Anne Can Cook

Apologies for the weird color quality of this picture. This Spinach Hummus recipe is not nuclear green, but it is super tasty. I've been thinking about it since I stumbled across it on Food Gawker.
My friend Babs tells me that you have to try pretty hard to screw up hummus, and I agree. Go forth and make hummus!

Sauces and I are not traditionally friends. My favorite way to sauce a pasta is either to fake a cream sauce with cream cheese or to open a jar. I think the only pasta sauce I ever successfully made without incident was the cheese sauce for The Pioneer Woman's mac and cheese.

Spinach and I are friends. I love spinach, and would even go so far to say that it is my favorite leafy green foodstuff. The problem with spinach is that I can never eat an entire pack of it before it goes back. Grocery stores need to sell 1/2 or 1/4 packs for people who live alone. Anyway, in an attempt to up my vegetable intake, I bought a package of spinach. I've been using it almost daily on sandwiches and things, but I've barely made a dent in it.

How else could I use the spinach? I did some pondering the other night and decided that a creamy spinach pasta would be a delightful dinner.

Well, it was not without its flaws, but it was tasty.

Firstly, I didn't put in nearly enough spinach. Secondly, I started the sauce/spinach saute much too early, so it reduced too much by the time I needed it. It was pretty tasty, though. Especially when I paired it with some warm garlic bread.
I eyeballed basically everything and I have no idea how much spaghetti I used. The goal was to use enough to for leftovers for lunch the next day, which I had. I also had about a serving and a half at dinner. So enough spaghetti for about three servings?
1 Tbsp. butter
4 minced gloves of garlic
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
3/4 cup of white wine, divided
1/4 cup of milk
1 oz fat free cream cheese
1 Tbsp. cornstarch (added because the sauce was not to the thickness I wanted)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Enough spaghetti for three servings

In a pot, get the water going for the spaghetti. I started the sauce before the spaghetti and it was a huge and obvious mistake. Once the water is boiling, toss in the spaghetti and let it cook for the amount of time it states on the package.
In a small pan, melt the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add in the spinach and allow it to wilt down. Stir it all up. Add 1/2 cup of the wine and let it bowl and reduce a little bit.
Strain the spaghetti and put it back on the stove top on low heat. Add in the spinach/wine mixture and stir. Add the cream cheese, milk, and the rest of the wine. Stir. If the sauce doesn't thicken to your liking, add cornstarch. Finally, stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve. I ground some pepper on mine, but don't feel obligated if that isn't your thing.

Cheesy, garlicky, spinachy. I wish I had added way more spinach, but there you have it. I love cooking with white wine, by the way. There's something about it that adds such an excellent flavor.

The garlic bread was a take and bake loaf I picked up at my local grocery store. It wasn't very garlicky, but it was still quite good and was an excellent addition to the pasta.

I'm not sure what else I have planned for this week in the food department. I'm still pawing through my new cookbooks. This week, in comparison to last week, is very quiet and somewhat slow. I feel like busy week and not-so-busy weeks tend to be equally draining at the end of the day.

Well, things have been pretty crazy here in Podunkville...or rather, Slightly Less Podunkville. I moved rather abruptly last weekend and am resided with my coworker on campus. Luckily, she also likes to cook and has a decent sized kitchen.
Last night we made Mock Alfredo, a recipe we adapted from Going Solo in the Kitchen. Here is what we did:
A little olive oil for cooking
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup of fresh spinach (approximately)
Several ounces of thin spaghetti (enough for the two of us plus a little leftover)
2 ounces of cream cheese
6 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
Pepper to taste
Grated Fontina to taste
A little milk for texture

In a small pan, sweat down the onions and garlic in a little olive oil. Meanwhile, bring water to boil for the pasta. Boil pasta until done to your liking and drain. Return to heat and stir in the cream cheese. Add milk if it gets too thick. Stir in the Parmesan, one tbsp. at a time.
Add the spinach to the onions and garlic and wilt them down. Once everything is cooked to your liking, add the onions, garlic, and spinach to the pasta. Stir until incorporated. Pepper to your liking. Grate some Fontina on top (if you want).

Serve and enjoy! It is filling and surprisingly flavorful. It's also sooo easy to make, and easy to adapt. The original recipe doesn't include the garlic, onions, and spinach. We just like those things a lot.

I was on a brief scone kick at the end of last week. I made two batches and neither turned out quite right. I used the classic Better Homes & Gardens recipe, but I substituted milk instead of cream. This was an epic mistake. It changed the texture of the scone from awesomely dense to weirdly muffinish. Oh well. The strawberry scones turned out slightly better than the chocolate chip ones.
I have learned two very valuable lessons from the scone debacle: 1. Never substitute milk for heavy cream. 2. Honey butter makes everything extremely delicious.

I also decided to make an Onion and Spinach Custard from Going Solo In The Kitchen, my new single-living cookbook. I'm not really sure what I expected, because I hate eggs and egg dishes. Here is the recipe:

1/3 cup raw rice (or 2/3 cup cooked)
2 tsp. olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup scallion greens (optional)
1 1/3 cups chopped raw spinach
1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (I used basil, thyme, and garlic chives)
1/3 cup cottage or ricotta cheese
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used Fontina).

In a large pot of boiling water, boil the rice for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a heavy enameled or stainless steel frying pan. Add the onion, scallion greens, and spinach. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes, or until the vegetables are slight wilted. Stir in the herbs.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cottage/ricotta cheese, eggs, and milk. Add the vegetable mixture and rice. Season with pepper and stir in the cheese. Spoon into an oiled 6-cup dish (I used a small Corelle baking dish). Cover loosely with a piece of foil. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 1 hour. The custard should be cooked through. Remove cover and bake another 5 minutes to brown the top. Let sit for 1 minute before unmolding. Serve warm.

It wasn't bad, exactly. It just wasn't my thing. It was too egg-y for one, and it was also sort of bland. In my opinion, it would have greatly benefited from a hearty dash of garlic powder and perhaps some salt.

Tonight, I am going to poach some chicken breasts in the hopes that the leftovers will make good lunch meat.

On less cooking related notes, I am still getting strange visitors after moving out of my parents' attic. Yesterday morning I found a small frog in the middle of my room. It was clear that he had come through the window air conditioner because he was covered in lint. I have no idea how he got from the window to the middle of the floor, though. I felt bad for the little guy, so I scooped him up and set him outside near the downspout. As far as I know he made it, even dehydrated as he was.

I am actually looking forward to winter so that nothing else invades my space via the window air conditioner.