Chorizo Empanadillas – hot little pockets of love…

Tags

cheese, chorizo, corn, dough, empanadas, empanadillas, meat pie

I just love little stuffed things.  Every culture has a little stuffed bit of dough, filled with a little bit of seasoned meat and veggies that is always something truly amazing when you get to eat it.  I hope that everyone on the whole planet has at least one food memory of sinking their teeth into a hot little pocket of love, whether it’s their favorite aunt’s samosas, or grandmas dumplings or their dad’s holiday peirogi.  When I think about all the wonderful things that my family made on special occasions, it’s always my Dad’s Chinese pot-stickers and my Grandma’s inari sushi.  Also, I’m so thankful to the wonderful cooking teachers I’ve had that have shared their recipes and traditions with me along the way. 

When I have days off, I like to try to take some time to make something nice for the hubby and I to have for dinner.  What truer expression of love is there than choosing to spend your time to make an extra special meal for an extra special someone?  I let him think that it’s all for him and that I’m simply an amazing wife, but the truth is that I like tasty little treats from time to time too!  🙂  

Letting my stockpile in my chest freezer guide my meal planning, I had some chorizo that I wanted to use up.  A little toodling around online lead me to the idea for making some empanadillas with it and here’s what I came up with.  Hope you like it!

  

Chorizo Empanadillas – served with rice and refried beans and avocado sauce

Serves 4-6 – cost approx $1.50 per serving, including sides

Makes approx 17 empanadas – cost approx $4.50 per batch

***Just a little side note here.  This was my first go at this recipe and there was about 1/3 cup left over filling.  If I were doing this over, I would increase my dough recipe by about 50% to use up all the filling.  Or you could use it for something else, like a breakfast burrito, some pupusas, put it over some rice for a nice little lunch…***

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Mexican chorizo ($1)
• 1 onion, small dice ($.33)
• 1/2 bell pepper, whatever color you like best ($.25)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced, optional ($.25)
• 1/2 cup corn kernels – fresh or frozen, use whatever you have around ($.25)
• garlic salt, to taste
• 2 green onions, minced ($.18)
• 1 cup/4 oz shredded mild cheese – any type of mild cheddar, jack or pepper jack would be nice.  I used a ‘Mexican Cheese Blend’ that I got on sale ($.63)

• 2 cups all purpose flour ($.22)
• 1/2 cup masa harina or corn flour ($.08)
• 1 stick/ 4 oz butter, cold, cubed ($.62)
• 4 oz lard, cold, cubed – you could use shortening if lard creeps you out… ($.43)
• 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Start by browning the chorizo over medium heat in a saute pan.  When some of the fat starts to render out, add in the onion, bell pepper and jalapeno.  Saute for 5 minutes.  Add in the corn and green onions.  Add garlic salt to taste.  That’s all there is to the filling!

For the dough, make it however you like to make your pie dough.  I did the food processor ‘dump everything in’ method.  Just pulse until the flour and fats have come together then drizzle in cold water until it just comes together.  Give the dough (literally) one or two kneads so that it comes together.  Keep in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.  

Roll out the dough on a floured surface.  I went pretty thin, inbetween 1/8″ and 1/4″.  Cut out circles about 4″-6″ in diameter.  You can use a large mug or a small bowl (or a large biscuit or cookie cutter would be the best tool, but I don’t have one…) to trace out the circles.  Fill with a heaping tablespoon of chorizo filling and a good pinch of cheese.  Fold over and crimp the edges with a fork.   Poke some vent holes in the tops with a fork.  I sprinkled a little bit of leftover cheese on the top, just to be all decadent and stuff.  (Here is where you could freeze them for later if you wanted.)

  

Bake at 350 F for 30-45 minutes or until hot, golden and delicious.  

