Mexican Flair

This is my go to meal which I had sort of forgot I had the past few months! I resurrected it tonight! Sandra Lee's Semi Home Cooking is great for meals, drinks and desserts in a flash. Tonight I made her Chorizo Taquitos and I usually make a pitcher of her Beer Margaritas but with Cinco de Mayo still in recent memory I only had a beer.

Chorizo Taquito Recipe (my comments and tweaks are in red!)

1 - 16 oz., bulk package of beef chorizo sausage, casings removed (I have never been able to find beef chorizo sausage. If you know where to buy, let me know! Usually I go to Whole Foods or Vince & Joe's and ask to have chorizo seasoning mixed into ground beef. I have never had a problem with the request and they do not charge extra! If that isn't an option, you could always mix taco or fajita seasoning into your beef.)
1 cup Medium Salsa, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
6 fajita flour shells
Guacamole and Sour Cream for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, brown the meat (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and drain oil from skillet. Stir in salsa and cheese.
2. Place 1 shell on a clean work surface. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into the center of the tortilla. Fold in half and roll. Secure with toothpicks and place on foil covered baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
3. Bake for 15-18 minutes until tortillas are golden brown. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

I usually also serve this with rice and a pitcher of beer margaritas. Enjoy my easy meal!
Mel

Random Food Night

It is unseasonably cool in the Mitten for May. Seeing today topped out around 55 degrees, baked Macaroni and Cheese sounded amazing. My younger brother was my sous chef today because he's home for the week before heading to Chicago for his internship. Mac & Cheese is a little on the straight side of life, I decided we needed a fun dessert. I also used quite a few of my Le Creuset pieces. That always makes me happy.

Another cookbook I highly recommend is Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. Quick easy recipes based on seasons and generally under 30 minutes of prep time. I made the Macaroni and Cheese recipe on page 317. I'll put my edits in red.

Macaroni and Cheese - 8 Servings
1 lb. Elbow Macaroni
4 tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups milk
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper (I did not use this)
1 1/4 cups shredded Yellow Cheddar Cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded White Cheddar Cheese (I used Montery Jack)
Salt & Pepper to taste
8 oz. Ham, diced (I used bacon)
2 Slices White sandwich bread (I used 1/2 cup Panko)


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and reserve. Meanwhile, in a 5 qt heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened (3-5 minutes). Whisk in flour to coat onion. In a slow, stead stream, whisk milk into pot until there are no lumps.
2. Cook, whisking often, until the mixture is thick and bubbly (and coats the back of a wood spoon), about 6-8 minutes. Stir in the Cayenne pepper and 1 cup each of the yellow and white cheeses. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Toss the pasta with the cheese mixture; fold in the ham (or bacon). Transfer to a 9x13 pan or individual dishes.
4. In a food processor, pulse the bread until large crumbs form. Toss with the remaining 1/4 each of cheeses. (I combined the Panko and cheese and added to top of mixture.) Top the pasta mixture with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake until the top is golden, about 30 minutes.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake
From my favorite food magazine, Food Network Mag (pg. 120). I ended up doubling the recipe and using my larger Cocettes. To divide batters and to also make all your cookies evenly sized, I highly suggest getting Scoops, mine are from Pampered Chef.

Brush 4 - 4 oz. ramekins with butter. Sprinkle the bottom of each with brown sugar and line with pineapple slices. Whisk 1 egg, 1/4 cup buttermilk (I used Whipping Cream because I had extra), 3 tbsp. melted butter and a dash of vanilla in a bowl. Then stir in 1/2 cup flour, 6 tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp. baking soda and a pinch of salt. Divide among ramekins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool and unmold. Top with confectioner's sugar.

Here's to warmer weather! My tomatoes need to start growing!!
M

Simple kabobs on the grill!

