Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Mini Twice Baked Spinach Potatoes

One of the things I wanted to make for our special Valentine's Day dinner the other night was twice baked potatoes.  I've actually never made them.  It's hard to believe isn't it?  I have never been a huge potato fan, but lately they are growing on me.  Plus, they require a lot of ingredients, ingredients which aren't cheap- cheese, cream, butter, bacon.  Also, they are not really a healthy option.  I usually try to steer clear of heavy, cheesy dishes.  (Well, besides pizza, but even then I'm easy on the cheese.)  

Anywho, I thought it would be a nice surprise for Steven and something a little indulgent.  (Are you laughing at the fact that I consider a twice baked potato indulgent?)  

I had small red new potatoes on hand, so that's what I used.  I also had a tub of fresh spinach, which I try to hide in everything, so I thought I'd use that too.  Here is the recipe I found & used- Miss Anthropist's Kitchen.

I didn't quite go by the recipe, so mine look a bit different.  I DID however do the toast option with the leftover stuffing.  REALLY YUMMY!  Do it.

Click her link for the full recipes.  I think will be trying different variations .. potatoes with French's Fried onions, ranch seasoning, or shrimp stuffed potatoes?  

 The stuffing, probably could have used a lot more spinach.  next time
 My oven is not wide enough so I just overlap.  Anyone else ever do this?  It's what the real pros do.  
 Ta da!  Mini stuffed taters and tater muffins.  The three little ones are the toast muffins.  You just squoosh a piece of sandwich bread into a little muffin tin and then use leftover stuffing in it. These  would make really good appetizers!

~Kristie


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!
I'm going to skip over the fact that I haven't blogged in a very, very long time.  So sorry.  Life.  
Now, on to why you're here... chocolate.

This Valentine's Day we don't have any money to spend on gifts or fancy dates or a weekend getaway, but still wanted to do something to let my incredible husband know how much I love him.  So I sent our two year old to Grandma & Pop Pop's (kept the baby- not ready for an overnight without her yet), cleaned the house, rented a movie, and cooked a yummy dinner & dessert.  

My husband loves anything sweet, so I wanted to make something over the top and special. I found this recipe for Chocolate Molten Cake. 
It is REALLY good.  
And REALLY easy.  
I guess you could mess this up, but it would be hard to.


Here's the recipe:

You need:
  • 4 pieces (squares) Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate
  • ½ cups Butter
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 2 whole Eggs
  • 2 whole Egg Yolks
  • 6 Tablespoons Flour
  • 2 cups Real Whipping Cream (seriously It's So Much Better!)
  • 2 Tablespoons Sugar

What you Do:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and place on cookie sheet.
Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.
Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour.
Divide between cups.
Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute.
Then invert the cups on a dish & serve.
Honestly, this would have been awesome with ice cream or whipped cream, but I didn't have any & it was good on it's own.  
And I didn't have any glass ramekins or small bowls, so I just used little teacups & it worked great!  The recipe made 4 small cakes.  Husband at 2.7 & one is in the fridge.  I guess he liked them!
Today isn't over yet, go make one for your Valentine!
~Kristie

Friday, January 6, 2012

Spinach Pesto

We eat a lot of baby spinach at our house.  We buy those big containers of it and I try to fit it into as many meals as possible, but even then it's hard to use all of it. 

A few months ago I decided to use it to make spinach pesto!
It is delicious and freezes great.  Just put it into ice cube trays and thaw as you need it.  Also, just use it as you would regular pesto.  It definitely doesn't taste the same as basil pesto, but if you add some basil leaves it would be close.
I use Giada's recipe here.

And here are some more ideas of how to use pesto.
Pesto Bread
Pesto Bread Rolls
Pesto Pizza
Pesto Pasta
Pesto Cream Sauce
Pesto Roasted Chicken
and...
Pesto Roasted Potatoes- a new post coming soon!



~Kristie