Mom's Enchiladas

I got this recipe from my mother, but come to find out my siblings got a different one! :) If I use chicken in the recipe, I use one similar to the one they use. But if I am using ground beef, I like this one.

corn tortillas...I use about 15 for a 9X13 pan

About 1/2 pound of ground beef

One onion chopped

grated cheese

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

about 1/2 to 1 C enchilada sauce

Heat some oil in a pan, and dip tortillas in the hot oil, on both sides. You don't really want to cook them, just let them heat up for a few seconds. This makes it so that you can roll them without them breaking. Drain on a paper towel.

Brown ground beef and onions. Drain the grease.

Mix soups and enchilada sauce. Put about a 1/2 C of the sauce mixure in the bottom of the 9x13 pan. This helps the enchiladas not to stick. Take one corn tortilla and put in some of the ground beef/ onion mixture. Add some grated cheese. Roll up and place crease side down in the pan on top of the small amount of sauce. Repeat with other tortillas. Layer more grated cheese on top of the enchiladas. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top. Bake 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Food Review: Turkey Products

Lately I've tried several turkey products:

Ground turkey

When we were first married I used to buy ground turkey instead of ground beef. I didn't mind the ground turkey, although it doesn't really taste the same as ground beef. But my husband complained, so I went back to buying ground beef.

Turkey pepperoni

I think I will never go back to buying regular pepperoni again! There is so much less fat in the turkey pepperoni, and to me it tasted exactly like normal pepperoni. My kids gobbled down the pizza without even noticing a difference in taste. I'm sold on it!

Turkey Bacon

My experience with the pepperoni was so good that I decided to try turkey bacon. BLEH! Never again! What is wrong with turkey bacon? Let me count the ways:

--It doesn't crisp up. I like crisp bacon!

--It is very low fat, but the fat was so low that it kind of burned on the pan.

--It doesn't taste like bacon! In fact, it tastes gross to me. We ate it in a BLT sandwich, and it was okay in that because there were other things to mask the flavor. But when I ate a piece by itself, it tasted like fried bologna to me. Blech...I hate friend bologna.

--The only redeeming factor of turkey bacon is that it is cheaper than regular bacon.

Have you tried any other turkey products that you liked?

Stir Fry

My brother "Mr. Giggles" has been asking me to write some tips for making stir fry. This is a difficult assignment for me, because my definition of "stir fry" is probably different from that of most people. Most people I know cut up all kinds of vegetables, and stir fry them with some soy sauce. That is their definition of "stir fry". You have to think of the words "stir fry" not as a recipe, but as a form of cooking. Asking for how to do stir fry is like asking how to make casserole. There are as many different recipes for stir fry as their are vegetables and meat combinations. But there are some basics to chinese cooking that can help you get started.
First of all I would suggest getting some good recipes. One of my favorite cook books was given to me by one of my missionary companions. It is written in both chinese and english. But I also have a "Sunset" chinese cook book that I like. Martin Yan has some good cook books as well.
Here are some ingredients that I always like to have around for chinese cooking:

--Fresh garlic (the bottle kind tastes sour)
--Fresh ginger (but I actually don't mind the bottle ginger)
--Soy sauce (both light and dark)
--Chinese fragrant vinegar. This is a brown vinegar, not the rice wine kind.
--Sesame oil
--Oyster flavor sauce
--Hoisin sauce
--Black bean and chili sauce
--Chili and garlic sauce
--Chinese dried noodles

One thing to keep in mind when doing chinese cooking is that the chinese like to have similar shapes to the food they cook together. I don't really follow this for this most part, except if I am cooking noodles. When I cook noodles, I like to cut my vegetables and meat in long strips to mirror the length of the noodles. So if you were to make fried rice, you would want to cube the vegetables and meat in small pieces.

Let me give you two quick simple recipes that we eat often.

Green Beans and Chicken

I buy quite a bit of fresh green beans for this dish because my family loves them. Wash them and cut off the ends.
1 Chicken breast cubed
Crush about 3 cloves of garlic
Soy Sauce

Salt to taste

Heat a wok, or other frying pan until hot. Add about 3 tablespoons. cooking oil. Stir fry the chicken until done. Remove from the pan. Add about 3 more TB. cooking oil. Cook the green beans until tender. I usually have to add a little water as I'm cooking to prevent them from burning. You could use oil instead, but I try to be healthy. ;) When the beans are about done, return the chicken to the pan. Add the garlic, and about 2 TB soy sauce. My family loves this!

