Spinach Enchilada Lasagna

I promised better pictures this year. It was a dirty lie. I'm sorry. This isn't, to be fair, an easy food to photograph, and my good camera is currently out of commission. But, well, I did my best. 

Don't be discouraged by ugly food. This is a creamy delicious simple meal that is great for a crowd. It's basically a vehicle for cheese. but, you know, there's a layer of spinach, so we tell ourselves it's dinner.

Spinach Enchilada Lasagna
adapted from allrecipes
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Cost: $5.50 (this is about $.45-.90/serving)
tortillas: 1.50, sour cream: .50, salsa: 1.00, cheese: 2.00, spinach: .50

Note: The original recipe called for corn tortillas and this is so delicious like that. But Kip prefers flour, and that's good too. I also like it with half corn and half flour. You get the flavor of the corn and the texture of the flour.

Note #2: You'll notice the cheese has a wide range for measurement. Kip loves this super cheesy. I feel when we use too much cheese, it takes over all the flavors, and it's like eating a pan of cheese (not that there's anything wrong with that...). So decide which way you want to go with this.

Note #3: I'd bet (though it is untested) that this would work just fine in a crock pot on low for 3-4 hours. 

1 C sour cream
1 C green salsa (green enchilada sauce works as well)
1 bunch fresh spinach
2-4 C Monterey Jack cheese
1 package corn or flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together the sour cream and green salsa. Spread a bit on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.

Layer tortillas, sour cream/salsa mixture, spinach, cheese. Repeat until sour cream/salsa mixture is gone (2-3 layers), then top with a layer or tortillas and cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Asian Pork

Ah, winter. You are beloved to me in so many ways. I honestly love the cold weather (as long as I have my warm fireplace). I love the holidays, the comfort food, sweaters, boots, jeans, fuzzy socks. I love it all. Except for one tiny thing. I cannot for the life of me get a decent picture of any food I make any time surrounding the dinner hour. It's just too dark and my photography skills end when the light does. Thus. You will have to make due with this picture I snagged of this Asian Pork in its pot for now. By the time it was plated and pretty, the light was fading and everyone was ready to start eating off their own fingers, so dinner had to be served quickly. One day I will replace this picture with something staged and lovely. But for now it's all I have.

You may comfort yourself with this comfort food I made you and then took an un-staged picture of. You're welcome.

Not only is this fantastic, but it's also the perfect thing for feeding a crowd. This is how I was first introduced to it. We were at my sister's house for Christmas. All 700 gatrillion of us. And we all needed food (preferably food that wasn't just cookies). My sister made this Asian Pork (she actually made Asian beef, which you can do too; it's delicious with both types of meat). She said it is her go to big crowd pleaser. And it was. And it is.

It is also dead simple, so you can please your crowd and also spend most of your time hanging out with them instead of with your dishes in the kitchen.

The one caveat is that it takes forever to cook. It just simmers and simmers and simmers its little heart out. And every little simmer is worth it. But it takes four hours of simmering, so this needs to be made on a lazy afternoon, or a time when you're home with your family for the holidays or, in my case, on a day when you'll be sitting by your computer screen all afternoon anyway, so why not cook something amazing while you're at it.

Note: I suppose it could be made in the crock pot, but the sauce will suffer a lot--it just won't be right. Stove top simmering allows the sauce to reduce into an epic creation that you'll lick off your plate. Crockpotting will leave tender, but blander meat in a puddle of watered down sauce. So... my advice is to leave it stove top. But you don't have to take my advice now, do you?

Asian Pork
Serves 10-16
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours
Cost: $10.00
pork: 7.00, soy sauce: .30, mustard: .10sweet and sour sauce: 1.50, onion: .10, carrots: .50, peas: .50

2-3 pound pork (or beef) roast
2 C water
1/2 C soy sauce
bottle sweet and sour sauce (I used a 16 oz bottle, but it is a bit forgiving, so you could use smaller)
2-3 Tbsp spicy mustard
1 onion, diced small (or grated)
3-5 carrots, peeled and diced small (or grated)
1/2 lb peas (half a bag)

Sprinkle pork with salt and sear in heat resistant oil (I used a Dutch oven).

Add water, soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and spicy mustard.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered with a lid. Simmer for 3-4 hours. Check it every once in a while. If the liquid is getting low, add more water. If the pork looks a little dry on top, flip it over.

About 30-45 minutes before serving add the diced onions and carrots. Cover and simmer another 30-45 minutes.

At end, take out the pork and shred. Then return it to the pot, add the frozen peas, and heat through. (Add a bit of water if you need a little more sauce.)

Serve over rice

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Beef Stroganoff

In my continuing efforts to throw a few quick, painless dinners into your holiday repertoire and thus rescue you from only eating cookies this holiday season, I've got another meal for you that can be pulled together in 20 minutes. It's hearty and comfort-y and could even be considered healthy as long as you're cool with fat and dairy products (at any rate, it's healthier than stale cookies and/or another night of take out).

It can go with any veggie on earth although spinach and/or mushrooms are especially good pairings (because we're talking about pairings because this is a sophisticated blog about sophisticated stuff). Ahem. In actuality, my mother used to make beef stroganoff by combining browned beef with a can of cream of mushroom soup--a thing which you could still do and live to tell the tale and still be eating healthier than cookies and fast food. But. We're going to raise the bar just the tiniest smidgen and make this whole foodsy and even chop some garlic and throw in fresh spinach, folks. It's that kind of awesome.

Beef Stroganoff
adapted from Learning Patience
Serves 4-6
Prep and cook time: 15-20 minutes
Cost: $7.25
noodles: 1.00, beef: 4.00, cream cheese: 1.00, sour cream: .50, spinach: .60, other stuff: .15

1 lb egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
1 fat clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 handfuls chopped fresh spinach, lightly chopped

Get the water going for your egg noodles. When it's boiling, put the noodles in to cook.

While the noodles are cooking, brown your beef with a bit of salt in a skillet. When it's brown or mostly brown, add your garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper. Then add the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until combined and creamy. This makes for a fairly thick stroganoff. If you want to loosen it up a bit, add some milk or pasta water to the mix.

Throw in your spinach and cook until wilted.

