Huevos Rancheros for 2

Some things are just easier to cook for 2 (or one). Fried eggs are definitely one of those things - or at least I think they are. I prefer my fried eggs to be served immediately upon coming out of the pan, they just aren't the same if you have to hold them and keep them warm for a substantial amount of time. So I find Huevos Rancheros to be an ideal recipe for 2 (or one).

I actually picked up this technique from watching Rachel Ray - she made it on 30 Minute Meals once and I immediately had to try it. In my version I've added steamed rice in a decidedly untraditional twist, but the method is otherwise the same.

This is a great dish for any time of day - we tend to have it for a quick dinner when we haven't planned anything and, honestly, you can make it in less than 30 minutes easily, if you are making it for one or two people.

I'm sorry to say I am totally guilty of deciding as I was finishing this dish (and just couldn't resist taking a picture) that I wanted to include it for the blog (it's true, I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants blogger) so I didn't take pictures along the way, but it's really simple to make and, like a lot of my "recipes", it's really more about the method than a specific recipe.

This is an especially good dish to make when you have leftover beans and/or rice in the fridge and tortillas hanging around. I try to keep a small variety of canned beans in my pantry for occassions like this when I just haven't planned ahead for dinner (you'd be surprised how often that is considering how much I like to cook).

Huevos Rancheros

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans or black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked rice (optional), warm
1 can (4 oz) diced, fire roasted green chilis
2 green onions, chopped
2 tbls taco sauce or salsa
1 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Cilantro
Salt & Pepper to taste
approx 1/4 cup chicken stock, beer or water
2-4 corn or flour tortillas (1-2 per person depending on size)
2-4 eggs (1-2 per person, to personal preference)
2 oz Shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese (optional)
2-4 eggs (2 per person)

Have two plates or pasta bowls ready for plating before you start cooking so you can "build" the dish as each component is complete.

Place beans in a small saucepan on medium low heat. Add taco sauce or salsa (I used green taco sauce but I have used salsa in the past too), green onions (reserving a few for garnish), spices and stock, beer or water - just enough to keep everything moist (you can add more later if you need to). Stir occassionally. Just let the beans hang out getting heated through and soaking up some tasty flavors and keeping an eye on them while you get everything else together .

Heat tortillas over the open flame of your gas stove or in a dry, cast iron skillet - just until blistered and warm through. Place them right on your plates or bowls.

When the beans are heated through, fry the eggs according to your personal preference.

On each plate, top tortillas with about 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 of the beans and fried eggs. Top with shredded cheese and sprinkle with reserved green onions. Serve immediately.

Scrambled Egg & Rice Casserole - For 2 Please!

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer - I know I have - I hope you're not all out there melting in overly-hot temperatures. Our sunshine returned Thursday afternoon and we have had lovely, sunny and not too hot weather since then, in fact this weekend has been as close to perfect as any.

I got to talk to my best friend on the phone today and catch up with her (more like download). I made a delicious, summery dinner tonight that my spouse complimented me on several times. And now I'm watching one of my many favorite movies, Top Gun, while my wonderful husband enjoys a football game over at the bachelor pad (my brother-in-law lives in an apartment above our detached garage/shop).

Remember this from my last post?

I promised to share what I did with those scrambled eggs and, at long last, I am finally getting this post put together.

I believe I may have mentioned that our great neices who were living with us moved out when school got out this year so I've been working at "downsizing" our favorite meals and preparing just enough for the two of us. You might think it's an unusual combination - scrambled eggs and rice - but I first discovered I enjoyed it when I starting having leftover rice with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese on top for breakfast and then my husband took it to a whole new level by turning it into a dinner casserole and we've been eating it for years now. This casserole is certainly one of our favorite go-to meals when we haven't made specific plans for dinner. Its so easy to make - perfect for enlisting the help of the kids if you're making it for a whole family and its so versatile you can add anything you have in the fridge.

