Nacho Bake

I had some stale tortilla chips to use up, so I just whipped up a nacho bake! It was so good that my son joked that he is eagerly awaiting for more tortilla chips to go stale. You don't have to wait for stale chips to enjoy this easy bake dinner. 

• 1 lb ground meat (vegetarian option below*)
• 1 can Fire Roasted Rotel
• 1/8 cup water
• taco seasoning (whichever one you like)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 TBS olive oil
•  4-6 cups tortilla chips (these can be somewhat stale, it'll taste the same)
• 3-4 cups shredded Mexican mix cheese (I used one with Monterey jack, medium cheddar, queso quesadilla, and asadero)
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup Mezzetta Hot Cherry Peppers, chopped into small pieces
• 1/8 cup liquid from the jar of peppers

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, water, the whole can of Rotel (liquids and all), liquids from the can of beans, and the  taco seasoning. Cook until browned. This should be a little saucy, so add additional water if necessary as it cooks.

Spread the olive oil in the bottom of a 7x11 (2 quart) baking dish. Fill the dish about half way with tortilla chips. Sprikle cheese over the chips just enough to lightly cover them. Spread the meat mixture over the cheese. Spread the beans and peppers over the meat. Sprinkle more cheese over the top (I use enough to completely cover all other ingredients). Pour the pepper liquid over the top.

Bake at 300F for about 20 mins. It's ok if the cheese browns or doesn't brown; it is good both ways.

Serve as is; or with sour cream, taco sauce, avocados/guacamole, or more chips!
*This can be easily turned into a vegetarian dish by using 2 cans of black beans, mashed, in place of the ground meat, and omit the layer of whole beans.

Enchiladas Verdes

I had a bunch of left over roast turkey from another recipe I was making for a friend so I decided to try my hand at enchiladas verdes!

Here is the recipe I came up with after reading through several recipes I found on the internet (as mentioned previously on this blog, I tend to Frankenstein recipes together to get the exact recipe I want -- or I just make one up myself!)

 

Sauce:

• 3 cups tomatillos remove husk, rinse, cut them in half or quarters
• 2 TBS minced garlic
• 1” slice of onion optional (or you can remove before blending if someone doesn’t like onions)
• Water or soup stock enough to just cover the tomatillos (I use either stock from the meat or Better Than Bouillon)
• 3-5 serrano peppers discard stems, seeds, and pith (the amount you use depends on pepper size and how spicy you want it)

Throw the first four ingredients into a saucepan. Cook until the tomatillos dull and become somewhat translucent. Add the serranos and blend. Cook a couple minutes more and remove from heat or turn the heat to warm if you will be serving right away.

Filling:

• 4 cups shredded roast meat - chicken, turkey, or pork
• 3-4 TBS olive oil
• 3 TBS minced garlic
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 cup water or soup stock  (I use the stock from the meat, or Better Than Bouillon)
• 1 TBS chipotle pepper ground
• I use 3-4 TBS of Badia fajita seasoning, but you can add your own spices. Try this mix:

                1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you want it)

                1 tsp paprika (can use smoked)

                1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (leave out if you don't want it very spicy)

                2 tsp chili pepper powder

                1/2 tsp cumin

                1/2 tsp onion powder or 1 tsp onion flakes

                1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 tsp granulated garlic

                1 tsp salt

                *Add more of any of these spices until the meat tastes the way that you want it to!
                  You can add a variety of peppers (eg. poblano/ancho) for a richer flavor.

Add meat to a large, hot skillet. Stir until heated. Add oil. Once oil is heated, add garlic and seasoning (except bay leaves). Cook for a couple minutes stirring to keep from burning. Add stock and bay leaves. Turn down heat to a simmer. Add more water if needed. Simmer on low for 10-15 minutes to set in the flavors.

Assembly:

• White corn tortillas
• Filling
• Sauce
• Chopped cilantro

Heat a pan (preferably cast iron) on high. Put a tortilla on the dry pan for 30 seconds, turn over and cook another 30 seconds. There should be some browning, and even a little scorching is good. They should lose some of their translucence but still be flexible. Remove from heat and throw another tortilla on. Repeat process with all the tortillas you will need.

On one end of the cooked tortilla, spread about 1/8 cup hot filling. Roll. Put on a plate and pour the heated sauce on top. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over the enchilada.

Eat!

Titania Pasta Maker

I have been putting off getting a pasta maker for years. The ones that I have found were big, bulky and expensive. And pasta is cheap, so why bother?

Well, I tried homemade noodles a couple of months ago. I have pledged to reduce my purchases of corporate products and non-corporate pasta is expensive! -- but tastes SO GOOD!! So instead of paying $6 for a bag of egg noodles, I just made them myself. My family declared that only homemade noodles would suffice from that day on.

Which is great except for the fact that they are really time consuming when you are cutting all the pasta into strips with a knife.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was in a store looking for a smaller stock pot for canning just a few jars at a time, and instead found a compact pasta maker for $35. It impressed me enough that I bought it without even researching it first. It ended up being probably the most perfect pasta maker I could have gotten.

