Pantry Revisited

So the holidays are over.   I feel like we have been eating nonstop for weeks.  Tonight I just wanted some comfort food and Donna Hay was there for me with classic spaghetti.   I did make a couple substitutions to the recipe because I did not have any pork and I did not have any basil leaves.   I am married to a guy who could eat pasta every meal of his life and be happy.   You cannot go wrong with this recipe! You can get the recipe  Here Participants: Kayte at  https://grandmaskitchentable.typepad.com/  ,  Gaye at   Laws of the Kitchen ,   Margaret at   Tea and Scones ,   You can check the   Wednesday with Donna Hay   category in their blogs to see the recipes they have made and are making.

Donna Hay has wonderful healthy recipes.  This was an easy chicken dish to prepare and delicious!   It called for chopped black olives but I substituted kalamata and that worked well for us.  I did have to cook it a bit longer than the recipe said to make sure my chicken reached 165 degrees.  We enjoyed our dinner and I would definitely make this again, You can find the recipe here    https://www.health.com/recipes/quinoa-roasted-chicken-with-olive-gremolata  or in Donna Hay’s book called Fresh and Light .   Participants: Kayte at  https://grandmaskitchentable.typepad.com/  ,  Gaye at   Laws of the Kitchen ,   Margaret at   Tea and Scones ,   You can check the   Wednesday with Donna Hay   category in their blogs to see the recipes they have made and are making

  I wanted to try something different for eggplant than my normal parmigiana.  I searched through Donna Hays internet recipes and found this one.  It did not disappoint!  We served it with a nice filet and baked potato.  It is also very easy to make.  The tomatoes are mixed with sat, pepper and brown sugar.  The eggplants are drizzled with olive oil.  After baking thirty minutes you top with sourdough croutons, oregano leaves and smoked mozzarella.  Then serve with a drizzle of pesto.  It was a very nice side dish.  I would definitely make this again. Participants: Kayte at  https://grandmaskitchentable.typepad.com/  ,  Gaye at   Laws of the Kitchen ,   Margaret at   Tea and Scones ,   You can check the   Wednesday with Donna Hay   category in their blogs to see the recipes they have made and are making.

This week in Tuesdays with Dorie we made english muffins.  This is my second recipe to make out of Dorie Greenspan’s newest book, Sweet, Salty and Simple .  I will admit that anything to do with yeast scares me a bit.  I have had some very big flops with baking with yeast.  I was hesitant to make these for that reason.  But I followed Dorie’s instructions and they turned out really well.  We really enjoyed them with our breakfast. Out of respect for the author, we do not publish recipes in this group.  We encourage you to buy the book and join our group. If you would like to join in, just make it, bake it, and leave a link to your post at the  Tuesdays with Dorie  website:   click here .  

First, let me say there is nothing basic about this bread.  Another banana bread recipe you may ask.  Yes, but this bread is so delicious.  I think of myself as a bit of a banana bread connoisseur. That is, I have tried lots of recipes and eaten many slices.  This bread checks all my boxes.  It will make your kitchen smell yummy.  It has just the right amount of sweetness, banana and cinnamon.  We loved it!  This recipe can be found in Donna Hays book called Fresh and Light . We  are resurrecting the old   Wednesday with Donna Hay   group. Participants: Kayte at  https://grandmaskitchentable.typepad.com/  ,  Gaye at   Laws of the Kitchen ,   Margaret at   Tea and Scones ,   You can check the   Wednesday with Donna Hay   category in their blogs to see the recipes they have made and are making.  We do not publish the recipes from Donna Hay's books as those belong to...

This week in our Donna Hay group,   Kayte chose these spiced chickpeas.  I was hesitant to make them because honestly they just did not appeal to me.   HOWEVER, I am so glad I did make them because they were delicious!  The recipe is in Ms. Hay's Fresh and Light book which I love.   These peas were so easy to prepare.   You just dry the beans and fry them in a little oil and add cayenne, salt, etc. to them.   I actually added some smoked paprika to mine.  I could not stop eating these!  That is how good they were! Check out our website or come join our group.  No commitments, just some good comraderie and cooking fun!    Wwdh

Today was my choice for the group and I chose this chicken with goat cheese and lemon. This was really easy to put together.  As you see from the ingredients you really just layer the thyme, chicken, cheese and lemon on top   Then broil it for about 15 minutes.  While it was easy to put together it really lacked flavor for me.  It was good but I doubt I will make it a second time.  Check out our website to see if others made it and liked it.     Wwdh .You can find the recipe here . 

