Pancetta Egg Sandwich

I'm out of bacon, so this morning I opened up the pancetta and made a pancetta egg sandwich on French bread. It's lightly grilled with a slice of melty provolone inside.
I started by frying two slices of pancetta in a fairly large iron skillet. When it shrank enough for me to scoot it to the side, I put a slice of French bread in the pan to toast lightly. I traded it out with the other slice of bread after a few minutes. The cheese went on the bread while it was in the pan.
The pancetta came out when it was brown and crispy on both sides. It went immediately on top of the melty cheese.
A dab of fresh olive oil went into the skillet and I cracked the egg into the puddle of cool oil. It bubbled and popped while the bread kept warm on the other side of the skillet. I like my egg sunny-side up, but for egg sandwiches I usually go over easy so the yolks aren't so fragile. When the egg was nearly done, I gently broke the yolk so some of it could ooze out and cook. I made sure the center was still jiggly with a runny center when I piled the egg on top of the pancetta.
Larrapin!
It's not on a heart healthy or low-salt diet, but every once in a while it sure is tasty!
Some options that would have been good include a thin spread of mayo; avocado slices; maybe some thinly sliced sauteed mushrooms... A thin slice of a tomato fresh from the garden sprinkled with fresh graded parmesan and a splash of balsamic vinegar would also hit the spot.
You could also make this with bacon, and switch out the cheese to what sounds good to you.
Mmmmm. What sounds good to you?

Plan B: Basic Banana Shake

When I was a kid mom made sure we had a good breakfast every day. It might be bacon and eggs, cold cereal, oatmeal,... it was usually the second seating of whatever dad had before he went to work.

Start with the banana.

The breakfast menu always included a glass of milk, orange juice, and toast and jelly. A grapefruit half or a banana was usually part of the mix. It was a pretty good routine until I got to high school.
No longer was a wet comb good enough to flatten an interesting spray of bed head. It was in the days of backcombing—or ratting, as we called it—bouffants—as high as we could get them—hair-pieces if we couldn't get them high enough, and lots of hairspray. Electric hair rollers were new on the scene. This released us from the torture of sleeping on brush rollers but it added time to the morning routine.

Next add 1 egg, about a tablespoon of honey, and a splash of vanilla.

Forget about the natural look!  The eyes were a big deal. There was blue eyeshadow and two eyeliners, a substantial black curve next to the lashes and then a line of white above that. No smudging allowed, these were crisp sharp lines. Next came the false eyelashes. A strip of long thick spikey lashes on the top and individual lashes applied below the eyes. Needless to say, there wasn't time for breakfast before heading off to English lit.

Finally wheat germ, ground flax seed, cinnamon, and milk to the fill line.

Mom reluctantly let me leave the house a couple of mornings with only a piece of toast for sustenance.  When  it was apparent I wasn't going to fit breakfast into my morning routine, she went to Plan B and sent breakfast with me.
She came up with this banana shake and was able to combine all the elements of a good breakfast into something I could take with me.
It's easy to whip up one of these in one of the individual serving blenders now on the market. I have a Bella I got on sale at Kohl's.
The milk goes in last so you don't overfill the container. The ingredient list includes: a banana, egg, honey, vanilla, wheat germ, ground flax seed, cinnamon, and milk.
Blend the shake and let it settle before blending again. This will break up any chunks that may have evaded the blade the first time.

Ground cinnamon in a shaker makes it easy to add a healthy garnish to the shake.

I know there is a concern that raw eggs may be contaminated with salmonella. Here's a link to CDC information about the risks eating of contaminated raw eggs and how it happens. You can leave it out if it makes you nervous. 
Here is the nutritional data for the Basic Banana Shake as I usually make it. It's more calories and not as healthy as it could be. If I use skim milk, and Greek yogurt instead of the egg I could keep the protein, reduce the fat and it would probably be just as larrupin.

Snack Mix: Healthy and Tasty!

This is my new favorite snack food. I accidentally came up with it a few days ago.

