Beef Enchiladas with Homegrown Green Beans

I had ground beef in the freezer and wanted to make something other than tacos. I did some googling and decided to make beef enchiladas.

I found a recipe for beef enchiladas that pointed to a recipe for enchilada sauce. I thought it was tasty.

I also fixed the green beans we picked from the garden. A strange combination but it was good.



Beef Enchiladas
found on a google search at this site

• 1 lb lean ground beef
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• enchilada sauce
• 8 small corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Brown beef, onions & garlic. Pour off grease. Season with salt & pepper. Add 1/2 cup enchilada sauce.

Pour cup of enchilada sauce in a shallow dish. Dip tortillas in sauce, coating both sides. Spoon beef mixture in center of tortilla. Roll up tortilla and place seam down in 13 x 9 casserole dish. Bake covered for 15 minutes.

Spoon remaining enchilada sauce on top of enchiladas. Top with shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for additional 10 minutes.

Top with chopped cilantro & sour cream.

Enchilada Sauce
found on a google search at this site

• 2 T oil
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  
• 2 T chili powder
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1 t cumin
  
• 1/2 t salt
  
• 3 1/2 cups tomato sauce
  
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add onion & garlic, saute until soft. Add tomato sauce & spices. Cover and simmer approx 30 minutes.

EGreen Beans
from a friend

• 1 lb green beans
• butter
• chicken stock or water
  
• salt & pepper
  

Melt butter in saute pan. Saute green beans in butter for 3-4 minutes. Add chicken stock (approx 1/4 cup.) Cover pan and let steam for 3-4 minutes. Add salt & pepper.

The enchilada sauce recipe went with cheese enchiladas. It said to fry the tortillas. The beef recipe didn't call for it. I don't like crunchy corn tortillas but I didn't want to fry my corn tortillas to soften them. I sprayed them with cooking spray and baked them at 350 for a few minutes. It worked perfectly.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

I read about this sauce last year in Orangette. It sounded wonderful and I even owned the book it came from. DH bought it for me years ago at a random book sale in the lobby of the building where he worked. I had never used it before.

This week A request spaghetti for dinner. I gave into her request just so I could finally try this recipe. It was so worth it, and I wish I hadn't waited this long. It is so simple and tastes so good. I can't wait until this summer when I have fresh tomatoes.






Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, by Marcella Hazan

• 2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices (about one 28-oz. can)
• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
• Salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter, and the onion halves in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and salt as needed.

Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.

Roasted Shrimp with Herb Sauce

I get way too stressed out every afternoon when I suddenly realize that it is 4:30 and I have not thought of dinner. We end up eating macaroni & cheese and sandwiches. That is fine every now and then, but not twice a week. I decided I needed to go back to meal planning.

This week I decided I needed to make shrimp because I had some in my freezer. I didn't want to serve it over pasta because I was going to have tortellini another night. I paged through the How to Cook Everything cookbook I checked out from the library and found the recipe for Roasted Shrimp in Herb Sauce.

I wasn't sure what to serve with it. I figured I would make some rice and buy a vegetable. The next day I got the Splendid Table weekly email with a recipe for roasted asparagus. There was my vegetable side.

A couple days later I read the Wednesday Chef's post about baking rice. I sent an email off to my sisters & mom about cooking rice, which turned into a discussion of jack cheese rice, a side dish we had a lot growing up. I hadn't made it in years.

My meal was set.




And it was good!

Roasted Shrimp with Herb Sauce
How To Cook Everything Mark Bittman

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
• 1 cup parsley (thin stems are okay; discard thick ones)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds shrimp, in the 20 to 30 per pound range, peeled
• 1/3 cup shrimp, fish, or chicken stock, white wine, or water

Preheat the oven to 500 F. Combine the garlic and oil in the container of a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add the scallions and parsley and pulse until the mixture is minced. Toss with the shrimp, salt, pepper, and chilis.

Put the shrimp in a roasting pan that will accommodate them comfortably. Add the liquid and put the pan in the oven. Roast, stirring once, until the mixture is bubbly and hot, and the shrimp all pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately.


