Monthly Archives: April 2022

Tea Sandwiches

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I’m already thinking about cold tea sandwiches during the hot months, and we barely got out of a surprise frost day yesterday. (snort) But, yeah… cute, tasty tea sandwiches are lovely any time, but I really want to eat them this week. I might have to make some this weekend.

L – R: Deconstructed BLT, Radish Crown over cream cheese, Cheese & Sausage with a spicy mayo, and the classic Cuke in butter.

These tiny sandwiches are very tasty, but they are also very artistic when you them all laid out perfectly on a platter. I cannot resist these babies. I want them. I want them right now!

Steak Entree Salad

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We had some leftover steak that needed to be used up tonight, and some other veg that was on the cusp, so in a big entree salad they went after I reheated the meat. I topped it with this groovy dressing I found at Walmart. Very tasty. It made a believer out of the husband who isn’t into salad.

Steak Entree Salad:
3-4 oz Steak, cooked / cut on bias 1/4″ slices
3 C Leaf Green
Salt
1/4 Pepper: Green & Red, diced
1/2 Roma Tomato, diced
Pickled Red Onions (for colour, texture, and tart taste)
Any dressing (mine is creamy and zippy, but balsamic glaze would be great, too)

Wash the greens, spin dry, and toss lightly with salt. Divide greens into two large plates or bowls, top with diced veg and picked onions. Add small drizzles of the dressing and top with the rested sliced up steak.

Note: Warm pan friend mushrooms would be lovely in this salad, too.

51 More 30-Min Meal Ideas

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If you’re like me, you think about food a lot. Recipes, especially. But for all of the recipes I have, I still struggle with easy dinner ideas every single night. I’m just as burnt out like the rest of you from trying to figure out meal ideas. So, here are 51 more that may be new to you ideas to keep in your back pocket.

Some of these look so delicious. I can’t wait to try a few of them this week.

Enchilada Lasagna

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Made this delicious Enchilada Lasagna for dinner tonight. It’s all of the normal enchilada materials, only presented like a lasagna. It’s magic is in the velvety sauce. So good!

Enchilada Lasagna:
1 lbs Ground Beef
1 Tbsp Green Chilis (or cut up pickled jalapeno rings)
1/2 Tea ea: Onion Powder / Garlic Powder / Salt/ Pepper

3 Tbsp ea: Butter / Flour
1 Tbsp ea: Chili Powder / Paprika (any kind)
3 C Chicken Stock, hot
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1/2 Tea ea: Oregano, crushed or rubbed / Cumin / Salt / Pepper / Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Taco Seasoning (from a store bought packet)

1/2 Onion, diced
2-3 C Pepper Jack Cheese, grated (or Marble)
Eight 7″ Tortillas

In a hot fry pan, drop meat to brown, chopping it up as it cooks down and the fat renders out. Add the chilis and the seasonings, stirring them in completely. Spoon out the fat into a small bowl for discarding later when the meat finishes cooking. Spoon out the meat into a bigger bowl; set aside for now.

Add the butter to the fry pan to melt completely. Add the flour. Whisk both together and let is cook for a full minute as the colour of the fat deepens. To this, add half the chili powder and whisk continuously before adding the second half to whisk in. Add the paprika one half at a time and continue to whisk as the second portion also goes in, whisking so none of the mixture burns.

Add 1 cup of the broth to the pan and whisk the butter mixture into the liquid. When it’s smooth and incorporated, add the next 1 cup and mix it in. Continue with the last of the broth. At this point, add the tomato paste and really work it into the sauce to evenly distribute it.

Place one seasoning at a time into the pan and give it a good stir before adding the next so each one gets time to meld into the sauce properly. Remove the pan from the heat and start setting up the baking dish, tortillas, meat, onions and cheese for assembly.

Lay two tortillas on the bottom of the dish. Ladle a small spoonful of the enchilada sauce over them, spreading it out thinly all over the tortillas. Top this with 1/3 of the meat, followed by 1/3 of the onions and 1/4 of the cheese. Continue this layering two more times until you finish with the last 1/4 of the cheese.

Top with foil and bake it 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Rest it after that on the stovetop for another 15 mins before cutting it into 4-8 portions. Plate it with some cut up lettuce, a dollop of sour cream, and some diced tomatoes or a small spoonful of salsa.

Week Round Up

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I was busy at work this week with the Easter rush. In addition, I woke up one morning with a crazy whiplash like pain on the left side of in my neck that ran down into my back, so it was hard to do anything when I wasn’t being paid to. All I wanted to do was sit or stand still until the pain went away eventually.

As a result of my immobility, we ended up eating a lot of quick things like chicken patties that I could give the McDonalds treatment to using my DIY McChicken sauce (1/2 C mayo + 1/2 teaspoon onion powder) and topping them with small tears of lettuce.

We also ordered in Swiss Chalet one night, and turned that Quarter Chicken dinner into chicken poutine on the fly by topping the fries with some grated mozzarella from my fridge and laying down the very hot Swiss Chalet dipping sauce to melt it.

At one point this week, this A&W coffee made up my dinner meal. I know, I know. Ugh.

A few nights ago I cooked some pan fried pizzas using some naan I had kicking around that needed to be used up. I bought some sauce (I really didn’t want to stand in front of a stove that night) and pepperoni. I added a few bits and bobs of veg and smothered each pizza with the last of the cheddar and the pepper jack cheeses. It went into the pan one at a time, and covered for up to 8 mins to crisp up the bottom and to melt the toppings.

Last night we uncovered the bbq smoker for the first time this year. It took us awhile to remember how to cook meat and in what order, but we got there eventually. I started with baked potatoes in foil as the temp started to rise from 200 up to 400. At that point, the chicken thighs were added to the grill. A bit later, the steaks went on.

Why do I think of The Ponderosa Steak House when I look at these steaks? *drooling*

 

Ways to Cut A Watermelon

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Once you crack open a watermelon and grab a few slices, then what? How are you going to break it all down to store it in your fridge? Or, if you’re like Ellen, give it away to your siblings for the kids? Here are some great ways. I used a few of these when working in catering, and they are very solid storage methods.