Potato Enchiladas

One of my family's favorite "special occasion" foods is my grandma's potato enchiladas. Truth be told, they are about as "poor man's food" as you can get, but they are delicious. A few years ago, after Grandma Mary died, I got a wild hair up my butt to make these for our Christmas Eve celebration. They were a big hit, and Jay and I have been making them every Christmas Eve since.

I tried to get to the bottom of where the recipe came from, as it seems that only my family (and friends we have introduced them to) have ever eaten them. The consensus is that it came from either Grandma Mary or her mother, Great-grandma Claudia, in trying to feed all of the mouths in the family. They are made of ingredients that were cheap and readily available. The most expensive ingredient in the dish was/is the cheese, which back then came from the "commodities people" (a.k.a. the food pantry).

However, despite the recipe being invented out of necessity, it is a family favorite and I'm glad Grandma Mary taught me how to make them. Jay and I have cleaned up the recipe a bit, to make it a touch healthier, while maintaining the same flavors as the original.

Ingredients:

• 3 dozen flour tortillas (Grandma, of course, made hers from scratch, but I'm lazy)
• 5# potatoes (we use russet, but it doesn't matter which you use)
• 1 yellow onion, diced (optional)
• 1 c. peas (we use frozen, Grandma used canned)
• shredded cheese
• garlic olive oil
• vegetable oil
• chili powder
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt
• pepper 

Directions:

Dice potatoes, coat with garlic olive oil, toss with salt and pepper, then spread on baking sheets and roast in a 400*F oven until cooked through, about 40 minutes.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan. Add roasted potatoes, peas, and chili powder paste (see below). Cook for just a couple of minutes, until peas are thawed.

Make a paste of chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. I have no idea of the measurements (remember, this was a recipe handed down from my Mexican grandmother, who measured things by guess and by golly), but it's about a 4:1:1 ratio of chili powder to garlic and onion powders. Add enough water to make a paste.

Dunk a tortilla into the paste, coating both sides, and quick-fry in a hot skillet with vegetable oil (Grandma used lard), drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Fill tortillas with potato mixture, shredded cheese, and raw diced onion (if desired). Roll and place in baking dishes. Thin chili powder paste with water to use as a sauce to pour over the rolled enchiladas. Cover with shredded cheese and bake in 350*F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Look at the mess on the stove from quick-frying and cry, then begin to clean. You have just enough time to clean the mess while the enchiladas are baking.

Stuffed Potatoes

A couple of days ago, one of my FB friends was asking for cheap ideas for dinner.  I love threads like that, so I contributed my favorite versatile recipe and watched closely for any new ideas.  One caught my eye, but it was for sweet potatoes.  I hate sweet potatoes, so I substituted regular potatoes.

You'll need:

• baking potatoes
• can of corn (drained)
• can of black beans (drained)
• sour cream
• cheese
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Bake the potatoes either in the oven or microwave. It was almost 100* F today, so I opted to "bake" them in the microwave until soft.  Nebalee gave me a good tip:  after cooking in microwave for ten minutes, cover with a glass bowl and let sit for another ten minutes to let them steam.

Cut potatoes in half and scoop out the innards, leaving a "boat".  Mix the innards with the rest of the ingredients and spoon into the boats.  Stick back in a 350*F oven for fifteen minutes.

They turned out okay, a little dry, so I should have added more sour cream.  Jay suggested next time, in addition to sour cream, I should use some queso dip.  Sounds like a good plan to me.

I've also heard that chorizo is pretty good in the mixture.  That sounds really good, too.  When I started to think about it, there are a ton of things you could mix in the "stuffing" that would be really good.  I'll definitely be trying these again.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Biscuits

Yesterday, Jay and I made up a batch of shredded chicken, which we use as the base for a lot of dinners. One of our favorites recently has been the chicken pot pie.

Out of boredom today, I was flipping through that site I refuse to join, but frequenty get ideas from and found a recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll Ups.  Since we already had the shredded chicken made up, I tweaked the recipe just a bit.

What you'll need:

• 1 tube of Grand Rounds (or Whump Biscuits, if you're Mrs Mom)
• sliced deli ham
• sliced cheese (supposed to be swiss, but we only had provolone)
• shredded chicken

Split the biscuit in half and mash flat.