There's been a lot of talk about meatless Mondays in the last couple months or so and although we haven't made a habit of necessarily having our meatless dinner on Mondays, we have been trying to have a meatless dinner at least once a week and one of our favorite choices so far has been portabello burgers. The reason I bring this up is that when I fix the mushroom burgers, I save the stems and put them in the fridge to use in another dish later in the week. So for this casserole, I sliced up those wonderful stems. Of course, depending on what you put in it, this dish also qualifies as meatless!

Prepare your favorite type of rice (leftover works great too) and set aside, then scramble up some eggs and set them aside.

Saute the portabello stems (or any other mushrooms you like) in a skillet with a bit of extra virgin olive oil (you can add butter too, if you like). Cook until the mushrooms start to carmelize, then add salt & pepper to taste. Remove them from the skillet and set them aside. Chop up some green onions and set them aside as well. (If you prefer to cook them, you can throw them in with the mushrooms when they are almost ready.)

Let's take a moment to talk ingredient quantity when cooking for two. For the eggs - cook the same number per person as you normally would. In other words, my husband and I normally eat 2 eggs each if we were having fried eggs for breakfast so I prepared 2 eggs per person for this dish. For veggies being added to a casserole or stir fry in most cases I have been prepping a one half serving per person. I've just found that if you prepare a full serving of each vegetable per person, you end up with way more food than 2 people can eat (and far more leftovers than we want too)! So for this dish I used 2 portabello stems (about the equivalent of 2 mushrooms) and half of a green onion. When it comes to cheese, however, I do go ahead and prep a full serving each. After all, it's going to top each dish and really, can you ever have enough cheese ? I mean, really? I'm just sayin'...

Ok, so now that we got that out of the way... Scoop the rice into a casserole dish (or individual ones like I used). My husband really likes to have a bit of EVOO drizzled over the rice at this point - so I did that, just to make him happy, see how I am? Then I grated some parmigiano reggiano cheese over that (because that's how I like it). Now top it with the scrambled eggs, mushrooms and green onions (or anything else you'd like to include).

Top it with shredded cheese - I used Monterey Jack here, which I love because it melts into such a creamy, yummy consistency that, I think, goes especially well with eggs and mushrooms.

Put your casserole dish(es) in a 375 oven just until the cheese melts and starts to bubble, then serve hot (add a salad if you like). I was so hungry and ready to eat this by the time it came out of the oven that I forgot to take a picture!

So here's the recipe, such as it is:

Scrambled Egg and Rice Casserole For 2

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2 cups steamed rice
4 eggs, scrambled
2 portabello mushroom stems, (or 2 small mushrooms of your choice) sauteed
1/2 green onion, chopped
2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (or any cheese you like)
1 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded
salt & pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
Butter (optional) to taste

Prepare a casserole dish or other oven-safe dish with non-stick spray or butter. Spread rice in bottom of dish. Drizzle with EVOO. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese. Top with scrambled eggs, season to taste, then add mushrooms and green onions. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, until cheese it melted and bubbly.

Trying Out New Recipes

There are so many recipes I want to share with you, but there are also so many new recipes I want to try. I don't know about you but I'm always on the lookout for something new to add to my repetoire that my family will love and that I won't have to spend hours preparing. So rather than making & photographing my own recipes, I've been trying out lots of new recipes. Here are just a few of the recipes I have tried out so far.

I've recently become addicted to watching Nigella Lawson on the Cooking Channel. I especially enjoy Nigella Express and on one of my trips to the library at the first of the year (I spend a lot of time at my local library) I found the cookbook of the same name. It's absolutely packed with recipes I want to try, so I sticky noted (yes, I really said "sticky noted", no I don't suspect that's an actual word) some of them to try right away. I really love Nigella's approach to cooking - very simple techniques, lots of one pot dishes, very quickly put together, and filled with fresh, quality ingredients that won't break the bank. So Tuesday night we tried out her Sweetcorn Chowder with Toasted Tortillas. It was so simple and so delicious. I don't have a food processer so I used my blender and some of the broth to get the consistency right, but it was, as I said so delicious!

Another Nigella Lawson recipe I tried recently is her and, to be perfectly honest, am already addicted to them. I have made so many batches already they're practically a staple in our pantry now. Amanda pointed out to me that we're out several weeks agot now so I really need to make some more.

