Tormented Kitchen

Hello again, I'm back with a new recipe. I've been ready for casseroles for a long time and now I'm on a roll.  I recently got a free jar of Ragu Sauce to test from Influenster. They asked me to use it and make up a recipe to go with it. I used some things I already had around the house. We grew dinosaur kale in the garden this year so I was already thinking about using kale in a dinner dish.  I almost always have cheese and pasta on hand, so I didn't have to buy more. I did pick up some ground turkey at the store. Then less than one easy-peasy hour later, I had a really tasty dinner ready to go. It also made a huge amount so we have plenty of leftovers. Give it a try, I think you'll like it. Ingredients 1 lb organic ground turkey 1 bunch dinosaur kale, ribs removed and chopped 2 Tablespoons garlic flavored olive oil (or regular olive oil) 1-2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes 1 16-oz box of Barilla Pasta,  campanelle, elbows, rotini, penne, or s...

Hello, my friends.  It's been quite a while since I've been in the kitchen cooking from scratch.  Being pregnant is hard work!  The baby is now almost 3 weeks old, the garden is bursting with tomatoes, and I've gotten slowly back in the kitchen. Today, I'm sharing with you, my recipe for lasagna. I made a small batch of homemade tomato sauce with bell peppers and pork to use up some tomatoes.  I used that for my lasagna sauce this time, but you can use jarred sauce from the store.  I normally use marinara or a tomato-y sauce in a jar, so use what works for you. Ingredients 1 lb ground beef 2 eggs 1 15oz container part-skim ricotta cheese 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (for mixing into filling) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 Tablespoons dried parsley 1 box lasagna noodles (I prefer American  Beauty's Oven-Ready) 1 28oz jar Marinara or Tomato-Garlic pasta sauce, or about 3 cups homemade sauce 1 1/2 cups water 1 cup shredded ...

 Pizza. We eat tons of it. Take-out pizza is the food of choice for most birthday parties we attend for the kids and their friends. You're probably thinking "Gee, Jenny. Don't you get tired of nasty, cardboard-tasting crust from pizza chains?" Why, yes. Yes, we get tired of cheap pizza.  So you know what that means.  We either go to a good pizza place or make some at home. Cuz, that's how I roll. Then, one day this summer, I was chatting with a coworker about homemade pizza. She gave me the low-down on grilled pizza. Here's me, the wanne-be foodie thinking OMG why have I not already tried that? I've done plenty of normal pizza, and even folding it up into a calzone. Being out in the West, with a fancy propane grill and all, I figured I had to try it. So you should, too.  Now if grilling pizza is not your thing, don't freak out.  I have instructions for regular oven-baked pizza, or turning it into calzone, along with grilling details below. ...

Tonight, I wanted to use up some left-over dinner rolls. Since Justin is working late, I decided to challenge myself, sort of my own take on a Mystery Box Challenge. I made tiny cheeseburgers! Sliders! My sliders contained beef patties seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Then, I made a tangy tomato-onion jam by sauteing some of my last garden tomatoes with onion and olive oil. I topped the meat with Tillamook cheddar cheese, then the tomato jam, a sweet zucchini pickle (made by Justin's step mom Cheryl), and a little ketchup. Easy food rocks! PS The kids did not eat the tomato jam. Or the pickles. Typical kids! They don't know what they're missing!

I had 10 pounds of tomatoes sitting in the fridge. I decided we couldn't eat all the tomatoes from the garden right away and that canning them (actually preserving them in a jar) was a good idea. It's a lot of work to preserve anything in a jar. I had forgotten this.  It's been a few years since we've had enough of anything to make canning worthwhile. Thankfully, Mom was around to help me. Also I relied heavily on my copy of the Ball Canning and Preserving Blue Book. I got my supplies together and washed. We blanched the tomatoes to get the skins off then cut out the stem-end core. We sliced them in half and loaded them into hot jars with 2 T. lemon juice and 1 tsp. kosher salt per quart jar. I did not add water or pre-cook the tomatoes. This was a pack-in-its-own-juice type of recipe. Then we boiled them forever, or for what seemed that long. They actually cooked for 1 hour 35 minutes thanks to the altitude adjustment. (Please research c...

I picked up this recipe from my hubby's grandmother. The first time I had polenta, I couldn't believe how good the sauce was.  I have made a few small changes to her recipe, but it's pretty much like hers.  I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. I chose Roma tomatoes, since they are plump and sweet, and a few vine-ripened regular tomatoes. They cooked down nicely. Make sure to use regular onions. As much as I like sweet onions, they don't taste right in tomato sauce like this. I was too starved for dinner to make my polenta formed and toasted, so I scooped it into bowls, added some of the sliced meat, then poured about a ladle-full of sauce on top. It was fantastic! This sauce it worth the effort. One more thing, I have heard from dear hubby that this is also great made with wild birds instead of chicken. Since hunting season is coming up, I will have to wait and see if he brings home any chukar or sage hen for me to cook up. Ingredients 2 boneles...

It's springtime where I live.  That means it's getting to be asparagus season. I love asparagus! Apparently, I'm the odd one in my house.  Dear hubby isn't fond of it, which is strange because he grew up in family that loves all things wild. I know his parents used to hunt, fish, camp, and pick wild watercress and asparagus to go with their catch du jour. The kiddos, well picky little kids can be pretty hesitant to eat anything green.  My son is just finally starting to eat green peas. He likes broccoli, so I've been nagging him to eat "dragon grass" for about two years. I started calling it Dragon grass because he loves dragons and calling anything "dragon" makes it sound cool. Green tea? Not cool. Dragon tea? Cool.  (Because Celestial Seasoning's Authentic Green Tea has a dragon on the box.) Asparagus? Not cool. Dragon grass? Cool. (Are you familiar with Dragon Tales? Kids wishing themselves into a dragon universe? Jumbo-sized flowe...