Chicken Quesadilla

Me and quesadillas, we go way back. I'm not sure when I started making them for after-school snacks, but it was pretty early on. Back then, I would slap salsa and cheese together in a tortilla and microwave it without further adornment. I was just interested in the melted cheese! Then I decided that I wanted the outside of the tortillas to be crispy, so I started browning them under the broiler. This led to many burned quesadillas, but I still loved them. It wasn't until I saw one of my roommates in DC making hers by letting them sit in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat until lightly browned on each side that I realized her method was the way to go. What can I say, I'm slow sometimes!

They are also my favorite thing to order in bars or other low-to-mid priced restaurants. The woman who worked the grill at the deli across the street from my last job did a damn tasty quesadilla; it was pretty much the only thing I would get when I had lunch out. The best quesadillas I have ever had were from an unlikely source: the student cafe at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. I worked on a campaign out there for a short time in 2002, and our office was about a mile away from SBC. I ate lunch at the Bistro as much as possible. Greatest 5 weeks of my life? Possibly. I wish I knew what their secret was.




I won't insult your intelligence with a recipe for quesadillas! These were pretty basic: just salsa, co-jack cheese, and shredded leftover roast chicken. Sometimes I'll saute some onion slices, pepper strips, and chopped garlic to include in the filling. Adding fresh cilantro is always a good idea.

Rating: This is awesome

Frugal Thoughts

Frugality is on everyone's minds these days. With our crazy economic situation and the government's current band-aid-on-a-gaping-wound response to it, it seems like we'll all be standing in the bread line sooner or later! Am I the only one who is totally ready for the new TV season and end-of-the-year glut of movie releases? I need some good escapism right about now.

I've been re-evaluating my lifestyle quite a bit over the past several months to try to cut corners. The most-repeated frugality tip out there is to cook your own food; eating out tends to be the biggest portion of the average person's discretionary spending. I consider myself pretty lucky that I know how to cook AND I enjoy doing it. Since I already know the basics, I've been thinking of ways to challenge myself to cut the grocery bill even further.

I set a goal for this week: make a Sunday Night Dinner and use up the leftovers in other dinners before next Sunday. I bought a 6 pound chicken to roast, since chickens were on sale, and made it with mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. I even made gravy from the pan drippings, which I hardly ever bother to do! After dinner I discarded the chicken skin (it does NOT reheat well) , pulled the uneaten chicken into strips for later use, and boxed up the rest of the stuff in separate containers.

My plan for tonight is to make chicken quesdillas. That will use up the chicken. If there's anything left after tonight, it should be easy enough to throw it into a stir-fry or curry or something later in the week. Tomorrow night I'm going to make salmon fishcakes with the mashed potatoes, using budget-friendly canned salmon. I'll probably serve the leftover broccoli as a side with this. So that just leaves the gravy. I have no clue what to do with it! Any ideas? I could always just freeze it and use it the next time I roast a chicken, but that seems like less fun than coming up with a way to recycle it now!

Since we're on the topic, here are a few of my favorite frugal links:

http://www.home-ec101.com/
http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/
http://getrichslowly.org/blog/
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

That last one scares me a bit, but it's nice to know that it can be done, right?

Nom Nom Nom

I spent the past week at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina with my extended family. We rented a beach house and packed in 18 people. Oldest age: 79. Youngest age: 3. It was good times!
I know this blog is supposed to be about dinners, but I really want to share this picture that Wei snapped of my lunch the day we ate at the Giggling Mackerel:


A succulent yet crispy, utterly delicious soft shell crab sandwich. Perfection on a bun. I removed the pickle and onion, but I ate pretty much everything else on the plate. Ahhhhh, vacation.

In other news, someone came to my blog today by googling: Mike wants to make meatloaf. His recipe uses a total of 5 pounds of meat. If he uses a 3 to 1 ratio of beef to pork, how much pork will he use? I was the first result; I have no idea why.

