Day 336: Spinach Gratin

 Good morning!  I know I'm late, so this will be a quick post!

 Spinach Gratin
12" dutch oven

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
4 cups minced yellow onions, about 2 large onions
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups milk
3 pounds frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (5 (10-ounce) packages)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1/2 tablespoon table salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Gruyere, Swiss or Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a 12" dutch oven over a full spread of coals. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 more minutes. Add the flour and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Add the cream and milk and cook, stirring often and quickly, until thickened. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach and add the spinach to the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season, to taste, with the salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and the Gruyere (or Swiss or Parmesan, if using) on top. Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve hot.  Serves 8-10.

The Finished Product

The Review

Normally I really like spinach.  But I have to say that we really didn't like this at all.  I've never made creamed spinach before so I followed the directions exactly, and it just wasn't very good.  I know I've mentioned the one bite rule we have at our house.  Well, it very rarely applies to me, but it did with this.  I wish I'd had my video camera on when I made my kids take their one bite.  There were faces, gags, and even a few dry heaves.  I thought my 14 year old son was literally going to barf.  It was pretty funny.  Now if you're a spinach lover, please try this, you may love it.  I think some of the problem was that there wasn't enough of the cream sauce (or maybe I let it get to thick) and it just tasted like spinach and onions.  I may give this another try to see if the problem was operator error.  For now I give this a D, but I may upgrade it if I try it again with better results.

Day 242: Company Potato Casserole

Good morning everyone!  I just sent my 5 year old daughter Brylie on the bus for her first day of kindergarten.  I'm so sad to see her go I could cry, and I did a little.  But its quite a milestone in a child's life and I don't think I've ever seen her more excited.  Now its just me and my baby until lunchtime.  Its going to be a quiet day!  I'll have to make some treats to celebrate her first day.  I know just the recipe!

Speaking of recipes, I found today's recipe in a Taste of Home magazine.

Company Potato Casserole
10" dutch oven

5 cups cooked cubed peeled potatoes
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided (I used cheddar)
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp paprika

In a bowl, combine the potatoes, sour cream, 1 cup cheese, carrot, onion, parsley, salt, dill and pepper.  Transfer to a dutch oven.  Sprinkle with paprika and remaining cheese.  Bake at 350° for 25-35 minutes or until bubbly.  Use 1 ring on top and 1 ring on the bottom.  Serves 8.

The Finished Product

The Review

The only company I would serve this to is someone I didn't like.  This was not good at all.  When I made it I hoped the herbs would give it good flavor since the sour cream wouldn't help out in that department.  It didn't happen.  It just tasted like potatoes and sour cream.  Not to mention that the sauce broke and was gross and lumpy.  If you're smart, you'll just skip this recipe all together.  Grade D.

Day 189: Raspberry Baked Chicken

Good Morning everyone!  Last night I got to teach a dutch oven class for a local women's group.  It was a lot of fun!  The ladies that were there came expecting to be confused by how to figure the heat, but went home saying "I can do this!".  The ring method is so easy that even people who have never used a dutch oven can understand it.  I love it when people realize how not hard DO cooking is.  They also left after having a yummy meal.  We did Root Beer Chicken and Kielbasa, Tomato Upside Down Cornbread, and Smores Brownies.  So many people think all you can do in a DO is potatoes.  It makes me laugh! 

My family got to have Raspberry Chicken for dinner.  I had some fresh berries from the garden, and some frozen blackberries that I threw in just for fun.  I found this recipe in a church cook book.

Raspberry Baked Chicken
12" dutch oven

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb. fresh or frozen berries
1 cup sugar
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1 cup water

Place the chicken in an oiled dutch oven.  Stir together the berries, sugar, cornstarch and water until sugar is dissolved.  Bake at 350° for 1 hour using 1 1/2 rings on top and 1 ring on the bottom.

The Finished Product

Its to bad it doesn't taste as good as it looks.

The Review

I was really disappointed with this chicken.  Even with fresh berries from my garden it still didn't taste very good.  The whole dish just didn't have very good flavor.  None of my kids finished theirs and even my hubby just shrugged his shoulders when I asked him how he liked it.  I won't be making this one again.  I can think of a ton of better things to do with fresh raspberries.  Grade D+.

Day 73: Shepherd's Pie

I thought with St. Patrick's day coming up I would try some St. Patty's Day recipes. Shepherd's Pie is a classic English/Irish dish. It is pure comfort food. I went online to the Taste of Home website and did a search. The picture of this recipe looked really good, so I thought I would give it a try.

Shepherd's Pie

12" dutch oven

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cooked

1-1 1/2 cups sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 lbs. ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbs. melted butter

I cooked the potatoes in my DO with about 25 coals. Remove them to a bowl and mash with sour cream. Add the salt and pepper; set aside. In the same DO, cook beef, onion and red pepper until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain. I used 20 coals. Stir in garlic salt. Stir in soup, corn and milk

Spread the meat mixture in the DO and top with mashed potatoes; drizzle with butter. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Use 10 coals on the bottom and 14 on top. Serves 8-10.

The Review

Don't waste your time. Seriously, don't. It wasn't even worth taking a picture of. This recipe was a total waste of ground beef and charcoal. I thought it would at least be edible, but I was wrong. In all fairness, a couple of my kids liked it, but overall, it was a flop. So I did another Internet search and found another one that looks really good. I will post it in the next few days. I wouldn't make this again if I were starving to death! Okay, maybe I would, but I'd probably try eating bugs first. Grade D-. I'll save the grade F recipe category for the food even the cat won't eat.

Day 20: Cheesy Hash Brown Chili

What a day!! The transmission on my hubby's truck is finally finished so we went to pick it up. When we got home we noticed a antifreeze leak and ended up with a big mess on our hands that took most of the morning to fix. Then my #2 son was lucky enough to get braces this afternoon. So sorry for the late post. Trust me, you aren't missing anything by having this one be late! I'll explain more later on. On to the recipe!

Cheesy Hash Brown Chili

10" dutch oven

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 Tbs. chili powder

2 t. ground cumin

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 lb. ground beef

salt and pepper to taste

1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

1 lb. bag frozen hash browns

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In your D.O. over about 15 coals, brown the beef and onion. Drain any grease and add the tomato paste, salt and pepper. Add the beans and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Remove a few coals and simmer about 20 minutes. In a large bowl combine the hash browns and the cheese. Spread over the chili mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes or until potatoes are tender and chili is bubbling. I used 10 coals on the bottom and 14 on top.

The Finished Product

 

What I Learned

This was really easy and wasn't much of a challenge except that it was sprinkling on me the whole time. Thankfully the coals stayed lit and it wasn't much of a problem. If it had rained any harder we could have had problems!

The Review

Honestly, this is a recipe I wouldn't mind never having again. My son loved it, but he was the only one. It is a Rachel Ray recipe, and hers are usually really good, but this was the exception. It had a weird taste and just wasn't good. This one gets a D.