Spinach Patties

Homemade Spinach Patties

This blog post is for my cousin Michelle.  She SWEARS that these patties cannot be made outside of my kitchen.  The recipe is simple, easy and delicious, yet Michelle, somehow cannot figure it out.

This step by step tutorial is for my dear Michelle as proof that yes- these patties can be created outside of my own kitchen!

Also - these are a great holiday treat for your vegetarian friends!

Spinach Patties - about 8
1 - 10 oz box frozen shopped spinach (thawed-water squeezed out)
1 - 8 oz container cottage cheese (any style)
1 small onion chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or oatmeal)
1 Tablespoon Mayo
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
dash hot sauce
optional - 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (I don't make mine with garlic but some people like it that way)

Oil for frying

Wrap the spinach in a clean dish towel and squeeze it until it's dry.  A LOT of water will come out of frozen spinach!

Next combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes.  This allow the breadcrumbs to absorb the eggs so that that they don't fall apart.

Mix everything in a bowl

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet.  Heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking.  Scoop the spinach mixture into in skillet.  (I use an ice cream scoop).  Use a fork to spread the patties flat.

Cook the patties over medium heat until they are brown on one side and the onions are translucent (about 8 minutes).

Yummy Brown

Turn the patties over and cook the other side until it is brown.  The second side won't take as long to cook.  Make sure they are golden brown.  Remove the patties from the skillet and allow them to cool on a paper towel.  They will be VERY hot.

Ready to eat!

 Serve hot, cold or at room temperature.  I love these as a midnight snack!!

Midnight Snack!

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Cheesy Pesto Garlic Bread

Pesto Garlic Cheesy Bread

I threw this little goody together for dinner last night and the family LOVED it.

For this recipe you will need:
Refrigerator Crescent Rolls
Pesto Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Cookie Sheet
Oven

Start with a can of store bought crescent rolls.

Crescent Rolls

Spread rolls out on an ungreased cookie sheet in the shape or a circle.  The wide edges of the rolls should overlap.

Lay out the rolls

Add Pesto Sauce.

I like this kind

Add as much pesto as you like.

Add shredded mozzarella cheese.

Add the cheese

Fold the long points of the rolls towards the center of the circle.

Fold over

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes.

Ready to Bake

This looked SO messy when I put it in the oven.  It came out just fine!

Done!

I wanted to get pictures of this all cut up on a plate.  My family ate it to fast for me to take a picture.

Serving Suggestion:
This roll would go great with my Skillet Lasagna!

Skillet Lasagna

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Pie from Fresh Pumpkin

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

(adapted from Mrs. Sigg’s Fresh Pumpkin Pie recipe on allrecipes.com)

Fresh baked pie!

1 medium sugar pumpkin  

2 readymade pie crusts

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar OR (1 cup white sugar + 3 tablespoons molasses)

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 (12 oz can) evaporated milk

Cook pumpkin (in oven or slow cooker - directions below) until soft and puree in a blender or food processor.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix well.  Pour into 2 pie crusts. 

Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

This recipe makes 2 pies!

I don't have time or patience for homemade crust.

  

Tips:

• The batter will be thin.  Don’t worry, it bakes up just fine!
• If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, don’t panic.  You can make your own!
• Pumpkin pie spice = (1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves)

Super Pro Tip:

Add cooked (unmashed) pumpkin flesh and all other ingredients to blender (or food processor bowl).  Blend until smooth, pour into pie crusts.

Fresh from the blender!

Cooking your pumpkin

I’ll be honest, the main reason I want the kids to choose a small pumpkin so that I can cook it later.   Smaller pumpkins are easier to cook! 

Cook small to medium pumpkins in the crock pot!

CROCK POT Method

Remove the stem.  Place your [uncut] small/medium pumpkin in the Crockpot with about ½ cup water.  With the lid in place, set the pot to high and cook for 3 hours (cook for 6 hours on low).  Once the pumpkin is fork tender it’s ready.

Removing the pumpkin can be tricky.  I usually stab it with 2 forks and pull it out.

Use 2 forks to lift pumpkin fro Crock Pot

OVEN Method

If the pumpkin is small/medium, rub it with oil and place it/them [uncut] in the oven.  Bake at 350 degrees until soft.

If the pumpkin is large you may need to cut it in half.  When it’s fork tender, it’s ready.

Once it cooked:

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and strings from the center.  Scoop out the flesh and mash with a potato masher.

Pumpkin flesh can be lumpy or stringy.  For making soup, pie or baby food run the pumpkin flesh through the food processor or blender to make it smooth.  

Cut cooked pumpkin in half

Scoop out seeds and strings

This is all that's left of the pumpkin once the flesh is removed!

Mash your pumpkin

Homemade Dog Food

Our yorkie poo LOVES pumpkin!   Add a few tablespoons to hard food for a special treat or whip up a batch of soft dog food.

1 lb ground turkey (or chicken livers)

1 cup brown rice

6 cups water

1 ½ c fresh pumpkin

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

Simmer rice, meat, seasonings and water in a large pan until rice if full cooked.  Stir in fresh pumpkin.

Cool and serve. Leftovers must be refrigerated or frozen.

Homemade Oreos

I should start this post with a disclaimer.  I'm not an Oreo fan.  Never have been.  (Not even as a little kid).  I don't hate them, they're just not my thing.

Mama-made Sandwich Cookies

My kids, on the other hand, LOVE all things chocolate, all things cookie  and all things Oreo.  When my 6 year old asked for Oeros in his lunch box, I knew I needed a plan.

