Mexican Shredded Beef Chimichangas

Eric suggested Chimichangas for Sunday dinner.  I wanted to use something other than seasoned hamburger for the filling.  I am getting bored with chicken so I opted for beef.  I found a shredded beef recipe that worked perfectly.  I changes it up a little bit. It really was simple and delicious.

Mexican Shredded Beef

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or whatever hot sauce you enjoy
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
2 1/2 – 3 pound chuck roast
1 cup beef stock/broth

Directions

1.  Preheat oven 300 degrees.  (you could use a slow cooker too)
2.  In a roasting pan or dutch oven (I used dutch oven), lay onions and peppers on bottom.
3.  Mix tomato paste, honey, all spices and sauces.  Rub over meat. (I rinse the roast with water.  Pat dry with papertowels, rub mixture all over meat.)
4.  Place meat on top of onions and peppers.  Add stock/broth.
5.  Cover pan/dutch oven with lid or aluminum foil.  Place in oven and roast for 2-3 hours or until fork tender.
6.  When done, use 2 forks to shred meat.  You can take some or all of the peppers, onions and broth and mix with the shredded meat.
7.  Use as filling for your chimichanga, taco, burrito, or a lettuce wrap.

Chimichanga

Ingredients

4 – 10 inch flour tortillas
2 cups Mexican Shredded Beef (or seasoned hamburger, shredded chicken)
2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
Enchilada Sauce (we use hot)
Vegetable Oil for frying

1.  Heat vegetable oil, medium high to 350 degrees.  (I used  a 12 inch stainless steel fry pan.  I filled half way with oil)
2.  Lay out tortilla and fill with beef and cheese.  Divide ingredients evenly.
3.  Roll tightly as you would a burrito.  I used a slurry (1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 2 Tablespoons water) along the edge  to “glue” the bottom flap of the tortilla.
4.  When you place the tortilla in the frying pan put the folded part on the bottom first.  Fry until golden brown or for 3-4  minutes and flip over.  If you put the folded part in first it will hold and not break open.  (I tried to use a deep fat fryer with my first chimichanga.  It blew up.  Just use a frying pan or dutch oven.)
5.  Serve with heated enchilada sauce.

Enjoy!  Ciao!!

Buttermilk Pancakes

I LOVE pancakes.  I don’t make them very often.  I had buttermilk I had to use this weekend.  I saw a recipe for pancakes and decided to make them.  Simple and Delicious!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, slightly whisked
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1.  Preheat griddle to medium heat
2.  In medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients.  In another medium bowl whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Drizzle in butter and whisk together.
3.  Using wooden spoon make a well in middle of dry ingredients.  Pour in liquid ingredients and stir together.  Don’t over beat.  That makes for tough pancakes not fluffy!
4.  Grease the griddle.  I used Pam. You can use butter if you like.  Scoop 1/3 cup batter and cook until bubbles form, flip and cook until golden.  This recipe, using 1/3 cup, made 9 pancakes.  Serve immediately.

Since I was the only one home who enjoyed these this weekend there were leftovers. I wasn’t about to throw them out.  I ended up freezing them.  Eric took some home with him later in the evening.  They taste delicious fresh or warmed up after being frozen.  ENJOY!!

Green Tea White Chocolate Cheesecake

It was Karen’s birthday today.  Over the weekend I was debating on what cake to make.  St. Patrick’s Day theme was in my head.  I was going to bake a Green Velvet Cake but opted out on that one.  I decided to stick with my green theme but bake a cheesecake instead.   I think I made a great choice.  Most everyone at work enjoyed it.  Karen had a few pieces to bring home and share with her hubby and sons, John and Jake.  Not sure it was enough though!  Here is the Simple and Delicious recipe;

Green Tea White Chocolate Cheesecake
(Compliments of Food52.  A revised version of their recipe.  I always change it up a little bit.)