Roast Asparagus with Lemon & Parmigiano-Reggiano Furls
The Splended Table newsletter

• 1-1/2 pounds pencil-slim asparagus, trimmed of tough stems
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon
• About 3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in a chunk (if not to be had, use Asiago, a sharp cheddar, or any other nutty tasting cheese)

1. Preheat oven 450 degrees F. Soak asparagus in a sink full of cold water for 5 minutes. Drain and gently roll in paper towels to dry.

2. In a large shallow baking pan, roll asparagus with oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread out in a single layer. Roast 3 minutes, or until tender crisp. Test by tasting or piercing with a knife to see there is still some firmness. Remove with tongs to a platter.

3. Just before serving, taste for salt and pepper. Sprinkle with lemon juice. With a vegetable peeler, shave furls of the cheese over the asparagus. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Jack Cheese Rice

• 1 cup rice, (2 cups cooked)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can chopped green chiles
• 1 cup jalapeno jack cheese, shredded
• parmesan cheese
  

Combine all ingredients and put in a casserole dish. Top with parmesan cheese (optional). Bake until bubbly at edges.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I saw this recipe on a blog I frequently read. Her picture looked good and I needed to make cookies so I gave it try.



Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
from A Friend to knit with

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop from tablespoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp

It was the picture that caught me. I was wandering through blogs one afternooon, I saw the photo and I needed to make it. It helped that Lent has just started and I was thinking about non-meat meals for Fridays.

Tonight I finally got around to trying the recipe. I liked it. I think I messed up measuring my salt because the taste of it was heavy. Luckily the squeeze of lemon at the end helped soften the edge of the salt. Of course, DH didn't think it was salty at all.

My picture isn't quite as beautiful or eye-catching but I'll show you none the less.

Chocolate Chip Cake

Sister #5 called to ask for this recipe this morning. It is a cake that we made all the time growing up. I think the recipe is came from our Aunt Pat.

Chocolate Chip Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water
1 c sour cream
4 eggs (best at room temperature)
1 package (12 oz) mini chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients except eggs and chocolate chips. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well. Fold in chocolate chips. Grease a bundt pan lightly and put in mixture. Bake for 1 hour. Cool for 45 minutes and unmold.

Sift confectioner's sugar on top before serving.

Hopefully my sister will provide me with a picture for this post later. Hint, hint , Mims!

Here's the picture:


Sister #5 made it with a devil's food cake instead of the yellow cake mix. She said she liked the yellow cake mix better. The cake tasted fine, but it wasn't want she was used to having.

Brisket Chili

Last week, I was spending my morning as I normally do. I yelled loudly asked the children to keep moving/put on socks & shoes/eat breakfast/brush teeth. DH came out of the bedroom telling me that I had to make brisket chili. It seems they had some chef cooking on the morning news program. Lucky for him that Sunday was the Super Bowl and I actually had a reason to make brisket chili. Plus after reading the recipe and checking out his restaurants, I wanted to try it for myself.

We ended up asked a few families over to watch the game plus my mom and sister#5 showed up. I made chili, DH made jalapeno poppers and everyone else brought side and appetizers. The chili was a hit. The batch was huge which was good because people went back for seconds and even thirds. DH is already planning to enter the Dad's Club chili cook off next year with this recipe.

I didn't get pictures of the chili on Sunday, but I ended up cooking it down and make pseudo brisket chili sloppy joes for dinner tonight. It was a great use of the leftovers.



Jason Boso's Brisket Chili

• 3-5 lbs of brisket
• 2 large yellow onions slicked
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 large can stewed tomatoes (28 oz)
• 1 can Lone Star Beer
• 1 chopped jalapeno
• 2 T tomato paste
• 5 T ancho chili powder
• 1 T light chili powder
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T granulated sugar
• 3/4 T salt

Trim and chop brisket into 1/2 lb pieces. Sear sides of beef in large cast iron pot or braising pot. Remive meat and saute sliced onions in rendered fat left in pot. In another pan, toast all spices together. Once onions are caramelized, scarpe bottom of pan and then add all ingredients and meat. Cover meat 3/4 of way with beer and stock. Cover and simmer for 5 hours or until the meat falls apart.


