Biscuits and Gravy and more...

What a weekend!!!  Lots of good food and fun.  Food is my shtick, so I love it when it comes out successful and I was not disappointed.  Friday night was cheese burger and fries, Saturday morning brought sausage gravy and biscuits and fried potatoes and Sunday a new preparation for orange roughy.  Yummmmm!!!

Friday night's cheeseburger!

The spicy cheeseburger is just ground round with minced garlic and red pepper flakes mixed in.  I salt and pepper it before I put it in the skillet and when it is almost done I pop the colby cheese on top and lid it so the steam makes the cheese become a gooey mess.  This time I sauteed some onions in olive oil with some salt and pepper and put them on top of the burger right under the cheese.  A little smear of some light mayo on some toasted sourdough bread and Yummm.  The fries are simply potatoes peeled and wedged.  Rinse and dry them off and then toss them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped fresh rosemary and sprinkle on the dried ancho chili powder. Cook them for about 45 minutes in a 450 degree oven. All of the spice amounts should be to your taste.  We like it spicy so I went heavy on the pepper and ancho chili powder.

Biscuits and gravy...need I say more?

Breakfast...I really like breakfast.  We had the guys this weekend and my budding young chef, Nick, wanted to venture away from the normal french toast.  I assumed it was because we had finally got the biscuits down and he wanted to include them.  We decided we needed two batches worth so I mixed up one and he did the other.  He is becoming quite the biscuit maker.  I am jealous.  It took me 51 years to get them down and he is only 14.  No fair!!!  But, I digress.  So, what goes better with biscuits than sausage gravy?  Not much!!  I won't bore you with the biscuit recipe since I put it in a previous post and the egg is merely egg, salt and pepper in a nonstick pan and you let it cook flat and flip it and fold it onto the plate.  I will share the sausage gravy and potato recipe though, since they were the stars of the show.

Sausage Gravy

1 pound sausage (your favorite)

6 tablespoons bacon grease (come on, you know you have some in the fridge)

1/4 cup flour

3 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper.

Over medium high heat break up and fry your sausage.  When it is done take it out of the pan to give yourself some room.  Leave the sausage grease and add the bacon grease to the pan.  If your sausage was really greasy you need to cut down on the bacon grease.  My pan was almost dry when my sausage was done so  I used all the bacon grease.  Turn the heat down to medium and add the flour.  Whisk that into the grease and cook for about four minutes.  You want all the raw flour taste gone.  And by the way, you are making a roux at this point.  Another one of those fancy words.  After the flour is cooked down add the milk and heavy cream and whisk like crazy. When I added the milk it instantly began to boil and  you want this to boil but then turn it down to a simmer so it thickens up.  Now is the time to taste for pepper and salt content.  We like ours really peppery so I always do about 10 grinds and go from there.  Don't forget, you used bacon grease so the salt might not be needed.  Add the sausage back in and just keep stirring off and on for about 10 minutes.  If it does not seem thick enough you could always add a little corn starch slurry.

Fried Potatoes

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed 

1/2 onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tablespoon bacon grease

salt and pepper

Rinse your potatoes and then pat them as dry as you can.  Put the bacon grease in a skillet on medium heat and add the onion and garlic.  Salt and pepper, you want to season each step.  Let these cook for about three minutes while you dry your potatoes.  Add the potatoes to the skillet, salt and pepper than put a lid on the skillet.  This will cause the potatoes to steam and cook through.  Leave them, stirring a couple of times, for 10 minutes.  Take the lid off, taste a tater to see if they are cooked through.  If they are, leave the lid off and they will start to brown up.  I usually cook them for about 10 more minutes at this point to get some color and crunch but they are pretty flexible and will sit for a while until you are ready.  We needed and extra minute for the double batch of biscuits and the potatoes were fine.

