Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon and Sweet Potatoes

I was charged with bringing a salad to a friend's party on Christmas Eve. It being the holiday and all, I felt like it had to be a somewhat special salad. Kea likes spinach much better than lettuce (and last night I found out that a lot of other people do too) so I knew I wanted to make spinach salad. And I like green salad with potato in it--my mom started doing this a couple years ago. I finally settled on this recipe.

I didn't slice the sweet potato like in the picture because the text says 1" slices. So I did that first, but the pieces seemed so big so I cut them into chunks. I think next time I would just shoot for bite-size chunks. That seems like a good rule for items in salads. Roasting the sweet potato was really good; I think my mom just throws in boiled potatoes, but the roasted ones hold together better rather than getting smushed.

I also subbed feta for chevre cuz I don't like goat cheese.

Another challenge was that this is supposed to be a warm salad, but we had to drive an hour to the party. I kept everything separate--spinach in a bag, and sweet potato, bacon, and dressing each in their own Tupperware and then assembled when we got there. I thought about heating the potatoes, bacon, and dressing, but ended up not. Maybe next time I would heat the dressing cuz I ended up with some coagulated bacon fat stuck in the Tupperware. lol. Yummy.

It went over really well though. And people thought it was fancy. lol.

Lazy-Ass Pasta Bake

I considered making Giada deLauretiis' Spicy Baked Macaroni since, you know, it's winter break, and I have time. Unfortunately, I got back from the movies a little too late and went with this quickie version posted on Slashfood by Marissa McClellan instead. It's a little annoying that the recipe's not written out in standard-ish, easy-to-follow recipe format, but I guess it is so easy it might look a little silly written out like a recipe! Anyway, I bolded the ingredients before printing and that helped a bit.

I am totally pleased with the recipe! I especially like that it's got spinach in it. Plus it is the easiest pasta bake recipe ever. I cooked the pasta and mixed the sauce and then had to head out to yoga. Then when I came back, Kea assembled it in the pan and baked it. So it's convenient in that sense too. Hurrah!

Chicken Florentine

This is something Kea makes, a recipe from his mom.

chicken
mushrooms
spinach
monterey jack
cream of mushroom soup

1. If you want to do a square pan, use about four pieces of chicken. Season with salt and pepper (Kea also puts garlic but I don't know if this is necessary) and brown.

2. You can use frozen or fresh spinach. Put a layer of this on the bottom of the pan.

3. Layer the chicken next and pour cream of mushroom on top.

4. Slice mushrooms for the next layer.

5. Slice cheese and put on top.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese is browned.

7. Eat with rice.

Time: 60-75 minutes

Fresh Spinach, Orzo and Chicken Soup

I don't know who gave me this cookbook--either my mom or mother-in-law. I think maybe I have one from each of them. It's totally hawking Costco products, you know like it'll say "1 pound Grimmway baby carrots," but whatever, I can ignore that kind of thing.

I love soup. It's my favorite thing to make. Except the kind that you have to puree. Cuz we didn't have a blender until like a month ago. And also it kind of grosses me out to put savory things in a blender. We just always used it for smoothies you know? But actually we have a stick blender so that seems okay.

But beyond my issues, I had to cook and then go to Pilates and then come back and be able to eat right away. Cuz Pilates gets out at 7:45 and I am starving by then.

So here's the recipe:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut in 1-inch cubes
salt and pepper
2 T olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t ground coriander
pinch of ground cinnamon
32-oz chicken broth (I rounded up--way up--and used three cans)
2/3 cup orzo
1 T fresh lemon juice (I used the juice of a whole lemon)
2 c fresh baby spinach
1/3 c grated Parmesan (just realized we forgot to put this)

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear until lightly browned; remove to a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and garlic, and saute until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add spices and stir for 1 minute.
4. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes.
5. Add chicken, bring soup back to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Divide spinach among 6 bowls and ladle hot soup over spinach. Garnish with Parmesan.

Kea and I both liked it although I felt it had too much chicken. So maybe more orzo next time. Kea thinks maybe more broth.

Time: 50 minutes. I don't think it's supposed to take this long. I'm slow. I was late to Pilates.

Source: Cooking in Style: The Costco Way. 2006.

Florentine Cannellini One Pot (off a can of Bush's Beans)

This is one of the recipes Kea and I have in rotation, truly off a can of Bush's Beans. It's quick, easy, yummy, and full of fiber.

4 slices bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (14 oz) can chopped spinach, drained*
3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 (15-16 oz) can of EACH drained and rinsed: cannelini beans,** dark red kidney beans, light red kidney beans
1/2 c. sun-dried tomatoes, cut in thin strips
1 t dried basil
Garnish: shredded parmesan

Brown bacon over high heat in large stockpot, about 8 minutes.*** Add garlic and onion, saute 6 minutes. Add spinach, saute 2 minutes. Add beans and all remaining ingredients. Simmer 10 minutes.

*I use frozen spinach because canned spinach seems gross to me.
**I use something called Northern beans because cannelini's cost more and they look the same.
***My onion pieces were about twice the size of my bacon pieces so the bacon got burnt. So you probably either want to throw the garlic and onion in earlier or make sure the bacon is not chopped too small and the onion is not chopped too big.

Savory Pancakes

Kea and I got this idea from Rachael Ray's $40 a Day, when she went to Europe (either Amsterdam or Belgium--can't remember which episode it was). Rachael was introduced to savory pancakes for lunch.

She told the chef, "You know, in America we usually only think of pancakes as breakfast food."

And he looked at her like, "You Americans--you're stupid."

I tried finding recipes for savory pancakes and found these: Cheddar Chive Pancakes (you may have to scroll down), Corn Pancakes, and Ham Pancakes. We decided to go the easy route, however, and just mix in some savory ingredients in our typical Bisquick pancake mix.

We put in a cup or two of shredded monterey jack, some bacon (cooked and chopped, not too much, just enough for some meatiness), a handful of fresh spinach, and a couple handfuls of frozen broccoli (just cuz we didn't have much spinach). The batter was pretty thick by the time we put this all in, which made for thick pancakes. We first tried making big ones--the size of our non-stick pan, but I lack the skill to flip those so we went back to ones just about three inches in diameter.

I think the version on $40 a Day was thinner--more like crepes, with the filling done more omelette style, but I knew there was no way we could pull that off. Ours tasted good though--a little reminiscent of biscuits or quiche.

We'd like to experiment with this more in the future--especially adding some spiciness.

New Year's

A friend from my program had a New Year's party. It was sort of a random mix of people around for the holidays. One of our guests, however, from a different program, noted that, for grad students, our parties have good food! This is the second time I've heard that so I'm starting to believe it!

I made Spinach Rolls and Spam Musubi. Spinach Rolls are so easy and always a hit. I feel like they're boring, but people always like them. Spam Musubi is more hit and miss but I knew there were a few of us who would really appreciate them anyway.

There was a lot of great food but one of my favorites was a Dutch New Year's donut. The guy who made it said it is only eaten for New Year's. It was so good that I had to look it up: it's apparently called Oliebollen. They reminded us of andagi and malasadas, which made us Hawai'i folk very happy! They seemed less greasy though and tasted great even after sitting for about an hour. The fruit inside was also different and really good!