Series: Cooking Around The World With My Son - Mexico

Inspired by Inner Child Food's Kids' Culinary Passport, we have added international cooking lessons to our 5th grade homeschool lessons.  Read about our first country, Italy, here. Today's post is about Mexico.  Like Italy, Mexico cooking day fell during that last week of the pay period: suck-it-up-I'm-not-going-to-the-store week, so we used a recipe as a guide, but worked with what we had on hand.  I have been making my own tortillas this Summer using this recipe from Taste of Home and they are so easy! Ben made the dough and rolled out and cooked the 1st tortilla, but after that he was done.  At least he tried it!  I finished the rest of the batch.  But he did make the fajita filling.  We used The Pioneer Woman's Beef Fajitas recipe.  I love her!  Scouring the fridge and freezer for ingredients I found a quarter of an orange pepper and half a yellow pepper, a tomato from the farmers market that was on the use-or-lose threshold, half a mason jar of homemade salsa and a frozen sirloin steak.  The rest of the ingredients, minus the sour cream, are alway present in my kitchen so B got to work.  

First he made the marinade and then he chopped the peppers and onions.  Although the hubs has supervised B at the cutting board many times, I've only done it once or twice and I'm such a Nervous Nelly!  I have been cooking for 33 years and I cut myself at least a few times a year.  Plus the hubs was at work and he is designated first aider in this house.  However, I need to get over it and B needs to get more practice, so I let him at it.  His favorite part was smashing to garlic cloves to make peeling the skin off a breeze.  He wasn't strong enough to work a traditional garlic press and, since I refused his request to "...chop it up really fast like the professionals on Iron Chef!", I had him use The Garlic Zoom.  He loved it!  Put a clove or two inside, close it up and run it back and forth like a Hot Wheels car.  He did great slicing the onion, peppers and chopping the tomato but I was a wreck.  (I chopped cilantro right before dinner was ready.)  Thank goodness the steak marinated as a whole because I was not ready for him to cut raw meat!

The meat and veggies were put in their separate marinade bags in the fridge right after lunch and at dinner time B cooked the veggies and steak.  I sliced the steak after it had rested and we made our fajitas.  The picture, above, is of mine.  Since the tomato had to be used, I put that on my fajita and kept the salsa on the side with some chips.  I didn't even add cheese and these were muy bueno!

B pointed out Mexico on our world map and we talked about the origin of the fajita along the Mexican/Texas border.  Some of the Mexican cowboys were provided with "leftover" or less desirable pieces of beef, including the skirt steak, as part of their pay so they made fajitas.  "Faja" is Spanish for girdle (or belt or strip) and adding "ito" or "ita" to the end of a word in Spanish indicated affection or smallness.  We have not covered Mexico at all in our History studies, but we will later this year as we progress through American History.

Stay tuned for the country of our next cooking adventure, Japan...

Recipe: Not Your Regular Sloppy Joes

Before tonight, not only have I never made a Sloppy Joe, but I'd never even eaten one!  For a couple of years, B has been raving about these Sloppy Joes he had at a friend's house once and begging me to make them.  Finally, I contacted my friend, CC, and asked for her recipe.  Turns out, it is from one of Jessica Seinfeld's cookbooks, Deceptively Delicious.  I have both of her cookbooks in my collection but never gave the Sloppy Joes a second glance because, well, I've never had them and had no desire to.  My only exposure to the meal was the Manwich commercials from my childhood.  I did not eat ground beef as a child, not even hamburgers (I think it was a texture issue), and my mom never made them.  I've never been served them at any function or dinner at a friend's house.  But I am so glad I made them tonight!  Something that is healthier for us and all three of us liked - woohoo!

