Tag Archives: dinner

Frikadellen and Oven Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

13 Sep

A dear friend of mine (we used to be next door neighbors) introduced me to the Maggi Hackbraten mix packets when we used to trade off nights making dinner.  The packets are really easy, add 1/2 cup water and 1 lb ground beef.  Add 1 Tbsp oil to a skillet, form small patties, and cook until no longer pink in the middle. She would serve them with gravy, with mashed potatoes as a side.  Tonight, I learned from another friend that although the packet shows the patties and says hackbraten, they actually call the patties frikadellen.

I haven’t made these for a while, so I decided it was what we would have for dinner.  We had mashed potatoes recently and I had sweet potatoes from 9/10 Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to make sweet potato fries as a side.  I have a recipe that I have used a couple of times to make these, but decided to try something new tonight.  I had recently seen a recipe for oven baked Parmesan fries, so I decided to try something similar with my sweet potatoes.  Here is how I made them.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 lbs sweet potatoes, washed, peeled
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Italian blend seasoning
4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Mix together the Italian blend seasoning and Parmesan cheese, set aside.  Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2″ strips, making them all as close to the same size as possible.  Add to a separate bowl.  Pour olive oil over sweet potatoes and toss to coat.  Pour the seasoning mix over the potatoes and again toss to coat.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray or olive oil.  Pour sweet potatoes into a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Cook for 30-45 minutes, turning halfway through, until fries are crispy on the outside (as shown below).

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Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

12 Sep

My mom’s side of the family is Greek, and growing up, we lived in the same town as my grandparents.  And no, not next door like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  We did get to see them often, though, and I did get a chance to learn some Greek traditions, attend some services at the Greek Orthodox church, and learn how to cook some traditional Greek dishes.  This also means that most of the dishes I learned how to make, I make from memory or sight, add a handful of this, a little of this, a little of that, until it looks right.  However, I have measured out the way I make spanakopita to my taste, and when I got all the spinach from Bountiful Baskets over the last 2 weeks, I knew I wanted to make this to be able to share how I make it since I get asked a lot.  So, here we go!

Spanakopita

1 roll phyllo dough (You can find this in your grocery’s freezer section with the pies and baked goods)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Filling for spanakopita:
2 lb fresh spinach, chopped, or 3-10oz pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 lb feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp dried dill weed

How to put it together:

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Combine the ingredients for the filling and set aside.  Brush bottom and sides of 12″ X 18″ jelly roll pan with melted butter.   Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, and brush completely with butter. (Note: Depending on the size of your pan and the size of dough you find, you may need multiple pieces of phyllo dough to cover the bottom of the pan) Repeat the process of laying dough and buttering to create 5-6 layers of dough.  Pour filling over phyllo dough and spread evenly.

Spreading the filling on the phyllo dough

Place a layer of phyllo dough over the filling, again, brushing it completely with butter. Repeat the process of laying dough and buttering until you have 3-4 layers.

Score through top layers of the pastry with a sharp knife. I cut mine in straight lines to make squares, then add diagonal cuts to make triangles.  Pour remaining butter over.

Bake for 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown (see picture at top). Remove to rack and cool for 5 minutes.  Cut and serve!

 

You can find the cheese version of this, Tiropita, in this post.

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Salmon, Rice, and Roasted Cauliflower

12 Sep

I decided to try something new with my cauliflower from 9/10 Bountiful Baskets.  I had seen a post about roasted cauliflower on the Bountiful Baskets Facebook page, so I went to my go-to site for recipes, allrecipes.com, to get ideas on how to season and roast the cauliflower.  I decided I would serve it as a side to salmon, along with a box of long grain and wild rice.

For the roasted cauliflower, cut the head of cauliflower into even sized florets and preheated the oven to 400 degrees F.  I added 3 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of minced garlic to a gallon size bag. Then, I added the cauliflower florets to the bag and shook to coat them.  I added them to a baking pan I had sprayed with cooking spray, then sprinkled on some rosemary, about 1 tsp worth. I put the pan in the preheated oven.  After 10 minutes, I stirred the cauliflower.  I returned it to the oven for another 10 minutes, and the cauliflower had started to brown.  I removed from the oven and set my broiler to low. I then sprinkled 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese and 1 1/2 tsp parsley.  I put the pan under the broiler for another 5 minutes until the Parmesan cheese had started to melt and the cauliflower was golden brown.