Serve over the egg noodles.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Baked Meatball Parmigiana

 We're comfort-fooding it up all over the place around here. While still keeping it simple. Because I think we all love comfort food if, you know, your grandma makes it. But then when you have to hang out for four hours while the roast cooks and dice 800 potatoes and shred two pounds of cheese and simmer down the sauce until it's a nice balsamic glaze and then get everything onto the table at just the right moment so nothing gets cold--well then fried eggs start to sound a lot better. And while there's nothing wrong with fried eggs, how about some hearty comfort food that's a little easier to pull together.

Baked meatballs are a new and glorious thing for me in general. In the past, I've always stood by the oven, rolling meatballs around in a skillet while the fat spit everywhere and the balls got too brown on the outside while still being a bit too pink on the inside. No more. Now that baked meatballs and I have been introduced, there's no turning back. They're so much easier and neater, juicier, and more evenly cooked.

This dish builds on the beauty of baked meatballs and adds to it. All you've got to do is roll meat in to balls. It takes about 10 minutes and then you're "work" is done. You do need 45 minutes to an hour for these to cook, so plan for that. Otherwise, a pot of pasta later, you're done.

Baked Meatball Parmigiana
adapted from Hugs and Cookies
Serves 4
prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45-60 minutes
Cost: $6.50 (even with a box of pasta, this comes up to less than $2.00/serving)
beef: 3.00, bread: .05, Parm cheese: .75, eggs: .20, tomato sauce: 1.50, mozzarella: 1.00

1 lb ground beef
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 C bread crumbs (I just used one slice and put it in my little blender)
3/4 C Parmesan cheese (I used the shredded, but in this recipe the powdery stuff might work too)
2 eggs
salt to taste
36 oz. your choice tomato sauce
1-2 C mozzarella
some pasta to serve it on if you're too proud to just spoon it out of the dish and eat it

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine ground beef, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan, eggs, and salt. I squish it together with my hands like a boss (naturally). Then roll it into meatballs. Larger meatballs will have a slightly longer cook time than smaller ones. We made 14 or 15.

Put a tiny bit of olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Then add your meatballs.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then add sauce, stir around the meatballs to coat and cook for another 15 minutes or so. (Note: Around this point, you want to start boiling your pasta water, so your pasta will be ready in time.)

Then throw on the cheese and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Cut one open to check for meatballs doneness and, uh, while you're at it you better taste it to make sure it's okay and stuff.

Serve over pasta or with bread.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Secret Recipe Club: Taco Roll

It's been a while since I've been with The Secret Recipe Club and it's nice to be back. This month I had 2 Cookin' Mamas--a mother/daughter team who cooks. Sweet and awesome. Once on their site, it took me, like, 12 seconds to find the recipe I wanted to make (which isn't to say that I didn't have plenty of fun wandering around their blog). I'd been wanting to to make something along this line for a while and there it was just staring at me, looking delicious. 2 Cookin' Mamas put guacamole in the center of theirs and I just loved that you could put that or salsa or cream cheese or whatever right in the middle of this. It looks beautiful and is functional too. I'd fully intended to do this, but when the time came, I was racing dinner onto the table and just happy to get a few pictures.

I called it a Taco Roll like they did, but I'd almost say it was a Taco Flower, wouldn't you?

This has a fairly simple ingredient list, but you'll need to plan time for a bit of assembly--not a ton, mind you, but know that you'll be rolling little taco balls and then stacking them up like monkey bread--taco-y monkey bread. It was seriously so so good.

Taco Roll
from 2 Cookin Mamas
serves 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes, plus 10 for the beef plus another 5 or so to cool--plan for an hour of cooking time, though only a portion of that will be hands-on
Cost: $8.00 or $1.30/serving
crescent dough: 2.00, beef: 3.00, beans: .50, cheese: 2.00, salsa: .50

2 packages of refrigerated crescent dough
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
2/3 can refried beans
12 oz Mexican blend cheese, grated (or a nice, sharp cheddar, which is what I used)
8 oz salsa

Preheat oven at 375. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.

First off, cook your hamburger with some salt and pepper. Or maybe some taco seasoning if that's your thing. (I just went with S and P)

As it's cooking, roll out your crescent triangles and get your other ingredients ready. Pour your salsa into a wide-mouthed bowl. Put your grated cheese on a plate.

When the beef is cooked and cooled somewhat (you don't want it smoking hot, but it doesn't have to be completely cool either), put a small amount of refried beans on your crescent triangle, then add 1-2 tablespoons of beef on top of that. Fold/roll it up so that the filling is all neatly tucked into your ball. Perfection is not necessary--you don't have to get everything perfectly sealed, but you don't want a crazy mess either.

Now drop this little folded ball into your salsa to coat and then roll it in the cheese. It's messy, but fun. Continue until all your balls are rolled and layered. I ended up with two layers. They didn't look big enough for my bundt pan, but after cooked, it was perfect. Sprinkle your leftover cheese and salsa on top.

Bake for 45 minutes, checking partway through to be sure it's not getting too brown (mine was fine). Remove and let it sit for several minutes. Then loosen up those edges and turn it out. It will be a pretty little flower of amazingness. If you wish, put something delicious in the center and serve.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Sloppy Joe Pie--Secret Recipe Club

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I had a fun little blog called Cheese Curd in Paradise. There was a bunch of stuff that looked good, and I pinned a few, but truthfully I knew what I wanted to make all along. As soon as I read the idea of a Sloppy Joe in pie form, I was on it. And I did not look back. It was delicious. And it can be made in, like, 10 minutes (plus bake time). Or you can pull out your crazy hat (just a little crazy, but you're adding some time to your recipe) and make it from scratch if you'd like (both methods will be covered below). Honestly, I would be glad to have found this blog just for this recipe. Because, I mean, the one problem with sloppy joes is that they're just so...sloppy. You put them on the bun and sure they're good, but they drip all out and you end up having to eat it with a fork anyway, and maybe you wish you'd just cut your burger up in the first place. This pie--it brings all the comfort food and eliminates the middle step of squeezing sloppy joe filling out onto your new shirt. You just go straight from pan to fork. Loved it.

Some notes:
-Ashley made this gluten-free simply by using gluten-free Bisquick
-I made this from scratch by using this recipe for homemade Bisquick. And a riff off of this recipe for homemade sloppy joes (basically a little sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, tomato sauce, and tomato paste). It was super delicious, but it seriously added a good 30 minutes to my prep time. If I had to do it again, I'd do it if I already had my homemade Bisquick all made and a leisurely dinner schedule. I would NOT make it from scratch if I had to get my husband out the door at 5:25 sharp and was about to go crazy--then I'd be dumping that sloppy joe sauce in and feeling pretty good about it too.

