Day 77: Spinach Fritatta

Whisked 5 eggs (that's all there was in the fridge - could have used six) with a little milk, salt & pepper. Chopped and sauteed an onion in olive oil. Pan fried 2 MF Italian Sausage links, in the same pan, then sliced them up and added back with the onions. Put a box of frozen spinach in the microwave for 5 minutes, squeezed out the excess liquid in a strainer, then threw that into the pot. Mixed everything and spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Topped with grated cheddar cheese, poured eggs over, topped with more cheddar and then grated some Parmesan over the top. Cooked on the stove until the bottom set a little, then put into a 350F oven for about 20-25 minutes until firm and starting to brown. Served with toast. Leftovers for breakfast. Yum.

Day 76: Grilled Cheese

Calandra's whole wheat panzella bread is the best tasting bread and low fat, high fiber. Grilled some cheddar on two slices of that bread. Yum. Then off to practice with the friends who are going to back me up at the coffee house. Everyone else had to fend for themselves - again!

Day 75: Black Bean Burger

Quick dinner before a organizing meeting for the coffee house. MF Black Bean burger with cheddar cheese and salsa. Everyone else on their own.

Day 74: Swiss Chard and White Bean Minestrone

Another recipe from Kitchen Seasons, by Ross Dobson  (See Day 50 post).  This one is EASY and elegant and delicious and the presentation is lovely. It would be a perfect dish for company. It was perfect tonight with the very cold weather.

As usual, I reduced the amount of fat in this recipe. You can add more if you think its necessary.

Ingredients

1 onion

1 bunch Swiss chard (I used red - but I think white would make a prettier soup)

1 quart vegetable broth (I made some yesterday)

1 14 oz can of cannellini beans

4 thick slices of ciabatta bread (we bought a fresh loaf at Trader Joe's this morning)

good olive oil (I've been using Halutza Israeli extra virgin lately)

a glove or two of garlic

salt & freshly ground pepper (I bought some Redmond gourmet kosher sea salt and I am trying that to see if I notice a taste difference - it is very pretty to look at- a pinkish beige with darker brown crystals interspersed, I think I like it - jury is still out)

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Remove the long parts of the swiss chard stems and put the greens in a big bowl of cold water to wash - stir them around a bit 
2. Put the heat on medium under a heavy pot
3. Peel the onion
4. Put 1 tsp olive oil into the pot to heat
5. Chop the onion and add to the pot - set the timer for 5 minutes - stir occasionally
6. While the onion is cooking - drain & rinse the swiss chard (re-wash if there is a lot of dirt in the water), then remove the center spines from the leaves and chop it into small pieces
7. When the timer goes off, add the swiss chard to the pot, cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes
8. While the swiss chard is cooking, open the can of beans, drain and rinse, measure out the stock
9. When the timer goes off, add the stock and beans to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a gentle boil
10. While the soup is heating, toast the bread slices, rub each slice with a cut piece of garlic, go easy on the garlic for those (like S.) who do not like a lot.
11. Place a bread slice in each shallow soup bowl, drizzle 1/4 - 1/2 tsp olive oil over the bread, ladle on the soup, letting a little greens and beans pile on top of the middle of the bread. 
12. Grate a little cheese over the top and serve

We had this as a first course and cooked up a the rest of a bag of Celantano frozen ravioli to go with it, which turned out not to really be necessary, this soup is a meal in itself.

Day 73: Pasta with Arugula Pesto

Lunch today was potato leek soup. I will post the recipe tomorrow. L. and I thought it was delightful, S. not so much. We had the Stuffed cabbage from the freezer with it.

Dinner
Orichette with Arugula Pesto and Three Bean Salad

Here's how easy this was
1. boiled the pasta
2. took 3 cubes of Arugula Pesto from the freezer (made with the overabundance of Arugula in the CSA shares at the end of the summer)
3. Mixed 1 with 2 and a little pasta cooking water, a little olive oil and a little Parmesan.
4. Served with extra Parmesan, salt & pepper

L:. and S, had Morningstar Farms Chick'n patties with their pasta. I had semi-frozen 3 bean salad - picture and story to follow.  S. said the Arugula is too bitter. I kind of like the taste.

Day 72: Eggplant Parmesan

Thursday is my usual evening to work (2:30- 10 pm), but this week I was scheduled on Friday. L. usually stops by after work and the gym and joins me for dinner on my break -he is the best husband. I had packed us some stuffed cabbage I took out of the freezer, but there was a catered luncheon in the pharmacy department earlier in the day - so we had leftovers from that; eggplant Parmesan, bread, salad, and a cannoli. Saved the stuffed cabbage for lunch on Sat.

Day 71: Grillers

Another busy night. Exciting things are happening on the musical front. I am working with three other musicians who think my songs are great and want to perform with me and record a CD. We are currently rehearsing for a coffee house on March 5 and are getting together every Tuesday night at 7. Got home from work at 5:30. Sat with S. and had a griller with cheddar cheese on a whole wheat Portuguese roll and headed out. Didn't I say that some things are more important than dinner?