Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

These.  These are better than the box variety, I promise. And they're not hard to make. Basically, it's like making macaroni and cheese but with potatoes. No biggie. Except it will be big to your family who will appreciate you just a little more.

And you know you could use some appreciation.

Yeah, me too.  *hugs*

This is such a simple, basic, but delicious recipe.  You can even make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge until you're ready to bake it.  (See my notes.  I have a note about that.)

Listen, friends don't let friends eat scalloped potatoes from a box.  They just don't.

My notes:

--You can use all milk if you'd like.  I have before.  But I prefer part half and half and, yes, I can tell the difference.

--I have actually assembled this the day before and stored it in the refrigerator to bake the next day.  Be aware that salting the potato layers is going to pull out a lot of water from them overnight, though.  Mine were very watery the next day when I put them in the oven, but the water did cook out and they tasted great.

--This is just a basic, although delicious, recipe.  There a a million things you could add.  Parsley thyme, onions, garlic, chives, bacon, ham, different cheeses...the list goes on and on.  Do something wild.  Or not.

--I much prefer to shred my own cheese from a block than to buy pre-shredded cheese.  I think it melts much better and the shredded cheese in the packages just seems waxy and weird to me.

--You are going to have to cook this until the potatoes are tender, and that is going to probably be over an hour.  Just stick a fork in them to make sure their done.

--Let this cool and sit for at least 20 minutes before you serve it.  This is really important because A) this stuff is scalding hot, and B) the sauce will be super runny and it will thicken a little as it cools.

--The thinner the slices, that faster it cooks.  Slice them as evenly as possible.

Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Printable Recipe

1/4 cup butter plus extra for buttering the baking dish

1/4 cup flour

2 cups whole milk

1 cup half and half

3 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper for seasoning

3 1/2 pounds potatoes (russet, red or golden) washed and scrubbed, peeling left on

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium to high heat; add flour and whisk for 1 minute.  Gradually whisk in the milk and half and half; continue to cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in 3 cups of the shredded cheese until melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat.
3. Meanwhile, slice potatoes thinly, no more than about a 1/8 of an inch thick.  Generously butter a 13 x 9 inch or equivalent size baking dish.  Place 1/3 of the potatoes in the bottom in an even layer.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour 1/3 of the sauce evenly over the top.  Repeat twice, then sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese.
4. Bake for 60-75 minutes OR until potatoes are fork tender all the way through and the top is golden brown.  (If top starts getting too brown before the potatoes are tender, cover with foil.)  Let cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

Baked Parmesan Spaghetti Squash

So I struggle with eating veggies.  And the main problem I have with them is that they are not loaded with refined sugar and simple carbs and they don't taste like pie.  That's what kills it for me.  But I have been trying to work vegetables into my diet on a more regular basis, so I've been branching out trying some new things.

Spaghetti squash is a newish favorite, and I love to sauté it in a pan with some onions and butter and olive oil (after I have quick-roasted it in the microwave so I can remove the flesh), but I threw this together the other night and it went over big. The thing that I don't like about spaghetti squash is that in most recipes I have seen, it has to be twice-cooked.  The first time it is roasted in the oven (or microwave as I often do), and that softens it up so the spaghetti-like flesh can easily be removed.  Then it's either baked, fried, etc.  It's not like that is a HUGE big deal, but it is something to consider if you want super fast.

I think this would be a good side dish for Thanksgiving.  And for children because obviously it looks like cheesy pasta.

Read these notes before you make it.

--HEED THIS WARNING:  Spaghetti squash is the devil to cut in half.  And the other day, I literally almost plunged a kitchen knife into my stomach while trying to cut it.  Yes, my knife needed sharpening and that would have made the job easier, but they are very hard to split in half.  So be careful and try not to kill yourself.  No vegetable is worth dying for.

--The squash gives off some water/juice after it has baked in the sauce, but it was still delicious.

--I did not prepare the squash in any special way to be roasted.  So seasonings, no rubbing it with oil, etc.  I just put them in a pan, cut side up and roasted.  But you could rub it with oil.  I just didn't.

-For my 13 x 9 inch pan I used a large spaghetti squash and a medium-large spaghetti squash.  It filled my pan up nicely.

--The seeds can hide so take the time to scoop it out well.

--Sometimes I will microwave them for 15-20 minutes until they are soft instead of roasting in the oven.

--To remove the strands, just take a spoon and start digging into the flesh.  You'll see it separating into strands, just like spaghetti.  It's really quite fascinating.

Baked Parmesan Spaghetti Squash

Printable Recipe

2 medium to large spaghetti squash

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese plus more for sprinkling on top

Kosher salt and coarse black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Carefully cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and membranes.  Place cut sides up in a large baking or roasting pan and roast for about 50-70 minutes or until squash is tender.  Remove from oven and let cool until you can touch it.

