Starting to use wedding gifts!

Okay, so we have used lots of wonderful gifts already, but tonight we debuted the "quick chef" courtesy of the Andaas family. It is quite the handy contraption. A quick stop at the closest grocery store for a few items put us on the path to try this little guy out. The closest grocery store has a very strong Mexican influence... and by influence I mean that no signs are written nor employees speaking the English.

Perfect, we'll grab our Manchego cheese and a few tomatoes and be on our way. Oh yeah, and we are out of salsa.

Por favor, senior, donde esta la salsa?

Salsa? No, no tenemos.

Argh. Oh hey, Elizabeth gave us that salsa maker thing. We can probably try that thing out.
And so we did. Started with an array of fresh ingredients: onion, lime, green pepper, roma tomatoes, garlic, cilantro.

Added a few pantry staples: balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, paprika.

Coursely chopped and added to the bowl.

Adam squeezed some limes for their juice.

Crank the little handle on this bad boy for a few minutes and you have yourself some mighty fine pico de gallo.

We put some in our quesadillas and still had WAY too much leftover. So, if you work with us, you will be eating this tomorrow.

A success, a failure, and a new invention.

Success: Enchilada Casserole

This recipe came from the cookbook compiled after my bridal shower. 
It reads "From the kitchen of Amy (Hambrick) Pierce. My mom used to make this and we have always loved it! :)"
I was really excited to try a Hambrick family tradition! I vote it a success for being easy, inexpensive, and flavorful.


1 lb ground beef or 2 1/2 c. cooked and cut up chicken 
(I chose chicken, sauteed it with butter, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder)
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can corn, drained
1 small can chopped or sliced black olives, drained (I omitted this because neither of us really like olives)
Tortilla Chips
1 1/2- 2 c. grated cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef/cook chicken. Strain fat, add enchilada sauce and mushroom soup, corn and olives. Stir together and simmer. Crush tortilla chips in bottom of 9x13 pan. After mixture of beef has simmered for 15 min, pour over chips evenly. Sprinkle cheese and back for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and sour cream.


To make this more "after work friendly" I cooked the chicken, sauce, soup mixture in the morning and stored it in the fridge. 
After work, I layered chips, fridge mixture, corn, and cheese while Adam threw together a salad.  I think I could have used more chips than just to cover the bottom of the pan to make more of a "crust." Adam opted to stuff this casserole in a tortilla even though I explained the enchiladas-with-a-fork kind of concept. I chose a handful of tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream and "scooped" mine. 


Failure: Italian Paninis


Lucky for me and you blog readers that I tried this one out on Sunday night before I even decided to blog about this because tonight was a capital D disaster. We'll start with the recipe and then I'll explain in painful detail how I failed.

Courtesy of Mario Batali: Coppa, Hot Salami, Ham, Fontina and roasted garlic puree panini (serves 4)


8 slices of thick country bread (I used sourdough)
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
4 oz. coppa, sliced (I actually used capicola, because there wasn't any coppa at the deli)
4 oz. hot salami - such as pepperoni or picante, sliced (I used a hot peppered salami)
4 oz. Fontina cheese, sliced
4 oz. roasted garlic puree (I just used the jar-o-garlic with a little olive oil as a substitute)
My own special addition, Prosciutto, gotta love it & a handful of fresh basil leaves


Preheat grill pan  (the bottom right pan on the pic above) on medium. Brush both sides of the slices  of bread with EVOO.
Assemble the sandwiches as follows: bread, capicola, salami, fontina, basil, garlic mixture, prosciutto, bread.
Cook 2-3 min on each side between grill press.


Sunday night this worked like a dream and they were delicious.

Tonight was a different story. 
Sunday night I must have been energized by the freshly unpacked groceries or at least thinking clearly since I hadn't spent 10 hours at my desk immediately prior to this culinary adventure. Sunday night I prepped (layed out all my ingredients on a cutting board and gathered my tools). Then, I preheated with the timer on for 5 min while I assembled sammies. Then I put them on the press, was watchful and attentive, and voila! Italian delight. 


Thursday night I preheated, then prepped, then realized the pan was already too hot, tried to turn it down, assembled, threw them on the press, turned around to clean out the sink before my 3 minute flip only to smell burning and find the bread completely stuck to the top of the press. To make matters worse I tore the bread in my attempt to free it from the press. The middle of the panini fell out in my mad attempt to flip and during the time I'm doing battle with the top of the press the bottom has well surpassed seared, if ya know what I mean. My exasperated outbursts brought Adam to my aid. I was on my way to the garbage can with this dinner failure when he calmly suggested that all we had to do was abandon this bread, salvage the middles, and re-assemble. Ahhh.... a voice of reason. 


New Invention:


Two separate yet equal desires brought me to this "invention." 


First of all, let me tell you how much I LOVE to go to the grocery store. I blame Mema. She grocery shops more than any woman should, especially when you are the only one in your house and you pretty much eat oatmeal three times a day. But my Mema loves to go to the grocery store. She loves different stores, finding a deal, stocking up on essentials. Need a can of this? Short a frozen package of that? She's got 4 and she got a deal on them. I guarantee it. Well, the grocery store has become a favorite spot of mine too. When I've been too broke to buy clothes or shoes (many a month in my early twenties obviously) I can spend that grocery money with the same gusto. A little sale paper reading/couponing/mental calculating later and it's pretty darn fun for me. A few weeks back I scored a d-e-a-l on butter. Like, not just a buck off or something, it was $.50 a pound. That is nuts! And what? No limit? I started running back to Adam and the cart who were moving through the cheese aisle with armfuls sputtering "we can freeze this! this cartful of butter is the same amount it usually costs for on box! this is crazy! can you believe this?" Needless to say he did not share my enthusiasm for the butter or the deal. As soon as I got in the car I pulled out my phone and dialed that 727 number so close to my heart. You bet she did. She was as happy about my soon to be freezer full of  butter and my deal as I was. 