Back in January or so, I listened to an audiobook of a favorite book series of mine - the Hannah Swensen Mysteries - maybe you've heard of them? The herione owns a cookie and coffee shop and the books are absolutely filled with recipes - and all the recipes I've tried so far have been absolute winners. Joanne Fluke is the author and I understand all the recipes that go into the book are thoroughly tested. Anyway, I was listening to Key Lime Pie Murder and a cookie called "Chippers" was included in the story. These cookies have potato chips in them - being a "crunchy/salty snacker" myself, I was intrigued, but since I didn't have a hard-copy of the book, I didn't try to copy the recipe. Then, I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day - Smitten Kitchen - lo and behold, she posted a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies! Of course, I had to try them. They are buttery, shortbready (is that even a word?), cookies with toasted pecans as well as crushed up potato chips. You should hop on over to the Smitten Kitchen, grab the recipe and give it a test drive yourself! I have since wrangled a hard-copy of Key Lime Pie Murder and tried those out too. I have to admit, I like Joanne Fluke's recipe even better. Hers recipe calls for a couple of egg yolks in the dough - so they came together a bit better. In both cases the cookies come out crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. I did use the Smitten Ktichen's method of rolling the whole dough ball in sugar before flattening - I like them that way very much. You end up with a lovely combination of sweet/salty/crunchy/chewy. Hard to believe, right!? But I am SOLD and wholly addicted to these gems!

Our 15 year old, Arynn, was cast in the production of Les Miserables at her high school this year. She had rehearsals 4 days a week until 6 or 7:00pm - which spells L-A-T-E D-I-N-N-E-R for us. So, one day, after making not just the Potato Chip cookies but also another batch of my signature cookies (I promise, I will post this recipe - someday) for a friend of the family, I decided we'd go with a simple dinner of pasta tossed in butter and parmigiano reggiano and that I'd use my bread machine to make some bread to go along with the pasta. I have a bread machine cookbook and so far the recipes I've tried from it have been pretty good so I decided to try a new recipe from that and chose the Italian Scallion and Herb Bread. It starts with chopped scallions, dried basil, thyme and rosemary sauteed in butter then added to the other ingredients in the bread machine. The photo in the book of this particular bread showed it cut into slender pieces and toasted - so we did the same and it made for a crusty, savory accompaniment to our pasta.

I have also finally gotten around to trying out some recipes I found on Pinterest, but I'll save those for separate posts - FOP (Found On Pinterest) - that I'll try to start posting on some sort of regular schedule TBD later. I'm sure there's more I should be sharing with you but I'll call it good for now and try to get some more posts up (and add photos) in the near future! Until then, Ciao!

Chicken Enchiladas - AKA: What to Feed Hungry Teens

I know, I know, it's been too long! Life has been busy here with our oldest in the school production of Les Miserable (which finally ended this past weekend), weekly snowstorms, homework, baking cookies and to top it all off, I've been battling a cold for over a week now!

So this week we finally had to cross a bridge with our very soon to be 16 year old. She was asked to "hang out" by a young man who she met while working on the musical. New territory can often be hard to navigate and our cautious, somewhat conservative young lady wasn't sure how comfortable she was going to a boy's house (frankly, I KNEW I wasn't comfortable with it) so she invited him here along with a couple of her girl friends so she'd have a nice, comfortable group to keep it all on the DL.

So, at this very moment, I have a group of 6 young people aging from 12-17 in my family room loudly playing video games while I share with you.

Of course, I need to feed them. I did the June Cleaver thing and had a fresh batch of twisted chocolate chip cookies (there is only one cookie left on the plate) , still warm and melty, for them when they came in, but dinner was the big question. Or at least it was up until about 3pm as I was driving home from work and came up with what I believe to be the perfect solution. Of course I could have gone with hot dogs, burgers, spaghetti or something along those lines, but my kids are always bragging about my cooking "skills" and I thought I should make something that would please them but still be easy to make and serve so I could monitor what's going on in the family room from the relative safety of my kitchen. I kept circling around tacos, but it just wasn't workin for me. Finally, I started thinking about enchiladas and after contemplating making them with pork filling I decided to make chicken enchiladas instead since I already had chicken thighs in the freezer that I thought would work perfectly.

