cheese – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Prosciutto & Asparagus Strata

Posted on June 19, 2014 by LFFL

Made with multigrain bread, eggs, milk, white wine, dry mustard, fresh grated nutmeg, salt & pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, onions, leeks, minced garlic, asparagus, scallions, Virginia ham, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh parsley, fresh mint, and lemon zest.

I’m not sure what the difference is between a strata, frittata, and quiche but they’re all the same to me—gunk baked inside some eggs. Once again, I used Virginia ham instead of prosciutto in this recipe.

And I really love those round doohickies of fresh nutmeg, too. I like those suckers so much better than the already-ground nutmeg. Talk about FRESH and POTENT stuff.

Layer onions, leeks, and garlic.

Layer with asparagus.

Layer the meat on top.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake till done.

Recipe for—Prosciutto & Asparagus Strata

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make a nice strata, frittata, or quiche of sorts and buy some fresh nutmeg just for the sheer fun of grating it.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Fresh nutmeg can be some powerful stuff.

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Mushroom-Asparagus Risotto

Posted on April 16, 2014 by LFFL

Made with chicken broth, salt & pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, shallots, minced garlic, mushrooms, arborio rice, white wine, asparagus, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

The mushrooms.

Mixed with rice.

Cooked with asparagus.

Recipe for—Mushroom-Asparagus Risotto

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make yourself a simple and divine risotto dish.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Season it well; otherwise, it can be a little bland.

Scrambled Eggs With Tomato Bruschetta

Posted on April 8, 2014 by LFFL

Made with Italian bread, extra-virgin olive oil, salt & pepper, tomatoes, fresh basil, butter, eggs, and Pecorino cheese.

This was my first time making my own bruschetta and I absolutely LOVED it! This recipe also gave me a reason to bust out my grill pan as I hardly ever use it.

I had a good time making the grill marks on the bread. Then I got to spread all that tomato goodness across the top of it and finally feel all that love inside my mouth as I took my first bite. Crunch.

And to smell the fresh basil………..ahhhhhhh.

Char bread on a grill pan.

Tomato basil mixture.

Recipe for—Scrambled Eggs with Tomato Bruschetta

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try making your own bruschetta while having fun making grill marks along the bread.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Sometimes a grill pan can be more fun than you expect it to be.

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Baked Ziti

Posted on April 6, 2014 by LFFL

Made with olive oil, minced garlic cloves, onion, ground turkey, Italian pork sausage, tomato sauce, canned whole tomatoes, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper, ziti pasta, mozzarella cheese, whole-milk ricotta, Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley, and eggs.

Yeah, yeah, I know—another pasta dish. What can I say?

Meat & tomato mixture.

Pasta & cheese mixture.

Ready for the oven.

Done.

Recipe for—Baked Ziti

So, if you have nothing else to do today, slop together another pasta dish for the umpteenth time.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You can never have too much pasta in your life. Live, love, and enjoy life with pasta.

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Spaghetti With Pancetta & Chickpeas

Posted on March 30, 2014 by LFFL

Made with spaghetti, turkey bacon, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic cloves, chickpeas, fresh parsley, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.

Yes, it’s yet another pasta dish. What can I say? I adore pasta and a lovely dish this was. But instead of putting pancetta in it like the recipe called for, I put turkey bacon into mine.

Sometimes when a recipe calls for either pancetta and prosciutto, I’ll substitute. The first time in my life that I ever shopped for pancetta and prosciutto at my health food store specifically for recipes I wanted to make, I didn’t realize these items cost close to $5278.99 per pound!!!

So once I realized I could easily use bacon instead of pancetta and ham instead of prosciutto—I went this route with substitutions in recipes. NOT every time, mind you—but for the most part. Once every triple blue moon, I will splurge on these fancy meats when I’m feeling a bit gutsy and adventurous.

Recipe for—Spaghetti with Pancetta & Chickpeas

So, if you have nothing else to do today, I dare you to take out a bank loan for half a pound of pancetta and a quarter pound of prosciutto.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Bacon can be a great substitute for pancetta and ham can be a great substitute for prosciutto if you’d rather not take out a home equity loan for these items.

Pasta With Bacon & Leeks

Posted on March 8, 2014 by LFFL

Made with rigatoni pasta, turkey bacon, leeks, salt & pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and fresh parsley.

This was a quick and easy pasta dish to make today and it tasted marvelous. But what I want to know is—why are leeks SO crazy dirty?! Have they had a hard life or what? I’ve never seen such filth between leaves like that. Yuck.

I don’t have much experience with leeks but, ohhhh, how I love the flavor leeks can add to dishes. That slight onion flavor is just right.

Crispy up the bacon.

Leeks ready for chopping.

Chopped leeks sauteeing.

Topped with cheese & parsley ready to eat.

Recipe for—Pasta With Bacon & Leeks

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make a quick and easy pasta dish for lunch or dinner incorporating leeks.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always get out the dirt that’s hiding inside the crevices from deep between the leaves of leeks before doing anything else with them.

A Vegetable Frittata To Love

Posted on March 7, 2014 by LFFL

Made with zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red onion, olive oil, salt & pepper, minced garlic cloves, eggs, half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, butter, scallions, and Gruyère cheese.

This was a lovely and fancy breakfast and there were plenty of leftovers for the next few days. Zapping a serving inside the microwave each day was all it took for me to have some scrumptiousness in my mouth in no time at all.

Chopped vegetables ready for baking.

Then pan sautee the vegetables.

Add eggs.

I love looking at all the pretty colors in food dishes. It makes for an appetizing meal.

It was great to not have to think about what I was going to have for breakfast each day. A wedge of this loveliness piping hot from the microwave and I’m ready to roll.

Recipe for—Roasted Vegetable Frittata

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make yourself a frittata and load it up with all kinds of goodies.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You really can pretty much throw just about anything into a frittata and make it your own. And there you have breakfast for a few days.

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