Shells stuffed with peppered goat cheese and potatoes

I ran into a bit of a problem this evening realizing I hadn't a thing to eat while sitting in a house full of food. Everything is set aside for Christmas and I wouldn't let myself eat only cookies for dinner.  Shopping through my pantry, freezer and refrigerator, I pulled out a mixed bag of ingredients to pull together what turned out to be quite delicious. 

From the pantry, I pulled baby Dutch yellow potatoes and a can of cream of chicken and mushroom. Salt and pepper.

From the freezer, I fetched two Puff Pastry shells.

From the refrigerator, I grabbed a soft goat cheese that had been rolled in pepper, ricotta cheese (I went for the plain yogurt but found it had expired), butter, shallots, garlic and parsley.

Pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees, I started in chopping my potatoes, shallots, garlic and parsley. I popped the pastry shells in the oven for approximately 20 minutes and continued with my dinner experiment.
In a small sauce pan, I combined the cream of chicken and mushroom with ricotta cheese and let it simmer, stirring frequently.  In a small skillet, I melted the butter and added in the potatoes. After cooking down a bit, I added in the rest of the chopped ingredients. 

When the pastry shells were golden, I removed and stuffed with goat cheese and the potato mixture.  I then plated the two shells atop the cream sauce and topped off with a additional creamy goat cheese. 

Not bad for not having anything to eat!

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Spinach omelet with feta

There's nothing I love more than cooking in the morning before settling in for a little college football while puttering around cleaning my house. On this beautiful morning with all my doors standing wide open taking in the day, I decided to pull together a spinach omelet with potatoes and cherry tomatoes topped off with crumbled feta cheese. Omelets are really simple to whip up and when you add in veggies, they are healthy and delicious.

From the fridge and freezer I pulled:

Large brown eggs

Spinach (chopped)

Green onions (chopped)

Potatoes (cut into large pieces)

Leeks (chopped)

Cream

Crumbled feta cheese

Fresh and dried oregano

Cracked pepper

Salt

Olive oil

Butter

In a bowl, combine eggs and cream and whip with a fork until the eggs are broken down.

In a small skillet heat a bit of olive oil and butter and add in potatoes. Toss in the leeks, stir and season with salt, cracked pepper and dried oregano. Cover and let cook over medium heat, stirring periodically.

In a large skillet, briefly cook the spinach and green onions until wilted. Add in egg mixture to coat the veggies. Crack pepper and salt over top and let cook for a couple of minutes, tending to the bottom of the omelet with a spatula. As the omelet thickens, add feta cheese to top of the mixture. Slide your spatula under half the omelet and carefully but quickly fold in half, encasing the delicious feta cheese. Let the omelet cook for a few more minutes, turning over periodically to ensure it is cooking evenly on both sides.

Pull your omelet from the heat and transfer to a plate. Pair with the potatoes and cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle feta cheese around the plate and top the potatoes with fresh oregano.

What a great way to start the day! Bon appetit!

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