Recipes are Merely a Suggestion

September 9, 2019June 13, 2023

Slightly Slimy Spinach Gets a Second Life as Joe’s Special

We buy a lot of greens in this house. For smoothies, salads, tacos (I’ll tell you about that one later), but frequently, despite our best efforts, the greens turn on us. You know, when the leaves look fine one day and then a wet, inky blob the next? Total bummer. You just have to throw that shit out.

But what about when there are just a few rogue leaves polluting your bag of otherwise perky greens? I’ve got the perfect vehicle – Joe’s Special.

Joe’s special has a special place in my heart because my dad loved it and so do I. It was something we would excitedly order whenever we went out for breakfast and happened to find it on the menu (rare) or would cook up for ourselves on leisurely weekend mornings. I still make it at times and think of him; miss him. I take a lot of liberties with it though (duh, see name of this website). And in my adult life, I have learned that it is also a perfect dinner when I want something easy, meaty and satisfying.

Sautee up some chopped white onions and add some crumbled up ground meat or meat-like product. I’ve used everything from vegetarian TVP to leftover hamburger patties; in these pictures it happens to be turkey sausage. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, if using raw. Then add your spinach to the pan and cook it until it is shrunken down; no worries if there are a couple of slimy bits in your greens going in, they will still taste ok once cooked. I’ve also used other greens here like baby kale, arugula, but spinach is traditional. I like to season with garlic salt and lots of black pepper. Sometimes I add some chopped jalapeno if I’m feeling spicy. Then add some scrambled eggs to the pan, or tofu if you are going veggie. Cook til the eggs are how you like them. The proportions are totally up to you – I tend to go heavy on the spinach and lighter on the meat and eggs, but you do you. If you are feeling cheesy, feta is super yummy on this. In my mind, Tabasco is the perfect finish. Serve with toast, wrapped up in a tortilla or all by itself.

September 1, 2019June 13, 2023

Summer Fruit Cocktails

Ever have the disappointment of picking a bad watermelon? Crack it open ready for a firm fleshed taste of summer and instead finding a sodden, mushy mess? Ugh. Been there. But do not despair, just add booze!

This idea was born out of necessity. We were going to a family barbecue and had promised to bring signature drinks. We have become known in certain circles for creating special cocktails for different events. It is creative, fun and we like it.

We were having a heck of a time getting this one to come together though. I really wanted to make use of a somewhat funky cucumber mint vodka we had lingering in our bar, but it just tastes weird on its own. Adding gin and making a play on a vesper helped, but still wasn’t quite up to snuff. Taking it more in the direction of a vodka tonic was better, but still not great.

Coincidentally, I made a watermelon misstep that saved the drink! Watermelon pureed in the blender with fresh mint and cucumber then combined with the cucumber vodka, gin and seltzer made an incredibly refreshing cocktail just right for a backyard barbecue. All kinds of riffs you can do with this one too. Use any melon or combo of melons. Use vodka, gin or both like we did. Use a flavored sparkling water or even a clear soda if you like it sweet, or maybe tonic water if you want a bit more bite. Sad summer fruit instantly redeemed.

Summer Fruit Cocktails – Recipes Are Merely A Suggestion KC is me

August 11, 2019June 13, 2023

Bagel Breakfast Strata

Bagel Breakfast Strata? Sure, why not?!

So I had a couple of forgotten everything bagels and a neglected tub of chive cream cheese that were begging to be used. This rainy Sunday morning, inspiration struck! What if I made these into a breakfast strata? For those not in the know (or younger than 50) , a breakfast strata is a baked eggy, custardy, brunchy kind of casserole thing that uses cubed bread as a base.

I love bagels. The chewy salty outside of a well-made, REAL bagel is sublime. But not nearly as perfect without a cream cheese partner. I could have simply used the bagels mixed with the eggs and other stuff here, but incorporating the cream cheese as well was simply irresistible. Might just be crazy enough to work.

How to add the cream cheese though? Mix it in with the eggs and milk? Spread it on top after baking? There had to be an answer…then it hit me. Keep it simple stupid!

Heat up the oven to 350. Grease up a baking dish, I used 9×13. Spread cream cheese on a couple of bagel halves, I don’t care what kind of either one you use. Stick the 2 halves together and then chop them up into cube sizes. Toss those into the baking dish with whatever other stuff you want or need to use up. I added chopped red and yellow peppers, a handful of spinach, sausage, some purple onion and a small can of diced green chiles. Then I mixed up some eggs and (almond) milk with salt and pepper and poured that right into the baking dish (you need enough of the egg mix to saturate everything). Mix it all together until everything is moist. At this point you can cover this and let it sit in the refrigerator for a while so the bagels soften up a bit to make it more custardy. Even leave it overnight. I baked mine right away the first time because I’m impatient and it was fine, but letting it sit for at least an hour before baking was better. Bake until done ( eggs set, not runny, brown on top). Let it cool a sec before you cut it. It is good hot, lukewarm or even cold straight from the fridge.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

The Humble Bean

Who doesn’t love the creamy lardy goodness that is refried beans? Whether at your local Mexican joint with a fishbowl sized margarita on the side or at home out of a can, they satisfy, right? What if I said you can make them at home cheaper, healthier, tastier and pretty damn easily? Don’t believe me? Here’s how:

Step 1: Get yourself a slow cooker! Godsend. I start this in the morning before I leave for work. I pick out some dried beans, usually pintos, sometimes black beans for this. I throw enough beans in to cover the bottom of the pot then add a couple of inches of water above the bean level. I put in a big spoonful of coconut oil (but any oil would work here, you could even use lard ?) then add bay leaves, a couple of whole dried chilis, sometimes a couple of smashed and peeled garlic cloves if I’m feeling it. Then I set it to low and forget it until I get home from work later.

