Ground Beef Tacos

Another one from Joy of Cooking. Tacos seem so simple, but I get tired of the taco seasoning packet. This is really delicious. I think the tomato sauce adds something great here, but not too tomato-y. I didn't add the jalapenos at the end, because of my 2 year old son, so it's pretty mild as-written, but I found adding a couple dashes of hot sauce to my taco made it just right. Top with a little cheese, sour cream, lettuce, or whatever toppings you like, and it's a great basic beef taco!

Heat in a medium skillet over medium heat:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Add:

3/4 C chopped onion

Cook, stirring often, until softened, 4-5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add:

1 pound ground beef

Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer pink, about 3 minutes (?). Stir in:

1-3 garlic cloves, minced (I grate mine with a fine grater)

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

(or 2 tsp ground coriander)

Salt to taste

Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add:

1 C tomato sauce

Minced fresh jalapenos, chopped drained canned jalapenos, or chile or hot pepper sauce to taste

Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 10 minutes.

Cheese Manicotti

The first thing I cooked for my husband was manicotti, and that was Valentines Day 2004. I made it again this year and shared it with the guys that game at our house on Mondays. They loved it, and so did I. I used the recipes for Cheese Filling, Tomato Meat Sauce and Baked Manicotti from the 75th Anniversary Joy Of Cooking cookbook. The recipes in the book are written out differently than traditional cookbooks, and I like it. So I'm going to do it the way the book does on this one.I actually came across the book at the library so I grabbed it. I think I have it in my collection, but I haven't gone downstairs to look yet! It seems like a big recipe, but if you do the filling and sauce (or one of them) the night before, it's not nearly as daunting as it looks!

Cheese Filling

Beat in a bowl until fluffy:
15 ounces ricotta

Beat in one at a time:

2 large eggs

Add:

1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1/2 C grated Parmesan (2 ounces)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Tomato Meat Sauce

Heat in a large heavy casserole or skillet over medium heat.

Add:

1/4 C olive oil

(or 2 ounces pancetta or bacon, diced)

If using pancetta or bacon, cook, stirring, until it renders its fat, about 3 minutes.

Add:

1 pound ground beef or sweet Italian sausages, casings removed and crumbled

Cook, stirring, until the meat loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan. Add and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes:

1 medium onion, chopped

Add and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds:

2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

Stir in and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes:

1 Tbsp tomato paste

Add:

Two 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, with their juice

(1 tsp fresh thyme or oregano leaves or 1/2 tsp dried)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp sugar

Cook, uncovered, crushing the tomatoes with the side of a spoon to break them up, until they have cooked down and smell very fragrant, about 15 minutes. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened. Stir in:

2 to 3 tablespoons slivered basil or chopped parsley

Salt and black pepper to taste

For manicotti

Have ready:

3 cups Tomato Sauce

2 1/4 cups Cheese Filling

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a shallow 3-quart baking dish. Cook in a large pot of boiling salted water until barely tender:

8 ounces manicotti or jumbo shells

Drain. Using a small spoon, fill the pasta with the filling. Arrange the pieces side by side in the baking dish. At this point, the dish can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Spoon the tomato sauce over the pasta and sprinkle with:

1 C shredded mozzarella (4 ounces)

6 Tbsp grated Parmesan or Romano

Cover with aluminum foil and bake until heated through, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Stuffed Zucchini

This one was on 30 Minute Meals, and it looked really easy and delicious. I thought I'd try it on my parents, since they like vegetables and my husband does not. It is really good...and very satisfying. I'm thinking next time I will mix all the parmesan in and top it with some monterey jack at the end. Make sure your zucchini are thick enough around to halve and scoop out the insides. The first store I was at had about pencil-thick zucchini. That would have been tough to stuff!
We had apple pie and vanilla ice cream afterwards, but you certainly don't have to do that. You should though, because apple pie and ice cream are wonderful!

