This one comes to me from my co-worker and it's too good not to pass on! There's no real prep time since it's all leftover from the meal before :-)
Ingredients:
1 pre-made deep dish pie crust
1 frozen pie crust thawed (rolled up one)
left over Turkey shredded
left over stuffing
Turkey gravy
whatever veggies you want to throw in there
Directions:
Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Simplest directions you'll ever see on my blog. Mix it all together in a big bowl and spoon evenly into your deep dish pie crust then unroll your flat pie crust and mold to the top of your deep dish pie and cut venting slits in the top.
Put in the oven and bake till pie crust is done! Viola easy peasy.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Easy Shepherds Pie
I actually made this one up as I went along and it came it out really good. Even my no left-overs family ate the left-overs :) This has two steps but don't let it frighten you it's easier than it looks ;)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
5 potatoes peeled, and diced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 lb green beans chopped. (fresh if you can get them frozen if you can't)
1 lb ground beef
1 dry packet of beef gravy mix
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of water put the potatoes on and leave to boil till soft enough to cut with a fork.
In a large skillet brown the ground beef with the minced garlic. Once the ground beef is mostly done you'll drain off most of the grease but not all. you want a bit of grease left in the skillet because your going to use the dry packet of gravy mix directly in the skillet and mix with the browned hamburger. Once that complete you'll set that aside.
In a large bowl combine all of the chopped, and sliced veggies then mix the ground beef and veggies together. Set aside.
Once the potatoes are done you'll mash them up with whatever you like in your mashed potatoes. I usually use a bit of butter and some milk to give it that creamy texture.
In a casserole dish you'll pour your beef and veggie mixture and smooth down. On top of the beef mixture you'll spoon the mashed potato's out evenly till it covers the top. Pop it in the oven and let bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.
If you have a large family like mine you'll need to use 2lbs of ground beef instead of one.
Happy eating and enjoy!
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
5 potatoes peeled, and diced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 lb green beans chopped. (fresh if you can get them frozen if you can't)
1 lb ground beef
1 dry packet of beef gravy mix
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of water put the potatoes on and leave to boil till soft enough to cut with a fork.
In a large skillet brown the ground beef with the minced garlic. Once the ground beef is mostly done you'll drain off most of the grease but not all. you want a bit of grease left in the skillet because your going to use the dry packet of gravy mix directly in the skillet and mix with the browned hamburger. Once that complete you'll set that aside.
In a large bowl combine all of the chopped, and sliced veggies then mix the ground beef and veggies together. Set aside.
Once the potatoes are done you'll mash them up with whatever you like in your mashed potatoes. I usually use a bit of butter and some milk to give it that creamy texture.
In a casserole dish you'll pour your beef and veggie mixture and smooth down. On top of the beef mixture you'll spoon the mashed potato's out evenly till it covers the top. Pop it in the oven and let bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.
If you have a large family like mine you'll need to use 2lbs of ground beef instead of one.
Happy eating and enjoy!
Cranberry Apple Cake
Cranberries are in season and if you're like me you're probably wondering what all the big deal is. I mean it's a cranberry so what the only use for those things is Ocean Spray or to make a popcorn garland for your house right? Nooo apparently people actually EAT these things!! You know this blog is dedicated to trying all those yummy recipes online and in cookbooks and then reporting the finding, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this Cranberry Apple Cake recipe! You know my adventurous palate had to try this and it said it was easy. I'm happy to report that it is an amazingly easy recipe to follow and it's the first time I made a cake from scratch that didn't make me want to cuss and scream. Always a bonus in my kitchen since I'm not much of a baker.
So from my kitchen to yours and without further ado here's the recipe for Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake. I'd like to thank the Barefoot Contessa from Food Network for sharing this with the world :-)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 57 Minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tbsp grated orange zest (2 oranges)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine Cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.
Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10 inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted int the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Wrainbeau's Note:
If you don't have a fancy mixer with a paddle attachment (and I don't) I find that a regular hand mixer will do the trick just as well. The deep dish glass pie plates work best for this recipe as the "cake" batter will rise slightly while cooking. Cool whip or whipped cream work best as a topper for this cake.
So from my kitchen to yours and without further ado here's the recipe for Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake. I'd like to thank the Barefoot Contessa from Food Network for sharing this with the world :-)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 57 Minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tbsp grated orange zest (2 oranges)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine Cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.
Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10 inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted int the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Wrainbeau's Note:
If you don't have a fancy mixer with a paddle attachment (and I don't) I find that a regular hand mixer will do the trick just as well. The deep dish glass pie plates work best for this recipe as the "cake" batter will rise slightly while cooking. Cool whip or whipped cream work best as a topper for this cake.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
School Lunch Specials
In keeping with the time theme for the next few weeks here is this weeks weekly installment for Quick Easy Meals.
I call this School Lunch Specials because they were inspired by some of my favorite school lunches as a kid. Yes I had favorite school lunches as a kid. Not all School lunches are bad and one of my favorites and now my families favorites was Bagel Pizzas with carrots and broccoli and ranch dip. I like to vary this particular recipe because let's face it there are a TON of varieties of bagels. For instance you can use Everything Bagels with pizza sauce and pizza toppings, you can use plain bagels with HUNTS oregano and basil tomato sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like. What I'm saying is the combinations are endless and you can let your imagination fly. To alleviate the "guilt" of serving your kids bagel pizzas you create a side dish of fun veggies for dipping.
Prep time: varies depending on ingredients used for pizza
Hands on time: approximately 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
Bagels (big or small bagels it doesn't matter)
Pizza sauce or tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Sliced pepperoni
Browned Italian sausage.