The house smells great when I get home and here’s where the magic happens. Turn off the heat on the cooker and drain the water. I am not super thorough on the water drain because a little bean juice helps the alchemy that ensues. Remove the bay leaves (toxic to eat, I always put in 3 so I know exactly how many I need to fish out later), take out the peppers, but leave the garlicky goodness (if using). Then I add some salsa, (red, green, whatever you like) or if I’m out of salsa sometimes I’ll substitute V8 juice. Just some extra liquid to flavor things and help thin the mixture for the immersion blender that will turn everything nice n’ creamy dreamy. A regular manual potato masher works too, but is more work and hard to get them really creamy. Might need to add liquid as you go along to get the desired texture and you can leave it as chunky as you want. We tend to go a little more liquidy in our house. I’m usually adding spices and seasonings and correcting as I’m blending but you can add it all in the beginning or the end. I use typical Mexican spices like chili powder, cumin, sea salt, sometimes oregano. Spice blends work here too, you could even just use a packet of pre-made chili or taco seasoning.

We use the beans to make all kinds of yummy meals including tostadas, tacos, tortas, burritos. You can also add meat to any of these, if that’s your thing.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

Stuff To Make With Beans

Tostadas: Take those crisp corn tortilla shells you can buy near the other tortillas in the grocery stores and top them with a smear of the homecooked non-refried beans from the slow cooker. Then sharp cheese and a simple coleslaw made from shredded cabbage, colorful peppers, onions, cilantro and a dressing of plain yogurt/sour cream/mayo whatever you have on hand mixed with seasoned rice vinegar, salt, pepper and celery seed. And of course Marie Sharp’s habanero sauce!

Tacos: Get those cute lil’ tiny corn tortillas and put a dollop of beans on there, some quick pickled red onion, cilantro and cotija cheese. Add taco sauce or salsa.

Burritos: Beans, cheese, white onion and salsa. Classic.

Torta: Any combination of the above on a bolillo roll for a tasty Mexican style sandwich. I always add fresh cilantro to mine, but I realize some people think it tastes like soap.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

Bruschetta

I love this recipe when we have a shit ton of tomatoes to use up or we just feel like having a light summer dinner. It also works great as an easy but impressive appetizer.

We grow cherry tomatoes in our backyard pots, so that’s what I use, but any ripe tomato would work. We also grow basil, which is super easy, even for brown thumbs like me. There is no right or wrong here as far as proportions – I am more moderate in my garlic quantities, but my sweetie goes for the vampire repellant level.

Chop up some variety of ripe tomatoes. Ok to mix and match. Add as much chopped garlic as you like. Throw in some chopped up basil. Toss it all with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar plus salt and pepper to dress. Once I used a lemon balsamic vinegar and that was really good. You can get creative here.

It is even better if you let this marinate a bit, even for a few hours. Just cover it and let it sit on the counter for a while. We usually go for a martini length of time here (time it takes to drink a martini).

Toast some bread slices and spoon tomato mixture on top, with or without grated parmesan or Romano cheese. Italian bread or baguette are best, but I’ve been known to use whatever bread we have lurking around in the freezer for this. It’s meant to be low stress, so use what you got. The toast is just a vehicle for this summer tomato goodness. You need to eat it right away though or else it will become soggy, but then you could just put it into a bowl, eat it with a fork and call it Panzanella salad instead!

Bruschetta Recipes Are Merely A Suggestion by kc is me

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

Asparagus Potato Soup

I love roasted asparagus! But what to do with the left over parts of the stalks? I have always just snapped the stalks to see where they naturally break in order to find the most tender parts for roasting, but it kinda hurts to throw so much of it away.

I tried using the reject parts to make vegetable stock once, but it tasted sort of weird and looked murky. I do have a non-discriminating old dog who eats them like jerky sticks, but I really wanted to find a way to make them tasty, for human consumption. Enter this soup.

I chopped up the more tender parts of the leftover stalks into thin rounds and discarded the really woody end parts. Sautéed some shallots in olive oil (butter would be good here to, alone or in combo with the oil). Added most of the asparagus parts for a minute or so, but kept a few aside as well. Peeled a few soft, sprouting, aged potatoes found in the bottom of a fridge drawer and diced them up. Added potatoes to the pot and enough stock to cover (I used veggie because The Vegans were dining with us) and simmered until potatoes were tender. Put the whole lot in my Magic Bullet with a bit of almond milk (but other milks or creams, unsweetened of course, would work) and blended til smooth. You could use an immersion blender here too. Leave it as chunky as you like. Then back into the pot, corrected seasonings with salt and pepper and added in the reserved asparagus parts. Warmed for a few minutes until the asparagus was no longer crunchy. Off the heat I stirred in a bit of truffle oil ( totally optional but really good) and served it with left-over bread croutons (see recipe).