I misread the recipe and thought it said 1/2 inch pieces, so I was cubing the brisket. About halfway through, DH noticed and corrected me. It wasn't a big deal, it all fell apart anyway. I just put the cubes on top of the big pieces. I also wasn't sure what to include in the toasting the spices part. I left the sugar and salt out and just toasted the chili powders. I didn't have Lone Star, we had an old 16 oz can of Budweiser that has been in our back fridge for at least a year. I finally found a use for it.

This recipe was definitely a hit. I will make it again.

Spicy Beef

I made this meal back in mid-December. It was in the newspaper, the picture looked okay and I had ground beef. I gave it a try. It was pretty good.

Spicy Beef in Lettuce Cups
adapted from the Dallas Morning News

• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 T dry sherry, white wine or Shaoxing wine
• 2 t cornstarch
• 1/2 t sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 T chopped fresh ginger
• 1 T chopped garlic
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 3 T finely chopped scallions
• 1 T sesame oil

In a small bow, combine soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, sugar and salt. Stir will to dissolve the cornstarch.

In a medium bowl, break up the ground beef. Gently mix in the soy sauce mixture. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.

Heat a wok or a large, deep skillet over medium-high until very hot. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the ginger and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, tossing once until fragrant but not browned.

Crumble in the ground beef and use a spatula to break it up and spread over pan to help cook evenly. Let it cook until it changes color on one side, 1 to 2 minutes.

Turn the meat and let it cook another minute undisturbed. Toss well using spatula to break up large chunks.

When the meat is cooked, add the red pepper flakes and the scallions, then toss well. Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat, tossing once more to mix everything well.

Serve in lettuce cups.



It was late and mid-December so the lighting was bad for the picture. It tasted so much better than it looks. The kids didn't really eat it, too spicy. They like the plain rice I made to go with it. DH liked it but thought it was a little greasy. I think next time I'll use less sesame oil.

Pork Tenderloin and Mushroom Marsala

We've had a pork tenderloin the freezer for awhile. I really needed to make something with it.

I didn't feel like making the pork with tabasco onions recipe. Although it is a good dish, it has never lived up to the incredibly awesome meal that it was the very first time I made it. That night I actually packed up leftovers and drove to Sister #2's house immediately after dinner to make her try it. It was that good. I've made it 3 times since and it's been fine, just not the superb, outstanding, make-me-like-pork recipe it was the first time.

There was a recipe in the newspaper the other day that intrigued me. It was pork tenderloin and mushrooms. DH loves mushrooms. I decided to try it this afternoon.



Roasted Pork Tenderloin and Mushroom Marsala
adapted from the Dallas Morning News via the Washington Post

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T butter (divided use)
• salt & pepper
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs pork tenderloins
• 1 lb assorted mushrooms
• 1 med onion, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• 1/2 c dry Marsala wine
• 1/2 c chicken broth
• 2 T parsley leaves

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat oil & 1 T butter over medium heat in large braiser. Season tenderloins with salt & pepper and add to pan. Cook for 6-7 minutes turning halfway through until they are browned. They will not be cooked through. Transfer them to a plate.

Increase heat to med-high. Add mushrooms to pan and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Add onion, cook 2-3 minutes longer, until onions start to soften. Season with salt & pepper. Return tenderloins to the pan. Place pan in oven and roast for 20 minutes (until internal temp of meat is 160.)

Remove pan from oven and place tenderloins on a plate. Cover loosely to keep warm.

Place pan on stove over med-high heat. Cook 3-4 minutes until pan juices have almost evaporated. Add the wine and chicken broth, cook 3-4 minutes until reduced by half.

Add remaining butter in small pieces, stirring as butter melts. Taste and season as needed. Cut tenderloins crosswise into thin slices, top with mushroom sauce & sprinkling of parsley.

It turned out to be very good. It was even good enough to make for snobby food type friends. It actually might be impressive. Of course, I need to make it another time or two so I can make sure it stays that way.

Pantry soup

This is a boring post. There are no pictures and this isn't a true recipe.