Add a slice of deli ham.

And half a slice of cheese.

Add shredded chicken.

Top with the other half of the biscuit and mush the sides together.

 

Place the stuffed biscuits in a greased 9x13 pan.

 

Cover with the liquid from the shredded chicken

Cook in a 350* F oven for 30 minutes.

They were really yummy, I'll be making them again.

Note: These were yummy, but next time, I'm not going to pour the sauce over the top - it made the bottom kind of soggy.  I'd rather have a crispy biscuit and then maybe add some sort of sauce over the top.

Not Even Mom's Recipes Are Safe

I'll pretty much bastardize anyone's recipes, including my own mother's.

I know you're asking, "what pray tell, have you done now?".  I'd be asking the same thing, but I didn't do much to change Mom's Spicy Sausage Potato Soup, just figured out an even faster way to make it.

Mom can whip this puppy out in almost no time.  Subtract six minutes and you've got it even faster.  I cheated, I use canned diced potatoes, thereby taking away the need to cook and cut them.  I also added kale, because I really, really love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana. 

Drum roll, please...GunDiva's Totally Ripped-off From Her Mom Sausage Potato Soup:

1 lb spicy sausage, browned
½ c. onion, thinly sliced
½ c. celery, chopped
1 c. chopped Kale
1-2 tsp. Montreal steak seasoning
2-3 c. milk
2 cans diced potatoes, drained


Saute’ onion and celery with sausage. Add all ingredients to a large soup pan, bring to a slow boil, simmer 15-20 minutes.

A word of warning - be careful not to break the milk.  I brought mine to a boil too quickly and the milk broke.  It didn't scorch, thank God, but it didn't look very pretty. Tasted good, though. The kale really adds something wonderful and is a cheap ingredient.

This Wasn't Supposed to be a Food Blog

But, apparently, it is.  Let's just hope it's a phase.  Because my ass can't keep up with all of these damn recipes I keep finding.

I found a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups on that site that I refuse to join.  However, the way she made them was far too healthy and didn't involve 505 green chili, so I had to mess with the recipe.

The way I made them is much easier, because I used canned chicken.

• 1 can/tube thingy of biscuits
• 1 can chicken, drained
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2/3 c. shredded cheese (I used mexican blend)
• 2 T. 505 Green Chili
• 1 c. mixed frozen veggies
• 1 t. parsley
• 1 t. minced onion

Mix everything together (except biscuits).  Line the cups of a cupcake tin with smashed biscuits, mashing them up the side so the entire cup is lined.  Spoon the chicken mixture in.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes (or until golden brown).

Betty Crocker Strikes Again

I really don't know what has come over me.  Used to be I only baked at Christmas.  Now, it seems like I'm baking all the damn time.  I think it's because I finally have a kitchen that I like and that I have some counterspace.  And having a dishwasher doesn't hurt either.

So Sunday, out of boredome, I was looking at that site that I swore I was never going to look at and found a recipe for Red Velvet Cookies.  And then I found another recipe I wanted to make; off to the store I went.

I bought everything I needed and then, on the way home, I thought, "Red velvet is just chocolate dyed with red food coloring.  I wonder what it would taste like with cayenne?". I called Bill and ran the idea by him, don't know why, because anything with cayenne is good by him.

They turned out pretty good.  I'm not a fan of white chocolate chips - I think they taste waxy and they're pretty gross, so next time I'll use regular chocolate chips, even if the cookies won't look as pretty.

Spicy Red Velvet Cookies

·         2 ¼ c. all purpose flour

·         2 ½ T. cocoa powder

·         1 ½ t. cornstarch

·         ¾ t. baking soda

·         ½ t. salt

·         ½  t. cayenne pepper

·         ¼ t. black pepper

·         ¼ t. cinnamon

·         7 T. butter, at room temp

·         6 T. shortening, at room temp

·         1 ½ c. granulated sugar

·         1 large egg

·         1 large egg yolk

·         1 ½ t. white vinegar

·         1 ½ t. Mexican vanilla

·         1 T. red food coloring

·         ½  c. white chocolate chips (or chocolate, they just won’t be as pretty)

Sift together the dry ingredients (except the sugar), set aside.

In a mixer, mix butter, shortening and sugar approximately 4 minutes until fluffy.  Add egg and egg yolk, mix to combine.  Add vinegar, vanilla and food coloring.  Mix until well blended. 

