Happy Easter!

Photo Credit: His Word In Pictures

 



Taco Pie

We were invited to a BBQ over the weekend, however the weather just did not cooperate. So, our BBQ turned into a potluck dinner. At the last minute I needed a main dish to share along with the Raspberry Bars that I had already made. As I quickly scanned my freezer for a possibility, I realized right away that ground beef was the logical meat choice. Then after peeking into my pantry, I knew I could make something Mexican without having to run to the store.

So, I glanced at my recipes and decided on Taco Pie. Quick and simple, and perfect for the last minute. I brought the pie to the potluck and two people asked for the recipe! Here it is friends, enjoy.

Taco Pie

1lb. ground beef, browned
1 envelope taco seasoning (or ¼ cup homemade)
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 ½ cups salsa, divided
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
16oz. container sour cream
4 flour tortillas

Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning. Drain beans and add to meat mixture, mashing slightly with a potato masher. Stir in ½ cup salsa.

In the bottom of a pie plate, spread ½ cup of salsa and top with a tortilla. Spread 1/3 of the meat mixture on top of the tortilla. Spread 1/3 of the sour cream on top of the meat and sprinkle with ½ cup of cheese. Repeat, creating two more layers: tortilla, meat mixture, sour cream, and cheese. Finally top with remaining tortilla, ½ cup salsa, and ½ cup grated cheese.

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes, or until browned and bubbly. Serve in wedges. Yeild: 8 servings.

This post has been linked to The Thrifty Home: Penny Pinching Party.

Pull Apart Rolls

Today is one of those days. Mondays can be like that sometimes. So comfort food is on the menu. Right now there are warm rolls on my counter and a cake in the oven. I have been kind of obsessed with these rolls lately and I have made them twice in the last week. 

As I have mentioned before, I have trouble with carpal tunnel, which means that I only make no-knead bread recipes. This recipe is a bit more traditional than the Quick Yeast Rolls that I have shared with you before. And, they hold up pefectly for little sandwiches. Although they are best fresh out of the oven, they do keep a couple of days without getting too stale.

Pull Apart Rolls

2 ¼ tsp. active dry yeast (or a ¼ oz. packet)
1 ½ cups warm water (110º)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Dissolve yeast in warm water along with the sugar, melted butter, and salt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in flour. (The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.) Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes. 

Punch down dough and on a floured surface shape into 18 rolls. Place rolls in a greased 9X13 pan. Cover and let rise again until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

Uncover and bake at 400º for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter.

This recipe was adapted from the one found here at food.com.

This post has been linked to Mop It Up Mondays.

Dried Fruit

 

While grocery shopping a few weeks ago, I saw packages of mixed dried fruit on sale as a closeout. The mix included dried peaches, apples, plums, and apricots. I was planning to buy dried apricots, but when I saw that the mixed fruit was on sale, I decided to get that instead. I purchased four packages. However, no one cared for the mix. So, they sat in my pantry untouched for weeks.

 

But, over the weekend I had a brainstorm. Why not separate the fruits? My oldest loves the apricots, my son loves the dried plums, and I could eat up the other fruits in my Oatmeal. So, I got out some mason jars and separated them. Now they are quickly disappearing and I have rescued another food from going to waste.

 

What have you done to reduce food waste this week?

 

This post has been linked to The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Party.

Simply Homemade #2

 

Last month I told you about my new cooking class called Simply Homemade. I had a smaller crowd this time, but we still had fun cooking and eating together. We started with Decadent Hot Cocoa. This is a dry mix that is super frugal, can be made up ahead of time, and is perfect for gift giving. Everyone made a batch of the mix to take home and we all enjoyed a cup before we got started with our feature recipes.

 

For our main dish, we made BBQ Pork Tenderloin. When it came time to serve the meat, we sliced it, placed it on small rolls, and topped it with BBQ sauce. Finally, we made Cole Slaw as our side dish. One of the ladies enjoyed the Cole Slaw enough that she plans to make it this weekend for friends. To me, that is what makes Simply Homemade a true success!

A Book Review

The Dinner Diaries written by Betsy Block
 

Anyone with kids knows that it is an uphill battle to find a balance between the food kids love and the food parents know to be good for the body. Betsy Block, author of The Dinner Diaries, writes about this struggle with her own kids and how she attempted change within her family one bite at a time. She honestly recounts good and bad attitudes and recipe successes and failures.

 

Betsy dives into her research on good food choices by working with nutritionists, reading food authors such as Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, and visiting local farms. She discovered that the questions surrounding food choices are difficult to negotiate. What is most important? Organic or local produce? Is fish healthy or unsafe? How much meat to we really need? Should milk be guzzled by the gallon or drunk sparingly? And although what she finds is at times conflicting, Betsy is able to make enough sense of it all to begin to make wise choices for her family.
 

This is a great food book for those that feel daunted by the task of making change. And, Betsy writes in an encouraging and light hearted manner that is helpful without being too rigid. I would recommend this book especially to moms who need a realistic approach to feeding a family healthy yet delicious foods.