One day and two posts... Yes, I'm playing catch up today! Last Saturday was a decent day for grilling so chicken and steak kabobs it is! Along with pasta salad and rice pilaf. Now, I'm going to plug a cookbook that everyone needs to get The Joy of Cooking. This cookbook seriously has EVERYTHING in it. Along with helpful hints on to correctly pick cuts of meat to four different ways to make pie crusts.

I was interested in finding up which cuts of beef were best for beef kebabs and here is the answer on pg. 494 of the The Joy of Cooking: boneless beef top loin, sirloin, fillet or top round steak. Kroger had a special on top round steak, so I bought that. Now for marinating meats, I picked up 2 different spice blends: a Caribbean blend for the chicken and standard steak blend. I cubed both the chicken and steak. Chicken was marinated in the spices and a cup of OJ and the steak was the spices and some oil (I probably could have used more oil). 

When making grilled kabobs, don't forget to soak your wood skewers! We don't need unnecessary fire in the grill! For the steak, I alternated green pepper, vidalia onion and red onion. I used pineapple, vidalia onion and red onion with the chicken kabobs. My mouth is watering just remembering the taste of the chicken, yum!! Both were grilled until the internal temperature was spot on (140 for the steak and 165 for the chicken).

For the sides, I made rice pilaf (pg. 355 of my favorite cook book but really, any rice pilaf box would do), pasta salad and regular salad. Dessert was a strawberry rhubarb crisp that I totally forgot to take a picture of!

Pasta Salad

1 lb. pretty pasta (I used Campanelle)

1/2 cup each of 2 or 3 veggies you like (I used tomatoes, asparagus, roasted red pepper and some olives)

Italian dressing (Quanto Basta on this)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Once drained, rinse with cold water.

2. Cook any veggies that need it (I roasted my asparagus) and cut the others into bite size chunks.

3. In a large bowl, combine pasta and veggies. Add Italian dressing until you like how it tastes!

4. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

I am so happy it's finally grilling and croquet weather! Enjoy!

Mel P.

The BF's Mexican Night

A few weeks ago, I received the Taste of Home magazine (April/May 2011). M started flipping through it and decided he wanted everything in the magazine. He ended up making the Turkey Enchiladas and a delicious margarita for our Friday night fiesta. M also made Mexican rice to finish off the meal.

Terrific Turkey Enchiladas (pg. 82)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Enchiladas
3/4 lb Ground Turkey
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cup salsa
1 tbsp. cornmeal (we used flour to thicken)
2 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
6 flour tortillas (warmed)
1 1/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese

1. Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor, cover and pulse until blended.
2. Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet, cook the turkey, onion and garlic in oil over medium heat, until the meat is no longer pink. Remove from heat; stir in the salsa, cornmeal and seasonings.
3. Spoon 1/3 cup turkey mixture down the center of each tortilla. Add cheese (~2 tbsp.). Roll up and place seam side down in a greased baking dish. After all are filled, spoon remaining corn mixture and cheese over tortillas.
4. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 5 more minutes.

Enjoy!
Mel P

A Royal Celebration

Friday marked the nuptials of Catherine Middleton to Prince William. Being the romantic I am, I was up at 4:15 and had scones in the oven before 5 am. We had a nice little royal party with scones, fruit and coffee. I just couldn't bring myself to drinking tea. Enjoy!

The original recipe is from Anne Burrell and can be found here. My modifications included removing the cinnamon (my mom cannot eat cinnamon) and increasing the cream based on user comments. Everyone at my party LOVED these scones. They are delicious served warm.


Almond and Cherry Scones
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 lemon, zested
Pinch salt
1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into pea size pieces
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
3/4 cup heavy cream
Turbinado sugar, for garnishing

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, salt and cinnamon. Add in the butter and rub with your fingers into the dry ingredients until a coarse meal forms. Add in the cherries and almonds. Add the heavy cream and combine it into the butter flour mixture.

3. Form the dough into a 1-inch thick disk and cut it into 6 wedges. Sprinkle each wedge generously with the turbinado sugar. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake in the preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Serve warm.