Elements » baked

Baked Orzo Casserole with Spinach, Cheese, and Veggies

Sheila — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:32:48 +0000

If you’re like me, you oftentimes decide what to have for dinner based on whatever leftovers you have in your fridge.That’s what I did last night.

I happened to have a little sour cream, yogurt, and feta cheese that needed to be used up, as well as some roasted garlic, one zucchini, one orange bell pepper, and some baby spinach leaves. So I made a baked pasta casserole and used everything up. Perfect!

The casserole turned out great, and it was very easy to make. Here’s a picture of the front:

And here’s a picture of the back side.

It does make quite a bit though…about 8 large pieces…and that’s good for us because we’ll have leftovers waiting for us when we get home from work. Cool!

One thing to keep in mind if you make this is that I thought the casserole was a little bland. So did Kemal. I didn’t add a lot of salt and Greek seasoning because the feta cheese and Parmesan cheese are both salty. Turns out I could have added a bit more. So keep that in mind if you make it.

But we just added more Greek seasoning and pepper to our slices after warming them up, so it turned out fine.

Baked Orzo Casserole with Spinach, Cheese, and Veggies

Recipe Adapted from: Jil @ Big City, Lil’ Kitchen who got this recipe from her mom. Her mom got the recipe from a friend who adapted it from the recipe she saw in The Boston Globe. The recipe in the Boston Globe was adapted from a 1967 edition of The Joy of Cooking.

Range Rider Pancakes (a.k.a. German Pancakes/Dutch Babies/Baked Puff Pancakes)

Sheila — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 06:44:03 +0000

I love church cookbooks because they usually contain a lot of old recipes which have been passed down for generations. So when I found a church cookbook in the used bookstore, I just had to pick it up. It contains a lot of treasures, and there are many recipes I want to try.

Yesterday morning when I was flipping through the book, I found a recipe for “Ranger Rider Pancakes.” Now normally, I’m not a big pancake person and neither is Kemal.

Don’t get me wrong; I like them. I like them a lot actually. But the problem is they never stick to my ribs. I eat them and then two hours later I’m hungry. It was not the case with these pancakes though. They held me for around 10 hours.

I’m really glad I made them! They have such a wonderful flavor. They taste really “eggy”…kind of like French toast, and I like that.

Since these “pancakes” contain no sugar, they’re also are great as a quick bread to accompany soups, salads, and most any vegetable or meat dish. They take only about 16 minutes to make so on those days I need bread extremely fast, I’ll make these.

The one big surprise I had with these pancakes is that they puffed up…without spilling over my pans thank goodness.

I had no idea that was going to happen because nothing was said about that in the recipe. I was kind of excited about their puffiness though and thought they were cute.

Anyway, these Range Rider Pancakes seem to basically be German pancakes which are also sometimes called Dutch babies, or baked puff pancakes.

We really enjoyed them for breakfast and topped ours with bananas and agave nectar.

Oh yeah, I put some cinnamon on them too. Yummmm!!

Range Rider Pancakes (a.k.a. German Pancakes/Dutch Babies/Baked Puff Pancakes)

Recipe Source: Recipe was submitted by Eloise Jackson in “Food for the Soul,” a cookbook from the First Christian Church of Glasgow, Kentucky.

Baked Southwestern Rolls

Sheila — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:46:43 +0000

These baked Southwestern rolls are great snacks for parties.

Super Bowl is just around the corner, so if you need some yummy snacks to feed a hungry group of guys and gals, Annie of Annie’s Eats said these were a huge hit a football party she went to. I’m not surprised! I can also tell you these go great with beer!

If you want to make them for dinner, just use one package of egg rolls and then freeze half of the filling that you made. You can then use that filling to make more of these rolls on another day. Or you can also use the filling to make quesadillas or tacos.

Anyway, these Southwestern rolls are fun finger food snacks, and they’re not too spicy either so kids or people who prefer milder food will enjoy these. Of course, you can always raise the heat factor by adding some jalapenos to filling if like.

Hope you enjoy them!

Baked Southwestern Rolls

Adapted from: Annie’s Eats

Here’s Kemal demonstrating for you how to roll, fill, and wrap the rolls. Here he is putting water on the top of the wrap.

Here’s another picture of the egg roll with the water spread on the top of the egg roll.

Filling on the egg wrap:

Here’s Kemal demonstrating how to roll it.

The top part of the wrap which is wet will stick to the part which isn’t wet. Pretty nifty.

Baked Artichoke Parmesan Tartlets

Sheila — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 20:37:16 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope y’all are enjoying feasting with friends and family!

I just finished making a triple batch of fresh Bosnian pita bread (lepinje), and Parmesan baked artichoke tartlets for breakfast.

Of course, not all the bread is for breakfast. Some is for dinner this evening and some is to give away.

These tartlets took me about 5 minutes to make, and it needed only about 20 minutes in the oven to bake…which is good because besides making a triple batch of bread and these tartlets, I’ve also been baking homemade granola with almonds, pumpkin seeds, and Turkish apricots. Since my oven has been in use all morning, I probably should have made a breakfast which didn’t require baking, but I was really in the mood for this yummy artichoke dish.

