Ready Set Cook!

This week's ingredients were:

Boiled Ham
Heavy Cream
Mushrooms












Recipe for the week- Ham Quiche!

(I know, boring but I have never attempted one before and thought it was about damn time)

Ingredients Used

5 eggs
Cream
1 cup Swiss cheese
Portobello mushrooms
Roasted red pepper
Diced ham
Grits
Butter
9 inch deep dish pie crust

Chop and saute mushrooms in butter, add roasted red peppers; let cool.











Boil water for grits, add salt, butter, grits and cook till done; add cream. Turn on very low heat; do not let cool completely.











Beat eggs and cream till light and fluffy.










Add Swiss cheese, ham, mushrooms and red pepper and black pepper.












Place grits in bottom of pie crust. Sprinkle with more black pepper.











Add egg mixture to pie and sprinkle more black pepper on top.











Place in preheated oven at 375 for 30 to 40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.













Breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner is served!











As I had some cream left over, I decided to make a simple desert.

Peaches & Cream & Ice Cream

Cook peaches in butter, add sugar and cinnamonon.











Scoop out vanilla ice cream, place cooked peaches on top and add a splash of heavy cream.










I'm so happy to be playing again. The daughter enjoyed it as well. This has made my day and I can't wait to read the other ideas on Thursday!


K

This weeks Ready Set Cook ingredients were:

Ground Turkey
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Rice

Stacked Egg Plant

Here is my stuff-










Cut up eggplant and brush with olive oil, sprinkle w/salt & pepper. Grill on high heat until mostly done. Set aside and let cool.







Chop up three or four sun dried tomatoes. To make rice use 1 cup chicken stock and 2 cups water to 1 1/2 cups rice. Add tomatoes and a pinch of saffron to liquid. Cook 20 minutes.







Chop up 2 celery sticks, three or four okra and 1/2 an onion. Cook in olive oil till tender. Add ground turkey and cook till done. Add salt, grated Parmesan cheese, lots of black pepper, parsley, rosemary, thyme, basil and ground red pepper.

Melt butter and add bread crumbs and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Place roasted eggplant on foil covered cookie sheet; add scoop of rice, then turkey mixture, bread crumbs and a piece of roasted red pepper on top. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or till all is hot.

Dinner is served...




It looks like hell, but it wasn't too bad- it's all gone anyway. The only thing I would do different is to take the purple off the eggplant- I don't like it.

K

Recipe for the week:

Baked Chicken w/Roasted Red Peppers, Garlic Mashed Taters & broccoli

Stuff: Boneless chicken breasts, white potatoes, roasted red peppers.











Baked Chicken:

Melt butter, olive oil and butter in a pan. Add basil and roasted red peppers. Simmer. Add chicken that has been lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook till half done.












Take chicken out of pan, put juice into baking dish. Slice chicken in the fattest part of the meat and stuff with red pepper.












Take a piece of bacon and wrap around the chicken. Place in slow oven, 350, till chicken is done (about 20 minutes).











Turn oven up to 450 and bake till bacon has browned.











Slice some Gouda cheese.












Put Gouda on top of chicken and pop back in the oven for a few minutes until cheese has softened.













Garlic Mashed Taters:

Cut up taters, cook in slightly boiling salted water till soft. Drain.











Melt butter, parsley and garlic powder (I lost my cloves- can't find them anywhere!)


Add taters, milk and sour cream. Whip, mix, stir, whatever you like best.






Cut up broccoli and put in boiling salted water for as long as you like or as little as you like. Drain and add salt, pepper and yes, more butter.




Dinner for Ready Set Cook is served!


Special Note:

Thank you once again Anne for taking the time and effort to put this together when I know you are one busy woman. You give all that play something to look forward to each week. I wish I knew of a way to return the favor-


K

Today is Ready, Set, Cook and if you want to find out more about this fun activity, go visit Cooking with Anne -

Last night for my husbands dining pleasure I made up and prepared Stuffed Spinach Onions w/Soup. Sounds weird huh? The ingredients given this week were:

1) Ground beef
2) Onions
3) Spinach



First saute a clove of garlic in olive oil, add some chopped onion, ground beef and cook till done.