Sloppy Joe Pie
adapted from Cheese Curd in Paradise
Serves 4-6 (one pie pan)
Prep time: 15 minutes for the easy version; 30-40 minutes for the from-scratch version
Bake time: 30-60 minutes
Cost: $4.80 )that's $1.20/serving for a filling and fairly complete meal--yeah, I'm counting that tomato sauce in the sloppy joe as a vegetable; what about it)
meat: 3.00, onion: .20, sloppy joe sauce: 1.00, cheddar cheese: .75, Bisquick (not quite sure--totally guessing here): .50, eggs: .20, milk: .15

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15.5 oz) sloppy joe sauce
1 C shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 C milk
1 C Bisquick
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper

Heat oven to 400.

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat, stirring, until beef is brown and broken up. Stir in sloppy joe sauce and cheese (oh my, it makes me feel all drool-y to think about again). Spoon this into an 8-inch square pan or a 9 or 10 inch pie pan (what I used).

Now, in a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, Bisquick, garlic powder, and black pepper. I'd expected this to be kind of thick/lumpy like biscuit mix, but it wasn't--it was runnier--more like a thick pancake batter (and better that way, my friends, better). Pour this over the top of your beef mixture.

Bake for 30-60 minutes (why the big range? Ashley recommended 30 minutes, but ours was still super raw in the dough part at that point, so I ended up going another 20 minutes at least--again--just trying to prepare you if the husband, or anyone else, has to be out the door at a certain time). The top should be golden brown and if you stick a fork in the Bisquick part it should come out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes if you want and serve. If you serve it hot, it's going to be...wait for it...sloppy. You're not going to get a pretty slice like you see above. You're going to sort of scoop it onto your plate in a big glorious plop of tomato-y meat and carbohydrate (yum). That pretty slice in the picture above was from our leftovers the next day--after it had cooled and firmed up. Then it could be sliced and warmed in a tidy manner. However, sloppy first day or neater second day--it was delicious. Perfect meal, fabulous leftovers.

Thanks Ashley!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Creamy Dijon Chicken

Recently at a party, a friend commented that she had been checking my blog and that I hadn't had many recipes up lately. It was a fair critique. I have been uber busy the last two weeks and have spent this week whipping up such fabulous dinners as: Eggs.

But. That doesn't mean that I don't have a few recipes I've been meaning to post for ages and just haven't gotten to (see the busyness excuse; also the laziness one--oh, whoops, forgot to mention that one). So, my friend, here you go and enjoy. This is a simple, but very satisfying creamy chicken that'll get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. For the low-fat option--oh wait, never mind. (And truly I should have added some parsley to the top of this for color, don't you think.)

Creamy Dijon Chicken
adapted from The Hobo Kitchen
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $6.80 ($1.70/serving)
chicken: 5.00, cream: 1.50, mustards: .20, lemon juice: .05, other stuff: .05

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 C cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard (or whatever else kind of mustard you like)
1 tsp whole grain mustard (I think I subbed in cheap mustard here)
dash onion powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
dash chili flakes or a spring of parsley if you don't want your meal pale like mine is

Heat oil in a skillet. Add chicken breast and cook, browning on either side and cooking until center is no longer pink.

Remove chicken from pan. Cook garlic for a quick minute. (If you feel so inspired, you may also cook up some leeks or shallots). Add cream, mustard, and a dash of onion powder (if you didn't add leeks or shallots). Whisk and allow to simmer for 5-8 minutes until it has reduced just a bit.

While this happens, shred or cube your chicken.

Add lemon juice. Add shredded chicken back. Add salt, pepper, and possibly chili flakes to taste.

Simmer for several minutes.

Serve over rice. Or spoon from pan to mouth. Whatever floats your boat. Maybe garnish with parsley or at least serve a colorful vegetable.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

5-Minute Rice and Bean Casserole with Avocado-Lime Guacomole

And now it's time for another uber-cheap, yet perfectly amazing meal.

When you think beans and rice, you think cheap, but you don't think fabulous, do you? Well, now you can. You probably also don't think 5-minute. And to be honest, the cooking time for this is much longer (90 minutes so I totally drew you in with a gimmick, but wait--don't go...), but the hands on time is straight-up five minutes or less. You throw everything in a dish, then put that in the oven. Then go do yoga or watch your favorite show depending on your moral fiber and all. But whatever you do, well, you can do it. And then dinner will be ready, and you'll forget you're not at a Mexican restaurant (until you have to clean up the little sticky rices your kids threw on the floor; then you'll remember you're at your house).

This is good without the avocado, but it's really amazing with the avocado. If you can find one for under $1, go for it. This meal will still cost you less than $3.00 for 6 people (and it fills you up).

5-Minute Rice and Bean Casserole with Avocado-Lime Guacamole
adapted from Eat, Live, Run
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 90 minutes
Cost: $1.95 without Guac; $2.60 with
rice: .30, chicken broth (made from cubes): .30, tomato sauce: .25, beans: .55, chilies: .50, spices: .05, avocado: .60 (yup, got a sale), lime juice (not fresh): .05

For casserole:

1 C brown rice, dry
3 C veggie or chicken broth
8 oz. tomato sauce (not puree)
1 14.5 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I expect other types of beans would work as well)
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder

For Avocado-Lime Guacamole:

1-2 avocados
1 jalapeno, minced (I skipped this since I didn't have one and just used a pinch of cayenne)
pinch cumin
pinch garlic powder
juice 1-2 limes (or 1-3 Tbsp juice)

Preheat to 350 degrees.

In a 9x13 inch dish combine rice, broth, tomato sauce, beans, chilies, cumin, chili powder, salt, and garlic powder. Mix it up. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake 90 minutes. Do not peek. If you do, the steam and heat will keep leaving and this will take longer and maybe be too dry.

During the last five minutes of cooking time, mash your avocados. Add lime juice and seasonings. I also gave it a shake of salt.

Serve casserole with a plot of guac on top. You can also garnish with sour cream or cheddar cheese to good effect, though you really don't need tons of adornment.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Work-a-Day Wednesday: Braised Salmon with Lettuce

Raise your hand if you've never cooked lettuce.

Now raise your hand if you've never thought about cooking lettuce.

Now raise your hand if it seems a little grody-potody to cook lettuce.

