Sausage and Potato Frittata

This morning I made my first frittata. I told Adam and his immediate response was "What the heck is a frittata?!" A frittata is a simple egg dish -- like an omelet without the flipping and folding. If you are like me, when I try to cook an omelet I often end up with scrambled eggs. I didn't have enough butter, the eggs aren't folding, the egg isn't cooked through, etc. etc.

I wanted to do something special for Adam (it's his first day back in Boston since last month!) and I knew he would be pleased with a breakfast full of meat and potatoes. While bacon would be his first choice, I opted for a couple-pleasing sweet apple chicken sausage (a pre-cooked sausage that is super easy to use!). For extra nutrition I added some frozen spinach, as well. The combination of sweet and savory for this frittata worked out extremely well. I highly recommend you try it. Don't be intimidated by the name -- I may never make a traditional omelet again!

Sausage and Potato Frittata

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
  
• 1 1/2 Tbl organic half and half (or whatever milk/cream you have in the refrigerator)
  
• 2 sweet apple chicken sausage links, sliced into rounds
  
• 1 Tbl butter
  
• 1 red potato, diced
  
• 1/3 C frozen spinach, thawed
  
• salt & pepper to taste
  

Method:

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the cream and 1/4 tsp salt, set aside.
   
2. In a 10-inch skillet over medium heat add the butter and diced potatoes. Coat the potatoes well with the butter and some salt (no more than 1/4 tsp). Add the slices of sausage around the egg of the pan to warm/brown. Cover and cook 8-10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir about 5 minutes in.
   
3. Uncover add the spinach. Cook until warmed through. (If you like the sausage a bit crispy you can turn the heat up a bit to try and brown them a bit more).
4. Once all the ingredients are well combined, turn the heat to LOW and add the eggs. Slowly incorporate the eggs with the sausage and potatoes so that they don't just lay at the bottom of the skillet. Cover and cook 8-10 minutes over LOW heat.
5. If the egg has cooked all the way through you can be finished. However I liked finishing my frittata in the oven. Put on the oven broiler and then move the skillet to the top rack of the oven. Watch carefully and take it out when the top has cooked and set (about 3-4 minutes).
6. With an oven mitt (a friendly reminder!) remove the skillet from the oven. Let sit for 3-4 minutes.

The best part about a frittata is that it is traditionally served at room temperature! So this is a great dish for guests when you have lots of cooking going on. I can't wait to experiment with more frittata combinations. However, this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Buen provecho!

Whole Wheat Tortillas

My friends at Kitchen-Concoctions recently published a recipe for homemade tortillas that I could not wait to try. With a few TastyKate alterations I made these for cheese quesadillas and they turned out fantastic! I made half a batch and ended up with 7 medium-sized (not "burrito size") tortillas.

Alterations/Specifications:

• 1/2 C all-purpose flour + 1 1/4 C white whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbl canola oil
• warm water (don't let it boil -- if you can't put your finger in it, it's too hot and let it cool a bit)

Check out the Kitchen-Concoctions website for the full recipe.

These can be stored for a couple days in the fridge in an airtight plastic bag once they have cooled down if you can keep your hands off of them! Good luck.

Kale and White Bean Soup

This soup was absolutely delicious and extremely easy to make. I was able to use many ingredients that I usually have in the fridge, plus just a few extras (kale and mushrooms) that I picked up at the store. Inexpensive and quick -- it's an easy weeknight meal any time of year.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
  
• 1 large carrot, diced
  
• 2 celery stalks, diced
  
• 1/2 C baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1/2 can of whole tomatoes, drained and diced
  
• 1 Tbl minced or crushed garlic
  
• 1 t dried basil
  
• salt & pepper
  
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
  
• 1 32oz box of organic chicken broth
  
• 1/2 can white kidney (or cannelloni) beans
  
• 2-3 C kale torn up
  
• 3 Tbl fresh parsley, chopped
  

Directions

1. In a dutch oven, saute onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil over medium-high heat. Add S&P to taste.
   
2. When tender (~3 min) add mushrooms and saute (~2 min)
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except the kale and parsley.
4. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, tasting to see whether you need to add any spices, S&P.
5. Add kale and parsley, stir. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat.
6. Let cool a bit (no need for a burnt tongue) and serve.

Serves ~4

Balsamic BBQ Chicken

Spring is here! That means it is time to break out the grill (or at least start thinking about it) here in New England. For me that means a time to prepare my favorite BBQ chicken recipe: Balsamic BBQ Chicken by Giada deLaurentiis. 

This recipe is tangy, slightly sweet, and absolutely delicious. While vacationing in Sea Ranch with some of my favorite girlfriends (pictured above!!)  I had the chance to share the recipe. I believe it was a great success. 

