After reading an article about a gourmet grilled cheese making contest, I figured it was time to mix up the usual cheese sandwich with a couple of add-ins.

First I laid out the bread and covered it corner-to-corner with cheese. Then I sliced and sauteed some mushrooms and laid them out on the bread.

Finally I added some sliced olives, then topped each sandwich with another plain piece of bread and toasted them in our overgrown toaster oven until browned and melty. These were fantastic.

For Christmas, Austin bought me a package of gnocchi, which I think just means potato dumplings. I'd never cooked them before, never mind eaten them, so they've been sitting in our little pantry for almost 5 months now. Well, last night I did it-- I cooked the gnocchi, and we loved it! I just mixed and matched ideas from a whole bunch of online recipes I browsed. Here goes...

Ingredients:
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 cup tomato, diced
3 mini-onions (maybe shallots? I don't really know.), minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t. oregano
1/2 cup pesto sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup almonds, toasted
3/4 cup shredded duck (or chicken. I thought I was buying chicken, but there was a duck head in the bag, so I'm pretty sure I bought duck.)
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
18 oz. gnocchi, prepared

First, I prepared the gnocchi & the pesto sauce, setting them aside in separate bowls.

Then I cooked the garlic & baby onions in just about a teaspoon of oil before adding the zucchini cubes. I added some water a few times in order to add a little steam and keep things from burning. I wanted to cook the zucchini until it was tender but still a little crisp. When it felt like it was just about ready, I threw in the tomato cubes, the duck, the oregano, some salt, and the pesto sauce and stir-fried it for another one or two minutes.

After that, I combined it with the gnocchi, topped with a sprinkle of Parmesan, a sprinkle of black pepper, and a sprinkle of toasted almond pieces. This was delish, and all in less than 15 minutes. Fantastic.

Well, it was time for Project Casserole to continue, so I decided to try out a Quesadilla Casserole I found on Chef Jeff's website. This turned out really well. Our meal finished with an exclamation of, "Wow! We have to make this like, every week!" Oh, the appreciation adds such motivation to my culinary experiments.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 t. chili powder
1 t. cumin
1 t. garlic, minced
1/2 t. oregano
1 1/2 c. tomato sauce
3 spicy green peppers, chopped
2 c. black beans
1 c. corn
1/2 t. red pepper
cheese (about 2 cups is what the original recipe called for; I used about 14 cheese singles b/c that's all we've got)
6- 8" tortillas

Brown the beef and onion, then add the next 8 ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for about 5 minutes.

I added a layer of the saucy-meat mixture on the bottom of my 13 x 9ish pan, then added a layer of 3 tortillas. (I made the tortillas, & you can see the recipe under the bread category on the right side.) Then I added half of the remaining meat mixture, a layer of cheese, another layer of tortillas, the rest of the sauce, and the rest of the cheese.

At this point, everything was cooked, but I covered it with tinfoil, popped it into the oven for about 20 minutes and baked it at 350 degrees. Then I removed the foil and allowed the cheese to brown a little.

This was a big hit on the home-front as well as with some Chinese friends we served it to tonight as leftovers!

We love meat. Love it.

Since being here, we've tried several different meatball recipes. We made this one the other day and really liked the way it turned out.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 T. Italian spices
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. breadcrumbs
3/4 c. lukewarm water (added slowly, might not use it all)
1 c. shredded carrot

Just mix it together, and broil (or bake on the top rack at the highest temperature) for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, flip them and broil 8-12 more minutes until browned and cooked in the center.

Another casserole in the line-up. I like this one because it's versatile; I can throw in whatever veggies I have on hand. I also liked it because it ended up being kind of creamy without calling for a heavy soup, heavy cream, or another ingredient I didn't have on hand.

Ingredients:
20 mushrooms, sliced
1 t. oil
water
6 T. flour
4 t. chicken bouillon granules
1 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
3 c. (when dry) spiral noodles, cooked
2 c. shredded & cooked chicken
1 c. green peas
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
breadcrumbs to top

First, I sauteed about 20 sliced mushrooms in a teaspoon of oil. Then I added 1/4 cup water and 6 T. flour, adding the flour gradually until the mixture was smooth and bubbly. I added another 1 2/3 cup of water, chicken bouillon granules, milk, salt, pepper, and cooked it until it was thickened, about 15-20 minutes.

Then I added the spiral noodles, shredded chicken, peas, and Parmesan cheese and stirred it together.

I put this mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan, topped with breadcrumbs, and baked until bubbly & browned on top, about 20 minutes.

Project for the next few weeks: casseroles. Casseroles. That word sounds so old woman-ly, but I like it; it also sounds so American. I think there's a little piece of old woman in me, and a whole lot of American, so the project is set. (Side note: In fact, I'm quite excited to be an old woman some day... making casseroles, drinking tea with my friends, reading mysteries, knitting, and watching Hallmark channel movies doesn't sound so bad.)

