Don’t buy taco seasoning again!

I just wrote this whole post, ending with my efforts today to not become crabby, and wordpress deleted it.  grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Today’s bit of kitchen know-how involves taco night–one of those quick-and-easy dinners that most of us make every so often.  I began thinking, oh, six or so months ago, that I could likely replicate what is inside some of those mystery packs of taco seasoning in my kitchen, but with better results.  And lo, a little internet searching revealed I was right.  The following recipe (which comes from allrecipes) makes a lot of seasoning, and you only need about a tablespoon and a half for a pound of taco meat.  Add to your favorite shells (we’re big fans of Whole Foods’ 365 Blue Corn taco shells–yum) with cheese and salsa and you’re good to go.

You’ll need:
4 T chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t dried oregano
1 t crushed red pepper flakes
2 t paprika
2 T cumin
4 t salt
4 t pepper

Brown your meat and add seasoning with a little water–usually a little over a quarter-cup, if any, will do. Simmer until well-seasoned and fix your tacos!

Classic Favorites

I wanted to fill you in–though I haven’t posted a ton lately, I have been cooking, pulling recipes from the classics. Here’s a bit of a list–try one this weekend!

Pumpkin Bread (though in altered form–using a quarter cup oil, a little more water, no applesauce)
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Brussels Sprout Pasta
Wheat Batter Bread
DIY Rice-a-Roni
and a few others.

What are you cooking this weekend? Tonight I’m making the rice a roni with baked, breaded chicken and some roasted broccoli. Tomorrow, a new tortellini dish, as long as someone makes it to the store to pick up some parmesan. I’m off to the kitchen to bake the biscotti now, and make some bread for tomorrow.

FYI–I just noticed that in old posts, links to my other posts don’t work. Well, that’ll be a winter project.

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

Hi!  How are you?  I’m full into the fall/winter swing of things here.  I think we eat some kind of squash or potato at least once a day.  That’s a habit I hope to maintain til I can’t stand it anymore and need a salad or something.  One of this week’s featured squash recipes is a hearty pumpkin spice cookie.  To those of you put off by pumpkin in everything (this is not me, I assure you–I like pumpkin.  A lot.), this cookie is a nice way of getting the nutrition of the squash without tasting it terribly much–the flavor is more akin to a gingerbread man than a pumpkin bread, but the texture is more like the bread than the cookie.  Either way, you shold make these.  They are delicious and, as cookies go, moderately healthy.  So I eat a minimum of three at a time.

This recipe comes by way of the Food Network, by way of Eating Well, and with a bunch of my modifications.

2/3 c + 2 T whole wheat flour
2/3 c all purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/4 t allspice
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t fresh ground nutmeg (actually, I think I might have forgotten this. That’s ok, they’re still tasty!)
3/4 c pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix. ew)
3/4 c packed brown sugar (I like dark)
2 eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c molasses

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients together and add to the dry. Mix until everything is moistened. This is going to be more like muffin batter than cookie dough. Heat oven to 350*. Place batter by rounded tablespoons on cookie sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. They’ll puff up and the bottoms will be brown, though you’re better off taking them out and letting them sit a minute or two before you take them off the sheets to prevent them from crumbling at all. They’re very moist, but a couple of my cookie bottoms stuck a smidge, so a cooler cookie was easier to remove. Makes about 3 dozen. I’ve been storing them on the counter in a zip bag (I brought them to school for a meeting originally and when people skipped dessert, I happily took them home), and they do stick together quite a bit. Better storage might be in a tupperware between layers of wax paper, or in the fridge.

Ugly But Tasty Squash and Sausage

Last night I made a recipe that was not very pretty to look it.  It was all in the same section of the color palette (beige, yellow, gray) and was served with more beige (roasted potatoes).  So I’m going to share with you the recipe, but not bother with photos, as they may just turn you off.

