Enchiladas

OMG....I'm embarrassed to say I never knew about this until late in life.  And it's so simple I can't believe I've never heard of anyone making else it.

We had chili dogs at church last night and I forgot to take the shredded cheese and onions I had cut up.  I also brought home the left-over chili.  So this morning I had all the shredded cheese, onions and chili sitting around with me wondering how to get rid of it all.  And Voila!!!

Beef and Cheese Enchiladas
In a casserole dish spread a small layer of Wolf Brand Chili (NO beans!)

1. take a corn or flour tortilla and wrap some cheese and onions up in it. (It does better with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch log of cheese cut from the block but I had shredded left over so that's what I used)
2. spread more chili on top, this time a heavier layer.  Sprinkle grated cheese on top.
3.  Cook covered about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Uncover and cook until the top is bubbly.

 I don't have any exact amounts because I was using leftovers.

Cheese Enchiladas

Same drill, this time with On The Border Cheese dip instead of chili on the bottom
more cheese and onions wrapped inside.  Cheese dip on top with grated cheese on top of that.

Cook covered about 30 minutes.  Uncover and cook until bubbly.

This is so easy to make it's kind of a sin not to.

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce

(makes 3 cups)
Ingredients

• 2 cups plain Greek yogurt
• 2 cups diced cucumber
• 1/2 cup fresh dill minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh mint minced
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Chill before serving.
2. Enjoy!

French tost casserole

French toast casserole with fruit

• 1 small loaf day-old French bread ( or about 1/2 of a large loaf)
• 5 eggs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup strawberry, sliced

Directions

1.    Lightly grease 9x13 pan.

2.    Cut the bread in 3/4-inch slices.

3.    Layer in the pan, fitting snugly. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla.

4.    Stir in the milk.

5.    Pour over bread; turn bread slices over.

6.    Cover and refrigerate overnight.

7.    In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

8.    In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.

9.    Cut the butter in bits, add to the mix and rub together to make a crumb topping.

10. Remove the pan from the fridge, carefully turn the bread pieces over and scatter mixed berries evenly over the bread.

11. Sprinkle with crumb topping.

12. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until puffy and golden.

Chocolate Salted Carmel Pie

Chocolate Salted Carmel Pie

A lot easier to make than it might seem.  There are three main steps with a waiting time between them.  The hardest for me is the carmel.  It’s hard to let it sit without stirring and hard to know when to take it off the heat.

Also, I didn't use sea salt.  And the original recipe was for a tart.  I used a pie pan.  

Also there's nutrition info at the bottom.  Avert your eyes.

Almond Chocolate Sweet Pastry

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small (1/2-inch) cubes

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1-2 tbsp ice water

Caramel

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 oz (120g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Garnish

sea salt crystals

Directions

Prepare the sweet pastry. In a large bowl mix flour with ground almonds, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. 

1.    Incorporate butter to the flour mixture, using a pastry blender, a fork or a pastry processor, until crumbs are formed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix them in. Add water and incorporate into the dough. Wrap it with plastic, knead slowly to form a disc and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

2.    On a floured surface or over the plastic wrap roll the dough to a circle with about 1 1/2 inches larger than your tart pan. Lift up the rolled dough and place it on a greased 9 inch tart pan. Remove the edges and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking.

    Prick the dough with a fork, line a parchment paper over the dough. Fill      

    with dry beans, rice or pie weights.

3.    Bake for 15 minutes in preheated 350 F (180C) oven. Remove the weights and the parchment paper. Return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from the tart pan.

4.    Prepare the caramel.  Place the sugar and water in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook without stirring until sugar dissolves and gets a caramel color.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream. It will bubble a little bit.

Cook for about 1 or 2 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Remove from heat and add butter and salt. Stir well until smooth.

Let the caramel cool slightly and pour over the chocolate crust. Refrigerate for about 4-5 hours.

Prepare the chocolate ganache.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.

Pour the chocolate ganache over the caramel. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for another 2-3 hours before serving. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and serve.