Garlic Cauliflower

Cauliflower cut in florets

1 chicken breast cubed.

4-5 cloves of garlic crushed

white pepper

Salt to taste

Heat wok til it's hot. Add about 3 TB cooking oil. Cook the chicken and remove from the pan. Add more oil and cook the cauliflower. Cauliflower tends to soak up the oil, so if it starts to get too dry in the pan, I usually add a little water or broth if I have it. When it is almost tender, add the chicken back to the pan. Add the white pepper, and garlic. Add tiny amounts of water as needed to keep it from burning. You can also vary this recipe by adding a small amount of soy sauce. (like 2 TB) When the cauliflower is tender it is done.

I'll try to add more recipes as I can, but most "greens" can be cooked with just oil, garlic and salt. Good luck!

Sandwich cake

Today I went to a baby shower, and they served this special sandwich. I'm not giving an exact recipe, but you will get the idea.
The person who made it said that she goes to a bakery to get the bread, and asks them to slice it lengthwise instead of in regular slices. Lay one layer of the bread on a plate. Spread on a layer of egg salad. Lay another layer of bread on top of the egg salad. Spread on a layer of tuna salad. Lay another layer of bread on top of the tuna salad. Spread a layer of deviled ham. Put one last layer of bread on top of the deviled ham.
Next soften some cream cheese and beat it until soft. This woman added some food coloring to make it festive. Spread the cream cheese over the top and sides of the sandwich. It will look like icing on a cake. Chill for at least an hour, then slice. It was fun to have because we all thought it was a layer cake at first! :)

Pesto Potatoes

I was trying to come up with a good potato recipe to go with our dinner one night and I threw this one together. I had gotten some pesto at a good price, and had it on hand. I think it turned out really good.

INGREDIENTS:

Red potatoes (one per person)

1/4 C olive oil

3 tablespoons of pesto

1 tablespoon fresh chopped garlic

sea salt

Wash and quarter the potatoes. Place in a baking dish.

In a separate bowl, add pesto, garlic, and olive oil. Blend well and pour over potatoes. Stir well so that all of the potatoes are coated. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 350 degrees about one hour until done.

Note: sea salt really does give a different flavor to the dish. If you don't normally use it, try it!

Red-Braised Meat

This is a recipe that was taught to me by our chinese babysitter when we lived in Beijing. It's a good winter dish. She uses pork with the fat still on it, and cooks it until the fat is jellied, but I make a healthier version.

2 lbs lean pork, cubed

3 tb. cooking oil

3 slices ginger

1/2 C soy sauce (part dark, part light)

6-8 boiled eggs, peeled. (one per person)

3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 sections of star anise.

water

Cook pork in oil until browned. Add soy sauce, and just enough water to cover the meat. Add ginger and star anise. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 1 hour. Add additional water as needed to keep the meat covered.

Add potatoes and boiled eggs. Do not cut the boiled eggs. Simmer 20-30 minutes. The eggs will soak up the soy sauce mixture. Serve over rice.

Delicious Sponge Rolls

This roll recipe is famous in the area where I live. I decided to try it this year for thanksgiving, and I LOVE it! The person this originated from is MIldred Gibbs, but I'm not sure if she is still alive.

SPONGE ROLLS

2 C. Milk
1/3 cube margarine
1/4 C. sugar
1 cake, or 1 pkg. dry yeast
3 Tb warm water
6 to 6 1/4 C. flour
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Scald milk; pour over margarine. Add sugar and let cool to lukewarm. Add yeast to Warm water and let it dissolve, then add to milk mixture. Add 2 1/2 Cups flour, stir well and let rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add salt and eggs, unbeaten, and stir well. Mix in 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups flour. It should be stiff enough to handle well. Brush oil over the top of the dough. Cover and let rise again until double in bulk. Put in pans in favorite shape. (I just made balls and put them close together on a jelly roll sheet) Let rise again and bake in 425-450 degree oven 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

This recipe may also be used to make delicious cinnamon rolls.