at home with ann

Last week our upick option at the farm was kale.  It was way out in a field that required quite a bit of a walk, but the wonder of kale makes it all worth it.  Colin hitched a ride back on the front of the stroller, which is always a nice chorus of James screeching and Colin complaining that he's kicking him.  At the end of the day, we had a big bunch of kale I've been making into chips and sneaking into their smoothies. Friday morning we went out for a family run.  Thanks to a big hill and a big stroller filled with big kids, all being pushed by Jon, I was able to pull ahead of the crew for all of 10 yards or so before they smoked me to the finish line.  After we got home, I wanted to make a healthy breakfast, and the summer breakfast scramble came to be.  Colin mentioned several times that it smelled awful, so it might not be a hit with the younger set, but I thought it was delicious. Summer Breakfast Scramble (for 2) 3 leaves kale, stem removed and...

Way back in the beginning of January, my little boy turned 2.  In the blink of an eye he's suddenly a whole grown up person.  He's hilarious, a ton of fun, and full of opinions.  I hear a lot of "What's this, Mommy?," "I can do it myself.  Colin does it!," and "Oh, dump truck, I love you so much, would you like to play trains with me?"  That last one might not be typical two year old behavior, but it's pretty funny to hear.  To celebrate his birthday, we had a brunch with family and friends.  This year's theme was trains, as the birthday boy loves "chookin chookin."  He is also of the opinion that it's not a party without balloons and cars, so both were included in the day.  I didn't do a good job taking pictures of the food or the dining room because I was a busy bee and enjoying the celebration, but here are a couple glimpses from the day. The menu had some repeats from last year, and a couple new items.   ...

My aunt gave me a quiche dish and a recipe for crustless quiche.  I like getting recipes as gifts, because I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that I like to read recipes.  You don't need a quiche dish to make this, a pie plate will work, but with the right dish it's prettier.  And pretty counts.  And a quiche dish is uniformly deep, so it will cook more evenly. Eggs are one of my favorite foods.  I think I would take them if I was abandoned on a desert island.  Eggs and hand lotion.  If you saw the state of my hands, you'd understand. Crustless Quiche adapted from my aunt, Harriett Ingredients: 1 medium onion, chopped 1 bag baby spinach, or 1 box frozen spinach, thawed olive oil 5 large eggs 1 cup milk or half and half (I used 1% milk) 1-2 cup grated cheese Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Butter of spray a 10" quiche dish or a glass pie plate. Heat a few teaspoons of olive oil in a skillet, and saute onion for about 5 minutes.  ...

Back in my early college days, a few friends and I would go to Denny's for late night snacks after parties.  Certainly not a healthy habit, but we were young and had metabolisms of steel to match.  There were a couple things you could rely on at this particular Denny's.  One was that they would invariably be out of half the things we ordered.  Like coke.  I didn't even think you could run out of coke.  The other was that you would eat the Moons Over My Hammy.  Aside from the clever name, Moons Over My Hammy was a grilled sandwich filled with scrambled eggs, ham, and two types of cheese.  It was served with hash browns, and would preemptively cure hangovers. Now, I haven't been to a Denny's in over 10 years, but I do eat egg sandwiches for lunch all the time.  Four times this week, in fact. Today I made my own version of Moons Over My Hammy, at home with ann style. In the panini press, I made a sandwich of whole wheat bread, a slice of ham, ...

I know you all know how to make salad.  I won't give you step by step pictures showing you how to cook chicken or chop tomatoes.  I will, however, tell you that this is an awesome salad, with a lot of flavor and variety.  It has a good amount of protein and healthy fat and will keep you full.  Also, you get to eat bacon. In the mix: Greens Chopped tomato Avocado Chicken - sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper Bacon Hard Boiled Egg Blue Cheese A tip for cooking hard boiled eggs.  Put the uncooked eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water by about an inch.  Bring to a boil, covered.  When boiling, allow to cook for 1 minute and then turn off the heat.  Set the timer for 15 minutes and leave them alone.  After 15 minutes, immerse the eggs in a bowl of ice water until cool - just a few minutes.  Peel under running water. This was definitely not a five minute lunch, but it was so good it was worth it!