They're in the oven now, and they are just starting to fill the room with a lovley aroma!

Chicken Enchiladas

2.5 lbs chicken, poached and shredded
1/4 large onion, chopped
1 small can (2oz?) cohopped, green chilis
1 tbls ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried cilantro (more if you use fresh)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup queso quesadilla cheese
1 cup manchego cheese

1 large can (15oz) green chili enchilada sauce
tortillas, warmed

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour about 1/4 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together chicken, onion, green chilis and spices. Add enough enchilada sauce to help it hold together and to keep mixture moist. Add 3/4 cup of each of the cheeses and mix well (Monterey Jack would be fine too). If it's a bit dry, add a bit more enchilada sauce.

Put about 2 forkfuls of filling on each tortilla, roll up tight and place seam side down in the baking dish. Continue until all filling has been used. Pour enchilada sauce over the center of the enchiladas, and pour any remaining sauce around the edges of the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream or any other "taco" topping you like.

Makes 8-10 enchiladas depending on size of tortillas and how much filling you put in them.

Rice and Turkey Meatballs

Did I tell you I'm a henna artist? Shortly after our nieces and nephew moved in with us, I learned to do henna body art and spent the following 3 summers plying my trade at the local fairs and festivals. I still do henna every June when I work for an event company at Graduation parties.

To keep costs down and to ensure I actually ate something, I always packed an assortment of items for my crew and I to eat. I liked to keep the items small and easy to eat like cubes of cheese, grapes, sliced turkey or ham and nuts. The meats were fine, but messier than I liked and on longer days I'd be starving at the end of the day - not having really managed to get anything much in my stomach in between clients. I thought a meatball might would be a good solution.

I wanted a meatball that would be tasty cold, right out of the cooler and I wanted them to be simple to make but full of flavor and satisfying but fairly healthy. Finally, since my assistant artist and some of my other henna artist friends have issues with wheat, gluten and dairy I wanted to make them without breadcrumbs or cheese (I always put parmesan in my Italian meatballs). This is the recipe I came up with. They are great hot, but I honestly like them best right out of the fridge or cooler the next day. You could, of course, switch up the flavors and serve them with the sauce of your choice, or gravy, but if you're looking for something that packs well for lunches or picnics, these fit the bill well.

Rice and Turkey Meatballs

1 lb ground Turkey
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin, ground
1/2 tsp coriander, ground
pinch of chili powder
salt & pepper
2 tbls fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 cup cooked rice, cold

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet or cast iron skillet with pam or a thin coating of Olive Oil. In a medium bowl, mix turkey and seasonings, then add rice until it just comes together. Scoop out and roll into small meatballs and place cookie sheet or in skillet. Bake approx. 12-15 minutes for bite-sized meatballs, or until browned and cooked through.

I think these would be great served with tzatziki sauce or Raita.

Cooking With Girl Scouts

I have a long history with Girl Scouting.  I first joined when I was in the 4th grade and I continued to be active in scouting right up until I graduated from high school.  I always planned that if I had a daughter, I'd become a Girl Scout Leader.  When it became clear that pregnancy wasn't in the cards for me, my husband and I started looking into Foster care or adoption.  But again, something else was in the works for us and just as we finished our Foster Parent training, my husbands niece asked us if we'd take two of her children for a year.  Of course we were happy to so we moved in the two children - brother and sister during the summer.  When school started in the fall, Arynn (then 5), came home with a flyer for a Girl Scout information night and wanted to go.  I was thrilled, we went and I came home having signed up not only Arynn for Daisy Girl Scouts but, myself as a co-leader to boot!  This was the beginning of my adult journey as an Adult Girl Scout.  I have co-lead and lead troops, I have organized events, I have camped, I have trained other adults as leaders, I have hosted sleepovers...the list is fairly long, but I'm sure you get the picture.  We eventually ended up with all 4 of our niece's children moving in with us (3 girls & a young man, then 5, 8, 9 & 12) and we have had many trials and adventures since but about 2 years ago, all 3 girls decided they were done with scouting.  This left me knowing I wanted to still be involved in scouting but not sure what I wanted that to look like.  This fall I ran into a fellow leader and we chatted about her troop's long-standing interest in cooking and I offered to host a cooking workshop here at the house.  So, this past Monday, I had 6 middle-school-aged girl scouts, 2 leaders and an adult assistant here, cooking together, having fun and enjoying a delicious meal!

