Category: Meats

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Vegetables

Cornbread Stuffed Zucchini

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Anything that reminds me of cornbread stuffing gets my vote. This is taken from 2017 Southern Living and I cannot wait to make it. Choose squash that are uniform in size. The best kind for this recipe are long, straight but not too skinny. (as per SL)

Serves 4

3 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread
4 zucchini
3 tables canola oil, divided
1 teas kosher salt, divided
16 oz ground chicken (I will use ground Italian seasoned turkey)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
4 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tables)
1 teas paprika
1/2 teas black pepper
6 oz white Cheddar Cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup fresh corn (I’m not a huge corn person, other than just corn on the cob, so think I will substitute fresh spinach, sautéed and drained well, before adding to mixture)
3 tables chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 375. Spread cornbread in an even layer on one end of a baking sheet. Cut zucchini in hal lengthwise. Using a serrated tomato corer or melon baller, scoop out zucchini pulp to equal 3 cups pulp, leaving a 1/2″ shell intact.
Coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of pulp; reserve remaining pulp for another use. Brush zucchini shells with 2 tables of the canola oil. Place zucchini shells on baking sheet with cornbread and sprinkle with 1/4 teas of the salt.
Bake zucchini and cornbread at 375 until cornbread is lightly browned; 8-10 minutes. Reduce oven to 350.
Heat remaining 1 tables oil in a large skillet; cook, stirring to crumble, until browned. (about 5-6 min)
Add onion, garlic, paprika, pepper, reserved 1 1/2 cups zucchini pulp and remaining 3/4 teas salt to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally until onion is tender.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in cornbread, white Cheddar cheese, corn (or spinach) and parsley.
Divide chicken mixture evenly among zucchini shells. Place shells in a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 350 until filling is lightly browned and zucchini is tender, about 25 minutes.

Meats · Starches · Uncategorized

Salisbury Meatballs With Alfredo Pasta

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1 pound ground sirloin
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped yellow onion, divided
3/4 cup panko crumbs
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tables Dijon mustard
1 tables Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 teas Montreal steak seasoning
3 tables olive oil, divided
1 (15 oz) jar Alfredo sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 (16 oz) package linguine, cooked according to package directions
Garnish: grated Parmesan cheese, chopped fresh parsley

In a large bowl, stir together beef, egg, 1/2 cup onion, bread crumbs (if you don’t have panko, substitute with 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs, such as Progresso brand),ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and steak seasoning. Shape mixture into 1″ balls.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tables oil over medium heat. Add meatballs; cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook until meatballs are done, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in another large skillet, heat remaining 1 tables oil over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in Alfredo sauce and cream, and bring to a low boil. Add cooked pasta and gently toss together until heated through about 5 minutes. Serve meatballs over pasta mixture, Garnish with cheese and parsley.

Makes 4-6 servings

Beef · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Spoon burgers

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So much of our conversation revolves around food. At dinner the other night we began to talk about what our moms use to cook when we were growing up. Randy began to tell me about his mom making hamburgers where she just browned hamburger meat with seasonings, breaking it up into very small pieces and then grilling the buns and spooning the meat mixture onto the bun. I had never heard of doing that except for when you have sloppy joes, but he informed me that that was one of their best meals. As I began to look through the old cookbook I mentioned when posting the Oatmeal cake, I ran across, wait for it….spoon burgers! And there it was in all it’s glory. So in case you want to try a different approach to a hamburger, here is the recipe.

1 lb lean hamburger meat

1/4 cup finely diced onion

1 teas salt and pepper, each

1/2 cup chile sauce

 

Brown meat in skillet with onion and seasonings, stirring with fork to break up the meat. Spoon off any fat left in skillet. Stir the chile sauce into meat mixture and heat for about 3 minutes allowing the meat to absorb the chile sauce flavor. Cover the inside of each bun with a little butter and grill in a different skillet. Spoon meat mixture onto bun and serve hot.  Makes 2-4 hamburgers, depending on how much meat you use for each.

Daily Thoughts · Meats · Soups · Uncategorized

Indian Taco Soup?

