Category Archives: Cooking

Cooking, mexican, recipes

Chicken Taquitos with Spinach & Wild Rice

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In my ongoing quest for quick and somewhat healthy dinner ideas, I came across a tasty recipe for chicken flautas today. Usually my decision to try a recipe is based 90 per cent on whether I have all of the ingredients already. This one passed the screening and sounded tasty as can be. Since I never know what type of vegetable to serve alongside Mexican food, I tweaked the recipe slightly and added chopped frozen spinach. I also healthified it more by adding a wild rice/quinoa blend that I’d made earlier in the day and saved in the fridge.

Chicken Taquitos with Spinach & Wild Rice

Both boys (husband and son) gobbled this up. I think I’ll have to make these a staple dinner in our house.

Ingredients (I eyeball everything, so measurements are approximations):

8-10 taco-sized flour tortillas

1 chicken breast

olive oil

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup cooked brown rice or quinoa

1/2 cup frozen spinach

1/2 brick Neufchatel cheese or cream cheese

nearly one cup Monterey jack cheese

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/8 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Place frozen spinach in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with water. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for two minutes. Drain thoroughly, squeezing with your hands to remove as much water as possible. Place in a medium mixing bowl.

Butterfly the chicken breast and coat both sides with salt and pepper. Coat a frying pan with olive oil and heat over medium-high flame. Add chicken and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Once chicken is thoroughly cooked, shred with two forks and add to mixing bowl.

Add all the other ingredients but the tortillas and combine thoroughly. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the filling onto a tortilla and shape it into a narrow log. Roll up the tortilla tightly and place seam-side down in a casserole dish. Do the same with the rest of the tortillas and coat the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until they are golden and crisp on the edges.

Chicken Taquitos with Spinach & Wild Rice

Cooking, mexican, recipes, Uncategorized

Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce

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We recently spent two and a half weeks in Mexico where I spent a good deal of time watching the housekeeper cook. She used to run a restaurant from her home and one of her specialties is a dish called chilaquiles. It’s fried corn tortilla strips steeped in a red chile sauce. I thought the sauce would transfer well to an enchilada dish. I made a few twists and it turned out almost as well as Moña’s in Mexico. I wasn’t able to find the exact same dried chiles she used, but I used the kind from the Hispanic food section of the grocery store and it worked just great. Add in a little bit of slow-cooked beef, some rice, black beans and cheese and you’ve got yourself some amazing enchiladas.

Oh, and if you’re totally lazy, you could buy the sauce and just follow the enchilada recipe below. That’s what I did to obtain this pathetic photo. Trust me, it’s waaaaay tastier than it looks.

Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce with Slow-Cooked Shredded Beef

Ingredients:

3 plum tomatoes

4 medium-sized dried red chiles

3 cups water

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped fine

3 Tbs. flour

2 cups chicken stock

1 Tbs. chile powder

salt to taste

1 Tbs. chiles in adobo sauce, chopped finely

Directions:

Break the tops off the dried chiles and toss as many of the seeds as you can. Bring the water, tomatoes and chiles to a boil in a saucepan. Boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

Place one clove of garlic in a blender. With a slotted spoon, add the tomatoes and chiles, cover the blender and start blending. Slowly add the water from the saucepan and blend on high for a minute or so.

Mince the remaining clove of garlic. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook till onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and mix into a paste. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Turn down the heat and add the blended mixture, chicken stock, chile powder, chiles in adobo sauce and salt. Bring to a simmer, turn to low and let bubble for 10 minutes or so. The sauce will be thinner than gravy.