Needless to say, our house smells divine!!

Anyway, we each ended up cutting our bread in half and making an artichoke-Parmesan tartlet sandwich. It was quite tasty and made an awesome breakfast.

Of course, you don’t have to eat it as a sandwich. They’re excellent just by themselves.

Just make sure you eat your parsley garnish with your tartlet. It adds a wonderful flavor.

So what do you eat on Christmas morning for breakfast?

Baked Artichoke Parmesan Tartlets

Yield: 6 tartlets

Recipe Source: How Sweet It Is

Baked Mushroom And Pasta Flan

Sheila — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 06:26:12 +0000

Here’s a baked spaghetti dinner that only takes about 20 minutes of prep time and 40 minutes in the oven. It’s quick, quite tasty, and makes for a beautiful presentation!

It contains bell peppers, mushrooms, cream, and Parmesan cheese.

Serve it with a salad and some bread, and you’re good to go!

You do need an 8-inch Springform pan or a flan ring to make this though…as well as a cookie sheet to set the pan on.

Baked Mushroom and Pasta Flan

Adapted from: “Simply Pasta and Italian” by Parragon Publishing, Queen Street House, 4 Queen Street, Bath, BAI, IHE, UK. Published in 2001. The recipe was found on page 300.

Parmesan Crusted Baked Fish

Sheila — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:52:47 +0000

We both love fried fish or blackened fish, but occasionally we’ll make baked fish with a crust. Last night I made a Parmesan crusted fish. It’s really quick and easy to prepare and tastes great! You can use any kind of fish you want…tilapia, cod, mahi, swordfish, tuna…any kind of boneless fillet will work fine.

Last night we had turbot fish. If you’ve never had it before, it’s a mild, flaky white fish that reminds me somewhat of cod. It has a lovely flavor…not a strong, “fishy” fish. We like it a lot, and enjoyed our crusted fish with sweet potato fries and coleslaw. It was a wonderful meal!

Parmesan Crusted Baked Fish

Ingredients:

1 lb. fish (I used turbot fish)
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (can usually be found in the international aisle at your grocery store if you can’t find it on the shelf with the other bread crumbs)
1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. chili powder

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease your baking pan with 1 tbsp. olive oil.
Grate the Parmesan cheese.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the plain bread crumbs, Panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Old Bay seasoning, and chili powder.
Add 4 tbsp. of olive oil to the bread crumb mixture, and then use your hands mix the oil into the bread crumbs. Using your hands instead of a spoon will help ensure that all the bread crumbs are coated with the oil.
Place the fish on the greased baking pan.
Spread the bread crumb mixture on top of the fish, making the “crust” as thin or as thick as you wanted. I used quite a bit, but still had some of the bread crumb mixture leftover. You can refrigerate it though and use it later.
Bake uncovered until the fish is cooked inside and the Parmesan crust is golden brown. If you’re checking the temperature of the fish with a cooking thermometer, the fish should be cook to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hot Dog Stir Fry with Oven Baked Potatoes

Sheila — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:56:28 +0000

Kemal made a wonderful dinner for us last night with just simple ingredients we had in our fridge. We had a bag of potatoes so he decided to make some oven baked potatoes the way our friend, Vesna, does. It’s an interesting twist on a baked potato, and we really how they taste! It reminds me of both a baked and a fried potato. If you’ve never made potatoes like this before, give it a try and see what you think. I’ll bet you’ll want to make them again and again!

Anyway, we also had a couple of zucchinis in the refrigerator that needed to be used, some tomatoes on the counter that were very ripe and needed to be eaten, as well as four uncooked hot dogs that we recently purchased at Whole Foods. The meat department makes them right there in the store and so we wanted to try them to see how they differ from conventional pre-cooked hot dogs. They both looked and tasted a lot differently than the regular cooked wieners that I’m accustomed to eating but I definitely liked them and will buy them again.

The hot dog stir fry Kemal made was simple and easy to do, and it was a great way to use combine the ingredients we had on-hand. It was wonderful, and it sure did hit the spot! It also just goes to show that stir-fry doesn’t have to be conventional. It’s a neat way to combine odds and ends that you have in your fridge and goes great with a beer! Here’s the picture so you can see what his unconventional stir-fry looked like:

Hot Dog Stir Fry with Oven Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 hot dogs (uncooked)
2 zucchini
1 onion
1 slicing tomato
5 cherry tomatoes
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. marjoram
1 stick butter
8 small Yukon gold potatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Wash the unpeeled potatoes and then slice them in half.
Slice your stick of butter into thin pieces (enough so each potato half is paired with a slice of butter).
Put a slice of butter on the cut half of each potato, and then put the potato slices topped with butter in a large baking dish.
Bake on 450 degrees until the potatoes are about halfway done, then reduce the temperature to 400 degrees and cook until the potatoes are soft and tender.
In the meantime, but your hot dogs into small pieces.
Wash the zucchini and then slice them into whatever sized pieces you want.
Dice the onion.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Dice the slicing tomato.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.
Add the hot dogs and fry uncovered until the hot dogs are halfway done.
Then add the diced onions, spices, and tomatoes, frying uncovered until the hot dogs are fully cooked.
Use a slotted spoon to place the stir-fry on serving plates. This will ensure most of the oil drains off before plating.
Remove the potatoes from the oven when they’re soft and tender, and then season with salt and pepper if you like.

