The Pleasure without the Pain…Taco Bell at Home November 30, 2008

Every now and then I crave Taco Bell.  For some reason, I actually really like the way it tastes.  However, I know for certain that after I enjoy my meal, I will soon regret it.  It always leaves my stomach feeling a little uneasy…not horribly, but not so great either. 

 

I always order the combo meal with the Grilled Stuffed Burrito.  I love how the tortilla is grilled to be a tiny bit crispy and the cheese and sauce inside are nice and warm and gooey.  Today, I remembered that Ross had found a recipe awhile back for the Taco Bell quesadilla sauce.  I figured we could use that sauce and our panini maker to make our own Grilled Stuffed Burritos!

 

We made the sauce and let it sit for a little bit to combine the flavors.  I sauteed some peppers and onions and added some chicken tenders, salt and pepper and lime juice.  We made up some Spanish rice and heated some refried beans.  We also sauteed some mexi-corn.  I love it when it gets a little blackened and crispy!

 

To assemble them, we just spread the burrito-style tortillas with the sauce, sprinkled some cheddar and monterey jack cheese on top, and loaded them with all of the toppings.  We wrapped them up, put them on the panini maker and in a matter of minutes, they looked just like the Taco Bell ones!

 

Best part… it’s been an hour and I still feel great!

Thanksgiving Treats November 27, 2008

In a little while, we will head over to the Tipton’s to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I can’t wait for a huge meal full of so many of my favorite things.  It is fun to share in the traditions of my “new” family and to bring some traditions from my family along with me. 

 

I offered to bring cornbread, because of this wonderful recipe that was given to me by Emily’s mom, Mrs. Waters.  This is the best cornbread I’ve ever had.  Emily has raved to me many times about her Mom’s cornbread, and I was so excited when Mrs. Waters gave me a homemade cookbook for a wedding gift, including this recipe.  It is easy to make, but has so much extra flavor than just a mix itself.

 

Corny Cornbread

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread

8 oz sour cream

3 eggs

1 large can cream style corn

1-2 tablespoons sugar

1/2-1 stick butter

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter in 13×9 pan.  Mix other ingredients.  Pour butter into batter, then pour the batter into the buttered pan.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until browned on the edges.  Melt the remaining 1/2 stick of butter and brush on top during the last few minutes of baking to make it browned and tasty!

 

I am also bringing some appetizers.  I found a recipe for Crock Pot Crab Dip on the Year of CrockPotting blog.  It sounded so good to me, and the Buffalo sauce reminds me of home.  It is in the crock pot now, and it smells and looks so delicious.  I can’t wait to taste it.

 

Since Ross is disgusted by crab meat (he is not thrilled with the smell in the house at the moment), I figured I’d make an appetizer that he would like as well.  I’m about to put together Feta Cheese Foldovers, a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com.  It sounds very easy, putting a mixture of feta cheese and some other tasty things on a puff pastry sheet and folding it over to make little triangles stuffed with cheesy goodness. 

 

Neither of these appetizers are super “Thanksgiving-y” but I think they’ll be good and we’ll still have all of the traditional foods to make it a true Thanksgiving.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and remembers to think about all that we have to be thankful for.  I know I will be doing that all day.

A Man, A Can and a Plan November 26, 2008

That is the title of a cookbook I once bought for my  Dad.  It suits him perfectly.  Dad can create anyhing with a bunch of cans of stuff… and it always turns out really good.  Tonight for dinner, in the midst of getting stuff ready for the holiday tomorrow, I wanted to make something quick and easy.  So, we are having Dad’s own Mexican Goulash, which couldn’t be much easier.  If you love processed cheese, you’ll love this!

 

Tom’s Mexican Goulash

1lb chicken

1 1/4 cup elbow noodles

1 can cheese soup

1 jar nacho cheese dip

1 jar salsa

1 can Mexi-corn

optional- jalapeno peppers

tortilla chips

 

Grill or cook chicken, cut into cubes. Boil noodles.  Combine all ingredients except tortilla chips in a large casserole dish.  Bake at 325 for 30 minutes.  Crush tortilla chips and sprinkle on top.

 

Dad says you can try this with pork, steak, or one of each, but whenever he used to make it for me it was always chicken, so that is how I do it.

