Tex-Mex One Pan dish

 

Started with a recipe that called for rice instead of noodles but when I asked my good consultant he requested noodles. Rotini was the choice but if I had bow tie pasta that would have been the preferred. I have a friend who told me about a 'craft table' (Movie talk for catering ) go to that was essentially this but couldn't find the original recipe so here is what I did.

1 lb hamburger

1/2 onion diced

1/2 bell pepper diced

2 cloves garlic mashed

1 c beef broth

1 sm can tomato sauce (I used a foundling can of tomato sauce with jalapeno)

1 can Rotel

1 can sweet corn (drained)

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 c rotini (1 1/2 would have been better)

1 tbl taco seasoning

shredded cheese for garnish 

Chopped cilantro to add in or for garnish

Heat large pan with small amount of oil, when hot, add in the onion and bell pepper, cook for about a minute or two then add in the hamburger, cook thoroughly until there's no pink add in the taco seasoning and stir well until meat is coated. Pour in noodles, beef broth, tomatoes and sauce, combine thorougly then wait for it to boil again. Put lid on and turn down to low for 12-13 minutes. Take lid off and stir in the corn and black beans. Heat through for a minute or so then anjoy!

Addendum: If I had cilantro would have chopped some up and add it in, also a larger can of tomato sauce is good as well. I had a 'Pato' brand small can and decided to use it, almost used a can of enchilada sauce but changed my mind. Glad I did for this version.

 

As another side note, something else I picked up from the table was a huge (has to be at least 100) pre made uncooked flour tortillas. I initially passed on them  but then turned around and picked them up. Never buying store bought again. These are amazing, I have no idea what company it was since the bag had no label and was just clear cellophane. Easy peasy to cook, just heat up a non-stick pan HOT toss in a tortilla, wait for it to turn white (dry) with maybe bubbles forming, use a spatula or tongs to flip it until bubbles form (you can pop them) remove and repeat. The pan needs to be hot so they cook before drying out. I made that mistake on the first several I cooked but second batch is much better.  They aren't huge gigantic size, about the same as what the store bought calls 'soft taco' size.  Will have to figure out a use for them next month, they are staying fresh in a zip lock bag in the fridge to cook as I need.

New month and menus starting up soon!

Another go at Teriyaki Stir Fry

 I've been taking pictures but forgetting to make posts. I had bought some 'chuck steak for carne asada' and... it is not that kind of quality but it makes excellent stir fry.

I winged it this time since it was beef and a bit more traditional. Seat of the pants cooking! I started chopping up the celery and onion, then remembered I had carrots as well and started chopping those up then stopped when I realized those would be in the stir fry veggies. Never enough veggies in that pack though.

Ingredients:

1 lb thinly sliced beef, cross grain cuts for tenerness

1/4 c Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki sauce

2 or 3 tbl soy sauce (maybe less, I didn't measure just sprinkled some on the meat)

4 cloves garlic minced

1/4 c flour

salt&pepper

2 tbl (approx) oil for cooking

1/2 onion diced

1 rib celery diced or sliced thin

1/2 carrot diced or sliced thin

1 bag stir fry vegetables 

1 cup rice (cooked for putting stir fry on)

 

Assembly:

 

Prep celery and onion, crush garlic. Mix salt and pepper with flour then heat oil in pan to shimmer level. Dredge meat in flour using sip lock bag or bowl, making sure to coat meat well. When pan is hot, dump in the meat and move around so as not to burn, when mostly cooked through add in celery and onion and half the garlic. Continue cooking for another minute or so, add in the teriyaki sauce and stir continually so everything is well coated. Add in the stir fry veggies and the rest of the garlic, heat through, turn off the stove and cover to let the veggies finish warming. They need to be soft but crunchy if that makes sense.

Should start cooking the rice (in a rice cooker) when you start cooking the beef so both come out roughly the same time. We had left over rice so it was a quick 2 minutes in the microwave.

It was Deeeelicious! Going to do a repeat tomorrow night, which is why I had to write this down. 

Yum!

 

 

Feeling better and a new recipe!

 I was able to cook the last few nights but nothing noteworthy. I discovered a bag of stuffing in the cupboard and there were two chicken breasts in the fridge. Perfect! Every recipe I found called for Cream of Chicken soup and celery, neither of which I had but braved the Easter crowd at the store and picked them up with some needed milk as well. Here is what I used:

Chicken Stuffing Casserole (off the cuff cooking).

 9x13 baking dish, sprayed with cooking oil or greased

2 chicken breasts diced 

1 tbl Ranch Dressing

1/2 c milk (divided)

1/2 tsp rosemary (pounded mine in a mortar and pestle until it was mostly dust)

1/2 tsp ground sage

1/4 tsp salt&pepper

1 bag basic stuffing, whatever you want to use.

1 stick unsalted butter divided

1/2 c chicken stock

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

 1/2 c mixed veggies

Dried parsley for garnish after cooking.

