What I Made for Dinner (Last Night)

I love to cook.  But not for just myself.  Ugh.

I'm trying to get over my cooking-for-one animosity by sheer will, so I buckled down and cooked enchiladas for just me last night.  This is the second time I've made this 4 ingredient enchilada recipe.  It's simple and you can use any salsa or any cheese, but I think the tomatillo salsa and pepper jack cheese combination is a keeper.  I think it would be a good crowd-pleaser.  Simple and only a few ingredients. I probably have everything I need to make it most of the time.

Note:  I don't like enchiladas at restaurants because I don't like enchilada sauce that much.  But since this recipe just uses salsa, it doesn't have that flavor to it.  If you love traditional enchiladas, I don't know how you'll feel about this.

4-Ingredient Enchiladas

• 1 (16 oz) jar Salsa
• 2 cups shredded cheese (so far salsa verde and pepperjack cheese are my favorite combo)
• 3 cups cooked, chopped or shredded chicken
• 8 medium flour tortillas
• Optional:   any toppings you may want such as sour cream or green onion.  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Coat the bottom with a thin layer of salsa.
2. Mix chicken, 1 cup salsa, and 1 cup cheese in a bowl. Spoon about 1/3 cup of this mixture down the middle of a tortilla. Fold sides over and place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat for all 7 tortillas.
3. Top with remaining salsa and 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes.
4. Top with optional toppings.  

Day 23: The View

So, I'm breaking from the photo-a-day mold, but I just have so much to tell you about.  I'm going to give you a bird's eye view of my Thanksgiving Extravaganza.  Two full days of Thanksgiving!  Here we go...

Thursday, November 22nd:

10:00 am:  Wake up.  Slept in.  Win!
10:30am:  Nicole, Hudson and Elam come by, and we head to Krispy Kreme.

Day 17: Fruit

...and vegetables.  One of the great things about Beirut is the produce stands (dekene) on every corner.  They have a great selection and they're cheap.  This morning I went down to my corner stand and bought 1 green pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 big head of romaine lettuce, 1 big o' bunch of cilantro, some cucumbers, a bunch of bananas, and 1 red onion for $2.33.  It's so sprawled out I couldn't get everything in one picture, but someday I'll do a whole blog post on it for you.  Until then, sahtein!

Day 15: Dinnertime

I ate bottomless mini-burger baskets for dinner tonight at a place called Bob's, but as intriguing as that is, I thought I'd show a pic of last night's dinner instead.  Farah's mom cooked, and it was uh-maze-ing, and we got a big bag of leftovers sent home with us to boot.

Grape Leaves, Potatos with kuzbara (cilantro),
tabouli, sambosas, kibbeh, hummus, and a
Palestian meat and onion dish with a
Lebanese twist.  All homemade! Yum!

Day 12: On the Table

My friend Nicole made breakfast+dinner=brinner tonight.  So good!

Day 7: Light

I'm totally going to take this post in a different direction than you might expect.  First, Lebanon is hot.  I know there is snow in the US, but we are still wearing tank tops here.  All this heat has changed something in me that I never thought could be changed:  I have become a light eater.  I'm the girl who loves burgers for breakfast, who ate chili dogs during halftime at my high school soccer games... Confession:  I sometimes crave hot wings when I'm nauseous to "calm my stomach." I have a stomach of iron.  But here, sometimes I'm just too hot to eat, let alone eat anything heavy.  There are days when I even eat meals without meat.  Unfathomable!  In the wake of this sudden change in my dietary habits, I've found a new go-to meal.  I present to you the very light, but tasty and filling, Pasta Chicken Salad from Universal Snack.  Their menu describes is as "chicken, pasta, corn, green pepper, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, boiled eggs."  It is delightful.  Sorry this isn't the greatest picture; these are leftovers from my fridge.  Grace please!

.

Day 2: Lunchtime

Today, my lunch was what we made in my Lebanese cooking class this morning!  The appetizer in the front is mtabbal, a baba-ganoush like dish made from eggplant.  The main dish to the right is maghrebine, made with lamb, chicken, vegetables, and a great gravy-like sauce (yum!).  The bowls in the back are the mouhalabieh, a dessert made with rice powder and rose water.  As the say in Lebanon, sahtein!