Slowly add in dry ingredients until just combined.  Add white chocolate chips.

Scoop onto lined cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes.

I Might Be In Trouble

I swore, swore, swore I'd never play around on Pintrest.

Really, I did.

I haven't quite gone to the dark side and joined up yet, but I have found two recipes that I *have* to try.

Tonight.

Admit it...you want to make these too.


I've totally followed this blog,
because what I need is yet another blog to follow.

And I followed this one, too.
Photo cred: Cooking Classy
 

This is the last thing I need - something else to suck up my time on the computer.

I've managed to resist the siren song so far - I haven't joined.  But damn, I'm having a good time looking at all of the recipes.

Lord help us all, I'm on my way to the grocery store.

Cucumber Strawberry Salad

The past few weeks, I've been battling tooth issues.  I've been rather cranky and Jay's a saint for putting up with me.  He made me the most wonderful salad.  In addition to being in pain, I was cranky about eating nothing but soft food, but he made me this amazing strawberry-cucumber salad.  It really was a life-saver.  It was nice and cool, which felt good, but still had enough crunch that it didn't feel like soft food.

I know it's the end of the growing season, but if you can scrounge up a cucumber and some strawberries, you *have* to try this.  You won't regret it, I promise.

Strawberry Cucumber Salad

• 1 cucumber
• 4-5 strawberries
• 2 T. white vinegar
• 1-2 T. sugar
• mint (if you'd like)

Peel the cucumber, cut the edges off of each side lengthwise and dice.  Avoid the seedy middle part of the cucumber.

Dice all but one strawberry. 

Chop the remaining strawberry to mush (to make a paste).  Put the mushed up strawberry in a bowl and add the sugar and vinegar, stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Combine the diced cucumbers and strawberries, dress with the strawberry/vinegar/sugar mixture.

Garnish with mint.

Ta-da!





Margarita Madness 2012 - Part I

Every year my friend Double Tap and his wife throw a party in honor of National Tequila Day (July 24).  Since partying on a Tuesday night isn't a whole lot of fun - and wouldn't be responsible of a bunch of grown-ups - well, unless it's for a Jimmy Buffet concert and you take the next day off of work - they threw it on a Saturday night.

Anytequilatalking, though Double Tap has invited RCC and I for the past couple of years, we haven't been able to make it until this year.  I decided to attempt to duplicate an appetizer I tried in Salida last week to take along with us, so Part I of this post will be the recipe.

Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos of Happiness

I bought 20 good size jalapenos, cut the stem end off and used a plastic knife to remove the seeds.  I then rinsed them with cold water and stood them on end to drain.  Oh...and since I'm a contact wearer, I wore gloves for the whole process.  Jalapeno juice is no bueno for the eye balls.

I was going to buy soft cream cheese, put it into a cake decorating bag and pipe the cream cheese into the peppers, but RCC had a better idea.  He told me to buy the blocks of cream cheese and cut it into chunks I could just slide down into the peppers.  He's a pretty brilliant man, I tell you.

Taking the seeds out and stuffing the peppers with cream cheese was the easy part - wrapping them with bacon was kind of tricky.  I flopped one end of the bacon over the open end of the pepper and then wrapped the rest of the bacon around the pepper, making sure to "catch" the loose end of the bacon.  It took me about ten peppers to really get the hang of it, but once I did the last ten took no time at all.

I put them in the oven at 350 for about half an hour, turned them and stuck them back in for about ten minutes.  At this point, I was getting fairly impatient because the bacon was cooked through, but they didn't look pretty.  RCC saved the day again - he had me turn on the broiler and crisp them up that way.  It only took three minutes or so under the broiler on each side to make them perfect.  In addition to crisping up the bacon, the broilder roasted the exposed parts of the jalapeno.

I wasn't fast enough with the camera - as soon as the lid was taken off the pan, hands were reaching in to grab them.

The restaurant served theirs with a pineapple sauce of sorts that was pretty good, but since most of our kitchen is packed up, I didn't attempt the pineapple sauce. Instead, we used a jar of Apple Garlic Garli Glaze from Garlic Festival Foods.  The combination of the stuffed jalapenos and the spicy apple glaze was divine.