Browned Hamburger (I like to brown my hamburger ahead of time and freeze it)
Sliced bell peppers
Black or green olives
Really whatever you like on your pizza that's what you put on top of your bagel.
Favorite raw veggies sliced for little hands
Ranch Salad dressing for dipping.
Set the oven to 350 degrees and assemble your bagel pizzas. Cook in pre-heated oven until cheese melts and is slightly bubbly. Cup up your veggies and assemble on the side of the plate. When the bagel pizzas have cooled slide onto the plate with veggies and ranch dressing for dipping.
My families other favorite "School Lunch Special" is tuna melts with Homemade Fries. For this recipe you'll need Lender's Everything Bagels. I've tried other brands and they are sadly just not the same. For easy clean up I suggest lining the cookie sheet with some tin foil.
Ingredients
Favorite brand of tuna fish
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
sweet pickle relish
Mayonnaise
Dijon or some kind of spicy mustard.
5 large potato's (roughly one large potato per family member)
Thick sliced Cheddar Cheese
3 sliced tomatoes
Vegetable oil
Large pot for frying
In a large mixing bowl your going to put in two of your favorite cans of tuna fish (be sure to drain the liquid first). Finely chop the onion and celery and add to the tuna fish. From there you're going to mix in your mayonnaise. Notice I'm not giving you measurements for this, that's because EVERYONE has their own idea of what is enough for their perfect tuna fish to mayonnaise ratio. After you mixed your desired consistency up you're going to add 1 tablespoon of the spicy mustard and mix well then add the relish to taste. Set that aside and line your cookie sheet with tin foil and place the Everything bagels split and open on it. Spoon the tuna fish onto the bagels and and place one slice of tomato and one slice of cheddar cheese on top. In case you haven't yet it's time to pre-heat the oven.
Now rinse off those potatoes and peel those bad boys! here's the secret to REALLY amazing home made fries. Whether your bake them or fry them ALWAYS rinse them in with clean water and then pat them dry. This gets rid of the excess start from the potatoes. Put the vegetable oil in the pot and once the oil is hot and popping you're going to slide the potatoes into the oil. Watch them carefully when they float to the top take them out and put them in a brown paper bag. OK now mostly likely your kids are going to want to do this part. In the brown paper bag place whatever seasonings you want on your fries, salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's, whatever it is that you love seasoned on your fries close the bag up and give it a shake! Shake it, shake it, and do the french fry dance! I like to peel, wash, and fry each individual potato and place them in separate paper bags for each of the kids to shake. This way each one gets their "own" special home made fries ;-).
Once your oven is pre-heated place the cookie sheet of tuna melt bagels inside and let bake till the cheese melts about 5 to 8 minutes.
Remember those paper bags you shook your fries in? Tear those bags open along one side and spread out at the table then place one bagel tuna melt next to those "special" homemade fries.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes.
I call this School Lunch Specials because they were inspired by some of my favorite school lunches as a kid. Yes I had favorite school lunches as a kid. Not all School lunches are bad and one of my favorites and now my families favorites was Bagel Pizzas with carrots and broccoli and ranch dip. I like to vary this particular recipe because let's face it there are a TON of varieties of bagels. For instance you can use Everything Bagels with pizza sauce and pizza toppings, you can use plain bagels with HUNTS oregano and basil tomato sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like. What I'm saying is the combinations are endless and you can let your imagination fly. To alleviate the "guilt" of serving your kids bagel pizzas you create a side dish of fun veggies for dipping.
Prep time: varies depending on ingredients used for pizza
Hands on time: approximately 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
Bagels (big or small bagels it doesn't matter)
Pizza sauce or tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Sliced pepperoni
Browned Italian sausage.
Browned Hamburger (I like to brown my hamburger ahead of time and freeze it)
Sliced bell peppers
Black or green olives
Really whatever you like on your pizza that's what you put on top of your bagel.
Favorite raw veggies sliced for little hands
Ranch Salad dressing for dipping.
Set the oven to 350 degrees and assemble your bagel pizzas. Cook in pre-heated oven until cheese melts and is slightly bubbly. Cup up your veggies and assemble on the side of the plate. When the bagel pizzas have cooled slide onto the plate with veggies and ranch dressing for dipping.
My families other favorite "School Lunch Special" is tuna melts with Homemade Fries. For this recipe you'll need Lender's Everything Bagels. I've tried other brands and they are sadly just not the same. For easy clean up I suggest lining the cookie sheet with some tin foil.
Ingredients
Favorite brand of tuna fish
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
sweet pickle relish
Mayonnaise
Dijon or some kind of spicy mustard.
5 large potato's (roughly one large potato per family member)
Thick sliced Cheddar Cheese
3 sliced tomatoes
Vegetable oil
Large pot for frying
In a large mixing bowl your going to put in two of your favorite cans of tuna fish (be sure to drain the liquid first). Finely chop the onion and celery and add to the tuna fish. From there you're going to mix in your mayonnaise. Notice I'm not giving you measurements for this, that's because EVERYONE has their own idea of what is enough for their perfect tuna fish to mayonnaise ratio. After you mixed your desired consistency up you're going to add 1 tablespoon of the spicy mustard and mix well then add the relish to taste. Set that aside and line your cookie sheet with tin foil and place the Everything bagels split and open on it. Spoon the tuna fish onto the bagels and and place one slice of tomato and one slice of cheddar cheese on top. In case you haven't yet it's time to pre-heat the oven.