Have you ever read the label on a bag of Oreos!?  Yuck!

Oreo Label - Yikes!

Let's be real here:  I knew they weren't health food but fully half on the ingredients didn't seem to be real English words.  And so I came up with a compromise.  I'd make mama-Oreo's.

I LOVE to cook and bake but can't stand a recipe that's too precious.  I need a "toss the stuff in a bowl and mix" kind of recipe instead of a "sift this, gently fold that" kind of deal.  I found one and here it is:

Crispy Chocolate Cookie

The Cookie

Crispy Chocolate Cookies
3 dozen

1/2 cup melted butter  (that's 1 stick)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 small egg
1/4 cup honey (I use powdered honey)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (heaping)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix everything in a bowl.

Cookie Scoop (optional)

Cookie Balls in the Oven

I like to use a cookie scoop, but you can roll the dough into balls, or scoop it out with a spoon.  Just make sure that your dough balls are evenly sized.  Place dough balls on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Easy right!


Now for the filling:

Vanilla Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  The frosting will be stiff.  Use a mixer to make the job go faster.

Once the cookies are cool, complete your sandwich cookies!

Done!

Double Stuff Version

The real test of the recipe is kids.

Cookie Judges Love THEM!

Our 2 judge panel agrees that they're GREAT!

Lunch Box Ready!

These cookies are so easy that I made them this morning to lunch time today!

PRO TIP:

These cookies freeze BEAUTIFULLY!!  To keep the kids from going into cookie overload, simply stack room temp cookies in a sandwich bag or plastic container and pop into the freezer.  Defrost at room temperature.

Freezer Ready

SUPER PRO TIP:
Both the cookie dough and frosting freeze well.  If you don't have time to bake today, make the dough and freeze in balls.  When you want just a few cookies bake as many frozen cookie balls as you need.

Snow Ice Cream

My kids have been going WILD for Strawberry snow ice cream this year. I think I made it once last year and apparently they remembered!

Here is the recipe

Large bowl of fresh snow (or shaved ice)

In a separate bowl mix:

1/3 cup of milk (cow, soy, almond, rice, evaporated or any kind of milk)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon strawberry extract

Using an ice cream scoop, I scoop 1-2 scoops of fresh snow into a small bowl. Drizzle the milk mixture over the snow. Voila!

Easy Skillet Lasagna

Homemade Skillet Lasagna

We're big lasagna fans at my house, but because it takes a lot of time and effort, I don't make it that often.  Frozen package lasagna works fine, but I'm not really a frozen or package kind of person (no judgement to those who are).

This recipe is SUPER easy and I'll offer you tips along the way to help streamline the process.

Skillet Lasagna
For this recipe you will need:

1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken or pork-it really doesn't matter)
1 - jar pasta sauce (you could also use homemade)
1 - 10 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 - teaspoon chopped garlic
Lasagna Noodles - any kind
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Ricotta cheese (optional)
Salt, pepper, olive oil, fennel seed, basil, oregano

Skillet with a lid

A Word about Lasagna Noodles:

"No boil" lasagna noodles are a big thing now.  What I've known for YEARS is that all lasagna noodles are no boil.  You never have to boil a lasagna noodle again if you don't want to.  

Whole wheat lasagna noodles need to be cooked longer than regular noodles.  If you're using whole wheat noodles, soak them in hot water while you prep the rest of this dish.  If you're using regular noodles and you're short on time, soak the noodles in hot water.  If you're making this dish and you've got 20 minutes or so to let it simmer, you don't have to prep the noodles at all.   

Instructions:

I made this dish with whole wheat noodles.  Whole wheat noodles need to cook a little longer than regular noodles.  To cut down on cooking time I soaked my noodles.

break noodles into a bowl

To soak lasagna noodles: break about 5 noodles into large pieces and place them in a heat safe bowl. Cover the noodles with hot water and allow them to soak while you prep the rest of the dish.

Cover the noodles with hot or boiling water

Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped onions.

Saute Onions in olive oil

Add 1 lb of ground meat (I used ground turkey)

Saute ground meat

Add the seasonings (salt, pepper, a few fennel seeds, basil, oregano).  I use sausage seasoning in all of my Italian cooking.

My favorite sausage seasoning!

Once the meat is browned and seasoned, add 1/2 cup of water.

Brown the meat and add 1/2 c water

Cover the meat with pasta sauce (homemade or jar). Then drain and add a layer of noodles.

Drain and add the noodles.

Layer in the noodles

Add 1/2 the can of crushed tomatoes.

layer in tomatoes

Then add another layer of noodles.

The final layer should always be sauce

The noodles need to be covered with sauce to cook properly, so the final layer is always sauce.

Cover and Cook

Place a lid on the skillet and allow it to cook over medium heat for approx 20 minutes or until the noodles are tender.

Top with mozzarella cheese

Top the dish with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Replace the lid just long enough for the cheese to melt.

Time to eat!

My kids LOVED this dish!!!!

My kids went NUTS for this dish!

 I have 1 child who hates EVERYTHING - he had 3 helpings!

Leftovers

PRO TIPS:
Use a heavy bottom skillet for this dish.  Thinner pans get hot spots and my result in burned spots.

SUPER PRO TIP:
Substitute Spinach and garlic for meat and make a vegetarian version.

Spinach and Garlic instead of meat

Fast and easy to make

I topped the vegetarian version with dollops of ricotta cheese.

Ricotta topped spinach lasagna

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