Easy/Good All in on Dish!

We love Kielbasa, the all beef style...it is so handy to have in the refrigerator for so many meals. This is my favorite quick one pot meals and I don't even have a recipe...just add what I happen to have in my pantry.  

In an oven proof pot, add sliced kielbasa and brown over medium heat.   Add three cubed potatoes and peel if desired.  Deglaze pan with a half cup of beef stock, vegetable stock or water.  Add seasonings of choice including salt and pepper.  I don't add salt while cooking but add at table.  Oregano, basil, thyme and sage also are great flavorings.    Cover with tight lid and into the oven for 30 minutes at 350F.   

Remove from oven and cover with chopped green peppers, chopped red peppers and chopped onions. You can decide how much you prefer.  I also have added sliced carrots and celery.  Cover with lid and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.   Serve tableside right from your baking dish.   

Salmon Filet with Panko Crust

Salmon is always on my shopping list.   Tastes great and so easy to prepare in a variety of flavors styles and tastes.  Salmon adapts quickly with Teriyaki for an Oriental dish, Cajun blackened, grilled or baked.     This is a variation of an old Ina Garten recipe.   Love how easy and quick this is for a hot summer supper.    I thick sliced sweet potatoes and cooked until done in the microwave oven earlier in the day.   At supper time, a quick sauté in butter browned them up nicely.     The Salmon Filet was served over field greens and a drizzle of Italian Dressing.    Enjoy!




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Salmon with Panko Crust

2/3 cup panko
2 tablespoons parsley; minced
1 teaspoon lemon zest; grated
  salt and pepper; to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
4  salmon fillets; skin on
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat the convection oven to 425F.

In a small bowl, mix together the panko, parsley, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and stir until the crumbs are evenly coated. Set aside.

Place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on a board. Generously brush the top of the fillets with mustard and then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Press the panko mixture thickly on top of the mustard on each salmon fillet. The mustard will help the panko adhere.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or large heavy, ovenproof pan. When the oil is very hot, add the salmon fillets, skin side down, and sear for 3 to 4 minutes, without turning, to brown the skin.

Transfer the pan to the hot oven for 5 to 7 minutes until the salmon is almost cooked and the panko is browned. Remove from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve the salmon hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges.

Notes:  Adapted from Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa


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Bon Appétit and Enjoy 

YOUR Wonderful World!

Returning to .....

The Farmhouse Skillet!!

Since Thanksgiving, it seems like my life has been on Full Tilt.  Putting up the Christmas Tree...all the decorations...eating too much and enjoying life just a bit.  I hope you have been also.  

Got home yesterday afternoon and didn't have anything convenient to make supper.  Time to resort to what our family called the Farmhouse Skillet.    What did it contain?....well, anything you happen to have available.  

My skillet always included fried potatoes...what farm supper wouldn't have that?   After looking through the refrigerator, I found green peppers, onions, eggs, potatoes and kielbasa.  Being in a hurry, I diced up the potatoes and precooked in microwave.   This really is a time saver at any time..partially done in the micro and finished browning in the skillet.  Great for supper or breakfast.  And speaking of hash browns..I have found the quickest way to get them ready for the breakfast skillet.  

Put your kettle on to boil....shred potatoes in a large bowl.  As soon as the water is boiling, cover with boiling water and let set for six or seven minutes.   Drain thoroughly and proceed.   The boiling water cooks the potatoes perfectly and they will not "stick" to your skillet since you have washed away the starch that sticks to a pan.  Brown in butter, salt and pepper and enjoy!

Let soak then drain for sautéing

 But back to my Farmhouse Skillet. I sauté Kielbasa, Onions,

Green Peppers and diced potatoes.   Add four eggs to blender, salt & pepper, to taste...a little oregano tonight.  Blend well and pour over top of sauté.  

Top with cheese of your choice and tonight I sprinkled

chopped pimento for color.  Love that stuff!

 

Into the preheated 450F oven for fifteen minutes or until eggs are set and cheese has melted.  

Quick Farmhouse Skillet with fresh greens from our garden. 

Bon Appétit

and 

Enjoy YOUR Wonderful World!

Bar-B-Q Breakfast

Today's breakfast started yesterday with Heavenly Hog Bar-B-Q  located in Clinton , TN.   They have some of the best BBQ you have ever put to your lips.    Of course, my favorite is the pork but they also offer Sandwiches with  Pork, Brisket, Chicken and Bologna.  The ribs are fall off the bone good with their smoky sweet sauce.   Heavenly also offers a hot sauce...a little over the top for me.  

I brought home extra pork yesterday and decided to get a little inventive in the kitchen...after a couple of cups of Eight O'clock Italian Roast coffee.  

 

 I started with left over BBQ pork in ovenproof serving dishes.   Added the 

eggs and into the oven at 350F for 15 minutes.  

Cheese grits are a standard offering at breakfast.  

Eggs are perfect with the BBQ, grits and whole wheat toast.  

V-8 Juice to complete.  

The Morning Glories are still thriving and beautiful!

Bon Appétit

and 

Enjoy YOUR Wonderful World!

Enchilada Lasagna

Probably everyone on "that cable channel" has done this one...but I needed something easy.   So..I am not spending hours making enchilada sauce...cooking chicken and all that.  Everything is tasty and I used left over chicken from the refrigerator.  

 I have layered my deep dish Pyrex pie plate with  

mild Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce, flour tortillas, shredded chicken 

and shredded Monterey Jack cheese 

Topped with chopped roasted red peppers

This entire preparation took under 15 minutes....with shredding the chicken taking up the most time.  Into the oven at 350F. for twenty minutes or until bubbly.   