Now rinse off those potatoes and peel those bad boys! here's the secret to REALLY amazing home made fries. Whether your bake them or fry them ALWAYS rinse them in with clean water and then pat them dry. This gets rid of the excess start from the potatoes. Put the vegetable oil in the pot and once the oil is hot and popping you're going to slide the potatoes into the oil. Watch them carefully when they float to the top take them out and put them in a brown paper bag. OK now mostly likely your kids are going to want to do this part. In the brown paper bag place whatever seasonings you want on your fries, salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's, whatever it is that you love seasoned on your fries close the bag up and give it a shake! Shake it, shake it, and do the french fry dance! I like to peel, wash, and fry each individual potato and place them in separate paper bags for each of the kids to shake. This way each one gets their "own" special home made fries ;-).
Once your oven is pre-heated place the cookie sheet of tuna melt bagels inside and let bake till the cheese melts about 5 to 8 minutes.
Remember those paper bags you shook your fries in? Tear those bags open along one side and spread out at the table then place one bagel tuna melt next to those "special" homemade fries.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Meals Made Easier
Thank you for bearing with me while our office went through their busy time. It's finally slowed down enough for me to get back in the saddle. With that in mind I've pulled my favorite "no fuss" easy dinners and put those together for a months worth of meals. The holiday season is on us and our lives will go zipping by at lightening speed. With Fall decorating, Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas, you won't want to be spending a whole lot of time in the kitchen. Or if you happen to be my friend Elizabeth you think Kitchen is synonymous Drudgery (I don't know if that's an actual word but I'm claiming it!), so in honor of the impending holidays and for people like my friend Elizabeth the next few weeks blogs are going to be all about saving time and whipping up easy, yummy, meals.
Week One:
Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 Minutes
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large.
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves. (If you don't have fresh sage leaves you can use dried sage leaves just be sure to cut the amount down by half).
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen tortellini
2 ozs. Fontina or Gruyere, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving.
Heat oven to 450 degrees f. on 2 rimmed baking sheets (or a pizza stone if you have one), toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
While that's roasting you want to start cooking the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, Fontina, 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with Fontina.
IF that's still too much cooking for you here's another fall evening favorite in our house.
Tomato soup with Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseradish Panini.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
1 large family size can of tomato soup
2 large onions, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
sandwich bread (whichever kind you feel like using)
8 ozs thinly sliced roast beef
8 ozs sharp white cheddar, sliced
Ok remember how I said the onions and garlic were optional? Well that's because I like to "doctor" my tomato soup with them. If you'd like to try your soup my way it's super simple, just chop the onions and garlic and throw them in with the canned tomato soup and let it all simmer on the stove top together. Tomato soup is so versatile you can throw just about anything you like in there and it's gonna be good. So that's it for the soup. I do have a homemade tomato soup recipe and just for fun I'll post that for my slow cooked Sunday dinner post.
While the soup is heating up and cooking it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Remember when I posted that improvised panini post? Well same thing applies here if you don't have a panini press don't worry about it you can improvise with other things. A panini is really just a fancy grilled sandwich anyway. Your going to to need a small bowl and a whisk. Stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, cheddar, and half the horseradish mixture.
Side note: if you happen to have some arugula on hand (a peppery type of lettuce) it's awesome on these sandwiches.
Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.
Week One:
Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 Minutes
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large.
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves. (If you don't have fresh sage leaves you can use dried sage leaves just be sure to cut the amount down by half).
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen tortellini
2 ozs. Fontina or Gruyere, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving.
Heat oven to 450 degrees f. on 2 rimmed baking sheets (or a pizza stone if you have one), toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
While that's roasting you want to start cooking the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, Fontina, 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with Fontina.
IF that's still too much cooking for you here's another fall evening favorite in our house.
Tomato soup with Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseradish Panini.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
1 large family size can of tomato soup
2 large onions, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
sandwich bread (whichever kind you feel like using)
8 ozs thinly sliced roast beef
8 ozs sharp white cheddar, sliced
Ok remember how I said the onions and garlic were optional? Well that's because I like to "doctor" my tomato soup with them. If you'd like to try your soup my way it's super simple, just chop the onions and garlic and throw them in with the canned tomato soup and let it all simmer on the stove top together. Tomato soup is so versatile you can throw just about anything you like in there and it's gonna be good. So that's it for the soup. I do have a homemade tomato soup recipe and just for fun I'll post that for my slow cooked Sunday dinner post.
While the soup is heating up and cooking it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Remember when I posted that improvised panini post? Well same thing applies here if you don't have a panini press don't worry about it you can improvise with other things. A panini is really just a fancy grilled sandwich anyway. Your going to to need a small bowl and a whisk. Stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, cheddar, and half the horseradish mixture.
Side note: if you happen to have some arugula on hand (a peppery type of lettuce) it's awesome on these sandwiches.
Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
American Food
It just dawned on me that I totally forgot to post a recipe last week!! I sooo apologize my faithful readers and will make up for it this week by posting two..that's right I said it TWO recipes this week.
I've been thinking about this next recipe for a loooonnnggg time. When I was living in Colorado they had Pow Wow's during the summer and the general public could go and watch the local tribes participate in tribal dances, hatchet throwing contests and other Native American events. I used to go with an ex-boyfriend of mine who was half Native American and my favorite event was the jingle dress dance competition. All those cute little girls and boys dressed up in thier jingle dresses and doe skin pants doing traditional dances and showing off their home made outfits..awww. I know what's not to love about that right?! The only better than a jingle dress competition is an Indian Taco. I remember the first time I ate one of these, I had NO IDEA it was going to spark a love affair with soft, pillowy, fried bread. If anyone has ever had a Native American Taco you know of the magical deliciousness I speak of.
