Potatoes and Parsnips in Four Cheese Herb Sauce

OH.MY.GOSH!!

I made the most delicious sauce today!
Seriously, I almost cried.

It was getting late and I needed to make something for dinner. I didn't have time to look for a recipe, so I just decided to totally wing it.

I needed to use up some sweet onions. I've been compulsively buying them every time I go to the store. I even bought some when I went up to my parents - it is THAT bad.

I chopped up and sauteed a whole medium size onion in olive oil. While it was cooking I thought a little garlic would be good so I added three minced cloves.

I thought potatoes would go good with it, so I sliced a bunch of potatoes into 1/2" slices and put them in a baking dish.

I remembered that I had bought some parsnips a while back meaning to try them, so I peeled one and tried it. It was kind of like a spicy carrot. Yeah, that will go with potatoes, so I chopped up two and threw them in with the potatoes.

For the sauce, I threw 3TBS butter into the onions over medium heat. Once it was melted, I mixed in about 1/8-1/4 cup flour. Once the flour was thoroughly mixed in with the butter, I mixed in about a pint of half and half. I added 2TBS thyme and sea salt and pepper. Then I remembered that I had bought an Italian four cheese mix and sprinkled some of that in too.

O.M.G!! It was YUMMMMMY!!! I wanted to eat it right then.

But I poured it over the potatoes and parsnips instead, mixed it in, and baked the whole thing at 350 degrees for an hour.
It was delicious!! I will definitely make this again. My son and husband weren't so sure about the parsnips (although they each had two huge servings), so I may omit them in the future. I think they just weren't expecting them.

In any case, I definitely have big plans for that sauce!

SPRING IS HERE!!

Just one month after I took the pictures of the snow storm, I took these pictures of my garden finally waking up for another season of color.

I planted these Pickwick crocuses about five or six years ago. There were just twenty of them then, now they are filling in just I had hoped that they would. I like the way that they brighten the front of the house.

I love crocuses because they mulitply so well and are the first thing to bloom in the spring. I tend to not buy them though because I get too caught up in tulips. This fall, though, I am going to make an effort to get more.

These King Alfred daffodils are to the left of all the crocuses (when facing the house) in my "woodland" bed. I am trying to create a light woodland area where I can have tea and read. I planted these daffodils about six years ago. There were just three of them then. I had piled leaves over this entire area about a foot deep, because I am trying to widen the bed, wanted to protect some of the plants that I planted last year, and really was just too lazy to bag the leaves up. I hadn't had time yet to rake them away, but that isn't stopping these daffodils.
I like daffodils, but they are another victim to the tulip mania that hits every time I go bulb shopping.

I can't remember the name of these tulips, but I think they are Kaufmanniana. They are species tulips. Species tulips are good for naturalizing since they multiply well and maintain their vigor. Many species tulips also have beautiful patterning on the leaves, which you can just make out in this picture. They are low growing, though, so they are best for the front of the bed and look really fantastic in rock gardens. I like to use the species tulips under larger tulips. The species tulips tend to bloom first and by the time they are dwindling, the larger tulips are starting to bloom.

I'm not sure what these are called. I looked them up a couple of times, but I keep forgetting what they are called. They came with the house. They naturalized wonderfully in the yard. Before my son got older and we got the dogs, they would bloom in a great swath across the yard. Now they get trampled too much, and so have contented themselves to taking over my garden instead. That is fine by me. They bloom very early so the only thing that they compete with really are the crocuses. Their blooms outlast the crocuses easily. And they are just so darn cheery!

And, yes, I even got my first dandelion of the season. It is a bit early for them, so I'm hoping that means that I can get an early start on planting too.

YAY SPRING!!

Northern Pike in a Caper Sauce

I got some northern pike on sale last week and wanted something quick for dinner tonight, so pike it was.

Northern pike is a fairly common mild-flavored predator fish from where I grew up. It has a loose skeletal structure which makes it very difficult to get completely bone-free. But this was professionally filleted, so I was good to go.