My daughter said she wanted soup something for dinner tonight and then off she went to soccer practice. I had 60 minute to figure out what soup something meant for dinner. I scrounged the fridge and the pantry and came up with this.

1 package of beef sausage, sliced and sauteed
1 can progresso lentil soup
1 can progresso southwest vegetable soup
1 cup rice cooked in chicken broth (2 cups after cooking)

Mix together and simmer.

It was tasty. A looked at it and grossed out for a second, fussing because she wanted her rice plain, not mixed in. I told her I thought it would taste okay and to give it a try. She did and loved it.

Sister#1 makes another dish with the progresso lentil soup so I keep it on hand. The southwest vegetable added a nice, light mexican flavor but wasn't too spicy for the kids. This is a good meal that will do next time I'm in a pinch for dinner.

Mom's homemade pizza

Growing up my mom always made homemade pizza. It was actually a dinner roll recipe from a paperback cookbook on breads, maybe by Sunshine, I'm not sure. We made trefoil rolls (or 3 ball dough rolls as I always called them) from the same recipe every holiday.

When one of my nieces had to make a family cookbook, a couple of sisters and I were talking about family recipes that should be included. I immediately said pizza dough. To my amazement, Sister#2 and Sister#5 have NEVER made pizza dough. Someone else always made it so they never had to. Now they just wait for one of us to make it and invite them over.

Last night I made homemade pizza. The dough was beautiful and rose so nicely. The crust was light and chewy and perfect.


Dough


Risen Dough




Pizza Dough
from Mom's cookbook

• 6 cups flour
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
  
• 1 package yeast
  
• 1/4 c warm water
  
• salt
• 2 eggs plus enough scalded & cooled milk to make 2 cups
  

Proof yeast in warm water with pinch of sugar. Put three cups of flour in the kitchen aid. Add sugar and salt. Turn on mixer to make small bowl. Add butter/oil, proofed yeast and egg/milk mixture. Mix until combined. Add another 2 cups of flour, mix until combined between each cup. Switch from paddle to dough hook. Add last cup of flour and knead until dough forms. You made need add a little extra flour. Pull dough off hook and knead by hand in a little flour if necessary. Put dough in greased bowl and let rise for a couple of hours.

Once the dough has risen, you can put it in cookie sheets and top with favorite toppings. Cook at 375-400 for 15-20 minutes. It all depends on your oven and how thick your pizza is.


There are still some leftovers in the fridge in case anyone want to stop by for a piece. But come early, they won't last long.

Homemade Pesto

I planted a basil plant about a month ago. It wasn't doing so great until we went on vacation. I had my husband put the sprinklers on to water that bed every night. When we came home, I found out that I hadn't been watering enough. The basil plant had doubled in size in about a week.

Since it is so big, I decided tonight that I needed to actually cook with it.

I sent the kids out to gather the basil. They got quite a bit. I hope there is some left on the plant.








Pesto
adapted from Simply Recipes blog

• 2 cups basil, packed
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup walnuts (or pine nuts, but I was out)
• 3 cloves garlic
  
• salt

Add walnuts to food processor and pulse a few times. Add basil and process. Add garlic and process. Add cheese and process. Add salt and process.


I sauteed some chicken strips and served them over pasta with pesto sauce. DH hasn't stopped telling me how terrific dinner was, so I guess it turned out okay.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken

I found this recipe on the Simply Recipes blog. DH loves cilantro so I thought it might be good to try. As I knew he would, he loved it!



Moroccan Spiced Chicken
from Simply Recipes blog

• plain yogurt
• fresh cilantro chopped
• olive oil
• garlic
• cumin
• paprika
• salt
• pepper
• chicken breasts
  

Mix the ingredient in a bowl. Add chicken and marinade for several hours.

The Simply Recipes blog has measurements. I just added stuff. It really was good and the children didn't complain about it being too spicy.

I also served rice and broccoli. I did nothing fancy except steam it on the stove for 8 minutes after it boils. I think it is the perfect texture. I can't bring myself to microwave it, too rubbery. I realized after I put on the broccoli and looked out the window at DH putting the chicken on the grill that I hadn't started the rice. I didn't have 20 minutes for rice.