For the longest time the only place I could indulge this food love affair was at the local Pow Wow's. When I moved away from Colorado I can't say I was really upset except for the idea that I would never again get to indulge in an Indian Taco or have Indian Fry Bread. My mind could not accept this for a fact so I set out on a mission to find a recipe for Indian Fry Bread and Indian Taco's to be exact and I found one!!!!! Well actually I found several but after many failed recipes this is the only one that was even close to the taste of a traditional Indian Taco. So here for your midwestern taste buds I give you Chef Dee's Indian Taco recipe!!
Ingredients:
12 Frozen dinner rolls
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups chopped lettuce
1 tomatoe chopped
2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
1: Place frozen rolls on a greased cookie sheet
2: Let rise until nearly double
3: In the meantime brown the ground beef, drain, add taco mix and 1/4 cup of water.
4: heat oil in skillet or pan
5: stretch the dough thin, fry until golden brown, turning once. Drain on a paper towel
6: Top with seasoned meat mixture, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, whatever you normaly put on your tacos..you can put on here.
Eat and enjoy!!!
I've been thinking about this next recipe for a loooonnnggg time. When I was living in Colorado they had Pow Wow's during the summer and the general public could go and watch the local tribes participate in tribal dances, hatchet throwing contests and other Native American events. I used to go with an ex-boyfriend of mine who was half Native American and my favorite event was the jingle dress dance competition. All those cute little girls and boys dressed up in thier jingle dresses and doe skin pants doing traditional dances and showing off their home made outfits..awww. I know what's not to love about that right?! The only better than a jingle dress competition is an Indian Taco. I remember the first time I ate one of these, I had NO IDEA it was going to spark a love affair with soft, pillowy, fried bread. If anyone has ever had a Native American Taco you know of the magical deliciousness I speak of.
For the longest time the only place I could indulge this food love affair was at the local Pow Wow's. When I moved away from Colorado I can't say I was really upset except for the idea that I would never again get to indulge in an Indian Taco or have Indian Fry Bread. My mind could not accept this for a fact so I set out on a mission to find a recipe for Indian Fry Bread and Indian Taco's to be exact and I found one!!!!! Well actually I found several but after many failed recipes this is the only one that was even close to the taste of a traditional Indian Taco. So here for your midwestern taste buds I give you Chef Dee's Indian Taco recipe!!
Ingredients:
12 Frozen dinner rolls
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups chopped lettuce
1 tomatoe chopped
2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
1: Place frozen rolls on a greased cookie sheet
2: Let rise until nearly double
3: In the meantime brown the ground beef, drain, add taco mix and 1/4 cup of water.
4: heat oil in skillet or pan
5: stretch the dough thin, fry until golden brown, turning once. Drain on a paper towel
6: Top with seasoned meat mixture, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, whatever you normaly put on your tacos..you can put on here.
Eat and enjoy!!!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Milkshakes for the BIG KIDS :)
As a mom I'm always sure to have something cold and sweet on hand during the summer for my kids. I'm sure all the other moms that read this blog would agree with this statement. Whether you make your own fruit smoothies or frozen fruit bars or buy them at the store it's easy to find lots of cool sweet treats for kids, but what about mom and dad?
My answer: Chocolate Baileys Milkshakes!!!
yes it's been a while since we had a sweet dessert recipe on here and with the heat I felt it was time to address this issue. Below you will find a generic recipe for Baileys Milkshakes. You can mix and match all kinds of ingredients with this recipe and make it your own.
this serving is for one person so to make more simply double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream
1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate syrup
1/4 cup Milk or
1/4 cup eggnog
1 banana (if you choose to include the banana I reccomend using the milk)
Baileys Irish Creme. (Please note that I did not list a suggested measurement for the Baileys. The reason for this is that I've found that everyone has thier one desired taste they are going for. So the suggest measurement is to your own taste).
DIRECTIONS
1: Add in a blender the ice cream, baileys, chocolate syrup, banana (if you choose this option) and milk (or eggnog whichever you prefer)
2: Blend lightly to desired consistency
3: Pour or spoon into tall frosted glasses and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or a sprig of mint.
There are many variations of this milkshake that you can make. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, just about any kind of fruit will make this milkshake good.
My answer: Chocolate Baileys Milkshakes!!!
yes it's been a while since we had a sweet dessert recipe on here and with the heat I felt it was time to address this issue. Below you will find a generic recipe for Baileys Milkshakes. You can mix and match all kinds of ingredients with this recipe and make it your own.
this serving is for one person so to make more simply double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream
1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate syrup
1/4 cup Milk or
1/4 cup eggnog
1 banana (if you choose to include the banana I reccomend using the milk)
Baileys Irish Creme. (Please note that I did not list a suggested measurement for the Baileys. The reason for this is that I've found that everyone has thier one desired taste they are going for. So the suggest measurement is to your own taste).
DIRECTIONS
1: Add in a blender the ice cream, baileys, chocolate syrup, banana (if you choose this option) and milk (or eggnog whichever you prefer)
2: Blend lightly to desired consistency
3: Pour or spoon into tall frosted glasses and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or a sprig of mint.