Just a note: you can make this in the oven or on the grill, skin on or skin off, and chicken or steak. You may not go back to the bottled stuff again...

Below is the TastyKate version of the recipe with some slight alterations. If you want to access the original or read others' reviews check out the Food Network website. 

Ingredients:

1 C balsamic vinegar

2/3 C ketchup (high-frustose corn syrup free -- TJ's has a great one!)

1/4 C brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbl Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 pieces of chicken bone-in (leaving the bone in will keep the chicken moist)

Directions:

Put all the ingredients (except the chicken) in a small saucepan and stir until well incorporated and smooth. Simmer over med/low heat for 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Keep over low heat until serving.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. If cooking on the grill, lightly brush with BBQ sauce and cook over medium heat turning once (about 8 minutes/side). Brush chicken with BBQ sauce every few minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Serve with remaining BBQ sauce. 

If baking the chicken in the oven, wait to add BBQ sauce until the chicken has cooked at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. Spoon over a generous amount of BBQ sauce and bake another 15-20 minutes. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe! It is one I will keep using for years to come.

Perfectly Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Ever want to make a quick batch of cookies and you feel like there is just one ingredient that you don't have for any given recipe? Perhaps you are thinking chocolate chip cookies might be nice, but are out of chocolate chips. Or you want some sugar cookies, but don't have any (or enough...) butter. Well, today I wanted to make some cookies. I had no all-purpose flour (only whole wheat...which would make a dense cookie by itself), no oats, too little butter... You get the idea. Then the unexpected happened. I found a cookie recipe with only THREE ingredients! Did I have sugar? Yes! Did I have 1 egg? Yes! Did I have peanut butter? Yes!

So this recipe was inspired by one that I found on allrecipes.com. The website must have had 3 or 4 recipes just like this one. I tweaked it a bit, read reviewer comments, and tried it out. The results -- delectable. I will definitely be making these again. They are just too easy. (beware!)

Perfectly Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 C peanut butter (natural works, just stir well!)

- 1/3 C packed brown sugar

- 1/3 C granulated sugar

- 1 egg

Now you can just use those above. However, based on what others have said I added the following...

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 3 Tbl white whole wheat flour

Note: Other variations include replacing 1/2 the peanut butter with almond butter. Those who did this really liked the cookie. I didn't have almond butter around, but if I did it would have certainly made it into the recipe. Almonds are thought to be quite a bit more healthy than peanuts -- so try it out!

Process:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to create golf ball size cookies. Place them on a cookie sheet. Take a fork and make the tell tale criss-cross design on top pushing the peanut butter balls down slightly. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit at least 5 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet. They will be crumbly if removed too soon.

Enjoy this delicious, easy, and relatively healthful dessert! (Just don't eat the whole batch.)

"The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating"

Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times writes that these 11 foods are packed full of nutrients and antioxidants, not to mention full of flavor!

1. Beets
2. Cabbage
3. Swiss Chard
4. Cinnamon (though not a good reason to eat cinnamon buns...)
5. Pomegranate Juice
6. Dried Plums (aka prunes)
7. Pumpkin Seeds
8. Sardines
9. Turmeric
10. Frozen blueberries
11. Canned pumpkin

The article gives some good insight into the main health benefits, as well as some tips on how to incorporate these ingredients into your diet.

It was amazing to see how many of these things have I started eating because of joining a CSA (community supported agriculture). Even now that I am far away from California I still will buy cabbage and swiss chard at the store -- beets, not as much. Everything on this list is delicious and not bank-breaking.

Perhaps a series on great recipes with the above ingredients highlighted is in order?

Roasted Sweet Potato Sandwich

One of the most delightful cafe sandwiches that I have ever had was at Ula Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA. It was an unusual combination -- a sweet potato, avocado, and sprouts...etc, etc, sandwich. I can't afford eating their $7.95 version with any regularity so I decided to try to recreate it at home. You can buy turkey as a back up and use the sweet potatoes for an array of other dishes if the final version doesn't suit you. Me -- I'm planning on having it for lunch every day this week. So much for perishable ingredients!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

Cut 5 sweet potatoes (I made these all at once to freeze and use in other dishes) into wedges or thick slices.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Mix sweet potatoes with about 2-3 Tbl olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once until tender, but not mushy.

Assemble Sandwich:

1 avocado, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 Tomato, sliced

sprouts

4 slices Provolone cheese (or Monterey Jack)

2 Tbl Tahini 

8 slices Semolina bread (sourdough or a hearty italian bread works well, too)

Spread each bread slice with about 1 tsp of Tahini. Then layer the sprouts, tomato, onion, cheese, avocado and sweet potato on 4 of the bread slices. Place the other slice of Tahini bread on top.  Enjoy!