Easy Breakfast Skillet

I've been terrible at keeping up with this blog lately and I apologize.  I've been working a lot and any time I get any free time, I have to do laundry, clean, or go to a practice for either tennis, softball, or soccer.  I typically don't get home from any of my activities or job until after 7 and by that time, it's dark and there's no point taking pictures of food because they look like crap.  Josh has also been gone a lot this month so being alone, I don't feel like cooking nice meals anyway. 

I managed to cook a decent breakfast one day when I didn't go in to work so early last week.  It's one of my easy favorites that I usually make when I have a bunch of veggies about to go bad or just lying around because it's very forgiving as far as ingredients go.

This is how I made mine: 2 servings, 30 min

2 tbs olive oil
3-4 decent-sized red potatoes, chopped into 1/2" cubes
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/4 yellow bell pepper, chopped (or about 1 small red bell pepper if you don't have the others)
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
5-7 slices low-sodium turkey bacon, chopped (optional)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs (optional)

 

Start by whipping out your cast iron skillet (that's why it's called a "breakfast skillet") and heating the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and potatoes and let them cook until the onions are juuuuuust starting to get translucent.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop your peppers.  When the skillet contents are ready, add the peppers and give it a stir.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the mix and let cook another 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the potatoes get cooked evenly and nothing is getting burnt to the bottom of the pan.

When the potatoes are almost completely tender, add the garlic, bacon, parsley, and cumin.  Stir to combine and let cook until the garlic is very fragrant and the potatoes are soft.  If you want, you can use regular bacon but add it to the pan at the beginning with the onions and potatoes and only use 1 tbs oil.  It's quite a bit greasier than my bacon so it'll lube the pan up all by itself once the fat renders out.

Oh goodness, smell that garlic!  Add a touch more salt if you think it's necessary.  You must taste throughout the process to get the right flavors!

While your skillet is finishing up, get a pot of salted water boiling.

I have these cute little egg poachers from my personal Heaven, Crate and Barrel.  I've tried many times to poach eggs the old-fashioned way but it's very difficult to get right without having boiled egg ribbons all over your pot so go ahead and spend the $4 to get one.  It's totally worth it.

Boil the eggs until the whites are almost completely opaque.  I found myself needing to use a spoon to flip the egg over in its little cup to properly cook the top.

What you end up with is a relatively quick, healthy, hearty breakfast that will keep you full well past when you think you should be eating lunch.  That's always a plus for me.  Cereal or smoothies sometimes just don't do it and I'm hungry an hour later.

Not so in this case.

The egg puts that perfect finishing touch on this dish.  When you split it open and the gooey yolk spills out over the potatoes and veggies, it adds this wonderful softness and creaminess to an otherwise rather business-like meal.  You can easily make this dish vegetarian by leaving out the bacon and egg, but what's life without bacon?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

'Made Man' Lasagna

WARNING: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS EPISODE DO NOT REFLECT THE ABILITIES AND VIEWS OF Mrs. Mitchell. We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

Hello readers! Mr. Mitchell here to give you a taste of something I have had since I switched over to solid foods.

Ok, maybe a little afterward.

Mom's lasagna was always a favorite. I have no idea where she got the recipe, but it was passed down to me and during college it was a reliable and solid, though time consuming, meal. And then, like Meg and I do with everything, I took the spirit of the recipe and did magical things with it. It is now an even more time consuming recipe, but completely worth it. Expect to spend 60-90 minutes prep, minimum 2 hours rest, 45 minutes cooking and 10 minutes cooling time. This is a great dish for dinner parties or other gatherings as this recipe should make 12 respectable sized servings, however without side dishes cut that number to 6-8. Don't have 11 of your closest friends coming over? (invite us over?) Don't worry, as fantastic as this meal is fresh, it is even better the next day...and the next.... and so on and so forth. I will even give my permission to reheat in the microwave, just don't obliterate it.

Lets be honest, folks. The most important factor in great food is great ingredients. Fresh herbs will always be better than dried, etc, etc. So the biggest changes from Mom's lasagna are based on fresher ingredients, healthier choices, and GARLIC!!! What? You didn't think I'd be allowed to commandeer the blog without gratuitous amounts of garlic did you? Ha! Don't be surprised if someday you see a post on here about her getting a tattoo of a bulb of garlic. Srlsy.

"You want me to put that WHERE?"

