BIZZY BAKES

Melting Goat Cheese  I  have found that I like to add vegetables or different cheeses to Hazan's recipes.  I find his dishes simplistic but they have the flavor and texture.  I just, at times, want  a little more, maybe a tomato, zucchini, Ricotta or Feta.  As I go through the book, I take advantage  of his flexible recipes and make them more intact with my family. You can see the original recipe here . T agliatelle with Peas adapted from  Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta Ingredients:  1 tablespoon olive oil 1 cup frozen peas   1/2 orange pepper, sliced 2 tablespoons Parmesan 2 ounces goat cheese, chopped Salt Freshly ground black pepper 8 ounces left over small pastas ( using up pasta in house) Method: Fill a pot for the pasta with about  4  quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. In a skillet, add peas and bell pepper to the olive oil and seas...

This week was my turn to pick the recipe, we are cooking, in Wednesdays with Donna Hay (WwDH).  I knew, I was going to love these from the very first.  I did not disappoint myself.  These were yummy.  Of course, loving spinach and ricotta to start with, helps my admiration for this dish. The recipe was easier than I had thought.  There was no need to roll the dough.  The recipe called for it as it came.  I unfolded it and cut it in half.  I am thinking that it could have been cut into thirds and made a better looking "pie".  It did not call for many ingredients and I had them all on hand, except for the puff pastry. It is a matter of mixing all the ingredients together, plopping this down on the dough and folding it.  Even I, who panics when I deal with pastry dough, relaxed through this. I made half the recipe which gives one two generous pastries.  It was easy to gobble one down.  I can hope, I was more refined than...

Usually, I have little to say about my weekly Donna Hay recipe for WwDH (Wednesdays with Donna Hay) except that the dish was yummy, easy to make and used available ingredients. This week is a different story, thanks to Gaye who selected the Spinach Ravioli with Basil Oil found in Donna's book, Seasons, on page 174.  It was not easy for me, nor did I have all the ingredients, nor did I think to use them, even when I did have them.  Great way to start. Ravioli to me is an Italian dish with tomato sauce - boring probably but good. To make ravioli with Vietnamese paper rolls and lemon juice sounded out of kilter to me.  The cheeses were right (Oy vey, I forgot the Mozzarella).  Just another mistake in this recipe for me.   Give me credit, I did use Ricotta and Parmesan.  What's a little Mozzarella?  I started off feeling lost and never caught up.  I didn't have the paper rolls so I used so I used rice paper which should have worked beautifully...

This was described as a cross between a frittata and a quiche.  I like both.  Despite that, I found this to be eggy and I would cut down to two eggs, next time.  The tomatoes gave life to the dish and it is a wonderful way to use tomatoes when you have a summer crop.  I know, it is winter, but both hubby and I brought home tomatoes and there is a limit to how many I can use. Crustless Tomato Ricotta Pi e  ( adapted from Big Oven ) Ingredients: 15 ounce Ricotta Cheese; part skim  1/4 cup Milk; low-fat 4 large Eggs  1 tablespoon Cornstarch 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated  1/2 cup Fresh Basil, chopped 1 dash Salt  1 dash Pepper  1 pound Tomato; sliced Method: Preheat over to 375.  In a large bowl, whisk ricotta, eggs,  parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until blended. In measuring cup, stir milk and cornstarch until smooth, then whisk ...

For this week, Peggy  has chosen a delectable and simple dish, Penne with Grape tomatoes and Spinach.  This is representative, in my opinion, of Ellie Krieger dishes, simple, healthy and yummy.  It is a light dish despite it being pasta.  The tomatoes and Parmesan gave it strength in flavor.  Since I could not use garlic, one of the main components in the dish, I added an onion, chopped and cooked.  I added the tomatoes to the onions and just kept adding. Since we love spinach, I tend to throw into many dishes but this one called for it.  You can imagine how this sold the recipe before I even made it.  This would make a great veggie dish without the pasta and with additional vegetables. As usual as for years, this is another Ellie dish, this family likes a lot.  It feels good to be cooking  her recipes on a regular basis.  It brings back happy memories of the weekly cheers that went up, in our house, when we had yet another s...

I was reading Food Network magazine and saw a recipe for stuffed zucchini.  Actually, they had four solid recipes for stuffed zucchini.  The one with Ricotta is the one that caught my attention and the one I decided to make. When I gathered the ingredients, I found one of my zucchinis had a bad spot and I had to peel them to make sure they were usable.  I cut off parts of the bad zucchini and then cut them in half lengthwise in preparation to stuff them.  I decided, I was not scooping out the seedy part of the zucchini which we usually eat and was almost seedless.  My problem then was I had nothing to fill so I changed the name of the recipe and the way I put it together as well as one of the ingredients.   When I took the first  bite, I realized it was not cooked as well as it could have been and ended up liking it much better this way.  It gave the whole dish a firmer base and it was a good bite.   This is a dish, I can see...

As long as it has veggies............pasta is not fattening...........or so I tell myself. Creamy Lemon Pasta Plus Some Ingredients: 1 pound thin spaghetti (gluten-free) 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1 cup low-fat sour cream plenty of Parmesan to taste chopped parsley 1 zucchini, diced grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced 1 medium onion, diced Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta as directed on package. Put olive oil in skillet. Add zucchini, onions and tomatoes. Add lemon juice to pan and cook for a few minutes. Add sour cream and mix it through. Place drained and rinsed pasta in a baking dish. Pour over it the vegetables and sour cream and mix. Bake covered for 15 minutes. Remove covering and bake for additional 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with Parmesan cheese. I...

  I am back to making new lunches for myself, once again.  I wish, I could share with you, the feelings, I have about this.  It has taken the "eh" quality out of lunch and makes each time, I make it, into a mini occasion.  I have to think about it.  I have to purchase items for the recipes rather than work around what I have, on hand.  I want it to have some interest for you and I don't want it to be silly, like sharing how I put cheese on bread. In one way, this is easy because it is more fun than simply grabbing a slice of cheese and it is challenging because I am attempting to make a variety of food for the interest dimension. Today, I was looking at my cookbooks in order to find a recipe.  Ina Garten's,  How Easy is That? stood out.  It has been a long while since I used the book and probably as long, since I made an Ina recipe.  I saw a recipe for scalloped tomatoes and thought it was going to be one dish but in reading th...

Last night, I planned to make a nice chunky soup, you know the kind that fills you up.  One bowl, and you are groaning, you are so full.  That was the plan.  What do they say about the best laid plans? I walked in, after work, and all I could think of was my bed, a place to fall into to sleep.  I was sure that peeling, chopping and seasoning was too much, for me.  Please tell me, you get like this, at times.  I usually pull, one day a week, like this. Forget the carrots, potatoes, onions, lima beans, sweet potatoes, kidney beans, celery and anything else, I would have thrown in.  Forget the aroma of a rich and vegetable soup, simmering on the stove.  Forget it all.  Forget dinner to. I was ready to skip making dinner and scouting the freezer for something to stick in the oven but hubby called and in that loving voice, asked what special dish, was I making.  The question comes from his satisfaction with weekday dinners, when I lea...