Winter Soups!

To me, nothing says winter cooking like thick, hearty soups. They are easy to make, make your kitchen smell fantastic, and have that warm-you-up quality that you need when you're just in from shoveling snow.

Now, while most soup recipes call for gobs of butter, cream, or other rich ingredients to conjure up flavor, I turn to other, more healthful methods, namely roasting, pureeing, and fresh herbs. Because of this, most of my winter soups are low fat, and some are even fat-free! Add to that the fact that they're chock-full of vegetable goodness, as well as make-you-feel-full fiber, and you have a perfect, and tasty, food!

My soup recipes make a fair amount of soup. I recommend freezing leftovers in individual-size servings (I love those little Gladware or Ziploc plastic containers from the grocery store). Frozen, most will keep at least a month, if not longer!

Stay tuned for a week of soup recipes! First up, Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup!

Ham and Cheese "Egg Thing"

Common wisdom says that you are supposed to start the new year out by eating pork, because pigs push their snouts forward in the ground when rooting for food. Moving forward, not backward, blah blah blah.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not about to whip up a pork chop on the morning of Jan. 1. Especially because I have an affinity for Riesling, house parties, and late nights. Oh, my head.

enter: the Egg Thing.

Ah, the Egg Thing. Long has it been a favorite in my house, and the houses of many of our brunch-inclined friends. I think it is actually called an Egg Strata, but we've all called it Egg Thing for so long that no one bothers with the real name anymore.

The Egg Thing is the perfect New Year's Day brunch food, for the following reasons:

1. It is super easy to make;
2. It can be made the day before, and stored, covered and uncooked, in the fridge;
3. You can add a myriad of various fix-ins to the basic recipe. In this case, it will be some leftover holiday ham (Pork! It totally counts!) and cheddar cheese.

Also, it keeps very well in the fridge once cooked, so leftovers are great for quick-heat microwave lunches during the god-awful work week that follows the New Year.


Ham and Cheese "Egg Thing"

12 eggs
1 quart milk (do not use skim, it is too watery)
1 loaf sliced white sandwich bread
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups leftover holiday ham, cubed

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.
• In a greased (cooking spray is fine, butter is better) 13x9 pan, lay out a single layer of bread slices. Sprinkle on ham and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese, reserving the rest.
• Add another layer of bread. Press down gently.
• Pour egg mixture over bread/ham/cheese layers. To ensure that the liquid penetrates all the way, gently shake the pan, and poke through the top layer of bread with a fork.
• Top with remaining cheese.
• If you are making this the night before you plan to serve, stop here, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before cooking the next day.
• Remove any coverings. Place in center of preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour, or until the top is puffy and the middle jiggles slightly when the pan is shaken.
  

Welcome to Billy's Open Kitchen!

Welcome to My Open Kitchen, and Happy New Year!

This blog is starting as a New Year's resolution. After feeding and entertaining friends for years, as well as posting family dinner menus on various sites, I have been told that I need to share recipes.

Thus, My Open Kitchen is born!

My recipes range from single-serving main courses to make-ahead appetizers that can be scaled to feed 30 or 300 (as my family has done at Christmas for over 30 years).

I've always said "Never trust a skinny chef." That said, you'll notice that many of the recipes I share will be tagged as "healthy eating", and some even as "fat free", because no one needs a chef that looks like Jabba the Hut, either. If Paul Prudhomme can clean up his butter-laden act, then so can I!

As a rule, unless otherwise noted, the recipes listed here are mine. Whenever I am sharing a recipe created by someone else, I will provide a citation. You will notice that this happens far more often in the baked-goods arena than it will in others.

Also, unless otherwise noted, all photography is my own. I'm currently using an Olympus SP-550UZ, but hoping to upgrade to a spiffy DSLR in the near future.

All that said, welcome to My Open Kitchen! Come Eat!