Potato Casserole

Here is another easy to make casserole dish. This was an inversion from last week that turned out pretty well.

Ingredients:

5 small red potatoes, cut into cubes

2 carrots, sliced

3 chicken thighs, cut into cubes

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

mixes seasoning, salt, paprika, chili powder, black pepper

Cut up the potatoes into cubes, add seasoning and mix. Sprinkle salt and seasoning onto chicken and add to potatoes. Add carrots, onions and garlic. Then add water to almost cover the potatoes (see picture below).

Cover and bake at 400F for 1 hour. Remove the cover and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes.

I like to use cast iron casserole pots, they distribute heat evenly, and are just really convenient for this type of dishes. They are expensive, but they last forever. My cat iron casserole dish will probably outlive me.

Pork and Vegetable Casserole- Djuvec

Djuvec is a casserole dish made with pork or chicken and a variety of vegetables. It can also be made without meat. This is a very easy recipe. The measures are approximate, so you can't make a mistake there. Also, you can use any veggies you like.

Ingredients:

1lb of pork neck meat, cut into 1in cubes

3 tbsp oil

2 tomatoes

2 bell peppers

2 carrots

1 onion

3 small red potatoes

handful of green beans

1 cup white rice

salt and pepper to taste

Saute sliced onions over medium heat until they are golden brown.

Then add meat and 4 tbsp water and cook covered for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed.

Add cut up veggies and water (to cover the meat and veggies) and continue to cook covered for another 10 minutes.

At this point, there should be plenty of sauce in the pan, covering the veggies and meat. Add rice and cook mixing continuously.

Cook for another 20 minutes until rice is done.

Cream of Spinach

Just got a gigantic bag of spinach at Costco and don't know what to do with it? Here is a recipe that will make a Coscto size spinach package disappear in minutes. That whole bag will cook down to only 4 servings and you will again have your fridge space back for other food items.

Ingredients:

2lb baby spinach

2 tbsp butter

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tbsp all purpose flour

salt to taste

Wash the spinach and without drying it place it in the pan and cook covered for about 5-10 minutes. Don't worry, its not too much, it will cook down to a reasonable amount.

Drain the access water and place on the cutting board.

Cut into small pieces. Knife works fine, but I found this pizza cutter to work the best.

Heat up butter and add chopped garlic to it as soon as it melts.

Stir for about a minute, then add chopped spinach. Salt to taste and stir.

Add milk and whipping cream. When it starts to boil again, add flour and stir in in well.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally. The mixture will thicken up

Serve with fresh bread or as a side for a meat dish.

Fearuted products:

My Cousin Ivan Makes Mushroom Alfredo

Here is a post just for fun. My cousin Ivan was visiting my mom and they prepared my mushroom alfredo sauce recipe I posted last week. They took these photos and send them to me. I am so proud that someone is making my recipes, I had to post those.

You can also see here how everything is smaller in Europe- small kitchen, small stove, small pots.

Here come the mushrooms!

Didn't even take the apron off....

All done. Looks like dinner was good!

Even licked the plate!

Mushroom Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

3-4 large mushrooms, chopped

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup whipping cream

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter over medium heat. Simmer the garlic it for a couple of minutes. Add chopped mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked down. Add whipping cream and continue to cook while stirring.

When it starts to boil add Parmesan cheese and cook until it melts and becomes a uniform sauce, about 4-5 minutes.

Server over pasta or raviolis.

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I just saw Despicable Me and I decided to post it for all those people that haven't seen it yet. The other two are also my favorite cartoons. 9 is probably one of my most favorite movies.