Greek Frittata

inspiration here

Michael is such a good photographer. I wasn't very optimistic about the picture of this, since in general, a lot of casseroles and mixtures tend not to photograph very well (despite being delicious!). But look how tasty that looks! Just looking at it now makes me want to dive in with a fork. Mmm.

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small potato, cubed
1/2 bell pepper, cubed
4 eggs
4-5 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed (a little less than half a standard package)
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper

1. Heat up the oil, then start cooking the onion. After about two minutes, add the potato and bell pepper. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until everything's softened. Stir occasionally.

2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and add the spinach, feta, oregano, and salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables in the skillet and cook on low heat, covered, for about ten minutes, until the edges of the eggs are set.

3. Put the skillet in the oven under the broiler (on low) for a few minutes, until the top is puffed and browned. Let it cool for about 5 minutes, then serve!

Some notes: even a whole quarter of the pan here has under 200 calories. Needless to say, we polished off the entire pan between the two of us. If we make this again, we probably would increase the amount of vegetables and the amount of eggs. It was also hard to avoid over-cooking it. I suggest adding a little milk with the eggs to keep things fluffy, and it might also be good to be brave in stopping cooking before the eggs are completely dry, since they will continue to set up in the hot pan, even off the heat. But this was a tasty meal, and I really liked it. I'd say that if you made a big frittata and served it with a green salad and some crusty, buttered bread, this ought to be enough of a meal for anyone.

black bean soup

Can you tell this is when Michael got a new camera? All the other pictures on the blog before now were either snapshots I took with my point-and-shoot or just borrowed from the website where I found the original recipe. But now, hopefully, things will start looking a little more beautiful.

This was made using this recipe. Michael made this, so I can't really speak to the difficulty of the recipe or anything. I do know that he left out the jalapeno and just used two chipotle peppers instead. I have to say that this tasted really, really good. For (what was at least supposed to be) a thirty-minute soup...wow. The chipotle chilis and the adobo sauce made it so smoky and deep. Really, really good recipe. The only sad part was that this was way too spicy for me. I could only make it through about half a bowl before the spiciness made it hard for me to enjoy. It was sad, because the flavor was great, but I just couldn't handle the heat (so I got out of the kitchen). Granted, I am a super baby about spicy things, but still...with two chipotles, this was quite hot. I'd make it again, but only if we used one chipotle...or maybe half of one.

5-Layer Mexican Polenta

See the original recipe here.

Basically, it was a layered Mexican casserole, with sliced polenta at the bottom, plus beans, corn, sauteed bell peppers and onions, spices, salsa, cheese, and olives. It was pretty tasty. The only annoying thing was that the original recipe listing said it could be used as a dip, so we were expecting something...casserole-y. Instead, there wasn't really anything to bind all the separate layers together (I guess the salsa and cheese weren't enough...), so it was just...a bunch of stuff all in the same pan. Anyway, the taste was pretty good—I'll give the spices a thumbs-up. I wonder how much better the recipe would be if the beans were lightly mashed, and all the supra-polenta layers got mixed together instead of just layered, so the mashed beans, salsa and cheese could actually hold everything together. Also, we didn't like the bell pepper in there, which was sad because fresh bell peppers are the best.

So here's how I would make this again: lightly mash the black beans, and mix them with the sauteed onions (no peppers), spices, corn, salsa, cheese, and olives. Maybe even add a small can of tomato sauce if more liquid is needed. Then, cube the polenta (instead of slicing it into slabs), and put it on top of the other ingredients, instead of under them, so it'll get golden and crispy. Ooh, now I am feeling all inspired to make this again. It's a fine idea for a recipe, it just needed a little trouble-shooting to make it good.