We love brussels sprouts at my house!  So anytime the opportunity presents itself to cook brussels sprouts, I do!   These are very flavorful.   They are roasted in the oven with garlic and lemon juice and Parmesan cheese added at the end of roasting time, then vincotto drizzled on top.   Delicious! Never disappointed in Donna Hay recipes.    Gaye  thank you for choosing this!  Loved it! Wwdh

I am running a little behind this week on my blog.   Today our group made chocolate banana and coconut muffins.  I left out the coconut because the three flavors just did not appeal to me!   The jury is still out as to whether banana and chocolate muffins go together.  I have not tasted these yet as I'm saving them for breakfast tomorrow.   These called for cocoa but I just used chocolate chips instead since i was out of cocoa! So the big home issue this week is tile for my foyer.   I ripped up the white tile over a month ago.  I had a thought that I would put the hardwoods all the way to the front door.  Well long story short I could not get hardwoods to match and was scared it would look too pieced together so I'm going back to tile.  I have three different ones I'm trying to choose between.   One of them is a light beige  so it will be almost like what I ripped up in the first place!   Do you find yourself wi...

This is a simple vanilla cake that came from Donna Hays recipe book called Off the Shelf .   It was my choice for the group this week.   When I chose this I was imagining all sorts of ways to serve it.  Maybe a yummy chocolate ganache on top, or some fresh berries and whipped cream.  The cake has a ton of butter in it, but no other liquids which surprised me a bit.  At first ai thought it looked like concrete when I removed it from the oven.  But once I cut into it, it was pretty moist.  I cooked it ten minutes less than the redipe called for.   The ingredients are three eggs, vanilla, butter, flour, sugar and baking powder.  Pretty simple.   Chandler said it would be good in a bowl with milk on it! Check out our website and see if any of the others made it.    wwdh.wordpress.com

It was my pic this week in our Wednesdays with Donna Hay group. I chose the pear and almond galettes.   Because I do not eat almonds however I substituted pecans.  I used red pears.  These came together so quickly and easily.  I did have to cook them a little bit longer than the recipe called for.  We really enjoyed them and had leftovers the next night!   I will definitely be making these over and over again.  I'm sure you could use apples or any other fruit or berries you chose.   They had a base of puff pastry sprinkled with nuts, Pear slices, brush with melted butter, and topped with some sugar!  You cannot get much easier than that!  If you do not have Donna Hay's Off the Shelf book you should go to Amazon right now and purchase it!  Check out our website to see what the others did with theirs.  Wwdh.wordpress.com

It's Wednesday and that means cooking with Donna Hay!    Chaya  chose for us to make these spinach and ricotta pies.  I made ginormous ones!  I think my puff pastry went into orbit or maybe I filled them to more than capacity!   They look bigger in the photo than they actually are.  Plus they are on a small plate.  There is a video of Donna Hay actually making these online and you can see it here.  http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/15166/spinach-and-feta-pies .   In the video, Donna leaves her pies sort of open faced.  i closed mine up.   The DH is going to love having this for his lunch tomorrow.   For me personally I like foods with a little bit more flavor.  These are so easy to make and you could put many different ingredients.  Might be good with mushrooms!  Check out our site to see what the others did.   wwdh.wordpress.com

This week  our Wednesdays with Donna Hay made sesame sweet potatoes.  super easy and super good!  Just peel and slice your potatoes, drizzle with some olive and sesame oil, sea salt, then bake.  i did not have sesame oil so just sprinkled some toasted sesame seeds on them and baked that way.   delicious!  will definitely be a repeat at this house. Join in or check out our website at  WWDH