I actually took the recipe from the package the fish came in (but of course I made a few changes). It had capers in it and I had bought a jar of capers months ago, but didn't have any recipes to use them in. Mmmm... capers!!!

Mince two cloves of garlic and saute in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Chop up one small tomato and throw in the pan with the garlic. Throw in a tablespoon or two of wine (I actually used sherry), a couple tablespoons of basil, and a tablespoon or two of butter. Cook until the butter is melted. Salt and pepper to taste.

I used my clay pot cooker for the fish. It works great for fish too! I put a little olive oil in the bottom of the pot, But I don't think this was necessary. I put the fish fillets in frozen and poured two tablespoons of lemon juice and the caper sauce over the top. I sprinkled on two tablespoons of an Italian four cheese mix. I baked this for 20 minutes at 500 degrees.

It was DELICIOUS!!!! This is going on my favorites list. And now I have a recipe to use up those capers on. Mmmm... capers!!

If You Don't Like the Weather in Wisconsin...

Whoa boy!! It was a good thing that we got all that gardening done yesterday, because look what came down over night. You might not be able to see it very well from this picture but we got about 15 inches of snow. Power went out around town and it was very tricky traveling today.

I love snow!! And that is a good thing, because we are scheduled to get some more in a couple of days.

Spring Fever

This weekend it got up to 60 degrees (F). My family and I took the opportunity to go for a long walk around town yesterday to check out some trails that I had been hearing about. The walk took us across the campus grounds -- which even though I work there, I haven't had time to check out myself. I saw that the daffodils were beginning to come up. So we decided to dedicate today for garden clean up.

Here's what the garden looked like before. I don't do a lot of clean up in the fall because I am usually busy enjoying the fall weather hiking, biking, camping, BBQing, and generally having fun with my family. Fall is my favorite season. Dry and cool.

Plus, I hate seeing my garden so bare during the winter, and the birds still use the plant material for food all winter long. THAT'S IT! I do it for the birds! Yeah, I'm not unconcerned for my garden, I'm concerned for the birds.

Anyway...

Here's what my garden looked like after about three hours of work. I still have a lot to do, but the ground is still too frozen to weed; we could only do surface cleaning.

"Did it just get brighter, or is it because all the sunflowers are gone?" my husband commented after we were finished. It may not look it in the picture, but we really got rid of a lot of junk.

This is the earliest that I have been able to get out for spring clean up in a very long time. It feels so good to have so much of it taken care of!

Lasagne Bake

I had a bunch of ingredients that needed to be used up: mozzarella, cottage cheese, sweet onion, and unflavored yogurt. Hmmm... what could I make?

Lasagne bake!!!

What's that? What about the yogurt? Trust me.

I just made this recipe up as I went, as usual, so get ready for more creative measurements. First, turn the oven on to 350 degrees and grease a lasagne pan well with olive oil.

In this picture you can see a box of mostly cooked mini lasagne noodles (they'll finish cooking in the oven) mixed with a 1/2 lb of grated mozzarella, four big-spoonfuls (see the big spoon?) of cottage cheese (um, maybe 1/2 a large container), and three big-spoonfuls of unflavored yogurt (really, trust me!).

Then mix in a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce and one pound browned ground turkey sauteed with sweet onions (about 1/2 a large onion). Mix in a tablespoon of garlic salt (Lawry's is the best).

Top with two cups shredded mozzarella and sprinkle on parmesan.

Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees.

How was it?

DEEE-LICIOUS!!

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

I love cream-of soups. They are my favorites. But I have had so much trouble finding a good recipe for them. I have tried many different ones over the years without much luck.

But if at first you don't succeed -- try, try again.

I had some left over cauliflower and half-n-half and some determination, so I decided to make cream of cauliflower soup.

I found recipes for cream of mushroom and cream of celery so I took some ideas from them and then just had to wing it. I've made lots of from-scratch pudding and thought the base for the soup would be very much like that.