After draining the beef, add one can of chopped diced tomatoes in tomato sauce, good beef stock, a handful of okra, basil, pepper and a little salt. The stock I use has plenty and I figure you can always add.



While the soup is cooking, cut your onions and scoop out the inside. Set aside.


Wash and drain your spinach and wring out excess water. Cut up a clove of garlic and cook in olive oil. Add spinach till hot, then add beef stock, one scrambled egg and freshly ground parmasian cheese. When the egg is cooked and the cheese melted, add bread crumbs. Stuff the onions and sprinkle some more parmisian cheese on top. Place onions in a dish with a little beef stock in the bottom and put in a fairly hot oven and cover. Bake till onions are soft, then uncover and let cheese brown.


Place the onion in a bowl of hot soup and serve.


I made fried green tomatoes and some toasted sour dough bread to go along with the meal. Quite honestly, I need not have made the tomatoes. The soup could stand alone as it was very rich. The bread is a must. It tasted so good dipped in the soup juices.



Husband Comment Section: "This is like nothing I have ever had before. It is very, very tasty..."

Maybe he will keep me.

Yeah-

K

This week at Cooking With Anne (see side bar), I was given the following ingredients to form a meal. Actually, she wrote zucchini but I thought egg plant and you can see what I bought... Sorry again Anne :)

Center Cut Pork Chops
2 Egg Plants
2 Slices Ginger

Pork Chops:

In small bowl pour ¼ cup soy sauce, sprinkle of Slap Yo Mama and juice of ½ lemon. Add 2 slices of ginger, finely chopped up.

Lightly pepper pork chops and place in zip lock bag. Add soy mixture, seal and place in fridge for ½ an hour.

Take chops out of the fridge and remove any ginger pieces stuck to it. Dredge in bread crumbs, egg wash, and then back in bread crumbs. Brown in olive oil, place on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes (or till done) in 350 oven.

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Peel and cut up egg plant into small cubes. Place in pan of salted water and cook till tender.
While egg plant is cooking, in medium bowl grate ¼ cup parmesan cheese, add pepper, salt and a sprinkle of Slap Yo Mama Hot seasoning to taste. Chop up ½ an onion and one clove garlic. Cook in olive oil till tender. Cool.

Drain egg plant and wring out with dish towel, place in fridge to cool.



Take cooled egg plant and onion and add to cheese. Add an egg, juice of half a lemon and and ½ blood orange, mix. Add enough bread crumbs to hold together. Put back in fridge until chops are almost done- about 15 minutes prior to completion. Roll egg plant mixture into balls and flatten into patties. Cook in vegetable oil till brown on both sides. Place in oven to keep warm






Bring your asparagus up to a boil and cook till desired tenderness. Take off heat and drain. Add kosher salt, butter and the juice of ½ lemon. Put back on low heat till butter and lemon combine







And there you have Kathleen's Pork Chop Dinner!

Anybody want desert? How about some home-made carrot cake?



I am evil...

My friend Anne, at Cooking with Anne, (see side bar) is playing a new game. She is giving her readers cooking projects. The ingredients of choice this week were boneless chicken breasts, black olives and linguini. Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic
5 olives stuffed with jalapeños (I did not have black olives)
1 small jar pimentos
Chicken stock- (enough to cover chicken)
Sour cream
Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley
Linguine
Kosher salt

For the linguine-

In big pot put in water, kosher salt, and olive oil. (no I did not measure) When boiling, put in the noodles. Boil correct amount of time, then with spoon take the noodles out- reserve the water.

In the water I put in some broccoli I had left over- cook until they are they way you like them. (you can see from my picture that I cooked them well- this was not a choice; I got on the internet and forgot about the little green buggers!)

Chicken:




Sautee 2 cloves of garlic in olive oil.





Put in chopped olives and a small jar of pimentos chopped up. Add chicken breasts and cook till done. Add chicken stock, fresh grated black pepper and cover and let slowly simmer over low heat.




When chicken has cooked until it is tender and stock is reduced, add sour cream to thicken. Pour over noodles and grate some parmesan cheese over the top and then add chopped parsley.



There you have it! Even the husband said "Damn, this was good!" Give it a whirl and while you are at it, why don't you pop over to Anne's and say hi? Her Dad is real sick and she could use a little support.

K