There are many variations of this milkshake that you can make. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, just about any kind of fruit will make this milkshake good.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mexican Pasta Bake
I like mexican food but the prep work for it soooo messy and I hate the clean up! Still when I came across this recipe I just had, HAD to try it. Little did I realize when I decided to make it that it would make SOOOOO much. My suggestion to you all is to freeze half of it or else cut the recipe down by half.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Slow cooked Sunday
Most nights I'm rushing to get a meal on the table. Many of the meals I frequent are quick, versatile, and translate into other meals with their left overs. This is why I feel Sunday Dinner, or Saturday whichever is your slow day, is sacred family dinner time. Sunday Dinner is the only meal I will spend hours lovingly prepping and preparing even plating our Sunday Dinner. It's a chance for us to slow down and recap our full week and our weekend. Sunday may be my favorite day of the week just for this tradition.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Everything but the Kitchen sink Spaghetti Sauce
I like pasta but I'm not usually a huge fan of spaghetti sauce. That's why I had to figure out how to make my own. Maybe if I made it from scratch I'd like it better so I opened my fridge and took stock of all the veggitables I had in there and started collecting ones that I thought would be good together. What I came up with was so yummy that even I used the last of the bread to scrape the bowl! The best part about this recipe is you can use whatever veggies you have on hand and it should still be good..you know unless you're trying to mix things like corn and mushrooms that might not be so good.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Nothing screams summer like Lemonade and nothing is better than a tall frosty glass of Pink Lemonade. The tart, sweet, tangy taste just makes your mouth water and your face pucker thinking about it. I love lemonade and especially pink lemonade it always reminds me of my Granny's house in Mississippi. I remember she would have the Country Time Pink Lemonade on hand everytime we came to visit and we'd sit out on the back desk swinging and drinking Pink Lemonade. I used to pretend that I was some southern belle from Gone with the Wind or Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. So many beautiful memories surround that drink that in honor of Summer and the fourth of July I HAD to make Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and because today is a huge deadline at work and I'm a nice person LOL..no really I am ;) I made two batches of these cupcakes and brought them to work for my fellow co-workers. A little bribe to sweeten our day.
I had no idea these things would start a revolution!!! Apparently everyone in our office is chomping at the bit to get a taste of summer!! I'm already committed to making two more batches for employees in other departments not to mention my friends and family at home that feel "cheated" thier words not mine hahaha.
If you want to make these amazing summer time cupcakes for your family, friends, co-workers, or as a bribe to get your way the recipe is below. It's amazing simple and completely fantabulous to eat :)
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Cupcake Batter:
1 box of white cake mix (prefer to use the Pillsbury one that has the pudding in the mix)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 tbs. Country Time Pink Lemonade mix (powdered not pre-made)
water.
Prepare cake batter according to the instructions on the box then mix in the 2 tbs of pink lemonade mix. The box may call for egg whites but I just used the whole three eggs not just the whites and it mixed fine and tasted better :).
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange cupcake wrappers in muffin pan. Fill using an ice cream scoop. I used a scoop and a 1/3 to fill the cupcake wrappers but really you can fill however you want. Cook according to directions.
Icing:
1lb powdered sugar
3 tbs. pink lemonade mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine
Easiest icing ever!! Dump it all in a bowl and mix!!! Careful though because it melts when it gets hot!! So I suggest spooning it on top of the cupcake. I was going to go for a thicker sturdier frosting but everyone loves the glazed powdered sugar one so i'm gonna stick with what works!! :)
Usually I do a review from my kids and then one form the adults but since I sampled this in my office i'm just going to post a few of the e-mail responces I got on these.
J.Cromley (Academic Advisor) said:
Yum! Those are good! Thanks for bringing them in.
K.Lang (Transfer advisor from UMSL) said:
mmmhhmm oh my god so good nom nom nom!!!
M.Clincy (Academic Advisor) said:
Are there enough for me to have three? (consequently Ms.Clincy NO there were not enough for you to have three)
H.Steiner (LPC counsilor) said:
I love the glazed icing on these it compliments the cake well and doesn't leave a greasy, overly sugary mess. It tastes like summer.
K.Hadley (Dept.Secretary) said:
I had to sneak another one but shhhh don't tell!!! Wow I can't believe how good these are! they really taste like pink lemonade..i'm in cupcake love with these.
Why I love this recipe:
First off how easy is this recipe!!!!! I love when something so simple, so easy, and so cute comes together in an amazing package of perfect zen! I especially love when I make something that gets eaten in less than an hour, I mean hello you can put in such a small amount of work and get the greatest pay off. If you make these you will be the talk of any party and I mean that in a good way, not in a 'you drank too much tequila at the last moms night out and now you're the talk of the party oops!!!', kind of way. I'm way more leery of tequila, and pinata's now.
I had no idea these things would start a revolution!!! Apparently everyone in our office is chomping at the bit to get a taste of summer!! I'm already committed to making two more batches for employees in other departments not to mention my friends and family at home that feel "cheated" thier words not mine hahaha.
If you want to make these amazing summer time cupcakes for your family, friends, co-workers, or as a bribe to get your way the recipe is below. It's amazing simple and completely fantabulous to eat :)
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Cupcake Batter:
1 box of white cake mix (prefer to use the Pillsbury one that has the pudding in the mix)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 tbs. Country Time Pink Lemonade mix (powdered not pre-made)
water.
Prepare cake batter according to the instructions on the box then mix in the 2 tbs of pink lemonade mix. The box may call for egg whites but I just used the whole three eggs not just the whites and it mixed fine and tasted better :).
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange cupcake wrappers in muffin pan. Fill using an ice cream scoop. I used a scoop and a 1/3 to fill the cupcake wrappers but really you can fill however you want. Cook according to directions.
Icing:
1lb powdered sugar
3 tbs. pink lemonade mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine
Easiest icing ever!! Dump it all in a bowl and mix!!! Careful though because it melts when it gets hot!! So I suggest spooning it on top of the cupcake. I was going to go for a thicker sturdier frosting but everyone loves the glazed powdered sugar one so i'm gonna stick with what works!! :)
Usually I do a review from my kids and then one form the adults but since I sampled this in my office i'm just going to post a few of the e-mail responces I got on these.
J.Cromley (Academic Advisor) said:
Yum! Those are good! Thanks for bringing them in.