One thing that never fails to surprise me when I cook with a group of kids is the length of time each dish actually takes to prepare.  I never seem to plan for quite enough time - although we managed to have dinner by about 6:30 (and they had cleaned up and cleared out by 7:30).  Each dish you make will take a minimum of 3 times longer that it would take you to make it yourself.  So plan carefully.  Luckily, the lasagna was the only dish that was labor intensive, everything else was pretty simple and easy.  The key for us was to get cracking the minute the girls walked in the door. 

Have a menu, recipes and an order pre-set and printed out for the group to consult if they wish.  I printed up the menu and "order of the kitchen" on one page, then printed the recipes on separate pages & sent the recipes home with the leader to copy for any troop members that wanted them. 

We did a great job of following the order - which kept us on track and ensured that the butter was soft when we were ready to make our garlic butter and the puff pastry sheets already thawed when we needed them. 

Again, most of our recipes were pretty simple.  For the garlic bread, we made garlic butter by roasting a head of garlic in the oven (don't you just love that smell) and mixing the roasted garlic with softened butter, then spread it on a couple loaves of french bread which we put into the oven during the last 15 minutes the lasagna baked.  For the Caesar salad, we used bottled dressing & store-bought croutons so all the girls had to do was cut up a few heads of romaine, shred some Parmesan, dress the salad and toss in the croutons.  Sticking to a menu where they only have to prepare and cook a couple items is a great way to go.  I'd love to have them make their own croutons some time, but with something like lasagna to make it's probably not the best time to make your own. 

We had Minute Apple Tart for dessert - a recipe by Linda Larsen that I found a About.com.  The apples for the tart needed to be sliced paper thin, so I did have the adults did do the slicing for that.  I'm sure the girls could have done it, but the whole group was getting pretty hungry (and squirrely) by the time we were preparing them so we had to send them outside for some "wiggle time" and it was the perfect opportunity to have the adults do some power chopping.  For safety, I think that's a good time to step in anyway.

The great thing about working with Girl Scouts is they have a wonderful energy.  It's really very satisfying, on a personally level, to know you're teaching them something they can really use.  For many young people, this is the only time they will be taught to cook.  Also, Girl Scouts always clean up - one of their basic precepts is to "leave it better than when you found it" - so they do a great job and you'll likely not even be able to tell they were there, cooking in your kitchen, except for any yummy leftovers that may have been left behind!

Lasagna

Spaghetti Sauce (make the day before, if you possible):
1 lb Italian sausage, bulk or links (hamburger or ground turkey will work too)
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 20 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 20 oz can tomato sauce
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 palmfuls oregano
2 palmfuls basil
1/2 palmful parsley
salt & pepper to taste

For the layers:
Lasagna Noodles 1 8.8 oz. box, I prefer the oven-ready type
Ricotta Cheese, 16 oz
2 lb. Mozzarella Cheese
8 oz. Grated Parmesan Cheese (or less if you grate it fresh as you go)
Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Distribute a thin, even layer of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.  Cover with a layer of noodles.  Spread noodles with a layer of Ricotta Cheese.  Grate a little nutmeg over the Ricotta.  Layer with mozzarella cheese & sprinkle with Parmesan.  Cover with a layer of sauce.  Repeat.  Finish with one more layer of noodles and top with sauce, then a layer a mozzarella leaving some of the sauce visible.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake 30-45 minutes.  The cheese should be melted and the whole casserole bubbly.  Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes, until cheese on top is golden brown.  Allow Lasagna to sit about 5 minutes prior to cutting, this will help it to hold together for serving.  Mangia!

Note:  It is absolutely unnecessary to pre-cook lasagna noodles.  You can use any variety of lasagna noodles, they do not have to be "oven ready" - they will come out perfectly al-dente if you do not pre-cook them.