I guess they were a hit -
this is all that was left, a puddle of bacon grease in a pan.

Taco Beans

It's been a while since I've done a food memory.  Like, over a year, I think.

Last week, groceries were a little "lean" in our house and so RCC had do scrounge something up for dinner for himself. 

Sidenote: don't you think Chopped would be so much better if the chefs had to cook out of a typical end-of-the-month cupboard?  You know, half a loaf of bread, moldy cheese, milk that's not quite bad, and a cupboard full of stuff that still in there because no one likes to eat it?  Not *that* would make a good show!

Anyway, he made himself some canned refried beans with spices in it and ate them with cold corn tortillas.  He made a joke about it on Facebook, saying he was eatin' like a poor man.  But when I came home and saw the beans he made and smelled the cumin, I knew I had to make some Taco Beans.

It took me a couple of days to get around to it, but I finally had my taco beans (alternatively called bean tacos or fried bean tacos, depending on who in the family you're talking to) today for lunch.  Truly, a poor man's lunch, but fabulous.  Grandma Mary used to make us taco beans when the larder was bare.  We always had beans and tortillas and spices, so we could always make taco beans.  I don't think she necessarily loved them, because she told me that Little Lita (her mom) would always make them when the beans went sour, just so they could get another day's meal out of them.

She may not have loved them, but they rank right up there with fried tacos for me.  And fried tacos are pretty much my all-time favorite Grandma Mary food on the planet. Top three Grandma Mary foods:

1. Fried Tacos
2. Taco Beans
3. Potato Enchiladas

The thing is, with the exception of fried tacos, they're pretty much poor man's meals and I love them.  I've been craving Taco Beans since RCC made his bean thing, so when I came home from work for lunch I broke out Grandma's molcajete and went to work.

If you're interested, here's the recipe.  It's quick and easy and you can feed a fair number of people (remember, it's poor man's food).

• garlic
• chili powder
• cumin
• onion powder
• pinto beans (already cooked or canned)
• tortillas
• lard
• cheese
• onion

Grind up the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and onion powder in the molcajete until it's a paste.  Add the beans and continue to mash/mix.  Season to taste.  I like my beans to take on a red hue from the chili powder and the cumin.

Once the beans and paste are well mixed, spread on one half of a tortilla with the back of the spoon, no more than 1/4" thick and fold in half.

In a skillet, heat the lard until hot enough to fry (about 1/4" or less should coat the pan).  Place the "tacos" in the hot lard.  Flip once to cook evenly on both sides.  It should take a minute or less on each side to cook through.

Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels.  Gingerly pry open the tacos to add shredded cheese and chopped onion.

It's probably not the best thing on the planet to eat, but it's a whole heap healthier than a Big Mac, I'm sure.  I'm a big fan of lard, I make no apologies for it.  I don't cook with it often, but there are some dishes that *have* to be made with it.  If you wanted to make this a more healthy meal, I suppose you could substitute olive oil or something, but it won't taste as good.  But then, if you've never had taco beans, you wouldn't know the difference between cooking them in lard or olive oil.

My belly's happy and I've got a smile on my face - Grandma Mary may be gone, but I can still enjoy the memories of cooking my favorite foods with her.

What are your favorite comfort foods or food memories?

SAVING SCOTT by Terry Odell

This morning, I finally made far enough down my TBR pile to read Terry Odell's SAVING SCOTT.  I've had it in my TBR for a while and after reading it, wondered how on earth it could have gotten so buried in the rest of my reading.  I "met" Terry through her blog and then got to meet her and her husband in person at the Writers' Police Academy a couple of years ago.

So, sorry Terry it's taken me so long to get to your book(s).  SAVING SCOTT was amazing and I devoured it in one sitting.

But...today's post isn't really about the book, but about something I found in the book. Terry's main character, Ashley, is fixing to open a bakery so she bakes throughout the entire book.  In one scene she's making a chocolate cookie with cayenne pepper in it.  Yep, cayenne pepper.  In a chocolate cookie.  Sounded intriguing.

Even cooler, when I reached the end of the book, Terry had included the recipe for the amazing-sounding Spicy Aztec Chocolate Drops.  Yes, she did.

And I had to make them.  Well, me and Nebalee with some help from Kyzzer and Asset.