You may or may not know this, but Jessica Seinfeld's recipe include "sneaking" pureed vegetables into each dish.  She, like most parents, found it difficult to get her children to eat a variety of vegetables and discovered she could slip some into meals - breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks, even desserts! - without the kids noticing a difference in taste.  I actually modified a Chicken Lasagna recipe after being inspired by Jessica Seinfeld and it's been a hit with my family as well as with guests.  I substitute half or all of the cream of chicken soup the original recipe calls for with purred vegetables.  I've made my lasagna with pureed yellow squash, carrots and pumpkin, but the most popular is with butternut squash.  Since Jessica Seinfeld's Sloppy Joes recipe called for pureed butternut squash and sweet potatoes, I decided I could make my Chicken Lasagna, too!  That recipe will be coming later in the week.  But onto the Sloppy Joes...

Goodbye, Leftover Wednesday

The past two weeks with my Menu Planning to include lunches and breakfasts has been amazing!  We've not eaten out once and there was plenty of food in the house.  So much food, that we only ate sandwiches 1 or 2 times for lunch; we had dinner leftovers for lunch.  I learned that I don't need to buy as much food because of the plethora of food that my planning and shopping produced.  I wasn't scrambling through the cupboards, looking and trying to put meals together the closer and closer it came to our next bi-weekly shopping trip.

And for that reason, I am stopping the weekly Leftover Wednesday.  I will still post plenty of my cooking, and some will be created with leftovers, I'm sure.  But I won't be posting a leftover meal every Wednesday anymore.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Homemade Ice Cream!

B wanted to make ice cream when we created his Summer Bucket List.  I found a recipe all over the internet and Pinterest that involved a Ziploc bag of ice cream ingredients inside another Ziploc bag of rock salt and ice, shaken for at least 5 minutes and then hurry up and eat it before it melts.  But I kept searching and found this fabulous recipe on Positively Peaches.  In less than 20 minutes, following this fabulous recipe, I had made 2 batches of ice cream, one Vanilla and one Mint Chocolate Chip!  If you have been wanting to try homemade ice cream, I highly recommend you try Positively Peaches' simple and delicious recipe!

It's ridiculous how easy this is!  I whipped 2 cups of heavy cream in my Kitchen-Aid mixer until it reached stiff peaks (bowl on the left).  You could also do this with an electric hand mixer.  I mixed a can of sweetened, condensed milk in the bowl on the right with 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Then I folded the whipped heavy cream into the bowl of sweetened condensed milk with vanilla extract and then put the mixture into a plastic, lidded container and placed it in the freezer - Vanilla!

I whipped another 2 cups of heavy cream and, in a separate bowl, mixed together a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp of peppermint extract left over from the peppermint bark I made last Christmas and some mini chocolate chips.

Then I folded the whipped heavy cream into the bowl of sweetened condensed milk with peppermint extract & choco chips and then put the mixture into a plastic, lidded container and placed it in the freezer - Mint Chocolate Chip!

I put the ice creams in the freezer for four hours.  B had the Mint Chocolate Chip for dessert and said, "Oh my gosh!  This is so creamy and flavorful!"

 The hubs had a brownie a la mode with the Vanilla ice cream and said, "It's very rich and creamy!"

Give it a try and let me, and Positively Peaches, know how much you like it, too!

Cooking Class instead of Leftover Wednesday

I don't have a Leftover Wednesday post this week.  Yesterday I gave my first private cooking lesson.  It  was 5 hours long, we made some great food together and had so much fun!  B and my student's children played well the whole time.  We chopped, talked, mixed, laughed, basted, cried, roasted, laughed some more and cleaned up.  My student bought all the food, enough for both of us to split; I couldn't have been "paid" any better than that!  ;o)  And she ordered pizza for lunch.

First we put a Beer in the Rear Chicken in the oven.  Here's all that's left of my half:

Next we made pico de gallo.  We put some of it in a bowl with mashed avocados for guacamole and some in another bowl with corn and black beans for salsa. There was leftover pico de gallo for my student to put over chicken, in tacos or to just eat with chips.

Then we made a huge batch of The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti; enough to fill a casserole dish for me, one for my student and one for her neighbor!

