i have been about that savory breakfast life for a little bit now, which is kinda hilarious to me because my sweet tooth is still going strong. maybe it's because i'm usually having a mimosa or 5 with brunch and i feel like i need a savory entree to balance out the sugar? yeah, let's go with that. it sounds plausible enough.
this recipe has a few of my favorite things: potatoes, cheese, and spinach. don't be like me and use an entire container of baby spinach in this recipe, though. i made this on friday evening and realized i probably wouldn't finish the rest of the spinach before it went bad, so into the mixing bowl it went. in hindsight, i probably should've added another egg or two to even out the consistency a bit. as it was, i let these bake for, oh, maybe 35 or so minutes instead of the 25 minutes listed in the recipe. i also added a couple cloves of minced garlic (yes, i did go to the store just to buy more garlic after i made that last batch of chili) because, well, i just figured it was an oversight of some sort that this recipe didn't call for any garlic. there's potatoes and spinach and cheese! why would you not add garlic to that deliciousness?
as an aside, i would like to point out that past me packed away a muffin tin and a grater, but not a potato masher. i discovered this when i decided to make mashed potatoes with the potatoes i'd bought for this recipe but didn't use. i just let the potatoes boil for what seemed like forever or until i could mash them with the back of a spoon.
back to the recipe, though - added garlic, dumped in way more spinach than was called for, adjusted the cooking time...oh! i had some cubed smoked gouda (which has been a "not-quite-impulse buy but definitely not on my shopping list" purchase the past couple of trips to jewel) in the fridge, so i added a few cubes along with the grated smoked cheddar. mmmm....cheese...
i did not freeze any of these because i'm having them for breakfast this week. i like them as they are, and i'm sure they'd be better if i hadn't gone overboard with the spinach and messed up the consistency. i also like that they're vegetarian and that this is something that could be made in advance for a brunch or a brinner party. oooh, a brinner party. i would totally go to a brinner party. i don't think i've done brinner yet since i moved in. i should make that happen soon.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Saturday, July 15, 2017
recipe review: italian sausage chili
this is one of the recipes that caught my eye while i was organizing my recipe binders a couple of weeks ago. i knew i had italian sausage in the freezer and that there was a carton of chicken broth in the pantry, so it was just a matter of picking up the other ingredients.
me being me, i used 6 cloves of garlic instead of 4. i just happened to have 6 cloves left and decided it was a sign to use them all. some of the cloves were thinly sliced. some were not. if i had it to do again, i'd probably just use my garlic press and mince the garlic that way. i used a package of johnsonville italian sausage, which i think clocks in at around 19 ounces or so. the cannellini beans were low-sodium, as was the chicken broth. no parsley was used. i had a few scallions left from the turkey fried rice i'd made the night before, so i sliced those up and added them with the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. i also added some italian seasoning at the end - maybe a teaspoon or so? i was eyeballing it so who knows what the exact measurement was on that.
i made this on wednesday and didn't actually eat any of it until last night. chili's one of those dishes that tastes better the longer it has time to sit and let all the flavors hang out and become best friends. i put a serving in the freezer and have had 2 bowls of it so far, and i'm pretty sure there's at least 3 servings left in the fridge, so that whole "serves 4" thing may not be the most accurate. i'd make this again, possibly with chicken chorizo from whole foods (usually available at the meat counter - sometimes you have to order it in advance and they'll make it for you) and with minced/pressed garlic. maybe a red/orange/yellow bell pepper instead of green, depending on what's on sale. maybe diced tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes? oh, the possibilities...lol
me being me, i used 6 cloves of garlic instead of 4. i just happened to have 6 cloves left and decided it was a sign to use them all. some of the cloves were thinly sliced. some were not. if i had it to do again, i'd probably just use my garlic press and mince the garlic that way. i used a package of johnsonville italian sausage, which i think clocks in at around 19 ounces or so. the cannellini beans were low-sodium, as was the chicken broth. no parsley was used. i had a few scallions left from the turkey fried rice i'd made the night before, so i sliced those up and added them with the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. i also added some italian seasoning at the end - maybe a teaspoon or so? i was eyeballing it so who knows what the exact measurement was on that.
i made this on wednesday and didn't actually eat any of it until last night. chili's one of those dishes that tastes better the longer it has time to sit and let all the flavors hang out and become best friends. i put a serving in the freezer and have had 2 bowls of it so far, and i'm pretty sure there's at least 3 servings left in the fridge, so that whole "serves 4" thing may not be the most accurate. i'd make this again, possibly with chicken chorizo from whole foods (usually available at the meat counter - sometimes you have to order it in advance and they'll make it for you) and with minced/pressed garlic. maybe a red/orange/yellow bell pepper instead of green, depending on what's on sale. maybe diced tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes? oh, the possibilities...lol
Tuesday, July 04, 2017
on: not losing recipes
i spent a good chunk of today going through my paper recipe files. i currently have three large binders filled with recipes that i've clipped or printed or typed up. before today, i hadn't really looked at those binders since 2011. i'd been accumulating recipes since then in a couple of overflowing manila folders (and on my laptop, but let's not discuss that right now), so i decided it was time to file those away while reviewing ones i'd previously saved.
it was interesting to me to see how my taste have changed and/or evolved over time. i wound up tossing dozens, if not closer to a hundred or more, of previously saved recipes into my recycling bin. there were dishes that i knew good and well i'd probably never get around to trying. dishes that had ingredients that i don't like and couldn't easily substitute for something else. dishes that probably sounded good to past me, but current me was like "um, no thank you." dishes i'm not really sure why i saved them in the first place and since i'm in no danger of running out of ideas, away they went.
i found a couple of recipes that i'd made from memory just in the past couple of days, including a sauce i used for my crockpot ribs today, and some other old favorites that were relatively heavy in my rotation. i'm actually kinda excited about revisiting some of them and trying out some new ones, all the while hoping that i get the knack of this electric stove sooner vs. later.
it was interesting to me to see how my taste have changed and/or evolved over time. i wound up tossing dozens, if not closer to a hundred or more, of previously saved recipes into my recycling bin. there were dishes that i knew good and well i'd probably never get around to trying. dishes that had ingredients that i don't like and couldn't easily substitute for something else. dishes that probably sounded good to past me, but current me was like "um, no thank you." dishes i'm not really sure why i saved them in the first place and since i'm in no danger of running out of ideas, away they went.
i found a couple of recipes that i'd made from memory just in the past couple of days, including a sauce i used for my crockpot ribs today, and some other old favorites that were relatively heavy in my rotation. i'm actually kinda excited about revisiting some of them and trying out some new ones, all the while hoping that i get the knack of this electric stove sooner vs. later.
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