If you prefer it thick, make a slurry with 1/2 cup chicken stock and 1-2 Tbs. flour and pour it in. Stir and let simmer for five minutes or so till it thickens.
Store in a jar in the fridge for up to a week.
Recipe for beef enchiladas
Ingredients:
1 thin, cheap cut of beef; about 1/2 lb.
olive oil
salt & pepper
dried oregano
smoked paprika
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
1 can black beans, partially drained
2 chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped fine
leftover brown rice (optional)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated (for the top, optional)
tortillas (flour or corn)
Directions:
Coat the beef in olive oil and sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper, paprika and oregano. Place in a slow cooker and add the onions. Cook on low for 5 hours or so. It’ll be so tasty you might have a hard time getting it into the enchiladas. Shred the beef and set aside.
When it’s near dinner time, preheat the oven to 375′. Add the beans to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Mash with a potato masher and add the chopped chiles and some salt. Cook for five minutes or so. Heat up your leftover rice, if using. Coat the bottom of a square or rectangular baking pan with enchilada sauce.
Pour about a cup of sauce in a pie pan. Set up a little assembly line with the tortillas, sauce, work surface, beans, beef, rice, cheese and baking pan.  Soak a tortilla in the sauce and place it on your work surface. Add small amounts of all your ingredients, roll up the tortilla and place it seam-side down in the pan. Repeat till the pan is full. Pour a cup or so of the sauce all over the enchiladas. I never put enough and they end up drying out on the edges, so really saturate the baking dish. The tortillas suck up a lot. Top with remaining cheeses. Place, uncovered, in the oven for 30 minutes, or until it’s all bubbly.
Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving, or, if starving, risk lava-hot amazingness.

 

Cooking, mexican, recipes

Mexican Pot Pie

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Have you ever envisioned a meal and had it turn out better than you expected? This was one of those dishes. I had some leftover ground pork and a can of black beans in the cupboard, so I did a Google search for those two ingredients and found this recipe for mexican pot pie. I had everything the recipe called for, but I didn’t need to feed an army, so I halved it for just me and my husband and tweaked a couple of ingredients.

This casserole had deep flavors and just the right amount of spice and cheese. The cornbread topping was crusty on top and creamy underneath. A dollop of sour cream and this became an instant dinnertime favorite in our household.

Since the full recipe called for one egg, I just beat an egg and eyeballed half of it.

Mexican Pot Pie -- Alaska Knit Nat

Feeds 4-6

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/3 cup diced bell pepper, color of your choice

2 Tbs. jarred jalapeños, chopped

3/4 lb. ground pork (or beef)

olive oil

1, 8-oz. can of tomato sauce

1 Tbs. tomato paste

5 oz. frozen corn, thawed

1/2 can of black beans

1.5 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. allspice

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce

2 tsp. yellow cornmeal

salt and pepper to taste

 

Cornbread crust:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1.5 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. melted butter

3/8 cup milk

1/2 egg

1/2 cup grated cheddar

1/2 can green chili peppers (4 oz. can)

Mexican Pot Pie -- Alaska Knit Nat

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a small baking dish (mine was 1.5 quarts). In a large skillet, heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper and jalapeño and cook for about five minutes.

Add the pork and cook till the pork is no longer pink, chopping with a wooden spoon as you go.

Stir in the tomato sauce, paste, corn, beans, cumin, allspice, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

For the cornbread batter, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the butter, milk and egg. Stir until just combined. Add the cheese and chili peppers.

Place the filling in the baking dish and dollop the cornbread on top of the filling, spreading it out as you go. If you can’t cover the whole top of the pie, then fill in the holes with grated cheese.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the crust is baked and the filling is bubbling.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a cold beer.

Cooking

Grown-up Sloppy Joes

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Despite what you might think, I’m no super mom and sometimes all I can muster up after a long day of work is something easy like sloppy joes. This quintessential American dish was one of the first I ever cooked at the young age of 10 when my mom gave me a Klutz brand cookbook for kids. All it called for as I remember it was ketchup, mustard, onion and garlic powder and maybe salt and pepper.

My grown-up version has the same base as my kid version, but I decided to spice it up a little. All of these measurements are estimated, as I usually toss everything in without measuring.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 5 mini bell peppers or 1 regular bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • hamburger buns

In a large saute pan, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion, peppers and mushrooms and cook till onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook till beef is brown. Drain. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Add the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and red wine and stir occasionally until there is a saucy mess in the pan. Slop onto toasted buns.

Cooking

Chicken Stew in Red Wine with Bell Peppers and Mushrooms

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Our new Costco staples these days are the mini bell peppers and baby portobello mushrooms. They are incredibly versatile and we use them for breakfast and dinner all the time.

Tonight I made something from scratch having not used a single recipe or reference. I just followed my nose and what I came up with was a flavorful chicken stew that was fantastic over a bed of saffron jasmine rice. Many of the ingredients can be left out or substituted, but I just went with what we had in the cupboards.

Here’s how to make it since I’m sure I’ll forget and will need to reference this recipe again. I apologize for the poor quality photo. Unfortunately it’s always dark when I make dinner so I get no natural light for my photos.