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Making the most of leftovers November 24, 2008

This was, I do believe, the best meal we’ve ever had with leftovers.  I cleaned out the fridge today and it made me sick to throw out as much food as I did.  I feel like I am pretty good about bringing leftovers to work for lunch, but often times I just can’t finish them all, and even more often containers get trapped in the back of the fridge and I don’t even realize that they are there until it is time to throw them out. 

 

In my post from this morning, I described our Greek dinner from last night.  Tonight, we took the leftovers and made Greek salad.  I bought some chicken tenders and marinated them in the leftover Greek dressing.  Ross made more tzatziki sauce and we used that as dressing.  All I had to do was chop up some lettuce, red onion, tomato and green pepper.  Ross grilled some flatbread for dipping in the tzatziki on the side since we love it so much. 

 

It was absolutely delicious, very healthy, cost efficient and satisfying. 

 

I took a picture because it looked pretty, but I really shouldn’t do this.  I always wish I hadn’t.  I am way too OCD and it is annoying to me that the pita in the front right is sticking out so far.  Yes, I know this doesn’t matter, but it bugs me.  I am putting it in here anyway, but I had to mention that for my other OCD readers (you know who you are… Emily…).

 

Greek Night! November 23, 2008

Last night, Kara and Mark came over for dinner.  We’ve been in a trend of having themed dinners together, so I had to come up with something good.  Luckily, Kara told me that she’d been craving Greek food, so knowing that Ross makes the best tzatziki sauce in the world, Greek Night was the obvious choice!

 

Usually when Ross and I make Greek food, we make pitas.   The main ingredient in these is chicken, and since Kara doesn’t eat meat, that one was out.  The idea of a pita with just lettuce, tomato, cheese and tzatziki just doesn’t do it for me, although Kara would probably have been fine with it.  I decided to try a new dish that I’ve only had in restaurants before… moussaka.  Moussaka is kind of like a lasagna, but really not like it at all.  It involves layers of eggplant, potatoes and other veggies along with some red sauce and a bechamel sauce on top.  Many variations of this recipe include meat, but it can be easily left out. I’d never made it before but figured I’d give it a try.

 

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com for Vegetarian Moussaka.  A few notes on this recipe:

• I always read the reviews of the recipes on this site, and while these were all rave reviews, most of them said it took a long time and involved a lot of work.  It really isn’t bad.  It’s just the slicing of the vegetables, allowing time to salt the eggplant and then browning the veggies.  Some people said that they roasted or grilled the eggplant and potatoes and that cut back on the time.
• After I salted the eggplant, I was very stupidly in a rush and forgot to rinse it before I browned it.  LUCKILY I decided to take a taste of it before I assembled the meal and I gagged.  It was SO salty.  Not even close to edible.  So, I had to go back to the store and start over with the eggplant.  Luckily the dinner guests were family so it didn’t matter that I was in the middle of the most chaotic moment of meal preparation when they arrived.  It put me way behind schedule!
• The recipe calls for canned lentils - in place of meat I am assuming.  I have never seen canned lentils before.  I looked just to be sure, but they were nowhere to be found in our grocery store.  We bought a bag of dried lentils and put them in a pan, covered them with water and boiled them for 2-3 minutes.  The recipe also calls for 1/2 of the juice from the canned lentils, but I just made sure I got a lot of the tomato juice from the can of whole tomatoes in there and it was fine.
• I love cheese, especially feta, so I think I would put more feta in next time.  That’s just me.

 

Overall, it was really good!  It was a nice  change and not too heavy, but still filling.

 

I made a salad to go along with this.  Everyone in my family hates olives, so I suppose it wasn’t a traditional Greek salad, but it tasted good to me.  I used romaine lettuce, sliced some cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper and lots of feta.  I found this recipefor Greek salad dressing and I think it is my new favorite dressing.  Another wonderful thing about allrecipes.com is that you can change the calculations of the recipe to make it the number of servings you need it to be.  The original recipe is for 120 servings!  It was good, but not that good!  I adjusted it for 8 servings and this is what it came to be:

• 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
• 1/2 cup and 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Mix all together, shake vigorously and store tightly covered at room temperature.

 

Kara made Baklava for dessert, which was by far the best part of the meal.  I don’t know what recipe she used, but I will find out!

Southwest Chicken and Corn Chowder November 21, 2008

Last night for dinner we had a delicious, creamy, sweet and spicy soup made in the crock pot.  It was just perfect for a cold night.  This filled me up quickly, but would be great served with a light salad.

 

Stay warm!!!