Nutrition facts1 Serving - Calories:560, Fat:31.0g, Saturated Fat:18.7g, Unsaturated Fat:0.0g, Carbohydrates:69.7g, Sugar:51.4g, Fiber:2.2g, Protein:5.4g, Cholesterol:94mg, Calories from Fat 279, Sodium 497mg, Potassium 188mg, Vitamin A 17%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 6%, Iron 10%, Nutrition Grade F, daily percent values are based on a 2000 calorie diet

Pecan Chewy Chocolate Cookies (aka the best cookie in the world)

Pecan Chewy Chocolate Cookies
8 ounces finely chopped pecans 

(I think this might be a cup but I used a kitchen scale)
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. **YES.  Do this or you will be sorry

Place sugar, cocoa, flour and salt in mixer bowl and stir together. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, scrapping bowl. Beat in vanilla and continue beating at high speed for 1 minute. Stir in chopped pecans.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies for spreading. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, turning sheet halfway though baking time. 

This is one cookie you can time.  Since it's chocolate you can't tell by looking.  Just set the timer and go by that.

You may not think it's going to work.  I've never baked a cookie like this before.  But eventually the egg whites do their voodoo and it works.

Peach Cobbler

My step-mother, Lois, came from West Texas Plains folks who cooked with the fruit and vegetables their backyards yielded and everyone in the South has a peach tree or two.  Their food was like their lives:  nothing fancy: basic and sturdy.  

When I was a young mother and not working she had me come over one day to “put up” peaches.  She went to the Farmers Market and got a bushel of fresh peaches.  Then we spent the rest of the day peeling and cutting up peaches into bags that she froze.  We peeled so many peaches that the acid from the fruit not only turned my hands prune-like but it ate the callouses off my hands and a few fingerprints, too.  At the end of the day she was delighted with our bounty.  She could make a peach cobbler anytime in the following year with the next best thing to fresh.

There was only one catch:  Lois was a horrible cook. Fresh peaches or frozen, old family recipe not withstanding, she could take perfectly wonderful ingredients and do horrible things with them.  I think part of the reason she wasn’t a very good  cook is that she wasn’t much of an eater.  She could take food or leave it.  To her cooking was something she did for other people because it was expected of her. 

Lois’ father was a circuit riding preacher and many times the situation was reversed with visiting preachers at their house for days on end plus their entire large family.  She had watched her own mother cook for a houseful of family and strangers, spending the entire day in the kitchen then wake up in the morning and do breakfast the same way. 

Ma Wood always had two kinds of meat at a meal with just about every vegetable in the garden on the table in one form or the other. And, of course, pies and cobblers.

Alas, the family cooking gene skipped past Lois completely. 

And Beaven made the biggest mistake of his life the first time he was invited for dinner with my family.  He told Lois the peach cobbler was delicious and he loved it.  From that moment on, whenever she cooked for us she would parade the cobbler around the kitchen and place it in front of him.  Then she would pronounce with great pride: “I made Beaven his favorite!” 

 

For the next 30 or so years until she stopped cooking he had to eat the cobbler and pretend it was delicious. Other family members developed severe allergies to peaches but Beaven was not as clever too honorable.

But you can trust this recipe.  I got it from the internet and everyone knows the internet doesn’t make mistakes.  Also, Beaven likes it and he wouldn’t lie to me.  There have been times I wished he would lie so I know he’s being honest when he says this is a good recipe.

Instead of a biscuit topping I use pie crust.  And it doesn’t need to be fancy shapes or intricately latticed strips.  A cobbler can be kind of messy.  Actually, you could just tear off globs of crust and throw them around.  The bar is set pretty low for cobbler in my house.  If it’s even edible we call it a victory.

AND the BEST part of this recipe is that you don’t have to spend the day putting up peaches until your fingerprints disappear.  Walmart sells frozen peaches in a one pound package. 

·       2 lbs frozen peaches

·       1/4 cup sugar

·       1 teaspoon cornstarch

·       1 tablespoon lemon juice

·       1 pinch table salt

·       Pie crust: from “scratch” or ready-made….I won’t tell

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

 Defrost peaches completely in colander. Gently toss peaches and sugar together in large bowl; let stand for 30 minutes, tossing several times. Drain peaches in colander set over large bowl. Whisk 2 tablespoons of drained juice (discard extra), cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt together in small bowl. Toss peach juice mixture with peach slices and transfer to 8-inch-square glass baking dish. 

Bake until peaches begin to bubble around edges, about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the topping: While peaches are baking, get out the pie crust recipe and cut into strips. Lay the strips in a relaxed lattice-like design.

To assemble and bake: When peaches bubble around edges, remove baking dish from oven and place dough strips in a relaxed lattice design.. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake until topping is golden brown, about 18 minutes. Cool cobbler on wire rack until warm, about 20 minutes; serve. 

If you invite Beaven and he tells you it’s the best he’s ever eaten, the chances are pretty good that it is. He’s learned his lesson.