Orange Roughy...my new fav

Dinner on Sunday was a new preparation for orange roughy.  Nick had wanted to make a previous fish recipe from the blog but we were still full from breakfast and never got to dinner.  I checked a couple of websites and they recommended not holding fish in the fridge for more than two days so we had to have the fish for dinner.  I looked on line and kind of made up my own take on a couple of recipes I found.  I paired it with a bag of Uncle Ben's basmati rice and Pepperidge Farm garlic bread and of course our favorite side dish.  I just mixed the green beans and asparagus because I didn't have enough of just one for the dish.  It turned out great!

Parmesaan Crusted Orange Roughy

4 fish fillets
1/2 lemon juiced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parm cheese
3 tablespoons I Can't Believe it Not Butter softened (microwave about 10 sec)
3 tablespoons light mayo
2 tablespoon garlic whole grain mustard


Place the fish on a baking sheet and cover with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Broil for eight minutes.  Mix the other ingredients to top the fish.  After the eight minutes pull the fish out and cover with the topping.  Broil for an additional three minutes.  It's really that easy!

Very tasty.  Every meal.  And totally satisfying.  I really love cooking.  It's like offering yourself up on a plate to the ones you love.  It's my way of saying I love you.  My Dad always greeted everyone, whether on the phone or in person, with the question "Whatcha got to eat?".  If you were on the phone, he proceeded to tell you, in length, about what he had for dinner.  If you should walk in the door, he would take you to the kitchen and start pulling food out of the refrigerator.  That was just his way, and I guess I inherited that gene. Food is in my blood.  And on my thighs...and hips....sigh

I don't care!  Bring on the good food!!!

Glazed Salmon and Cheddar Biscuits....

It has been some time since I posted a recipe.  My sister came in from New York with her husband.  One of her daughters, her husband and their two boys also came in.  A great time was had, lots of laughing and playing and getting skunked at Sorry by a six year old.  Humbling.....

Anyway, I took some time off.  I actually did make some pasta salad but I forgot to take a pic.  It is one of our favorite salads (my Mom calls it perfect, thanks Mom) so I am sure I will be making it again and I will share the recipe then.

Tonight's dinner was Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze, Spicy Brown Rice, Sauteed Green Beans and Cheddar Biscuits.  I was so happy when everything turned out good.  I have already shared the green bean and spicy brown rice recipes.  So here goes with the other recipes.

The biscuits were a slight alteration of the buttermilk biscuit recipe I have posted before but I will post it as I made it tonight.

Cheddar Biscuits
2 cups Virginia's Best Biscuit flour (the only flour for me)
1 stick of unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used colby-jack) be generous with the measurement, heaping is what I call it

I cut the butter into the flour just like making regular biscuits.  Then add the cheese and mix it up, I used my hands.  Add the buttermilk, I did half cup, mixed and then the other half and then started adding the additional as needed.  I didn't start out with the other 1/4 cup buttermilk but the cheese seemed to make the dough call for more moisture.  I wanted to kind of do a drop biscuit with this so it needed to be moister, stickier, than a normal biscuit.  Usually when you turn out the dough you want to be able to cut into it with your biscuit cutter but with these I actually just pulled a hunk of dough out of the bowl and loosely formed it into a biscuit onto the parchment paper covered pan.  A little lump of dough.  I then cooked them at 450 degrees for eighteen minutes.  When they start browning on top pull them out.  I was trying for a cheddar bay Red Lobster kind of biscuit and someone told me they use Old Bay Seasoning on the biscuit but I didn't have any Old Bay.  I did know roughly what was in it so I took the following and brushed it on top of the biscuits right after I took them out of the oven so it would melt down into the biscuit.

Topping for Biscuit
1/2 stick of butter melted
2 shakes celery salt
2 shakes paprika
2 shakes garlic powder
1 shake red pepper flake
2 grinds black pepper
2 grinds sea salt

Sorry I did not measure out the spices.  This was the first time making these and I was playing it by ear.  And when I took a bite my first thought was, oh, what a shame.  It is just really a bad thing for the figure that these taste so good.  This biscuit is actually one of the best things I have ever eaten that I have made myself.