Note: If you’re using pre-cooked hot dogs, you can fry them at the same time that you fry the vegetables and spices.

Oven-Baked Veggie Omelet Casserole

Sheila — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:26:31 +0000

The problem with making omelets for a large family or for several people is timing it so all the omelets are done at once. How do you do that when you have one person doing the cooking? Everyone’s omelet will be done at different times. If everyone wants to eat together, then the first omelets that were made are getting cold while waiting for the other omelets to finish being cooked. I suppose you could always put the oven on warm and place the finished omelets there on oven-safe plates. Or you could just go ahead and bake a huge omelet, casserole-style. That solves the timing problem. Then after the omelet is done, just slice individual pieces and serve.

While the baked omelet tasted great, I didn’t like how the cream cheese looked like pats of butter on top. It sure did taste good though.

Oven-Baked Veggie Omelet (Adapted from: Southern Living)

Baked Banana Chips Dipped in Chocolate

Sheila — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:41:50 +0000

One of Kemal’s favorite snacks (and mine too) is chocolate covered banana chips. They’re sinfully delicious and super easy to make.

Baked Banana Chips Dipped in Chocolate (Recipe Source: Spark Recipes)

They’re hard to resist, but really…why would you want to?

Djuvec (Baked Vegetable Casserole)

Sheila — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:29:34 +0000

Djuvec is a popular Yugoslavian entree which can be made with or without meat. My friend, Vesna, made this the other night at dinner, and it was so delicious that I asked her for the recipe so I could make it at home. She made hers without meat, and so did I since both Kemal and I prefer more beans and vegetables and don’t really eat that much meat.

Besides being incredibly nutritious, djuvec also tastes wonderful! You can eat it as the main course, or you can also serve it as an accompaniment to a meat dish. Either way, you’re going to love it!

Djuvec (Baked Vegetable Casserole)

Ingredients:

1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
3 bell peppers, each a different color (you can use all the same color, but it’s more visually appealing with all the different colors. I used yellow, red, and orange peppers.)
2 medium-size zucchini
3 potatoes
1 can diced petite tomatoes (or you can use fresh cherry tomatoes instead like I did.
1/2 cup rice
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
Vegeta (you can use other spices of your preference if you don’t have Vegeta.)
water
parsley
black pepper
Optional: eggplant

Note: If you make this with eggplant, soak the eggplant in salt water for about 15 minutes so it’s less bitter.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with olive oil.
Clean all your vegetables.
Slice the carrots into thin rounds. You can peel the carrots if you like, but I prefer to eat the skins since they’re so nutritious.
Dice the onion, and cut your peppers into strips about 4 cm. long.
Cut the celery into small pieces (about 1 1/2 cm. long)
Put 1 to 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large pan or pot. (I used 2 tbsp while Vesna used just 1 tbsp. It all depends what you prefer.)
Take all the vegetables you just sliced and cut and put them in the pan for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium well heat. If you make your djuvec with eggplant, add the eggplant with the other veggies.
Reduce the heat to medium after 5 minutes and stir frequently.
While the veggies are cooking in the pan, dice the potatoes into small pieces. You can peel the potatoes first if you like, but I don’t because the skins are so nutritious.
Add the potatoes to the pan/pot after the carrots/onion/peppers/celery have cooked for 15 minutes.
Add some water and your diced or fresh tomatoes. I added about a cup of water, but you can a little more or less. Cook for 15 minutes.
Slice the zucchini into thin slices while the veggies are on the stove, and then add the rice and zucchini after the veggies have cooked for 15 minutes.
Add more water as necessary, and cook for another 15 minutes.
Add Vegeta, parsley, and pepper to taste.
Pour the mixture into the greased 9 x 13 inch pan, adding a little water (maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup).

Here’s what my djuvec looked like when the vegetables were cooked and ready to be baked. The potatoes were about half cooked.

Bake on 350 degrees approximately 45 minutes or until the water evaporates.

Note: I baked my djuvec 1 1/2 hours and the water still wasn’t evaporated. Apparently I added too much water, so I just used a ladle to remove some of the juice after I took it out of the oven. I kept the juice I removed and then added it back the next day after it sat in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

We’re still enjoying the leftover djuvec, and I’ll definitely make this again. Kemal said that he would like to have more potatoes in it when I make it again, so I’ll probably make it with five potatoes next time. I also made some rosemary flat bread to go along with the djuvec, and it matches perfectly, especially when you dip it in the juices of the djuvec. Yummmmmmmm!