Breakfast Tacos!

So, I really need to write another post, so today I bring you... Mexican breakfast!

I bought a Mexican cookbook a couple of weeks ago and the first 2 recipes I made from it were breakfast meals.  It's been fun, and the Mexican eggs are easy, different, and yummy.

Breakfast Tacos

It's hard to do an ingredients list for this, because you can really just do it anyway you want.  But here's the gist:

1. Start with either a tostada shell, or a soft taco shell.  I used a soft taco shell, and heated them in a pan until they were warm and a little crispy.
2. Make your eggs however you like.  This recipe works well with the over easy/medium/hard variety, but you could probably do them any way.
3. Start with your shell, add your egg on top, and then top with your favorite salsas:
• Regular salsa will work just fine, but if you're feeling adventurous you can try it with green salsa too (salsa verde).
• I added pico di gallo to ours too.  It was great.
• Like it hot?  Add jalapenos.
4. Top with feta cheese.  Yes, feta cheese.  It's so good.  
5. Wrap 'em up or just eat them like they are.

One great thing about this recipe is that it only takes about 3 minutes to make it, and it mostly uses stuff I normally have around the house.  It's a nice deviation from bagels and cream cheese, fo sho.

What I Made for Dinner

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the grill.  I didn't get any pictures of the finished food (it went too fast!), but I do have some good recipes for y'all.

The Ultimate Chicken Burger

What I Made for Dinner

Tonight I made Easy Crock Pot Chicken Stroganoff for dinner, mostly because it's easy, cheap, and yummy-enough.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Stroganoff

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, frozen

1 can cream of mushroom soup

16 ounces sour cream

1 envelope onion soup mix

Egg noodles

To Cook

1. Put frozen chicken in bottom of Crock Pot
2. Mix soup, sour cream, onion soup mix.  Pour over chicken.
3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours
4. Cook egg noodles as directed.  Serve over egg noodles.  Serves 4-6.

Thoughts:

• You can add whatever veggies you like into the crock pot; a lot of people add mushrooms (but I don't like 'em)
• If you use fat-free sour cream and low-sodium cream of mushroom soup, the recipe is only 4 Weight Watcher's points (not including how many ever egg noodles you choose to eat). 
• If you 've never gotten slow cooker liners, I think they might be worth their weight in gold.  

Cake o' the Week: Chocolate Marble Gooey Butter Cake

I'm heading to a Women's Retreat with some friends from work, so I thought I would bake a cake to take along.

*Warning:  This cake is not for the faint-of-heart.  Seriously, it has a lot of butter in it, so if you have heart issues, you probably shouldn't eat it.  

Ingredients

Crust
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 large egg

Filling
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 package (6 oz.; 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Baking

1.  Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Set aside an ungreased 13- by 9- inch baking pan.

2.  For the crust, place the cake mix, melted butter, and egg in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes.  Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  The batter should come together in a ball.  With your fingertips, pat the batter evenly over the bottom of the pan, smoothing it out with your fingers until the top is smooth.  Set the pan aside.

3.  For the filling, place the cream cheese in the same mixing bowl that was used to make the crust, and with the same beaters (no need to clean either), blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds.  Stop the machine and add the eggs, vanilla, and melted butter and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar.  Beat on medium speed until the sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute more.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

4.  Place the chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat.  Cook, stirring until the chips are melted, 1 to 2 minutes.  Measure out 1 cup of the cream cheese filling and fold it into the chocolate mixture, stirring so the batter becomes well combined and all one color.  Set aside.

5.  Pour the remaining filling on the crust and spread with the rubber spatula so that the filling covers the entire surface and reaches the side of the pan.  Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter over the top of the filling, then swirl them with a dinner knife so the top of the batter has a marbled effect.  Be careful not to cut through the crust.  Place the pan in the oven.

6.  Bake the cake until it is well-browned but the center still jiggles when you shake the pan, 25 to 45 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool, 30 minutes.  Cut into squares and serve.

*Store this cake, covered in aluminum foil, at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator up to 1 week.  Or freeze it, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 months.  Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.  

