Bruschetta

Bruschetta is one of my favorite appetizers to order and I'm amazed I've never tried making it at home until now.  I read a variety of recipes before deciding how I wanted to make it and let me tell you there are some opinions on making Bruschetta! Apparently, some feel strongly about everything from how you pronounce it (Brushetta or Brusketta) to the bread you use to whether you mix the garlic in with the tomatoes or rub it onto the bread.  I say do whatever fits your taste!  I really enjoy the flavor of garlic so I mixed my garlic into the tomato mixture but if you want a lighter touch of garlic you can simply rub a clove or two on the toast while it is still hot so it melts into the bread.

Normally, I would have made this with Roma tomatoes but I was enticed by the beautiful color of the Kumatos at the grocery store and decided to try those this time.  I toasted some fresh homemade bread that my husband made.  It was wider than most baguettes or French loaves and we used 10 slices so if you use a skinny loaf you'll probably need closer to 15 slices. I also like to really load on the tomatoes so if you like less topping then you'll need more toast slices.

• 5 small tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 10-15 slices of baguette, French or Italian bread

Chop tomatoes and place in a mixing bowl.  Combine tomatoes with minced garlic, basil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, onion powder, salt and pepper.  Slice 10-15 pieces of bread (15 if your loaf is narrow, 10 if your loaf is wide).  If desired, brush lightly with olive oil or melted butter. Toast for a few minutes in the oven. Remove toast from oven and top with tomato mixture.

Spinach & Mushroom Quiche

I made this quiche for breakfast with some lovely friends this morning and it turned out great!  The texture was nice and light. It was so flavorful--the perfect savory dish to go with a tall glass of orange juice. I started with this recipe as a guideline but made changes to fit my own tastes: Spinach Quiche.  I love that you can be flexible with this recipe--you could use whatever types of veggies and cheese you prefer.  I combined some muenster with Kraft's triple cheddar shredded cheese.

9-inch pie crust
2 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp minced onion
6 oz spinach, chopped
4 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
4 eggs
1 cup milk
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lay unbaked pie crust out in a 9-inch pie dish. Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and minced onion and cook for 1 minute.  Add chopped mushroom and spinach and saute 3-5 minutes until spinach is wilted and mushrooms start to brown.  Add most of the cheese, reserving 1/4 cup for later, and mix well.  Pour vegetable and cheese mixture into the pie crust. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour over the vegetable mixture in the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over the top.  Return to oven and bake another 30-40 minutes until the top is golden and the eggs are set.  Let rest 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 servings at 241 calories per serving.

Roasted Chicken II

Laugh if you must...but the roasted chicken was so delicious and the sale price on whole chickens was so good that we made it twice!  I wanted to try using less butter so I thought I'd let you know how it turned out.  The second time I only used 1/4 cup butter (instead of 1/2 cup), putting 1 Tbsp inside the chicken cavity and cutting the rest into 1/8 inch thick pads to spread over the outside of the chicken.  It was still juicy and moist but the skin did not get as golden.  If you are going to avoid eating most of the skin anyway, then it probably won't make much difference for you to use less than the 1/2 cup.

This time I added some small potatoes to the dutch oven and they turned out wonderful!  I'm sure it helped that they were fresh from the farmers market, but they were also cooked to perfection and literally melted in your mouth.  My husband even went crazy for them and he is not much of a baked potato person.

Roasted Chicken

This week I endeavored to roast my first chicken! I started with this recipe for Juicy Roasted Chicken and made a few changes based on some other research I did.  The recipe is heavy on butter, but having just watched Julie & Julia, I was reminded how much butter really does make everything taste delicious. So I decided not to skimp on it this time and my, was it tasty! The flavor was excellent but even better was the tenderness of the meat--so moist it fell off the bone.  After seeing the amount of butter drained off in the bottom of my pan, I will definitely try reducing it to 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup to see if it still produces the same tender, juicy result.

I used a dutch oven and I kept the lid on until the last 15 minutes when I removed the lid to let the skin get a little more golden.  After removing the chicken from the dutch oven, I moved the pot to the stove and mixed some water and flour with the leftover butter and drippings in the pot to make a gravy.

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb whole chicken
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
salt and pepper

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.  Truss the chicken if desired (if you don't know how to do this--look up an instructional video).  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Salt and pepper the entire chicken liberally,  inside the cavity and the entire outside of the chicken. Sprinkle onion powder and parsley over the chicken, inside and out.  Cut celery stalk into 4 pieces and stuff inside chicken cavity with 3 Tbsp butter and the garlic clove.  Cut remaining butter into small pads and spread them over the outside of the chicken, rubbing into the chicken slightly so they stay in place.  Place chicken in roasting pan or dutch oven and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Turn down oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook an additional 20 minutes per pound of meat or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees.  Let the chicken rest about 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven so the juices can settle.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love Italian food and I've been searching for a good meatball recipe.  This has been adapted from a few different recipes I read. It has just the right amount of spices for me and the meatballs stay nice and moist. I hope you enjoy it as much we do!

Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork or turkey
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs or oats
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & pepper to taste

Sauce

• 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes (you can use 1 can of diced if you prefer chunky sauce)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp red wine

Combine meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Form into balls the size of golf balls.  Heat olive oil (about 2 Tbsp) in a skillet on medium heat and brown meatballs on all sides.  While meatballs are browning, combine sauce ingredients in a large pot on the stove and begin to simmer the sauce on low heat.  Add meatballs to the sauce once they are browned.  Let sauce and meatballs simmer covered for about 2 hours.  Serve over 16 oz of cooked angel hair pasta.  Serves 8.