K.Lang (Transfer advisor from UMSL) said:
mmmhhmm oh my god so good nom nom nom!!!
M.Clincy (Academic Advisor) said:
Are there enough for me to have three? (consequently Ms.Clincy NO there were not enough for you to have three)
H.Steiner (LPC counsilor) said:
I love the glazed icing on these it compliments the cake well and doesn't leave a greasy, overly sugary mess. It tastes like summer.
K.Hadley (Dept.Secretary) said:
I had to sneak another one but shhhh don't tell!!! Wow I can't believe how good these are! they really taste like pink lemonade..i'm in cupcake love with these.
Why I love this recipe:
First off how easy is this recipe!!!!! I love when something so simple, so easy, and so cute comes together in an amazing package of perfect zen! I especially love when I make something that gets eaten in less than an hour, I mean hello you can put in such a small amount of work and get the greatest pay off. If you make these you will be the talk of any party and I mean that in a good way, not in a 'you drank too much tequila at the last moms night out and now you're the talk of the party oops!!!', kind of way. I'm way more leery of tequila, and pinata's now.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Portabello Mushroom and basil Panini
My mom friends and I are always talking about how the older we get the more we sound like our mothers. I'm pretty sure my mom is the worlds wisest mom I'm ok with hearing her words come out of my mouth when I'm talking to my kids. What I never expected was to hear phrases and sayings my FATHER said come out of my mouth. I remember very clearly the first time I heard one of his sayings uttered by me. It was as if I were in slow motion and yet helpless to prevent them being spoken. A true out of body experience. I won't go into his doubtful words of wisdom sufficet to say i've managed to come to grips with the fact that i'm more like my father than I originally thought. One of the biggest things we have in common is our love of kitchen gadgets and the soothing, peaceful feeling we get when we spend time in the kitchen. Today's recipe is in honor of my dad a man who could find a million and one uses for a skillet and was the king of improvisation: As my dad would say if you don't have what you need you find a way to make it work.
Portabello Mushroom and Basil Pesto Panini
Ingredients
Sliced Ciabatta, or other sturdy Bread4 portabello mushrooms,
slice tomato
sliced onion (preferably vidalia if you have it otherwise a sweeter onion like a red would work just as well)
mozzarella cheese (sliced mozzarella if you have it but the shredded one worked just as well)
fresh basil pesto (save yourself some trouble and money and just pick it up at Walmart)
olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
1. Saute mushrooms in olive oil until tender over medium heat. Brush one side of bread with olive oil. Turn over and layer both pieces with mozzarella. Then add to one side a teaspoon of pesto, sauteed mushrooms, sliced onion and tomato. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put sandwich together.
2. Grill in panini press until browned.
If you don’t have a panini press, that's ok you can just grill it like a regular grilled cheese or you can improvise like dear old dad would have done and use a heavy plate or another smaller skillet to press the sandwich down.
If you are a member of the Produce Coop Portabello Mushrooms can be ordered through them. It's five pounds so I would suggest finding someone that can share them with you. Vidalia onions are also available through the coop but you're on your own with the cheese and bread :) I would suggest for money saving purposes hitting up your local discount bread store. You can often find the more expensive breads like ciabatta or sourdough on sale. If money is no option then Panera makes a great sourdough bread that you can buy and bring home to make these awesome panini's.
This weeks kid reviews for this recipe:
Gavin said: It's good but I don't like the green leaves. (that would be the basil)
Magnus said: More but I noticed he didn't eat the basil either.
Why I like this recipe:
Technically it's not a "recipe" it's a sandwich but I like it because it's a good hearty dinner without a lot of mess. You get a ton of veggies, protien and calcium from the mozzarella and it's a sandwich you can feel good about serving your children for dinner. For added vitamin oomph you can serve this with a side of Sweet Potato Fries. The best best best part of this dinner is it took less than 45 minutes to make it from the prep to table! For a busy working mom with after work activities you just can not beat that!!!
I hope you enjoyed this weeks I MADE THIS!! If you decide to try this at home I would greatly love to hear your feedback on what you thought. If you have your own reviews you'd like to add of this weeks recipe please feel free to post them below. I'm always on the lookout for great modifications to everyday recipes.
Thank you and happy improvising :)
Portabello Mushroom and Basil Pesto Panini
Ingredients
Sliced Ciabatta, or other sturdy Bread4 portabello mushrooms,
slice tomato
sliced onion (preferably vidalia if you have it otherwise a sweeter onion like a red would work just as well)
mozzarella cheese (sliced mozzarella if you have it but the shredded one worked just as well)
fresh basil pesto (save yourself some trouble and money and just pick it up at Walmart)
olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
1. Saute mushrooms in olive oil until tender over medium heat. Brush one side of bread with olive oil. Turn over and layer both pieces with mozzarella. Then add to one side a teaspoon of pesto, sauteed mushrooms, sliced onion and tomato. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put sandwich together.
2. Grill in panini press until browned.
If you don’t have a panini press, that's ok you can just grill it like a regular grilled cheese or you can improvise like dear old dad would have done and use a heavy plate or another smaller skillet to press the sandwich down.
If you are a member of the Produce Coop Portabello Mushrooms can be ordered through them. It's five pounds so I would suggest finding someone that can share them with you. Vidalia onions are also available through the coop but you're on your own with the cheese and bread :) I would suggest for money saving purposes hitting up your local discount bread store. You can often find the more expensive breads like ciabatta or sourdough on sale. If money is no option then Panera makes a great sourdough bread that you can buy and bring home to make these awesome panini's.
This weeks kid reviews for this recipe:
Gavin said: It's good but I don't like the green leaves. (that would be the basil)
Magnus said: More but I noticed he didn't eat the basil either.