Rockaways Athletic Club

Just a short thought if you are in the Columbia area:  you should try Rockaway's Athletic Club.  It's mostly a burger and fries restaurant, but it also has hot dogs.

Many say it has the best pimento cheese burgers they've every had.  There's one trick though: they don't have a sign so you have to know where it is to find it.

It's just a plain brick building with no sign from
the front, but it has an outdoor seating
area in the back.  

If you're wondering where you enter, look
 for this door.  Seriously, it's not that
clear, so look for this door.  

The no-sign thing makes you think it's kind of a
hole-in-the wall, but it's actually pretty nice inside.  

If you like pimento cheese (and don't get enough with the Pimento Cheese Burger), then get the Pimento Cheese Fries.  Yum.

Cake o' the Week

I really like to bake cakes.  I think it's partially because I love hospitality, and a good cake is like hospitality on the go.  I bake a lot of cakes, so I thought I could start doing a cake o' the week. I'll even share my recipes.  The biggest downside is that I won't get to hide things up my sleeve... but, hey, blogs slowly kill the element of mystery in life anyway.

This week's cake:  Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Not a great picture, but I was in the middle
of watching the Super Bowl.

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix
1 box vanilla pudding
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
3 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
6 oz. chocolate chips (mini chips work well in the recipe, but are not necessary)

Baking

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bundt pan with cooking spray or butter.  Lightly dust with flour.
-Mix cake mix, vanilla pudding, oil, water, eggs, and sour cream until thoroughly blended.  Stir in chocolate chips.
-Bake 35-45 minutes, until cooked through.  Let cake cool in pan for about 30 minutes, or until you can touch the pan with bare hands.  Remove promptly.  To make it as moist as possible, wrap in plastic wrap when you remove it from the pan and refrigerate overnight.   

Variations:
-You can add nuts, coconut, or peanut butter chips when you add the chocolate chips.
-You can also use other flavors of pudding instead of vanilla (banana makes it fun for breakfast).
-At Christmas I dye it green and bake it in this fun Christmas-tree shaped pan that my friends the Davises and the Hatchers got me.

My One Goal for Today

I had one objective to accomplish today- grill a pork loin for the first time.  I came across it on sale, and I've been trying to get that sucker on my grill ever since.  Tonight I made it for me, my friend Meg, and her 2 ridiculously cute little girls.  That's right, 4 women grilling and eating a pork loin.  We're liberated.

So I randomly got this as an 'Easter Present' once from my
 mom and her husband.  In all reality, I think they took pity
on me trying to grill on a tiny little charcoal grill, and
felt like doing something nice.  I've fed people from 4
continents on this thing.  It also may or may not have
used to go USC tailgating every Saturday.  I love my grill.  

A little top-rack cooking should do the trick...

About 45 minutes later I moved it to the bottom
to get a good flavor on the outside, and tossed
some onions on too...

And then these guys showed up... :o)

Dinner was yummy, and afterwards we fired up the,
well, fire pit and made some s'mores.  

The adults may have had as much fun making s'mores as the kiddies...

Well, maybe not.  When we asked the girls to help carry the stuff back inside, Anna came out and said that she ate 6 more (big) marshmallows, and Hollyn had so much melted marshmallow in her hair that Meg thought she was going to have to cut it out.  Ain't no party like a s'mores party!

Brioso Fresh Pasta

*This post is about a new restaurant in Columbia.  If you don''t live in Cola, or if you don't just like reading about new restaurants, keep on going.  You can come back tomorrow.  

If you didn't know, there is a new pasta place in Columbia by the USC campus (next to Yoghut).  Lindsay and I went to Brioso Fresh Pasta for our Friday night wind-down, and it was quite the interesting place.

First, it has a menu that's usually more at home in an upscale Itatlian restaurant.  For example, I had Gnocchi di Patate (potato dumplings) with Amatriciana sauce (Pancetta [Italian bacon] in spicy tomato sauce).  The price and style of service is more short-order though.  

Gnocci di Patate with Amatriciana
It was very good, and I
brought half of it home.  Leftovers!

The atmosphere was fun and different.  Instead of giving you a table number, they give you a unique pepper grinder that your server can match to your ticket.  