Ingredients*:
Meat Sauce:
2 lbs 97 or 99% fat free Ground Turkey
4-5 Cloves of Garlic
1 tbs Crushed Red Pepper
2 tbs mixed fresh chopped herbs: basil, oregano, and Italian parsley.
36 oz Your Favorite Spaghetti Sauce (We're Newman's Own people)
1 small-medium onion
3-4 oz diced mushrooms
Salt (minimum 2 tsp) and Pepper to taste

Ricotta Filling:
15 oz Ricotta
1/2 c Fresh grated Parmesan Cheese
1 egg
2 tbs fresh chopped Italian parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Additionally:
6 Whole Wheat Lasagna noodles
4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
Grated Parmesan and Chopped Italian Parsley

*Please note, all measurements of herbs are guestimated, and will be further discussed below.

Obligatory ingredient shot.

Part of this dish is timing, it has three separate prepared components that must come together in symphony. The meat sauce is the most complex and time consuming, so let's start there. Begin by dicing the onion and sweat it with some oil in a small skillet.

Mmm sweaty.

Meanwhile, wash and dice your mushrooms. As the onions become translucent and aromatic, add the mushrooms and a bit more oil and sauté the mixture.

In your largest skillet/wok put the ground turkey on med-high heat. Dice all of that wonderful garlic and herbs.

Now smell your hands. Mmmmmm....

Add to the turkey with the crushed red pepper and salt.

Mix and brown the turkey. Drain off any grease with paper towels during cooking and then strain with a colander when done. If you are a big spender and go for the 99% ground turkey you will most likely be able to skip this step.


Combine the onion-mushroom mixture and spaghetti sauce with the cooked turkey. Mix and simmer.

After a few minutes of simmering, taste mixture. Good, eh? Ok so what does it need? You should find a rewarding and explosive menagerie of flavors, sweetness from the turkey and tomato sauce, spice from the red pepper, umami from the mushrooms, full flavor from the herbs and of course, the garlic should stand out. So if you are unable to detect all of these flavors, start adding things. Make sure there is sufficient salt to bring out all of the flavors in the first place. Too sweet? Add salt, pepper and/or red pepper. Too strong onion flavor? Let it simmer more, it should absorb the flavors of the sauce. Too strong garlic flavor? TRICK QUESTION THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MUCH GARLIC! Add more garlic anyway. The meat sauce should be delicious and able to stand alone flavor wise. If you aren't seriously considering grabbing a soup bowl and a spoon, then you are missing something. Fans of the site would be wise to consider this meat sauce as a filling for the dumplings. But you don't have any to spare today, you have a lasagna craving to satisfy!

At some point between simmering, tasting, and adding more garlic, get a mixing bowl and begin preparing the ricotta mixture.

Step one. Put all ingredients in bowl.

Step two. Mix.

Set aside.

As the meat sauce is coming together, turn heat down to low. Boil your lasagna noodles. And, class, what is the important part of boiling noodles? That's right, little Timmy, copious amounts of salt in the water. We are looking for flavor in the noodles, not just carbs for tomorrows marathon (right?). When it comes to done-ness of your noodles, al dente is of course desired, but when in doubt slightly overdone will be better than underdone because there is enough time for the noodles to dry out between cooking and combining with the other parties, and that is not good eats.

So its looking like we are ready to assemble the dish now. Checklist: meat sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Ok lets do this.

In a lightly greased 9x13 glass casserole dish, lay down 3 lasagna noodles like so.

Now place 1/2 of the ricotta mixture atop the noodles and spread evenly.

2 cups of mozzarella cheese.

1/2 of the meat sauce.

And repeat...

Yeah...

Ok, looking good....

Molto bella!

Top with a dusting of grated Parmesan cheese because... well you really don't need a reason do you.

Cover and rest for at least two hours. I know. Its hard. So very, very hard. But you must! When you have components such as these coming together they must have time to socialize and mingle! I like to refrigerate as long as I can. Today I did the prep work by noon and gave the dish 7 hours to get friendly and come together as one amazing meal.

Do it...

After said waiting period, cook at 375 covered with foil for 35 minutes, remove foil, and cook for an additional 10. If you unwisely choose to not cover with foil, reduce cooking temp to 350 max and cook for 35-40 minutes, but I really don't suggest it. Of course, times vary with altitude and oven and cookware blah blah blah. Point is, this is just to get everything to a nice hot temperature. All of the meat is cooked, so its no longer a safety issue. (If you think one raw-ish egg over 12 servings is an issue, you clearly have your own problems) Once thoroughly heated, remove from oven, place foil back on dish and give it a few minutes to rest. I have increased the meat-to-sauce ratio, and cut down on fat content of the meat, but there was once a "soupy" problem with this recipe and resting helps the meat and noodles absorb any delicious, yet unrefined juices. Chop up a few sprigs of Italian Parsley, and garnish before digging in.

