Every now and then I use my slow cooker on the weekend to make lunch for the week. So yesterday, I turned to one of my favorite vegetarian recipes: Enchilada Casserole from Cooking Light. It's a simple recipe that takes just a couple of minutes to mix together before it spends about 5 hours in the Crock Pot.
The base of the casserole consists of black beans, corn, chopped green chiles, enchilada sauce, salsa, cilantro and chopped scallions. You mix all of that together, set the slow cooker on low and let it go for four hours. Then you mix up a package of Jiffy corn mix along with some more green chiles, chopped roasted red peppers and an egg, and drop that in dollops over the top of the casserole base. Put the lid back on and let it cook for another hour. Finally, drop some shredded cheese over the whole thing, let it melt and you're done.
When I do big batch recipes like this, I try to immediately separate the finished dish into individual portions. Then all the containers go into the fridge and I can just grab one each day before I head to work. It streamlines my morning lunch packing routine and stops me from eating too much in any one sitting.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Dinner tonight... Shrimp Pad Thai
One of the things I am most enjoying about feeding Mr. Fritz: at this point, I really feel like I can replicate a restaurant in my kitchen. One night, it's an American steak house, another night, an Italian trattoria, another night, a French bistro, etc. If we're craving it, I can (more or less) make it, and make it to order. So today, as I was planning this week's menu, I decided I'd give Pad Thai a try. I'd never made it before, but really like it. To my great delight, this recipe for Shrimp Pad Thai offered a very close approximation of what we'd get if we ordered it out.
Notable things: rice stick noodles, which look like my hair, were my hair translucent and white, can be hard to untangle. I only wanted to use half of the 8 oz package and ended up having to use scissors to cut off a slab of these dry, stiff, yet strangely pliable noodles in order to get the amount I needed. Also, this was my first time using fish sauce. I was hesitant, but figured that after all these years of avoiding it, it was probably time to just give in a buy a bottle. 2 Tbs of fish sauce is the equivalent to 2 Tbs of soy sauce and 1 Tb of anchovy paste. And, if you ever need to chop peanuts, try this method: put whole peanuts into a small ziplock bag, remove any excess air from the bag and seal it, then bang on it with a meat tenderizer. It works like a charm and is a lot easier (and safer) than triying to chop them with a knife. Finally, this recipe has a longer ingredient list than most of the ones I've used of late, but it really is worth it to gather everything, including the cilantro, fresh limes, scallions, and mung bean sprouts. Each ingredient really adds to the layered flavors and textures in the overall dish. Good stuff.
Notable things: rice stick noodles, which look like my hair, were my hair translucent and white, can be hard to untangle. I only wanted to use half of the 8 oz package and ended up having to use scissors to cut off a slab of these dry, stiff, yet strangely pliable noodles in order to get the amount I needed. Also, this was my first time using fish sauce. I was hesitant, but figured that after all these years of avoiding it, it was probably time to just give in a buy a bottle. 2 Tbs of fish sauce is the equivalent to 2 Tbs of soy sauce and 1 Tb of anchovy paste. And, if you ever need to chop peanuts, try this method: put whole peanuts into a small ziplock bag, remove any excess air from the bag and seal it, then bang on it with a meat tenderizer. It works like a charm and is a lot easier (and safer) than triying to chop them with a knife. Finally, this recipe has a longer ingredient list than most of the ones I've used of late, but it really is worth it to gather everything, including the cilantro, fresh limes, scallions, and mung bean sprouts. Each ingredient really adds to the layered flavors and textures in the overall dish. Good stuff.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Dinner tonight... Chicken Fried Rice with Bok Choy
For as long as I can remember, my mom has told me that when life gives you lemons, you need to make lemonade. Towards the end of making Thursday night's meal, I set aside some chicken and a couple of cups of jasmine rice. And so, Thursday night's less than spectacular meal (i.e. the proverbial lemons) turned into tonight's Chicken Fried Rice with Bok Choy (i.e. some pretty tasty proverbial lemonade), the second part to another two-parter Everyday Food recipe set.
In any case, it was very easy. First you beat an egg and pour it into a large frying pan over medium heat and let it cook until it sets, then remove it from the pan, roll it up and slice it, it'll make long strips that you'll eventually add back into the rice. Next, chop some bok choy, dice an onion, mince some garlic and saute it all in a little vegetable oil over medium-high. When the bok choy has softened (after 5 or so minutes), you add in the leftover rice and the leftover cooked chicken (shred it first), some rice vinegar, soy sauce and bottled ginger, stir everything together until it's all heated through (again, about 5 minutes), then add in the egg, give the whole thing another stir, and serve. Super easy!
