Recipes

So a few weeks ago I was really in the mood for Mexican. Not sure if you can tell from this snapshot of my actual shopping list, but apparently my mood was left unsatisfied as I was out of tortillas, enchilada sauce, sour mix, tequila and lime juice.

It’s mainly the three last ingredients that left me a little let down. There’s really no replacement for a good margarita, is there? Especially without tequila?

Actually, I found one! One of my favorite Food Network stars is Sandra Lee, of Semi-Homemade Cooking. I have three of her cookbooks and have cooked several of her recipes on FoodNetwork.com.

Recently I hosted a supper club with a few friends, in which the host chooses the menu, provides the entree & drinks and sends recipes to the guests to make sides and dessert. The nice part about that setup is that by having someone else pick your recipe, everyone agrees it’s ok to not like something, and no one gets their feelings hurt by their own favorite recipe getting the thumbs down.

So I chose Semi-Homemade Cooking recipes for supper club, and I made the entree and drinks.

Back to getting my margarita fix.

Sandra Lee offers a deliciously sweet-tart concoction called a Lime Beer Cocktail, which only has two ingredients. Can you guess them?

• 6 bottles light beer
• 1 can frozen limeade concentrate

While the limeade is still frozen, place into your favorite beverage pitcher and mix slowly with a metal spoon into light beer. The metal spoon lessons the fizz made from the beer (who knew?).  Garnish with lime if desired.

Without a doubt, this drinkie drink not only got thumbs-up all around the room, but one of the ladies has made it twice since!  So while it doesn’t come real close to a real ‘rita, it is citrusy and refreshing and deserves a spot in any Mexican meal. Try it!

If you like home cooking, take a peek at a few of my favorite recipes. I’ll be adding more soon!

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This week I’d love to share with you a favorite family recipe of mine, for Manicotti. This version however may not be preferred by true Italians, because instead of a traditional cheese filling with Ricotta, and maybe an egg to hold it together, my family’s version has a meat filling with ground beef, cottage cheese, and the “zip” of Miracle Whip.

This version would make for a full package of Manicotti noodles, enough to feed 8 people. You could freeze half for a tasty meal without the work.

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Manicotti noodles
• 1 ½ # ground beef
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
• 1 ½ cups shredded mozzerella
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (my favorite is tomato & basil)

Easy peazy directions:

Brown ground beef with garlic powder. While that’s going on, boil noodles on med-high for 7 minutes to al dente, then drain. Drain ground beef. Mix ground beef with cottage cheese, Miracle Whip and mozzerella. Using teaspoon, stuff mixture into noodles until full, place in greased 9″x13″ baking dish. Top with spaghetti sauce. Cook at 350° for 20 minutes.

Step 1: Brown ground beef with garlic powder.

Step 2: Boil noodles on med-high for 7 minutes to al dente. Loosely translated, this means “not-so-squishy”.

Step 3: After draining ground beef, mix with cottage cheese, Miracle Whip and mozzerella. May not look so pretty, but boy will it be delish!

Step 4: After draining noodles, stuff mixture into noodles with teaspoon until full.

Step 5: Place in greased 9″x13″ baking dish. Top with spaghetti sauce (and oregano if you like). Cook at 350° for 20 minutes.

Be sure to check out more of my kid-friendly and family favorite recipes!

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You may know that I contribute a weekly “Saturdays at Home” article for my friend Beth’s blog, In Good Cents. This was last week’s post, and I fully intended to publish it on Chaos Is Bliss as well, but completely forgot!  Oh well, I still wish you a Happy Easter even though I’m a week late.

As a side note … I did prepare this recipe, however I made a COMPLETE error and only put in ½ a can of the evaporated milk. It ended up cooking almost twice as fast. We got home from church and it had cooked about 2½ hrs, and should have cooked 4. I smelled something burning, and sure enough there was an outer rim of the mac & cheese that was starting to burn. I had extra time so I scooped out the good stuff, made a ½ batch more using cooked pasta, mixed it all together and warmed it in the oven. It turned out perfect, and it was sooo tasty. The red pepper gave it a nice kick, though it could be taken down to maybe 1/8 tsp. But definitely try it out for yourself … and remember to use a full can of evap unlike me!!

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Happy Easter! Our family will celebrate by attending the early service at church, followed by the annual Easter Egg Hunt, then head home where we’ll welcome my family over for a feast!  I’m bringing out the china, cloth napkins, the works!  I hope you all enjoy this day and are able to relax with loved ones.

Since we’ll be up early at church, I needed to make a few side dishes that would either cook quickly when we get home, or slowly while we’re away. One I chose is a crock pot Macaroni & Cheese, from Southern Living: Slow-Cooker Cookbook. I’ve never tried cooking pasta in a slow cooker, I’m a little worried about the shells being overcooked or pasty, but we’ll see. I like that this recipe uses uncooked pasta, so you really can get everything together in the crock pot, and let it be for a few hours.

I’ll share the recipe in case you might like to try it Easter Sunday as well, and next week I’ll post over at Chaos Is Bliss my results with photos! Wish me luck!

Extra-Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 (8-oz) package shredded Italian three-cheese blend
• 1 (8-oz) package shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 (12-oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ tsp dry mustard
• ¼ tsp ground red pepper
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 8 oz small shell pasta (about 2¼ cups), uncooked

Combine the cheeses in a bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk eggs, then add next 6 ingredients and whisk until combined.  Stir in pasta and 3 cups of the cheese mixture.  Lightly grease your slow cooker.  Pour in mixture and stop with 3/4 cup cheese mixture.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  Serve sprinked with remaining cheese.  Makes 6-8 servings.

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We may be having a spell of Spring in Indiana right now, but before we put our snow boots away there’s bound to be another blast of winter before the tulips sprout. One of my all-time favorite comfort foods, especially in winter, is Split Pea Soup. Can’t explain exactly why I like it, because ironically enough, I’m not a big fan of peas. But flavored with ham and cooked so tender, it’s a hearty soup that my entire family (yes, that includes each of my 3 kids) eats up.

This is a great use for leftover ham, or you can buy the pre-packaged cubed (not diced) ham at your local grocer. Also please note, this is not a quick process. Allow 3 hrs for cooking/waiting time. For each hour of simmering, use that time to toss a load of laundry in, or read a couple chapters before the next step. Now that’s multi-tasking!

Split Pea Soup

• 8 cups water
• 1 pound dried split peas (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2″ pieces (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium celery stalks, cut into 1/2″ pieces (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3-4 cups cubed ham (1/2″ pieces)

Rinse peas according to package directions.

Heat water and peas to boiling in Dutch oven. Boil 2 minutes, remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour.

Stir carrots, celery, and next 3 ingredients into peas. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until peas are tender, about 1 hour. Skim fat if necessary.

Stir ham into soup. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes.

Stir before serving; soup will thicken as it sits. Serves 8 (about 1 1/2 cups).

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