Whatever. Put your hands down; I get enough of that non-adventurous pickiness at home.

Apparently, from my latest issue of Everyday Food (which started coming to me free in the mail btw; we'll see how long it keeps coming), cooking lettuce is something people do. Not only that, but it's, like, cool and stuff. I, being rather decidedly on a certain unflattering end of the cool-o-meter, had never cooked or thought about cooking lettuce in my life. In fact, when I made this recipe, I did so only because I had a couple of heads that were getting a little wilty around the edges and I figured I had nothing to lose by throwing them into a pot with some salmon. Nothing to lose indeed. Because the meal took a mere 20 minutes from start to finish, was super nutritious, and it tasted pretty darn good too.

But why, I can hear you asking. Why cook lettuce instead of doing up a nice salad on the side? Because...

1. Your lettuce is getting a little wilty--not rotten, but wilty. Perfect for a pot.
2. You have too much lettuce and can't bear the thought of one more salad. I get this way sometimes. I go on a salad kick and keep buying tons of lettuce and then one day my kick ends and I have a couple heads in my refrigerator that I don't even want to look at.
3. Cooking does destroy the enzymes, but to offset that, I notice that I tend to eat more of a green when it's wilted than when it's crisp. (Perhaps simple mouth mechanics are to thank--slurp versus chew chew chew.)
4. Sometimes I've got lettuce on hand and nary another salad fixing to speak of. What do you do? Have lettuce salads. Well, I've done that before, but cooking lettuce is a nice (and more satisfying) alternative.
5. Good-bye salad dressing; you're not needed here. In this dish at least, the flavor from the broth, coupled with a little salt and pepper was all the lettuce needed to be perfectly tasty.
6. Your lettuce is bitter. This is a problem I come up against especially as a home gardener. If my lettuce stars don't align I wind up with bitter lettuce. Cooking removes that bitterness.

One final note on cooking lettuce. I am far from being crazy experienced here, but I used 2 different types--a loose leaf red lettuce (no, I don't know what it's called; why would I know that?) and a Bibb type head. The Bibb was much better. It maintained a little crunch in the stemmiest parts, which made for a good mouth feel. And, for whatever reason, it came out sweet and perfect with the lemony broth. The other was fine, but not nearly so impressive. So go for something with a little more structure.

Here you can see the two types I used in the pot. 

(P.S. I realized a couple minutes later I was supposed to chop them and took them out and did that--so don't throw your lettuce in like this. The head-like one won't ever cook fully.)

Braised Salmon with Lettuce
adapted from Everyday Food
Serves: 4
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes (tops)
Cost: $5.85 (or $1.40/serving)
salmon: 4.40, lettuce: 1.00, lemon: .40, other stuff: .05

1 Tbsp butter
1 shallot (I didn't have so used a dash of onion powder.  I think a small leak or green onion would be good too)
2 tsp grated lemon zest (that of one small lemon and if you skip this, you'll be sad)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 C low-sodium chicken broth (water with some type of seasonings might do the trick too)
4 skinless salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)
salt and pepper
2 heads loose-ish leaved lettuce, chopped
chopped dill (for garnish and yumminess; I forgot it and missed it about halfway through the meal)

In large pot, melt butter. Add shallots (or onion-y substitution) and stir occasionally until tender.

Add lemon zest and juice. Add broth. Bring to a simmer.

Add salmon. Cover and cook 3 minutes.

Add chopped lettuce. Cover and cook until lettuce is wilted and salmon is cooked, about 6-9 minutes.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve topped with dill.

We had this with a side of rice and I found it light and satisfying both.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Farro Risotto

Traditionally risotto is an Italian rice dish made with Arborio rice--a short fat rice that is creamy and dreamy. After reading Lisa's post from 100 Days of Real Food here, I wanted to try a whole grain version, but I didn't have quick cooking brown rice and I sure didn't want to stand by the stove stirring for an hour or more. Not to worry. Because I had my own dreamy creamy solution to the whole grain problem. Farro. Remember farro? It's a whole grain in the wheat family. It even has the decency to be Italian. It cooks up quickly (at least my pearled farro does) and is creamy and toothsome in texture.

Risotto is still a hands-on dinner. It requires your presence. You have to stir it--not constantly, but regularly. Sometimes that can be a problem if there are 8 trillion other people requiring your presence while you're trying to cook dinner. However, if you can keep everyone in the kitchen so you can watch your pot, you should be fine. The other great thing about it requiring your eye and a bit of your attention is that you can finally clear out that dishwasher that should have been cleared out that morning. And maybe make up a nice golden batch of slowly sauteed onions (a la French onion soup) to be eaten with your meal or saved to make soup later.

Farro Risotto
adapted from 100 Days of Real Food
serves 2-4 depending on whether it's a side dish or main course
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: A little sketchy since my farro was a gift and I'm not sure how much it is, but about $2.10
(onion: .05, farro: .50, grape fuice: .10, stock--I used homemade so free; otherwise, about .30 if you use chicken granules, spinach: .30, chicken: .50, other stuff: .05, Parm cheese: .30)

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp grated onion (this is probably about 1/4 C chopped onion, but I grate mine so as to disguise it from those who don't like its texture)
1 C farro
1/3 C white grape juice (traditionally white wine, but we don't have it on hand. If you're a teetotaler like us and don't have any white grape juice, you can use more chicken stock or water and throw in a tsp sugar)
3 C chicken stock (I used homemade)
2 C spinach
1 C shredded chicken
1/3 C Parmesan

1. Heat olive oil in a pan (medium heat). Add grated or chopped onion and stir until fragrant, but not brown.

2. In the meantime, heat your chicken stock in a saucepan. (Why do you do this? You want it to be warm so that it doesn't cook or significantly slow the cooking process as you make your risotto. Keep the stock on the stove at a low simmer as you prepare your risotto. You don't want it boiling like mad as it will boil too much away while you make your risotto, but you don't want it cool either.)

3. Add farro (to the oil/onion mixture, not to the stock) and stir for a couple minutes to lightly toast the grain. (Why do you do this? It helps the grain hold its texture throughout the cooking process.)

4. Add the white grape juice to the farro and stir until it's absorbed (this won't take long at all).

5. Add a ladle-ful of stock to the risotto and stir. Keep stirring occasionally as the stock absorbs. (Why do I have to stir occasionally? Because this releases some of the starches and gives the risotto the appropriate texture when it's done.) Every time the stock is almost absorbed into the farro, add another ladle-ful, stirring occasionally until it absorbs. This is how you're going to spend the next 20 minutes. Simmer, stir occasionally, add another ladle-ful of warm stock, help your child spell 'continent,' and repeat.