And you will dig in....

Early...

And often...

I personally do not think this needs a side dish. However, bread seems to be required at all Italian meals. So bake you a french loaf 80% done, cut on the bias, lather one side of each slide with melted butter/oil and chop up (can you guess???) garlic and Italian parsley, maybe even rosemary and toast for 3 minutes or so on broil. Cabernet Savignon pairs excellently.

Actually this may have been better than the lasagna itself.

So the next time you need to make a good impression and pull out one hell of a dish, whip up this lasagna and thrill your friends and family. Works especially well with 'the family,' if you's guys know what I'm talking about.

Fugeddaboutit.

I hope you have enjoyed this guest blogging. I enjoy contributing to our meals on a nightly basis, I'm cool with being Robin to her Batman.

She married this.

Grilled Potatoes, Chicken, and Haricots Verts with Lemon Mint Pesto

Oh lordy, I hit a home run with this dinner.  The potatoes, beans, and pesto for the most part came from a Food and Wine recipe by Sheamus Feeley.  He's a chef at an organic farm with a farm-to-table restaurant that puts all their effort into using the freshest ingredients to make delicious meals.  This is exactly what I'd like to do someday.  Using the food I've grown myself just tastes so much better than anything in the store and I'd like to share that with others and make a business of it.
After reading over the recipe, I decided that I'd rather grill the potatoes instead of boil and bake them, as the original recipe directs.  I also wanted to use haricots verts because they're sweeter and taste better than regular green beans.  I added chicken with my own marinade to make a complete meal.  I was cautiously optimistic about using mint and lemon together because to me, they seemed like a weird combination.  I was so wrong.  Mint and lemon love each other.  They love when you mix in parsley and chives and then they all make sweet, sweet love in your mouth.  It was magical.

4 servings:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs chives, minced


4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs minced chives
3 tbs finely chopped parsley
2 tbs finely chopped mint
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
1 lb haricots verts (french green beans)


Start by mixing the first set of ingredients in a bowl and transferring it to a ziploc bag with the chicken.  Squish it around and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Next, wash the potatoes, cut them in half, and toss them in a bowl with about 1 tbs olive oil and 1 tsp salt.

Mix the 4 tbs olive oil in a bowl with the chives, parsley, mint, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, and a sprinkle of salt.  Let that magical mixture sit and grow exponentially in yumminess for at least 20 minutes.  While you're waiting, light your grill.  Put on the potatoes and let them cook on the first side for 15-20 minutes.  When they get browned and crisp on one side...

flip them over and throw on the chicken.

Let the potatoes cook for another 15 minutes or until you can easily poke them with a fork.  Cook the chicken for 5-10 minutes on each side.  You can use a probe thermometer or just watch them carefully.  The temperature of your grill can vary alot from time to time so just keep and eye on them and take them off when they're just barely done.  The chicken's secret is to keep it juicy.
While all that is grilling, boil some salted water and cook the haricots verts for about 5 minutes or until they're tender, but still crisp.  

Drain the green beans and immediately toss them in a bowl with half the herb pesto mixture.

Cut up the potatoes as soon as they come off the grill (they're hot but if you cut them up before cooking, they'll fall through the grates and getting the grill flavor is better than using foil) and toss them with the other half of the herb pesto.  Let the chicken rest under some foil while you're preparing the potatoes and beans but then serve it all together as soon as it's ready.

Josh said this might be the best chicken he's ever had.  It was certainly the most tender and juicy that I've ever made.  I couldn't believe how good it was since I just threw the ingredients together without a recipe.

I know I said I hate green vegetables before but I really like french green beans.  We actually served them at our wedding and I'm always looking for ways I can prepare this rare veggie I'll actually eat.  The lemony sauce was so perfect with the crisp sweetness of the beans.

As awesome as everything else was, my favorite was the potatoes.  Every fresh herb and lemon flavor was perfectly balanced with the saltiness and crunch of the grilled potatoes.  I can't imagine not grilling the potatoes because it just gave them so much more flavor and texture.  These are without a doubt the best potatoes I've ever had and they were so easy!  The little time spent chopping and grilling is so worth it.  This is my new go-to recipe for guests.