 

1 can chicken broth

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 medium sweet red pepper

1 medium sweet green pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 8 oz cans cream style corn

2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 cup frozen corn

1 tsp cumin

1 dried cayenne pepper, minced (or 1 tsp crushed red pepper)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup evaporated skim milk

 

Combine broth, chicken, sweet peppers, onions, garlic, cream style corn, potatoes, frozen corn, cumin and cayenne in the crock pot.  cover and cook on low until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 8-10 hours.

 

In a measuring cup, mix the cornstarch and milk until blended.  Pour into the chicken soup and cook until it is slightly thickened.

Turkey Stuffing Divan November 19, 2008

This is really meant to be a meal that you can prepare with Thanksgiving leftovers, but I’m in the mood for Thanksgiving a little early so we had it tonight.  It was very quick, very easy, and very tasty.

 

This recipe is from my Campbell’s Collection cookbook, which I haven’t used in forever.  I was given this cookbook right out of college, and it came in very handy over many months when I was just starting out on my own, on a tight budget but still wanting to cook tasty meals.  I am not sure why I haven’t used it in so long, but I pulled it out this weekend when I was having a hard time coming up with ideas for meals to cook for the week.  This recipe comes out of the “Turkey Till It’s Gone” section.

 

Turkey Stuffing Divan  or if you’re us, Chicken Stuffing Divan

1 1/4 cups boiling water

4 tblsp margarine or butter, melted

4 c Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing

2 cups cooked broccoli cuts (one bag of frozen broccoli, cooked)

2 cups cubed,cooked turkey (I used chicken tenders cut into bite size chunks)

1 can cream of celery soup (can substitute cream of mushroom or cream of chicken)

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar, divided

 

Mix water and margarine, add stuffing.  (I boiled the water on the stove with the butter in it to save a step, then added the stuffing).  Mix lightly.

 

Spoon into 2 qt (I used 8×8 pan) shallow baking dish.  Arrange broccoli and turkey over stuffing.  In a small bowl, mix soup and 1/2 cup cheese.  Pour over broccoli and turkey.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over soup mix.

 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot.

 

**Using chicken, I just cut it up, put it in a pan with a little olive oil, a little white wine and some thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper, cooking until juices were clear.

The most disgusting moment of my life. November 15, 2008

I work with children.  I deal with a lot of nasty things.  Vomit, diarrhea, mucous and boogers are a part of my daily life.  I even had friends over last night and realized as they were about to leave that I had baby spit up all down my sleeve.  Once, while working on a brain injury unit in a hospital while in college, I had a full urinal thrown at me by an aggressive patient.

 

None of that really bothers me.

 

However, what happened today really bothers me.  Still.  The fact that my husband can’t stop laughing about it is not helping.  Since he is enjoying telling the story, I figured I’d get my version out there.

 

For the past few weeks, my car has had an odd odor.  I haven’t been able to figure it out. I like for things to be clean, so this has really been bugging me.  I’ve looked around the back seat to see if I left a tupperware container with leftover lunch food in it.  Nothing.  Last weekend, I took my car to the car wash and vacuumed out the whole inside.  I went to Wal-Mart and bought cleaner for the inside and car fresheners. 

 

It smelled like nastiness with vanilla mixed in.

 

Today, we headed to Chapel Hill to have lunch with Ross’ family.  On the way, Ross mentioned that my car smelled bad.  I explained my frustration with the issue and we drove on.  We had a nice lunch and walked back to the car.  When we got in, Ross said he wasn’t sure he could handle the ride all the way back with the stench.  He asked me to open my trunk so he could look in before we started driving.  He walked around to the back of the car and quickly called me to join him.  As he informed me that the stench was definitely coming from the trunk (the one place I didn’t check or clean, of course), I had to agree. 

 

It smelled like a dead animal. 

 

And maybe that is because there was one in my trunk.  Not a cat or a dog or a mouse or even a bird.

 

A cow.

 

Apparently a few weeks ago, after grocery shopping, I forgot a bag while unloading the car. 

 

A BAG OF STEAK.

 

I have been driving around for approximately 3 weeks with a rotten steak in my trunk.  It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen or smelled.  I am not sure when I will be able to eat steak again.  I don’t think the image or odor will leave my mind for quite some time.

 

So, now I have to scrub out my trunk.  But I can’t, because it is raining and we don’t have a garage or even a carport.  So I have to sit inside and think of the smell in my trunk.  Sure, the steak is gone, but the smell may still linger until it gets a really good cleaning.