It's raw almonds, roasted, salted soybeans, and mixed dried berries.
I found raw almonds in the bulk grains and nuts at Homeland at less than $6/lb. It's the best price in town and they're always in stock. I checked out the other bulk offerings and came across the roasted, salted soybeans. They're under $3/lb. so I tried them.
First bite is sort of ...eh.  But one bite leads to another. They seem to want to be combined with something so I added a few almonds to a handful of soybeans. And it never hurts to add some dark chocolate to the mix.
Last week I was shopping for dried fruit to add to a batch of granola and found what I wanted at Dollar General.  Dried Mixed Berries at $1.50 for 4 oz. Made by Amport Foods, it includes cranberries, golden raisins and cherriesAntioxidants the package reminded me. Sold.
I'd already eaten most of the granola and I was out of dark chocolate. I wanted something sweet so I opened the fruit and tossed it into the mix. Good call!
Crunchy, sweet, salty. Healthy.
Larrupin.

Roast Chicken Salad with Feta

I roasted a chicken in the "cool" of the morning today and put this together for lunch.

Look yummy?

It was!

Chicken, avocado, tomato, feta, spinach, bacon and a few other odd and ends made up this healthy, tasty, warm summer salad. It was only warm because the chicken was less than an hour out of the oven, but it would be just as good if I'd pulled the chicken out of the fridge to build this.

Starting at the bottom of the bowl, here's what's in it.

• 1 roast chicken thigh
• 1/2 tomato, diced
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1 sliced green onion
• 1 handful torn spinach
• 1–2 T Athenos Feta
• 1 slice crispy bacon, crumbled
• fresh cracked black pepper

Here's the meat from one cooked chicken thigh.

Add about a half a tomato, diced, and half an avocado, sliced and fanned out.

Next add slices of a green onion and a handful of torn spinach.

Feta and crispy bacon make up the next layer.

Sweet and spicy vinaigrette.

I made the dressing in a recycled pimiento jar. It's the small jar, the two ounce size I think.

Pour fruit vinegar into small jar with tight fitting lid. I used homemade Cranapple Cider Vinegar. (The red layer in the middle.)
Add an equal amount of olive oil. (Top layer.)
Next add about a teaspoon (or so) of honey mustard, and about a tablespoon of honey. (The botttom layer.)
1/2 teaspoon your favorite herb/s, finely ground.

Tightly cap the jar and shake well. I used about 1/2 of it on this salad. The other half will go on another salad in a couple of days.

Favorite Ingredient: Feta Cheese

I first tasted feta cheese at Greek House, here in Norman, Oklahoma well over 25 years ago. It was also the first time I had gyros, which by the way, are authentic Greek and the absolute best. Not heart healthy by any means. The gyros meat cooks on vertical spits and the resulting grease is used for the fries.  Oh. My. Gosh. Soooo good. But back to the feta. The gyros plate—a pile of meat, fries, and Greek salad—is garnished with a Greek olive and a cube of feta. It was love at first bite.

For years, eating at Greek House was the only time I ate feta. Here in the big middle of the U S of A,  good ole American processed was the go-to cheese for most families, although sometimes it wasn't really cheese. I'd long outgrown those orange slices when I came across these scrumptious white cubes of feta. At some point I came across it in the grocery store and put it in my cart. It's been a staple in my kitchen ever since and I'm always finding, and looking for, new ways to eat it. 

I usually buy Athenos Feta Traditional by the block because it lasts longer than the crumbled feta.  I also like the Athenos packaging because it's reclosable. When I want some, I'll slice an appropriately sized slice and break it into chunks to top almost any salad or soup. 

Here it is on my Spinach Steak Salad with lots of fresh cracked pepper. I think I made a red wine vinegar vinaigrette to go with this. It's a great garnish for soups as well, especially tomato and mushroom soups.

I switched from cheddar to feta as my go-to cheese garnish five or six years ago because I like the different spark of flavor it provides.  Today I found out on the Athenos facebook page that it does more than that. Here's what they had to say about switching to feta.

Changing your salad topping from cheddar to Feta gives you
1) 6 grams of protein
2) 1/3 less fat and
3) 30% fewer calories!

They didn't provide a quantity, for the cheeses, but 1/3 less fat and 30% fewer calories for equal portions sounds good to me.