6. In the meantime, chop the spinach and the chicken (we had leftover chicken from a roast chicken; otherwise you can use canned or boil a breast or skip it altogether and go vegetarian).

7. When you're just about to your last ladle or two of stock, add the spinach and the chicken and stir.

8. Add the last of your stock. Stir. Taste. This is important. The farro shouldn't be mush; it should be chewy and toothsome, but it shouldn't be rock-in-the-center either. If it's not done, add another 1/2 C of water and stir, allowing that to absorb. Note: You want a little bit of fluid to remain when you take this off the heat. It will probably absorb before you eat your meal, but if you let all the fluid get lapped up and then take the pan off heat, the bottom might dry out before you (finally) get all the kids to sit down at the table.

9. Add salt and pepper and taste, adjusting your seasonings if necessary.

10. Add Parmesan cheese and give it a stir or 2. Serve nice and warm.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Linked to Fusion Fridays

Baked Parmesan Chicken (with Eggplant Adaptation)

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

Have a look at our giveaway here and join in.

I've also updated Costs and Menus and am considering doing Jean's Food Journal again.

Recently, a friend gave me a couple of gorgeous eggplants. Which is one of the things I love about southern Indiana. We're not really the south, but we're just at the edge of it. We have (usually) mild winters with an ice storm here and there to keep it real; and (usually) long summers or forgiving falls or a sweet combination of both. Now if we could just grow some hills and get rid of the chiggers and mosquitoes, and maybe add a few sidewalks here and there--that, that would be heaven. But I digress.

So my friend gave me some eggplants and I knew I wanted to make eggplant Parmesan. I also knew that Kip would not eat eggplant Parmesan, at least without being paid copious amounts of money.

So I compromised. One of the great things about compromise is that it's usually good on both ends (or, I guess, bad on both ends). But in this case it was good on both ends. Though I still say that my end was better.

Which brings me to one final point: If you've never tried eggplant, this is an awesome dish to begin with. It's really really hard not to like.

Baked Parmesan Chicken with Eggplant Adaptation
adapted from 365 Ways To Cook Chicken: Simply The Best Chicken Recipes You'll Find Anywhere
Makes 9x13 inch pan
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Cost: $5.50-6.50 with chicken, and--oh, look how much cheaper with eggplant; wow--$1.50 if you have a good friend; otherwise $3.50 or so during eggplant season)
(chicken: 4.00-5.00, butter: .20, Parmesan: .50, milk: .15, Swiss: .50, bread crumbs: .15)

Note: I know this sounds like it doesn't have enough seasonings in it, but trust the cheeses (and butter and salt and pepper). This dish has tons of flavor.

4 large breasts chicken, cut into smaller strips (or, of course, strips of chicken)
3 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1/2 C grated Parmesan (Romano works too)
2 Tbsp flour
1 C milk
1/2 C shredded Swiss cheese (Swiss is awesome in this, but if you don't have it, you can use mozzarella to very good effect)
1/4 C bread crumbs

Note: Bread crumbs can be homemade by putting stale bread in the blender and pulsing until crumb-y. I used a combination of white and whole wheat because that's what I had around.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken. Add chicken to pan and cook, turning once the bottom side is golden brown. Cook until the other side is golden.

While the chicken is cooking, grease a 9x13 inch pan and sprinkle 1/4 C of the Parmesan cheese over it (I generally use a little less on the bottom--2-3 Tbsp--and then use a little more on top.)

When chicken is golden, set it on the Parmesan in the pan.

You should have some drippings left in your pan. If you don't, or if they're sparse, add 1-2 Tbsp more butter. Swirl that around. Whisk in flour and swirl around. Whisk in milk (I love a flat whisk here) and cook, stirring constantly, utnil smooth and thick. Remove from heat and stir in Swiss or mozzarella. Pour sauce over chicken.

Top chicken with remaining 1/4 C Parmesan cheese (or 5 Tbsp). Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is done (if using small strips, it should be done sooner than this). Note: Of course, chicken (about 170 degrees) is another great place to use your instant read thermometer...

Eggplant Adaptation:

Slice 2-3 large or 4-5 medium eggplant. I slice them into quarter inch slices (you can't peel first if you wish, but I like the color so I don't, although the skin does get a bit skin-ny on the end pieces).

Now--and this is an important and fabulous tip from America's Test Kitchen--put them in a single layer on about 3 layers of paper towels in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. This is going to dehydrate them a bit. They'll come out looking a bit shriveled and sad. Do Not Despair. This is as it should be.

Eggplant tends to suck up a lot of moisture and this microwaving keeps them from being soggy after browning in the butter and then being baked for a time. Seriously, do it. Your eggplant will come out so much better in this dish.

Now proceed with the recipe as you would with the chicken. Brown them in the butter until both sides are golden. Slather them in sauce, then cheese. And bake.

As you can see from the picture up top, we baked ours right next to each other (here's to our marriage and to compromise), although if you're a vegetarian, I trust you'd want to use a different pan so the juices don't mingle.

We served ours on pasta mixed with a marinade sauce and a Caesar salad thereby.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Zucchini Orzo

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

Now you see the zucchini...

Now you don't.

Which is one of the many many wonderful things about this recipe. If there are people in your family willing to consume large amounts of vegetable with their pasta, you can leave the skin of your zucchini on and include any of a number of other delicious and colorful vegetable add-ins (tomatoes, peppers, olives, peas...). If the people in your family would rather see their fingernails ripped off than know that their pasta contains a vegetable not in sauce form, then you merely peel the skins off the zucchini and I'll be darned if they don't get completely lost in that orzo. And just in case they're not completely lost, you can slather that stuff in a nice red tomato sauce and, by gum, they will be.

But first a few words on hiding one's vegetables in unsuspecting white starchy foods. I have a friend who studied nutrition who believes very strongly that hiding vegetables instead of serving them straight up just develops unhealthy habits in children (and, cough, husbands). She believes that while they may end up eating their hidden vegetables, they will not learn to be accepting of those poor vegetables that have the misfortune of actually looking the part, and that this will inhibit their making of healthy choices throughout life. I agree with my friend wholeheartedly. I believe that sometimes vegetables must be seen instead of just heard, um--tasted, um, whatever. Kids need to get used to trying things that don't look like a cookie or taste like a cookie or have a nifty cartoon character on the box.

