4-Cheese Rotini

It has been such a beautiful week. It has been really busy but I will not complain. My husband got the chance to go to New York with Beta Alpha Psi and his accounting professors from CMU. They went to the New York Stock Exchange today. Tomorrow they are going to tour the Empire State Building and go to ground zero. I wish I had had the opportunity to go with him just to experience New York.

I have spent the last few days thinking of what meal I wanted to be my last blog. Since it is becoming that time of the year of reunions and potlucks I decided on my baked 4-cheese rotini. The items you will need is a 16 oz. box of rotini, pound Velveeta cheese, milk, ½ cup butter,  8 oz. cottage cheese, parmesan cheese,  1 c. shredded cheddar cheese, and pepper.

Start by cooking the noodles just shy of being done. Drain the noodles and return noodles to the pan. Cube the Velveeta and mix with the noodles, add milk (about ½ cup to start), and butter. Turn on low heat and stir until cheese is melted. If it seems too thick add more milk, the mixture should not be thick at all. Add in cottage cheese, ½ cup shredded cheese, a ½-cup parmesan cheese, and tsp. course ground pepper. Mix well and put in an oven safe bowl. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese and some parmesan cheese on top and cook in the oven (350*) for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Deep Fried Tacos

One of my husband’s favorite meals is tacos. Even more than that, he loves it when I make deep-fried tacos from the previous night’s leftovers. I, as well, love them. They offer a diverse way of eating leftovers that I feel has a rich flavor and texture. Tacos in general here do not have leftovers; however, J prefers I make extra so there is some for the next day. Because in order for me to make them I will only use what is left of the previous night’s meal. Some foods just have better gustoes the next day.

What is needed to make these are leftover taco-seasoned hamburger, chicken fajita meat (Sam’s Club has the best), refried beans. Other needed items are toothpicks, oil, cheese, tortillas (medium 8”), diced onions, diced jalapenos, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream.

I start by dicing/mincing up the leftover meats and mixing some of the refried beans with the hamburger. Warming the tortillas will help with being able to fold and roll the tacos. Heat about 1 ½ - 2 inches of oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. On a tortilla just below the center, do not overstuff, add meat of choice and items such as refried beans, cheese, onions, jalapenos, or tomatoes. Fold up the sides and then fold the bottom up and roll into a log (looks similar to an egg roll). Place toothpicks in to rolls waiting to be submersed into the oil, remove just before the taco is to be turned over in oil. Place the taco in the oil once it turns a nice brown it is ready to be turned over. When both sides of the taco are browned, remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain the excess oil. Sprinkle with cheese if desired. Top with items of your choice and you have a delightfully delectable dinner awaiting you. Enjoy!

Meatloaf

One of my favorite meals to make at home for my family is meatloaf. Meatloaf is a well-rounded meal that makes wonderful leftover sandwiches. I make it different each time I cook it for diversity as well as to please everyone’s tastes. I feel there is a myriad of ways to make meatloaf. You can add or take from the recipe such as onions. Things can be substituted for a sundry of flavors, for example, using Cheez-It crackers instead of saltines. I will list the recipe that is my personal favorite.

The ingredients used are a pound ground chuck, a medium onion diced, a can diced tomatoes (drained), approximately a sleeve of saltine crackers (crushed), 2 large eggs,  ½ cup ketchup, ¼ cup milk, seasonings (seasoning salt, garlic powder, chili powder) or I use an envelope of Lipton’s French onion soup. In a large bowl mix burger, eggs, milk, ketchup, and seasonings mix well (make sure seasoning is evenly distributed). Mix in onions, tomatoes, and crushed crackers (half at a time). The consistency should make a loaf easily without a dense feeling to it. If the loaf feels too dry, add a little more milk, if it is not forming a loaf, add a few more crackers.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 60 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the loaf. I have used bread pans and they work wonderful. I, however, prefer to use a cookie sheet with a rack (cookie cooling rack). I put tinfoil over the rack and poke holes about 2 inches away from the corners of the loaf. I put foil over it as well and let it cook for about 45 minutes. Take the foil off from the top, spread some ketchup over the loaf, and return to the oven to brown for about another 15 minutes.

The reason I choose to cook with this method over a bread pan is that you can still have moist meatloaf without all the grease. I hope you enjoy!!

Birthday follow-up

The birthday party turned out to be amazing. The weather was beautiful, so the kids were all able to play outdoors. The adults all congregated on the deck to converse and enjoy such a beautiful day. I like it when all the family can get together like that. I made homemade ice cream because it is a very nostalgic thing for me. I remember it starting with my great-grandmother, then grandma, and now my father carried it on. They all of course passed the tradition on to me and I am sharing it with my children. I chose to make pistachio ice cream, cake cones with white chocolate raspberry and cherry vanilla frosting, and a roast for dinner.

