What We Ate: a seasonal reminder of dinner at our house.

Hi there - it's been a couple... The quarantine (excuse me, #saferathome orders) sort of took over our lives in March as we began to deal with the very real threat of COVID -19, a novel coronavirus. But we haven't stopped cooking, in fact, if anything we're probably cooking more than ever so I'll try to get back into the blogging habit too. First up - Frittata This is an excellent (you guessed it) clean out the fridge meal. You can put darn near anything into a frittata and it will be delicious. I usually make two because our family has, ahem, differing tastes. So the first one has potato, onion, mushroom, yellow pepper, cauliflower, kale and then salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  (cooked in that order - longest cooking time to shortest - lots of olive oil for those potatoes so they don't stick). Do NOT skimp on the salt. It look like this before the egg  Then I added a generous pat of butter (a tablespoon or more) into the middle to coat the bottom...

If by chance you made too much of this lovely winter bruschetta  when you were eating with your vegetarian friends and threw a quart of it in the freezer, and now you are looking for a dinner for two that is savory on a still too cold (for March) winter night, then you might cook a couple of sweet Italian sausages in a heavy bottom pan and add the thawed bruschetta and a couple of cups of freshly chopped kale for a nearly perfect meal. The only thing that might make it more perfect is a baguette on the side with lots of butter. (I divide this into two smaller loaves instead of one big one.)

Well, actually there were about 7: spaghetti, meatloaf, shake and bake chicken, lasagna, mac and cheese and, the infamous, Baked Potato. As a meal. With steamed broccoli, butter and shredded cheddar. We had this meal so often that my siblings and I still comment on it. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of us make baked potatoes on a regular basis, however,  every once in a while, in the winter, we'll do baked potatoes with all the veg on the side. It's kind of perfect if you'd prefer to spend Sunday afternoon hiking in the state park rather than going to the grocery store and all you have left is a lot of slightly past their prime vegetables (I know this description is showing up in this blog with alarming regularity, please don't judge. I buy a lot of vegetables. More than we can usually eat in a week which means that 'clean out the fridge' means stir fry, roasted veg, veg lasagna... you get the idea. And who am I kidding - judge all you want. I would!) ...

This meal is a go to in every season. It works especially well when: ~one has limp greens in the fridge that aren't yet ready for the compost ~there is an odd assortment of veggies that would not otherwise work well together ~time is limited and you still want to have some sort of meal It only requires pasta, butter, capers and veg. If you happen to have lemon or leftover chicken or a tomato on hand, all the better. Wilt and season (kale, spinach, chard, and/or bok choy) and/or sauté and season (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans... whatever). Make more than you think you'll ever eat. Might look like this I'll often do this in two frying pans but there isn't any reason to - you can do it in batches. One of the lovely things about this mean is that it can be served hot, cold, or room temp. It can be refrigerated for later or warmed up in the oven. While the greens are doing their thing, cook a pound of pasta in well salted water. (I cam...

I've been traveling a couple of days and it's January in Wisconsin. This combination can be brutal. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home to Lentil Soup with Sausage  made in the instant pot and ready to go! I found this recipe earlier this year because I'm still looking for instant pot recipes that make dinner easy. This once was a hit ~ easy to make, so satisfying, not overly heavy and perfect for cold, dark and snowy days.