And yet. And yet. There are those times. I think most of you know what times I mean--those times when a hapless vegetable is simply so unloved that something must be done to get the little guy in the gate. Or times when your kid is going through a little vegetable strike (Hello Emma). Or when you don't want a big fight at dinner. Or times when you, in your perfectly clueless first few years of parenting--years in which you may or may not have allowed your oldest child to have a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of cereal every night for dinner because the little dear just wouldn't eat anything else and you were so (hands wringing) concerned that the little guy would perish from his own perfectly darling stubbornness that you gave in every night even though every other mother who had been a mother of more than one child for more than 60 seconds counseled you not to give in--yes, you may be one of those parents who may or may not (this is not a place of judgment) have neglected to develop said healthy habits in your children and therefore must resort to measures of stealth. At least occasionally while you backtrack and try to make up for lost vegetable time and establish some better habits, conking your head on the countertop wondering why--why I ask you--you did not listen to those more experienced mothers and tell little Junior Cute Cheeks to eat up or go without.

The solution: hide some vegetables in your food, but don't forget to set a few whole on the table as well.

By the way, orzo, should you not know what it is (I'd never cooked with it before either), is a small pasta that looks like rice, or as Mark pointed out, small seeds. You will be shocked how much zucchini can be stuffed into a serving of it without it being noticeable. I went conservative the first time (the peeled zucchini picture) because I really didn't know how my audience would react, and we still each got 1/2 C. The next day I made more for my lunch (the un-peeled zucchini picture) and I put a whole medium sized zucchini in one large serving and wished I'd added more.

And if you're still not convinced how awesome this can be, it only takes 20 minutes from start to finish (and that includes zucchini grating time). Marry me, 20-minute meals.

Zucchini Orzo
adapted from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Makes 2 main course or 4 side dish servings
Prep and cook time: 20 minutes

1/2 lb orzo pasta
1 large zucchini or about 4 C grated zucchini
1/4 grated onion or a couple dashes onion powder
2 cloves garlic minced (or a couple dashes garlic powder)
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 C Parmesan cheese or sharp cheddar (supposing you happen to run out of Parmesan on the day you're to make this, not that I ever would)
salt and pepper to taste
a few pinches chicken bouillon granules
other chopped vegetables (optional--peppers, olives, tomato, spinach, peas--all these would have been great additions)

Cook orzo according to instructions on box.

While it's cooking, heat oil in a skillet and grate your zucchini and onion if using (and any other hard vegetables such as peppers that you may be using). Add salt, pepper, and onion/garlic powders to oil and let them sit for 20 seconds. Add vegetables to oil in skillet (should sizzle, but not go nuts). Mix it around to get it all kind of oily. Turn heat to medium or just below that and allow the zucchini to cook fully (uncovered), stirring occasionally. Add garlic (if you didn't add powder above.

Drain orzo. Add it to skillet and turn heat to low. Mix it up with the zucchini mixture. Add pinches chicken bouillon granules. Add any soft vegetables you may be using such as tomatoes or spinach. Add cheese(s). Give it a stir or two. Taste, adjusting seasoning and serve. Note: I liked this best simply plain, but Kip liked his best with a bit of tomato sauce mixed in. Of course, you can also add meatballs or sausage or whatever if you wish to de-vegetarian it.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Falafels with Cheater Sauce

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $10/day.

Q: Do you know what I love even more than a recipe that gets my husband to eat a vegetable he normally wouldn't touch? 

A: A recipe that is comprised almost entirely of foods he professes to hate (cilantro: check, chick peas: check, onions: check) that he ends up really liking. How is this even possible? I will tell you: it's all in the cheater sauce. My husband loves a good sauce. And this is a very good sauce (which, for the record, still contains an ingredient he professes to hate; yes, I'm confused about it too).

I never even would have tried to feed Kip falafels. Fortunately I didn't have to. Way back on Easter, some friends invited us over for some "Jesus food," which turned out to be falafels. Yum. And there Kip was eating them up, and not just to be polite. The man actually seemed to be enjoying them.

So as soon as I had a good bit of cilantro in the house, I gave them a go myself. I found a fabulous recipe for falafels on allrecipes and I was careful not to forget my friend's falafel sauce. Normally, you use some type of cucumber yogurt sauce on falafels. This is very yummy. However, my friend just whipped up a packet of ranch dressing per the directions and added a handful of finely chopped cilantro. Wow. It is good. It is so good you will be surprised how very good it is. Should I say good again. Okay, I will. Good. So good.

Falafels with Cheater Sauce
adapted from Sean on allrecipes (thanks, Sean, it was awesome)
Makes 9-12 falafels (enough for 2-4 adults)
Prep time: 8 minutes
Cook time: 10-15 minutes
Cost: $1.00, probably $1.50 if you buy fresh herbs
(chick peas: .66, onion: .10, egg: .10, parsely: mine came from the garden: free, cilantro: again from the garden, but it was on sale at Walmart a few weeks ago for .64/bunch: bread crumbs: .05, other stuff: .05)

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas
1 small onion
1/2 C fresh parsley (you could probably sub 2 Tbsp dried, but you'll loose a bit of the fresh taste)
1/4-1/2 C fresh cilantro (the original recipe called for 1 tsp ground coriander, but I love fresh cilantro)
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 egg
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 dash pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp baking powder
1 C dry bread crumbs
oil for frying (optional)

Note: I made this in a food processor. It was way easy. I recommend it. If you don't have one, you could use a blender unless your blender is really nice, in which case it will get everything too mushy/thin. If you have to, you can just chop/mash the stuff together.

In food processor, combine onions, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. You might have to scrape the edges of the processor a couple times. You want them very finely chopped. Add the chick peas and process till it's mashy (which is a purely scientific term meaning somewhere between smoothy-like and chopped-veggie-like). Add seasonings and baking soda and pulse. Add egg and pulse, scrape the sides and pulse again. Add bread crumbs and pulse. You should have a batter (for lack of a better word--and that is rather what it looks like, only green) that can be rolled or patted into patties. I made 10 or so. I believe they were about 2 inches in diameter.