 

In case you’re interested, here’s my side of the story.  Ross helped me bring groceries in a few weeks ago.  I am SURE it must have been he who forgot the bag, not I.

My new favorite chicken November 14, 2008

I loooooooooooooooooved our dinner tonight. 

 

In college, I studied abroad for a semester in England at the University of Essex.  In my flat, there were 16 people, and if I remember correctly, we represented 9 different countries.  There were 8 rooms on one side and 8 rooms on the other with a kitchen in the middle.  Meal time was so much fun, because there were so many of us cooking the foods that we were used to, but that were foreign to most everyone else.  I lived with several people from India who cooked with curry a lot.  I have always liked the flavor, but it is so strong and distinct, I can only take it in small doses.  I’ve tried over the years to replicate some of the dishes that they made, but I haven’t quite been able to do it.

 

Well, this dish has curry in it, and just enough where you can taste the flavor, but not so much that it overwhelms it.  I’ve never paired it with sweet stuff, and I think it is perfect.  I am excited to experiment more with combinations like this.  I am not sure my Indian flatmates would have approved, but this American girl loved it. 

 

Honey Mustard Chicken from the allrecipes.com Easy Everyday Favorites cookbook is very delicious.  This recipe was incredibly easy, and bursting with flavor.  It does call for a whole chicken cut into 8 parts, which is nice because it is cheap to buy, but it sure was a pain to cut it all up this morning.  Next time I might just use chicken breasts and thighs.

 

Honey Mustard Chicken

1 (4 lb) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1 t paprika

1/4 t ground pepper

1/2 t curry powder

3 T prepared Dijon-style mustard

1/4 c honey

2 T apricot jam

 

Sprinkle chicken with paprika, pepper, and curry powder.  Place in roasting pan (I used a 9×13 pan).  Combine mustard, honey, and jam in a small bowl.  Pour over chicken and marinate for 1 hour or overnight (I put it together this morning and let it marinate while I was at work all day).  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 1 hour, basting often.

Swedish Meat Dumpling Soup November 13, 2008

Tonight’s dinner was super good.  It is a recipe from Rachael Ray’s 365: No Repeats cookbook (#125 to be exact).  This is easy to make and had a really great flavor.  To sum it up, saute some celery, carrots, onions, mushrooms and bay leaves, add some flour, then some chicken stock and beef stock (the combination of the two gives it a veal stock flavor according to Rachael) and let it come to a boil.  Meanwhile, mix some ground veal (I used ground beef, Ross wasn’t sure about ground veal and I didn’t see any at the store anyway) with some breadcrumbs, an egg, some mustard and nutmeg.  Let those cook, then add some egg noodles, let them boil, remove it from the heat and add some sour cream.

The flavor of this was really good and a little bit different from what I expected.  I actually wasn’t sure it would have enough flavor, but it really did. 

Swedish Meat Dumpling Soup

1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter cut into pieces
1/2 lb mushrooms thinly sliced
2 celery ribs thinly sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 med onion thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
2 tbs flour
2 cups beef broth
1 qt chicken broth
1 lb ground veal or a mix of ground beef veal and pork combined
2 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 egg beaten
1/2-2/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 lb egg noodles[med or wider]
1 cup sour cream
2-3 tbs chopped fresh chives or dill
2-3 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter and olive oil together
Add mushrooms celery carrots onions and bay leaf
Cook until mushrooms are tender and the other veggies begin to soften
Season with salt and pepper add in the flour and cook another minute
Whisk in the beef and chicken broth
Cover the pot and bring to a boil
While the soup comes to a boil mix the veal with the mustard egg breadcrumbs nutmeg salt and pepper
Roll the meat into small balls 1″ in diameter tops
Remove the lid from the pot and add the balls
After 2-3 min stir in the noodles and cook 6 min more
Turn off the heat and stir the sour cream into the soup
Adjust seasonings
Discard bay leaf
Serve soup with sprinkle of chives or dill and parsley.

 

We had this with a Dole Distinctively Salad mix.  I love these, and I think this one is my favorite.  Here is the description from the Dole website.

Description
The Distinctively Dole Perfect Harvest Salad Kit is a ready to eat complete salad with 40% MORE lightly sweetened, dried cranberries and crunchy diced almonds.  Served on Fresh Field Green lettuces, With DOLE’S OWN Apple Cider Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing.

 

Mmmmmmm.