Ingredients

Crust

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crust
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix above ingredients together.  Spread on bottom of Springform pan.  You could just have the crust on bottom or spread up sides of pan.  I usually do it with sides.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven to cool.

Filling

2 – 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted (I added 1/2 teaspoon butter to the chocolate when melting)
2 Tablespoons green tea Matcha powder
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon sugar

Topping

1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons sugar

Directions

1.  Preheat over to 325 degrees.
2.  Mix the cream cheese, egg, Matcha powder, and lemon juice medium high speed until creamy.  I use my stand up mixer.
3.  While you are preparing the above, fill a pan with water.  Put the white chocolate in a bowl.  Set in simmering water and stir until melted.  White chocolate will sieze.  I made sure the above step was done, then melted the chocolate.
4.  With mixer on low, add the chocolate, increase to medium speed and blend together.
5.  You should taste the mixture.  That is why I increased the Matcha powder and white chocolate.  (I probably could have added more Matcha powder.   I bought a brand called Green Foods Matcha at Terry Naturally. Next time I may buy it at Teavana.  Not sure if it would make a difference but I will find out!)
6.  Spoon batter into springform pan.    As you can see it is very creamy!  Spread over crust.
7.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  (I did 25 minutes)
8.  Remove cheesecake and let cool for 5 minutes.  While cooling…
9.  Mix sour cream and sugar together.  Pour mixture over cooled cheesecake. (5 minutes is enough). 
10.  Put back in oven and bake for 15 minutes.
11.   Remove cheesecake from oven and let cool before putting refrigerator.  Let chill for 8 hours/overnight
12.  Serve with fruit, melted chocolate – white or dark or whatever you desire.  ENJOY!!

 

Corned Beef Hash

I wrote this post one year ago, 2014.  I don’t want to remove what I wrote a year ago because my blog is for my family and our memories.  However, I made hash today and it is as good today as last year.  You have to make this.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

03/17/2014;  Martin2 and I went out to breakfast Saturday.  We went to The Mustard Seed Cafe.  They have great food there!  They had homemade corned beef hash on their menu and I decided to order it.  I had Martin taste it to see what he would think.  He thought it was delish!  He is quite the foodie and gives me his honest opinion about whatever he tries that I make.  I decided I would make corned beef hash for Sunday breakfast.  Kent has always enjoyed homemade hash.  Why not? St. Patrick’s weekend.  I knew Eric and Martin2 would enjoy some also.  I also wanted to see if my hash would turn out as delicious as The Mustard Seed.  Eric wants me to make more so he can bring some home.  Oh, and Martin2 thought it was “amazing”.

Corned Beef Hash
(America’s Test Kitchen – where else?!)

2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice (I used red potatoes, that was all I had)
Table Salt
4 slices bacon, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (I used 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 pound corned beef, cut into 1/4 inch dice (I use the point vs flat cut for the corned beef.  Reason; point cut has more fat therefore more flavor 😉 end of story)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
4 large eggs
Ground black pepper

Directions

1.  Bring potatoes, 5 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil in medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Once boiling, cook potatoes for 4 minutes, then drain and set potatoes aside.
2.   Cook bacon in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add onion and cook until browned, about 8 minutes.
3.  Add garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds.
4.  Stir in corned beef. Mix in potatoes and lightly pack mixture with spatula. Reduce heat to medium and pour heavy cream and Tabasco sauce evenly over hash. Cook undisturbed for 4 minutes, then, with spatula, invert hash, one portion at a time, and fold browned bits back into hash. Lightly pack hash into pan. Repeat process every minute or two until potatoes are cooked, about 8 minutes longer.
5.  Make 4 indentations (I only did 2 as I used the rest of the hash to have for left overs and share with Eric and Martin2).  Crack one egg in each indentaion, sprinkle with salt and ground pepper.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover pan and cook until eggs are set, about 6 minutes.