Orange Chess Pie

This weekend, while thumbing through recipes in my new cookbooks, I saw this recipe for Orange Chess Pie and thought it would be a great way to use up my fading oranges. They had been lounging on the counter for far too long and juicing them for this pie seemed like a perfect way to keep them from being thrown out. 

I had never made a Chess Pie of any kind before, but I had eaten Chess Pie many times while living in the South. I wasn't exactly sure if my kids would like it though, so I made the pie and took it to a group of friends on Sunday. Well, I shouldn't have been worried. We all loved it, and I will certainly be making this again!

Orange Chess Pie

1 stick softened butter
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
3 Tbsp. corn meal
1 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Zest of one orange
Unbaked pie crust

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add cornmeal. Slowly add juices and zest. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes or until set. 

This post has been linked to The Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party.
 

A "New" Cookbook

Over the weekend, the kids and I went to a library book sale. There were stacks and piles and boxes of books. And all of the books were 25¢ each. We walked away with 20 books for only $5. My kids were thrilled, I was thrilled. A frugal score for sure. We spent the rest of the weekend engrossed in our reading.

At the sale, I picked up three cookbooks. I can read a cookbook cover to cover just like most people read a novel. Then, once I have gotten to the final page, I start all over again. The Southern Living book pictured above is my favorite of the three. It was printed in 1970 and I have picked out a dozen or more recipes to try. Actually, I couldn't wait to get started, so I made an Orange Chess Pie on Sunday. I will tell you more about it later this week.

I have a feeling that this cookbook could quickly become one of my favorites. What is your favorite cookbook?

This post has been linked to Frugal Tuesday Tip.

Muffuletta Sandwiches

Recently I was invited to a Mardi Gras party. So, my neighbors and I dressed according to the theme, shared a baby sitter, and went to the party. Our hostess did a fantastic job with decorations of all kinds, beads, and the food! We had gumbo, piles of shrimp, muffuletta sandwhiches, and hurricanes to drink. So very delicious. 

Since then, I have been craving the muffuletta sandwhiches. I fell in love with this olive salad sandwich while living close to New Orleans years ago. And, I have had fun experimenting with the recipe. Sadly my kids do not care for it. However, that means more for me! I'm certain that this will last several weeks in the refridgerator, so I will happliy keep it all to myself.

Muffuletta Sandwiches

For the salad:
16oz. jar pickled mixed vegetables
¼ cup sliced green olives with pimientos
¼ cup sliced black olives
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Drain and chop the pickled vegetables. Combine vegetables, olives, garlic, and olive oil.

For the sandwich:
Italian Bread
Sliced deli ham
Sliced salami
Sliced provolone cheese

Slice open the bread, layer with meat and cheese, and top with the vegetable salad. Replace the bread top and secure with toothpicks.

Fried Potatoes

 

Sickness invaded my home this weekend and I spent the entire weekend on the couch. Not fun. Thankfully, my kids cooperated nicely. No fighting, no whining, no complaints of boredom. And, we ate comfort foods like grilled cheese, buttered pasta with parmesan cheese, and fried potatoes. Thankfully my kids were thrilled. 

I'm not sure that this is even a recipe. But, this is real life at my house, so why not share it? My kids say these taste like bite size french fries and sometimes gobble them up before they even make it to the table. I like to cook my potatoes in leftover bacon grease, if I have it, for the added flavor, and they are easy to jazz up with onions and additional seasonings if you choose. 

Fried Potatoes

4 medium potatoes
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Scrub potatoes and cut into ½ inch cubes. Heat a skillet with the olive oil on high. Add potatoes and cook 4-5 minutes. Stir and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until all of the potatoes are evenly browned. Remove from the pan, draining away any excess olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. 

 

This post has been linked to Mop It Up Monday.

Apron Anxiety

Last week while perusing the New Release shelf at the library, I saw this book Apron Anxiety and picked it up thinking that it had been a while since I had written a book review here at You Can Make That! When I got home, I immediately sat down on my couch and started reading. I couldn't put it down. I read half the book without moving an inch. I completed it in two sittings and within a couple of days I had already tried three of the recipes!  

Apron Anxiety written by Alyssa Shelasky

Alyssa is a journalist living in New York and has an exciting life meeting celebrities and dining at upscale restaurants. But, when she falls in love with an up and coming chef, she packs up her life and moves to Washington DC. However, when she finds her beloved chef to be overworked and rarely available to her, Alyssa begins to learn to cook and bake in order to fill her time.

Eventually this budding passion becomes a new way of life as she learns to feed her family and friends. When the relationship with her chef begins to crumble, Alyssa blends her love for the kitchen with her journalistic talents and moves to new territory writing about food, both in her own blog and for Grub Street at New York Magazine.
 

I certainly enjoyed this book. It is part memoir, part romance, part cookbook and each part is equally as good as the others. This is obviously the perfect read for home cooks, but it is also great for the romantic as well.