The Recipe Trove

1 cup frozen peach slices

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving.

Makes 4 child-size servings.

adapted from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Combine the carrots, onion, garlic cloves and bell pepper on a sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil, season lightly with salt and pepper.  Toss gently.  Place in the oven to roast for 30 minutes, stirring twice while roasting.

At the same time, cut the toma tomatoes in half, and place them in a baking dish, cut side up.  Add any fresh herbs you desire (or dried if it’s what you have on hand), and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Once all the vegetables are roasted, scrape them into a blender, and add the 1 cup of vegetable broth.  Leave the top of the blender askew just a touch when blending a hot liquid to allow steam to escape.  Blend until smooth.

Toss the roasted carrot sauce with the hot pasta, adding the reserved pasta water as desired to loosen the sauce a bit.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 6.

adapted from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Mix until well combined.  Using damp hands, roll the meat mixture into 24 balls and set in an ungreased baking dish.  (You can also make smaller meatballs, but you’ll have to bake them for less time. One-inch meatballs should take about 15 minutes and you’ll get at least 36 of them)

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until nicely browned on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.

from Cooking Light magazine

Directions:

Heat a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and kielbasa; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes. Add the broth, Italian seasoning, pepper, and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Place 2 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to pan. Simmer an additional 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat. Add the spinach, stirring until spinach wilts.

2 slices of bread

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Tear the slices of bread into pieces and place in a food processor.  Pulse until they are nicely crumbled.  Mince the one clove of garlic and combine the garlic, bread crumbs, and orange zest.

In a saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter.  When the butter is completely melted, add the breadcrumb mixture.  Cook and stir until all the butter is absorbed and the crumbs have just started to brown up a little bit. Pull off the heat.

Spray a baking sheet or pan with cooking spray and lay the fish fillets on the pan.  Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper to taste.  Top each piece of fish with the crumb mixture, use all the crumbs.

Slowly drizzle the reserved orange juice over the top of all the fish.

Bake in a 350ºF oven for about 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately.

from Joy of Cooking

Directions:

Butter a 2-quart baking dish.  Trim the crusts from the bread and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.  Spread the bread evenly in the prepared baking dish, and scatter the raisins over the top if using.  (I put half the bread in the pan, scatter the raisins, and then add the other half of the bread.)

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Whisk in the milk.  Carefully pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread in the dish.  Let it stand for 30 minutes, occasionally pressing down on the bread with a spatula to help it absorb the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.   Place the baking dish in a larger baking pan.  Transfer to the hot oven, then gently pour hot tap water into the larger baking dish, around the bread pudding, about halfway up the bread pudding dish.  (This is a water bath and really makes a difference!)  Bake in the oven until puffed and firm in the center, about 1 1/4 hours.  Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

The pudding can be made several days in advance, cover with foil and refrigerate.  To reheat, bake for 15 minutes in a 325ºF oven.

from Eating Well, Jan/Feb 2009

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add chard (or spinach) and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes.

2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and bay leaf and cook for another two minutes.  Add the chicken broth, marinara sauce, meatballs, and Italian herb blend.  Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as desired.

Add the cooked pasta, and simmer for another five minutes.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling on top.

Serves six.

drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 425ºF and spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

Set a pot on the stove over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and onion and cook for about five minutes, or until the onion is tender and translucent.  Add the pork and cook for another two minutes or so.  Add the salsa and chicken broth and bring just to a boil.  Turn the heat down to a simmer, and then add the beans, cumin, and additional salt and pepper if desired.  Take the chili off the heat and set aside while mixing together the corn muffin batter.

Pour the chili into the prepared baking dish.  It should go up no more than 3/4 of the way up the pan.  If it does, take a bit of it out and set aside for another use.  Top the chili with the corn muffin batter- if all the batter won’t fit in the pan, don’t use it all either.

Set the baking pan on a larger baking sheet to catch any drips, and pop into the 425ºF oven.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle the top with the cheddar cheese, and put back into the oven for another five minutes.  Check the corn bread with a toothpick to see that it’s cooked through.  If it’s not done, give it another five minutes at a time until dooked through and lightly browned around the edges.

Serves 12.

3 to 4 cups leftover pork, chopped

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet set over medium heat.  Add the onion, and cook about three minutes, or until softened, but not browned.  Add the chopped pork and garlic to pan.  Cook for five minutes, stirringoccassionally.

In a measuring cup, combine the tomato sauce, taco sauce, cumin and chili powder.  Add to the skillet and stir to combine.  Cook for ten minutes, stirring every once in a while.  Check for seasoning, and add salt and pepper if desired.

Cook for an additional ten minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the pork.   Serve the pork on soft flour tortillas with traditional taco toppings.