Now onto the salmon.  We have been trying to eat more fish and normally have orange roughy.  This week Kroger had fresh salmon on sale.  Who can resist a sale?  and who can resist salmon?  Not I!!!!  I wanted to do something different so I did my favorite thing.  Googled on salmon and started researching.  Giada De Laurentiis was the winner this time.

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze
2 garlic cloves finely minced
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon chicken broth (she said dry white wine but I don't have wine)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (she said two, but I thought that would be too much)
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard (again, she said two)
  Mix all these together and set aside.
Nonstick cooking spray
2 salmon fillets (6 to 8 ounces)
salt and pepper

Put foil on a baking sheet and spray with the cooking oil.  Place your salmon on the sheet and salt and pepper.  Put under the broiler for two minutes.  Take fish out of the oven and spoon on the mustard glaze.  Cook the salmon for five more minutes until browned on top and fish flakes.  It really did take that exact amount of time.  You can garnish with lemon if you like but I did not feel it needed any more flavor than it already had.  The glaze added to the flavor of the salmon but did not overpower it.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  This was a very simple yet very tasty way to cook salmon.  Absolutely a do-over!!!

This whole meal just made me happy.  Everything turned out well and the new items were the star of the show.  And the look on the darling husband/best friends face was payment enough for me.  We were having a discussion on chefs and cooks and I told him that the difference to me was a chef was upset and offended when you didn't like his dish...a cook just wanted to cry.  I consider myself a cook and that's why I like it when he is happy with the offerings I make for dinner every night.  The appreciation he expresses is what it's all about.

Satisfied!!  and very full!!!  and looking forward to making those biscuits again.  Hello thunder thighs!

Lemon Rosemary Crusted Fish...

I finally pulled the trigger and planned a radically different menu for tonight.  Everything on it was new.  Even some of the ingredients had never been used before.  The menu was Lemon Rosemary Crusted Fish, Balsamic Vegetables and Black Rice.  You know...forbidden rice...ooooo

Hopefully no one in authority will be beating down the door because of the rice...

I love to utilize the internet.  Google is one of my friends.  I have all these cookbooks on my shelf but I love the convenience of having an idea and instantly getting some other foodies opinions on the ingredients.  Thanks all you blogging foodies.

The veggies were a medley of some favorites, some not so favorite and a newbie on the block.  We had never tried fennel before and the darling husband/best friend had already been introduced to brussel sprouts and they did not have a good first impression.  I scanned the internet world and when seven different food bloggers talked about the same recipe I just had to try it.

Balsamic Vegetables
1 fennel bulb sliced thinly
1 onion sliced thinly
10 mushrooms sliced thickly
3 garlic cloves sliced
15 brussel sprouts cut in half
1/2 extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons minced rosemary
salt and pepper

Mix it all and put it in a 13x9 glass pan and roast them at 425 degrees for 40 minutes stirring them at the half way point.

Lemon Rosemary Crusted Fish
2 pieces of fish (I used orange roughy you could use any hardy fish you like)
1/2 cup panko breading
1 garlic clove minced
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
1 lemon zest and juice
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients from panko down except for 1/2 of the lemon juice.  Pat your fish dry and salt and pepper it. Put the fish on some parchment paper that has been sprayed with some canola oil.  Squeeze the other half of the lemon on the fish and then top with the breading.  Cook at 375 degrees for 18 minutes.

The black rice was just the package directions.  I did add a teaspoon of olive oil and some salt to taste when it was done because of some of the comments I read online.

Very different flavor profile for us but I LIKED IT!!  Very satisfied and happy that it all worked out!!

White Cheese Enchiladas

Flank Steak Enchiladas...yummmmm.

Ever since we had the cilantro cream sauce enchiladas I have been wanting to remake them with a different sauce.  Some sort of cheesy sauce...

I put flank steak mixed with onions, garlic and cheese, black beans straight from the can drained and rinsed and quick Mexican rice in the enchiladas and topped it with a cheese sauce.  You can use some thinly sliced green onion as a garnish.  As you can see from the picture I had leftover rice for a side dish.  You can cut the rice recipe in half if you don't want the extra but we are rice lovers in this house!