While the cauliflower was in the oven, I started on rice and the salmon.  The rice was a boxed mix, so I just followed the directions on the box.  The salmon I had on hand was frozen individually, and I thawed by putting in a sink of cold water for about 20 minutes.  While it was thawing, I started heating my George Foreman grill.  I cut open the packages and dried using paper towels.  I brushed olive oil on both sides, this salmon did not have scales on one side like it sometimes does.  If there are scales, I brush the olive oil only on the non-scale side.  I seasoned it with lemon pepper seasoning, then put them on the grill.  In just under 10 minutes, the salmon is done when it flakes easily.

In about 45 minutes, I had a filling meal.  Salmon is one of K’s favorites, so I try to make it 1-2 times a month.

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BBQ Chicken and Cornbread

11 Sep

I had some broccoli left from 8/27 Bountiful Baskets that I had chopped and frozen.  I love making Broccoli Cheese Cornbread with it, so I needed to decide on a main dish.  I have a lot of barbecue sauce that I got free with coupons, plus we had some buns that we needed to use up. So, I decided I would make shredded BBQ chicken in my slow cooker, which was perfect because I was going to be gone all afternoon co-hosting a baby shower and needed a low maintenance dinner.

To make the BBQ chicken, I first sprayed my slow cooker with cooking spray.  Next, I took frozen chicken out of the freezer and ran it under cold water to remove some of the ice.  I didn’t defrost it first, I put it in the slow cooker still frozen.  I have found that it still cooks thoroughly, so I skip the step of defrosting if I forget to get it out of the freezer or decide last minute what I’m making.  I then poured a whole 18oz bottle of barbecue sauce over the chicken.  I set it to low and set my timer for 6 hours (my slow cooker is a programmable one that cooks for the set time, then switched to the Keep Warm setting until you are ready to serve).  Once I was ready to finish up dinner, I shredded all the chicken and stirred well in the sauce.  This was then served on hamburger buns.

For the broccoli cheese cornbread, the broccoli was already chopped, so I just had to mix the ingredients.  This recipe calls for cottage cheese, which I thought seemed strange  at first, but it helps keep the cornbread really moist.  Here is how it is made:

 

Broccoli Cheese Cornbread

What you Need:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup cottage cheese
  • 1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 (8.5 ounce) package dry cornbread muffin mix (I use Martha White, but Jiffy makes a mix as well)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1  1/2 cups chopped broccoli

How to Make it:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease an 11×7 inch baking pan.  (You can use a 13×9 pan, but the cornbread will be pretty thin and you may need to adjust your cooking time.)
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs.  Mix in cottage cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and butter. Stir in the cornbread muffin mix and salt. Fold in the broccoli. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.
Here is how it all turned out.  Both girls ate it!

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Mashed Potatoes

10 Sep

We are still trying to get through all the potatoes we have, so with last night’s dinner, I made mashed potatoes.  I used to just make them from a box or a package because I thought making them from scratch took too long.  And, it really is a time-consuming process, so I usually have to plan ahead and start them before anything else.  My favorite potatoes for mashed potatoes are Yukon Gold.  I also really like red potatoes and leave the skins on with those.  But, we have russet potatoes, which make pretty good mashed potatoes too.

What You Need:
– 2 pounds potato of your choice
– 1/2 cup milk
– 1/2 stick of butter

How to Make it:
Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes.  Add them to a large pot and add water to about 1 inch above the potatoes.  Bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium-high and keep at a rolling boil.  It’s important to find the right amount of heat or you will find the water boiling over the sides of your pot.  Continue to boil until potatoes soften, about 20-30 minutes.  Drain water.  Mash the potatoes, then add in the milk and butter.  Stir thoroughly until well blended together.

If you like, you can add in some parsley, and/or salt and pepper.  I try not to go overboard on spices though, I don’t want to over-season things.  I figure salt and pepper can be added after serving to a certain person’s taste.  I serve mashed potatoes with a variety of dishes, and do it this way more often since I am trying to use less pre-packaged foods.

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Steak, Egg, & Potato Burritos

9 Sep

For last night’s dinner, I decided that I would make burritos.  I had large flour tortillas in my freezer from 8/27 Bountiful Baskets.  I also had steak leftover from a couple of nights ago, plus the roasted corn salsa I made.  I had roasted Poblano peppers on the grill last week that had been in my 8/27 Bountiful Baskets Mexican pack.  And, we need to work through the 15 pounds of potatoes we still have.

First, my brother-in-law helped by washing, peeling, and dicing the potatoes, about 2 pounds of russets.  I put some olive oil in a large skillet and started cooking half of the potatoes.  After cooking for a few minutes, I added some diced onion and the Poblano pepper.  I cooked until the potatoes started to soften and brown, then added in the cut pieces of steak.  Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, I scrambled 6 eggs.  I mixed this all together in a bowl and started the process again to use up the other half of the potatoes.  I had to do it in 2 parts because my pans weren’t big enough for all of it at once.