Key Lime Birthday Pie

My birthday was Sunday, March 21, but a snowstorm blew all day Saturday so we decided to postpone the family gathering until the weather was more cooperative. I was delighted to spend the day by myself and made two of my favorite things: Spicy Talapia with Rice and Mango Salsa; and Key Lime Pie.

I didn't have as much red pepper as I would have liked for the mango salsa, and I was light on the lime juice because I used all my limes in the pie. But an extra splash of white vinegar gave it the tartness I crave and it was still delish.  The leftover mango salsa is in the fridge mixed with the right amount of rice. I plan to have it with chicken breast this weekend.

Mom promised me a German Chocolate Cake for my birthday,  complete with coconut icing. But having just purchased a bag of key limes I decided I'd go with a Key Lime Pie on my birthday.

My dad was from Florida, so all my childhood vacations were road trips to the Sunshine State. My grandmother lived in Key West and she always had fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in a glass cookie jar on the kitchen counter when we pulled into the yard. And there was at least one key lime pie in the freezer.

Some notes about Key Lime Pie:
Real key lime pie isn't green. It doesn't look like pudding. And it isn't baked.

That's the way my grandmother made it and I make it the same way. I know there is a  risk of salmonella from eating raw eggs, but it's a risk I'm willing to take a  few times a year when I make one of these. I've also inlcuded my Aunt Dorthy Ann's recipe without eggs. It's also pretty darn good.

Key Lime Pie
Grandmother Hamilton's Version


Mix together:
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 C key lime juice

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into other mixture. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust. Freeze.

Serve with whipped cream on top.

Aunt DA's Version

Mix together:
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/3–1/2 C key lime juice

Fold in:
1/2 of an 8 oz Lite Cool Whip

Pour into prepared crust and top with the other half of the Cool Whip on top. Freeze.
(You may want to freeze a bit first and then spread Cool Whip on top.)

For some reason, I had a store-bought graham cracker crust in the cabinet and I used it for this pie, but it was not as good as it would have been if I'd made my own. Make the crust ahead of time so it's good to go when you're ready to make the pie.

Graham Cracker Pie Crust for Key Lime Pie

1 2/3 C graham cracker crumbs
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C plus 2 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients and blend well. Firmly press the cracker mixture over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. To smooth it out, place a smaller pie plate on top and press firmly against the sides and bottom. Bake at 350° 6–9 minutes. Cool.

Larrapin!

Mushroom Potato Soup

It's another snowy day in Oklahoma.  And yes, it's the first day of spring. So it's a good day for soup.

I bought leeks last week for potato soup and I also had almost eight ounces of mushrooms in the fridge that I needed to use. But instead of making two soups, I put them together and came up with this one.

First, I took the outer leaves off the leeks and after removing the root end I cut them into super thin slices. I put the slices in a colander ran water over them while separating the rings to be sure and get all the dirt from between the layers. Leeks are part of the family of onions and, while similar to onions, they have a milder flavor. I like the flavor they give my soups and stews, and I was also happy to see them on this website as one of the World's Healthiest Foods.

When I was satisfied the leeks were clean, I put them in a three quart sauce pan over low heat. I added a splash of olive oil and stirred it into the leeks.  While the leeks started to saute, I washed and sliced the mushrooms, saved a few of the best for garnish and added the rest of the mushrooms to the pan.

When the leeks were soft and the mushrooms had given up their liquid I added some white wine, just to cover the veggies, and let it continue to cook while I peeled the potatoes. I cut the potatoes into medium chunks and put them in the pan with the leeks and mushrooms. I added water* to just barely cover the potatoes and turned up the heat.

*NOTE:  I usually use chicken broth instead of water, or at least water with chicken bullion, but my son is dating a vegetarian, and has agreed to try it for a month. He was coming over later in the day, so I made this vegetarian for him. I didn't mention the mushrooms though. He insists he doesn't like them. Shhhh...

It wasn't long before the potatoes were fork tender. I turned the heat down and used a potato masher to break it all into smaller pieces. Next I got out my immersion blender and used it to turn the potatoes and mushrooms into a thick puree. I seasoned the soup with salt and pepper and my own garlic rich Janz herb blend. It very thick so now I added milk. I poured in a little at a time and stirred it in until it was the soupy consistency I was looking for.