So I currently have a lot of butter.


It is equally fair to say that I have a Starbucks problem. I know this is not special or unique because they have done a good job of sucking in most of the country, but I do visit Starbucks once, twice or thrice on a given day. The perfect afternoon complement to my Doppio Espresso over ice is the shortbread cookies. Love those things.


So, I rifled through the recipe book and found a "Basic Shortbread Cookie" recipe I copied from my mom's archives. It was simple and I had all the ingredients in the pantry so I put a batch together in a jiffy.


Basic Shortbread


1 1/3 c. butter, room temp (YES! This used up almost three whole sticks!)
2/3 c. sugar
3/4 t salt
3/4 t vanilla 
3 1/3 c. flour


Heat oven to 275. Butter 9x13 pan, line bottom with parchment (I was out of parchment and it turned out fine). Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2 minutes), add flour one cup at a time beating on low until just combined. Press into pan. Cut into squares. Bake until evenly golden now brown 70-85 minutes. Let cool out of pan. Slice of break bars.


So, you made shortbread cookies? Get over yourself. I know.


I did not let them cool. I pulled two perfect ones out of the middle while they were still soft and warm. 
I sliced a few strawberries very thin and added a dollop of freshly whipped cream. 
Strawberry short-cookies. 


Maybe this has been done many times. Probably should have googled it before I posted it, but I was proud and they were scrumptious. AND I'll be eating shortbread cookies with my espresso for days. I win.

Recipes, and Pictures, and Reviews, Oh My!

This is the section of the program where we hear from Adam.
How did I do? Were any of these meals worth eating again? Or the first time for that matter.

Pastitsio
My copy of this recipe is handwritten by my mom for the cookbook we put together before I moved into my first apartment, but it comes from a Greek cookbook with a lot of butter stains on it.


1lb. cooked macaroni
2 lbs. lean ground beef (I actually cut this to about 1.25 lbs)
6T butter
1 c. chopped onion
1T  salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t cinnamon
4T tomato paste
2 eggs
1/2 c. parmesan (grated)


Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onions for about 5 minutes. Add meat to brown. (This grossed me out. I browned and drained my 93% lean meat while the onions were sautéing then combined them. The butter is already ridiculous, I did not need all the other fat too.) Cover and cook 20 minutes. [You should be boiling your macaroni on a neighboring eye right now, but the recipe assumes that this goes without saying.] Add salt, pepper,  cinnamon & tomato paste. Continue cooking 10 minutes. Combine this with coked macaroni. Add parmesan and eggs. Blend well and pour into a lightly greased 9x12 backing dish. Cover with cream sauce. 


Drumroll please. The cream sauce is the reason I make this dish.


8T butter
3/4 c. flour
1 qt. warm milk (I just microwaved it for about 1 min 30 sec)
4 eggs 
1/2 t salt


Melt the butter, add flour. Remove from heat and stir in the warm milk slowly to keep smooth. Beat eggs slightly and add the hot mixture slowly to the eggs to keep from curdling. Add salt and cook until thickened (stirring continuously). Pour evenly over the mixture. 


Bake at 375 30 minutes until set. 


Spanakopita


1 package frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and very dry
1 egg
1/2 - 1 lb. feta crumbles
1 small onion chopped 
salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste


Combine the above ingredients. 


Option 1 "Lazy" & my personal choice for a Monday night meal: Layer 9-10 sheets Filo dough, brushing each with butter, in a 9x13 pan. Spread spinach mixture evenly. Top with remaining Filo, brushing each sheet with butter. Bake at 350 to golden brown (25-35 min).


Option 2 "Ideal" & usually reserved for parties: Fold single sheet of Filo lengthwise, put small amount of spinach mixture at one end. Fold/roll into triangles. Brush with butter. Bake at 350 to golden brown (15-20 min).




The spanakopita was bitter; I liked it better when it was made into triangles rather than like a pan of brownies.  I liked the pastitsio - it had a hint of cinnamon that made it sweet.  It was like a sweet-tasting lasagna.

Starting Dinner

It's one of those moments when you catch yourself sounding just like your mother.

"Now, what am I going to make for dinner?"

Seriously though. What am I going to make?

Like most folks, we work. A lot. And by the time we get home we just stand in the kitchen staring at each other snacking from a bag of chips if we don't plan it out. So, I'm working on weekly meal plans at the start of each week to a)  keep the grocery bill under control and b) be able to mindlessly waltz into the kitchen when I get home and start throwing things in a pot.
Also, it prevents the asking of an age old question for which I would like to issue thousands of apologies to my mother.

"What's for dinner?"

This week's line up.

Monday: Greek Night, Pastitsio & Spanekopeta (yes, there should have been a Greek Salad to really round this one out, but at least there was a vegetable somewhere in there).
Tuesday: Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry. From a bag in the freezer section. I win no culinary awards for this one, but I did maintain sanity because let's be honest, I can not pull together a "real" meal 7 nights a week. Nor should I :)
Wednesday: Enchilada Casserole courtesy of my dad's cousin Amy who inherited it from her mom.
Thursday: Italian Paninis. Borrowed and improved (at least I think so) this recipe from the little booklet that came with our Mario Batalli grill press.
Friday: Chicken Quesadillas. I leave this one up to the male chef in the house. However, I did cook the chicken at the same time as I prepped the Enchilada Casserole on Wednesday morning.


Pics and recipes to follow.
Here we go.