Perfect for Parties

This weekend I opened up some shower gifts to put away. Little did I know that I would be using several throughout the day to make an appetizer for our friend's 40th birthday!!

I opened the food processor! (!!!) And knew the salami rolls I make would turn out even better because it would save me from messily chopping up garlic and onions and randomly stirring in-  instead making it a cinch to blend everything together.

I used random - and I mean RANDOM - amounts of the following ingredients until it the filling tasted good.

Cream Cheese (ended up using 2 double tubs)
s&p
dill (about a tablespoon if I had to guess)
2 cloves garlic
rosemary

Now I put in too much garlic I think at first, but I LOVE garlic so I didn't think it would matter. They still turned out delish!

Ahhh. So pretty.  The orange spatula looks "adult sized" in the photo, but it was actually very tiny. Perfect for spreading the mixture onto hard salami and rolling up!

This was only the beginning. I made 90.

I'm Hungry.

Enchiladas

I love any type of "kit" that makes my life easier:

Exhibit A:

These babies keep Joey and me well fed and leave enough for lunch the next day.

The recipe on the box doesn't actually call for onions - but we can never resist a little tweaking of our own on these simple 3 step kits.

Once you brown your beef, drain, and add back in your onions...you just add the seasoning packet and a little water. Your house should be smelling amazing by now.

These kits come with tortillas, enchilada sauce and seasoning packet. I used 1 lb. of ground beef and it is perfect for six enchiladas. To scoop, just use 1/3 c measuring cup. Spread thin, and roll up. Once finished rolling all up, they will look like this:

Yum. Sometimes I just want to top with lettuce, cheese and sour cream and be done - but the real magic is in the enchilada sauce.

To all you foodies - (well no one reads this, but if you did) - I don't care that the sauce is not "homemade" enchilada sauce. This was a hell of a lot easier than messing up my kitchen for 2 cups of sauce. ;)

Top with cheese, cover with foil, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. End Result?

This only costs $5 to make, including beef, cheese, and kit.

ENJOY!

iPhones are fun!

Will be able to update much more with the new iPhone blogger app! Cheers!

Showered

Although they bring on extreme anxiety ("Oh, thanks lady I don't know for this expensive gift!", and the staring), wedding showers have a very nice end result. The one bad thing is the boxes and disaster in your living area, but the BEST is the actual gifts you receive! Everyone that came to my showers were so sweet and really gave the most thoughtful gifts!  I can't wait to use everything. 

There is one main attraction to start with:  I have received something that has been discussed with my friend Cameron for what seems like months:

The Pressure Cooker!! This baby will cook 4xs as fast as slow roasting and lock in all the wonderful vegetable and meat/poultry/soup/(thepossibilitiesareendless) flavors. I cannot wait to use it!
Cameron has a great pot roast recipe that I definitely am going to try.

Until then...

What Do You Cook With?

As you can see from some of my previous posts and in photos, I use a certain type of cookware.

This is Belgique!! You can find it here. My mom gifted it to Joey and I for Hanukah in 2009.

It is SUPER!

It is always great to invest in some great, durable cookware.

                                             
Next on my wish list - cast iron set. I am looking at the Lodge cast iron sets. Pre-seasoned (I want to learn how to season one someday), and these last a lifetime!  The Lodge brand has gotten rave reviews and I am looking forward to getting some of these soon! The food tastes better, you get them SUPER hot and they make a great sear on a steak, and veggies can stay crispy but smoky at the same time! The possibilities are endless!

Homemade (Semi) Spaghetti

Can you boil water? Can you brown beef?

Perfect. You can make this spaghetti.

Growing up, I was always requesting my dad's and my grandmother's "homemade" spaghetti. I thought it was so delicious, with all the seasoning and right flavors and the great taste of the beef.

Well, they definitely had me fooled. This dish takes 5 ingredients. And technically, does a packet of spaghetti seasoning count?

No? Well, here it is. The "famous homemade" spaghetti.

Tastes like it has been simmering all day, in only 15 minutes.

1 packet "Thick & Zesty" Spaghetti seasoning (you don't even have to go name brand here, Kroger works great)
1 pound ground beef (you can substitute any thing - ground pork, turkey, chuck, etc)
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 1/2 cups water

Brown beef. Drain. Stir in water, seasoning, and tomato paste. Cover, simmer for 15 minutes.
While it is simmering, cook your pasta of choice. For this particular evening, I used thin spaghetti.

Drain pasta.

Pile pasta on plate, top with sauce.

Throw on some grated parm if you please.

The end. You will love it.