Scoop out the strands with a spoon and place in a large bowl.  Separate with hands until it looks like noodles.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle the flour over the butter and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Add the milk and continue cooking until mixture has thickened and is bubbly around edges, about 6-8 minutes, whisking often.  Remove from heat.  Stir in  1 1/4 cup parmesan until melted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour sauce over spaghetti squash and stir to coat.  Transfer to a 13 x 9 inch buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes, placing under the broiler if necessary to get top golden brown.   

Kale with Balsamic Bacon Butter and Quinoa

I've made this dish about five times in the last month.  It's one of the few foods coming from my kitchen lately that I actually cook.  I am in the middle of a very busy photography season and I am swamped with a capital s.

Things here are cray cray.

This dish is pretty straight forward and simple, but BIG on taste.  Seriously.  If you  think you don't like kale, you should try it like this.  Yes, I could have added more bacon, more balsamic, etc, but you can if you want.  I am too rushy rushy at this time in my life and I need simple.  I loooove the caramelized onions in it.

Here are my notes:

--The shredded kale is found at Walmart by the salad mixes.  Love, love, love this new find!  Pre-washed, pre-shredded.  Yes, please.

--Those big globs above are the bacon balsamic butter that comes in the bag with the kale.

--I eat this cold too, right out of the fridge like a salad.

--Put as much onion as you want.  Put as much quinoa as you want.  Sometimes I just make a batch of quinoa which is 1 cup dry quinoa to 2 cups water, and sometimes I cook more.  It's not baking, it's throwing stuff together in a pan.

--I keep saying that toasted nuts would work well in this.  I'm thinking pine nuts.  What do you think?

 

Kale with Balsamic Bacon Butter and Quinoa 

Printable Recipe

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 medium to large onion, chopped

2-3 teaspoons minced garlic

1 (10-ounce) bag shredded kale with balsamic bacon butter (found by the salad mixes)

1/4 cup water

3-5 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup quinoa yields 3 cups cooked) 

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Place the extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion when butter is melted.  Cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add the garlic, then add the bag of kale with balsamic butter.  Add a 1/4 cup of water to the skillet and place a lid on top.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes until kale is tender, stirring several times.  Remove from heat and stir in the cooked quinoa.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Italian-ish Squash Casserole

My week so far has been good.  Except for a tiny, little, near-death experience, it has been good.

And I will *not* be embarrassed one bit for calling an ambulance to come get me because I thought I was having a heart attack yesterday.  Every person who thinks they are dying should definitely call an ambulance.  That's just the right thing to do.

I am, however, utterly and completely MORTIFIED at my attire and lack of proper hygiene.  (In my defense, I was just about to go outside to have a hot and sweaty work day.  And tell me why should I shower for that?)

But when my heart suddenly started pounding out of my chest and I was gasping for air and the room was spinning and growing darker by the second, raggedy clothing and the extra layer of plaque on my teeth seemed completely irrelevant.

It didn't hit me until ten minutes later when the ambulance crew arrived and my heart had settled down and my breathing had returned to almost normal, that complete strangers were there to take me out of my home and out into the world where other strangers and possibly people that I actually knew would be seeing me face to face.  Did I really want to do this?

But somehow an "U-hm, nevermind. I'm okay now, guys." just didn't seem appropriate.  It was too late.  I was committed even though I had on the grungiest pair of yoga pants ever and a baby blue bass t-shirt that my husband had bought back in the eighties.  (In my defense, it's really soft and comfy.  Probably because it's threadbare.)

Plus, I was beyond scared.   I don't want to make light of that.

Even though I'm making light of that.  It's the way I deal with my own afflictions. 

So I had some kind of scary, weird episode with my heart.  It wasn't a heart attack and I will be following up with my doctor *for reals* next week.  And I will be showering even before I go mow now and shopping for much nicer yoga pants to wear around the house.  The kind that I would be proud to wear in public if the need arises.  Which I hope it won't.  But you never know.

So enough about my health problems.  Let's talk about squash.  I love it. I bought two big boxes of it last week to put up in the freezer.  And I was all happy and stuff because my hubby is always saying how much he likes those "old-fashioned vegetables" like the kind he ate as a child when he and his family had a great, big garden, so I was all "Babe, I have squash!"  And he was like "Squash is okay, but it's not my favorite."  It turns out snap beans rank much higher on his list.  Still, I wanted to make a squash recipe that would really knock his socks off, but yet be comforting and remind him of his childhood, so I made some slight changes to a regular old squash casserole.  And you know what he said to me?  He said, "Lorie darling [he calls me Lorie darling sometimes], the next time we have a get together anywhere, you should bring this."

Score.

Here are my notes:

-I used about 8 heaping cups of chopped squash, which sounds like a lot but I was able to fit it all in a 9 x 9-inch square casserole dish.  It was two really large squash and one medium.