White Cheese Sauce
1 pound American white cheese cubed
1/3 cup of milk
1 tablespoon butter
2  4 ounce cans jalapeno peppers
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder

Put the butter, cheese and milk in a saucepan on low heat and cook until cheese is melted.  You will need to pay attention to this so the cheese doesn't burn.  After it's melted add the rest of the ingredients.  If you want it thinner just keep adding milk.  I made the mistake of thinking it was thin enough because when it is hot it appears thinner.  Next time I will add a little more milk so when it sets up it won't be so thick.  If you have ever made cooked pudding you want it thinner than that.  I got to the pudding consistency and thought I was done...

I made a quicky Mexican rice because I didn't have the time for the really good stuff.  It was pretty good for being so quick.

Quick Mexican Rice
1 cup basmatti rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons salsa (whatever you like)

Put everything in the pot and bring it to a boil.  Turn it down to a simmer, lid it and let it cook for 20 minutes.
I then added the black beans to the rice.

I used the same meat marinade that we used when we made the cilantro enchiladas.  I'll repeat so you don't have to go back to that post.

The Flank Steak
2 pounds flank steak cut into thin strips then cut the strips into inch long pieces then marinate
1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups shredded cheese (I used the Kraft with the jalapeno peppers.  You can use cheddar/jack)

Marinade
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

add the cut flank steak to the marinade and let it go until everything else is done.  The meat cooks up in a minute so you can wait until the end to cook it.  That's the advantage of cutting it so small.  You just want to fry it up in a little oil until it is just slightly pink.  Take the meat out and put in the other half of the onion chopped and the garlic and cook til soft.  Add the meat, onions, garlic and cheese into a bowl and mix.

Heat the corn tortilla in some 300 degree oil to loosen it up, about 5 seconds.  It's gonna be hot so be careful...put a spoon of the meat and cheese mixture and a spoon of the rice and beans in the middle of the tortilla and fold the two sides over and put it in the cake pan.  I sprayed the pan with some oil before I put anything in it.  When you have the pan full pour your white cheese sauce on top and put in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  I turned the broiler on for the last two minutes to get some color on the sauce.

This turned out pretty good.  I do want to try it again and thin that sauce out a little but the flavor was spot on.   My darling husband/best friend said it needed just a bit more heat for him (told you he liked it hot) so I will add some red pepper flakes to the meat mixture and see what that does.  Right now I am full as a tick and pretty happy!  Satisfaction once again!

Chicken Tortilla Soup and Buttermilk Biscuits

 It has been a long time since I blogged a recipe.  I discovered that I have a limited menu going on at my house.  That will change.  Gonna pull out the cookbooks and see what I can find.  But for today I get to blog about the Saturday Guys Day fare at the Moore household.  Mike couldn't be with us, and he was missed, but Nick was there and requested my Chicken Tortilla Soup.  He also had a surprise for me.  He made some apple compote to go on our french toast for breakfast.  And I in turn had a surprise for him...we went out for breakfast.  But later in the day we made some buttermilk biscuits (something I have just recently been able to do...yay) and had the compote on them.  My darling husband/best friend declared the combination one of the five best things he has ever eaten in this house.  I must admit, it was like eating apple pie...sooooo good!!!

 The picture shows the biscuit with some apple butter on it 'cause we ate all the compote before I thought to take a picture but I will give you Nick's recipe for the compote and what I use for the biscuits.  I cannot put into words how happy I am that these biscuits are good.  I have tried since I was about twelve to make a biscuit that was not akin to a hockey puck and this last week was my first success at it.  Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks.  Ha!  I had Nick do the mixing on this day and boy was the dough sticky.  It was raining and I have googled since then and discovered that humidity can make a difference.  If you make the biscuits on a rainy day you will need to add more flour or use less buttermilk.  I am not experienced enough to tell you the amounts but we just kept adding flour after we had turned it out onto the counter until we were able to get the cutter through the dough and it come out clean.  Probably about 3 tablespoons if I had to make a guess were sprinkled on that pile of dough.  It was hilarious!!  But they still turned out good.  Love that Virginia's Best!!

Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups Virginia's Best biscuit flour (the wonder flour in my opinion) plus some for the counter
1 stick cold butter
1 cup cold buttermilk

Take the stick of butter and cut off about two tablespoons of it and melt it to brush on top of the biscuits before you put them in the oven.  The rest needs to be cubed up (make sure you don't handle it too much while cubing, you don't want it to start melting on you).  Add the cubed butter to the two cups of flour and using a pastry blender cut in the butter.  If you don't have a pastry blender than use two butter knives passing them through the flour/butter mixture in a crisscross fashion until the butter is the size of peas in the flour.  Make a well in the center and add half of the buttermilk.  I used a long tine fork to mix the dough.  Gradually add the rest of the buttermilk until you get it all incorporated.  Turn the dough out onto a well floured counter.  You could put down some waxed paper under the flour if you don't want to clean up the mess.  Depending on how sticky your dough is you can sprinkle a little flour on top then turn the dough over lightly pressing about three times.  Pat the dough to about an inch or inch and a half thick and cut straight down with your biscuit cutter or drinking glass.  Just try to not twist because that will seal off the edges and they won't rise.  Put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper making sure they touch.  That also aids in the rising.  Cook in a 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.  These biscuits are so tender and taste really yummy!

Nick's Apple Compote
2 gala apples peeled and cubed
the juice of one small lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

While you are peeling and cubing the apples juice the lemon over them so they do not brown up on you.  Put the butter in a small skillet or small sauce pan on medium high.  Add the apple cubes (juice and all) and the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cook until the apples are at the consistency you like.  Just keep stirring occasionally and checking by tasting.

I think it was the brown sugar that made it taste like pie.  Can't wait to have that again!!!

Now that the snack is over it is time for dinner.  This soup came about after a trip to Panera Bread one day for dinner.  We were on an excursion to Blacksburg to our favorite store, The World Oasis, and Panera is our go-to restaurant down there.  My darling husband/best friend, Nick and I all had the soup and loved it.  I decided I wanted to try to do a remake on it and this is the recipe I ended up with.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 roasted poblano pepper skinned, seeded and chopped

2 roasted jalapeno peppers skinned, seeded and chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 onion chopped

2 teaspoons Mrs Dash Southwest Seasoning

1 can fire roasted tomatoes-salsa style

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can mexi-corn

5 cups chicken broth

1 can of water (I rinse out the tomato and corn cans with this trick)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed

1 lime juiced and tortilla chips for garnish

Timeline:  put the peppers on a foil covered cookie sheet, coat them with canola oil and put them under the broiler.  They will take approx 5 minutes and you will need to turn them frequently to roast them on all sides. When they are charred to your liking put them in a bowl and cover the bowl with saran wrap.  This will help them sweat which will make the removal of the skin easier.  Right after putting the peppers in the oven you can get the chicken cooking.  I pat the two breasts dry and then season them with salt, pepper and ceyenne pepper.  Put about two tablespoons of oil in your oven safe pan on medium heat.  Cook the chicken for five minutes on each side to create a nice crust.  By the time that is done the peppers should be out of the oven so you can put the oven on 350 and put your chicken in to finish cooking.  It takes about 15 minutes but just check it with your thermometer.  Be safe!!  Once the chicken is in the oven the hard part is over.  Now you get a good sized pot and put enough oil in the bottom to cover and put the temperature to medium high.  Chop up your onion and garlic and throw it in the pot with the Mrs. Dash seasoning.  While this is cooking take your peppers out of the bowl and skin, seed and chop them.  Remember, these are hot peppers so make it a fine chop.  No big hunks please.  Once you get the peppers in the pot the onions and garlic should be softened and you can add the tomatoes, black beans, mexi-corn and chicken broth.  You want this to come to a gentle boil.  When the chicken is done and cooled a bit you can cube it up and add it.  I like to make this soup the day before because it just gets better with age.  You want to add the lime juice right before serving.  I make the tortilla chips out of corn tortillas.  Cut the tortilla in half and then cut the halves into strips.  Get your oil to about 350 and drop them in.  We joke that when they stop talking they are done.  If you make them you will know what we are talking about.  They bubble up like crazy from the water content when you first put them in but as the water cooks out they get quiet.  When they are slightly changed in color you will want to pull them out because they "carry over" cook just a little.  Put some paper towels in the bowl you are going to put them in to take away some of the excess oil and don't forget to season them.  I just use some light sea salt but you can use your favorite seasoning.  

