Lemon Aspargus Pasta with Goat Cheese

1 pound spiral-shaped pasta
1 pound slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon plus more for garnish
1 5- to 5 1/2-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese (the pre-crumbled stuff will not melt as well)
Fresh lemon juice to taste (optional)

Cook your pasta in a large pot of well-salted water until it is almost tender, or about three minutes shy of what the package suggests. Add asparagus and cook until firm-tender, another two to three minutes. Drain both pasta and asparagus together, reserving one cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, combine olive oil, lemon peel, tarragon and cheese in a large bowl, breaking up the goat cheese as you put it in. Add hot pasta and asparagus to bowl, along with a couple slashes of the pasta water. Toss until smoothly combined, adding more pasta water if needed. Season genersously with salt and pepper, and lemon juice.

French Crepes

Crepes are so easy to make and can be filled with sweet ingredients like blackberries and ricotta cheese or savory and filled with cooked chicken and spinach or broccoli. It's up to your imagination!


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter. Let sit for 10 mins or can even be refrigerated until ready.
Now my experience is that the first one or two don't turn out very pretty for some reason. By the time I do the third one they turn out great.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Homemade Butter

I found this super easy way to make your own butter!


Homemade Butter

2 cups heavy cream
1-2 cups ice water
sea salt to taste, optional

Place cream on the counter for 8-12 hours. It is easiest to use cream that is just slightly souring. If your cream is not yet turning, let it sit on the counter for 12 hours to allow bacteria to form lactic acid or add a spoonful of yogurt or buttermilk with live cultures to the cream prior to letting it sit to culture it.

Pour cream into a quart-size canning jar. Begin shaking with slow, deliberate shakes until cream first starts coating the jar, becomes thick like whipping cream and then starts to pull away from the sides, turning to two substances: buttermilk and butter. Let the jar sit for one minute and then pour off the buttermilk into a separate glass.

Pour ice water into the butter to wash it, kneading with hand or stirring to remove any milk, strain off land repeat until water is clear. Strain to leave only the butter in the jar. Stir in salt, if desired. Use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.


Makes approximately 1/2 cup butter
Copyright © Food for My Family.

Toast with Egg ~ Love Style~

This is one of Zachary's favorite breakfasts.  Might actually be his Most Favorite.

Ingredients:

Your favorite bread, the thicker and bigger the better.

Egg

Butter

Melt some butter in a skillet over med heat

Take a cookie cutter in the shape of a heart,

 or whatever other shape you want.

Cut thru the bread.

Place the bread and the cutout in the skillet.

Add a tiny bit of butter in the middle of the hole.

Carefully crack an egg into the hole.

I check to see if its done by the little hearts. 

When they are toasted, then  flip over the egg/toast.

Cook that side till toasted.

Serve with love.

Caribbean Beans and Rice

Caribbean Black Beans Sausage and Rice
Ingredients:

2 15.5-oz cn black beans
1 Onion coarsely chopped
3 Cloves garlic chopped
1 tb Olive oil (or more)
2 c Chicken broth
1/2 ts Ground cumin
1/2 ts Curry powder
1/8 ts Dried Oregano
1 Jalapeno minced
2 c Brown rice
One bunch of cilantro Chopped
1 can of tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 10-oz pk frozen peas
1 lb any type Smoked sausage sliced
3 bananas Underripe
2 tb Unsalted butter
   saute onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil until softened; add beans along with broth, cumin, curry, oregano, jalapeno, cilantro and  tomatoes. Cover and cook over medium-low.  about 15 minutes. Add peas, cover, and set aside. Brown sausage slices in a  skillet, adding a tiny bit of olive oil if necessary. Remove from pan and  place on rice. Slice
bananas; saute in butter until lightly browned. Serve  rice and beans surrounded by browned
sausage and bananas.   

Ricotta Gnocchi

Last night I made ricotta gnocchi.  Several weeks ago I bought some at Whole Foods. It was premade, and it was good, but the reviews I read online said homemade was so much better. They were right!  This was so light like pillows and they melted in our mouths.  Plus they were super easy to do.  Now I am soo not a pasta maker. I do not enjoy making pasta so I don't. This however was so easy, that I will be making it often.

16 oz Ricotta Cheese Part Skim

1 egg yolk 

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 cup Parmesan freshly grated

1 cup unbleached flour, + extra for dusting the dough/board

That is the basic recipe. 

I added finely chopped basil from my garden, about 1/3 cup. You can add any fresh herb you like, or even some spices that you like.  

Discard any excess liquid that the Ricotta’s packaging may contain, then add Ricotta cheese, egg yolk, salt and freshly grated Parmigiano and any herbs into a large bowl. Mix well with a spoon. Now add the flour and stir in briefly, just until combined – the dough will still be quite sticky. (Of course you can add more flour at this point, but keep in mind, that the more flour you use, the denser the gnocchi become in the end. And you want them to be as light & fluffy as possible, with a velvet-like texture.)

Generously flour a board, take a big tablespoon of the dough and scoop it onto the board. It gets dusted with flour (dust your hands generously, too!), before rolling it into a finger-thick roll. Cut it into little pillows (stick the knife’s blade into the flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough). Then place each gnoccho on a floured board or parchment paper lined baking tray. 