Why I like this recipe:
Technically it's not a "recipe" it's a sandwich but I like it because it's a good hearty dinner without a lot of mess. You get a ton of veggies, protien and calcium from the mozzarella and it's a sandwich you can feel good about serving your children for dinner. For added vitamin oomph you can serve this with a side of Sweet Potato Fries. The best best best part of this dinner is it took less than 45 minutes to make it from the prep to table! For a busy working mom with after work activities you just can not beat that!!!
I hope you enjoyed this weeks I MADE THIS!! If you decide to try this at home I would greatly love to hear your feedback on what you thought. If you have your own reviews you'd like to add of this weeks recipe please feel free to post them below. I'm always on the lookout for great modifications to everyday recipes.
Thank you and happy improvising :)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Mini-Lasagna's (pictures to come later)
As promised I made the mini-Lasagna's last night. I was up till 1 a.m. making these because I had to get a late start on them :(
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/mini-lasagna-cups.html
If you click on the link it will take you to Kevin and Amanda's website which lists the original recipe for the mini-Lasagnas. You can use their version or you can use my modified version below. The only thing I would say is to make sure you use the wonton wrappers as actual lasagna noodles will dry out and get hard in the oven baking process. I discovered this when I tried it last night!
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
24 wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
2 toes minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
You'll notice that I took out the pepper and kosher salt in my modified version. My reasoning for this is that canned spaghetti sauce has a LOT of sodium already in it and in place of pepper I used minced garlic and some dried Italian seasoning to kick up the flavor. Cause you know I'm Cajun and we can't leave ANYTHING alone lol. The recipe calls for 1lb of sausage Kevin and Amanda used Jimmy Dean pork sausage..I say no! Schnucks has an excellent selection of ground Italian sausage and pork sausage. Take your pick of these two sausages and you will be much happier with the end result. Just to be fair I did try the meat sauce with Jimmy Dean sausage and it wasn't bad but it was very bland. So if you're afraid of spices or seasonings go ahead and use the Jimmy Dean sausage but don't say I didn't warn you. Feel free to use any kind of shredded cheese you have on hand but I stuck with the traditional Mozzarella cheese.
How to cook this:
First get a big wide skillet for browning the meat. Normally I boil my ground meat in a pot of water to get rid of the grease but in this case we're cooking the sausage and the hamburger together and you want that grease from the sausage to flavor the hamburger. Go ahead and dump the ground meat and the sausage into the skillet together and mash it all up to start browning. While that's heating up and cooking go ahead and mince the two toes of garlic and set aside. Next go ahead and open the can of spaghetti sauce or jar whichever your favorite sauce is. I used Schnucks brand spaghetti sauce the Garlic and Herb one. In case you haven't noticed my family likes garlic. Ok now go check on your meat, if it's close to being done now would be the time that you want to toss in the minced garlic and the Italian seasonings, so go ahead and do that and mix it all up. Depending on how strong a garlic taste you want depends on when you toss it in. If you toss the garlic in early a lot of the flavor will cook away, toss is in toward the end if you want a stronger garlic taste. Let that simmer together for a few minutes then pour in your spaghetti sauce and mix together! Yum!! Then set aside and LETS GET READY TO ASSEMBLE!!!!
Preheat your oven to 350.
Next get out your muffin and grease the pan. I used Pam spray because it's easier and neater and cleaner then regular margarine or butter. Once greased place the wonton wrappers inside the muffin pan and use a regular small spoon to spoon in your cheese. If you have a small melon baller you can use that but I found a regular kitchen spoon works just as well. Next spoon a small amount of your meat sauce on top of the cheese and layer another wonton wrapper on top. Repeat with the cheese and meat sauce and then top with whatever shredded cheese you chose to use. Do this for all of them and then place in the oven and cook until the cheese melts.
Pull out and let stand for about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle by hand. These slide out of the muffin pan extremely easy and bonus you don't need to dirty a dish to eat these :-)
RATINGS:
Gavin and Magnus both gave this recipe two hands up! Gavin loved that he didn't have to use a fork and Magnus just loved eating it.
Phillip gave it a 7 out of 10
Roxanne's rating is pending her trial taste tonight.
WHY I LIKE THIS RECIPE:
I love versatile recipes and this one is hands down the most versatile I've seen outside of Jamabalaya. I loved how easy it was to cook and assemble. The bonus of this recipe, other than it's portability, is the left over meat sauce. I don't know about the rest of you but when I can stretch one meal out into three or four I feel like a SuperMom and a SuperWoman all rolled into one and this recipe lets you do just that! With the leftover meat sauce you can either refrigerate it or freeze it to use later for spaghetti or bonus you can boil some lasagna noodles and make regular lasagna with the leftover meat sauce and ricotta cheese.
Since I was already in the kitchen and pretty slap happy by now I decided to use my two fancy new loaf pans to make two lasagne's with the leftover meat sauce and cheese. That means this one recipe yielded three dinners for my family of four. Now if my teenager had been home that would not have stretched near as far ;-)
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/mini-lasagna-cups.html
If you click on the link it will take you to Kevin and Amanda's website which lists the original recipe for the mini-Lasagnas. You can use their version or you can use my modified version below. The only thing I would say is to make sure you use the wonton wrappers as actual lasagna noodles will dry out and get hard in the oven baking process. I discovered this when I tried it last night!