I came home with so much food, dinner tonight will be all these wonderful leftovers.  I truly enjoyed cooking with a friend.  I'd love to do that on a regular basis - get together with friends, make big batches of dishes and we all go home with meals for our families.

Smoked Sausage and Tortellini

 

I found this recipe for Tortellini with Edamame and Smoked Sausage  a couple of weeks ago.  I am not a fan of edamame, but I liked the idea of combining smoked sausage and tortellini.  I'd never done it before and wanted to try it. I got out a bag of spinach and cheese tortellini and some smoked sausage Thursday night and thought about what kind of sauce I wanted to put on it.  I finally decided to go with the sauce from my Sautéed Chicken with White Wine and Shallots.  YUM-O!

I sliced up the smoked sausage and browned it over medium heat...

...and cooked my spinach and cheese tortellini.

After the sausage was sufficiently heated and browned, I removed the sausage to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain.  Added a tbsp of butter and a tbsp of Wegmans Basting Oil to the pan.

I chopped up a tomato, a couple of shallots and a couple of garlic cloves...

...and sautéed them for about 5 minutes to soften.

Added 3/4 c white wine, salt and pepper and let simmer for a few minutes.

This is the hubs' plate.  Tortellini and smoked sausage tossed with the flavorful wine, tomato, 

shallot and garlic sauce with parmesan cheese on top.  Mmmmmmmm.

B chose tortellini and smoked sausage with the spaghetti sauce I made yesterday 

and, of course, parmesan cheese.

The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

I like this picture best, with the sunlight on the plate, but the hubs feels the
meat is not "present", hidden within the shadows.

The hubs likes this one better - no sunlight, but flash on the camera.

I love Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  All 3 of us do, actually.  We all watch her show, I've read her book, own her cookbooks and enjoy her recipes.  One of my favorites is her Perfect Pot Roast.    When I tried this recipe earlier this year, I had not made pot roast in 10 years.  I'd given up!  Whether I did it on the stove or in the slow cooker, it turned out blah, tough and dry.  I decided to give it another try with Ree's recipe.  The 1st time I made it, I liked it.  It was flavorful, it fell apart nicely, but it was a little dry.  The 2nd time I made it was at my mom's.  I cooked it a little longer, but she did not have an oven proof pan with a lid and all she had on hand was top round, not chuck roast.  It was a little dry, too.  But everyone loved the flavor.  My mom had not made a pot roast in several years, either, and said she would definitely start making pot roast again with this recipe.

Tonight I made it for the 3rd time.  I used a chuck roast from Wegmans and cooked it for 4 hours, even though it was less than 2.5 pounds.  It came out perfectly!  Using the right meat and cooking it longer was the key.  I hope you try her recipe.  It really is pretty simple and you will be a hero to those to whom you serve it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and made some gravy from the pan juices and some masa.  I usually make terrible mashed potatoes so that is the hubs' job now.  But tonight, I decided to try them and they turned out beautifully - so fluffy, smooth and flavorful.  I made a perfect dinner tonight!  I'm sure that means the next 4 months of dinners will probably turn out crappy, but it will be worth it!  ;o)

Bacon Pancake Muffins

I made Sausage Pancake Muffins yesterday for breakfast; they were soooooo gooooood.  B wouldn't eat them, however.  He is a bacon man and had no interest in the sausage muffins.  When I awoke this morning, I received a request from both the hubs and B to make the pancake muffins, again, but with bacon.  I did.  B liked them but the hubs and I like the sausage ones better - more flavor.

I cooked some bacon and broke up one piece into each muffin cup.

Poured my homemade pancake batter over the bacon and baked at 350 for 15 minutes.

This is one, upside-down.

Cut open.

Try them both adn tell me which ones you prefer.

Sausage Pancake Muffins

B loves pancakes for breakfast but I don't like making them.  I think it's similar to the reason I don't like making cookies - all the pouring, watching, waiting, cooking one at a time.  Blah!  I saw cut up hot dogs in corn muffins on Pinterest so I decided to try cut up sausages in pancake batter.

