Pots & Plots

This is another one of those dishes that’s great to make ahead and freeze. I’m doing a bunch of cooking this weekend to try to make next week easier on me (as work is going to be insane).
Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, grated or diced
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and diced (or 1/2 to 3/4 cup of frozen crinkle cut carrots)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
• 3 wedges of Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese
• 1/2 cup petite English peas
• 1 cup chopped portobello mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• ground pepper and salt to taste
• the kitchen sink (not really but any other veggies you like really)

Directions:

1. Brown and drain ground beef.
2. Using either the leftover drippings from the beef or olive oil, sautee the vegetables (except the peas and mushrooms) along with all spices until onion is slightly translucent.
3. In a large bowl, add mushroom soup, mushrooms, peas, and 3 wedges of Laughing Cow or other garlic and herb cheese spread. Mix well.
4. Add ground beef and sauteed veggies. Mix well.
5. Pour into large casserole dish.
6. Add mashed potato topping (see below).
7. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cook’s note: If freezing, allow to thaw before baking (pull it out of the freezer and throw it in the fridge over night). You can freeze it with the mashed potato topping, but I find it works better to make the potatoes fresh and add them when you get ready to cook.

Mashed Potato Topping:*

• 4-5 small russet or other potatoes
• 2 wedges laughing cow garlic and herb cheese
• half and half (Fat Free by Land O’Lakes is what I prefer)
• 1 Tbsp margarine
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Scrub potatoes clean and add to pot. DO NOT DICE! I know, it takes a lot longer (like an hour), but it’s part of my secret to making creamy potatoes.
2. Boil for an hour.
3. Drain. Peel if you wish, but I prefer to eat the peels.
4. Add salt, pepper, garlic and herb cheese, and margarine, and mash well.
5. Add half an half in small splashes, mixing well until you reach the desired consistency.

* Can also be used as a recipe for plain old mashed potatoes.

I know, I know…it’s been ages since I updated. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking–I just haven’t made anything new or interesting enough that I felt it merited posting about it!

But I made a happy discovery recently. Sometime last year, I got into the notion of buying corn tortillas (one of those packs of 100 for like $4) and making my own chips–because I could both control the level of fat and it’s a WHOLE LOT cheaper! I tried several methods and recipes with varying levels of success and then just stopped trying. I kept having chips come out either too hard, or a little chewy, or overdone. And I really just got annoyed at having to flip them halfway through so that they cooked evenly.

Then it occurred to me that if I applied the same method I use for my oven fries (and I should post those here too, as they are a family favorite), I probably wouldn’t have to turn them. So I took out my big baking sheet and layered the whole thing with my wire cooling racks, baking the chips so they were suspended. And voila! Perfect chips! They come out crispy and firm (think Tostitos Gold) and GREAT for dips.

Ingredients:

• 8″ corn tortillas
• cooking spray
• kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray one side of each tortilla and stack up (I usually do 5 at a time, as that’s all that will fit on my baking sheet).
3. Take a knife or pizza cutter and slice the stack into quarters or sixths.
4. Lay out the chips, sprayed side down on the cooling racks on your baking sheet.
5. Spray the top with cooking spray.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes (will vary from oven to oven, but they should come out golden brown around the edges).
7. Layout on a kitchen towel or paper towels to cool and sprinkle with salt or other spices as preferred.

This recipe is courtesy of Rachael Ray. I saw it on her daytime TV show recently and had to try it. My husband and I liked them so much that we’ve had them twice this week! They’re a quick and easy and very tasty meal. There’s a salad she devised to go along with it that you can find here.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 pound extra-lean ground sirloin or ground all-white-meat chicken
• 1 softball-size onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• 1 cup beef stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 whole grain dinner rolls
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup provolone cheese, shredded

Preparation

Pre-heat the broiler.

In large skillet over medium-high heat with one turn of the pan of EVOO, brown the ground meat, about 5-6 minutes. Add the onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the onion starts to get tender. Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook for about 2 minutes.

Split open the rolls and toast them under the broiler, keeping an eye on them so that they don’t burn!

While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a medium size skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, then bring up to a bubble and let thicken, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion until it is all incorporated.

To serve, place a scoopful of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the rolls, then top with the cheese sauce and add the top of the roll.

Go ahead! Try to eat just one!