 

You’ll need:

1 spaghetti squash, sliced in half lengthwise
1 lb sweet (or hot) Italian sausage (I used turkey)
One onion, chopped
pinch of basil
salt and pepper

Start by cooking your squash. After slicing, I scooped the insides out of mine, placed a half cut side down in a baking dish, added a little water, and put in the microwave. About 10-12 minutes later it was done, and I proceeded with the other half. While the second one cooked and the first one cooled, I added some olive oil to a pan on medium high heat and added the sausage, which I squeezed out of the casings. I cooked this until done, browning it up a little, and then put it in a bowl. As the sausage cooked, I scraped out the ’spaghetti’ from the squash with a fork. I added a little more oil to the pan then sauteed an onion. To this the squash was added, warming it through (though it was actually still pretty hot), using its liquid to scrape up the brown bits on the pan’s bottom, and letting it brown a smidge. Then I added back the sausage, a little pepper (Whole Foods’ turkey sausage is really salty, so I didn’t add any extra), and a pinch of dried basil. I stirred to combine a few times, and that was dinner.

It was really tasty and hearty along with some roasted potatoes–all you need for that are a few potatoes (I did 4 medium russets) scrubbed and cut into chunks; I put them into a shallow casserole dish, doused them with a little olive oil, garlic powder (whenever I use real garlic it burns, so I use powder for my taters), coarse salt and pepper. Bake in a 400* oven, about a half an hour or until they’re soft throughout and you can pierce them easily. I try not to stir them so at least one side gets a nice crunchy crust.

Delicious Cake Brownies

I am not usually a fan of cake brownies.  They can be dry, and I opt most often for fudgey brownies, with all their gooey glory.  The only reason I made cake brownies was because I lacked the ingredients for fudgey ones–those generally require a block of unsweetened chocolate, which I rarely have on hand.  I needed a recipe that used only cocoa, and I modified one I found in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

This recipe is very, very simple, and I made it all in one saucepan before baking.  Start by greasing and flouring a 9″ x 13″ pan and heating up your oven to 350*.

You’ll need:
3/4 c butter
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 c milk
1 c chocolate chips (it calls for nuts, by why add nuts if you have more chocolate?)

Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar and cocoa powder. Stir until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just mixed. Add your dry ingredients, being careful to sprinkle the powders over your pan evenly in three shots (you could mix them all in a bowl first to assure no clumps of baking powder, but I hate washing dishes). Alternate each dose of dry with a dose of milk. I added half a cup of flour and the baking soda, then some milk; another 1/2 c flour and the baking powder, then some milk; then the end of the flour and some milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into your pan and bake for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The original recipe had a bigger, thinner pan (something like a jelly roll pan), so it had only a 15 minute bake time. I think mine took between 25 and 30 minutes, but I can’t remember now. Just keep an eye on your pan and you should be fine.

Beer bread

I’m not one to sacrifice beer for other food, but I had two bottles of rather old Sam Adams Light in the fridge, leftover from a variety pack I bought when we moved last spring.  Since they were past their ‘best by’ dates, I figured another use for them would be better than letting them sit for eternity in the fridge.

I know that there are a lot of people out there who are a little nervous about working with yeast, but who would love to make their own bread.  Beer bread is a perfect recipe for those folks–it comes together in all of five minutes and requires no yeast, no kneading, no rising.  I can’t take credit for the recipe–it’s Foodie Farmgirl’s Beyond Easy Beer Bread, and it’s pretty darn good.  This is the partial whole wheat variation, and honestly, it takes longer to warm up the oven than it does to assemble the recipe.

You’ll need:

2 c whole wheat flour
1c all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 12-oz bottle of beer, plus 2 oz (1/4 c) water

Mix your dry. Add the wet. Stir until just combined. Spread into a greased loaf pan and bake at 375* for 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, and out of the pan 10 minutes, before you dig into it. Wait until you see how hard that 20 minute wait is!

DIY Cheeze-Its

Now I know that there are people out there who think it is kind of silly to make your own versions of tasty things you can buy, particularly when making your own takes a lot more time and effort.  Those people will probably laugh at me for making my own crackers, and that’s ok.  For me, I like the challenge–I’d never made crackers before–and I also like knowing what I eat.  That’s what led me to make these delectable little fellas last week, in the middle of a baking binge that also included granola and pita bread.

These crackers were a snap to put together.  Everything is measured into a food processor, buzzed, and voila–cracker dough.

You’ll need:
1/4 c softened butter
1/4 t sea salt
1 cup cheddar, shredded
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 t baking powder
3 T cold water

You begin by pulsing the butter and salt together in the processor until creamy. Add cheddar and pulse. Add dry ingredients and pulse. Then trickle in the water until your dough either forms a ball or looks like you could make one with your hands. The original recipe called for one tablespoon; I needed three.

