Owlhaven » Recipes

Alecha- Ethiopian comfort food

Owlhaven — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:24:50 +0000

Recipe here

Sesame Chicken and Veggie Stirfry

Owlhaven — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:42:33 +0000

I made Sesame Chicken and Veggies the other night and had to get a picture!

Pasta Carbonera

Owlhaven — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:00:45 +0000

This recipe uses very little meat, but even die-hard carnivores love it. When I make it, I double the amounts given here, and we rarely have any leftovers. I sometimes add diced tomato or sweet pepper for more color and flavor.

Pasta Carbonera
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Serves 6

One pound of spaghetti, cooked al dente.
1/2 pound of bacon
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic
2 T. fresh basil or sage leaves, chopped fine (I used sage last night. You could substitute dried seasonings in smaller amounts)
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, draining and setting it aside when done. While spaghetti cooks, chop bacon into 1/2 inch chunks and cook in a heavy skillet until nicely crispy. As you are waiting for the bacon to cook, mince the onion very finely, chop the sage or basil, and peel the garlic. Once bacon is crispy, remove it from the pan and set aside in a small bowl.

Do NOT dump out the bacon drippings, because that’s where this recipe gets its flavor. In the bacon drippings in the same pan, cook the minced onion, sage or basil, and garlic over medium heat until the onion is soft. By now your pasta is probably done. Pour the onion, garlic, and bacon drippings over the hot pasta and toss well.

Crack the two eggs into a small bowl and whisk well. Now you are going to pour those eggs over your still-hot pasta, stirring the pasta quickly so that the eggs coat the pasta as evenly as possible. It is important that the pasta still be steaming hot for this step, since it is the heat from the pasta that will cook the eggs. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper to taste.

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© Mary Ostyn for Owlhaven, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Recipe: Greek-style yogurt

Owlhaven — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:37:04 +0000

Today I posted my recipe for greek style yogurt over at myrecipes.com

When you don’t have enough eggs

Owlhaven — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:16:16 +0000

The other morning I wanted to make scrambled eggs, but didn’t happen to have enough eggs. I remembered I had a 2-pound package of frozen hash browns from the dollar store. I fried the hash browns up with onion, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro. At the last minute I added the 4 eggs I did have, cooking and stirring just long enough to set the eggs. A bit of grated cheese was the finishing touch. The end result was much better than plain jane scrambled eggs, once again proving that some of the best meals come from improvisation.

Dinner, maybe?