Ingredients:

Chicken parts; I used two thighs and a large breast cut in two

flour

2 strips of bacon, roughly chopped

olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

6 mini red, orange and yellow bell peppers, chopped

6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup red wine

1 tsp. porcini powder

2 tsp. dried thyme

salt and pepper

smoked paprika

1 Tbs. tomato paste

1 large ripe tomato or 1 regular can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup dried jasmine rice

pinch of saffron

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place some flour in a paper bag and toss the chicken around till the pieces are well coated.  Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the bacon. When bacon is browned, remove from pot and set aside. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and then add the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and smoked paprika and flip when chicken is golden brown. Brown the other side of the chicken and remove and set aside. Add a couple of more teaspoons of olive oil and add the onion, peppers, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook till onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and paprika. Be sure to scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, tomato paste and wine; stir and scrape. add the thyme, porcini powder and tomatoes. Place the chicken and bacon back in the pot. Bury the chicken in the other ingredients, cover pot and place in the oven for one hour.

When there’s 15 minutes left on the chicken, cook your rice according to packaging. Sprinkle in the saffron when you add the rice to the boiling water.

The chicken should be tender and falling apart. Serve over the rice. Yum! I think kalamata olives would be a good addition to this dish, but I didn’t have them today.

Cooking

Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder Ribs over Creamy Polenta

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My whole plan for this lazy Sunday was to slow cook some chicken, but when I got to the grocery store I found some pork shoulder ribs on sale. I’ve never cooked this type of meat before and I thought I should give it a try.

After a few Google searches for slow cooked pork shoulder ribs, I decided on this one from DadCooksDinner.com. This sounded easy, delicious, and I happened to have all the ingredients already. I used this fellow’s recipe for his BBQ dry rub and his BBQ sauce, but with the sauce I added some liquid smoke and a dollop of Dijon mustard.

My pork shoulder ribs looked wider than the ones in his recipe and I was only able to squeeze three ribs in the bottom of the Crock Pot, which was a perfect serving for my husband and me (and lunch tomorrow). I’m sure you could stack the ribs in the Crock Pot if you were feeding more. I also used more than 1 teaspoon of the dry rub. I didn’t measure; I just coated the ribs on both sides.

Although this was a BBQ-style dish, I just knew the juices from the ribs would be scrumptious over creamy polenta, so I made some of that too. The pork was falling off the bone and super flavorful. I will definitely be making this dish a staple in our household.

Here’s how you can make it.

Ingredients:

DadCooksDinner.com’s dry BBQ rub

DadCooksDinner.com’s BBQ sauce, or BBQ sauce of your choice

2.5-3 lbs. pork shoulder ribs

kosher salt

2 cups water, divided

2.5 cups chicken stock

1 cup dry polenta, or cornmeal

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup half and half

salt and pepper

 

Directions:

Coat both sides of your ribs with kosher salt and spice rub and place the ribs in your slow cooker. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the cooker, cover, and cook on low for 6 hours or so. Add 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and cook another hour. I turned my slow cooker to high for the last hour, but I’m sure it doesn’t make a big difference.

When you have 45 minutes left on the meat, start boiling the chicken stock in a large saucepan. In a bowl, combine the polenta with 1.5 cups of water. When the stock is boiling, slowly add the polenta sludge and stir constantly until it’s smooth. Turn heat to medium low, cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. If polenta is getting too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of stock. Turn off the heat, add cheese, half and half, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside while finishing up the meat.

Transfer the ribs to a serving platter. Pour the juices into a measuring cup and remove as much fat as possible with a ladle. Reserve 1/2 cup of the juice and add 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce to it.

Serve the ribs on a big dollop of polenta and smother it all in sauce. Green beans make a great side.

 

Cooking

The Best Damn Roast Potatoes Ever

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My dad makes the best roast potatoes — ever. Hands down. They are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They are salty and smokey and buttery. And there is a simple secret to making them.

I apologize for the photo. These were so good I forgot to snap a photo until there were only a few left.

Ingredients:

6-8 medium yukon gold potatoes

2 tbs. butter (or if you have duck or goose fat, use a combo)

salt and pepper to taste

smoked paprika to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise so the halves are shallow (if that makes sense). Place potatoes on a plate and microwave for 4 minutes. Turn potatoes over and microwave another 4 minutes. Place potatoes into a baking dish and coat with butter and duck/goose fat (if you have it). Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. I go heavy on the paprika. It’s absolutely amazing. Roast in the oven cut side down for 10 minutes. Flip the potatoes and bake another 10 minutes. Flip one more time and bake 5-10 minutes, or until the skins of the potatoes are all browned.

