Sanity Eating

I'm going to post the items that I made during the first 6 days of July as part of the 'make the terrible two's away' project I'm trying to work through. So far it seems to be going well (although my posting is a little lack luster). I'm convincing myeslf that I will take pictures of tonight's creation, so hopefully I remember before we dig in and make a complete mess of it!

Corn Pie. This is a dish that one of my best friend, Natalie Pilato's mom makes. She obviously makes it better than I, and Natalie and I have made this countless times trying to come up with the recipe to make it just like her mom. I made it pretty near perfect the other day, and it is easy, healthy, vegetarian and very VERY kid friendly. It's on par with a quiche. If you know how to make that, then you're more than halfway there. I like garlic in pretty much anything, so if you don't, omit it, add something else, I've always found the point of my cooking and sharing is to adapt the recipe or idea to be something that YOU love and will make and eat over and over again and SHARE with family and friends, because really, that is what makes eating so much fun. So I'll give a quick rundown of the ingredients as I actually have this written down like a recipe (crazy, I know).
The list:
3 large or medium eggs (your preference and depending on how big your pie dish is)
1 store bought pie crust (unless you're feeling adventerous, then make your own)
1 small onion chopped or minced
1.5 tbls of flour
1 tbl sugar
1 clove garlic
1 tea. salt
1 cup half and half or heavy cream (depending on how you like your custard-try it with half and half first if you're unsure)
2-4 tbls melted butter
1/2 bag of frozen corn (probably about 1.5-2 cups worth)
Knob of leftover cheese

Heat your oven to 375 F. Beat eggs. Add onion, flour, sugar and salt together, covering all onions. Add half and half and butter. Mince garlic and add. Cover the bottom of the pie crust with the corn and then cover with liquid mixture. We always have some cheese in the fridge that should be eaten...stat. I add the small knob (probably 1/4 cup) to the pie and incorporate into the liquid.  Bake for 50 minutes and then let stand to cool. Serve when warm not hot. I like this pie cold or warm, you decide!

Potato Cheddar Pizza
This is one of my mom's go to's. It easy SO tasty and never lasts more than 5 minutes on the table. It's a really easy dish to make ahead of time and bring to a friend's house for a dinner app, or to serve as dinner itself with a salad.

Take store bought dough. Work it out to make it into the shape YOU like your pizza to be. Use flour when you are stretching out your dough, it'll help from getting dough stuck to your hands and will keep it's shape better. Preheat over to 350 F. Put onto baking sheet that has been rubbed down with olive oil or sprayed with Pam. (Don't over spray, it's just gross). Add a little olive oil all over the pizza and bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime slice up some potatos (like 5 medium) and one small onion. Saute until potatos are soft. This can also be done ahead in the oven if you are so inclined (I always forget to prep). Take dough out of oven and spread with potato onion mixture. Bake for another 10 minutes. Take out and add one clove of garlic thinly sliced and some fresh rosemary if you have it on hand. Add Cheese. I prefer a cheddar mix for this one, and it's what I normally have on hand has my daughter eats it like candy, but really use whatever you like and have on hand. Mozzerella works, Montery Jack, the cheese does affect the taste of the overall pizza, so think about what you would want on a baked potato, and use that. Cook pizza for about 5 minutes and then transfer pizza from baking sheet directly to the oven rack. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Let cool and serve. Again, this one is also good cold AND fantastic with the addition of some Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Chilula.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Grilled Tomatoes.  We were going to a BBQ, I wanted to bring something really tasty, sort of unique, that would feed the veggies in attendance or work as a tasty side and bring out the taste of a burger. So I bought some of the cheap tomatoes that are medium sized. Cut the top off on an angle forming a cone inside the tomato. I then took two packages of plain goats cheese and added a handful of chives, a handful of oregano and some salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate then fill the tomatoes. (Adding a teaspoon of olive oil helps).  Chill for about 10 minutes to set. When you're ready to grill take out of the fridge and grill 5-7 minutes. Serve!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I wanted to bring an app to the aforementioned BBQ, I love making pizza and I heard that the husband host LOVES buffalo chicken. So after looking in my kitchen for something easy to make that could be made out of things I already had, I decided upon this. I really made it up as I went along, but everyone seemed to love it so...here it is...
Store bought dough. Use flour to shape dough however you like your pizza. Cook chick until just cooked through in the oven. I used 3 chicken fillets and reserved the rest of the package for a future dinner. Rub olive oil on dough. Place pizza dough on cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 10 minutes. Marinate chicken and onions in Franks Red Hot Sauce. Take pizza out and smear blue cheese dressing on the dough as you would using a red sauce. Add chicken, onions, marinated hot sauce and one clove of minced garlic. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add about a cup of cheddar cheese and cook for 5 minutes. Slide pizza off cookie sheet directly onto oven rack. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve. This was HOT, and amazing. Alter according to your heat preference.

Ramen Peas and Chicken. I needed to make a quick cheap meal in a pinch. I always have a massive amount of ramen noodles on hand because frankly the noodles are easy to cook, my daughter loves them, and if you don't use the seasoning packet, you can control the taste AND sodium level (bonus!) So I cooked two packages of Ramen, used frozen peas (it was what we had on hand), fresh peppers, garlic to taste. I cooked noodles according to the package and set aside. I then stir fried the vegetables and when they were cooked I scrambled an egg in the middle of the pan. I added the cooked noodles and added soy sauce, a pinch of cumin, chinese 5 spice and ginger. The soy adds all the salt you need. I cooked until the taste was to my preference and then served while still piping hot. For my husband and I added a splash of Siracha sauce to amp the heat level.

3 Quinoa, sausage, onions and scallions. I decided last minute that when I picked my husband up from work I would bring dinner and we would watch a Cape Cod League baseball game just over the bridge. It was friday, I thought it would be relatively relaxing, and there is a large green space. So I looked in the cabinet, saw I had a quinoa mix and started to go. I had defrosted some sausage earlier so I cooked that in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350 F while I sauteed and cooked the quinoa mixture. I then cut up 3 scallions, a half a small onion, a clove of garlic, a tomato and tossed in a handful of raisins (for that sweet and savory thing. My husband really loves it). I then added everything together with some oregano and covered in a travel dish. I then packed some microwave popcorn, grapes seltzer and rice cakes and ran out the door. Dinner made in 20 minutes flat, and it was fantastic. Husband and kid both want the same meal again. Plus the 3 types of quinoa with all the different color veggies made the dish beautiful.