The ice cream consists of an ice cream maker, ice-cubes, rock salt, a gallon whole milk, one can evaporated milk, 1 ½ cups sugar, and one large or two small boxes of your choice instant pudding. Mix sugar, milks, and pudding in the canister. Once everything is mixed well and the lid is on it is put into the bucket. Ice is then filled all around the canister and rock salt sprinkled over the ice. The machine runs for about 45 minutes and once it stops churning, the ice cream is ready.

The roast consists of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, medium sized onion, and one or two good size roasts. At about 11:30 a.m. I put the roasts in a roast pan filled about two-thirds of the way up with water. I put in a good amount of seasonings especially when there are two roasts in the pan. That will cook in the oven at 350* until 4 p.m. with the lid on. At that time put in either a bag of baby carrots (take longer to cook) or peeled and cut fresh pieces and a ½ of a cabbage cut in half. Let that cook for about 20-25 minutes and then put in an onion (quartered) and potatoes. Potatoes usually take about 30 minutes to cook. The roast is generally so tender that it melts in your mouth.

Here is a picture of the cake cones......

Oops I forgot to blog!

Getting online to look into next week’s assignments made me realize I did not do my second blog last week. Being spring break we ate out quite a bit. Therefore, I am looking forward to a home cooked meal. I will be able to have one come this Sunday at my dad’s house. I am going out there to cook dinner for everyone along with having cake and homemade ice cream. We will be celebrating my daughter Taylor’s 4^th birthday (Monday, March 12). I have not decided what I am making yet. It will be either roast or spaghetti.

For Taylor’s cake, I am making cake cones. By putting ice cream cones on top of the cupcakes before baking them, they cook as one with a decorative top. I am trying a new frosting by Dunkin Hines. It has a base frosting and packets of flavoring to mix in. I wanted to decorate her cones with purple and pink colors so I chose the flavors cherry vanilla and white chocolate raspberry. I am thinking of making pistachio ice cream. Next week I will write more on how everything turned out.

Swedish Meatballs

This has been another eventful week with the family’s ailments. I know that it is the season for this and everyone is going through one form or another of the crud. My son has had a temperature of 104 for the last two days with no other symptoms. I have been keeping it under control with Motrin and Tylenol and semi-warm bathing. I just do not like not knowing what is causing him to have the fever. One thing is he has not lost his appetite. He is even making requests for what mommy should make for dinner. Tonight he asked me to bring him home some Chinese, being a sucker for sick little boys I did. I also made him one of his favorite dishes, Swedish meatballs. Here is what you will need.

4lb Bag of Meatballs

Family size can of soup (cream of mushroom, cream of celery, or cream of chicken)

8oz. sour cream

Milk

Noodles

Side Vegetable

I particularly love making Swedish meatballs on days that I am going to be gone all day. I like coming home to a dinner that all I have to do is boil some water for the noodles. The meatballs are cooked in a crockpot on low for however long you are gone. However, they can be ready in a couple hours if I wanted. There are a few different ways that I have made this recipe. It really depends on a person’s palette in deciding what to use. I preferably like the Armour brand meatballs, they are of the few that I have found that are pork and not beef. I love the piquant flavor they have. Of the soups, I like using the cream of chicken best; it allows the meatball essence to stand out the most. I like the cream of mushroom and celery, but many family members do not because of the pieces of vegetables in them. I also find them to have a saltier taste. Each of them deliver a variety of flavor to the dish, if anything way to change up a simple meal occasionally.

In order to make these I put the entire bag of frozen meatballs and soup mixed with about ½-cup milk in the crockpot. I leave it on low for the duration of the time I am gone. When I return or in about two hours, I will add the sour cream and sometimes more milk if the gravy seems too thick. I also make a side vegetable and noodles to serve as well.

New Pasta Attachment

Early last week, I received in the mail, my order of semolina flour. I had searched many of the stores in my area and could not find it. I was not able to remember where I was able to obtain it last time. I found it on Amazon.com for a good price. This week I received the pasta extruder I purchased brand new on E-bay. The price on the KitchenAid Website was more than I wanted to pay. I really like being able to find good deals. I purchased the pasta extruder because it has a spaghetti attachment that will be more to my liking in the thickness of the noodle.

A pasta extruder has a few different added benefits from the other pasta making attachments. It makes six different shaped noodles, such as homemade large or small macaroni, fusilli, rigatoni, bucatini, or spaghetti. I will only have to place balls of dough through the hopper. Instead of having to flatten the dough first then insert it into the cutter. This attachment has a wire cutter that enables me to cut the noodles to the length I prefer as well. I am not at a loss with the other attachments, as they will continue to make the egg noodles that we loved so much. I look forward to classes slowing down so I can have more of an opportunity to play with my new food investment.