I remembered reading about boiling rice. There was my chance to try it. I didn't read the directions thoroughly enough because it says to undercook the rice a little and then steam it to finish it off. The rice was a little gummysticky. The kids loved it. A said she could eat my sticky rice every meal for a year. That's high praise from my 8 year old.

Flank Steak

I've been lazy the past few months. I haven't been cooking much. Well, I've been cooking but nothing to blog about. I've been scrounging for food. My kids have been eating fish sticks, tater tots, tuna fish & scrambled eggs. Last Sunday we realized that we had pretty well cleaned out the pantry and we needed to buy more food. We ended up at Sam's Club because we needed more peanuts and we came out with a bunch of meat. I used half a huge thing of meat to make a triple batch of meatballs. We also bought some a couple of beef roast & pork tenderloins and some flank steak.

Flank steak is one of those meals I remember from growing up. Mom would score the meat and broil it in the oven. When we first go married DH & I took a trip to Denver. I bought the Colorado Cache cookbook as a souvenir. It was a cookbook I remember my mother having. I think I've only used one recipe from it since, the flank steak marinade. We hadn't had it in a long time and DH remembered it as soon as he saw the meat at Sam's.

Tuesday night DH headed out to grill and I went out to document it for this blog. He thinks I'm entirely silly for taking pictures of food, but when he offered to flip the steak to see if the picture was better from the other side, I snapped a shot. Of course he was right.



I served meat with mashed potatoes and green beans cooked with caramelized garlic. It was a yummy meal. Much better than fish sticks and tater tots.



Marinated Grilled Flank Steak
adapted from Colorado Cache Cookbook

• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup or more dry red wine
• 3 Tbs vegetable oil
• 2 Tbs Worchestershire sauce
• 1 large clove garlic
• pepper
• chopped green onion

Mix ingredients. Put steak in ziploc bag and pour over. Marinate in refrigerator for several hours, turning occassionally.

Broil meat over hot coals for 5 minutes per side for rare.

I used less vegetable oil and soy sauce. I added more red wine. I threw in some parsley because I had some. DH loves it went I throw in some cilantro. It's a good marinade to play with.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

It has been months since I've posted here. This post is from Easter. Yes, Easter was in March and it is now almost May. It's been on my to-do list forever and I'm just now getting around to it.

I got this recipe from the Chronicle Books Coffeecake cookbook from my friend in Seattle. She sent it to me for my birthday because she has loved so many recipes from it. The first one she mentioned to me was the strawberry coffeecake. Now, I'm not a fan of fruit in general. I'll eat a nice tart granny smith, an occasional crisp sweet-tart grape, a clementine when in season. I've recently ventured in the the realm of fuji apples and enjoyed them. But I have a texture issue with most fruit and rarely eat them.

This recipe was well recommended so I decided to give it a try. I made it last September for a meeting of my women's group from church. I was entirely surprised to find that I really liked it. The cream cheese base was delicious and even the strawberry were good (chopped in small pieces.) When I ate it I thought of something different.

Black raspberry jelly. I never eat jelly (back to my issues with fruit) except for black raspberry jelly in a jelly pie. My grandmother used to take her leftover pie crust, slater it with black raspberry jelly, fold it in half and bake it. It was delicious.

I wanted to try the cake again but never really had a reason until Easter. We had brunch with the ILs and I finally had a chance to make this coffee cake again. I decided, in case my jelly idea was crazy, I would make two. One strawberry and one black raspberry. Luckily I was right. The jelly was terrific. Better than the strawberry, if you ask me and the rest of the family who gobbled it down.


Strawberry (or Black Raspberry) Coffeecake
adapted from Coffeecakes from Chronicle Press

• 8oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 9 Tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13 baking pan

Combine cream cheese, butter and sugar and beat with until light and fluffy. Stir in milk, eggs and vanilla. Beat thoroughly. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Spread half of batter in prepared pan. Scatter the berries evenly over the batter. Dot the remaining batter over the berries. Mix the brown sugar and nuts together and sprinkle over the batter

Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown.

When I made the black raspberry version, I just put dollops of jelly over the base dough.