Dreams of aging aside, my first project in the casserole series was eggplant parmesan.

Ingredients:
1 T. sugar
1 T. basil
1 T. oregano
about 24 small-medium tomatoes (though 4-8oz. cans of tomato sauce, a can of whole tomatoes (chopped), and a bit of tomato paste would have done the job)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 lb. of eggplant
1/4 c. water
3 egg whites
1 1/4 c. breadcrumbs
2 T. Italian seasoning
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
2 c. mozzarella cheese, ideally; I used the only option we've got: a package of low-fat cheese singles

First I chopped up 4 large eggplants; 3 would have been more than plenty; 2 might have sufficed. I chopped them to be about 1/4 inch wide. I placed them in a bowl, added water, and soaked them for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I combined the first 5 ingredients above to make a sauce. I brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered for about 30 more minutes.

In 2 small bowls, I used the water and egg whites to make a mixture, then I used the parmesan, breadcrumbs, and Italian seasoning to make another mixture. After the eggplant slices had soaked, I dipped them in the first bowl, dredged them in the mixture in the second, and placed them on a tinfoil-lined baking sheet. Then I broiled them for about 5 minutes per tray (I ended up with 3 small trays of slices, which was way too many... I guess I wasn't sure how much eggplant was "2 pounds" as the original recipe suggested.)

Then came the easy part; I just layered the sauce into a 13x9 pan, then a layer of eggplant, followed by a layer of cheese, repeated the layering steps once, covered it with tinfoil, and finally baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. In my opinion, it could have used to be baked about 10-15 minutes longer for more tender eggplant, but what do I know?

I served it with some asparagus and whole wheat pasta.

Friday mornings are great. It's the last day of the week, and I teach the first three classes. So, pretty much, I have to go to school a little early, but then I'm done teaching by 10:05. Can't beat that.

Sometimes on Friday, when I'm feeling especially wife-like, I decide to cook a little lunch for Austin so when he gets home after fifth period we can celebrate the coming of the weekend! A few weeks ago, I whipped this up...

Ingredients:
1 lb. sliced beef
a little salt and pepper
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally
splash of cider vinegar
splash of soy sauce
8 mini mangoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup lightly crushed cashews
rice, cooked as desired
lettuce cups or slices

First, I seasoned the beef with a little salt and pepper. Then, I stir-fried the garlic. I added the beef to the wok and cooked it, then added the spring onions and cooked 1-2 minutes more. I tossed in a splash of apple cider vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, the mango pieces, and the cashews and stir-fried for 1-2 minutes more.

The preparation for this recipe, mainly peeling and dicing the mangoes, took much longer than the actual cooking, as seems to be the case with lots of Asian-esque food.

I was going to buy lettuce cups (lettuce in a cup shape), but for the sake of at least a few vitamins, I opted for the somewhat darker green lettuce next to it at the market... It's hard to get those greens in.

Served with lettuce and rice.

One of my goals during this term is to do more cooking. Another was to incorporate more vegetables into my diet. Eating out is great, and usually ends up being cheaper than cooking at home, but it gets old on the taste buds, and the food tends to be cooked in lots of oil and served alongside mounds of rice.

While stir-fry isn't really going out on a limb and making us feel like we're in America, this still mixed things up a little from what we usually find in the restaurants here, and-- very importantly-- contained no oil. I served this alongside a giant mound of... NOT rice.

Here's what I used:
-a bunch of green pea pods
-a bunch of mushrooms (these ended up being great and I should have used more)
-some cauliflower
-several stalks of celery, thinly sliced
-3 Tablespoons light soy sauce
-1/4 cup water
-1 Tablespoon oyster sauce (whatever that actually is... there was a bottle in the fridge and I decided to go for it)
-1 Tablespoon vinegar
-salt to taste

I poured the soy sauce and water into a heating wok and added the cauliflower to give it a head start. After about 3 minutes, covered, I uncovered it and added the remainder of the ingredients (veggies and liquids). I re-covered the wok and allowed it to steam for several more minutes, stirring occasionally until the veggies were cooked but still a little crunchy. I turned off the heat, sprinkled on just a little salt, and served it. This made about 3 or 4 servings, depending on how big your "bunch" of this and "bunch" of that are.

This was a pretty good soup, though in my opinion, and more importantly, the opinion of my hungry husband, it would have been even better with the addition of some meat. I served this with pasta, giant meatballs, salads, and garlic bread. I modeled this recipe after several similar recipes I browsed online.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon oil
½ large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks celery, cut in slices
2 medium carrots, cut in slices
½ teaspoon salt
4-5 diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon basil, plus Italian spices to taste
3-4 cups white beans
Salt
Pepper

I started this process by soaking my beans the night before of course, and then boiling them the following day until they were soft like those you'd buy in a can if your supermarket had progressed to canned veggies.