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You are probably thinking I have totally lost it. But…hear me out. Saturday we were at Costco and of course if you have been reading my blog for any length of time or have read some of the stories in Princess on the Porch, you know that Mr. Adventure loves to go to Costco and see how many samples he can eat before they run him out of the store. Well, I do have to admit, this past Saturday was one of the best sample days we have had in a long time. First of all, they were giving away samples of CARAMEL APPLES! There were about 5 different flavors so I ended up hiding around the corner because I was too embarrassed to keep going back for another sample, but not Randy. He would ask me what flavor I wanted this time and would just head on over to the counter and take another sample and bring it to me. After about 4 times, I told him that he just couldn’t go back. But Oh my goodness, they were delicious. If you are wondering why I didn’t just buy one, I had just had the report from my doctor that my Bad cholesterol was 150 over what it should be, not to mention the total cholesterol of 311. So I had better just stick to samples until I can get my numbers down just a tad. BTW, the way this doctor got my attention was this; “well, Trudy, since you cannot take statins, will you promise me you will stay off fats and start exercise? Then three months from now, we will check your numbers again and see if you are a women of your word.” WHAT? A woman of my word? You are kidding me. So what am I suppose to do with the 6 lbs of butter in my fridge and the 3 lb block of cream cheese? Do I just pour my quart of whipping cream down the drain and use my 5 lb sack of shredded cheese for potting soil? Of course I’m a woman of my word. When I say that butter is my life, I truly mean it!

Back to Costco. One of the samples on Saturday was Tasty Bite Madras Lentils. Absolutely delicious. Both of us agreed that they were so good, and I’m sure very healthy, as they are lentils for petes sake, that you could actually use them as a topping for cheese enchiladas. (oops, there I go again, stop it Trudy, you cannot have cheese anymore) So we bought a box of them. They tasted just like a really good chile, but with no meat, just lentils.

This morning, trying to make up for the caramel apple samples I had on Saturday, oh, and the Mexican breakfast of huevos rancheros yesterday… and the Kentucky Butter Cake last night, I thought maybe a low cholesterol taco soup would be good for us tonight before I go to Bunco and snack on the bowls of M&M’s the ladies always have at the tables. So I gathered up all the veggies in the fridge and even used a 1/2 lb of ground turkey instead of beef. After all, us high cholesterol gals need to learn to eat turkey in place of beef, right?

So here was my taco soup with ground turkey, onions, celery, yellow squash, fresh spinach, chopped cabbage,carrots, a little left over rice and added a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chiles, plus a 2 cups of waterAdd your garlic, cumin and chile powder, and wa la….you have taco soup. But wait; what if I added a packet of the Madras Lentils to it? Wouldn’t that just add a little more spiciness and flavor? So I opened it up and poured it in and put the pot of soup in the oven. Baked it at 300 for 2 1/2 hours. The soup is delicious. But then I looked at the packet of the Madras Lentils to see all of the ingredients.  It is actually an Indian food! Really? Either Randy and I have totally lost our taste buds or Indian food taste a lot like Mexican food. All I know is that it added such a great flavor to the taco soup that we will make all our taco soups with it. Isn’t Madras a Spanish word? You have got to try these Madras lentils. Now for the kicker. They might sound healthy, but when you look at the ingredients on the package, (which I guess I should have done before adding them to the soup), they have butter and cream in them. Now my low choldestol taco soup isn’t very low cholesterol, but it sure is good.

Lesson learned from this Costco trip. Indian people use Spanish words in their foods. Caramel apple samples are not the kind of apples that “one a day keeps the doctor away.” If I don’t want to disappoint my doctor by my character, I guess I’m going to have to stay away from Costco Sample Saturdays!

Beef · Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Starches · Uncategorized

Chile Rellanos Ole’

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Tuesday evening we had dinner for some friends of ours who has given me a really bad time because I fry my own chips and make my own salsa.  Because one of our friends who I won’t name, OK, I will name her, Judy’s words to me was, “really, you  fry your own chips? Just go to the store and buy a bag of chips for Pete’s sake” So I thought I would show her why I make my own chips and once in for all, settle this question of why I choose to spend the better part of 2 hrs frying chips for a Mexican dinner at our house. So here it was Monday and I am scrolling through the internet looking at different recipes for chile rellano casseroles when I came across Mario Batali which he made when visiting the TV program The Chew. When I read over it, I decided that it sounded so much better than the last rellano casserole I had made.We drove to the store to pick up the necessary grocery items and Randy decided that he wanted to buy Anaheim peppers and roast them himself instead of using all canned green chiles. So we bought 8 of them.

