Leftover Creamed Spinach and Blue Cheese Frittata

It is pretty rare when I don't have somewhere to be in the morning. I absolutely love breakfast/brunch, but my morning routine usually consists of grabbing a granola bar or yogurt and hitting the road. Today, however, I had zero morning obligations and decided I would make something special for myself. Frittatas are SO easy. They are basically a giant omelette that you finish cooking under the broiler in your oven. And they taste good with any number/combination of ingredients. Any veggies or cheeses or meats that you would enjoy in an omelette, you will also enjoy in a frittata. At my house we try really, really hard not to waste food, so we are major leftover eaters. I made some creamed spinach the other evening that we didn't finish so that is how it ended up in my frittata breakfast this morning. I added some blue cheese before I stuck it under the broiler and JEEEZ, it came out pretty delicious.

Mmm, Pie

Fruit pies are so delicious, and I don't really feel guilty eating them because they are mostly made of fruit. The crust, however, is a whole different story. I got this recipe off of smittenkitchen.com, and the basis of its appeal was not only that it was an apple & plum combo (YUM), but also that it was a single crust pie (no bottom crust). Now, I know what you're thinking, "the crust is the best part of a pie..." But I'm telling you, you will not miss the bottom crust because the top layer of crust is SO delicious. It tastes like a buttery, sugar cookie. Yikes, so good!

Things to keep in mind when making this pie:

a) You WILL make a mess and get flour all over yourself

b) Your dough WILL stick to you rolling pin if not refrigerated long enough.

Happened to me twice! Beginner's luck

Behold, The Carnival Squash

I received this beauty in my bi-weekly produce delivery; I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to purchase something so exotic looking on my own. For the past week I considered keeping the squash as a part of my home's autumn decor, as it did make a fine napkin/paper weight on my kitchen table. But yesterday evening I mustered up the courage to cook this thing, basically because I found a fantastic recipe for it on my favorite food blog, smittenkitchen.com.

Here are the photos, as proof that I did dissect this dinosaur egg-ish looking thing, yielding a rather tastey product, something like that of a sweet potato drizzled with a spicy & tangy vinaigrette.

"Carnival Squash with a chile-lime-cilantro Vinaigrette"

The first bite...

Does he like it?

Still debating, maybe another bite...

"Ok, STOP taking pictures of me and sit down and eat".

Special Thanks to Nick Collins for his homegrown chile pepper that went into making this dish

Basil & Walnut Pesto

I wish my afore mentioned basil plants were fruitful enough to produce a batch of pesto, but luckily I have friends that have more basil than they know what to do with (they could wipe their tush with it, ew sorry). So I love making things like pesto because you can switch out any of the key ingredients and it still turns out delicious. Unfortunately, pine nuts are ridiculously expensive, and I don't think I've ever made a traditional pesto with them for that reason. I can tell you that sunflower seeds, walnuts, and almonds work just fine. Or if you don't have any basil lying around; cilantro, mint, parsely, spinach, kale, or any combination of those will be yummy. I do think that good olive oil, fresh garlic and lemon juice are clutch components to a good pesto, and salt and pepper of course. The rest is up to you, go nuts, and enjoy.

Poor pancho, hates the sound of the food processor or blender. Hurts his big ears.

Basil babies

A few months ago I decided to give a go at growing some herbs. I love cooking with fresh herbs and hate buying a huge bushel at the market and using only 1/2 before the rest goes bad. So anyway, I lerrrrv cilantro and basil. My cilantro plants failed miserably, their little stalks were too skinny and flimsy to support their leaves. But my basil plants seem to be coming along, slowly but surely, smelling sweet and enjoying the open window air and light.

Great balls of Meat

Haha, pardon the title of this post, I simply could not resist. Anyway, I've recently been weening myself out of my comfort zone of vegetarian cooking and exploring the world of meat preparation. To me, there is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of pasta and meatballs, well maybe some homemade mac n cheese, but I'll get to that at a later date. Making meatballs was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, much like playing with playdoh actually. Photographing the meatball making process, however, was a little tricky. There was a lot of washing the raw beef bits off of my hands over and over again in order to snap a few shots, while rotating the meatballs in order to ensure even browning on all sides. An assistant would have been nice! Also, meat is not the prettiest thing to photograph, especially under the tungsten lighting in my kitchen. All in all, the meatballs with marinara were delicious, according to myself and my taste testers. More meaty recipes in the future, and hopefully a few more beautiful photos of meat, too.