Uhhhhhhhmazing!

Cooking, Italian, recipes

White Bean Salad with Basil and Heirloom Tomatoes

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On my way into work yesterday morning I stopped by the local fancy grocery store for a microwave burrito. I didn’t have time to make lunch and with our tight budget I really can’t afford to buy scrumptious lunches. At the checkout lane was a special on heirloom tomatoes — you know the ones, mutant and delicious looking that Martha Stewart and Food Network chefs go ga-ga for? I’ve never been able to afford them since they are usually about $6 a pound up here in Alaska, but for some reason they were only $1.99 a pound yesterday. I went ga-ga!

I’m not used to cooking with fresh tomatoes. Good fresh tomatoes are pretty much non existent up here unless you’re willing to pay the big bucks in the summer for home grown. So when I brought home these funny tomatoes I wasn’t sure what to do with them.

I had to sleep on it, and this morning it was clear: bean salad. It’s a great lunch food because it requires no reheating and can sit at room temp for a while and still be good. In fact, it’ll probably be better since it’ll soak in the flavors of the seasonings.

 Ingredients:

1 can canellini beans, drained but not rinsed

1 medium ripe tomato, cubed

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1 tsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 tsp. baslamic vinegar

 

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients, wait till lunchtime to eat. Easy!

Cooking, recipes, soup

Almost Homemade Matzoh Ball Soup

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After a long week of single mom-dom, my husband returned from his work trip with some sort of bad flu. So now I essentially have two babies to care for. In addition to his wearing a mask around the baby and sanitizing his hands non-stop, I’m making him drink all types of fluids.

Here’s where matzoh ball soup comes into play. Traditionally a soup eaten at Passover in the spring, this chicken broth-based dumpling soup brings me back to my childhood. I never had chicken and dumplings, but I don’t think I could love them more than matzoh balls. Light, moist and flavorful — homemade matzoh balls can’t be beat. But store bought is actually pretty damn good, but I like to dress it up a bit more so that it looks and tastes like mom’s. This soup can be enjoyed year round, since most grocery stores have a kosher section where this soup mix can be found.

Ingredients:

1 box of matzoh ball soup and mix (not just the matzoh meal)

2 eggs

1/4 cup cooking oil

2 Tbs olive oil

1 celery rib, chopped, keeping the leaves

half an onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

salt and pepper

 

Directions:

Whisk together the cooking oil and two eggs. Add the matzoh packet and mix well. Place in the fridge while you prepare everything else.

In a large soup pot, heat up the olive oil and add the chicken, onion, celery, carrot and salt and pepper. Cook till onions are soft, about five minutes. Add 2.5 quarts water and bring to a boil. Add the soup mix and turn down the heat.

Wet your hands and form the matzoh into walnut-sized balls and drop into the soup. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve to sick husband.

Cooking

Hurricane Sandy Cocktail

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While I’m here in Anchorage, avoiding the 24-degree chills outside, my good friends Gary and Kasandra are hunkered down in their Connecticut home, waiting for the fierce Hurricane Sandy to wreak havoc. I imagine Sandy as a middle-aged woman, possibly Roseanne sized, with a bathrobe and curlers in her hair. Also, she’s shaking a rolling pin at you.

Gary and Kasandra have taken all the necessary precautions — parked the cars in the middle of the driveway to avoid trees, secured the house and such, and now there’s nothing left to do but wait. But wait! — they can still have a good time.

May I present via long long long distance, the Hurricane Sandy.


Since they have all the time in the world, my East Coast pals are hand squeezing their juices. And since the next three days of school are cancelled, they’ve decided to clean out their liquor cabinet on this drink. Use all the booze! Better ration, buddies. You still have a lot of time.

1 oz. vodka

1/4 oz. grenadine

1 oz. gin

1 oz. light rum

1/2 oz. Bacardi 151 (wooo now it’s a party!)

1 oz. amaretto

1 oz triple sec

grapefruit juice

pineapple juice

Combine all but the juices in the order listed into a tall glass. Top with equal parts of the two juices. Garnish with tiny umbrella and drink with a bendy straw. Repeat.