I heated up a package of Banquet Brown n Serve sausage links and cut them into thirds.

I made a batch of homemade pancake batter but you can use a mix; it's OK, there's no judging here.  In fact, look closely at my pan.  Spilled batter, stained, I mean seasoned ;o), muffin pan...  Added batter.

Plopped 2-3 pieces of sausage in each cup and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. 

They cook all at the same time!

Plate of breakfast manna!  Add syrup and enjoy.  :o)  

(B has requested that I use bacon next time.)

California Club Sandwiches

Doesn't that look delicious?  I didn't feel like cooking anything for dinner last night so I made sammies. This was the hubs sandwich, a California Club.  I toasted my new favorite sandwich bread, Arnold's Oatnut, followed by:

• Mayo
• Cheese
• Lettuce 
• Locally grown heirloom tomatoes (makes all the difference in the world!) 
• Thick-cut applewood smoked bacon 
• Wegman's honey smoked turkey
• Avocado

When I dress up a plain ole turkey and cheese sandwich into a gourmet one that you can get in a restaurant, you have something dinner-worthy, delicious and filling.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions

I found this wonderful recipe for Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions from Peace, Love and Low Carb on Pinterest.  Chicken, butter, heavy cream, shrooms, onions...all my favorite things!  Oh, crap!  I just looked at the recipe again and realized that it called for parmesan cheese!  I totally missed that when I made the dish the other night.  LOL  I love parmesan cheese, too!  Well, I'll have to make it again and it will be even better with that addition.

This was a hit with all three of us, thank goodness.  Definitely adding this to the dinner rotation.  This is also a "guest worthy" dish, IMO.  The author made it in 2 pans but I just used one.  Why wash another pan if you don't have to?  As you can see, I served it over pasta, very unlow carb, but all that yummy, creamy sauce (sauce that would have been even creamier had I put the parmesan cheese in it) needed something to run into, cling to, and what better than shells?

The pictures on this blog look fabulous and I'm sure I will be making other recipes from it.  The author has beautiful, step-by-step pictures to walk you through this recipe, so go check it out!

Desserts!

I don't usually make desserts unless it's the Christmas season or we are having company.  Desserts take too much effort and usually expire before they get eaten; not enough of a payoff for me.  Cooking is an Art; baking is a Science.  I prefer Art.  However, I made 2 easy-peasy desserts this week and I'm so glad I did!

I love chocolate chip cookies but hate making cookies.  It takes so long, all the scooping and baking one pan at a time.  *sigh*  Well, I found this glorious recipe on Pinterest for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars by Jamie Cooks It Up.  Simple recipe, no scooping, no multiple pans of cookies, just spread batter in a 9"x13" pan lined with foil and bake.  The hardest part was waiting for them to cool!  They are so good and soft and chewy, just how I like my cookies.  I have gained weight this week because I can't stop eating them.  They are so good that the hubs, who is allergic to chocolate, can't keep out of the pan; he says the consequences are worth the taste!  I highly recommend you hop on over to Jamie Cooks It Up and Pin, print or save this recipe.  Better yet, just make a batch right now and share it with someone you love.  These would be perfect welcome-to-the-neighborhood cookies, pay-it-forward cookies, I'm-sorry cookies or I-know-I'll-get-my-way-after-you-taste-these cookies.  ;o)

The next dessert I made was Blackberry Cobbler with some blackberries I got at the farmers market.  Don't know what a blackberry is?  Don't be shy, not everyone does; the hubs didn't know what I was talking about, either.  They are black raspberries.  Raspberries come in red and black and my Nana and Papa grew them in their garden.  They called the 2 berries, "raspberries" and "blackberries", so that's what they are to me.  I used Paula Deen's Peach Cobbler recipe and substituted blackberries for the peaches.  I have made her Peach Cobbler in past Summers for guests and it's always been a huge hit.  It's so easy-breezy-lemon-squeezy, you really owe it to yourself to make this for your next BBQ or potluck.  You'll get rave reviews.  I'll show you the easy steps.