It is Titania from Imperia. The reviews I eventually read indicated that it was an authentic Italian pasta maker - the one that an Italian household would most likely be using.The pasta is easy to make. It is just flour, eggs, a little salt, and oil. I don't even measure. The consistency should be like bread dough when it is all mixed and kneaded thoroughly.
Now a lot of the reviews complained that the maker took more than two hands to operate. I was able to work the machine without clamping it to anything and while holding the video camera under my chin. And all the while I had three dogs dancing around my feet looking for fallen pasta scraps. I think those facts illustrate the actual ease of use of this pasta maker. I did not let the dough rest. I just rolled a ball of the dough in a little flour before trying to roll it through. You do have to start on a wide setting and work your way down to a thinner setting or your dough will shred and it is much harder to get it through the rollers if you skip too many widths.

I used the noodles I made in the video in this vegetable and chicken broth soup. Celery, carrots, kohlrabi, sweet onion, sauteed with olive oil, and seasoned with a little ginger. A couple chicken bouillon cubes, water and the cooked noodles. It was delicious!

And the noodles from start to finish probably took less time to make and cook than it would have taken store-bought dried noodles to cook. With homemade noodles this fast and easy, I don't think it will be hard at all meeting my family's declaration!

Ginger Garlic Wonton Packages

I had some interesting wontons from the local food co-op and knew I had to try to make my own.

Mine were better!

• 1 head nappa cabbage, shredded
• 1 bulb garlic, minced or put through a press
• 2 TBS fresh ginger, minced
• 2 scallions, chopped - use white and green parts
• 1/8 cup chopped carrots
• 1 package wonton wrappers
• 2 cups peanut oil

I threw the first five ingredients into my electric chopper to get it into a fine slaw.

Spoon into wonton wrappers.

Fold the corners to the middle like an envelope and seal together with water. I found that wetting my hands slightly before handling the wrappers helped a lot.

Fry in peanut oil on medium high heat. You want them to cook quickly but not burn.

Serve on their own as they are really flavorful, or you could serve with sweet pepper dipping sauce.

These were easy and quick to make, and DELICIOUS!!

Avocado Margherita

I love avocados, even if I seem to be alone in that love in my household. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to prepare them.

		Avocado - halved and pitted (I also peel mine, but you don't have to) 2TBS diced red onion 1 garlic clove, minced 1/4 cup diced fresh tomato 2 TBS fresh basil, shredded (can substitute 1 tsp dried basil) 2 thin slices of mozzarella 1 TBS olive oil Salt and pepper Oil a small bread pan. Place the avocado halves into the pan and sprinkle with a tiny bit of olive oil. Place the garlic, tomato, onion, and basil into halves. You can pre-mix these first if you want. Cover the avocado halves with the mozzarella slices and bake in a 350F oven until cheese is melted, and golden brown if you like.
		Serve them warm with salt and pepper. They are hearty, tasty and filling!

Delicata with Wild Rice and Cranberry Stuffing

I grew delicata for the first time and wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. The recipes I found online were your standard squash recipes: butter and brown sugar. I wanted something more savory, so I came up with something on my own. Our exchange student had never had wild rice before, so I knew that was in and it just sort of evolved from there.

• 1 cup uncooked wild rice
• 1/4 cup craisins
• 2 TBS chopped scallions
• 1 TBS chopped medium-hot pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp ground rosemary
• 3 TBS fresh thyme
• 1/4 tsp fresh chopped sage
• 2 TBS butter
  
• 1 TBS honey
  
• 2 Delicata squash

	Cut the delicata lengthwise and scoop the seeds out. The seeds are said to be good for roasting, and this is an heirloom squash, so you may want to try to save the seeds.
Cook the wild rice in 2 cups water until tender. Add craisins, onion, herbs, and honey. Mix well and stuff the delicata halves with the mixture.
	I baked these at 400F in a claypot cooker for 40 minutes. You could probably get by with 350F in a regular baking dish. This was the first time that I had eaten delicata. It was a tiny bit mealy, but sweet. The skin, although fairly hard when raw, is soft enough to cut with a fork after cooking and completely edible.

The recipe? It was delicious! I will definitely be making this again. And the stuffing could be a stand alone dish as well.

Morel Cream Sauce

I had my best morel year ever. My son and I usually just saute the mushrooms and eat them as a treat, but I actually had enough to make some kind of a dish with the morels that I found. I wanted to keep it simple and mild, since this was the first time that I was actually cooking them into a dish and wanted to be sure they would hold their own.

So, although I was going to do a stroganoff or an Alfredo, I opted for a simple cream sauce. I basically went out to my garden and pulled what was available.

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1-2 TBS garlic chives, chopped - whites and greens
• 1-2 TBS chives, chopped
• Small leek, chopped - whites and tender greens
• A few rosemary leaves, chopped (or a pinch of ground rosemary)
• 1/3 cup (or more) morel mushrooms, chopped
• 1-2 TBS flour
• 1/2-1 cup cream or half-n-half - enough to get consistency you want
• Sea salt
• Pepper

Saute the chives and leeks.	Add mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are fully cooked.
Sprinkle in the flour and mix well.	Pour in cream/half-n-half a little at a time and mix well. You want to dissolve all the flour into the liquids.

Add the salt and pepper and cook until thickened.

I used this over egg noodles. It was delicious!!

The sauce was mild enough that the three mushrooms I used easily held their own. If you want to add a little more spice, like thyme or convert it to a stroganoff by adding sour cream, or an Alfredo by adding some Parmesan; I would add more morels. Heck, if I had had them, I would have added more anyway :)