When I was ready to eat, I filled a bowl and garnished it with a small dollop of sour cream, several super thin slices of carrots (I used a potato peeler to get them paper thin), fresh mushroom slices and a sprinkle of green onions. I am a pepper fiend so I had to add fresh cracked pepper to the top.

When my son arrived, I garnished his soup with carrot slices and grated Jarlsberg cheese. Other possible garnishes include avocado slices, grated Parmesan, seasoned croutons, and crumbled bacon.

Here's the ingredient list with estimated quantities.

The Soup:

• 4 leeks, sliced very thin, separated, washed well
• 6–8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• Olive oil, a tablespoon or so
• About 1/2 C white wine
• 5–6 medium potatoes, peeled, large dice
• Water (or chicken broth) to cover potatoes
• Seasonings: salt, pepper, Janz Seasoning Blend
• Milk

Garnishes:

• Sour Cream
• Carrot slices, paper thin
• Mushroom slices, very fresh mushrooms
• Chives
• Grated cheese, whatever sounds good to you
• Avocado slices
• Seasoned croutons
• Crumbled bacon

Mmmmm.... Larrupin!

A Brown Bag Salad

One Brown Bag Salad

When I want something healthy for lunch and end up grabbing a salad from a fast food place I'm always disappointed. The lettuce is mostly spine and rusty on the edges, carrots are pale and dried, and there are usually only 4-5 ingredients.  The tiny cubed croutons are prepackaged and practically melt in my mouth. The dressing is also prepackaged and no matter what flavor I get, too middle-of-the-road for my taste.  And after all that it's also way more expensive than I could have made at home.

I'm sure everyone would agree a salad is best when made with bright fresh crunchy vegetables with a variety of colors, flavors and textures. Here's the version I had for lunch today.

 3 leaves of romaine lettuce

8-10 large leaves of spinach

1 inch of zucchini

1 carrot

3-4 red radishes

3-4 button mushrooms

3-4 green onions

1-2 T Craisins

1 T slivered almonds

3/8" slice feta cheese

6-8 large crunchy homemade croutons

Janz Cranberry Honey Mustard Dressing*

I assembled this last night in a to-go salad bowl I saved from a store-bought salad. 

First a pile of torn romaine and spinach. I used a potato peeler to make paper-thin slices of zucchini, carrot and radishes. I sliced the mushrooms almost as thin. Next came green onions and almonds. Then I put the lid on it and put it in the fridge. 

This morning I added a thick slice of feta cheese and the craisins. I packed it with a separate bag of croutons and my own salad dressing. When I was ready to eat, I crumbled the feta, added croutons and poured on the dressing. 

I tossed it with the fork as I ate. The paper-thin slices of veggies are great for stabbing a and getting lots of variety in every bite. The craisins can soak up moisture and turn back into cranberries if I add them too soon which I why I add them at the last minute. 

*The dressing was made in an almost empty bottle of Cranberry Honey Mustard. I added some red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, a little garlic, and voila!

Larrupin!

Janz Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is one of my favorites, especially since it's so easy to make from scratch.

Saute a few mushrooms in butter or olive oil and add a splash of white wine or a squeeze of lemon juice for a little tartness. Add chicken broth, or water and chicken bouillon and let it simmer. Thicken with cornstarch if you want, add milk, cream, sour cream or even cream cheese to make it more creamy than brothy if that's what you like. 

Garnish with fresh grated Parmesan or a slice of provolone, maybe some avocado slices, a dollop of sour cream and a generous sprinkling of fresh ground pepper blend... mmmm. A splatter of sliced almonds would add a tasty crunch. 

A few days ago I had some mushrooms I wanted to use, but I wanted something different. So I did some searching and came across a Hungarian take on mushroom soup which of course I had to tweak.