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
24 wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
2 toes minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
You'll notice that I took out the pepper and kosher salt in my modified version. My reasoning for this is that canned spaghetti sauce has a LOT of sodium already in it and in place of pepper I used minced garlic and some dried Italian seasoning to kick up the flavor. Cause you know I'm Cajun and we can't leave ANYTHING alone lol. The recipe calls for 1lb of sausage Kevin and Amanda used Jimmy Dean pork sausage..I say no! Schnucks has an excellent selection of ground Italian sausage and pork sausage. Take your pick of these two sausages and you will be much happier with the end result. Just to be fair I did try the meat sauce with Jimmy Dean sausage and it wasn't bad but it was very bland. So if you're afraid of spices or seasonings go ahead and use the Jimmy Dean sausage but don't say I didn't warn you. Feel free to use any kind of shredded cheese you have on hand but I stuck with the traditional Mozzarella cheese.
How to cook this:
First get a big wide skillet for browning the meat. Normally I boil my ground meat in a pot of water to get rid of the grease but in this case we're cooking the sausage and the hamburger together and you want that grease from the sausage to flavor the hamburger. Go ahead and dump the ground meat and the sausage into the skillet together and mash it all up to start browning. While that's heating up and cooking go ahead and mince the two toes of garlic and set aside. Next go ahead and open the can of spaghetti sauce or jar whichever your favorite sauce is. I used Schnucks brand spaghetti sauce the Garlic and Herb one. In case you haven't noticed my family likes garlic. Ok now go check on your meat, if it's close to being done now would be the time that you want to toss in the minced garlic and the Italian seasonings, so go ahead and do that and mix it all up. Depending on how strong a garlic taste you want depends on when you toss it in. If you toss the garlic in early a lot of the flavor will cook away, toss is in toward the end if you want a stronger garlic taste. Let that simmer together for a few minutes then pour in your spaghetti sauce and mix together! Yum!! Then set aside and LETS GET READY TO ASSEMBLE!!!!
Preheat your oven to 350.
Next get out your muffin and grease the pan. I used Pam spray because it's easier and neater and cleaner then regular margarine or butter. Once greased place the wonton wrappers inside the muffin pan and use a regular small spoon to spoon in your cheese. If you have a small melon baller you can use that but I found a regular kitchen spoon works just as well. Next spoon a small amount of your meat sauce on top of the cheese and layer another wonton wrapper on top. Repeat with the cheese and meat sauce and then top with whatever shredded cheese you chose to use. Do this for all of them and then place in the oven and cook until the cheese melts.
Pull out and let stand for about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle by hand. These slide out of the muffin pan extremely easy and bonus you don't need to dirty a dish to eat these :-)
RATINGS:
Gavin and Magnus both gave this recipe two hands up! Gavin loved that he didn't have to use a fork and Magnus just loved eating it.
Phillip gave it a 7 out of 10
Roxanne's rating is pending her trial taste tonight.
WHY I LIKE THIS RECIPE:
I love versatile recipes and this one is hands down the most versatile I've seen outside of Jamabalaya. I loved how easy it was to cook and assemble. The bonus of this recipe, other than it's portability, is the left over meat sauce. I don't know about the rest of you but when I can stretch one meal out into three or four I feel like a SuperMom and a SuperWoman all rolled into one and this recipe lets you do just that! With the leftover meat sauce you can either refrigerate it or freeze it to use later for spaghetti or bonus you can boil some lasagna noodles and make regular lasagna with the leftover meat sauce and ricotta cheese.
Since I was already in the kitchen and pretty slap happy by now I decided to use my two fancy new loaf pans to make two lasagne's with the leftover meat sauce and cheese. That means this one recipe yielded three dinners for my family of four. Now if my teenager had been home that would not have stretched near as far ;-)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
This is the first!
This blog is dedicated to Food! More importantly it's dedicated to those foodie bloggers out there that generously post thier own food experiences as well as yummy recipes on thier own blogs. So in a sense it's a blog about food about other blogs that are about food.
Each week I will choose a blog at random and make one recipe from that blog. I will post pictures of the preperation for the recipe as well as the final product and as an added bonus I'll have a kids and adults rating system. I work full time outside of the home so I will feature recipes that cater to all levels and time frames of cooking. I'll also add any tweaks for modifications that I personally make to these recipes and you will have the option of trying those or making your own modifications at home.
The kids rating system will be based on my own children's feedback and they range in ages from 2 to 14 years of age. The rating system will be as follows:
if it's a hit with the kids: "They asked for seconds"
If they liked it: "they cleaned thier plate"
If it was ok but not great: "they tried it"
If its a total bomb: "wouldn't even touch it"
I'll be polling my friends and husband for the adult ratings and they will be on a scale of 1-10 with ten being "I'd make this on a regular basis".
For our recipe this week we'll be making Mini Lasagna's brought to you by Kevin {&} Amanda's blog. Next week we'll be making Hash brown Casserole from "Wanna be a country girl" blog.
Each week I will choose a blog at random and make one recipe from that blog. I will post pictures of the preperation for the recipe as well as the final product and as an added bonus I'll have a kids and adults rating system. I work full time outside of the home so I will feature recipes that cater to all levels and time frames of cooking. I'll also add any tweaks for modifications that I personally make to these recipes and you will have the option of trying those or making your own modifications at home.
The kids rating system will be based on my own children's feedback and they range in ages from 2 to 14 years of age. The rating system will be as follows:
if it's a hit with the kids: "They asked for seconds"
If they liked it: "they cleaned thier plate"
If it was ok but not great: "they tried it"
If its a total bomb: "wouldn't even touch it"
I'll be polling my friends and husband for the adult ratings and they will be on a scale of 1-10 with ten being "I'd make this on a regular basis".
For our recipe this week we'll be making Mini Lasagna's brought to you by Kevin {&} Amanda's blog. Next week we'll be making Hash brown Casserole from "Wanna be a country girl" blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)