-I am loving Progresso's Italian flavored panko crumbs. 

-I used fresh Parmesan cheese which I shredded myself. 

-If I had thought about it at the time, I might have added in some chopped fresh basil. But I didn't think about it.  Plus, my basil plants are struggling. :(

Italian-ish Squash Casserole

Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

8 heaping cups chopped yellow squash

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste

1 cup Italian style panko bread crumbs

3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 9 inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the squash and onion, and cook until squash is crisp-tender. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the Parmesan and mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour into casserole dish.  Stir together the panko crumbs and 3 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle on the squash.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbly. 

Baked Sourdough Panzanella Caprese

The tomatoes are rolling in.  Big, fat, juicy, slicing tomatoes.  The kind you put between two slices of Sunbeam white bread with some mayonnaise and salt and pepper.  Then you need three napkins because the juice rolls down your arm.

But no sandwich today.  I was watching an episode of Giada the other day (I just love her recipes!) and she made a dish I just had to try.  The original recipe is here, but I made individual portions in rectangle ramekins and didn't measure.  This was heaven to me and I could eat it every day for lunch.  Here are my notes and how to do it.  No recipe needed.

First, butter a pan, dish, ramekin, whatever, and lay a single layer of tomatoes sliced about 1/4 inch thick in the bottom. 

Next, drizzle with some balsamic vinegar.  You don't have to drown it, just enough to give it some flavor.  I would salt and pepper to taste at this point, but I forgot to do that when I made it.

Place a single layer of fresh mozzarella slices on the tomatoes.  About a 1/4 inch thick or so.

Add some chopped garlic and some chopped fresh basil.  Drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Place a slice (or slices, depending on your pan size) of sourdough bread on top.  Drizzle with olive oil again.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.  I baked mine for 25 minutes, then stuck it under the broiler until golden brown.

I let it set for about 10 minutes before I dug in.  Note:  mine had a lot of water in the bottom after I baked it from the type of slicing tomatoes I used.  No problem here, though.  I just tipped my ramekin and poured it off.  Different types of tomatoes will give off more or less juice.  It was still delicious.

Cabbage Roll Soup

So I recently signed up for a Pinterest account.

What a brilliant idea for a website.  Why didn't I join sooner?

I'm still finding my way around on there, though, and I don't really understand the whole following part yet.  Are everyone's boards open to everyone?  If they are, then why would you need to follow someone?  Am I missing a setting that makes my boards private or only open to my followers?  And what if I have a board called "Swimsuits made of Spanx with tummy control panels that I would feel somewhat comfortable in next summer?"  Can everyone in the whole wide world see that?  'Cause that might be a little embarrassing.  Maybe I'll just delete that board.  I don't have a pin on it yet anyway.  I guess I'll have to spend some more time on there and figure it all out.

So the next thing is Twitter.  Then I think I will be completely media socialized.

About this soup.  Let me just go ahead and say that this soup is, well, ugly.  Not photogenic AT ALL, although I could have helped matters by baking a pan of cornbread or adding some crusty bread to go alongside it.  A sprig of fresh dill would have jazzed it up too.  But it is what it is.  And I stand by it.  Just like Tammy Wynette stands by her man, I stand by this soup.  Not every dish can be a chocolate espresso cupcake with salted caramel buttercream and sprinkles, now, can it?  Nope.  Eventually, one has to be nourished.  And this soup will do it.

So my inspiration was obviously cabbage rolls.  And what I love about this soup is the dill weed.  In fact, next time I think I'll increase it a little more.  Nothing complicated in this recipe, folks.

Here are my notes:

-Like I said, I might have upped the dill weed a bit to 3 teaspoons but I was afraid my family wouldn't like it.  The seasonings are always adjustable to taste.  Fresh dill would be better, but I don't have access to the fresh.

-I think ground turkey would be great in this, or maybe a combo ground beef /ground pork.  Or maybe some bulk sausage.



-I thinly sliced my own cabbage, but I have used a bag of coleslaw mix in the past and it works perfectly.  My daughter's only complaint about this soup when I made it today was that my cabbage needed to be shredded more finely.  Try the coleslaw mix in the bags.

-I always like to cook my rice or pasta separately from my soup base.  I just add a scoop of rice to the bowl first, then ladle the hot soup over it.  That way, the rice doesn't continue to swell and swell as it absorbs the water.

-I used brown rice, but white would be fine.

-As with all soups, the flavor gets better and better as it sets.  It's much better the next day.

-This is pretty darn cheap to make.  And healthy too.  Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable, you know.


-Make sure you dig those bay leaves out of the soup before serving.  People can get choked on them.  So don't play "Whoever gets the bay leaf in their bowl wins!"  If you want to play games at the table, try balancing a spoon on the end of your nose.  No one should get hurt that way.

Cabbage Roll Soup

Printable Recipe

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

6 cups of water

6 chicken bouillon cubes

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons dried dill weed

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 head shredded cabbage or 1 bag coleslaw mix

3-4 cups cooked rice

Cook ground beef in a Dutch oven medium-high heat until crumbled and done.  Drain grease.  Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook until vegetables are soft.  Add 6 cups of water and 6 bouillon cubes.  (Or substitute 6 cups of chicken stock or broth.)  Stir in the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.  Add bay leaves, paprika, dill weed, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in the cabbage and cook just until tender, but not too soft.

To serve, place a spoonful of rice in a bowl, then ladle hot soup over the top.  Store rice and soup separately in fridge.

Eggplant Parmesan with Fire Roasted Pasta Sauce

Since I have been working so hard lately freezing tomatoes and all kinds of veggies, I wanted to make a meal where I could really taste the fruits of my labor, and I decided that meal would be Eggplant Parmesan.  I know it's not a summery meal--it's kind of heavy with all the cheese--but a few days ago I was in the mood to make something from the tomatoes I had put up, plus I had a gorgeous eggplant that I needed to use.

I spent quite a bit of time making homemade tomato sauce, boiling pasta, breading and frying eggplant--it was really a beautiful dish in the end.  And I served it with salad and garlic bread cheerfully to my husband who wouldn't even take one bite.  He reminded me that he has stated before that he doesn't like eggplant.  My forty year old brain forgot this little detail.  Apparently, he feels about eggplant how I feel about raisins--that they come from the devil--so I wasn't too upset. 

Oopsie doodle! Wife fail.

So, I whipped him up some sloppy joes straight from the can, because I really know how to bring it to the I-screwed-up-but-here-let-me-fix-everything-right-quick department, and I ate my meal of eggplant parmesan.  But I really felt like it need to be shared, so I gave the rest of it to my daughter and her husband.  They ate it the next night and they liked it so much that my son-in-law actually messaged me with the ultimate compliment,  "That eggplant stuff is fine!"

So if you like eggplant, you will like this.  And if you don't?  Well, then you probably won't.  I followed this recipe from The Southern Living Ultimate Cookbook, but had to make some changes because I had some issues with some of the measurements.

A few notes:

-I love the sauce, especially using fire roasted tomatoes.  To begin with, the sauce looked very, very watery.  I was worried.  But if you'll look at the picture below, you'll see the line where the sauce originally filled the skillet to.  It reduced by well over half, so go ahead and add the full amount of water.

-I had plenty of sauce left for another meal.  I will do Chicken Parmesan soon, so my husband can eat with me.  By the way, the sauce is supposed to freeze well.  We shall see.

-I wanted to serve this over spaghetti noodles , but I only had vermicelli.  I so need to go grocery shopping soon.

-The original recipe (the one in the cookbook that I followed, not the online one) calls for two large eggplants.  I am not sure how they fit all of that into an 11 x 7-inch dish, which is what the recipe called for.  I had one large fresh eggplant and I had thawed out some that I had frozen.  I fried it all up, but I could not fit it all in.  The pan was very, very full.  One eggplant should do ya.

-Place your pan on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over.

-DO NOT forget to salt the eggplant when you're done frying.  Talk about bland if you don't!  Blech!

-The dished above could really have benefited from a sprig of basil or parsley.  Like I said, I need to go grocery shopping in the worst way.

Eggplant Parmesan with Fire Roasted Pasta Sauce

Printable Recipe

3 eggs

3 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs

1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch slices

Canola oil for frying

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese, divided

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided

3 cups fire roasted pasta sauce, recipe below

Whisk together the eggs and water in a pie plate.  Combine the breadcrumbs and 1/4 cup parmesan in another pie plate.  Coat the bottom of a heavy skillet with canola oil and heat over medium high heat.  Dip the eggplant slices into the egg mixture, then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture.  Cook eggplant until golden brown, about four minutes, turning once.  Place on a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess oil; season with salt and pepper.  Add more oil between fryings.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 11 x 7-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Place eggplant slices in a single layer on the bottom of baking dish, cutting to fit if necessary.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the parmesan and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese.  Repeat layers twice, ending with cheese.  Spoon 3 cups tomato sauce over the top; cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle with remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheese.  Bake for ten more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly, placing under the broiler if desired for golden brown color.  Let stand for 20 minutes before cutting and serving over spaghetti noodles or other pasta.

Fire Roasted Pasta Sauce

Extra virgin olive oil, to coat pan

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 (14-ounce) cans fire roasted tomatoes, undrained

2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste

4 cups water

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Coat the bottom of a large high sided skillet with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook until tender, stirring often.  Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, stirring often.  Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until mixture is reduced by half.  Approximately 6-7 cups.