Recipe of the week: Mexican Lasagna

You have to love Moms! They always know how to give you that TLC. During my trip home for the holidays, mine gave a gift that only a mother could. A wonderful dish, combining the best of two worlds. I believe this was originally a recipe of my sisters. My mother made many small 1-2 serving dishes of Mexican Lasagna. Seriously, she made around 5 single serving dishes for me to bring back to New York. I put them in a little cooler and then in the freezer when I got home. They lasted for the next week, providing lots of meals.

Mexican Lasagna

2 lbs ground beef or turkey (can be left out for a vegetarian option)

2 packages taco seasoning

1 can of refried beans

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

6 cooked lasagna noodles

2 cups Mexican mix of shredded cheeses

Brown the meat and add the taco seasoning.

Drain the tomatoes, add to the meat.

In a 9 x13 pan (or multiple tiny pans for single servings) layer from the bottom up half of the meat, 3 noodles, half of the beans, 1 cup cheese, 3 noodles, rest of the beans, rest of the meat, 1 cup cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 40 minutes and then uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

So there you have it. It's a simple dish, but tasty. And also light on the wallet (especially when made by mom).

Some recipes to tide you over

Here are some recipes passed on from my sister, from a friend of hers. I haven't tried them but they sound so good! Also, they relate to the food of the week that I am gearing up to post soon. Sorry, it's been a busy week at work, I'm still kind-of sick and yesterday was my birthday. What a week!


Chai Hot Cocoa Recipe:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 chai-flavored tea bag
1 envelope Hot Cocoa Mix

Heat milk & water to boiling then pour into mug.
Add tea bag. let stand for at least 1 minute.
Remove tea bag; tir in cocoa mix.


5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake:
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate ifdesired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why
is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all
only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Thanks to my sister and her friend Kelly for the decadent recipes!

Food of the week: Quinoa

Are you ready for this Mom? You're going to be so happy! This week's food of the week is none other than...duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh!....Quinoa.

It seems that quinoa has a very loyal following. Those that love it, want to spread its good word to people around the world. If there was ever a superfood, it would be quinoa. It's super-nutritious and easy to make.

Benefits:

• Excellent source of magnesium, which helps prevent migraines and hypertension.
• Helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol in postmenopausal women.
• Fiber, fiber, fiber!
• Lowers incidence of asthma in children.
• Contains plant lignans which help protect against breast cancer and heart disease.
• Lowers type II diabetes risk.
• Good source of protein (especially for vegans because it provides all the essential amino acids found in meat and dairy).
• Easy to cook
• Cool looking

Drawbacks:

• Can be more expensive than grains (but it expands a lot when cooking, so it kind-of evens itself out).

Ways to eat quinoa:

• Substitute quinoa for pasta or rice, as I did with my Cheesy Quinoa Surprise.
• Add it to vegetable soup.
• Eat it like a hot cereal.
• Use it in cookies.

Little known fact:

• Quinoa is not actually a grain, but the seed of a plant closely related to spinach.

The cool air goes to my head and my stomach!

Last weekend welcomed fall as the temperatures were in the 50's, with the sun shining and a crispness to the air. The noticeable change in seasons motivated me to make some autumn-friendly foods. An additional motivational factor was I had a whole lot of apples and needed to find some ways to eat them all.

I decided to make some recipes from the Moosewood Cookbook. For dinner I made the Stuffed Squash recipe (which called for apples in the stuffing), along with some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I have to say I was very disppointed with the squash. It wasn't horrible, but it did not meet my expectations for all of the work that went into it. (I always hold my breath when cutting thick squash, I inherited terrible cutting skills from my mother. Both of us often draw blood in these circumstances. No blood this time though.)




The highlight of the dinner ended up being the apple crisp I made for dessert! This was also from the Moosewood Cookbook. I made a smaller batch then called for because it turned out half of my apples were rotten inside (ewww!). But the ones that were good made a totally delicious dessert. It consisted mostly of an apple-cinnamin-sugar-lemon juice mixture beneath a topping of oats, flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Delicious!

With my dinner and wonderful dessert I enjoyed a glass (or two) of a Cabernet Franc I got from a winery a few hours upstate. The apples, the wine, I was trying to keep it local!

Recipe of the week: Burrito Bar Options

You may have a noticed a brief absence of posts last week. I did not post a food of the week or a wine of choice. Forgive me, I had family in town and was having way too much fun to stop and blog! The good thing is that, out of all of my family fun, comes some yummy recipes for the blog this week!

My mom, sister and I decided one night while they were here to cook at home. With no shortage of activities in NYC, a quiet night at home was a nice break. We considered many options for dinner, including a tasty turkey meatloaf, but ultimately decided on having a burrito bar! (Yes, admittedly I got the idea from Rachel Ray, but we didn't end up using any of her recipes). So here's what we made.