Our pepper grinder was named
"Snoop Dog." (Not by us.  By the servers.)

They also bring you this fun
chilled bottle of water for your table.  

The atmosphere is fun.  I felt like I was
in a NYC restaurant because it had
tons of ambiance yet seemed to
get you in and out really fast.

Linds and I decided that it's more of a place you go if you want to eat quickly/semi-cheaply and well, than if you want a nice meal out.  The food was really good though, and they pride themselves on making everything as freshly as possible.  

Also, if you have any room left you can just walk next door to Yoghut for dessert. Win-win.

Moe Monday!

If you aren't aware, many Moe's Southwest Grills run a special on Mondays call Moe Monday.  My roommate and I go every week.

On Moe Monday, you get any burrito, a drink, chips and salsa for $5.55.  Mmm, so so good.  If you think that eating a burrito every Monday could get old, there are many ways to mix it up:  get all different ingredients, drench it in queso, or get it streaker (in a bowl instead of a shell.  Add chips and you have a taco salad.)

Welcome to Moe's!

I feel like the salsa bar brings out the carnality
 in people.  I'm normally a patient, chill kind of
person, and then I get to the salsa bar, and
then all of the sudden we're all boxing people
out and huffing and puffing.  

Call me a creature of habit, but every Monday I get exactly
four cups of salsa, always the same combination:
Keyzer Salsa and Tomatillo.  (Thanks Mer for
introducing me to this combination.  It's a keeper.)

The Moe's in Columbia have a survey
at the bottom of your receipt, and they
give you a free cup of queso for filling
 it out.  Linds and I take turns doing it.  

My Burrito.

My Burrito Partner.  

What I Made for Dinner

Tonight for dinner I made Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes.  I thought I'd pass along the recipe because it's one of my go-to recipes if I have guests, even though tonight I'm just cooking for my roommate and me. I like it because it's simple, has ingredients most everybody likes, and you don't feel all icky and gross after you eat it.

Note to Self:  Photographing Food=Very Difficult.
I will stop giving the picture menus at Chinese
restaurants such a hard time.  

Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

(thanks McCormick for this recipe)

• 6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed (you can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  The important thing is to have around 2lbs of meat)
• 1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, cut into 1-in. cubes
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp. crushed rosemary leaves
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper (course ground if you have it)

Mix oil and spices in a large bowl.  Add chicken and potatoes and toss to coat well.  Arrange chicken and potatoes in a single layer on foil-lined pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Roast in preheated over at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked and potatoes are tender.  Feeds 4-6.  

The Hunter-Gatherer

Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer...

That's not the chant of a primitive society... it's what runs through my head every time I think about my favorite Columbia restaurant.

You can visit the H-G website here.

If you live in the greater Columbia area and have never eaten at the Hunter-Gatherer microbrewery shame, shame on you!  The H-G is downtown in an old mill close to campus, and is open for dinner most nights and for lunch on Fridays.  There's often live music on the weekends, and the food is all made fresh on the premise.  One of the best things about the H-G  is the menu, which has all kinds of fun and special twists on your favorite foods, and all are tried-and-true.  Its mix of unassuming atmosphere and accessible, yummy gourmet food just isn't matched.

I've been trying to go for months (seriously) and finally made it today with some of my friends from work. Pictures ensue.

Anna Claire got the Chicken Pot Pie, one of the current specials.  

I got the HG Burger.   You can pick from many cheeses:  cheddar, horseradish Favarti, feta, smoked Gouda, Gorgonzola, ESB Pimento Cheese.  I asked if I could get goad cheese instead, which is so good.  Their standard side is hash-browns (which are great) but I always substitute a salad because their dressings are tasty.   

  Kitty got the Bruce Pizza:  Applewood smoked bacon, Gorgonzola, and mozzarella.  

Lindsay got the HG Mac-N-Cheese:  Smoked Gouda, Cheddar, and Goldfish Cracker Crust.

Our dessert was here, but it didn't really make it long enough to be photographed.  Just picture a Molten Chocolate Cheesecake and you'll get the drift. 

Next time you are in Columbia and thinking of going to the H-G give me a call and I'll be right over.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer...