Category: Food

Every Friday evening I cook dinner for our daughter-in-law and grandkids. M has had a long week and is tired, and and we’re happy to relieve her of any cooking duties at home. I always try to make American or American-style dishes, things she typically would not make but loves to eat.

This easy spaghetti and meatball dinner was a hit with everyone, the grandkids included, who can be quite picky at times. I saw the recipe one day in my Instagram feed, and happened to have everything on hand to make it. It’s as easy as the recipe looks and we enjoyed the results (I served with roasted zucchini and bread).

I didn’t make my own meatballs, but used a package of pre-made ones from Aldi I had on hand. It would have been easy to make my own meatballs though, and the ingredients are included in the recipe.

My only suggestion is to either oil the pan well or use a non-stick spray before adding the spaghetti. I didn’t and some of the pasta stuck to the bottom of the pan and was quite crunchy – lesson learned!

(I apologize for the lack of photos but the lighting in our apartment is just plain awful, especially in the kitchen) and I have given up trying to produce something that would be useful to anyone.)

ONE-PAN SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

• 12 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 24-ounce jar of marinara sauce
• 2 cups water
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup basil pesto
• salt & pepper to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese
• fresh basil leaves for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with non-stick spray or coat with oil. Spread the dry spaghetti over the bottom of the pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Blend the marinara sauce and water together and pour over the spaghetti. Gently mix to make sure all the spaghetti is covered with liquid.

If making your own meatballs, mix together the ground beef, breadcrumbs, pesto, and salt and pepper and form 12-16 meatballs.

Arrange the meatballs evenly over the spaghetti. Cover the pan with foil and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 6-8 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the tops of the meatballs are browned. If the sauce is already too thick, hot water can be added to reach the desired consistency.

Serve the spaghetti with meatballs along with grated Parmesan, and torn fresh basil leaves (if desired).

Serves four (either three or four meatballs per serving).

I am 70 years and until the week before last I had never made beef stew, in my slow cooker or otherwise. I have no idea why not because it was incredibly easy and tasted fantastic. The reason I finally made beef stew now is that I needed it as the base for a beef pot pie.

I chose this beef stew recipe because I had (almost) everything it called for other than balsamic vinegar, which I just left out. I also didn’t have thyme, but substituted oregano and all was well. The recipe also called for one cup of red wine; I cut that back to half of a cup, and upped the beef broth to two cups. This allowed the wine taste to be present without being overwhelming, but the wine can be skipped entirely and 2 1/2 cups broth used instead, if desired. Otherwise I followed everything as called for. The prep was simple, and it turned out beautifully.

To keep the crust part of the pie simple as well, I topped the stew with pre-made puffed pastry. The hard part was finding frozen puffed pastry – to seemed every store was sold out of it, as if everyone was using puffed pastry for Valentine’s Day. I ended up buying the final package remaining at Whole Foods, a bit expensive but the box contained enough for two dishes making the purchase a little less painful.

Anyway, if you’re looking for an easy, hearty, and scrumptious-looking dish, this beef pot pie is a winner!

BEEF POT PIE

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 3 pounds chuck roast cut into 1″ pieces for stew, with excess fat removed
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth or beef bone broth (I used 2 cups)
• 1 cup dry red wine (I used 1/2 cup)
• 2 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dried thyme (I substituted dried oregano)
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly grated black pepper
• 6 minced garlic cloves
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into chunks
• 4 large carrots, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 pound potatoes, cut into 1/2″ cubes (I used small Yukon gold potatoes and cut them into fourths)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup frozen peas

Add olive oil to large skillet and heat to medium high. Add the stew meat, season with salt and pepper, and sear each piece on both sides, about 4-5 minutes to a side. Place the meat in the bottom of the slow cooker, then blend the broth, wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and balsamic vinegar in the skillet, scraping up the bits of beef drippings stuck to the pan. Pour the hot liquid over the beef in the cooker and add the salt and pepper, then place the garlic carrots, potatoes, and onions over the beef, and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

Around a half-hour before serving, blend 1 cup of broth from the slow cooker into the flour with a whisk so there are no lumps. Mix this back into the beef and vegetables, and add the frozen peas. Turn the slow cooker temperature to high and cook with the lid off an additional 10-15 minutes, until the liquid in the cooker has thickened up.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pour the hot stew into a baking pan – I used a 7″ x 11″ pan -and top with a piece of cold puff pastry dough (follow directions on the package for how to handle to dough). Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown and crispy throughout. Let the pie sit for 5 minutes, then cut, serve, and swoon! Makes six servings.

I was confronted during the first week of the year with having to use up the last of our Christmas ham (as well as a whole lot of other leftovers from the holidays). There wasn’t much ham left on the bone and I didn’t have enough of anything else on hand to make soup, but what I eventually realized is that I did have almost everything on hand to make one of our favorite leftover ham dishes, pasta tossed with spinach, red pepper, and diced ham and coated in creamy cheese. It’s one of the simplest and easiest recipes in my repertoire, and always a crowd pleaser.

The only thing I was lacking this time was the spinach, but Brett and I included a bag of baby spinach one my first of the month Trader Joe’s list. That evening, I diced the remaining ham (and put the bone in the freezer for a later pot of soup), julienned a red pepper that had been hanging out in the produce drawer, cooked a remaining half bag of pasta I had in the pantry, and finally tossed the finished product with some leftover spreadable sharp cheddar cheese. With the addition of some freshly cracked pepper, the result was a fabulous meal that got only a couple of dishes dirty and provided leftovers for the next two days’ lunches.

The beauty of this dish is that it can be made from whatever someone desires or already has on hand. I rarely, if ever, see it any more, but my favorite spreadable cheese for this dish has always been sun-dried tomato, but any soft cheese spread – garlic with herbs, for example – works fine. Any type of pasta is fine as well, although the original recipe called for farfalle (bow ties). The pepper doesn’t have to be red, and spinach can be replaced with kale, arugula, or other greens. Ham provides a smoky flavor, but there’s no reason bacon, chicken, beef, or even salmon couldn’t be used.

Below is the basic recipe – variations are up to the cook and what’s on hand!

CHEESY PASTA WITH HAM, SPINACH, AND RED PEPPER

• 5-ounce bag baby spinach

• 1 large red pepper

• 1 1/2 cups diced ham

• 12 ounces dried pasta. Ones created to catch the sauce are preferred over long noodles, but they can work too

• 8-12 ounces soft cheese spread

In a large stockpot, bring water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Don’t skimp on the water – the pasta water is what will “cook” the spinach and pepper.

Wash the spinach and leave in a colander. Julienne the red pepper into very thin strips and lay on top of the spinach.

When the pasta is ready, slowly pour the pasta water over the spinach and peppers, ending with the pasta sitting on the top. Let it sit for a minute or so, then transfer the pasta, spinach, and pepper back into the stockpot. Using tongs, pull apart the clumps of spinach and mix throughout the pasta along with the pepper strips, which should be tender crisp and not soggy.

When the spinach is mixed through the pasta, add the diced ham to the stockpot and mix it through the pasta.

Finally, add the spreadable cheese to the pasta. The heat from the pasta will soften it to coat the pasta as it is mixed. Gently stir until all the pasta and vegetables are coated.

Serve immediately with cracked pepper.

The first apple pie I made was when I was 18 years old. I went out in the middle of the night and picked apples off the tree just outside my college dorm (which we had been warned not to do) and stayed up to bake my pie in the kitchen on our floor. My roommate, friends, and I quickly devoured the pie the following day, and I’ve stuck to the recipe ever since, a crust filled to almost overflowing with sliced apples, topped with a simple mixture of flour, sugar, and cinnamon and a few butter slices over everything.

This year, however, I wanted to try something different for our Thanksgiving dessert, so I read what seemed like a hundred recipes trying to find a new recipe for apple pie. Most of the one I read were similar to my old standard, but I also kept coming across one called Apple Pie by Grandma Ople, enough times that I finally decided this was the one I had to try.

The big difference in this recipe is that apple slices are topped with a boiled mixture of butter, flour, and white and brown sugars versus the traditional mix of sugar, flour, and cinnamon topped with a few slices of butter under the top crust. I used tart Jonathan apples on my first try at Thanksgiving, but any tart apple variety will do, and I went with Granny Smith for my second go-round at Christmas and thought they made for a much tastier pie. The Jonathan apples were also a bit small – I used eight but another four would have made it better. My crust was a premade one from Aldi; however, the top crust is too small for my pie plate so K cut out shapes and we layered them over the top. Also, I like cinnamon in my apple pie so I added about a 1/2 teaspoon to the butter-sugar mixture and that was just enough for me and not enough to bother people who don’t care for cinnamon.

Overall, this pie was easy to make, and the result? Ooh la la! I can’t imagine ever making an apple pie any other way.

APPLE PIE BY GRANDMA OPLE

• 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices – I cut my apples into 12 slices, not too thin, not too thick.
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 TBSP unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
• 1 9″ double pie crust

Preheat over to 425 degrees.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and blend in, stirring to form a paste, Cook for around 1-2 minutes until it smells buttery, then add both sugars and the water, and stir until everything is blended together. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes, then remove from the heat.

Fill the pie crust to heaping with the sliced apples. Use the top crust to form a tight lattice, or use cut out shapes from the top crust to cover the apples.

Slowly and gently pour the butter and sugar mixture over the top crust, making sure it seeps into the pie. A bit of the syrup can also be brushed on top, making sure it doesn’t go down the side.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the apples are soft, around 35-45 minutes. If the crust edges are getting too brown, cover them with strips of foil until the pie is done.

Let the pie cool, and enjoy warm or cool with ice cream if desired. Makes 8 slices.

One of Brett and my fondest food memories from our travels was sharing a delicious, generous bowl of dulce de leche in Buenos Aires following a meal of empanadas. Dulce de leche is carmelized milk, created by heating sugar and milk over low heat for a long period of time. It can be used like caramel, or eaten on its own, like we did in Argentina.

Making this treat never seemed like something I’d have the time (or inclination) for, but in late November a reel showed up in my Instagram feed showing an incredibly easy way to prepare dulce de leche. And, when I say easy, I mean EASY! I gave it a try and the results were fantastic.

Only two items are needed to prepare dulce de leche this way: a slow cooker and a can of sweetened condensed milk. That’s it! The process takes all day, but the results will last for up to a month in the refrigerator, and are creamy, sweet, and full of delicious caramel flavor.

Here’s how to make it:

• Remove the label from a can of sweetened condensed milk. DO NOT use evaporated milk – it doesn’t work.

• Set the can on its side in a slow cooker and cover with at least two inches of hot water. You can cook more than one can if they can fit in the slow cooker without touching.

• Cook the can(s) on low heat for eight hours.

• When cooking is done, remove from the crockpot and LET THE CAN(S) COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE OPENING. Trying to open while the can is still hot can cause it to explode.

• Store the dulce de leche in the refrigerator for up to a month. It should be removed from the can for storage.

That’s it! We enjoyed it with apple slices a few evenings for dessert, and a small spoonful on top of apple pie one night. It’s yummy stuff.

I used to bake a LOT of cookies. A LOT. I baked them for the holidays, for our kids’ lunchboxes, to send to Brett when he was deployed at sea, to have at home. However, with just Brett and I around to eat them these days, I rarely bake any more – we just don’t need the calories, and both of us can easily go through a batch of cookies in record time. However, I’ve recently started baking with our granddaughter and last week I thought these shortbread cookies would be easy and fun to make with her. I had everything we needed on hand, including a small amount of leftover chocolate chips.

This easy recipe comes from Sunset Magazine’s Favorite Recipes cookbook. I like this recipe it because it makes a very tasty, buttery cookie, and because it uses only four ingredients, ones that are almost always on hand in the pantry and refrigerator. The finished cookie is thin, and slightly almost like a cracker, but it melts in the mouth. Many years ago, this shortbread was my go-to recipe when the cupboards would be almost bare at the end of the month, but we enjoyed them so much that they became something I made fairly regularly. They always disappear quickly.

While the shortbread is delicious all on its own, it can be kicked up a notch with the addition a few chocolate chips, about 1/3 to 1/2 cup. Right after the pan of cookies comes out of the oven, immediately sprinkle the chips over the not, uncut cookies and let them set for around a minute or even less. The chips will become glossy and soft and can then be spread over the cookie as a thin frosting. Cut the shortbread as soon as they’re frosted; the chocolate will harden as the pan cools.

OATMEAL SHORTBREAD

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup softened butter or margarine (2 sticks)

2/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine the four ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well-blended, but still somewhat crumbly. Press firmly and evenly into a lightly greased jelly roll (10″ x 15″) pan. The batter will be thin. Bake for 45 minutes, and then cut into squares or bars while still warm; let shortbread cool in the pan (I cannot stress this enough – trying to cut them when they’re cool creates a BIG, crumbly mess!).