 What is in a bean salad you ask?  It is cannellini beans, green beans, cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley, with a delicious dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.   Kayte  chose this salad and it was a very good pick.  I did not know that cannellini beans were just white kidney beans!  I love learning new things in our groups. I took a close up of the salad and it looks like the parsley has moved in and taken over!  It really was not much parsley at all. Cooking and blogging keeps me out of trouble, or does it?  wink wink.    You will just have to keep checking back with me to see if I am behaving or not! Loved this healthy salad and it is a keeper recipe.  Great for summer. You can buy this book Off the Shelf by Donna Hay.  Great purchase.   Come join the fun! wwdh.wordpress.com

This week in our Donna Hay cooking group we made this Apple blueberry coconut cobbler.  I was donna hayunsure whether to make it or not because I cannot eat oats and it called for oats and coconut as a topping.   Then I decided I would just leave the coconut and oats off the top.  Because we do not need a lot of sugar in this household I also decided to make it into two small servings    I tried my best to measure the  portions correctly and ended up just eyeballing everything!    i think it turned out pretty well!   It has fresh apples, blueberries, cooked with sugar and vanilla bean a d then topped with a biscuit like dough.   Check out our website at  wwdh.wordpress.com

Thank goodness my friend Margaret reminded me that tomorrow was Wednesday.   It was my pick this week and I chose this chicken dish of Donna Hays.  first you cook the chicken in a spicey mixture of soy sauce, chicken broth, anise star, cinnamon stick and chinese wine.  Then you take the chicken out of that and refry it in peanut oil.  i used olive oil instead.  mine burned just a tad as it was frying.  Then you slice up the chicken and serve it over steamed greens.  The closest thing I had in my refrigerator to steamed greens was some fresh zucchini.   That is what I served it with.   The chicken was tasty but I really could not taste the spices very much.   if you want to see what the others in the group did with this recipe check out our website at WWDH.blogspot.com.    Better yet, buy the book On the Shelf by Donna Hay.  her recipes are easy and delicious.

For those of you who love salmon and pasta, this is a great dish and very easy preparation!  I did not use smoked salmon but rather substituted fresh.   As most of you know due to my shellfish allergy I rarely eat fish of any kind.  However I did try this dish.   I liked the lemon flavor that came through and the dill but this was not my favorite dish.   I probably will not make it again.   Chandler said he would give it about an eight a scale of 1 to 10.   He loves salmon and was very surprised I prepared it for him!   All in all I'm glad I tried it.   Check out our website to see how the others liked it.  We do not post the recipes here as we would prefer for you to buy the book.   Come join us and cook with us!   The ingredients were smoked salmon, pasta, capers, green onions, lemon juice, fresh dill and fresh Mint, plus olive oil.   Oh my dish is missing the capers because when I opened them they were not sealed. ...

In our Donna Hay group Kayte  chose these hot mustard potatoes.  I am usually not a big fan of mustard but these were easy and delicious!  I used the red potatoes (as you can see).   I followed the recipe with the exception of red onion.  That is where i draw the line.   No one here eats red onion!  These wereso simple to prepare.   You just cook your potatoes.  Mix together mustard, olive oil, white wine vinegar, parsley and red onion.   They sort of reminded us of a hot German potato salad taste.   Join our group!  No commitments.   Cook when you can.    Click here

This week in our Donna Hay group it was my pick.   I thought this was not only an extremely easy dish to prepare but also a pretty dish.  It has very simple ingredients.  chicken, of course, green olives, cherry tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.   You can find the recipe here:   https://mypostcardsfromhome.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/green-olive-baked-chicken/ I will definitely be making this another time and it would be great to share with some friends!  Very tasty!  enjoy! Come on and join our group!  You would like cooking with us.

Rigatoni with fresh basil and ricotta cheese!    This dish was delicious and so easy to prepare!  We try to do at least one meatless meal each week and this was perfect.   My photo does not do it justice.   Margaret  chose this dish for us in our Wednesdays with Donna Hay group.   It is rigatoni pasta, ricotta, fresh basil and parsley, black olives, salt and cracked pepper.  Check out our website  Here Hope you all have a blessed Easter.   Maybe the bunny will hop your way and bring some fun surprises! Matthew 28:6.  He is not here for he has risen!