Tuesday morning arrives and we are decorating the table to seat 8 friends and find our Mexican dishes to serve the homemade chips, salsa and casserole. I had made the salsa on Monday evening so that the flavors would have time to blend and after sampling it, found that it was really really good. Randy roasted the peppers and I start frying chips. After an hour and a half, I figured that if they had eaten all the chips I had fried, they certainly could then go to the store and “just grab a bag of chips”. I smelled like grease from head to toe, but it was worth it. The chips were amazing. We sprinkle Lawry’s Seasoning salt and a little pepper over them as soon as they come out of the fryer.

Around 5 I begin to put the casserole together. I deseeded the peppers he had roasted and skinned. Spray baking dish with Pam! Pour enough mild green enchilada sauce to cover bottom of baking dish! Lay enough of the green chiles (cut in half vertically) over enchilada sauce  in the bottom of the Paula Deen casserole dish, I covered them with 1/2 lb of fried and crumbled ground beef. Then comes about 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar. Because we had about 1/2 of package of Mexican cheese (the white cheese used to stuff chile rellanos or use in quest dip, I cannot remember the exact name) I crumbled that over the cheddar. Then I poured about 2/3 cup mild green chile enchilada sauce over this mixture. Running out of our roasted anaheim peppers, I opened up a can of Hatch whole green chiles and sliced them in half (vertically), removed the seeds and used those to top the layer of casserole that was already in the pan. I repeated the second layer with the rest of the hamburger meat, the rest of the Mexican cheese, another 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar,  another 2/3 cup green chile sauce and then poured my milk mixture (see below for the milk mixture)*over the top of the layer. Finally, I used another 2 cups of shredded cheese and  baked it in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45-50min! If mixture begins to brown too quickly cover it with foil the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking time.  To make cutting easier allow mixture to sit at about 10 to 15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

The friends who we served it to all wanted the recipe and each guy ate two servings. It truly was the best chile rellanos casserole we have had and just finished the last two servings for lunch today. (Yes, Randy was so impressed with how hard I worked frying all those chips Tues, he took me to Costco for a hot dog yesterday, so we had leftovers for our lunch today. Mr. Romantic strikes again)

Thank you Mario Batali for sharing this great recipe. It was such a hit and allowed us to send our friends, Mary Lou and Danny back to Minnesota with a great memory of having  real Mexican food that will have to last them until they come back in November. OLE’

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

1-2 teas chile powder

1 teas ground cumin

1 teas salt

1 (15 oz) can evaporated milk

4 eggs

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (chopped) ( I used a little more than a half cup )

1 tables flour

1 1/2 cups mild green chile enchilada sauce (Mario used salsa, I substituted the sauce)

24 oz of sharp cheddar cheese (Plus I used the remaining white Mexican cheese we had in fridge)

 

To Assemble: brown the meat with the onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink. Add the chile powder, cumin and salt to taste.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, cilantro and flour together with a whisk.

Arrange half the chiles in a single layer on the bottom of the prepared pan over some of the enchilada ssuce.. Top with half of the meat mixture, half of the enchilada sauce, half of the cheese. Top with the rest of the meat, more cheese, rest of enchilada sauce and then pour the milk mixture over the top. Sprinkle rest of shredded cheese and bake in preheated 350 oven for about 45-50 minutes or until edges are brown and cheese is bubbling in center of casserole.

Allow to sit for about 10-15 min so it will firm up before cutting into squares to serve. Top with fresh cilantro and sour cream if desired to serve.

 

 

Breads · Breakfast · Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Easter Breakfast Green Chile Casserole

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Needing to take a breakfast casserole Tuesday morning for about 20 ladies, I began to scroll through the internet and came across this one. I had never made one with canned biscuits before so decided that it sounded really good and different. It was really really good. I did a little modifying but basically kept the basic ingredients. A neighbor came over and took home the leftover 4 squares to reheat for their breakfast this morning and she texted and said it was still delicious. So if you are wanting a very easy breakfast casserole that can be made the night before to pop in the oven the next morning, this is your recipe.

1 large can of biscuits (I used Grand Brand, see what I did there>)

1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage (the store was out of all the original so I bought the sage, it was great) (of course, you could use chopped up ham, or crumbled bacon instead or go for it and use a little of each, your physical isn’t until summer)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or mild if that is your preference)

1 or 2 small cans of mild green chiles (I used one and it had enough green chile flavor for us)

8 eggs (I used 9 because I didn’t want just one egg left over in the carton)

1/2 teas dry mustard

1/2 cup milk

salt, pepper and about 1/2 teas garlic powder (to taste)

1 packet of McCormick Cream gravy mix

1 1/2 cups water

Fry sausage until no longer pink and crumble into small pieces. Set aside.

