, kind, supportive, as well as being a great baker!  So he's making a guest appearance on the blog with red velvet brownies.  I've been searching for a good red velvet brownie recipe for the better part of the week.  The initial recipe that sent me on the hunt had a good brownie base and had a cream cheese icing.  I don't know why, but it just didn't scream yum to me.  So I went searching some more.  Other recipes just had a stand alone brownie with lots of red food dye.  Again, just wasn't what I was looking for.  Then this morning, I found it!  This recipe had a delicious, cakey red velvet brownie base.  And it was swirled with cream cheesyness goodness (yes, that's a word).  I showed Dusty the recipe and declared that he just HAD to make them for me.  I ran out to get cream cheese and red food dye while Dusty looked over the recipe.  Lots of measuring, mixing, pan-greasing, and layering ensued while I watched from the sidelines giving "helpful suggestions" all along the way.   I am a horrible back-seat baker.  :(  We omitted the walnuts from the original recipe and cooked them for 33 minutes rather than the 30 minutes.  Me & Dusty and the boys dove into these as soon as we snapped the pictures and they are so yummy!  If red velvet is a favorite of yours, you will want to try these brownies. 

And I got to thinking about a few questions... Do you have split cooking/baking responsibilities in your house?  Do you prefer cooking over baking too? 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for pan

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Special equipment: 8 by 8-inch baking pan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking pan, and set aside.

Brownie layer: In a saucepan on medium heat melt the butter. Remove the butter to a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, in that order, mixing between additions. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and stir it into the cocoa mix. Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Stir in the walnuts and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, saving 1/4 cup of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese layer: Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter in the pan. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before cutting.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/red-velvet-swirl-brownies-recipe/index.html

Berry compound butter

This is the recipe that launched this blog.  I read about berry compound butter on Pioneer Woman's site and it was all I could think about all week.  I had some strawberries in the fridge and I keep thinking about yummy strawberry butter melting over biscuits, french toast, waffles, pancakes, the list could go on and on.  I planned on making it during the week, but the week quickly got busy, and before I knew it, it was Saturday.  Which is just fine in my world because Saturdays are typically a little slower, a little calmer, a little bit special.  So I woke up on Saturday morning and made french toast (using some inspiration for Pioneer Woman's recipe) and this strawberry compound butter.  Since it's just my little family, I modified the recipe to include one stick of butter and about 1/3 cup of strawberries.  Let me tell you, it was everything I had hoped it would be and more!  So grab a stick of butter and some leftover berries lying around your house.  You definitely do not want to pass up this recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1 pound Unsalted Butter, Softened
• ½ cups Raspberries
• ½ cups Blackberries
• 1 loaf Crusty Bread: Baguette, French Loaf, Etc.
• 4 whole Egg Yolks
• 2 cups Half-and-half
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• Zest Of One Lemon
• Maple Syrup For Serving
• Sifted Powder Sugar, For Serving (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Make the berry butters: in separate batches, whip 2 sticks of butter at a time on high using the whisk attachment. Switch to paddle attachment. Add either raspberries or blackberries. Turn mixer on low for only about five seconds, just long enough for the berries to begin to mix in/break up, but not so long that it turns into a mess. Clean mixer bowl and attachments and repeat with other kind of berry.
With each batch, turn mixture out onto a long sheet of plastic wrap set over a long sheet of foil. Use the wrap/foil to roll the butter into a cylinder: first seal the plastic wrap around the cylinder, then secure the foil around it. Twist the ends, gradually applying more pressure as you twist in order to make the cylinder taut.
Once it’s a nice, neat cylinder of foil, place into the freezer for 30 minutes in order to quickly solidify it, then transfer it to the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Butter should be nice and firm.
NOTE: You can add a little sifted powdered sugar to the butter to make more of a sweet spread for bread and muffins! For French toast, though, the maple syrup makes things sweet enough.
To make the french toast, cut bread into slices 1/2 inch thick. In a dish, mix together egg yolks, half-and-half, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Dip bread slices in mixture, coating both sides, then remove from dish and set aside. Repeat until all bread is coated.
Heat iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. Sizzle butter in the pan when hot. Cook French toast on both sides until golden brown, being careful not to burn.
Remove berry butters from fridge. Unwrap one end and cut slices. Lay one slice each onto each serving of French toast. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired, then drizzle with warm maple syrup.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman's website:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/07/french-toast-with-berry-butter/