Heat your oil. I just use enough to create a millimeter or so of oil in a cast iron skillet. Note: Olive oil will smoke. You want some type of vegetable oil (I used canola) or coconut oil. Drop a small tester plop in. It should sizzle in the oil, but not smoke or burn. When your oil is ready, add the patties and cook till golden on each side. Important note: You don't want to flip them until they're good and golden because the more often you flip them, the more likely they will be to fall apart on you. Flip them once, maybe twice and they'll hold just fine.

Put them on a paper towel to drain.

Note: Instead of frying, you can bake these. I did both. Yes, I liked the fried ones better. The fat brought out the flavor and gave them a delightful crispiness. However, the baked were good as well.

To bake: 

Bake the patties at 400 degrees for about 17-18 minutes, flipping them after the first 10 minutes.

And now for the magic.

Cheater Sauce: 

1 packet Ranch dressing mix 

1 C milk

1 C mayo

good handful cilantro leaves (I'm going to say 1/2-1 C leaves)

Whisk Ranch dressing mix, milk, and mayo until combined. 

Chop cilantro until it's really chopped up well. Combine to dressing and whisk.

Serve over falafels. Don't tell your husband the sauce he so adores also contains cilantro.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Broccoli Barley Casserole

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 tries to eat on $6/day.

A little over a month ago, my sister announced that they were having something weird for dinner that night: farro. I thought she said 'sparrow' and agreed that that was incredibly weird. I also wondered out loud how ones goes about procuring and eating sparrow. We eventually got it straightened out. Turns out, however, that farro is just as hard to find as sparrow in Evansville. When I asked at the co-op--normally a fairly reliable source of weird food potential--the girl in charge hadn't even heard of it.

My sister suggested I use barley instead, saying that they had a similar texture. Which is what I did. And let me say that I've had barley before--mostly in soup, but this casserole really made me fall in love with it. It was chewy and perfect, and something about the textures in this casserole made me understand how vegetarians sometimes say that a meatless meal is sort of 'meaty.' For me, the barley provided a sort of meatiness. It was more toothsome and complex than something like rice would have been. Now, my brother-in-law loves this casserole so much that he wants my sister to make it every week, but for the record, and for purposes of full disclosure, Kip did not fall in love with barley in this recipe, nor did he find it to be in any way 'meaty.' So don't go telling your husbands that it's just like chicken, just tell them they have to eat it in front of the kids. Maybe they'll like it. Maybe they won't. Either way, tell them thank you if they eat it because, whether they deserve to be thanked for eating your perfectly delicious food or not, it'll help the next time around when you spring something weird on them. As long as it's not sparrow.

Broccoli Barley Casserole

Makes 9x13 casserole

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Cost: $5.02
(olive oil: .02, onion: .10, barley: .60, broth: .10, Parmesan: 1.00, broccoli: .80, spinach: .15, garlic: .15, beans: .20, Montery Jack: .90)

4 tsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 C farro or barley

2 C vegetable or chicken broth (I used 2 bullion cubes in 2 C water)

1 1/2 C water (for the barley I ended up using about 2 or 2 1/2 C)

1 C shredded Parmesan (2 oz)

2 heads broccoli

1 C spinach, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (these can be skipped if you don't have them; a dash of hot sauce might also do the trick)

1 14 oz. can or 1 3/4 C rehydrated white beans (I used Great Northern)

3/4 C Montery Jack cheese (the original recipe called for fontina, but we're living cheap here)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 tsp of the oil in large saucepan or Dutch oven. Add oil and cook onion until very lightly browned.

Sitr in barley (or farro) and cook until lightly roasted (about 2 minutes). Stir in the broth and water and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and continue simmering, uncovered, stirring often, until barley is tender and remaining liquid has thickened to a creamy sauce (about 20-25 minutes). (Note: When my liquid was nearly gone, my barley was still not done, so I added 1/2-1 C more water and cooked longer.)

Take off heat and stir in Parmesan. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.

While the barley is simmering, put the broccoli in a microwave proof bowl with 1/2 C water, cover it with plasic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes. (Alternately, you can steam it on the stove.) Drain water off.  

In a new pot, add remaining oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minutes until sizzling. Stir in broccoli. Add spinach and stir for a minute until spinach wilts. Off heat, stir in beans and cooked barley. Taste again and adjust salt and pepper. (Note: I followed this step, but I bet you could simplify this whole thing by adding the garlic and red pepper flakes at the beginning after the onion had browned and then once the barley had cooked and you'd added the Parmesan, just throw the broccoli and white beans into the pot.)

Position oven rack 6 inches from broiler and heat the broiler. If you're using a Dutch oven, sprinkle with Montery Jack and throw it into the oven. If not, put it in a broiler safe 9x13 inch pan, then sprinkle with cheese and broil it until lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Cooking Quick

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $6/day.

About a week ago, I came across a link for this article by Pete Wells who wrote "Cooking with Dexter." In it we read of a father who sometimes cooks with his kids (good), and who is trying to be honest about how much he actually cooks with them (still good) and about how, as a working father, it's not always easy or even possible to do so (I'm still with him). But then he goes on to state that many people who work a lot (and by his description of a lot--even while in bed--I took it to mean a whole awful lot, 12 to 15-hour days) are just "too busy to cook." At least not on any kind of a regular basis (perhaps this is true, but it was starting to ruffle my feathers a bit). His solution? Having processed foods that wouldn't make people fat or sick. That was it. Problem solved. I'll write Santa today and let him know.

Thinking that I may have just been in a grumpy mood when I first read it, I read it again today. It still got under my skin.

This is why.

First off, working too much to cook is a choice. It may even be the best choice for you. It may keep you fed period. Or in your house. Or in your lifestyle. But it is still a choice. And, as with all choices, it comes with consequences--some of them good; some of them bad. It's up to us to decide if the good outweigh the bad. And then it is my belief that it's up to us to do our best to deal with, and fix as much as possible, the consquences that may be negative. It's not the government's job. And it's not the food industry's job. The idea that someone else must ease the consequences of our choices because it appears that the Joneses don't have any negative consequences to their choices as they live their gold-paved lives, is frankly ridiculous to me, not to mention extremely disempowering for each of us.

Secondly, what exactly does he expect the government or the food industry to do? If he expects both government and food industry to work together in a truly philanthropic enterprise to ensure that our processed food is as utterly healthy and inexpensive as it can possibly be, then he has a good bit more faith in the system than I do. Also, he is clearly on LSD. So now that I'm done writing to Santa, I'm going to run out back and see if the money tree I ordered by mail is producing yet. Hmm, seems a little brittle.

