Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Enchiladas à la Lisa

(at the bottom, it will say that this was posted by Thomas, but don't believe it. This is Lisa posting.) ;o)



When I first moved out to Utah two years ago for school, I had this ongoing list in my head of "Top 10 Single College-Student Dinners." Unfortunately, I did not write it down, but (for me at least) it included Little Caesar's $5 pepperoni pizzas, Top Ramen with frozen veggies, and beef enchiladas.

This weekend I had the opportunity to roll some yummy enchiladas for a little former-roommate party at our apartment. Thomas encouraged me to take some photos, so here you are:

Enchiladas

1 can red enchilada sauce (I used the large can of Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce this time, but Old El Paso would be my top choice)
1 small onion, diced
1 Tbsp. or so of oil
ground beef (you need about 1 lb if using the small can of sauce; I used about 2 lbs with the large can)
spices of your choice; I like some garlic, salt, pepper.
small corn tortillas (about 15, for the larger can of sauce)
approx. 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese (I prefer Monterey Jack)

  1. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan. Add onion pieces and let them cook and soften for a few minutes.
  2. Add ground beef. Season to your liking and allow to brown.
  3. Once cooked, drain your meat.
  4. To the cooked, drained beef, add about half of the can of enchilada sauce and about half of the grated cheese.
  5. Spoon a bit of this mixture into a corn tortilla**. Roll it up and place it with the overlap down into a lightly greased baking dish. If you use the large can of sauce, like I did, you'll need a 9*13 plus a 9*9. 
  6. Continue filling tortillas and placing them in your baking dish until your filling runs out.
  7. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the rolled enchiladas. Use a spoon or other utensil to ensure the sauce covers as much of the exposed tortillas as possible, as this will reduce dryness. Top with the rest of your cheese.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Serve with your favorite salsa or guacamole, and perhaps some rice or refried beans!

**Depending on the corn tortillas you are using, you may notice that after sitting in the pan for a moment, they will crack along the top. To remedy this, it is helpful to take individual tortillas, place them into a damp paper towel, and microwave for about 12 seconds before filling and rolling. I used La Banderita brand tortillas this time and did not find this step necessary.









Happy cooking! oxox

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Chocolate Pudding Pie

This one is simple enough and isn't all that creative, but often simple recipes are the best. Also, people are sometimes too afraid to ask about simple things, so it will be posted anyway. Sorry we didn't get a good final picture...we were hungry! ;^)

Chocolate Pudding Pie

9 graham crackers (1 sleeve)
1/4 C butter
1/4 C sugar
1 large package Jello pudding


  1. Crush the graham crackers. The easiest way is to put them into a Ziploc bag and start mashing.
  2. Melt the butter and add to the graham crackers along with the sugar.
  3. Press into a 9" pie pan.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes to set the crust.
  5. Make Jello pudding per box instructions and pour it into the pie shell.
  6. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Themes and variations:
  • Consider adding chocolate chips to the pudding.
  • You may try adding 1/4 C cocoa for a chocolate crust.


German Pancakes

This has been a classic in the Bradshaw home for many years. For Christmas mornings, we'd often each get a pie pan full of German Pancakes along with our favourite toppings. That didn't preclude the frequent consumption of said scrumptiousness throughout the year. As an added bonus, it's quick and easy.


Looking through our family photos, I found a few that prove my statement (and this wasn't all of them)...






With that, here you go.

German Pancakes
9 eggs
1.5 C flour
1.5 C milk
1 t salt
2 T butter

Notes: This recipe is for a 9x13" pan but will work as long as you keep the ratio of eggs to flour to milk. 6 eggs will work but be a bit thinner, and 3 eggs would require a 9x9" pan or pie pan.

  1. Place butter in a 9x13" pan and put in oven until it melts while preheating to 400°F.
  2. Mix the remaining ingredients together thoroughly (preferably with a hand mixer).
  3. Pour the batter into the pan.
  4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pancake has puffed up and is golden brown on the corners.
Suggested Toppings: Lemon and powdered sugar
Berries (frozen or fresh)
Bananas
Jam
Whipped Cream



Sunday, September 5, 2010

Banana Bread

We frequently purchase bananas when we do our grocery shopping, and sometimes those bananas get a little too ripe before we can eat them. When this happens (and rest assured, this is before the completely brown state that occasional roommates might choose to leave sitting on the table for weeks), I peel those bananas and place them in a Ziploc in our freezer.

As time goes on, and a second Ziploc is needed, it becomes necessary to actually do something with those bananas. This happened just last weekend at our house. We chose to use those bananas for banana bread. The recipe below was found here. We may have used slightly more banana than is listed below; it turned out very sweet and yummy.

Banana Bread

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed (if you freeze them like we do, thaw first)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour

  1. Combine ingredients. We used an electric hand mixer, after trying to mash partially-frozen bananas with a wooden spoon (not very effective!!).
  2. Pour into greased baking dish. We fit most of this into a glass loaf-pan, and then resorted to pouring the remnant batter into 7 greased cupcake wells in a 12-cupcake pan. If you are using the metal loaf pans, you could probably divide it into 2 mini-loafs.
  3. Bake at 350°F for about an hour (shorten cooking time for your banana-muffins).
banana & butter ... oops, no photos of the rest of the ingredients! sorry.
The finished product! mmmm
oxox