krcorlet's Blog

This week, I was without many fresh vegetables--except for a bag of carrots that had sat in my fridge for at least two weeks. Therefore, I resolved to use four cans of vegetables that had been sitting in my pantry since I stocked up for Snowpocalypse 2011 in this week's soup. Yum. (A spin-off of a recipe I found on the back of Bush's can of butter beans.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups celery, finely chopped

1 cup carrots, finely chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups water

2 cans (16 ounces) Bush's Best Butter Beans, drained

1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

First, cook your celery, carrots, and onion in oil until soft. (If you're cooking on your gas stove that doesn't drop much below high heat, this will take roughly six minutes.)

Add flour and cook for one minute. Then, gradually pour in the water and stir until smooth.

Add your remaining ingredients and bring the pot's contents to a boil.
Now, reduce your heat and let the soup simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

If you're feeling brave (and healthy) add kale to the pot while the soup simmers... If I hadn't been short a trip to the grocery store or farmers' market, you can bet you'd see green blobs floating around in my bowl. Best part about the recipe: it makes enough for about five big bowls, meaning no cooking lunch for a week.

Problem: I needed to make a side dish for a Valentine’s weekend potluck dinner with the girls… with no ingredients in the house to cook. (My lack of car on campus makes it a hell of a challenge to cook anything remotely fresh and delicious unless I plan at least two weeks in advance.)
So, you might ask, what exactly did you have in the house? And in such case I would respond: two potatoes, butter, four cups of Parmesan cheese, a half of a sack of apples, a tub of plain yogurt, and some milk. Not too appetizing of a dish, right there…
Solution: After a quick run to CVS with Mary (the chef genius), I remedied the situation. I scanned the South Crouse Avenue store’s short aisle of food and found a store-brand box of instant mashed potatoes. With the right touch and mix of ingredients, I could make these potatoes a little classier than your typical side from a cardboard box.

Ingredients:
2 potatoes
1 box instant mashed potatoes
2/3 cup butter
3¼ cups 2% milk
1½ cups Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons basil seasoning
1½ tablespoons garlic powder
Salt

First, wash and cube your two potatoes. (If you prefer, you can peel the skins off at this time, but I like the skins in my potatoes.) Then stick them into a pot, fill with water until the potatoes are covered, and boil. Leave boiling on the stove for 15-20 minutes.
Spoon the potato chunks out of the pot and into a smaller mixing bowl. Here, it’s ideal to use a potato masher to break apart and soften the chunks of potato. I, however, used the backside of an ice cream scoop to cream my potatoes.

Make the full box of instant mashed potatoes. (Mine specified it served 20 people.) To do so, bring 3½ cups of water plus your butter and a dash of salt to a boil. Pour in the potato mix and stir to coat all of the flakes.
Toss your real potatoes on top and keep stirring. Add Parmesan cheese to taste (I achieved a light flavor with 1½ cups), and mix in 2 tablespoons of basil seasoning so that the potatoes are speckled evenly. Add garlic powder and salt to your liking.

In theme with Mary's bread pudding, corn casserole achieves a texture between that of cooked oatmeal and cornbread. With only ten minutes of prep (save time for baking, though-- a whole hour) it also makes an quick recipe to have under your belt for a group potluck... or to impress your date this Valentine's Day weekend. And fellas, a guy who cooks earns major brownie points.

Ingredients:

1 can (15 ounces) corn kernels
1 can (15 ounces) creamed corn
1 box (8.5 ounces) Jiffy cornbread mix
1 stick (1/4 pound) of butter
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ready? Do you have everything out on your countertop? Good. Now pour all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix well. (You shouldn't have any dry cornbread mix left.)

Transfer your newly mixed glop into a baking dish. (I'd recommend lightly coating it with a Pam cooking spray so that it serves easier without sticking to the pan.) Place the dish into the oven and let it bake for an hour. Wait for the top of the cornbread to turn golden before removing it, and test the middle with a fork to make sure it's not to soggy. Rule of thumb: moist is good, but pulling out a forkful of corn soup from the middle of your dish is bad.

Let stand for 15 minutes and then serve! Makes about 8 servings.

If you aren't sick of leafy greens after our lineup of spinach-heavy entrees this past week, this spinach lasagna makes for an easy yet delicious dinner to last in your fridge for a week or share with housemates.

Ingredients:
16 ounce tub of cottage cheese
2 eggs
3 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
10 ounces spinach (roughly one large bag)
1 jar tomato sauce (or more, if you're like me and you like your pasta and pizza extra saucy)
9 flat lasagna noodles (Hodgeson Mill makes a delicious variety of whole grain noodles)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the cottage cheese, eggs, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Then add your spinach. Mix well so that the leafy greens are coated.
3. Layer the bottom of your baking dish with a cup of tomato sauce, three flat noodles, and the cheese mix. Continue to layer until you place your last few noodles on top.
4. Spread remaining cheese (mozzarella + Parmesan) over the top noodles.
5. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until you see your cheese turn golden brown.
6. When done, pull out the lasagna and let it stand 10 minutes to cool and set before you dig in.