Spinach and Orzo Salad

Now that the hot days of summer are upon us, it's time for salads. You don't have to heat up the oven, and you can make a lot, so you can be lazy for a day or two. This recipe comes from All Recipes. We've made this one before, and other than some chopping, it's quick and easy.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Cook 1lb of orzo pasta until it is al dente. Drain and rinse under cool water.

Start with about 10oz of baby spinach leaves, rinsed well.

Chop the spinach finely.

Put the chopped spinach in a large bowl.

Get 1/2 lb of feta cheese.

Crumble the cheese.

Add the cheese to the spinach.

Get a red onion.

You'll only need 1/2 of the onion.

Finely chop the onion.

Add the onion to the spinach and cheese.

Add 3/4 C pine nuts

Add 1/2 tsp dried basil

Add 1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 C each Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Add the orzo, and mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour and serve.

Posted by Sean at 5:46 pm (Edit)

Cabbage & Onion Soup

From the cheap and easy department, we went to visit my dad last weekend, and he had some extra cabbage and onions that they gave us. I decided to make some soup with it. It came out pretty good for an easy soup. (Thanks are due to miklb for some advice on this one.)

Start with a medium head of cabbage.

Halve the cabbage. (we'll only use one half.)

Core the cabbage.

Roughly chop the cabbage.

3 medium yellow onions.

Cut and clean the onions.

Roughly chop the onions.

Use 1lb. of Polish Kielbasa.

Cut the sausage into small chunks.

Cook the sausage in a pan with a small amount of oil.

Brown the sausage.

Set the sausage aside and add the onions to the pain with the oil from the sausage.

Cook the onion until it just starts to brown.

Set the onion aside and add the cabbage to the pan.

About 1 Tbsp. whole caraway seeds.

Add the caraway to the cabbage.

Cook the cabbage and caraway for about 5 minutes.

Bring 12 Cups of beef broth to a boil.

Add the cabbage, onions and sausage to the broth and simmer for about 1 hour. About 10 minutes before serving, add 1 Cup of barley.

Serve with bread. Yum!

Posted by Sean at 5:16 pm (Edit)