Scrambled Eggs Florentine

This is a fridge clean out type of breakfast. I had spinach left from my chicken the other night (another post about that later), and always have cheese and bacon bits. I’m trying to be purposeful in using the leftover produce from other things I’ve cooked. Now to come up with something for the ⅔ full bag of shredded cabbage…

Scrambled Eggs Florentine

1 T butter

½ t minced garlic (from a jar)

4 handfuls baby spinach

2 T bacon bits (from a pouch)

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

⅓ c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter over medium heat in a skillet with a lid. Add garlic and cook until it starts to sizzle. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Sprinkle bacon bits around and stir in, and spread spinach out in skillet.

Turn heat to low. Crack eggs on spinach and season with salt and pepper (go easy on the salt as the bacon and Parmesan are salty). Quickly scramble eggs into spinach. Turn heat up to medium and cook until eggs are almost done. Sprinkle mozzarella and parm on top, put lid on skillet, and turn heat to very low. Let sit 5 min for cheese to melt, turn off heat, remove lid, and mix cheese into scramble. Serve.

Farro Stroganoff

I bought some farro at Trader Joe’s, and thought about what I wanted to do with it. It has a meaty texture, so I wanted something meaty. This stroganoff mash up seemed just right.

The ground pork I buy is leaner than ground beef that is twice the price, so I did not need to drain fat. If you use beef, you may need to drain fat when you remove the meat from the pot. 

Farro stroganoff

2 T oil

1/2 bag chopped onions

1 pkg sliced mushrooms 

1/2 t thyme

Salt and pepper

1/2 c dry sherry

1 lb ground pork (or lean beef)

2 T butter

1 pkg (8.8oz) Trader Joe’s 10min Farro

2 c water

8 oz sour cream

Worcestershire sauce

Heat oil in 6qt instant pot. Add onions and cook onions until soft. And mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook until liquid evaporates and veggies brown. Add thyme and sherry, cook until wine evaporates, scraping brown bits up. Remove from pot. 

Add pork to pot and cook with salt and pepper. Remove. 

Melt butter and cook farro for a few minutes to toast. Add water and stir up any brown bits. Add pork and veggies on top, don’t stir. Place lid on pot, seal, and cook on high pressure 5 min, then npr 5 min. Release remaining pressure and open pot.

Stir up pork, veggies, and farro. Stir in sour cream and Worcestershire sauce to taste (7-10 shakes). Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve. 

Farro

I had one last piece of my Christmas eve rib roast left, and was trying to decide what to do with it. I then remembered I had some farro (also called emmer...a kind of wheat berry) that I wanted to try.

So I put a pot of salted water on to boil. Then I added a half cup farro and cooked it at a low boil. The biggest problem was I wasn't sure how long to cook the farro. One place I read online said 30 minutes, somewhere else said an hour. I went with 40 minutes. It was chewy, but ok. Next time I might cook it a tad longer.

In the mean time, I opened and drained a can of garbanzo beans and left them in the colander. I also cut up my piece of meat. When the farro was done, I poured it over the garbanzos and left it to drain. I then put my meat in the pot to warm up. When it was warm, I added the beans, farro, a little salt and pepper and some powdered rosemary (I got it in a bulk spice bin somewhere). I also had a little red wine vinaigrette left over from the night before. I added some balsamic to it to deepen the flavor (you could also use a bottled balsamic vinaigrette).

It was tasty, but I didn't care for the garbanzos in it, so I picked them out. Oh well. But it was a nice late lunch on an otherwise lazy day :)

Spaghetti carbonara

Being the end of the month, the food budget is running low. So, when looking to see what I had on hand, I decided to make spaghetti carbonara. All I needed to go to the store for was Parmesan cheese and cream (not used in this particular recipe, but I have used it in others and like the addition of several tablespoons to the egg mixture). I used a recipe from Tyler Florence on Food Network (link below). It was nice and creamy and bacony. And all I needed was spaghetti, bacon (I used double the amount called for, partly because we like bacon, and partly because that was what I had left), eggs and Parmesan cheese. Yum :)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/spaghetti-alla-carbonara-recipe/index.html

Solo meals

The meals when my daughter is at her dads tend to be one two styles...something new and fancy (or expensive, since I am only feeding one), or they are extremely easy. That was last night.

I had left over rotisserie chicken that I tore into bite size pieces, and cooked it with "souper rice"...made with minute rice and a can of condensed cream of chicken soup. I added some Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning for flair. It was tasty, warm and filling. Tonight I am thinking of something a little fancier...stay tuned!