Better late than never, here's what we're having (had) for supper this week:
   Monday -- frittata
   Tuesday -- pasta with tomato cream sauce
   Wednesday -- veggie stir fry
   Thursday -- lentil soup
   Friday -- tamale pie, salad
   Saturday -- cream of mushroom chicken, rice, butter beans, cooked carrots
   Sunday -- Brunswick stew, cole slaw, cornbread

throw it in frittata

So far this is not shaping up to be a typical week.  Right, and it's only Monday.  We were out of town this weekend and while away my daughter came down with a cold.  So no time to plan our meals ahead of time and no time to shop today.  

I thought I wouldn't be able to make supper without going to the grocery store.  Silly me.  (As my daughter would say.)

We had a frittata tonight.  

I've made this Martha Stewart frittata several times before and tonight I made it with what I had around:  two baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, frozen spinach.  

Simple and tasty.  And I used up things in the pantry and refrigerator.  What's not to like?  

corn pudding

I'd never made corn pudding until a few months ago.  I was really missing out.

In early December I wanted to try to make foods that other families may think of as holiday foods, but they aren't considered holiday foods in my family.  Green bean casserole, corn pudding and experimenting with dressing namely.  The first place I looked for a corn pudding recipe was the  Junior League of Houston's cookbook Peace Meals.  I made that one and then I stopped looking for a corn pudding recipe.

corn pudding adapted from Peace Meals
2 tablespoons of butter
1 chopped yellow onion
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
2 cloves minced garlic
3 cups corn (fresh, canned, frozen, whatever)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon coarse salt
dash of cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese (swiss, white cheddar, whatever you've got)
4 slices of bacon
1 chopped green onion

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Cook bacon in a 8x8 baking dish.  While bacon is cooking...

Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.   Cook the onions, jalapenos and garlic for 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the corn, thyme, salt and cayenne.  Stir in the flour and mix well.  Remove from heat and separate into two equal portions.  Puree one portion in a food processor or blender (I like my handheld for this), then mix the two portions back together.  Set aside to cool.

The bacon should be ready by now.   Remove bacon from pan and crumble.  Wipe most of the bacon grease out of the pan, but leave some behind because you are going to put the corn pudding in there and you don't want it to stick.

Combine the eggs, cream, sugar, pepper, cheese, bacon and green onions in a large bowl, whisking until slightly frothy.  Add the corn mixture to the egg mixture and combine well.

Pour into the prepared dish and bake for 40 minutes or until set.

Serves 4 plus.

a short week

We're going to be out of town this weekend so not many meals and trying to clear out the refrigerator a bit before we go.

This week's suppers:
   Monday -- meatloaf, corn pudding, green beans
   Tuesday -- curry chicken salad
   Wednesday -- frittata or leftovers
   Thursday -- sandwiches

sun-dried tomatoes

Yesterday I bought a package of sun-dried tomatoes.  I was a bit surprised when I opened them as they were much smaller than I thought they'd be.  Then I tasted them and they were much sweeter than I expected.  (I looked at the package again and it does say "sweet" so I shouldn't have been surprised.)  Good though!  I couldn't stop eating them.  Since I liked them so much I thought I'd put them in the macaroni and cheese I made for supper last night.  A wonderful addition.

Ultimate Mac & Cheese 
8 ounces elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
2 cups cheese (I used Edam because I already had it)
salt
peper
dried onion
about 1 cup of chopped ham
1 cup peas
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
bread crumbs

Cook macaroni according to package directions, minus a minute or so.

Cheese sauce -- melt butter over medium-high heat, whisk in flour, whisk in milk.  Stir until sauce coats the whisk.  Season with salt, pepper, and dried onion.  Take off heat and add all but about 1/4 cup of the cheese.  Stir until melted.

Mix macaroni, ham, peas, tomatoes, and cheese sauce.

Mix remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.  Top macaroni with breadcrumb mixture.

Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes or until top is browned and macaroni is bubbly.

Enjoy!

leftover stew & salad

I was planning on making lentil soup last night.  But since we still had Bloody Mary Vegetable Stew leftovers in the refrigerator it just didn't make any sense.

I liked the taste of the stew, but there was something about it I didn't like.  I thought maybe it was the sliced potatoes, so I used my potato masher to mash the potatoes a bit before we ate the stew.  I liked it better that way, but I'm not sure that I'll be making this stew again.  Or if I do, I'll half the recipe so that we don't have leftovers.

To go along with the leftover stew I made a quick broccoli salad.  I like to steam the broccoli just a little bit before making the salad.  For the dressing I mix equal parts mayo and plain yogurt, a bit of finely chopped onion (tonight it was one green onion, white and green parts), small cubes of cheddar cheese, raisins, a bit of sugar, salt, and pepper.  It's a salad that I've always liked and began making it myself not too long ago.

brussels sprouts

Once upon a time I didn't like brussels sprouts.  They were probably the only vegetable that I didn't like.  Or maybe I never had them prepared the right way....  I don't really know how they were prepared, but I didn't like them.

They are very popular here.  And I've figured out how to cook them so that I like them a lot!

brussels sprouts, 2 1/2 ways
olive oil
brussels sprouts
onion, diced
sweet potato, diced
apple, diced
salt
pepper

Wash the brussel sprouts throughly, cut the bottom stem off, take off any discolored outer leaves, and cut them in half.

1. Saute brussels sprouts and onion in olive oil.   Season with salt and peper, lots of salt.  Cook until almost burnt (at least that's how I like them).

2. Mix brussel sprouts, onion, sweet potato and olive oil in a Dutch oven.  Season with salt and pepper.  Put lid on pot.  Cook at 400° F for 20 minutes.  Stir.  Cook for another 20 minutes.

2 1/2.  Replace sweet potato with an apple.  Same cooking method.

I like them best roasted in the oven with a sweet potato.  Really good.

You can use a Pyrex dish covered with foil.  Not quite the same, but it works.

suppers

My excitement for the Super Bowl faded the more I thought about that we wouldn't be watching the game. So we had chili, chips, and cheese with spinach, tomatoes, and avocado.  It was tasty and sort of football food, but not the feast I'd originally thought we'd have.

This week's suppers:
   Monday --- leftover hot & sour soup and cashew chicken
   Tuesday -- lentil soup
   Wednesday -- curried eggplant with tomatoes & basil
   Thursday -- mac & cheese with ham & peas
   Friday -- cornbread topped BBQ chicken
   Saturday -- pasta bake
   Sunday -- roasted chicken, hearty winter veggie pilaf

meatloaf

I may never cook meatloaf in the oven again.  Today I tried a recipe from Southern Living for cooking meatloaf in a crock pot.  It was so good.  Rather easy too.

I cannot find onion soup mix here so I substituted a beef bullion cube and about one tablespoon of dried onion and it worked out just fine.  I also used dijon mustard in the sauce because I didn't have any other mustard.  And I liked it so well I'll do it again that way.  For everything else I followed the recipe.

Already looking forward to a meatloaf sandwich for tomorrow's lunch!