New Recipes

After watching the movie Julie and Julia, I felt compelled to put my apron on and cook. Below are a list of new creations worth blogging about (there were others, but they were unblogworthy).

Baked Haddock with Spinach and Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of filleted haddock

10 ounces of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1/2 an onion thinly sliced

3 tablespoons of butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1 teaspoon of cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon of dried tarragon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly butter a baking dish that is large enough to fit all of the fillets in a single layer.

2. Brown the thinly chopped onion in 1 tablespoon of butter on the skillet for approx. 5 minutes. Add spinach, a drizzle of olive oil, and the minced garlic and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

3. Place fillets in baking dish and spoon in spinach and onion between the fillets.

4. Sprinkle fillets with thyme, tarragon, and salt.

5. Poor diced tomatoes on top of the fish.

6. Microwave the remaining butter until it melts (approx 1 minute). Add cornstarch to the melted butter and poor over fish.

7. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

Tomato and Cheese Pie

Ingredients

1 Pillsbury Roll-Out Pie Crust

1 Tomato thinly sliced

1/4 cup of fresh chopped basil

2 cups of shredded 3 cheese blend (i.e. Kraft's Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano blend)

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

salt and fresh ground pepper for seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Unroll pie crust into baking dish.

3. Mix the 3 cheese blend with the mozzarella and place into pie dish.

4. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped basil.

5. Place thinly sliced tomatoes over cheese.

6. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

7. Bake in oven for approximately 20 minutes.

8. Garnish with remaining chopped fresh basil. Serve warm or cold.

Giant Crescent Taco

*A variation on a recipe I saw being made at a Pampered Chef party I recently attended

Ingredients

2 packages of pillsbury crescent roll dough

1/2 lb of ground beef

1/4 large white onion (diced)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp of ground cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp butter

*serve with sour cream and guacamole

Directions

1. Unroll both packages of crescent rolls onto a large nonstick cookie sheet.

2. Make triangle edges disappear (the idea is to have one large rectangular piece of dough)

3. In a skillet, brown beef and diced onion in butter. Add cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and salt for seasoning.

4. Drain the mean of all juices.

5. Place meat in center of dough.

6. Braid together dough to make a giant calzone-like shape.

7. Bake for approximately 20 minutes (until dough is golden brown) in a 350 degree oven.

8. Slice and serve with sour cream and guacamole.

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

*Thanks to Karen K. for posting the recipe on Facebook

Ingredients (makes 2 pies)

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup milk

16 oz of Cool Whip (thawed)

2 (9 inch) pre-made graham cracker pie crusts (The Oreo kind are even better for this recipe!)

Directions

1. Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Mix in peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip.

2. Spoon into pie crusts. Place in freezer. Serve frozen.