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt and reduce heat until the water bubbles lightly. Add the gnocchi and stir once, so they don’t stick to the bottom – then let cook until they start floating on top. Depending on their size this may take 2 to 4 minutes. Take out with a skimmer and serve immediately.

Last night I served these with a mushroom cream sauce I made. But these will go well with just about any kind of sauce. Tomato, pesto, mushroom etc.  Just be sure your sauce is done at the same time so you can quickly  toss the gnocchi in it and serve.

Homemade Ketchup

Never buy store bought again!

So I decided to try and make my own Ketchup.  Yum! I found this recipe online.  It will keep for about 2 weeks if in a sealed container.  This is very tasty.  You can also add a small amount of chipotle peppers in the adobe sauce to give it a smokey pepper kick.  Very very good!

1 can tomato paste

1/4 c water

2 tsp  raw sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

Optional:   A few dashes of your favorite hot sauce

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Store in a tightly sealed container and Enjoy!

Tuna Sammies

When I saw this recipe on Rachael Ray show the other day, I thought, "YUMMMOO!"  But I figured Christina and maybe Caleb might be the only ones that would eat it with me. However, last night Mike and I were home, all the kids were over at friends, so I suggested a Tuna Melt to him. We had a bunch of leftover mac and cheese, so I figured if he didn't like it, he could eat the Mac n Cheese.
A few bites into the sandwich he declared, "this is really good! I am so surprised that I like this, but this is really good! The flavors are so fresh! They just popped in my mouth!"
Well with that good of reviews from him, I had to post this so I can make this again and again,. I love that it is mayo free.

• 1/2 red small onion, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, finely grated or minced
• 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 can line-caught orItalian tuna (6 ounces)
• (I used two cans of 5 oz each)
• 1/2 cup Niçoise (oil-cured) or kalamata olives, pitted and chopped 
• (I used green olives with pimentoes)
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves (a handful), finely chopped
• (I used curly parsley and chives from my garden)
• 2 slices thick-cut brioche bread
• (I used Whole Wheat)
• 1/2 cup Gruyère cheese, shredded
• (I used fresh mozzarella and pepper jack cheese)

PREPARATION

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.

Combine the onion and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.

In the same bowl, stir together the tomato paste, garlic, Herbes de Provence, pepper and EVOO. Add the tuna, olives, capers and parsley and mix to combine and break up the tuna slightly.

Divide the tuna mixture between the two slices of bread, transfer to a baking sheet and top with the cheese. Toast in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the tuna is heated through.

Pizza Pockets

I made these tonight for the kids since Mike is out of town. 

 They each ate 3. (and their veggies side) And declared that I MUST make them again.

Ingredients:

1 can of biscuits  (I only had Grands on hand, but they would work great with regular size, they will just be smaller)

Cheese   I used Mozzarella and Sharp Cheddar

pizza sauce

Your favorite pizza toppings like:

Pepperoni

mushrooms

basil -- dry or fresh

oregano -- dry or fresh

melted butter or 1 egg white lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350

Take the biscuits and roll them out to about 1/4 in thick

Spread a little pizza sauce in the middle

Put the toppings on top of sauce  (not too much or it will leak out the sides)

Fold one side over to the other and seal the edges very good by pushing them down with your fingers or a fork.

Brush with melted butter or egg wash over

Bake 13-15 min or until golden brown

I made the boys with just the sauce (homemade of course), cheese and pepperoni.

Turkey Sausage and Pasta

I made this last night.

  Everybody finished their plates 

and said it was very yummy.  

I took a recipe I found online and changed it up a bit.  

I will post the original recipe and then my additions in BLUE

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced  I used 6
• 2 14-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes including liquid I used 6 fresh tomatoes cut in quarters and about half a cup of chicken stock
• 1 pound smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices*
• Pinch red pepper flakes I used one whole red chili pepper seeded and diced
• 3/4 pound rotini pasta (corkscrew pasta) I used a whole box of whole wheat rotini
• Salt
• 3 ounces smoked Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes I used regular mozzarella and ADDED a few drops of liquid smoke about 1/2 tsp
• 1 cup peas
• 2 cups spinach  
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 
  
• *If you put the turkey sausage in the freezer first for a half hour, it will be easier to slice.

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and minced red pepper and cook a minute more.

2. Add the tomatoes to the pan, Include the juices. Add the sausage and red pepper flakes. and the few drops of liquid smoke. (probably I used about 1/2 tsp)

 Cover and cook on medium high for 20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened.

3. While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a teaspoon and a half of salt for every quart of water. Cook the pasta according to pasta package instructions, until al dente, or cooked through, but still a bit firm. Add peas the last 2 minutes to the water. Drain the water  from the pasta and the peas.  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water to add to dish to make it more saucy. 

Combine the pasta and the sauce in a large serving bowl. 

4. Add spinach and toss with pasta to wilt.  Add pasta water as needed to moisten.

5. Stir in the cubed smoked regular mozzarella cheese.  Continue to stir until the cheese has softened and is a bit melty. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.