A couple of notes: this was my first time cooking with bok choy. I was a little nervous about it -- I knew I'd eaten it in Chinese food in the past, but couldn't really recall if or how much I liked it. (Turns out that in this dish, anyway, it was great.) The recipe said to core and then chop it. As far as I can tell, "coring" it means to avoid using the stuff in the very center and make sure to cut the botton off of each stalk, the way you would with celery. Also, cooking the egg according to the directions yielded a really cool superthin omelet, almost crepe-like in its thinness. It made me thing that it might be fun to experiment with making eggs like that in the future and rolling stuff inside, such as proscuitto, blanched asparagus, etc. So many possibilities!
In any case, it was very easy. First you beat an egg and pour it into a large frying pan over medium heat and let it cook until it sets, then remove it from the pan, roll it up and slice it, it'll make long strips that you'll eventually add back into the rice. Next, chop some bok choy, dice an onion, mince some garlic and saute it all in a little vegetable oil over medium-high. When the bok choy has softened (after 5 or so minutes), you add in the leftover rice and the leftover cooked chicken (shred it first), some rice vinegar, soy sauce and bottled ginger, stir everything together until it's all heated through (again, about 5 minutes), then add in the egg, give the whole thing another stir, and serve. Super easy!
A couple of notes: this was my first time cooking with bok choy. I was a little nervous about it -- I knew I'd eaten it in Chinese food in the past, but couldn't really recall if or how much I liked it. (Turns out that in this dish, anyway, it was great.) The recipe said to core and then chop it. As far as I can tell, "coring" it means to avoid using the stuff in the very center and make sure to cut the botton off of each stalk, the way you would with celery. Also, cooking the egg according to the directions yielded a really cool superthin omelet, almost crepe-like in its thinness. It made me thing that it might be fun to experiment with making eggs like that in the future and rolling stuff inside, such as proscuitto, blanched asparagus, etc. So many possibilities!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Dinner tonight... Braised Chicken with White Wine, Tomatoes and Peas
This will be a short post, unfortunately. Tonight I made Braised Chicken with White Wine, Tomatoes and Peas from the December issue of Everyday Food and even though it sounded good when I read the recipe and the end result presented well:
...It just didn't taste very good. So I'm not going to go into how I made it or any of that, because I just don't think I'd recommend anyone else give it a shot. Sigh. I guess it could have been worse: we could have ordered it in a restaurant, paid lots of money for it and then been disappointed. But still, kind of a bummer.
...It just didn't taste very good. So I'm not going to go into how I made it or any of that, because I just don't think I'd recommend anyone else give it a shot. Sigh. I guess it could have been worse: we could have ordered it in a restaurant, paid lots of money for it and then been disappointed. But still, kind of a bummer.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Dinner tonight... Steak Tostadas with Cilantro Sour Cream
Here it is: part two of Monday's cliffhanger! As promised, I made Steak Tostadas with Cilantro Sour Cream using ingredients intentionally left over from Monday's dinner. Because I'd prepped everything in advance, this meal came together in about 10 minutes, which is just about as good as it gets for a home-cooked meal.
On Monday, I sliced the remaining flank steak into thin slices, chopped up a couple of scallions and put those ingredients plus the leftover roasted mushrooms and a small can of well-drained corn into a big tupperware container, each ingredient in its own little pile. I also mixed up the sour cream/lime juice/cilantro topping and put that into a smaller container alongside the rest of the ingredients. So tonight, all I had to do was mix everything together, put it on top of two tortillas topped with cheese, and heat the tostadas in a 475 degree oven for a few minutes.
A couple of notes: they say to put the cheese-topped tortillas in the oven for 4-6 minutes first, then top with steak mixture and put them back in the oven for another 6-8 minutes. I found this led to a really hard tortilla in the end. I think it would be better to just put the cheese and the steak mixture on the tortilla from the start and let the entire thing spend only 6-8 minutes in the oven. I also thought the flank steak was overly chewy, but that might just be because I don't like meat that much. Amusingly, at the end of the meal, I'd left a lot of the meat on my plate and Mr. Fritz had left a lot of vegetables on his. Together we'd make one really good eater (or one really bad one, I guess!).
On Monday, I sliced the remaining flank steak into thin slices, chopped up a couple of scallions and put those ingredients plus the leftover roasted mushrooms and a small can of well-drained corn into a big tupperware container, each ingredient in its own little pile. I also mixed up the sour cream/lime juice/cilantro topping and put that into a smaller container alongside the rest of the ingredients. So tonight, all I had to do was mix everything together, put it on top of two tortillas topped with cheese, and heat the tostadas in a 475 degree oven for a few minutes.