Once the filling was complete, I cleaned the large skillet and added it to medium-low heat.  I placed a tortilla in the pan, added some of the filling toward one side of the tortilla, and sprinkled on Mexican blend cheese.

Fold over the side of the tortilla closest to the filling over the filling.

Next, fold over the top and bottom of the tortilla.

Finally, fold the section with the filling over to complete the burrito.

Brown on that side for a few minutes, then flip the burrito over and brown on the other side for a few minutes.  Remove from pan and serve.  I served mine with roasted corn salsa over it.

Yum!  Since I get 3 dozen of the large tortillas in the tortilla pack from Bountiful Baskets, I’m always playing around with fillings for burritos.

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Steak, Potatoes, and Roasted Corn Salsa

6 Sep

Busy night of cooking for me!  We had a ton of meat in the fridge.  I had thawed out steak and had hot dogs on hand to grill out for Labor Day.  Then, hubby had invited over some friends to cookout on Tuesday, so I decided to not grill on Monday and wait until Tuesday.  Hubby went to the store and bought 2 more packages of steaks and 2 packages of brats.  Then, the friends ended up not being able to come over, so 1 package of brats went to the freezer and I decided to go ahead and grill a package of hot dogs and a package of brats, plus all the steaks.  I also had a few potatoes left from Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to grill those as well.  (Don’t get me started on potatoes, hubby also bought a 10 pound bag of them when he bought the steaks, not knowing that I already had close to 10 pounds at home.  This is why only I should do the shopping!)

Anyway, we had plenty of steak left, so we cut it into pieces, and hubby has requested that I make steak and egg burritos, to which I will add roasted Poblano peppers and onion.  More about that tomorrow, back to tonight’s meal.

The day before, I put all the steak into a 9 x 13 glass pan and marinated them with Dale’s Seasoning.  No, it is not made by my hubby.  We recently discovered this at the Commissary and laughed because it has his name, but seriously, this stuff is really good.  Then, I prepped the potatoes. I washed them really good, then mixed together olive oil and Italian seasoning to brush on them, and rolled them up in aluminum foil.  Then, it was time to put it all on the grill!

As that was cooking, I worked on finishing up roasted corn salsa.  I had already roasted the 7 ears of sweet corn that I received from Bountiful Baskets on 9/3 because I didn’t want it to go bad before I got the chance to use it.  To roast it, I take off some of the outer husks, then pull back the husks to remove the silk.  I put the husks back around the corn and put it on the grill.  I leave it out there 20-30 minutes, turning every so often, and get nice, roasted corn.  If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the corn in your oven’s broiler.  Turn the broiler on low, and line a baking sheet with foil.  You can leave the husks on or remove them.  Place about 6 inches from the broiler and turn the corn every so often until it is roasted.

Next, you cut the kernels off the cob.  Now, the tricky part is what else to add.  I will give you a rough approximation of what I add, but salsa is really about making it to your taste.

  • 4 ears of corn, roasted, removed from cob
  • 1/2 yellow or red onion, or 1 bunch green onion, chopped (I use whatever I have on hand or what is cheapest)
  • 2-3 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1 can black beans, drained
  • 2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tsp garlic salt
  • Juice of 2-3 key limes or 1 large lime

Here is the final result to serve with your favorite tortilla chips.  We usually get the scoop type tortilla chips, it’s easier with this chunky salsa to be able to scoop it up.  Note that this is a double batch of the recipe above since I had 7 ears of corn.

After this was all finished and cleaned up, I went to work on some fruit that is currently in the food dehydrator.  I will have a full (hopefully good) report on that tomorrow!

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Shepherd’s Pie

5 Sep

A good friend of mine told me about a great shepherd’s pie that she made last week and sent me the link to the recipe.  As I was deciding what to make for dinner and thinking about what I had on hand, I remembered the recipe for the shepherd’s pie.  I looked through, had everything but the mushrooms, decided they weren’t really necessary, and decided to try it out.  Turns out it was pretty easy, a little time consuming, and totally delicious!  For this dish, I used the potatoes and celery I got in 9/3 Bountiful Baskets, and carrots and onion from 8/27 Bountiful Baskets.

Recipe can be found here: Beef Shepherd’s Pie

I recommend using leftover mashed potatoes or making the mashed potatoes first so they are ready to go.

The meat mixture goes in the baking dish first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, you spread the mashed potatoes on top, leaving 1/4″ border.  I opted to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up baking mine at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes to shave off some of the baking time since I was running late.  It turned out perfect and was mostly gone before I could even take a picture of the finished product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is a keeper and I will be making again sometime!

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