Now, my recipe comes from The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, not the link that I posted above and the cookbook says to use 2 cups of fresh fruit (not 4), 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a pan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.

While your fruit is simmering, put 1 stick of butter in a 9"x13" pan and place in a 350 degree oven to melt.

While the butter is melting, mix 1 cup sugar and 3/4 cup self-rising flour in a bowl then stir in 3/4 cup milk, making sure there are no lumps.

Once the butter is melted, pour your flour/sugar/milk mixture over the melted butter.  Do not stir.

This is what it looks like with the sugar/flour/milk mixture all poured in.

Now, remove your fruit from the heat and scoop the fruit into your pan.  Do not stir.

After scooping all the fruit in, pour the juices from the pan in, too.  Do not stir.

Pop the pan in the 350 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes.  The crust will rise up to the top.  The hubs ate his with ice cream on top.

Leftover Wednesday - Ham & Brie Crostini

Tonight's leftover meal was all B's idea.  He and the hubs love Brie (I do not).  B found a chub of Brie leftover from the weekend in the fridge, pulled out the last of the ham luncheon meat that needed to be eaten today or thrown out and on the counter was the 6 inch remains of a baguette.  He wanted to make mini ham and cheese sandwiches for the hubs and heat them up.  I decided the sandwiches should be "open-faced".

I sliced the baguette into twelfths, put strips of ham on each and divided up the remainder of the Brie among the bread.  Popped it in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes and voila! - Ham & Brie Crostini!  I had a ham and American cheese sandwich on wheat bread with mayo and mustard.  

Dinner was so easy on me that I also made a chicken pot pie for tomorrow night.  Now all I have to do tomorrow is pop it in the oven and make a salad.  :o)

Hamburgers and Corn, Tomato, Feta & Basil Salad for Dinner - YUMMO!

I found this recipe for Corn, Tomato, Feta & Basil Salad on Pinterest in the Spring.  I knew I'd be trying it this Summer with some fresh corn.  I was a little worried about the flavor combinations and it being a hot dish but it was delicious!  As you can see from my inferior picture, I did not use cherry tomatoes.  I had plum ones in the house so I seeded and chopped those and used basil from the hubs' herb garden.  I highly recommend this recipe.

I served the salad with the best hamburgers I've ever made.  And I've made some pretty good hamburgers in my life.  Flavorful hamburgers will all kinds of stuff in them: Monterey Jack Turkey Burgers, Turkey Stuffing Burgers, Pacific Rim Turkey Burgers, Inside-Out Beef Bacon Cheeseburgers, hamburgers with a little ranch dressing and freshly grated pepper mixed in, etc.  The burgers I made tonight were just plain ole 80/20 ground beef, but the way I cooked them made all the difference in the world!

When I make burgers, I split 1 lb of ground beef into 4-6 burgers, depending upon how much other stuff I put in them.  Tonight, I divided the 1 lb of ground meat into 8 balls.  I have a panini press that opens up completely flat and came with both griddle and grill plates.  I opened that thing up, put on the griddle plates and heat up to sear/425 degrees.  Than I put the back, flat side of my bash 'n chop kitchen tool on top of a ground beef ball and hit it with my meat mallet, smashing the ball into a cardboard thin patty.  I saw this technique used on a show last night.  A gentleman was touring the US, visiting the best burger joints.  One of the places flattened their burgers like this and served 2 on a bun with 1 slice of cheese in-between.  Then they fried the burgers in a pot of grease that is over 100 years old!  I cooked mine on my dry griddle plates.  The burgers weren't handled much because I wasn't mixing anything into them and being so flat, they cooked in a flash.  That's what contributed to the tastiness.  2 patties with a slice of American cheese in between them on a potato hamburger roll and we all agreed they were the best burgers we'd ever had.  I am going to make burgers like this from now on!