Leave the answer in the comments and I will send you a super special prize! Math isn't my strong suit, and my brain doesn't want to work out the answer right now. I am more interested in the finding out who this Mike guy is and discovering why he is making a FIVE POUND meatloaf. Also, does Mike accept dinner guests?

Stay in school, kids.

Stir-fried Pork with Green Onions and Noodles

Last weekend, Wei and I drove up to the Baltimore/DC area for his brother's wedding. We had an excellent time celebrating and hanging out with his family! While we were over at his parents' house one day, my mother-in-law gave me a copy of Chinese Cuisine by Huang Su-Huei.

If you're interested in learning authentic Chinese cooking from a beginner's standpoint, this book is a great resource. It has a lengthy "how-to" section with tons of pictures depicting different cooking techniques and ingredients. Most of the recipes don't seem terribly difficult, and each page has a large picture of the finished dish to point you in the right direction. The author also notes in which region the dish is found. I'm really looking forward to cooking my way through it!

Last night I chose to make this simple stir fry from Beijing. Since I didn't feel like making rice, I boiled up some spaghetti noodles and tossed them into the wok at the end. You could leave the noodles out and serve this over rice instead.

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of excess fat and silverskin
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 really fat green onions, or 6 normal sized green onions, cut into 2-inch lengths
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Soy sauce
Sugar
Rice wine or sherry
Corn or peanut oil
6 to 8 ounces spaghetti noodles, cooked
Ginger oil (or other flavored oil), optional
Sesame oil, optional
White pepper, optional

Cut the pork into 2/3-inch slices. Cover the meat slices with a piece of plastic wrap and bash them around a bit with a meat mallet to tenderize. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the garlic, cornstarch, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon each of rice wine or sherry, water, and sugar. Toss the pork slices in the soy sauce mixture and stir to coat the meat well.

Heat up a few tablespoons of oil in a wok over high heat. Add the pork and stir-fry until both sides are golden brown. Move the meat to one side of the wok and toss the green onions into the middle; stir fry until the onions are fragrant. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar to the contents of the wok. Stir in the noodles and keep stirring until everything is mixed together. Finish off with a couple of dashes each of ginger oil, sesame oil, and white pepper. Remove and serve.


Rating: This is awesome

Though very simple, this dish was a satisfying dinner. I loved how it came together so quickly, and having all of my different bottles on the counter next to the wok made me feel like a witch concocting a potion!

Turkey-Zucchini Burgers

These burgers are based on this recipe that I found on RealSimple.Com. I was pretty skeptical about using grated zucchini in burgers; how could that be good? I was afraid they would turn out like Eddie Murphy's momma's welfare green pepper burgers. However, I decided to go for it, since the recipe had good reviews and I had a zucchini that needed to be eaten. Also, I was strangely attracted to the idea of having all of my meal elements--meat, vegetable, and carb--in one hand-held package.

The burgers turned out to be very tasty--juicy, light, and earthy. Definitely better than the McDonnnnalds!

1 pound ground turkey (I used an 85/15 mix)
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 green onions, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 and 1/2 teaspoons grill seasoning
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Wrap the grated zucchini in the middle of a clean dish towel, and wring out the excess water over the sink.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix lightly but thoroughly with clean hands. Form the mixture into 4 equal patties. You can cook these in a large skillet, grill pan, or over an outdoor grill; being an apartment dweller, I chose the grill pan. I spritzed it with a little nonstick cooking spray and let it warm up for a couple of minutes over high heat. When the pan was sizzling hot, I placed the burgers on the pan's ridges and cooked them for about 6 minutes per side. If you're crazy like me, you can cut one open to make sure they are no longer pink and fully cooked through before eating.

Toast a bun (whole wheat is my preference) and serve the burger clamped inside with whatever burger toppings you choose. I have condiment phobia, so I ate mine plain ; it was very good regardless!