Plunk your dough (now in ball form) onto a big ol’ cookie sheet and roll (as best you can!) til under 1/8″ thick. Cut into squares and bake in a 350* oven about 15 minutes, or until just lightly browned. Let cool in oven to crisp. These tasted much better and much cheesier when well cooled, by the way. Tasty, and not as mysterious as cheez-its.

The recipe is adopted from one here.

No more dizziness. And apple muffins.

People, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite.  No sooner do I promise you ample posts and recipes than I fall off the blogging world.  Last week-or, I should say, the week before that–I was hit with a nasty case of vertigo.  Vertigo is this sense that you are spinning–or, everything else is spinning–or that things are slanting and you can’t keep your balance.  It began when I tried to adjust a squeaky bed leg; I turned my head, and I was dizzy.  And it kept coming back.  I went to the doctor and have been doing exercises ever since to knock my ear crystal things back into my inner ear where they are supposed to be.  While the spinny-dizzies passed quickly, I have been since left with incredibly weird eyesight.  The doc said my eyes were tracking and out of synch with my sense of balance.  It has been getting better, and I’m hoping by Friday–which will make it two weeks since this started–it will be gone  Using my computer made everything worse, so I tried to just leave it alone.  Since things are better, I’m back, though I confess I”m looking out the window while I type (one of the perks of having taken typing lessons back in junior high).

So anyway, that’s my story.  But it is falla nd the days and nights are getting cooler, so I know you, like me, are probably drawn more towards apple dishes and spices as the sun sets earlier and earlier.  These apple muffins are just the thing–quick and easy to assemble, you’ll have a yummy dessert/breakfast/whatever in half an hour.  The recipe comes from my friend Cynthia.
You’ll need:
2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
I also added a little fresh nutmeg.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
1 egg beaten
1 c. milk
1/4 c. melted shortening (I used butter)
1 c. finely chopped apples sweetened w/ 1/4 c. sugar
Combine other ingredients…, add to dry ingredients, mixing only until flour is moistened.
Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full, bake at 425 for 20-25 min.

Pot Roast

I have no photo for you, as it wasn’t especially pretty to look at, but I highly recommend you make this roast. Soon. Because it’s delicious, and makes your house smell fabulous. I started ours in the crock pot this morning and came home to the most wonderful aroma. You’ll need:

1 roast. Ours was 2 pounds, but you could do up to 4.
1 big onion, sliced, or two small ones.
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c worcestershire.

Place roast in crock pot. Add onions and garlic. Pour sauces over. Add 3-4 cups of water, so that the roast is nearly covered (much more water and you’ll have to up your sauces). Turn on crock pot to low and let cook about 8 hours. Voila. Dinner. All I had to do was make some potatoes and get out the box o’ salad from the fridge.

Spiced Pancakes

I made these pancakes last week and planned on telling you about them right away, but this semester has really started off with a bang.  I have two sections of the introductory survey to teach, as I have every semester, plus an upper-level seminar, a first-year seminar, and an independent study.  Plus service activities, my own research, blah blah blah.  So I’m a week late.  But I swear, I’m going to really try and post at least twice a week, especially now that we’re in my favorite cool-temp, pie and cookie baking, coffee and tea drinking season.  I love fall.  I love how it flips an internal switch for me so that I no longer want to grill everything, or have corn on the cob at every meal.  My meal list for this week (I just got back from the grocery store) contains mostly comfort foods.  I might make some gingersnaps later.  Joy!

Spiced pancakes fit right into my ideal fall menu.  They’re lovely, not terribly heavy, and perfect with a drizzle of maple syrup.  Or, if you’re Mr. Pea, not-maple syrup.  He insists on staying on the dark side in terms of his pancake toppings.

You’ll need:

2 c flour (I used half whole-wheat pastry flour which I got out of the bulk bin)
3 T brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c milk
1 egg
2 T canola oil

I begin by beating my egg into my milk, which I measure in a big glass measuring cup. I hate dirtying extra dishes. I then beat in the oil. I add all the dry stuff to a bowl and whisk; I add the wet to the dry and stir just enough so that most everything is moistened. You don’t want to overbeat, or you’ll get tough pancakes. I heat my griddle pan over medium to medium-high heat, and pour out about 1/4 cup portions. I let them cook a few minutes per side and flip when they’re brown (this is going to vary depending on your heat and your pan). Serve with syrup, preferably one that at least pretends to be maple.