Kent loved this recipe and is looking forward to this coming weekend.  There was nothing he would want me to change. Glad I bought an extra point cut brisket to make more hash!!  Eric will be able to bring some home and maybe Martin2 will want some more too.  AND, this was SIMPLE and DELICIOUS!

Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream Cakes are so easy to make.  I used to buy them at Dairy Queen or Cold Stone Creamery.  When I discovered I could make these cakes taste even better than an ice cream place, that made us a happier family. 🙂 I would recommend making the cake the night before you need it.  I use a springform pan.  You could also use an 8×8 cake pan.

What kind of crust do you want?  Most like the Oreo crust.  You can use any cookie you want but I will give you the Oreo recipe.

To start; put your ice cream in the refrigerator to soften while you are preparing the crumb mixture.

Crumb Mixture
20-24 Oreos
1/4 cup of melted butter

Crush your choice of cookie in a food processor or whatever way you choose.  In a medium sized bowl mix the cookie crumbs and melted butter.  Put the crumb mixture in the bottom of the pan you will be using.  Put in the freezer to set while you are preparing the ice cream.

1/2 gallon of ice cream of your choice.  We love Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream.

You mix the ice cream until it is softened.  Take the crumb mixture out of freezer.  Spoon the softened ice cream over the the crumb mixture.   If you crushed Oreos, put on top of the ice cream.  You can use whatever topping you like; crushed nuts, M&M’s or any type of candy.

After you do above, wrap the springform pan (or whatever you use) in aluminum foil.  Place in freezer overnight or for 4-6 hours. When you take out of freezer, take a knife and go around the cake so you can remove the Springform easier. Personally, I have not made this in a cake pan.  I have always used my Springform cake pan.

When time is up you will want to frost the cake.  I use the following recipe:

1 cup of ice cream of your choice (I used vanilla for this cake, Haagen Dazs, of course)
1 cup of Cool Whip

Frost your ice cream cake.  Cover again with aluminum foil and put back in freezer for 1-2 hours.  After I frosted the cake I put another layer of peanut M&M’s on top.

When time is up that take out and enjoy!  You may need to let it sit out for 5 minutes to cut it.  We can’t wait that long. 🙂

It takes time to make this but it doesn’t take long to prepare it.  Waiting for it in the freezer is what takes time.  Really, this is simple and delicious!

 

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Eric requested a Chocolate Fudge Cake for his birthday.  I thought about this for a few days.  I wanted to combine brownies and chocolate cake.  I made my favorite Chocolaty Brownie and Chocolate Cake recipes.  I wasn’t sure how I wanted to combine the batters.  I was thinking I could swirl the two of them together.  I called Kent in the kitchen for his engineering mind advice. 🙂  He suggested I put the brownie batter on the bottom (being that is the heaviest batter) and the chocolate cake batter on top.  I took his advise and ran with it.  Here is what I did;

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Made the Very Chocolaty Brownies and Chocolate Cake recipes posted on my blog.

Sprayed and floured a 9×13 baking pan

Spread out the Brownie batter on bottom of pan.  Topped with Chocolate Cake batter. Baked for 50 minutes.

Let the cake rest for 10 minutes while I made the Chocolate Ganache

Poked holes in the cake  and spread the chocolate ganache over top of cake.  Allow cake to cool completely.  Frost with:

Buttermilk Chocolate Frosting

2 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
2 Tablespoons softened butter
3-4 Tablespoons buttermilk (no buttermilk?  Use 3-4 Tablespoons of softened butter and 2-3 Tablespoons milk)
2-3 Tablespoons cocoa (depends on how chocolaty you want the frosting)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

I use my stand up mixer to blend together.

Frost and serve.  Eric brought some home with him.  When he came over for Sunday dinner he said the cake tastes even better if you put in the refrigerator.  So, I tried that and he was right, as usual 😉

This cake was awesome!  We all loved it.  Well, except Kent – he thinks we overkill on the chocolate.  What does he know! 😉

This may not be simple but it sure was delicious.  Happy Birthday Eric!  Love you very much!!