Here's what I did:

Started with dicing up the chicken into half inch or smaller pieces putting it in a good size bowl, sprinkled some salt and pepper, mixed thoroughly then thought about a marinade.... milk .... nope, Ranch dressing, only about a tablespoon mixed in well. Okay, I added some milk as well then popped it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. 

Chopped up one rib of celery and half an onion then started to dice up a carrot only to remember I was putting some mixed veggies in. Oh well, so half a large carrot diced.

 

 

So the stuffing recipe calls for carrots, celery and onion softened in a pan with a 1/4 cup of butter. Okay.... then remembered the other recipe that said to add in the chicken. So I did that and cooked it sufficiently so the chicken was mostly cooked through (smelled wonderful!), I also added rosemary and some sage to the chicken before cooking it. So that got a bit cooked more and I remembered the cream of chicken soup, tossed that in and because I didn't want to look at the recipe just added about a  1/4 c of milk. Stirred that all together thoroughly and tossed in about a half cup of mixed veggies. Stir again until those are warmed through.

 Mixed the stuffing as best I could remember because...was not in the mood to look at directions. Used 1/4 c of the butter melted and then realized I needed the chicken stock and only poured maybe 1/4 but needed to be lots more than that. Spread half the stuffing on the bottom of the dish, spoon the chicken mix onto that and then use the remainder of the stuffing on top. I felt it was a bit dry and drizzled more chicken stock on it, covered with foil and put in oven for 30 minutes at 350. Timer goes off, take foil off dish and cook for another ten minutes.  

Let cool slightly before serving.

 

Here's what did wrong and what I'm going to do differently next time:

The stuffing was very dry because I didn't follow the directions. Find a recipe for the chicken part and follow it. Overall it turned out delicious but it was a bit dry. 

I was originally just make the stuffing and the chicken then put the stuffing on top and bake it but double guessed myself. 

Because of the amount of stuffing you really do need to do top and bottom or you get way more top crust then chicken filling. 

Use peas and carrots mix only (mixed veggies are good for certain things but I don't like green beans and lima beans in a pie/casserole) and add the onion and celery to the stuffing as directed as well as using it in the chicken mix. 

When I attempt this again it will be more creamy I suspect because this was good, but not a lot of 'sauce'.

So it's a do again for sure, just need to tweak it a bit. Happy Easter!

Recipes on hiatus.

 Due to me injuring my foot stepping off a sidewalk, I am relegated to giving instructions to the replacement chef and sous chef. Which means, a lot of instruction and no pictures, not to mention any really complicated meals. Hobbling back and forth in a tiny space with a walking boot on does not make for quick or easy cooking.

We are having 'carne asada' or sorts today, using not flanks steak but a 'chuck steak' from Costco that was labeled as such. Just thinly sliced steak with a good amount of fat. 

First, had to glean some cilantro leaves from the garden neighbor since none of mine is ready to harvest again. Steak was marinated in a recipe from the pinterest, I never seem to have oranges or pineapple juice for doing that. Mainly because I don't know what I'm going to have for the month and then run out of money for 'extras'. 

'Mexican Carne Asada Marinade':

Skirt steak (or thinly sliced chuck)

1/3 c olive oil

1/4 c soy sauce

1 med lime juiced (I fudged and used a 1/4 lime juice from bottle

2 tbl orange juice (substituted 1/4 lemon juice and tbl honey)

2 tbl red wine vinegar

1/2 c onion, diced

1/4 cilantro chopped (didn't get the cilantro until after it was marinating)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 med serrano pepper (I used 1/2 a large jalapeno sliced)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes.

 

Me being in California all my life, Mexican food and recipes are everywhere. Those in the Midwest or North East aren't as familiar with what 'real' Mexican food is so I guess they had to label this to make sure people knew which variety of carne asada it was. (Insert confused questioning CA expression).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, I was not able to double check to make sure the measurements used were correct. Given that you use 2 tsp of salt and a 1/4 cup soy sauce, this was rather salty. It was absolutely delicious though, cooking was not what I would have done either. 

As I was sitting in the bedroom resting my foot, I started giving instructions on how to cook the meat and it was too late. Substitute chef just dumped the entire bag of meat and marinade into the pan and was going to heat it up that way. This is how the packaged pollo asado is cooked that we get at Costco. This is not the way it should be cooked. But then, we don't have a grill handy either. My instructions were high heat before putting the meat in the pan with a little oil..... oh well. Boiled, marinated meat it was. I had mine as tacos, as usual, fresh made pico de gallo, sour cream and a little White Sauce with a spoonful of the marinade for extra flavor. Honestly, it was fine.

Also had garlic 'salsa verde' shrimp last week which was spectacular of course. We got a two pound bag of medium size shrimp, flash frozen so they were all individually encased in ice. A much better deal than the bag I was going to get at our usual store. So that's a do again.

Posts will be few and far between for the next four weeks. Enjoy what you have, have what you enjoy!