Now, I will admit, this is one spicy soup.  There are several ways you can cut down on the heat factor.  You can use the regular fire roasted tomatoes, salsa style means they added some peppers to the mix.  And you can use a roasted green pepper instead of the pablano and just have the jalapeno heat.  And you can not put the ceyenne pepper on the chicken when you cook it.  But also remember, it is supposed to have some heat.  If you take it all out you just have chicken vegetable soup...

This is my favorite soup.  And I am happy to say, it is often requested and brings a smile to everyone's face.  We were all happy and full and most importantly, satisfied.  If you try it tell me how you like it.

Pork chops...

Pork chops...he wants pork chops...

In an effort to eat less red meat we decided to give pork chops a try.  Not knowing my dislike for pork chops, my darling husband/best friend suggested we have some this week. This was a challenge for me.  I wanted to create a recipe that would make a pork chop that even I would like.  And I did...

Pork Chops My Way

4 Boneless pork chops
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon adobe chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper.

Pat the chops as dry as you can.  On one side I sprinkled the garlic powder, adobe chili powder and the rosemary.  I turned them over and put salt and pepper on the other side.  I did about 5 grinds each.  I then brought about one tablespoon of canola oil (cover the bottom of your skillet) to medium high and fried the chops for about 4 minutes each side.  Use your thermometer and bring them to 160 degrees.

They turned out very moist and flavorful.  I was very pleased.

Just in case the pork was disappointing I made sides that I knew could never disappoint.  Garlic smashed potatoes and bacon asparagus...yummmmm

Good meal.  And a keeper.  Who knew I could like a pork chop?

Beef Enchiladas and Mexican Rice

Yay!!!  Mexican!!!!

It is guy Saturday again and the budding young chef has decided that we will have some Mexican fare for the day!

What you see in the picture:

Guacamole- yes it is Alton Brown's slightly amended recipe
Pico de Gallo-same recipe as before
Mexican Rice-something new to the blog, yes!
Corn tortilla chips-just cut up some corn tortillas and fry them up
and some taco seasoned ground beef for Mike...

and the center piece of the meal...

Beef Enchiladas with Cilantro Cream Sauce.  We got this recipe from the Food Network but as I oftentimes do, we amended it slightly.

Beef Enchiladas with Cilantro Cream Sauce

2 1/2 pounds marinated flank steak (marinade recipe to follow)
1 onion chopped fine
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I could only find a mix of the cheddar and jack and it worked fine)
16 (or so) corn tortillas softened

Marinade for the steak
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 onion chopped
black pepper

Cut the steak across the grain as thin as you can.   Then cut those strips into one inch pieces.  Place the meat in the marinade at room temperature for one hour.  I got the wok out to cook the meat.  I thought it would do the job the quickest.  Heat it up with a tablespoon of oil and cook the meat in batches until almost done.  When the meat is done throw in that finely chopped onion for a minute or two to soften it up.  Put the meat and onions in a bowl and add 1 cup of the monterey jack cheese and 1 cup of cheddar.  Mix carefully.  I fixed tortilla chips as well with this meal so I put three inches of oil in a pot and brought it up to 350 degrees in order to soften my tortillas. If you are just softening up the tortillas to make the enchiladas you could probably just put an inch of oil in a skillet and put it on medium high.  You want to dip the tortilla in the hot oil for just a few seconds.  I counted to seven doing the "one one thousand, two one thousand" thing until I got to "seven one thousand" and it worked great.  Take the softened tortilla and put the meat and cheese mixture in the middle and fold the two sides over.  Put the enchilada in the casserole dish seam side down and move onto the next one.  When you have them all filled (and if you get exactly 16 please leave me a comment cause I don't think it would ever work out that way) pour on the cilantro cream sauce and top with the remaining cheese.  Cook at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until the cheese is all nice and melty...  Oh, I didn't tell you how to make the cilantro cream sauce did I...