4 small zucchini, 5 to 6-inches long, 1 1/2-inches thick
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 vine ripe tomatoes or Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 slices white toasting bread
Softened butter
A small handful flat-leaf parsley
A few sprigs fresh tarragon or a small handful basil leaves
3/4 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Halve 4 of the small zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and soft center flesh with a spoon to produce a set of shallow shells to hold the stuffing. Reserve the center flesh. Arrange the small hulls in a baking dish. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chop the reserved zucchini flesh and set aside.
Heat the remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add in the reserved zucchini and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, to taste and heat through for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
While the veggies cook, toast the bread in a toaster, then spread liberally with butter and tear into pieces. Add the bread to a food processor along with the parsley and tarragon or basil, and pulse into herb crumbs.
Fold the herb crumbs into the veggies along with 1/2 cup Parmesan and the egg. Mound the zucchini stuffing in to the shells and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the tops with remaining cheese and broil for 2 to 3 minutes to brown.

Yakitori Noodle Bowls

This one comes from Rachael Ray (big surprise!). It calls for soba noodles, which can be found in the Asian foods aisle, but I bet you anything it would taste really good on linguine or thin spaghetti too. I liked the soba noodles, and I have a TON left over (as well as the tamari, sesame seed oil and sherry) , so I'll make it again. I will cook the noodles less this time though than I did before. They got a bit mushy for me. I also think I might make this up ahead of time and cook the noodles as-needed. Otherwise, this was really tasty and I liked it a lot!

Salt
1 pound soba noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders, cut into bite-size pieces
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 bunches scallions, trimmed of roots and cut into
2-inch pieces on an angle
1/3 cup dry sherry (eyeball it)
1/3 cup tamari (eyeball it)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Place a large pot of water over high heat for the noodles. Once boiling, add some salt and the noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain thoroughly.While the water is coming up to a boil, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of vegetable oil, about 2 tablespoons. Toss the chicken with the grated ginger and season with some pepper. Add the chicken to the hot skillet, spread it out in an even layer and let it brown up a couple of minutes.Shake and stir the skillet to turn the chicken pieces then add the scallions, sherry, tamari, sugar and sesame oil, bring up to a bubble and simmer one minute.Add the drained noodles to the skillet and toss to combine. To serve, transfer to serving bowls and sprinkle with some of the toasted sesame seeds.

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

A while back I heard about this woman who decided to make something in her crockpot every single day for a year. That year has passed, she accomplished it, and she's still cooking in her crockpot. I think I first saw her on Rachael Ray actually, and have had her blog on my update list since then! I haven't made a lot of her recipes, but this one is a keeper for sure. She even has a cookbook, you can find that on her site. The only thing I did was leave out the green pepper and add salt & pepper at the end. Oh, and I was going to freeze some of this (but it's so good, I keep eating the leftovers) that I scooped out what I was going to freeze before adding the noodles. That way your noodles don't go all weird and soggy when you freeze and reheat. If you do freeze and reheat, just add some cooked noodles to the soup. It's delicious...with or without noodles!

1 jar (14 oz) of pizza sauce
3 empty jars full of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
2 already-cooked Italian sausage
1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 T dried)
1 T dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (if your pasta is tiny, use 1/3 cup. if it's big, do 1/2.)
shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4 hungry adults, or 2 hungry adults and 2 kids with enough leftovers to feed them all again.Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces--I sliced, then cut the pieces in fourths. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. My pasta only took 20 minutes to soften quite nicely.Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

HERE is her website. Definitely one to bookmark!

"Real" Texas Chili

Searching for a chili without beans, I came across this one on allrecipes. I decided I'd try it, and also looked for a video telling me how to cube a chuck roast. I found a video that really showed me how to break it down, so I did. Got rid of all the connective tissue and cut it into cubes. Man, I wish I had a butcher. But, this is DELICIOUS. I made it as-is, except I used 1 can of chicken broth because I only had 1 can of beef. After it did all it's cooking, I mashed it a little with a potato masher to get more of a chili consistency and to break up the meat. I also added cooked macaroni noodles to it later, because 3 pounds of roast is not enough to serve 4 hungry men. They loved it. Scraped the pan clean. I will certainly make this again. Maybe with hamburger next time...it's a little cheaper!

3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast - cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the beef cubes in the oil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the garlic.
In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cumin and flour. Sprinkle over the meat and stir until evenly coated. Crumble the oregano over the meat and pour in 1 1/2 cans of the broth.
Add the salt and ground black pepper, stir together well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer, partially covered for about 90 minutes. Pour in remaining broth and simmer 30 minutes more, until meat begins to fall apart. Cool, cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend.