Knight of Carver, Princess of the Apple Orchard

We've been busy as heck.  There was the annual trip to the King Richard's Faire 

Waiting for the jugglers

Human powered rides

Jax being knighted.  Apparently now we'll have to call him "Sir Jackson"

With the King and Queen

On the jousting field, being introduced with the other new knights

On the way out.  Sir Jackson didn't want to be seen with the rest of us, apparently.

and our annual trip apple picking with good friends.  (Then there was some delicious pulled pork and an apple pie, but I didn't make the pulled pork, so no recipe for that, and the apple pie used a store bought crust, so that's too "cheater" to post).

Sassy princess and her good friend Kaley

Got a good one.

Suffering.  The Pats game was on.  Made only mildly more bearable by the fact that they lost.

She's gonna be a rock star someday, that one.

And today was Rosh Hashanah.  We dined at my folks house, but I was responsible for the sides.  And the kids wanted to make challah, so we took that on as well.  So in case you're curious about what sides are easy to make (and yummy) for a crowd of 12, here you go.

First, the outsourced recipes:

Challah
I used this smittenkitchen recipe.  It was perfect.  The only thing that I did differently was make four small loves instead of 2 large ones, and so I used a single (3 strand) braid.  

Braided and round and raisin.  Booya.

Braided and round and plain.  Perfect for any occasion.

So.  Good.

Mustard Potatoes
I used this recipe from epicurious.  Again, the only tweak was that I steamed the potatoes before roasting them because I like my potatoes extra soft.  I also used a little extra olive oil in the mustard mix, but my mustard didn't stick very well, so maybe I shouldn't have.

Steaming.

Coated, but not cooked.

Ready to be served.

Couscous with Sweet Potato and Zucchini
(remember - this recipe generously served 12.  You could easily halve it.  This would also make a good vegetarian main dish)
2 boxes couscous
1 large sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
olive oil
1/3 c. pine nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water to soften
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 425.  

Peel and dice the sweet potato into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Chop into bit sized pieces.  Place on a rimmed baking sheet and coat lightly with olive oil.  Dust with the cayenne and cinnamon.  

Ready to go in the oven

Roast at 425 for about 20 minutes, then turn and roast for about 10 more minutes.  Add the zucchini to the pan and cook for about 10 more minutes.  Remove from the oven.  

Toast the pine nuts.  Heat a small pan over medium heat and add the pine nuts.  Stir frequently.  You cannot walk away from them, because they go from pleasantly nutty and browned to burnt and unedible in 3 seconds.  As soon as they are golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

Uncooked.

Starting to brown.

Removed from heat.  It's a miracle I didn't burn them.  I always do.

Cook the couscous according to the box directions.  

Mix the couscous, pine nuts, vegetables and raisins (drained).  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Creamed Spinach with Blue Cheese Breadcrumb Topping

This was a hit.  The whole thing went.  I highly recommend it.

5 slices of white bread, toasted
6 oz crumbled blue cheese
36 oz fresh baby spinach
1 large shallot, finely diced
8 tbsp butter, divided
1 c. lowfat sour cream

Crumble the toast in a cuisinart until it is pulverized into large breadcrumbs.*  Sauté the breadcrumbs in 3 tbsp of the butter until lightly toasted.  Remove to a bowl and mix with the blue cheese.

Melt 11/2 tbsp of the butter in the pan and add half the spinach.  Sauté over medium heat until wilted.  Remove to a strainer in the sink.  Repeat the process with the second half of the spinach.

Uncooked, and practically spilling out of the pan.

Wilted and ready for straining.

Melt the remaining butter in the pan, and, over low heat, sauté the shallot until tender, about 8 minutes.

As the shallot is cooking, squeeze as much water as you can out of the spinach.  

When the shallot is done, return the spinach to the pan.  Add the sour cream and cook for a couple of minutes until the spinach is creamy throughout.  Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the spinach to a greased 8X11 glass dish, and spread out so it's even.  Top with the breadcrumb mixture.

Untopped.

Yum.

**Cook in a 375 oven for about 35 minutes, or until the spinach is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are a golden brown.  

*if you don't have the time and/or wherewithall to make your own, try panko.
**  If you wanted to make this in advance, you could cover and refrigerate and bake in a day or so.  Just add about 10 minutes to the cooking time if it's starting cold.

Alright, folks.  It was a lovely long weekend.  Back to the grind tomorrow.

Strata

I feel silly even listing this as a recipe, because it's so versatile and you can use almost anything in it.  Leftover bacon?  Sure.  Different veggies?  You bet.*  Sourdough bread?  Go for it.  Vegetarian?  Leave out the meat.  Here's the recipe that I created to use leftover italian sausage.  

Best part of this recipe?  If you're using leftovers, it goes together in about 15 minutes the night before, and then bakes in about 45 minutes the next day.  Perfect for a weeknight.

