Feta and Spinach Breakfast Casserole
Feta and Spinach Breakfast Casserole
Here is the link to the breakfast casserole I wrote about on facebook.
Cheers!
Yes, I know that I’m behind on my Saturday posts.
So far, I am impressed with what I can get here in Fayetteville. I was expecting a single choice of vegetables and limited selection on everything else. While the local Harps Foods is certainly not a Central Market (or even a nice HEB), it surprised me last week with Hatch chiles on sale! If you are not familiar with Hatch they come from a certain part of New Mexico and have a very limited growing season. Central Market always has a big festival for them. For $2 a pound I bought a bunch from Harps and am currently roasting them. So far, they have gone in cheese grits and in a saute. Harps also has a neat deal where you chose 5 packages, mix and match, of fruits and veggies for $10. I have secured a regular supply of mangoes this way; they end up costing me $0.66 a piece!
Today at the Farmers Market I found fresh apples and pears. I bought the bag of apple seconds and they worked out to 1.25 per pound. The pears worked out to be a little less than 2 a pound. While in previous weeks, the tomatoes have been really good, this week’s bunch of baby tomatoes don’t taste good at all; I think they are going to be cooked into something. I also found a man selling cayenne peppers. He said they were medium to hot… Clearly, I’m from Texas; I am currently munching on a whole Cayenne pepper. I think it’s more mild than a bell pepper. Next time I’ll try for the jalapeno to see if I can get spice there.
On my way home I remembered a little tea shop, Trailside Tea room, that was written about in the local newspaper. I drove my car today to the market instead of riding my bike, so I decided to stop by since I didn’t look like a drowned rat from riding. They have a very nice selection of teas (almost as many a Central Market!), and their menu looks good. I chose a Masala Chai and the Russian Caravan (a blend of teas from China, India, and Formosa). I just brewed the chai. I have no desire to drink hot tea at this moment in time because of how hot it is outside, so i opted for icing the tea. That being said, I figured that in the name of culinary pursuits, I ought to at least try it hot: it’s a nice chai, with a significant amount of tannins which call out for milk. When iced the cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper really stand out. Once again, it could use a splash of milk and sugar to tame the tannins.
Classes begin Monday so this is my last shot at a free cooking weekend. My plans for the day include granola bars, roasted hazelnuts, and bbq chicken legs… and roasting more hatch chiles.
Saturday #2
Ok, so if you count the actual number of Saturdays that I have been in Fayetteville, it’s #4. But, this is the second ” Saturday cooking” post, so that’s what I’m calling it.
- Taco meat (used frontier’s taco seasoning which is wonderful! Of course, I had to adapt it somehow so I added more garlic powder, black and white pepper, some salt, and cascabel chile flake)
- Roasted yukon gold potatoes (cascabel chile flake, EVOO, salt, black and white pepper, garlic powder, dried parsley, and a dash of Mrs. Bragg’s amino acids)
- Baked sweet potatoes (now have 5 nice size halves in the freezer for when I want a fix)
- BBQ chicken (I used the bbq dry rub from Praseks in Hillje, Texas. Great stuff! It was the first time I used it: rubbed the chicken legs well, and roasted them for about 45 minutes. Delicious!)
- Ground beef (seasoned with frontier’s onion soup mix, dried parsley, and a pinch of marjoram)
- Two quiches (spinach, crumbled sausage, ricotta salata, and black and white pepper)
And now it’s more than half way through Monday. Lunch break is over, so, to quote a favorite movie, “BACK TO WORK!”
Bacon in America: what I stumbled upon
Check out this blog post about the bacon rage. She is so right! And yes, bacon in baked goods does taste good when properly executed. I think it’s something about the salty and sweet interactions.
Cheers!
I came to Fayetteville at the right time of year!
This is the first week of the season at the farmers’ market!!! I’m very excited!
…
Now if only I could find a local goat cheese producer (since neither Swede Farm nor Blue Heron have satellite farms up here)
Ratatouille
Onions, Bell peppers, Crimini Mushrooms, Zucchini – No eggplant because they are super expensive in Fayetteville right now
Saturdays in Fayetteville
My goal as I begin a new chapter of my life living in Fayetteville, is to think about what I am going to eat in advance; that is, to be purposeful about it. It’s a novel thought, really. Actually, planning out something in advance so I won’t be scrambling at the last minute. – this whole work a full 8-hour day; get home after 5; then have to cook dinner thing isn’t that easy all of the time!) So, my plan was to cook a few meals on Saturdays to be ready to heat up during the week.
Of course, as usually happens when I plan the amount of time it will take to cook something, I underestimated (my family will probably laugh and confirm at this point!). So, while I did not get as much prepared as I hoped, I accomplished some of today’s cooking list:
- Two spinach and feta quiches for breakfasting
- Almond and chocolate granola for snacking
- Gluten-free banana muffins
- Taco meat
- Rooibus iced tea
- Toddy iced coffee
And now to relax.
~Nathan
Food shot for the week: Sweet corn
Sweet corn puree with white pepper, black lava salt, and feta from Blue Heron Farms
Next time I would roast the corn for the garnish kernels which would help tie the black lava salt into the corn puree from a taste perspective. This would also be great with Blue Heron’s or Swede Farm’s chevre.
Lemongrass: Rum
I am frequently at a loss as to how to use all the lemongrass which is growing in our flowerbeds. It has a great fragrance but it’s not quite like having peppercorns that you can put on almost everything. Tonight it found it’s way into my glass, muddled with some Cruzan aged rum. I like the flavor combo so an 8 inch piece is now in the bottle. We’ll see how the flavor develops:
Lemongrass marrying with Cruzan rum
Weekly food shot: Home Cured Bresaola
Cured with rosemary, juniper, salt, sugar, and curing salt #2. Hung in a wine cooler for 6 weeks; about 40% moisture loss