When it was time to make the soup, I just heated the oil and sauteed the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes before adding celery, carrots, and salt and continuing to saute for about 10 more minutes. Then I added the tomatoes and broth and simmered for about 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables were tender. I added the beans and cooked it for about 5 more minutes before seasoning it with salt and pepper.

We love Italian food. When asked which country we want to travel to (a common conversational question here), without a doubt, we reply, "Italy." Dangle the possibility of good Italian food in front of us, and we'll come running. Now the Pizza Hut an hour and a half away can whip up a decent plate of pasta, but the portion sizes are SERIOUSLY lacking! I wanted to make something really special for us, so I decided to make lasagna. Now, with no lasagna noodles, no tomato sauce, and the only cheese in town being some wimpy cheese singles, I knew I needed to get down to work, so I rolled up my sleeves for a day in the kitchen.

First, the cheese:
Let's be honest, what's Italian food without cheese? I took a quick look in the freezer and pulled a pack of 50% less fat cheese singles out. Then I checked the fridge and pulled out a container of Italian cheese from our wonderful families in America. We'd made some cheese here before, so I decided to try that again.

Our milk comes in juice-box containers (so gross, I know!). Each container is about a cup. I used 1 container of whole milk, and 4 containers of "low-fat" milk, with a little less fat than 2% milk in America and unfortunately the lowest fat milk we can buy here.

I poured these boxes of milk into a pan and began to heat it over low heat, constantly stirring the milk so it would not burn. It took about 20 minutes or so for the milk to begin to thicken and come to a boil. Once it boiled, I immediately turned the heat off and added 3 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, stirring for another minute. Then I covered the pan and allowed it to sit for 2 hours.

Two hours later, the milk had separated into curds and whey. I strained the mixture through a cheesecloth (or lint-free, non-fuzzy towel). I sprinkled in about 3/4 teaspoon of salt and mixed it up. Squeezing the cheese more makes it harder; I decided to squeeze less in an effort to get some cheese about the consistency of ricotta cheese. (There really isn't any way I've found to make better cheese without more specialized ingredients and tools.)

I let the cheese hang from a hook over the kitchen sink for any extra drainage to occur until I was ready to use it.

For the sauce:

1.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
small green pepper, chopped
about 15 small tomatoes (when blended, this should be about 1.5 blenders full)
2 t. oregano
4 t. Italian seasoning
2 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
2 t. white vinegar
1 T. apple cider vinegar
2 T. sugar

Austin loves meat and doesn't often get enough when we eat out, so I ran to the market and picked up a pound and a half of lean beef and had it ground. I browned this beef, drained off whatever fat remained, and then transferred it into another pan while I cooked 1/2 a white onion (diced) and a very small green pepper (also diced.) After they browned, I added the ground beef back to the pan and cooked them together for about 3 minutes.

I then added this to a larger pot which already contained about 15 small tomatoes, blended. I also added the spices above and the vinegar, plus or minus whatever spices were needed to tweak the taste to our liking. I also added about 2 T. sugar.

Then I set this aside onto the stove top to simmer for about 45 minutes until it was nice and thick.

Now, for making the noodles. I'd done this once before, but in Austin's mom's beautiful kitchen with a pasta machine. Her pasta machine was great. Here's a picture of mine:

Still, a new kitchen appliance is always fun, even if it's just a piece of wood. This whole process took a little while but was actually a fun experiment.

For the noodles:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

I mixed these things together and kneaded for about 5 minutes. It was really tough, unlike bread dough, so the "kneading" was just kind of like pulling and playing with it.

Then I made it into 3 balls and let it rest on the counter for 15 minutes. (There's no telling what diseases it might have picked up during those 15 minutes in our kitchen.) After 15 minutes, I took my rolling pin to it and rolled it until it was really thin. My aim was 1/16 of an inch thick. I think I succeeded on some parts of the noodles, and not so much on others. Nonetheless, I rolled until I had about 9 roughly lasagna shaped noodles then used a squiggly attachment from a grater I had to make the edges look a little more like lasagna noodles you can buy.

Now, to assemble the beast. This was the most fun, and the least labor intensive. I loved it.

Here are the layers I put down, from bottom to top of our 9 x 13 -ish pan.
1. about 1.5 cups of sauce to coat the bottom generously
2. three lasagna noodles, lengthwise on the pan
3. more sauce, generously
4. half of the homemade cheese ball, in dollops (that's a fun word!) across the lasagna

5. a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
6. a layer of greens

7. another round of noodles
8. more sauce, generously
9. the rest of the homemade cheese, in dollops of course, with another sprinkle of Parmesan
10. a layer of 50% less fat cheese singles; (they're really thin here)
11. the last 3 noodles
12. more sauce
13. some more cheese singles (I just put these over 1/2 of this top layer)
14. another sprinkle of Parmesan

And that's a wrap. I made a tinfoil tent over the top and baked it at about 400 degrees F for about 40 minutes. I cooled it for about 5 minutes before serving to myself and my very happy best friend!