Butter and sugar

The dry ingredients, including cayenne

Starting to come together

Asset rolling the cookies in sugar

Kyzzer did about three cookies to Asset's one

Finished!

The cookies were even more amazing than I thought they would be.  I can't even adequately explain the deliciousness that is this cookie.  Moist chocolate drops with just a touch of heat in the back of your throat to finish.  Especially perfect with a tall glass of cold milk.  I'm fairly certain I ate most of a dozen.

Definitely worth a try.  Click on over to Terry's Place to get the recipe.  And while you're at it, click on the link for the book and buy that, too.  There are a whole lot more recipes at the end of the book that I might or might not try.  And the story's pretty darn good, too.

Cupcake Happiness

You know how last week I posted about things that make me happy?  And I included pictures of the prettiest cupcakes I've ever seen?

So.

Last night, I got a wild hair up my butt to give those cupcakes a try.  I mean, afterall, today is Easter and all things colorful, right?  So why not?

Ingredients:

• Two boxes of white cake mix
• Gel food coloring
• Liquid chickens
• Vegetable oil
• Water
• Patience.  Lots of patience.  Lots and lots of patience.

I made the boxes of cake mix according to directions and split it between four bowls, then I added approximately half a tube (no, I'm not kidding - I wanted bright colors) of gel food coloring.

Oooh...pretty

Looks like a painter's palette, doesn't it?

Mixing up the batter was the easy part.  Next came dolloping (is that a verb?  Well it is now) the batter into the cupcake tins.  This is where I really needed by patience pants on, because I'm generally *over* baking projects at just about this point.  I'd rather eat raw dough/batter of pretty much any kind than have to go through the whole process of baking.  I donned my patience pants and went to work.  It took me an entire half a season (five episodes) of Fringe on Netflix to complete the dolloping and baking.

Three colors done, one to go

And...the first two dozen are ready to go in the oven

While the first batch was baking, I was prepping the asparagus for today's feast.  I couldn't find any of the small, pencil-sized asparagus to wrap in bacon for today, so I had to peel a bunch.

The timer finally dinged eighteen minutes after the cupcakes went in and this is what I got...

Yay!  It looks like it worked!

I'm not very good at dolloping the same amount of batter into the tins apparently, as I ended up with some really big cupcakes and some not-so-big cupcakes.  I couldn't wait to lay them out to cool and get the next batch in.

Aren't they pretty?

It worked!
And tasted good, too.  We had to try one.

The next batch went in and eighteen minutes later, I had a dozen and a half more little pieces of happiness wrapped in cupcake liners ready to be frosted.  Unlike the Bionic Cowgirl, I'm super lazy and bought my frosting in two of those easy-to-use tubs.  I dumped the frosting in a bowl and added the last half of the green gel, which didn't make it very green.  So I added the last half of the blue and yellow gels too, mixed it all up and went to work decorating the cupcakes.

Can we say "sugar high"?

The decoration is pretty run-of-the-mill boring stuff, but I can't wait to see the looks on the kids' faces when they bit into their cupcakes and find all the pretty colors.  It's kind of like a reverse Easter egg, with the colors on the inside.

My New Favorite Recipe

I totally stole this recipe from a Facebook friend who found it on Pintrest (no, I don't belong and have no desire to).  But, it sounded good and I tried it and fell in love.  Not quite oh-my-God-it's-bacon-wrapped-asparagus love, but still I'm pretty in love with this new recipe.

My very favorite asparagus recipe...

I don't have a picture of them cooked,
because I ate them as fast as they came off the grill :)

The new asparagus recipe is breaded and baked.  Yum.  Since I love it so much, I thought I'd share it.

It's pretty simple: asparagus, liquid chicken, bread crumbs and fresh grated parmesean.  Even I can cook something with only four ingredients.

Snap the ends off the stalk,
peel if desired, I prefer them unpeeled

Two beaten liquid chickens,
and Italian bread crumbs

Probably an unnecessary photo,
but I like it, so it's in :)

I'm not really good at the wet hand,
dry hand thing,
but I'm working on it.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes,
top with grated parmesean with 2-3 minutes to go.

RCC and I demolished about half a pan between us.  We might have demolished a whole pan, but we had plans for dinner that included this...

Homemade chicken parmigiana, breaded asparagus,
ceasar salad...yum!