Rating: This is awesome

I found that Pringles Select Honey Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips were the perfect accompaniment to this simple summertime dinner.

Slow Cooker Pork Spare Ribs

Or, another in a series of cooking cheap meat that was on sale at Publix!

Having never made spare ribs at home before, I needed some guidance. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.Com. I was a little wary of using canned soup in the slow cooker; it reminded me of something a certain semi-ho would do. However, I decided to go for it because (a) it wasn't cream of crap soup, (b) the recipe had a lot of good reviews., and (c) I had everything else I needed in my pantry. I tweaked it a little bit, but not much.

I was worried that the sauce would be too greasy. To remedy this, I decided to cook the ribs overnight and chill them in the fridge during the day. I scooped off all of the day-glo orange hardened grease that was floating on top of the sauce when I got home from work tonight and re-heated everything in the slow-cooker for an hour while I went for a run. It worked very well! The sauce was savory and sweet, not fatty.

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Tabasco sauce (as much or as little as you want, or none at all)
1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds pork spare ribs

Bring copious amounts of water to boil in a pot large enough to hold the ribs. Drop the ribs in and let them cook for 15 minutes. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and remove the ribs from the water. Lay the ribs in the slow cooker and pour the sauce over top. Flip the ribs over a couple of times to coat them with the sauce. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or overnight.

Take the ceramic insert out of the slow cooker and place it in the refrigerator for several hours. When it's totally chilled, use a spoon to scoop off the hardened grease puddles floating on top of the sauce. Place the ceramic insert back in the slow cooker and heat on low for an hour. Shred the meat off the bones and serve with rice, plenty of sauce and, if you feel like it, a little chopped cilantro on top.



Rating: This is awesome

It took some planning and time but hardly any effort. Just the kind of trade-off I like :-)

Aussie Meat Pies, Made Quick

This afternoon found me scanning the Publix weekly ads online, trying to think of stuff to make for the week. Ground chuck was on sale, so I decided to pick some up, even though I usually shy away from fatty ground beef. I found this recipe for faux Aussie Meat Pies after a quick flip through Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats and decided it was worth a try for two reasons: (a) I could cook the beef and drain off the fat before commencing with the rest of the recipe, and (b) it uses luscious, delicious puff pastry for the pie component.

Since I've never been to Australia, I have no idea if this bears much similarity to a real Australian meat pie; considering that it is courtesy of Rachael Ray, probably not :-) There actually is a place called Australian Bakery Cafe in East Atlanta that specializes in meat pies. I need to check it out sometime!

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 and 1/3 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, or whatever your package of puff pastry calls for.

Lay out the sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured cutting board. Cut it into 6 roughly equal sized rectangles and arrange on a cookie sheet. Season the pastry pieces with a little salt and pepper, and bake according to package directions or until golden brown all over, about 12 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack for 5 minutes.

Warm up a deep-sided pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add the beef and break it up well as it browns. When the beef is no longer pink, drain it in a colander suspended over a bowl to catch the grease. You can dispose of the grease in your trash can when it has cooled down a little. Place the drained beef back in the pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute over medium-high heat until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and let cook for a couple of minutes. In a small bowl, combine the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and brown sugar, then whisk in the beef broth. Pour the broth mixture into the pan and stir to incorporate. Sprinkle the grill seasoning over the beef and turn down the heat to low. Let the contents of the pan simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, gently pull apart one of the puff pastry pieces in half, like a hamburger bun. Place the bottom piece of the pastry in a shallow bowl. Spoon over roughly 1/6th of the meat mixture and crown with the bronzed, puffy peaked top piece of the pastry. Dig in!



Rating: This is awesome

This was a true 30 Minute Meal (I usually find that RR's concoctions may take 30 minutes in theory, but not practice), and it was very satisfying. She wrote that it tastes like "a ritzy version of a sloppy joe." I can't put it any better than that!