My mixed green salad was dressed with Ranch dressing mixed with a couple of tablespoon of salsa.  Makes a very good tasting dressing with a kick.  Chopped Jalapeño peppers raised the bar on flavors!  

Bon Appétit

and 

Enjoy YOUR Wonderful World!

Burger Parmesan

Long day out in the heat and time for supper considerations.   What's available....6 ounce hamburger patties in the freezer.   Frankly, I am getting tired of "grilled" burgers.  Time to invent!

Polled the house...and everyone wanted spaghetti.  I have patties...what can I do?   If I had chicken or veal, the natural thing...chicken Parmesan or veal Parmesan.    Let's see what happens.  

I found the Panko and Fines herbes seasonings.    Mixed one egg with a BIG splash of Tabasco.  Gently dipped the patty into the egg wash to coat.  Then into the Panko crumbs.   Press patty into the crumbs coating both sides.  Salt and pepper to taste and cover top of patty with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.   

Into the convection oven on my ScanPan 12" skillet for 35 minutes at 350F.   I just love the way convection cooks and bakes.  The patties were perfectly cooked....crispy and so flavorful.  

Time to add to my bow tie pasta and of course, I used a "doctored" jar of store bought spaghetti sauce.    Quick and easy....

Crisp Greens, a fresh Roma on a frosted salad plate!  

Bon Appétit

and 

Enjoy YOUR Wonderful World!

And the heat wave continues...

Just checked my outdoor thermometer...104F.   Balmy!

Too hot to do any serious cooking...so I am in the freezer looking for something to whip up with little effort.  I found my package of Green Chile And Tomatillo Pork Stew that I made back the first of May.   Love having the freezer for these kinds of leftovers...they taste better the second time. 

Fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers with a little ranch dressing, a quick pinto refried beans and the enchilada with green sauce.   Heats up quick and little to clean up! 

Bon Appétit

and 

Enjoy YOUR Wonderful World!

Something Quick....and Easy!

Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Sheets are one item no kitchen freezer should be without!   It is an absolute essential for me. Great for making cheese straws for cocktail hour, nice for a chicken pot pie top or perfect for making a dessert including Napoleons.     

Thaw a sheet for thirty minutes then proceed for a quick Stromboli supper.   Looking for a filling, I find some left over BBQ chicken and ham.   Top with a cheese of your choice...I love Colby cheese with the chicken.  

Roll out sheet, place ingredients in the center, fold over and egg wash seal.  I use a kitchen fork to bond the edges.  

BBQ Chicken Filling

Seal edges to prevent "leaking"

Preheat oven to 450F.   Bake for twenty minutes or until golden brown.   Enjoy!

 

                                         

                                     Bon Appétit!!

 

Coconut Macaroons....Pure Joy

 

I love coconut and macaroons are one of the most wonderful things I can think of.   Nothing better than a crispy treat with a cup of tea.  

This incantation was from Ina Garten...and I just love her style of cooking.   Complex but still something all people can enjoy without searching the planet for some exotic ingredients and/or procedure.  

Here is her version...and the basic recipe is wonderful.  

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Coconut Macaroons

Cookies

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large egg whites at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper using either a 1 3/4-inch diameter ice cream scoop, or 2 teaspoons. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Notes:  Ina Garten

Yield: 22 cookies


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Bon Appetit!! 

Apple Tart Tatin

While browsing through the grocery, I came across beautiful, Granny Smith apples at a great price.   Of course, any apple dessert will be at the top of my dessert  choices and a little scoop of good vanilla ice cream can't hurt!   This is SO EASY and will impress with little effort or skill. 

Ready for Serving

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Apple Tart Tatin

Desserts

5 lg Granny Smith apples; peeled, cored
2 tb butter
1/2 c brown sugar
  or
1/2 c Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1 ts cinnamon
1/2 c walnuts; chopped
1/4 c Amaretto Liqueur; if desired
1 tb cornstarch
1 pinch salt
1 sheet Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry; thawed

 

Preheat oven to 400F.     Thaw Puff Pastry, covered, on counter top for 30 minutes.  Directions will be included with the  Pepperidge Farm package.

Core and peel apples.  Slice apples and place in bowl.   Sprinkle with a  tablespoon lemon juice, if desired.   Lemon juice prevents apples from darkening, but since this has cinnamon in the spice mix, the color change is not objectionable.

Over medium heat, melt butter, add brown sugar and chopped walnuts.  Add sliced apples, cinnamon, salt and Amaretto.   Sprinkle cornstarch over top.  Stir to blend and cook over medium low heat for 15 minutes.

While apples are sauteing, cut thawed puff pastry a little larger than the skillet size.    After cooking, remove from heat to cool slightly.    Place pastry over top of cooked apples and slightly tuck the edge into the skillet to prevent apple mixture from boiling out.

Immediately, place in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden puffed.

Remove from oven and let set for five minutes....NO LONGER!   With a knife, loosen the pastry from the edge of pan and immediately invert onto serving plate.  Adjust as necessary to re center on serving plate.   I cut small heart shapes from the pastry scraps.  Cooked in separate sheet for 15 minutes, cool completely and add to top after inverting. 

Cool completely and serve with ice cream or whipped cream is nice.

Notes:  ©WHStoneman


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Walnuts chopped

Brown Sugar and Walnuts ready to saute

Beautiful Granny Smith Apples

After 15 minutes, covered stove-top cooking

Pastry cut to pan size

Right from the Oven!

 

 

Bon Appetit and Enjoy!