| ---> RECIPES |
Like to cook? Here are a few easy and yummy things to try! |
| ---> ITALIAN GREENS |
Italian greens are a huge must at every Italian eatery where I come from. Since I'm Italian, my family tends to cook them all the time, as they make an awesome side dish, especially if you're having pasta or chicken. Like spinach? Read on and make your own! Below is not a "formal" recipe, it's what I actually do based on trial and error and our "family recipe", which was never written down...until now. :) Everyone's recipe around here seems to be a little different, but here is how I like to make greens... You will need... -1 large pot with a cover *=You can also add porscuitto (a type of pork) which adds to the flavoring, but it's not absolutely necessary. If you are a vegetarian or just don't like/have porscuitto, don't worry about leaving it out. 001. Take your pan and coat the bottom with olive oil. I don't use exact measurements (as you'll see as you read on), so just use enough so the bottom of the pan is covered. Set it on a medium setting on your stove burner. 002. Take your heads of lettuce/escarole and cut off the hard bottoms. You can pull them apart so the leaves are all smaller, or you can leave them as is. Put them in the (clean) sink and douse them with water so they are all wet and clean. 003. Put as much as you can fit of the leaves into the pot, but not too much as you want to be able to put the cover over it. If you can't fit all of the lettuce you have waiting in, don't worry -- because the greens cook WAY down, and you want them to. I tend to do it in incriminents. It tends to speed up the process. 004. Shake a little bit of salt and pepper over the leaves in the pot, and put the top on. Let the leaves cook down into the olive oil. 005. Meanwhile, take your mug/small bowl and fill it with water. Take your beef bouiloun cube, and unwrap the paper of it it, then stick it in the water and let it sit, so the cube melts into the water. 006. Grab your breadcrumbs and your cheese. Take the top of the pot, and put a handful of breadcrumbs into the mix in the pot, and sprinkle a little bit of cheese over the top. Replace the top to the pot. 007. Here is the kind of boring part. You sit and wait for the leaves to shrivle down a little bit. Keep checking the pot just to make sure, stirring every once and a while so the leaves evenly cook. 008. Once your leaves have shrunk down quite a bit, stir them up, and put more of the lettuce in. and repeat step 4 and 6. Try to spoon the already shrunken leaves to the top, so the new leaves can go to the bottom of the top and cook througthly. 009. Once all of the leaves are cooked down to a shrunken amount, sprinkle some garlic over the top, stir, then sprinkle some more. 0010. Throw a very small handful of nutmeg into the mix, and stir. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. 0011. Sprinkle about 3-5 handfuls of breadcrumbs (depending on how large your pot/amount of leaves is/are) in, stirring after each handful. 0012. Douse the mix with your cheese generously, and stir. 0013. Add about two teaspoons of vinegar and stir well. 0014. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting, or just take the pot of the burner all together. Take off the top for good, and let the greens cool. 0015. Scoop out a couple of spoonfuls and enjoy! I hope this was easy to follow! Let me know if you try it, and if you do, how you like it! :) |
| ---> APPLE CRISP DESSERT |
Apple crisp is such an easy dessert to make, and fun too! Perfect for family get togethers...here's how I make homemade apple crisp, and now you can too! You will need... -baking dish 001. Preheat your oven to about 400 degrees F. 002. Take out your apples and wash them. Grab an apple peeler if you have one and skin the apples. If you don't have an apple peeler, you can just use a knife, but try no to chop off too much of the apple...or your fingers. 003. When the apples are skinned, cut them into four pieces by cutting around the core. Just go in a circle. Throw out the core, and cut each piece into halves. Do this for all of the apples, then throw them into your baking dish. Mine's about 9 inches x 12 inches. You don't need anything bigger than that. 004. When all of your apples are cut up and in the dish, pour over the apples about two teaspoons of lemons. The taste will burn off, you won't taste it -- but the juice keeps the apples from turning brown while you work. :) 005. Pour over the top of the apples about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and two tablespoons of sugar. Use your spoon to stir the apples, so they are evenly coated in the cinnamon and sugar. 006. Set the apples aside, and grab your small bowl. Put about 1/2 a cup of the graham cracker crumbs into the bowl, but if you have a little bit more than that, it's okay. Just don't have too much. 007. Throw into the little bowl about half to 2/3rds of a stick of butter in. Stir the crumbs and the butter together (either with your hands or a fork/spoon...I use my hands) till it makes a sort of crumbly paste that kind clumps together. Scoop it all up and put it over the apples, but make sure it's as even as you can possibly make it. 008. Throw the apple dish into the oven, cook it for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Keep checking it just in case -- you want the top to be golden. It may take slightly less or more time. 009. When the buzzer rings, it's done! Take it out of the oven and let it cool, then scoop out your portion and enjoy! Hope you enjoy this, and tell me on the Tagboard if you try it and like it! :) |