Grease a deep 9×13″ baking dish (if you have the large Paula Deen casserole dish, it worked perfect).  Using a pizza cuter, cut each biscuit into 8 pieces. Spread them onto the bottom of the baking dish.  Sprinkle cooled sausage over the biscuits. Cover the sausage with the cheese.

Mix the eggs with the dry mustard, salt, pepper and garlic. Whisk with the milk until milk and eggs are blended well. Pour over the cheese. If you are going to bake it in the morning, this is where you cover it and place in fridge. If you are baking now, mix the gravy mix with the 1 1/2 cups water. Pour over the egg mixture and bake, covered for about 45 to 6s0 minutes. Check for doneness and be sure biscuits are completely baked.

The directions on the recipe which I was making said that you might need to uncover it the last 10 min of baking  to get that pretty golden color. I did not need to do that, it browned very nicely still covered.

If you bake it in the morning, it will need a little more baking time, as it will be cold. Before baking, mix the water and gravy mix and pour over the top. Cover and bake as directed above, and remember to  add a little more time to allow for it being cold. Serve with picante sauce, and fruit compote (which there is a great one on the blog). A perfect easy and quick way to serve for brunch.

Serves about 12 depending on size of portions you need per person.

 

appetizers · Breads · Breakfast · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Sister Schubert Roll Sandwiches

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This week I hosted a Gingerbread Open House for ladies which live here in our community.  Trying to serve foods which were a little different from all the regular dishes which are served at open houses, at the last minute decided to try this. Because we are Sister Schubert roll addicts, I decided to serve ham sandwiches using these amazing rolls. These rolls are so easy to find all over the south, but are harder to find in California and Arizona,…but wouldn’t you know that Walmart actually stocks them here in and around Phoenix. Because we love Funeral sandwiches (yes, that recipe is on the blog), but didn’t have any more room to bake a huge jelly roll pan full of them, I opted for Sister Schubert sandwiches, which turned out awesome. So here is what I did and they ladies loved them.

*There are SS rolls which come in a package called Dinner Rolls, but the type I am using here are the rolls which come in the 9″ round aluminum pan found in the freezer aisle of the grocery store.

Melt 2 sticks of butter. Add a heaping tablespoon of mustard and 3 tablespoons of honey. Stir until mixture is completely blended. This mixture will make 2 pans of the Sister Schubert roll sandwiches.

Cut rolls in half after you have thawed them. Brush the inside of roll with butter mixture and then place a slice of ham (you will need to cut ham slices into small pieces to fit the rolls). Place top on roll and place back in baking pan they came in. After you have prepared each roll, brush the tops of the rolls with some of the butter mixture and bake according to directions. Serve warm. (You can add cheese slices to the ham rolls if desired.

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Parmesan Chicken Casserole (Southern Supper)

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I know, “suppers” is really not used too much anymore, but doesn’t it sound like it makes the meal in the evening much more informal. You can just imagine, friends and family gathered around the table, passing plates of rolls, bowls of mashed potatoes and platters of fried chicken or roast. Supper is a Southern term which interpreted should just mean, “comfort food being enjoyed by folks which enjoy being together”.  After finally getting moved into our new “digs” (there, I used a term which sounds a little more current and hip) my cooking magazines have started to arrive. Because we were traveling for a couple of months after moving from Texas, I let my subscriptions expire until I had a permanent address. Just yesterday we are the proud owners of our new Arizona license plates which adorn our new car. We feel much more Arizonian now. Am still dreading going to get our DL, which means that we will have to take a eye test and just don’t know if I’m quite ready for that yet. Am eating lots of carrots before that time, hoping that I do, in fact, past the eye test.  OK, back to the supper that I want to post this afternoon. When I saw this recipe, I printed it up so we could buy the ingredients and make it this week.

Parmesan Chicken Casserole

6 boneless chicken breasts, diced

1 cup may or plain Greek yogurt

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 teas Lawrys seasoned salt

1/2 teas ground black pepper

1 teas garlic powder

Instructions

Placee diced chicken into a greased 9×13″ baking dish

In a small bowl, combine the mayo/yogurt, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Spread evenly over chicken

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese on top of may mixture.

Place dish in preheated 375 oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and serve chicken over pasta!

Beef · Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Enchiladas…Kiko’s Style

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Corpus Christi is where I spent the first 45 years of my life. Back in the early 80’s some friends of ours, Sam & Yvonne Satterfield, introduced us to a Mexican restaurant called, Kikos. We ate there from that point on at least once a week after that. Every trip back to Corpus to see my parents, that was my first stop. Their enchiladas were just so good, with this rich brown-tomato sauce that wasn’t like the typical enchilada sauce that every Mexican restaurant or recipe seems to be. For years, I have tried to copy their great sauce, but to no avail. Every time Randy would be with me he would say, “I think it has cream of mushroom soup in it.” to which I would reply, “of course it doesn’t have cream of mushroom soup, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Well, after 20 years of him saying that and me responding in the same old way, I began to think, “what if he is right and I could have been eating great enchiladas the past 20 years other than when we just go to Corpus.” So last night, I experimented and oh my gosh, we had Kiko enchiladas. I’m not saying that they truly use Cream of Mushroom but I am saying that the sauce I made last night with it tasted the same as theirs. So if you are like us and think that no place else makes enchiladas like Kikos, give this a try. I think you will be pleasantly pleased.

8 white corn tortillas

1  1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 -3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup (10 3/4 oz)

1 small can tomato sauce (small size can)

1 -2 cups water (depending on how thick you like your enchilada sauce) ( I used a little over 1 can).

1 packet of taco or enchilada seasoning

1 lb of hamburger meat

3 tablespoons oil

Lawrys Seasoning Salt

Garlic powder as desired

Grease a baking dish that will hold 8 enchiladas. Set aside.

In a skillet, brown the meat with  about 1 cup chopped onion until meat is no longer pink. Add the garlic and stir until well blended in meat. Add the cup of water ,  1/2 packet of Lawry’s taco or enchilada seasoning, can of mushroom soup and small can of tomato sauce and cook over low heat for about 5 min until it makes a  gravy. If it is not thin enough to your liking, add a little more water, maybe up to 1/2 cup. Set aside. *If this is not spicy enough for you, add more of the Lawry’s Taco seasoning packet. (I like the flavor of the taco seasoning more than the enchilada seasoning)

In a small skillet,  melt about 1 tables butter and saute  the rest of the chopped onion until it is clear. Sprinkle about 1/2 teas Lawrys Seasoning Salt, 1/2 teas garlic powder and a little pepper. Place this onion mixture in a small bowl. In same skillet, add the 3 tables oil. Heat until it is sizzling around the edges. Place corn tortillas, one at a time, in the hot oil about 3-5 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels until you have done all 8 tortillas. When cool to the touch, begin by place about 1 teas cooked onion in the middle of each tortilla. Spoon about 1 tables of the shredded cheddar cheese over the onion and roll up. Place in the greased baking dish. When you have completed all 8, pour the meat mixture over the enchiladas and top with more cheddar cheese, to your liking. Bake ate 350 preheated oven for about 25 minutes, uncovered.

 

Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Baked Ham

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A friend of mine just wrote and ask me if I made ham with cloves and pineapple. My response was that I had never made it that way. It brought back so many great memories of sitting around our table having ham, cooked with brown sugar, pineapple and coke with golden raisins. When I searched my blog for the recipe I discovered that I had never posted our favorite way to have ham. My  ex Father-in-law, Elwood always made this for almost every holiday and was happy to give us his recipe. He was a great cook and made the best fried shrimp you could find. The secret to this sauce is that you cook it for a couple of hours before pouring it over the ham to then bake in the oven. If the ham is over 4 lbs, you will want to double the ingredients. It  might not take all of the sauce, depending on the size ham, but you can freeze the rest and use it at a later time.

1/2 box  (15 oz size) golden raisins

1 12 oz coke (regular, not diet)

1 regular size can (not the short 4 oz, sorry but I don’t have one on hand to check the size but it is just like the regular size can) of crushed pineapple

1 cup of water

3/4 cup light brown sugar.

Combine all of the above ingredients and cook over a low heat for a couple of hours. When sauce has thickened, pour over the ham. Cover the ham and cook according to the directions for the size ham you are preparing.