I can't eat sandwiches every day for lunch, I get totally burned out on them.  I am fortunate to eat lunch at home, so I can pull something together at the last minute, but this would also be great for a super fast supper when you get home late. This was just a simple bed of baby spinach and a few grape tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and this fancy vinegar I received as a gift.  Any kind of light vinegar would work on this, though. Then I poached one egg.  To be honest, my husband made this egg, because he is the egg master in our house.  I have a snazzy little insert for a pan that makes perfectly shaped poached eggs, but you can also make them by cracking an egg into a little bowl and gently transferring it to simmering water.  Whenever I try that I always make a huge mess, though.   Simmered until the egg was cooked, but the yolk runny (about 4 minutes).  If you don't like runny yolks you can cook it completely and it will be more like a hard bo...

You may have noticed that I often start with recipes I find online, and then change a whole bunch of things about them.  Part of the reason I do this is to suit my personal tastes, and the other reason is to try to create my own dishes.  When I first started cooking, I followed recipes to the letter.  I felt confident following directions, but not so much going off on my own.  I remember going out to the grocery store late at night mid-cooking to pick up some ingredient I thought I couldn't possibly live without.  If you are just getting into cooking, don't be scared, the worst thing that can happen is you end up eating egg sandwiches for dinner. This dish exceeded my expectations.  I am a big fan of Mediterranean flavors, and this was a great combination.  Plus, you can make strata in advance and chill in the fridge before baking.  It's perfect for brunch, lunch or dinner. Mediterranean Strata adapted from Cooking Light Ingredients: 8 oz b...

I am highly suggestible.  Pretty much anytime I see something on TV or in a movie I want it.  Like the Snuggie, or the Sham-Wow, or, in this case, Eggs Benedict. I think there are a couple tricky parts to making Eggs Benedict.  The first is getting your Hollandaise to the right consistency, thick and creamy, but not custard.  The second is timing everything right so your english muffins, ham or canadian bacon, eggs, and Hollandaise are all ready at the same time.  This morning was a fail on both. There are two schools of thought on making Hollandaise.  One is to whisk your egg yolk and lemon juice in a double boiler and then emulsifying with the hot melted butter.  The other is to use a blender, which is what I did today. Since I was just cooking for the two of us, I decided to use the immersion blender so I wouldn't lose half my Hollandaise to the blender blades.  I found a recipe online and scaled it down to one egg yolk and 3 Tablespoons...

Frittatas are great.  They are healthy, easy to make, and reheat reasonably well in the toaster oven. Broccoli and Potato Frittata adapted from McCormick Ingredients 2 cups cubed potatoes (I used baby red) 2 cups chopped broccoli florets 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion (I used red onion) 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon salt (I always use kosher or sea salt) 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 6 eggs 1/4 cup milk (I used almond milk, any kind will do) 1/2 cup chopped or sliced tomatoes 1/4 cup grated cheese (I used sharp cheddar, any kind that melts well is fine) Directions Put cubed potatoes in a saucepan.  Fill with enough cold water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Cook until almost tender (about 6 minutes).  Add broccoli, cook 1 minute more.  Drain. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  I used a 10 inch All Clad stainless steel skil...

I call this spanakopita eggs because it has some of the main Greek ingredients in common: spinach, egg, onions, feta.  It does not have layers of buttery phyllo dough, so it's much healthier. The entire process took less than 10 minutes, so it's perfect for a last minute meal. Start by sauteing 1/4-1/2 cup onion in olive oil. When the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, add in 1-2 beaten eggs.  I used one egg and about 1/2 cup of onion.  Stir until eggs are cooked.  At this point I realized that there is no way to take an attractive picture of scrambling eggs. Serve over a bed of baby spinach, topped with chopped tomato and a little crumbled feta.  That's it, dinner is ready!