Week 28 - Because Kevin Demanded It

This week was a cool opportunity to cook for my family because Kevin and the fam were coming out from Boston and he strongly suggested that I should make dinner for everyone. It was actually a great opportunity to use my awesome Red Rock Ranch Cookbook because it's got great, easy meals for groups of people.

In choosing the recipe I was working under 2 important facts: 1) Kevin loves Mexican food and doesn't get good Mexican in Boston; and 2) my grandma's house has a reasonable supply of spices, etc, but is not somewhere that I want to leave left over ingredients like milk or fresh veggies cause nobodies there to eat them! So I went with a Mexican-ish recipe that would be easy to shop for and leave few leftover ingredients.

Everyone seemed really happy with this casserole - even Grandma AND Timmy - so I was very happy about that. And, depending on your group, it would be an easy one to throw in a few more spices, especially some cayenne or something else to give it more kick. I suppose you could also use hot instead of mild enchilada sauce, too... But overall it was simple and satisfying and a will be a great addition to my potluck arsenal.

ENCHILADA SQUARE

Source: The Red Rock Ranch Cookbook

1 lb. ground beef - 1/4 c. onions, chopped - 4 eggs - 1 8-oz. tomato sauce - 1 5 1/2-oz. evaporated milk - 1 C. enchilada sauce - 1/3 C. sliced ripe olives - 2 C. corn chips - 1 C. shredded cheese

Cook ground beef and onions together. Spread into a 10x6x2 dish. Beat eggs, tomato sauce, milk and enchilada sauce together. Pour mixture over the meat. Sprinkle with olives and cheese and chips. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with more cheese and serve.

Week 27 - It Really Does Have Carrots

A couple weeks ago I had a yearning to make a carrot cake. I wasn't really craving eating one, I just wanted to see how they were made. So I made one.

Carrot cake proved much simpler than I expected. AND, to my surprise, it really has carrots in it (I've only ever made them from a box). Thanks to my trusty food processor, grating the carrots was a snap so the whole cake was pleasantly quick and easy. This recipe made enough for 2 little round cakes (I stacked them to make a double-layer cake) and a handful of cupcakes.

The cake part of this is great but I didn't care for the frosting at all. It was bland and too buttery for me. So if you make this I would find another frosting recipe or go with store-bought because it is just so stinkin easy and guaranteed delicious.

MOM'S CARROT CAKE

Source: A Taste of Oregon

2 C. sugar - 4 eggs - 1 C. cooking oil - 2 C. flour - 2 tsp. baking soda - 2 tsp. cinnamon - 1 tsp. salt - 2 tsp. vanilla - 3 C. grated carrots - 1/2 C. chopped nuts - 1/2 C. raisins

Mix together sugar and eggs; add the oil and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and beat again. Add the vanilla, carrots, nuts and raising to mixture and mix well. Pour mixture into three 9-inch greased cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool and then frost.

FROSTING: 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened - 1/2 C. butter or margarine - 2 C. powdered sugar - Lemon juice or milk as needed - 1 C. chopped nuts

Mix together cream cheese, margarine and powdered sugar. If too stiff, add lemon juice or milk until spreading consistency is obtained. Add nuts to the mixture and frost cake.

Week 26-ish - Party in My Mouth

So on the real week 26 I couldn't manage a night to actually cook (we had a barbecue to get ready for, after all) so I did it on week 27. And even though I did it 4 days ago, I'm just now getting around to posting. Since I don't think anyone follows this too religiously, I'm not worried.

This recipe was AWESOME. Totally delicious. This is one of my favorite flavor combinations and for once it was just as good at home as at a restaurant or cafe. I was totally floored at how easy pesto was and I'm excited to find more uses for it. Later in the week we even re-used it along with the mozzarella and red roasted peppers on burgers and it made them delicious, too.

I'm not going to reprint the whole recipe as it is written because we (Beej and I, we've been doing a lot of these together recently and for this one he prepped and grilled the veggies) found a couple things in it ridiculous. First, the say cut the veggies crosswise into thick slices but doing that makes them not even come close to fitting on a baguette and makes the sandwich at 2 inches tall plus the height of the bread, thus nearly inedible. So we did stick-shaped veggies and they worked great. Second, the real recipe tells you exactly how to stack the items ("...2 slices of eggplant, 2 slices of zucchini,..." etc) which just seems unnecessary. Of course if you want it exactly as is, just check out foodnetwork.com.

GRILLED VEGETABLE PANINI

Source: www.foodnetwork.com

1/4 C. olive oil - 1 med. to large regular eggplant - 2 zucchini - 1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices - Salt and pepper - Baguettes (or ciabatta or any kind of fun sandwich bread) - 1/2 C. Basil Pesto (see below) - 8 oz. fresh water-packed mozzarella cheese, sliced - 2 tomatoes, sliced - 1/2 C. roasted red peppers

Heat a grill pan (we used cast iron skillet and it was fine) over medium-high heat. Drizzle oil over the eggplant, zucchini and onion slices, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Working in batches, grill the 3 veggies until they are tender and grill marks appear, about 4 minutes per side. Cool completely. Spread basil pesto on both sides of baguette and stack veggies into baguette. (Sandwiches can be made 4 hours ahead. Wrap well with plastic and refrigerate.)

Basil Pesto: 2 C. fresh basil leaves - 1/4 C. toasted pine nuts - 2 garlic cloves, peeled - 1/2 tsp. salt - 1/4 tsp. pepper - 1/3 C. (about) extra-virgin olive oil - 1/2 C. grated Parmesan

In a blender, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. With the blender still running, gradually add enough oil o form a smooth and thick consistency. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Week 25 - Not as Good as Mom's

This summer is proving busy, busy, busy so I needed something quick and simple that would give us lunch for a couple days. Mac and cheese it is.

I don't know why I thought this could be as good as mom's... it wasn't. It was good, just didn't have the classic cheesy taste that I'm used to. As nervous as I was about the mustard and tabasco, I now can't determine their purpose. I couldn't really taste them.

All in all it was OK. I liked it a little better as leftovers. But it served it's purpose - it was definitely quick and simple so I've got no complaints.

SKILLET MACARONI AND CHEESE

Source: The Best 30-Minute Recipe

3 1/2 C. water, plus more as needed - 1, 12-oz. can evaporated milk - 12 oz. elbow macaroni - Salt and pepper - 1 tsp. cornstarch - 1/2 tsp. dry mustard - 1/4 tsp. Tabasco - 2 C. shredded cheddar cheese - 2 C. shredded Monterey Jack cheese - 3 T. unsalted butter

1. Bring 3 1/2 cups water, 1 cup of evaporated milk, macaroni and 1/2 teaspoon salt to simmer in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, stirring often, until macaroni is tender, 8-10 minutes.

2. Whisk remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk, cornstarch, mustard and Tabasco together, then stir into skillet. Continue to simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

3. Off heat, stir in cheeses, one handful at a time, adding additional water as needed to adjust sauce consistency. Stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.