Dinner: Peppers and Onions, Mashed Potatoes and Spinach

Peppers and Onions:

Coat bottom of frying pan with olive oil. Clean seeds from peppers, wash in cold water and cut into thin strips. Cut red onion into thin strips. Heat olive oil. Add peppers and onions and stir often. Add salt. Add a pat of butter (see video above). You may have to lower the heat. When the peppers and onions are almost soft, add chopped garlic cloves. I like my onions caramelized. If you don't, add peppers first, then onions after peppers cook for a while.

I can't give amounts, I can only give ingredients. Most Italians don't cook with measurements, they cook with heart. My mom taught me to add ingredients until "it looks good". So, judge for yourself.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

Butter

Peppers

Red Onions

Garlic cloves

Salt

Mashed Potatoes:

Peel potatoes and rinse under cold water. If you are peeling a lot of potatoes, place the peeled potatoes into a bowl or pot filled with cold water. It stops them from turning brown. Cut potatoes into cubes. Try to keep them the same size so that everything cooks evenly. Submerge cubes into cold water and bring to a boil. Lower heat a little bit so pot doesn't boil over and let cook until potatoes are soft.

Drain potatoes and place in large mixing bowl. Add softened butter and salt. Here's the secret my mom taught me. Heat your milk in the same pot you cooked the potatoes in. Don't scald it, be careful. Heat it until small bubbles form. (See video above)

Add milk to potatoes and blend carefully. I like to use my beaters (as if I were making a cake). A potato masher, in my opinion, is just too much work. I also like softer, creamer, potatoes with minimal lumps. Beating them accomplishes this. I don't like to add anything else to my mashed potatoes. I'm not fond of other flavors such as garlic, etc.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (I prefer Golden)

Butter

Milk

Salt

Spinach:

Wash your spinach in a salad spinner and set aside. Chop garlic cloves into small pieces. Coat the bottom of a pot with olive oil. Heat oil but not too hot. I use medium/low heat. Add garlic and stir constantly. You don't want it to burn, just to cook the raw garlic taste out. When the garlic is cooked, add your spinach and salt. Keep in mind, spinach cooks down to literally nothing, so add a lot. Stir and add a little bit of water. Cover and stir fairly often. Cook until spinach is soft.

Ingredients:

Fresh spinach

Olive oil

Garlic cloves

Salt

My husband joined me for dinner. He enjoyed the potatoes with chicken he made for himself. He won't eat cooked spinach, only raw. He will eat peppers and onions, but didn't want any. He prefers his vegetables raw unless they are in a soup.

Many people ask, if you don't eat meat, how do you serve dinner for more than yourself. It's easy. We do it all the time. Why I don't eat meat!