SECOND WEEK OF MAY: THE CUPBOARD QUESTION

Food Mood: still rockin’ in a full kitchen

Reno Ridiculouso: Seeking perfection on a budget with a social conscience.  Easy, right! 

When the Hubby and I decided to remove our back entryway and replace it, an architect whom I had been working with came over to have a look and discuss possibilities.  As is always the way, he had big ideas, and to be honest, we liked them!  What if instead of just taking the back entry off we took three steps down from our kitchen and added an at grade dining room with big windows out to our lovely backyard.  It was a great idea, enticing from the beginning, but a larger project than we’d imagined.  I was anxious but the Hubby and the Architect  both felt that it was a relatively easy project and well within our abilities and budget.  Great, let’s do it!

Floor Plan Number Three: closeish to where the whole thing ended.

And then (‘cause this is how I roll) I started throwing barriers in the way.  Only if we source cabinets and appliances second hand. The Architect was a bit taken aback,but onboard.  The Hubby gets my desire to lighten my footprint on the world and save money.  And it’s a big city with too much money, people get rid of brand new cabinets and appliances all the bloody time.  Don’t like the colour? Throw ‘em out!  Don’t like the make?  Set ‘em on the street!  Stupid, but true.

Thus began a long search for the perfect, reusable kitchen. Easy, peasy right?  Easy like pie! Easy like the wee hand pies below.

Puff Pastry Spanakopita Like Pastries (still made when I had a kitchen)

I just can’t be bothered with all of the work of phyllo pastry, so this is my faked version using puff pastry, which is pretty tasty too!

Roasted Tomato Filling

Take your puff pastry out of the freezer and leave out to thaw.

Cut up about fifteen roma tomatoes into small chunks.  Toss them with about three to four tablespoons of olive oil and about 1 tbsp of rosemary and 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning.  Lay them out flat on a baking sheet in as close to a single layer as possible.  Roast in 350 degree oven for an hour and fifteen minutes.   Let cool. I suggest that you just do a lot of this in tomato season and freeze a bunch of these in meal size servings.

Divide into two batches.  To one batch add about three to four tablespoons of goat or feta cheese and mix just until combined.

Put the other half of the tomato mix in a frying pan and add two large handfuls of baby spinach or full size spinach with the stems removed.  Cook on medium until wilted.  Add three to four tablespoons of goat or feta cheese and mix until combined.

 Roll out the puff pastry on a floured counter top (this was when I had one...).  Cut it into triangles of about four inches in length or larger if you like larger ones.  Lay out the tomato mixture and/or spinach mixture on each of the triangles.  Fold the pastry around the filling and pinch the edges to close them.

Cook in the oven at 375 degrees until the pastry is golden brown, about 20 minutes.  

I planned to have a picture of this, but we ate them.  So there!