Weekend Cooking: Random Eating

All five of us were together this past week as Kaylee came to stay in between her NY internship and the beginning of her junior year at Oberlin.  I tend to go an extra mile, culinary-wise, while she is here.  We have happy hour with lots of tomato-based appetizers; like bruschetta and tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella and basil clipped fresh from the garden.

Tofu stir-fry

This week I made a frittata, quesadillas with lots of toppings, and an Asian stir fry with peanut sauce.  The stir-fry is Groovy's Girl's dish-she honestly said to her older sister-"it's my signature dish" sounding a bit like a nine-year-old Martha Stewart as she brought the big bowl to the table. We made a quick peanut sauce, tossed it with stir-fried veggies and tofu and mixed it up with Asian rice noodles. She loves to whip it up.

The quiche was beautiful also but I failed to get a picture-people were hungry. I used a recipe from Super Suppers Cookbook; More Everyday Family Recipes by Judie Byrd.  

Frittata with Spinach and Tomatoes

Makes 4-6 servings

4 large eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup slivered fresh basil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 cup chopped onion

1 T. vegetable oil

1 10-oz bag prewashed spinach

3 medium tomatoes, sliced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375*F. In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, Monteray Jack cheese, basil, salt, and pepper; set aside.

In a large ovenproof skillet cook onion in hot oil over medium-high heat until tender.  Gradually add spinach to skillet; cook just until wilted.  Stir in egg mixture.  Cook until eggs are almost set but still moist, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Arrange tomato slices on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  

Transfer to preheated oven.  Bake frittata for 5-6 minutes until set in center.

Serve right out of the skillet.  This was such an easy meal to whip up after school, serve with a tossed salad, and orange juice.  Groovy Girl said it looked disgusting and refused to eat more than three bites but the older kids ate it up.  

She did finish these cupcakes though...

We had Williams-Sonoma Sweet Treats checked out from the library and Groovy Girl chose Sweet Lemon Cupcakes to make.  They are delicious and this is a wonderful kid's cookbook.  It gives detailed descriptions so she really understood the steps.  It also has problem areas included for some recipes to look for and the cupcake example was about overfilling your cupcake tin.  Science corner also pops up in a few recipes so kids (and adults) can understand ingredient combinations like vinegar and baking soda.  Beautiful photography shows a diverse population of both boys and girl baking and creating through the steps of each recipe.  

It was a great week for eating at our house.  It's not even the weekend anymore but I'm still in my pajamas and it is afternoon here-it's a lot like a weekend day!  I love a three-day weekend...