Cilantro Cream Sauce
4 bunches cilantro
1 jalapeno roasted and deseeded
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cumin
salt and pepper

Bring some water to boil in a pot and blanch the cilantro.  That just means dunk it in the water and count to three.  Put the blanched cilantro in the blender.  (You roast the jalapeno by rubbing it up with some canola oil and putting it on a pan and putting it under the broiler until it turns brownish.)  After you get that pepper roasted put the oven on 350 degrees for the enchiladas.  Add the roasted pepper to the blender and puree with the cilantro.

Put the cream in a saucepan on medium to medium low and reduce it by half.  This will take about 10 minutes or so.  We did not reduce ours enough before adding the cilantro/jalapeno and cumin but we were able to reduce it after.  Sometimes it's the end result not the manner in which you get there.  It needed a lot of salt and pepper, probably about 10 grinds of each and it tasted better as it sat.  Who knew that cilantro cream sauce would need to "marry" like a good tomato sauce.

This was very good but not spicy enough.  We are addicted to spice in this house so next time I will probably add some red pepper flakes to the steak and cheese mixture.  And maybe instead of cilantro cream sauce make a Mexican alfredo sauce....hmmmmm.  And let's not forget the rice...

Mexican Rice
2 cups of long grain white rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 onion
2 cups chicken broth
3 jalapeno peppers chopped fine
3 cloves garlic chopped fine
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Rinse your rice under cold water for at least three minutes.  You want all the starch washed off.  When I think I have rinsed it enough I get a bowl and set the strainer of rice drain into it and look at the water to see if it is cloudy.  It usually is, so that means you rinse it some more.  This step is very important.  The more you rinse it the fluffier the end resulting rice will be.  When you have rinsed it well let it drain.  Shake it to remove all the water you can.

Put the onion and the tomatoes in your blender and puree them.  You need one cup of this mixture.  You could keep the remainder and freeze it for your next tomato basil soup...yummm.

Get a skillet that is oven safe and has a lid that fits and put 1/4 cup of canola oil in it.  You want this on medium low.  When you think it is up to temp put a grain of the rice in it and see if it spits at you.  If so, add all the rice to the pan and let it cook for eight minutes stirring often.  You want to toast up the rice.  Add the garlic and jalapeno and cook for about one minute.  Add the cup of tomato puree and the two cups of chicken broth and stir well.  Bring this to a boil then lid it and put it in the oven on 350 for 45 minutes.  You want to stir it at 15 minutes.  When time is up fluff up the rice and add the cilantro.


Wonderful meal!!!  Good suggestion Nick!!!  Everyone was full and satisfied.  We even got Mike to try everything but the green enchiladas.  I must admit, they did look strange.  Looks can be deceiving though...try them, you may like them!!

Nothing really

It's been awhile since I wrote about our food.  With storms and no internet and a few days of not feeling well things sort of got lax.

Never fear.  We have eaten, just a lot of repeat dinners that I have already shared recipes for.  I didn't realize until I started this blog just what a rut I was in regarding the culinary world.  I really must dig out some of those recipe books sitting on my shelf and be more adventurous.  I thought I would catch up on some of the dinners we have had so here goes...

 This is a repeat of the Zatarain's recipe.  I did switch out the type, went from the dirty rice to the jambalaya mix.  Worked out just as well and was just as hot.

This is a repeat of the rosemary chicken and potatoes with bacon asparagus.  Can't get it often enough.

   And last but not least, a cheeseburger on ciabatta...yummmm

and raspberry chai ice tea!!!






It was all wonderful and satisfying!!!