Family fun meatballs

I had so much luck with the chicken biscuit pie, I thought I would try another Family Fun recipe. A requested spaghetti (she likes her noodles, doesn't she) so I tried their meatballs. They were quick and easy to make. I used the leftover spaghetti sauce. There wasn't quite enough(I like a lot of sauce) so I added one serving of the tomato soup. It was a terrific dinner.



Meatballs
adapted from FamilyFun.com

• 1/4 c finely chopped onion
• 1/2 c minced italian parsley
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 T Worchestershire sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 t oregano
• 1 t basil
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t pepper

Preheat oven to 350

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands

Form into walnut size balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 20-25 minutes until well browned.

I think next time I would put them on a cooling rack thing so they don't sit in the grease. I also turned them halfway through so they didn't get too brown on the bottom.

Egg noodles & DH's chicken

I noticed this weekend that our pantry was still pretty bare. Actually really, really bare. I needed to make a list and go to the store. I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. A answered buttered noodles. I said no, we weren't going to have buttered noodles for dinner, but we could have a dinner with noodles in it. If she wanted, she could help me make noodles from scratch.

Sunday night I stopped by my mother's to get the Redbook Cookbook. This was the cookbook we used to make my all-time favorite dinner, ravioli with a spinach & meat filling. I asked for this dinner for my birthday all the time growing up. When I got old enough, I made it myself. I continued that tradition until I had children. I've always been too busy to make it since them. I even got a pasta roller from my father years and years ago. It had never been opened. Now, it was time.

I got the cookbook from Mom on Sunday night. I think the only recipe we've used from the book is the ravioli recipe. In fact the book opens to the page showing how to make the egg noodle dough.


A & I made the dough together, rolled it out and cut it. I should have gotten pictures of A rolling the dough. I forgot. I did get a picture of the noodles drying.


Egg Noodles
adapted from the Redbook Cookbook

• 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 T lukewarm water

Place flour in a bowl. Make well in the center fo the flour. Add eggs, salt & water into well. Break up eggs with a fork and mix in the flour until mixture is too stiff to stir. With fingers, work the rest of the flour in the bowl. Dough should form into a ball.

Knead dough on the floured surface. Fold it in half toward you. Press down lightly and push away from you with the heels of your hands. Give dough a 1/4 turn and repeat. Continue to knead for 15 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.

Again, I subbed 1 cup white whole wheat flour in this recipe. Aside from color, you couldn't tell the difference. Gotta love King Arthur!

Once we had the noodles made, I had to cook something to go with them. I knew immediately what I would make. Chicken Cordon Bleu Skillet. This was a recipe I've had for a long time. I don't know where it came from, probably the internet. DH is a huge chicken cordon bleu fan, but I'm not a fan of making it. This is much simpler. It tasted great over the homemade noodles. We will be making them again.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Skillet
from somewhere

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 c white wine/sherry
• 1/2 c chicken stock
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 c shredded swiss cheese
• 1/2 c cubed ham
• 4 c egg noodles.

Saute chicken in butter until brown. Remove from pan.

Deglaze pan with wine & broth. Add soup, cheese & ham. Heat to a boil. Add chicken and redule heat to low. Cook 5-7 minutes longer.

Serve over egg noodles.

The recipe I wrote down has 1/4 cup wine & stock. I think that it way too thick. I used 1/2 cup each and even thinned it with a little bit of water last night.

Pizza dough

Friday nights in Lent are hard for me. There is only so much tuna helper I can stomach. All the children eat it so I can't complain too much. It is far from an ideal dinner for me.

Last Friday morning I asked the kids what they wanted to dinner. Both of them said cheese pizza. Again, not my ideal dinner, but better than tuna helper. I decided rather than speed-dial Franki's (the neighborhood pizza joint) I would make it myself. I could run to the store for some small shrimp and spinach and make a fancy pizza for DH & I and leave the cheese for the kids.

As things normally go, I only got as far as making the pizza dough. A had soccer practice and we ended up eating Indian food with the M cousins instead. (My kids did surprisingly well eating Indian food, they had some chicken dish light on the curry spice and A & B ate well, J fell asleep. I should have known he was getting sick.)

