Thursday, November 30, 2006

last night's simple dinner




last night's dinner was omelette and biscuits. The hubby and I weren't sure what we would make for dinner though we knew we wanted something quick and easy. I repeatedly told him I wanted breakfast for dinner, something along the lines of eggs, bacon and biscuit. After much thought, we decided on baked omelette with biscuits.

You need, approximately:
Turkey Bacon
onion, thinly sliced
garlic, finely chopped
roasted Turkey, sliced or cubed (great way to use leftovers)
kale (any kind of greens work)
salt & pepper
ground cumin
ground coriander
red chili flakes
1/2 bunch Green onions
8 eggs - beaten
1/4 cup milk, optional
cheddar cheese (any cheese would do, but I was going with a latin themed dinner)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a seperate bowl, beat eggs with salt, pepper and milk. On medium-low heat, saut
é bacon in a medium or large sauce pan for 5 minutes. Then add garlic and onions and let the mixture cook until onions are translucent. Then add turkey to the mixture and allow to cook for 6-8 minutes, or until Turkey absorbs the mixture flavor. Add kale to the pan and stir well. Allow kale to wilt down, season with salt, pepper, ground cumin and coriander and chili flakes. Add the egg mixture to the pan and sprinkle green onion and cheese on top and cook for 5-8 minutes, until it's set on the bottom. Cover and cook for few more minutes. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until it reaches preferred consistency.
*side note, milk provided for a creamier tasting omelette.

Cook the pre made biscuits based on instructions on the back.
Enjoy




Tuesday, November 28, 2006

post thanksgiving break

what a weekend.... a well needed vacation dissappeared in no time. It is the 4 day away from work and busy hectic life that I am talking about that I wanted to cherish and treasure. Unfortunately time flew by real fast and I am left wondering where time went. My dad came to visit from New Jersey as well as my sister, nephew and brother in law from Virginia. Weeks prior to the vacation, I was counting down days until everyone flew into town... I was yearning to see familiar faces and to hear gossip on family members.... and juicy gossip, I heard. a cousin that went to India for a year for volunteering and another that had a grand wedding. So grand that just the cocktail hour had couple dozen varieties of appetizers.

My turkey day was just perfect. I prepared roasted pepper dip (a marvelous recipe MG forwarded to me) and sun dried tomato dip
, -omitted roasted peppers because I didn't want it to be redundant. I also made my pumpkin pie crust on Tuesday evening and cut up the green beans on Wednesday night. I was as prepared as I could be for Thursday and spent minimal time in the kitchen.

Speaking of my nephew, he is the joy of my life. Even though he lives hours and hours away, when I have the opportunity to see him- it's delightful. He started talking few months ago and now tries his hardest to speak in full sentences. My favorite was on late Friday his dad asked him to change into his pajamas, he went searching for my sister through the entire house, figured she was in the bathroom, came running to tell us all that she was in the bathroom for a long potty break. Now I know that may not sound so pleasant but his broken language combined with out of order noun and verb structure made it very cute.


My first thanksgiving feast included the dips, nuts, roasted 15 lb turkey, green beans with almonds, vegetarian stuffing, shepherd's pie with soy ground meat because my sister and brother in law are vegetarians and pumpkin pie. I managed to do it all and have some time to spend with the family. I admit, I was very impressed with myself. My sister tried to help me but unfortunately the little one was distracting her enough to keep her out of the kitchen. I was glad I planned in advance and prepared things prior to allow some down time on Thursday.

My dad left early Monday morning and I was really happy. We were able to spend some time with him and discuss important (financial, are you able to survive?) matters. I am not sure why but my parents always worry about my sister and I and wonder if we're living okay. Of course we are. If we weren't we wouldn't plan a big Thanksgiving feast for all.

If last weekend didn't have enough gorging day and night, we planned a Cooking club for Saturday the 2nd. The theme is holidays of the world. It's hard to find Christmas recipes from around the world and/or holidays in December that have delicious foods.