A couple of notes: they say to put the cheese-topped tortillas in the oven for 4-6 minutes first, then top with steak mixture and put them back in the oven for another 6-8 minutes. I found this led to a really hard tortilla in the end. I think it would be better to just put the cheese and the steak mixture on the tortilla from the start and let the entire thing spend only 6-8 minutes in the oven. I also thought the flank steak was overly chewy, but that might just be because I don't like meat that much. Amusingly, at the end of the meal, I'd left a lot of the meat on my plate and Mr. Fritz had left a lot of vegetables on his. Together we'd make one really good eater (or one really bad one, I guess!).
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Lunch today... Easiest Indian Stew
Just a quick post tonight. I generally pack Mr. Fritz a lunch everyday that consists of a couple of sandwiches, cookies, chips, a piece of fruit, some carrots, etc. But my lunch is usually a lot more random. Could be just instant oatmeal some weeks or just vegetables other weeks. But occasionally I go all out and make something -- usually a vegetarian something -- divide it immediately into portions in tupperware and then eat it all week for lunch. This week I did that with this recipe from Everyday Food called Easiest Indian Stew. It really is simple and it features chick peas, which I love. So there you go, a mini post about feeding Mrs. Fritz. Cheers!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Dinner tonight... Seared Steak with Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach Salad
You know how sometimes your favorite TV show will do a two-part episode, leaving a cliffhanger at the end of the first hour? Well, that happened tonight in my kitchen. I decided to tackle a two-part Everyday Food recipe series, where you make extra of a couple of things on Night One (in this case, flank steak and roasted mushrooms) and then re-purpose the extra in a second meal on Night Two.
So tonight, Mr. Fritz and I dined on Seared Steak with Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach Salad, and on Wednesday, we'll reconvene to enjoy Steak Tostadas with Cilantro Sour Cream. It's like planned leftovers. Or leftovers with a purpose. Or something. In any case, I'm already looking forward to dinner on Wednesday!
As far as tonight's effort went, it was very easy to create. First, I quarted the mushrooms, tossed them with a little olive oil and chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and put them on a baking sheet and into a 475 degree oven for 20 minutes.
As soon as they went into the oven, I prepared a rub for the flank steak by mixing together crushed oregano, sweet paprika, red pepper and salt and pepper. I rubbed a little olive oil all over the 1.5 lb piece of meat, then covered it on both sides with the rub. The recipe calls for searing the meat on top of the stove, but I decided to toss it into the oven as well, for 15 minutes.
Once both the mushrooms and the steak were roasting, I turned to the salad, which was really just spinach dressed with a vinaigrette made of equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar. When the mushrooms were done roasted and the flank steak was cooked to our desired internal temp, I sliced the steak thinly and plated everything together. Done and done!
Mr. Fritz really liked this meal and so did I, despite not being a huge meat eater. The rub enhanced the flavor of the meat and the high-temperature oven roasting went surprisingly quickly and resulted in a nice juicy steak. The roasted mushrooms were particular tasty -- they had a nice firm texture and a great woodsy flavor. Plus the garlic added a little extra punch. And the salad was nice and simple. After we were done eating, I pulled together the ingredients for the tostadas a made a little meal kit for Wednesday. I feel ahead already!
So tonight, Mr. Fritz and I dined on Seared Steak with Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach Salad, and on Wednesday, we'll reconvene to enjoy Steak Tostadas with Cilantro Sour Cream. It's like planned leftovers. Or leftovers with a purpose. Or something. In any case, I'm already looking forward to dinner on Wednesday!
As far as tonight's effort went, it was very easy to create. First, I quarted the mushrooms, tossed them with a little olive oil and chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and put them on a baking sheet and into a 475 degree oven for 20 minutes.
As soon as they went into the oven, I prepared a rub for the flank steak by mixing together crushed oregano, sweet paprika, red pepper and salt and pepper. I rubbed a little olive oil all over the 1.5 lb piece of meat, then covered it on both sides with the rub. The recipe calls for searing the meat on top of the stove, but I decided to toss it into the oven as well, for 15 minutes.
Once both the mushrooms and the steak were roasting, I turned to the salad, which was really just spinach dressed with a vinaigrette made of equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar. When the mushrooms were done roasted and the flank steak was cooked to our desired internal temp, I sliced the steak thinly and plated everything together. Done and done!
Mr. Fritz really liked this meal and so did I, despite not being a huge meat eater. The rub enhanced the flavor of the meat and the high-temperature oven roasting went surprisingly quickly and resulted in a nice juicy steak. The roasted mushrooms were particular tasty -- they had a nice firm texture and a great woodsy flavor. Plus the garlic added a little extra punch. And the salad was nice and simple. After we were done eating, I pulled together the ingredients for the tostadas a made a little meal kit for Wednesday. I feel ahead already!
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