Chicken with taco seasoning

Refried Black Beans

AvoSalsa (see recipe below)

Mango Salso (see recipe below)

Apple Ginger Salsa (see recipe below)

Lettuce

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheese

That's a lot of fillings to choose from! We felt that we needed some avocado, so we used this recipe from Avocado.org.

AvoSalsa
2 ripe medium California avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 large ripe tomato, diced
¼ Cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 large lime
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

I then got two salsa recipes from my friend, Elizabeth. The first was a tasty mango salsa, that I mentioned in a previous post. The second, was a peach and ginger salsa. When I asked Elizabeth for the recipes to her salsas, this was her reply:

HAHAHAHA. Recipe?????

I think it was a pull things out of my fridge sort of deal, as usual. Chopped mango, bell pepper, red onions or sweet white onions....something like that. You can also do it with tomatoes, but they make it more watery--I think mine was without because there were tomatoes in the taco filling already.

My other favorite is ginger peach salsa--you can do it with nectarines, too--cube peaches, and stir in finely chopped ginger, chili, and sweet red onion (you can leave that out as well)...add a dash of cinnamon, voila! And if you have mealy peaches that don't ripen, you can cook them down and then add the other ingredients at the end.

We ended up making an apple and ginger salsa instead, because a) we forgot to buy peaches at the grocery store and b) we had gone apple picking and had TONS of apples. I would like to try the 2nd slasa with peaches. Both salsas were great, but the apple and ginger had a bit of a kick to it.

Of course, I couldn't decide between the salsas for my burrito, so I piled them all on. Each bite of the burrito had a different flavor. Now that's how a burrito should be done!

Recipe of the week: Hummus

My sister makes a very yummy hummus and was cool enough to give it to me for my blog. Yea hummus!

Hummus
1 - 15oz can chick peas/garbanzo beans
1 ¼ tsp salt (I use Kosher)
2 ¼-2 ½ tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
Hot sauce (as much as you like…I put in several dashes/shakes)
1 head roasted garlic
½ cup Tahini
Water – I use warm/hot water and put in enough to make it the consistency I like (between ½ & ¾ cup)

Combine it all and then add the water, until it’s the consistency you want.
Make it thinner for a veggie dip.

Yes, that's right, it calls for 1 whole head of garlic! (But it's roasted, so it's a little less pungent)

It's a national holiday, why am I still at work?

Did you know that today is National Guacamole Day? How very exciting, indeed! Let's all eat some gooey green goodness today!

It's also my sister's birthday. I wouldn't mind sharing my birthday with guacamole. Instead I get cookies. Eh, not so exciting. I wish I was born on December 20, National Sangria Day!

Recipe of the week: Cheesy Quinoa Surprise

I developed this recipe one night when I had a craving for macaroni and cheese. Because I didn’t have any pasta I had to be creative. It was one of my more delicious discoveries.

My mother is always trying to get me to eat more quinoa, so this one is for her!

Cheesy Quinoa Surprise
¾ cup quinoa prepared as directed
½ medium zucchini, diced
½ medium yellow squash, diced
½ small onion, diced
1 (6oz) can tuna
½ bag of shredded cheese
1 tbsp butter
¼ cup or so milk
Salt, Pepper, & Cumin to taste

Blanch zucchini and squash. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and heat until cheese melts.

Without any spices it can be pretty bland. Play around with a mix of spices to discover what works best for you. I like the combination of salt, pepper and cumin.

It doesn’t get much easier than this. It makes a few servings – at least one good size portion of leftovers when I eat it.

(Psst: The surprise is tuna!)

Author's Note: It has been brought to my attention that this dish may be better without zucchini and squash, and perhaps with broccoli or peas. Yes, I realize that I use zucchini a lot (hey it's tasty!) but I will make it a point to reach out to other vegetables for you anti-zucchinists. *Hugs*

Recipe of the week: Mom's Ham, Egg & Cheese Bake

This is a yummy dish that my mother usually makes on holiday mornings. It's great if you love breakfast - which I do! This is some serious comfort food!!

Ham, Egg & Cheese Bake (can be made without the ham, so vegetarians will enjoy too)

12-15 slices of bread
8 slices of chopped ham
9 slices of cheese of choice (I enjoy a good cheddar)
6 eggs well beaten
3 1/2 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste
butter
optional: green peppers, onions, mushrooms

Butter bread on both sides and place 4-6 slices in a 9 x13 pan (fill in extra space with 1/4 or 1/2 slices).

Place ham and cheese (and any optional items) on the bread and cover with another layer of buttered bread.

Combine eggs, milk & seasoning; pour slowly over bread, making sure all the bread is soaked.

Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Bake uncovered 1 hour at 350 or until set.