Owlhaven — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:34:38 +0000

Baked Herb-Crusted Chicken

~~~~~~~~

Also, don’t miss an interview and giveaways of THREE COPIES my books happening this week at:

Cultivating Home

and

Making Home

Now I’m off to swim lessons– as soon as I fix the failed elastic in my son’s swimsuit, that is. Such a glamorous life I lead.

Freezer cooking this weekend!

Owlhaven — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:50:28 +0000

This weekend I’ve decided to join Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom’s freezer cooking challenge. I’ve got lots of ingredients in my freezer and pantry. I just need to translate those into some meals that will come together easily in the next weeks.

Here’s my plan:

3 Hamburger Enchilada casseroles (Thursday)
3 dozen banana-almond muffins (Thursday)
3 loaves of banana bread (Thursday)
Big batch of granola (Friday)
Big batch of refrigerator bread dough (Friday?)
3 Cheesy Chicken Casseroles (Friday)
Double batch of Bean and Ham soup (Saturday)
Big batch of Taco Soup (Friday)
Double batch of homemade mac and cheese

Yesterday I did the enchiladas, muffins and bread. The enchilada recipe is basically this one (Family Feasts p. 102) but with ground beef instead of chicken. Thanks to the great hamburger sales lately, I was able to make 3 casseroles with only $5 worth of ground beef (6 lbs). Pureed tomatoes and corn from last year’s garden added to the affordability of the meal. I figure that all three LARGE casseroles cost me about $15 to make.

I tried a recipe from Inn Cuisine for banana muffins. I tripled the recipe and substituted regular oats instead of oat flour, and almonds instead of walnuts. I also used fewer bananas– tripling the recipe would have meant about 10 bananas. I used 7. Boy, was it ever yummy!! It made 3 dozen muffins and 3 mini-loaves of bread.

This morning I made a triple batch of Cheddar Chicken and Rice Casserole using my daughter’s recipe. I’d been wanting to try it for awhile. They turned out really pretty. I’ll serve one this weekend, and have the other two in the freezer for later.

Then for lunch we had homemade mac and cheese. I doubled that recipe, topping it with a bit of crumbled bacon and chili powder to jazz it up a bit, and stuck half of it in the freezer for later.

Dinner tonight is Taco Soup (Family Feasts p. 182), already simmering on the stove. I’ll probably make corn bread to go along with it. That is all the energy I have today, but tomorrow I’ll finish up with the rest of the things on the list!

Recipe: Spicy Crab Dip

Owlhaven — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:53:45 +0000

On any given day, I’ll have 3 or 4 ‘gotta try this’ recipes open in my internet browser. And often when I do get around to trying something, I won’t have all the ingredients called for in the recipe. Do I let that stop me? Hardly ever. Some of my most interesting recipes happen when I need to go to the store.

The recipe I posted at MyRecipes.com yesterday is no exception. I had it in my head to make artichoke dip. Except I didn’t have artichokes. Or spinach. Or mayo. And then I happened across a dip using crab. Hmm…. I had imitation crab. And sour cream. And sriracha. And– thanks to a major splurge in NYC– Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Perfect. And so my totally yummy spicy crab dip recipe was born. Requiring zero extra trips to the store.

The only thing I don’t like about this recipe is that I made it in the evening, thus having to take photographs in fake light. Ugh. I do love sunlight for food pictures. And, sadly, by the time the sun returned the next morning, there was not a dab of dip remaining. And– this time– no crab in the house. Guess I really will have to go to the store if I want to make this again.

And I do. Yum!

Homemade Eggnog

Owlhaven — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:33:12 +0000

This time of year in the grocery store I’m often tempted by eggnog, but it’s so darned expensive! Here’s an easy way to make your own.

Prep time: 10 minutes, plus time for chilling
Makes: 1/2 gallon

1 3-ounce package instant French vanilla pudding mix
1/2 gallon milk (2% or whole is best)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Whisk together puddling mix and about 1 cup of milk. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. When the puddling is blended and dissolved, add sugar, vanilla, and spices to the pudding/milk mixture. Pour into a 2-quart pitcher, add remaining milk, and stir well. Let chill overnight, or at least one hour. Just before serving, stir again to recombine spices.

Peppermint Bark

Owlhaven — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:54 +0000

Peppermint Bark

Here’s a recipe so ridiculously easy that it’s barely a recipe. But, boy, is it yummy! I love the way the vanilla bark mellows out the mints, and the mints add a breezy freshness to the vanilla bark.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

2 cups mints
2 20-ounce packages of vanilla bark

Melt the vanilla bark in a double boiler, or in a metal bowl over a pot containing a few inches of boiling water. While bark is melting, put peppermints into a ziplock, then put that bag into another ziplock. (Or do like I did and use old bread bags.) Pound mints with a rolling pin until most of the mints are broken. Pour broken mints into a strainer that you’ve set over a bowl. Let the powdered candy sift down through the strainer into the bowl.

When vanilla bark is melted, mix candy dust and half of the larger mint pieces into the bark. Set aside the rest of the pieces. Put wax paper on two cookie sheets, and butter the wax paper. Pour the melted bark/candy combination onto the cookie sheets, dividing equally between the two trays.

Spread with a rubber spatula so that the bottom of each cookie sheet is fairly evenly covered. Don’t spread it too thin–the melted bark should be around 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, though obviously the chunks of candy will prevent you from making it super even.

Once it is spread fairly well, sprinkle the remaining candy over the top of the bark, pressing candy gently into the surface of the soft bark. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, until bark has cooled and hardened. Break into chunks and enjoy!