Chop up half a head of cauliflower. Throw into a sauce pan half covering with water. Cook on medium heat.

Finely chop one thick slice of sweet onion. I love the Andes sweets, or, if you can get it, my all time favorite is Vidalia! Throw the chopped onion in with the cauliflower along with two tablespoons butter.

When the cauliflower is just about cooked through and the water has boiled down, throw in 3 chicken boullion cubes. Sprinkle about 1/8 cup flour over the cauliflower and mix in.

Turn down the heat and pour in two cups half-n-half, two cups water, and one egg mixed well. When the soup has heated up, add 1/8 cup chopped swiss cheese. Cook until thicken.

Once the cream has been added, DO NOT OVER HEAT!!!

This was the best cream-of soup that I have ever made. I would definitely make this again, and I plan to try other versions, like: mushroom, broccoli, potato... OH! I CAN'T WAIT!!

Cool Kitchen Gadgetry: Funnels

Many people might not think about getting funnels for their kitchen, but I use mine all the time. I especially like mine because the opennings are actually big enough for things to pass through without clogging them up; and they are so colorful.

Here I am using one to refill a smaller container with sea salt. Have I mentioned how great sea salt is?

Cool Kitchen Gadgetry: Marble Cheese Slicer

I know that every house already has a cheese slicer. Probably one like this one. I grew up with a slicer like this in my house and never really cared for it. It is difficult to get straight slices. You usually end up with knocked knuckles and a block of cheese that is scooped on one end.


So when I was out looking for new gadgets for my kitchen and saw this cheese slicer at $8.99 (Fleet Farm of all places), I had to have it. Isn't it beautiful? AND it slices beautifully too. You can get super thin slices or really thick slices, whatever you need. It is really easy to use, you don't have hold onto the block of cheese, and the marble keeps the cheese cool too.


I have used it on all sorts of cheese and haven't had a problem with any of them. THough this one did come with a couple extra slicing wires in case one does break.

The only thing that I don't like about it is that it is so big (I have a small kitchen and like small, collapsable, or multi-use items) and really only has one use. But, it's pretty enough to sit out on the counter if I can't find room in a drawer. So I think it is a keeper.

Traditional Manicotti

I got this recipe from the 1000 Vegetarian Recipe book. I'm telling you, I LOVE that book!!

In this bowl is two heaping cups of cottage cheese (it was supposed to be ricotta, but I had to substitute cottage cheese + romano), 1/4 cup Romano (see, I told you), 3/4 a package of frozen spinach, a cup chopped mixed sweet peppers and 3 chopped scallions.

This is what it looks like all mixed up. I also added some salt and pepper.

This recipe is actually called "Traditional Canelloni" in the book, but I didn't have canelloni, I had manicotti. Hey, it's all just pasta.

Cook the pasta most of the way. Drain and run cold water over it to cool it down enough to handle it, because you have to stuff them.

The book showed someone using a spoon to stuff the pasta, but good luck with that. I used my hands. We evolved them for a reason, you know.

Here is Neo asking if he can have some yet. Doesn't it look like you could just stuff him in one of the manicotti?

Awe! What a cutie!!

But NO!! You can't have any!

Put the stuffed pasta in a grease baking dish. Pour pasta sauce over the top. I made my own with tomatoes I canned from my own garden, but you can use what you want. The sauce should just about cover the pasta.

Sprinkle romano and parmesan on top and cook in for 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees; or until the pasta is completely cooked and the cheese on top is browned.
Mine didn't quite make it to the browned stage since my son kept hounding me about when it would be done.

Like every five minutes!!

It was pretty good. Well, I'll say it has great potential. I would definitely try this again, with a couple of changes...

Changes I would make:
* Cook it longer.
* Use thicker sauce. I did not spend a lot of time making sure the sauce was right before I used it and I added extra water to it because I didn't have enough to cover the pasta sufficiently.
* MORE CHEESE!!! Hey, I'm from Wisconsin! Maybe a little mozzarella grated on top. Yummy!!