Leftover Strata

about 6 cups cubed bakery bread (I used about 1/2 loaf of challah)
3 cooked italian sausage, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp butter
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 c. fresh baby spinach, chopped
optional: 1/2 c mushrooms, sliced
1 c. shredded cheese (I used cheddar, you could use gruyere, monterey jack, or swiss)
6 eggs, scrambled

Grease an 8X8 glass dish.

In a large bowl, toss together the bread cubes and the majority of the cheese.

Let's be honest - this could be a meal in and of itself

In a medium pan, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the pepper and onion (and mushroom, if using) for about 10 minutes, or until soft.  In the last minute or so, add the spinach and cook until wilted.  Add the sausage.  

Toss the vegetables and sausage in with the bread cubes and cheese, and transfer to the baking dish. 

Pour the egg mixture over the bread, and top with the remaining cheese.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Ready and set for tomorrow's dinner!

About 45 minutes before you are ready to cook, remove from the fridge and let come to room temp.  (This isn't 100% necessary, but it makes the cooking much more even.  If you can't do this, figure the cooking time will be slightly longer).  When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 350 and cook for about 30 minutes, until the edges are browned and the egg is set in the center.  

Again, imagine it cooked.  There was some serious melting down in the Murphy household, and I forgot to take a picture.  Instead have a picture of Lea in her new ballet stuff.
It was very handy to have this dinner to throw in the oven when we got home from dance class.

*really, anything.  You could add fresh tomatoes, leftover asparagus, jarred artichoke hearts, peas, broccoli, whatever floats your boat.  This is a good recipe to play around with.

Walden and Ricotta Gnocci

Perfect weather for the kids' inaugural trip to Walden Pond.  

It's like they weren't trying to kill each other in the car 5 minutes before this

We walked about halfway around the lake to a private little spot, which was awesome in that we had it to ourselves pretty much the whole morning.

taking a break from swimming to take a little stroll

on the rubble next to the Thoreau house

Dinner was a modified Ricotta and Spinach gnocchi recipe.  I'd like to say that these were light and pillowy.  They weren't super dense and chewy, but they could have been fluffier.  I think that a) they needed to be cut smaller, b) they needed slightly less flour and c) they needed to boil about one minute longer.  I've made these modifications in the recipe, so if anyone wants to try it and let me know how it goes, that'd be swell.  

Ricotta Gnocchi
1 15 oz container low-fat ricotta
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/3 c. grated parmesan, plus more for the top
1 1/2 c. flour, plus more for kneading
tomato sauce 


Mix the ricotta, egg, salt and parmesan together well.  Then add flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until it forms a dough.
Turn the dough onto a floured counter and knead until pliable and soft and not too sticky, but not too dry either.*
Cut the dough into 4 pieces and, on a floured counter again, roll each piece out until it's a rope about an inch thick.

imagine that there were pictures earlier.  I keep forgetting.

Cut each dough rope into pieces about the length of your first knuckle (or 1/2 inch in case you have freakishly large fingers, or are some kind of cooking orangutang.) 
Gently press on each dumpling with the tines of a fork, making a four-stripe indentation* (I have no idea why this step exists, but it was in the original recipe, so I did it, so here it is.  You could probably live on the wild side and be indentation-less, but it's up to you).
Lightly grease an 8X10 glass dish and coat the bottom with tomato sauce (yes, from a jar.)  

my nicely indented gnocchi just waiting to be boiled alive

Preheat the oven to broil.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and heavily salt it.  Once the water is boiling, drop the dumplings in gently one at a time until you've added 1/2 the gnocchi.  They'll sink to the bottom, but as they cook, they'll rise.  Once they've risen, cook for 3 more minutes, then ladle them out with a slotted spoon into the tomato sauce.
Repeat the boiling and ladling with the second half of the gnocchi.*
Top with as much extra parmesan cheese as you desire, and broil for a couple of minutes to heat the sauce and brown the cheese. 

(You can make the sautéed spinach as this is happening).


*This recipe seems like a lot of work because there are so many steps.  But they were all really easy and, wherever there's a little * you could stop, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the next day and just pick up where you left off.  So it's a good make ahead meal if you don't want to tackle it all at once.


Sautéed Spinach
The trick is to use about 2 tbsp more oil than you think you should.  


One extra large bag of baby spinach
4-5 tbsp olive oil
sea salt


In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until very hot, then toss in the baby spinach all at once.  Turn with tongs to coat evenly and cook on high heat until the spinach is entirely wilted, but no more.  Season generously with sea salt. 
(This whole process should take no more than 5 minutes)

Dinner is served!  (Look, no one likes it when that yucky spinach juice runs into everything else on the plate)

Don't let this picture fool you.  She ate most of it, but informed me that she liked the gnocchi from the store better.  And liked it better with pesto.  I should have taken a picture of the child who ate it all and asked for seconds, but no such luck.