Next time, If I’m feeling more fancy, I may add some fresh tarragon to the seasoning of this soup since I now grow my own! I am happy with it though considering it is made from usually discarded remnants. And it happens to be vegan, for those who care about that stuff.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

Breaking Breakfast Rules

Breakfast and its cousin brunch are often a desert wasteland for those of us of the savory persuasion. You have your breakfast cereals; sugary nuggets bathed in milk. What else is dunked in milk and eaten? That’s right, cookies. Basically they are the same thing. Or you stay over at a friend’s house and they go out of their way to make you a special breakfast… 10 to one you are getting pancakes or waffles. I can feel my blood sugar plummeting now. You say smoothie, I say fruit milkshake. And please explain to me how breakfast bars are any different from bar cookies?

Too much sweet! Don’t get me wrong, I like dessert. Just not for breakfast.

When I was a kid, I was the weird-o who made toasted cheese sandwiches or ate leftover cold pizza or even fried rice for breakfast. Travelling in Japan was a dream come true – savory breakfast stuff everywhere! Ramen, rice and miso oh my! Same with Eastern Europe; nothing wrong with charcuterie to start the day in my book.

My kids are apples that have stuck pretty close to my tree on the breakfast front. This has presented some opportunities for creativity over the years. One result was the development of savory oatmeal. Hear me out and don’t scrunch your face all up like that. Oatmeal is just a grain so no reason why it can’t be savory. Think rice pilaf or risotto and you kind of get the picture. So next time you are making oatmeal for breakfast (we use steel cut, but any variety works), cook it in broth instead and top it with savory delights like cheese, nutritional yeast, green onions, green chiles, salsa, beans, smoked almonds. It works.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

Cooking Without a Recipe is Scary. At First.

And I think this is a good metaphor for life as well. We all are just trying to figure out what makes us happy, or in cooking, what tastes good. Recipes offer a promise that things will turn out well. The problem is, what tastes good to you or what makes you happy may not follow the recipe. Recipes are safe, predictable and offer a tested and trusted way to a specific result. But what if that is not the result that suits YOU? Or, what if the act of cooking, or living life your way is the reward in itself?

For much of my life I have stubbornly proclaimed that I am not a baker. Why? Because baking is more science-y and requires following the rules. Unlike other cooking, I couldn’t see a way to improvise to my heart’s content and also produce baked goods that were actually edible. I resisted baking for years and I lived down to my own expectations every time I did try it. I could not find any joy in the process of following a recipe.

Then something changed. I gave myself permission to screw around with baking recipes, treating them more like suggestions as I routinely do with my general cooking. Two things happened; I learned I could do it my way with good results and I was a whole lot happier baking. Now I turn out homemade pizzas, focaccia, muffins and cakes like nobody’s business. And they are uniquely, imperfectly, deliciously mine.

Now I’m applying that same found wisdom to my life. I have jumped ship and departed from the generally accepted recipe for a happy life. I no longer have a leash (steady job), but neither do I have a recipe to follow either. I am making this up as I go along, finding work that suits me and fits into the rest of my life. I’m a little (sometimes a lot) scared about it, but I just keep telling myself that I don’t have to follow the recipe and everything will still (probably) turn out ok. And I am already much happier in the process.

August 2, 2019June 13, 2023

You See Useless Bread Remnants, I see Croutons!

In my house the heels of the bread loaves get the shaft. They collect, unwanted and unloved, in multiple varieties and bags in my freezer. (Yes, I keep my bread in the freezer, screw you for judging me).

But, croutons. Croutons are beloved. On salads, soups, right out of the bag (I’m looking at you Steven Shomler!), croutons kick ass.

Once in a while when I notice multiple bags of unloved bread in the freezer I pull them out to transform them into croutons. I use whatever combination I find; might be all sourdough or sourdough plus rye or Ezekiel bread. It doesn’t matter, variety is good. Except cinnamon raisin or other sweet stuff might be a little weird and I have not found gluten free breads very conducive to croutoning (too dense). Just let ‘em thaw enough to dice up into chunks as big or small as you like, but all roughly the same size. Toss in a big bowl with some olive oil and whatever seasonings sound good. I’ve used everything from Old Bay to Oregon Coast Wasabi seasoning salt, but Johnny’s Garlic Bread Seasoning is my go-to favorite.

Spread them out on a lined sheet pan (I use those silicone liners now, but foil or parchment paper worked fine before I got all fancy). Put them in a low oven, I go 250 degrees. Stir them around once in a while. Cook until dried out and brown. I think this usually takes about an hour, but it depends on how big your chunks are. When they look done-ish, I just turn off the oven and leave them in there to cool. It helps them get even more dried out and crunchy.