The dough came in handy on Saturday. After attending another soccer game, the M cousins came over for dinner. I made 2 cheese pizzas & the adults ordered in Mexican food.

I'm still on the whole wheat kick but I don't think anyone suspected there was anything different (except my sister who noticed the color of the dough was a little dark.) There were only 3 pieces left so I guess they really liked it.

I don't have pictures of the pizzas, but here's my dough before rising.



Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
adapted from AllRecipes.com recipe

• 1 t sugar
• 1 1/2 c warm water
• 1 T dry active yeast
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t salt
• 2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let stand for 10 minutes until foamy.

Stir olive oil & salt into the yeast mixture. Then mix in whole wheat flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour until dough comes together. Sprinkle remaining flour on surface and knead dough until flour has been absorbed and the dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely with a towel and let stand in a warm place until doubled.

Once it had double, punch the dough and knead a couple of times. Allow it to rise again until double, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425. Bake pizza 16-20 minutes depending on thickness of crust.

Chicken Biscuit Pie

This afternoon at 3:50 I started the never ceasing task of deciding what's for dinner. I looked in my barren fridge to see what I could make. I had chicken, eggs, onion. Not much. I checked the pantry. I saw basic staples but nothing remotely interesting.

So I did what I normally do (and no it isn't call out for pizza, although the children would have love that!) I googled chicken for dinner.

I ended up on the FamilyFun recipes website. They have a whole month of menus available with main course, vegetable and dessert. How cool is that. I checked out the menu for today but I didn't have the ingredients.

Then I saw the menu for next Sunday. Chicken and Biscuit Pie. It sounded promising. I thought it would use canned biscuits which I didn't have. I was surprised to find that it had it's own basic biscuit recipe. This was it.



Chicken and Biscuit Pie
adapted from FamilyFun.com

Filling:

• 4 T butter
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 rib celery chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 c chicken stock
• 1 1/2 c whole milk
• 1/2 t dried sage
• 1/2 t dried thyme
• 2 1/2 c diced cooked chicken
• 2 cups vegetables
• salt & pepper

Biscuit Topping:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 cup butter cut into quarter inch pieces
• 3/4 c milk

Milk the butter. Stir in onion & celery. Cook until softened. Add flour, stirring 1-2 minutes to brown. Whisk in chicken stock. When it thickens, whisk in the milk. Add sage, thyme, chicken & vegetables. Stir until heated through about 5-7 minutes. Remove from stovetop.

Heat oven to 375. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar & salt in a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture with finger tips. Add milk and stir briskly until dough pulls together. Flour work surface. Knead dough 2-3 times and then flatten to 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into biscuits and place (barely touching) on top of the filling.

Bake pie until biscuits are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Wow, this was an easy meal to make. And it was great. I knew that A would love this dish. She is a huge fan of pot pie. J ate well and I even snuck a few vegetables into B. After a couple of bites he realized it and started spitting the out, but he actually ate 3-4 kernels of corn and couple of carrots and peas. That is a success in itself.

The broth seemed really thin while it was cooking on the stove so I added a bit more flour. I hadn't measure 1/3 cup of flour so I wasn't sure if I had added enough. After cooking the filling had really cooked down and there wasn't much broth left. I'll leave it thin next time. I did make a few other changes. I had no celery so I added celery salt. I used 2% milk instead of whole. I substituted 1 cup of white whole wheat flour in the biscuits. Although the biscuits were slightly browner than traditional biscuits, no one suspected a thing. Here's a close-up of the biscuits.



I will definitely make this dinner again.

Shrimp quesadillas

It has been almost a week and I'm just now getting around to posting the results of my sister's shrimp recipe.

I made it last Friday and I was glad that I did. I didn't have fresh cilantro but I still thought it was great. I told my sister and she said it would have been that much greater with the cilantro in it. She says that it makes the dish. I think I agree, next time I'll run to the store. I do feel sorry for people who don't like cilantro. It's so tasty.

Here's the pic of the filling. I made quesadillas out of it, but those pictures weren't that great.