Janz Hungarian Mushroom Soup

1 T olive oil
1/2 C thinly sliced yellow onion
1T butter
 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 C white wine
1/2 T dried dill weed
1/2 T paprika
1/2 T soy sauce
1 C chicken broth
1 C milk
1 T cornstarch
1 t salt
Ground black pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 C chopped Italian parsley
1/4 C sour cream
Seasoned croutons
3-4 slices of crisp bacon
Feta, crumbled
Green onions, thinly sliced

Saute onions in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes
Add sliced mushroom, butter, and wine. Saute 5 more minutes
Stir in the dill, paprika, soy sauce and broth. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes.
Combine milk and cornstarch in a pint jar with a tight lid and shake well to mix. Pour this into the soup and stir well to blend. Simmer 15 more minutes stirring occasionally.
Finally, stir in the salt, pepper, lemon juice, parsley and sour cream. Mix together and allow to heat through over low heat, about 3-5 minutes. Do not boil.
To serve, place several large seasoned croutons in the bottom of a shallow soup bowl. Ladle a serving of soup over the croutons. Garnish with crumbled feta, crispy bacon and green onions.

Larrupin!

PS: This is a larrupin good brown bag lunch.

Put a meal size portion in a plastic container, the croutons and bacon go in another container and use another small container for the feta and green onions. At lunchtime put the croutons and soup in a microwave-proof bowl (one that won't get hot when you take it out), and when it's hot, garnish with the bacon, feta and green onions. 

Snow Day Minestrone

Thursday, with an ice storm underway and the snow moving in, my daily Chow email came with a recipe for Minestrone.
Minestrone is a hearty Italian peasant soup, made with the vegetables of the season and it sounded perfect for Snow Day. (When the grown-ups have Snow Day it is an official designation and should be capitalized, unlike snow days when the schools close but most of the grown ups still have to work.)

I found there is no "original" recipe for minestrone, but the ingredients were determined by the season and region in which it was made. Minestrone can be a brothy soup with vegetables that still have some crunch to them; or it can be cooked for hours, breaking down all the vegetables into a thick medley of amazing flavors. This recipe leans toward the brothy version.

I skipped the butter in the original recipe and went with just olive oil. I found other recipes that started with diced bacon and then adding the vegetables to to bacon and drippings. I'll try that next time. This is how my Snow Day Minestrone played out.

Prologue

Early in the day I put 1 cup dried Great Northern Beans (they were the only dried beans I happened to have) in a large saucepan, covered them with water, and brought it to a boil over high heat. Then I got the newspaper and settled down. About 30 minutes later I remembered the beans and ran to the kitchen in time to hear the sizzle of the last of the water evaporating. Fortunately, I caught them before they started to burn, so I refilled the pot and put them back on the stove. This time with low heat. I let them cook for another hour or so and when some were tender and others were still al dente I removed the pot from the heat. You can skip this step if you want to used canned beans.

Act One:  Saute

For the soup, I put my pot on the stove and turned the heat to medium. I tossed in the onions, celery, and red pepper with a splatter of olive oil.  Season with a bit of salt and pepper, tasting as you go. I let them soften and then added the garlic
and stirred it into the mixture for a minute or so. Next came the diced potato and carrot. I scraped the bottom of the pan to include all the good stuff that sticks to the bottom. When everything looked good I poured in the can of tomatoes and the juice and added the bay leaf. I let that cook together a couple of minutes.

Act Two: Simmer

I stirred in the liquid from the cooked beans. I added the green beans and liquid, half the zucchini, the peas and stirred occasionally until zucchini softened, about 10 minutes. Next came the broth, the pasta—I used small shel
macaroni— and half the parsley and I let it simmer about 5-8 minutes.  Finally came the cooked beans, the leftover liquid, and the last of the zucchini. And just fun fun, at this point I threw in a handful of alphabet pasta. The whole pot continued to simmer until the pasta was ready and the last of the zucchini still had a little crunch to it.

Epilogue: Serve 

Remove from heat and stir in the remaining parsley, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with grated Parmesan, freshly ground pepper, and my personal favorite, Tabasco sauce. Garnish with crunchy garlic seasoned croutons.

The Players

1 cup dried Great Northern beans

2 T olive oil

1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced and diced somewhat chunky

2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 small russet potato, medium dice

2 medium celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 medium carrot, peeled, thinly sliced

1 medium bay leaf

1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes

15 oz can green beans

1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced

1/2 cup frozen peas

4 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup small shell macaroni and 1/2 C alphabet pasta

1/2 C finely chopped Italian parsley (about 1/2 bunch)

Grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, for garnish

Garlic Seasoned Homemade Croutons