Thirdly, let's imagine (as we stand in front of our money trees pondering) that government and big (or small for that matter) business are only in it to help people out with no thought whatsoever to their bottom lines, how exactly would they make processed foods cheap, healthy, fresh, and accessible? Frozen dinners (the reference he uses) must be kept cold, must be preserved, and through all the processing, transporting, and refrigeration must be made to have some taste that the masses enjoy (pass the salt, baby; oh, and the high fructose corn syrup too).

Fourthly, to an extent processed food is simply any food that is processed. It's food that must be transported and/or preserved. And yet, there are varying degrees of processing and, in my opinion, varying degrees of good and bad within that processing process. There's tomato puree that contains only tomatoes that have been smashed and canned. And there are TV dinners, which contain--whether organic or not--plenty of preservatives, extra salts, and extra sugars. If you need a quick meal, you can grab a TV dinner, or you can boil some pasta and throw some tomato sauce and dried herbs on it (each of those foods is also processed, but less so). Now, with all this ranting, don't get me wrong: I believe that there's a time and a place for all these foods. When I was in college the same 5 foods over and over again (spaghetti, burritos, baked potatoes, PBJ's, and oatmeal) pretty much every day of my college life. I'm not sure it was the best food decision, but I was very very busy and fairly poor and it could have been much worse. And of course, there are even times for minute microwaved meals--times when they'll save you money because they're cheaper than going out. Times when they'll save you sanity. Just because that's life. Or times when you haven't quite made it to the all-foods-all-from-scratch kind of thing that is totally hip these days, but is not necessarily completely sustainable for normal folks. Again, these are all choices we must make. Or perhaps I should say, these are choices we are privileged to make. Make them well my friends. And don't expect the government or food industry to come up with something better.

 And, finally, it doesn't hurt to have a few from scratch (or pretty near) meals up your sleeve that you can pull out on those nights. Last time I was in Walmart I took a gander at the frozen dinners section. The hot pockets only take a minute to heat up; I can't compete with that (but, like, seriously, so gross). Several of the dinners took only about 5 minutes to make, although they were the individual TV dinners, so if you've got a family of 6 to heat up, you're looking at a good 15 minutes should you have the good fortune of being able to cram 3 in at a time. The family sized frozen dinners all took at least 12-15 minutes and sometimes nearly 30 minutes to make. In that case, you might as well pull out a couple of your own quick meals (unless you're just exhausted; in which case, I get it. I do).

So maybe you can't be a foodie or a gourmet in 15 minutes or less. But you can turn out some pretty decent meals. Here are a few ideas for super fast dinners (though in fact, nearly every meal on this site can be made in less than 30 minutes--I've got 4 kids; they hang upon my ankles; they whine).

1. Browned Butter Tilapia: 10 minutes

2. Skillet Lasagna: 25-30 minutes, but less than 10 are active with you doing something.

3. Blender Waffles (or pancakes or French toast or muffins or scrambled eggs): 20 minutes

4. Broccoli Alfredo: 15 minutes

5. Any meal comprised of leftovers be it soup, casserole, fried rice, jazzed up salad, sandwiches, or anything in a burrito.

P.S. In a completely narcissistic and also lazy way, I've linked to all my own recipes; there are plenty of others around, and decent quick cookbooks too. I've got The Betty Crocker Quick and Easy Cookbook and like it fairly well.

P.P.S. As a disclaimer regarding the original rant: I haven't read any other posts/articles by Wells and therefore recognize that it is possible that I am not giving the man a 100% fair shake.

Spinach Quiche (or Spinach Pie, depending on whose family you grew up in)

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch our family of 6 learn to eat on $6/day.

First of all, an announcement: I've finally gotten all the recipes on this site so they're printable. Just click on PRINTABLE RECIPE and voila, you should be there.

There now, that's more virtuous than frosting, isn't it. And I certainly don't mean that in a bad way. There are times for frosting and there are times for spinach. Frankly, I enjoy them both.

Don't love spinach pie? You just might love (or at least like) this. I didn't used to love spinach pie either; it always seemed too spinach-y or too egg-y. The cream cheese rescues this recipe from such a fate. Enjoy.

Spinach Quiche
adapted from smittenkitchen
Serves 8
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes plus a few minutes to cool/set
Cost: $2.25
(spinach: .70, cream cheese: .40, milk: .10, eggs: .30, Cheeses: .75)

Note on spinach: The original recipe calls for 10 oz. We made several times with about half that and loved it (meaning that I loved it and Kip liked it). This last time I decided to live dangerously and used about 8 oz. spinach. It did not go over as well, which is what I get for living dangerously. I liked it, and Kip ate it, but didn't eat the whole serving--which was large, but still--and hasn't had any leftovers.) So use more spinach at your own risk.

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature (if you happen to think about it; otherwise throw it in the microwave for 20 seconds)
1/3 C half and half or milk
3 eggs
4-5 oz spinach, frozen (thawed and drained) or fresh (lightly chopped)
1/2 C shredded cheddar
1/4 C shredded Parmesan
1/4 tsp onion powder (or a few sliced green onions if you and yourn like to live dangerously)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 425.

Beat cream cheese. Beat in half and half, then eggs. Add seaonings, cheese, and spinach.

Pour into a pie crust.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until you can stick a fork in it and come out clean (between 160 and 180 on an instant read thermometer). Cool a few minutes before serving so it sets up.

Crust:
Cost: $.64
(flour--combo white and whole wheat: .14, butter: .50)
(Yeah, you can buy one, but if you have a food processor this takes only about 5 minutes and it tastes so so much better. And of course, even with that real butter, it's cheaper too.)

1 1/4 C flour (I use half whole wheat and half all-purpose)
1/2 C butter, cut into tablespoons
1/4-1/2 C cold water

Stick flour and butter in the food processor and process until you've got pea-sized chunks of butter (if you accidentally make them smaller, it's okay). Add water, starting with 1/4 C. If it comes together in a ball, proceed to roll it out. If not, add more water by the tablespoon until it does. (Alternately, you can cut the butter in with 2 knives or with a pastry cutter if you don't have a food processor or if you are a purist when it comes to pie crusts.)

Take dough out  and roll it to 1/8 inch thickness. Put in ungreased pie pan and shave off overhanging sides. Or, if you're me, cut and patch because your roll-out job wasn't perfectly round or even close and you have places that need more and places with too much overhang.

PRINTABLE RECIPE