A Couple of Recipes

Ginger Syrup

3 c. water
2 c. sugar
6 oz. fresh ginger, chopped, unpeeled

Combine and bring to a boil. Simmer 20-30 minutes, till reduced by half. Cool, then strain and refrigerate.

1-2 tsp. in hot tea.
1 Tbsp. + seltzer water = ginger ale.

Mexican Hot Chocolate
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. chili

To use, combine 2 Tbsp. with 1/4 cup milk. 3/4 cup water, and optionally, stir in some chocolate syrup.

Kristen's Enchiladas

Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 25 min. Total: 35 min.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb.	lean ground beef
1 can	refried beans
1 large can	enchilada sauce
10pk	8" flour tortillas
1 packet	taco seasoning
1.5 cups	shredded cheese
.5 bunch	green onions

Use Trader Joe’s Enchilada sauce.

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat until no pink meat remains. Stir the meat well while it is cooking to break up large chunks and make sure all of it is cooked through.

STEP 2: Add the taco seasoning and approx. 2/3 cup water (as directed on seasoning packet). Stir well and let simmer until the liquid evaporates and the mixture is thick and saucy.

STEP 3: Add the refried beans to the meat mixture and stir until it is well combined and heated all the way through. This mixture can get thick and sticky so stir well!

STEP 4: Using spray oil, coat the inside of a large casserole dish. If you skip this step the enchiladas will stick and you'll just have one big mess when you try to dish them out. Warm your stack of tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make them more flexible.

STEP 5: Take approximately 1/3 cup of the bean and meat mixture and put it inside of a tortilla. Wrap the beans up in the tortilla burrito-style (how to roll a burrito). Place the rolled enchilada in the casserole dish, seam side down. Do the same for the remaining 9 enchiladas and pack them tightly into the casserole dish.

STEP 6: Once all of the rolled enchiladas are in the dish, evenly pour the entire can of enchilada sauce over top. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the whole dish. Place the dish in the preheated oven (350) and bake for approximately 20 min. or until its all bubbly around the edges.

STEP 7: Sprinkle the chopped green onions all over the top and enjoy!

Spinach Olympia

Cook frozen spinach per package directions, drain. Saute with olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve, topped with crumbled feta and sliced kalamata olives.

Kristen's Pizza

Top 3 frozen Garlic nans from Trader Joe's with marinara sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and/or other cheese. Bake on cookie sheet for 10 minutes, till cooked and crispy.

Cream Soup and Spinach dish

I was looking through a book called Vintage Notions, which had images and projects from the 1920s, and among them were two recipes for cream soups. When I went for lunch with Karen in Skowhegan, they had cream of spinach and cream of tomato soup on the menu, and the whole idea just struck me as something good. So last night I adapted the recips a bit and made home-made cream of spinach soup that was quite yummy:

Cream of Spinach Soup

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp (+/-) finely minced onion
2 cups whole milk
1 cup spinach puree (see details below)
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
additional half-and-half cream to taste, or enrich the 2 cups milk by substituting some cream
goat cheese for garnish (or sour cream, or feta, or maybe Parmesan)

The original recipe did not have onion or cheese, but I felt that taste in the 1920s was a bit more bland than today's taste, so I added them.

Melt butter in 2 qt. pan, add onion and saute till just translucent. Sprinkle with flour and cook together. Add milk gradually, stirring the whole time. Stir in spinach and stir well to distribute. Season and garnish.

For the spinach puree, here's what I did. I looked for spinach baby food, but there wasn't any at Albertson's (don't know if there is any anywhere in the world.) The original instructions said to force cooked spinach through a sieve, but that sounded like a mess and maybe a broken strainer. I don't have one of those cone-shaped sieves with a pusher thing. I contemplated the spinach issue for a while and finally did this: Cook a half bag (or whole box) of chopped spinach. Allow to cool, drain out any excess water, but don't squeeze. Place spinach in blender and puree. Yeah, it's a bit of a mess to clean up the blender, but the puree had a lovely texture. About a cup in all.

I had chevre goat cheese in the fridge, so I topped the soup with that.

The same book had another recipe that I want to try:

Cream of Tomato Soup
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups whole milk
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

make the white sauce as above. Add the tomato slowly to avoid curdling.

And also while I was in Maine, I had something called Haddock Olympia at The Last Unicorn, and the accompanying spinach was delicious and would make a lovely side dish on its own with fish or chicken or lamb.

Saute a pound of fresh clean spinach in olive oil and garlic. Add some lemon juice. Top with chopped kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese.

I also want to try to make a seafood chowder like the one at the Red Barn. But I won't have a lobster claw, sadly. (Unless I cook a lobster....unlikely.) Maybe crab claw? It had sea scallops, white fish, and lobster, in what seemed to be simply milk, cream and butter.