  

Southwest Chicken and Black Bean Taquitos – the revenge of the Taquito craze…

Tags

baked, black beans, cheese, chicken, cumin, flauta, leftover chicken, shredded, southwest, taquito

I was pretty happy with all those taquitos I made this winter, I thought they were great.  Now I know they could be even better…

  

My moment of clarity came last week at work when we found ourselves with several pounds of leftover chicken salad from a banquet.  In stepped super-hero, Sous-Chef Ceasar (he’s a man of many titles) who said ‘lets make flautas.’  He added some of his special brand of love to that chicken salad (meaning beans, cheese and spices, get your mind out of the gutter), rolled it up into corn tortillas and took it for a dip in the deep fryer.  It was topped with some guacamole and cotija cheese and thus a beautiful appetizer special was born.  It sold like hot cakes all weekend.  

Now these little suckers were what flauta/taquito dreams were made of.  Perfectly crispy yet creamy, a veritable flavor explosion.  I think that the secret was that mayonnaise in the original chicken salad.  I decided in that moment when the first fauta, fresh out of the deep fryer, hit my lips that I needed to try to make these little suckers at home.

So creamy…

But before we get down and dirty, a little linguistic digression.  Latley, I’ve been working on improving my Spanish by asking my Latino co-workers clarification on words I wasn’t sure on and adding a few new bits of vocabulary here and there.  (Yesterday I learned that ‘chichis’ are nipples where as ‘tetas’ are boobies but ‘pechugas’ are what chickens have…)  So, I asked one of my coleagues what the differerence between taquitos and flautas was.  He said “Flautas come out of a deep fryer and taquitos come out of a microwave.”  Interesting.  Seeing as what I make at home are no where near authentic Mexican food, and I’m not busting out my deep fryer today, I’m going to keep on calling them taquitos.  

Southwest Chicken and Black Bean Taquitos – served with Spanish rice, slaw, lime sour cream and avocado sauce

Serves 5 – 6 – cost approx $1.26 per serving, including sides and sauces

Makes approx 40 taquitos – Batch costs $4.45 or $.11 per taquito

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked black beans – from 1 cup dry beans ($.40)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken – a great use for leftovers ($.43 I got a whole chicken for $.60/lb because it was the sell by date, if you can be flexible in your menu planning or have room in the freezer you can take advantage of those killer deals!)
• 1 jalapeno, small dice ($.25)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, small dice ($.25)
• 1/2 onion, small dice ($.06)
• 2 cups/ 8oz shredded mild white cheese – jack, mozzarella, or white cheddar would be good ($1.20)
• 1-2 Tbs ground cumin, to taste
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise ($.50)

• 40 corn tortillas ($1.11)

Just mix up all the ingredients in the first set to make the filling.  

 

What happy colors! Maybe I’ll add some corn next time…

 

Follow the procedure outlined in my first taquito post (https://fullbellyfullwallet.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/pulled-pork-taquitos-im-falling-fast/) to roll up the little suckers.  From this point you can either freeze them for later use or bake them right away.  When you want to eat, cook at 400F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with any sauces that you like and dig in!  These would be a great appetizer or could be a full meal when paired with some rice and veggies.

Deep Frying 102 – The beer battering

Tags

beer batter, deep fryer, deep frying, fish, fish and chips, fried, frying, rellenos

This is the final installment of ‘what happened to that first batch of oil in my new deep fryer.’  So far, I’ve made zucchini sticks, deep fried mac’n’cheese, some buffalo wings, and a batch of doughnuts.  Not too shabby.  After each day that I used the fryer, I strained that crud and lost little bits out of the oil and cleaned the fryer before returning the oil.  When I was done, I kept the fryer bucket covered and in the fridge.  (Any cool and dark place will do just fine though.) Cleaning everything out in between uses and storing it properly will make your oil last much longer.

The last things to be fried before the oil flew up to the great dump in the sky were some chili rellenos and fish and chips, both of which were beer battered.

Let me take a minute here to say that the fish was the last thing to be fried and also the last thing to be dipped in the beer batter before both the oil and batter were thrown out.  The batter because of the fear of germs and the oil because fish makes it smell funky.  Doughnuts with a hint of halibut?  No thank you.

To beer batter something, you just toss it gently in seasoned flour (just like Three Stage Frying!) and then dunk it into the beer batter.  Batter has a hard time sticking to moist items, like stuffed chilis or fish pieces, and the flour helps the batter stick to the ingredient to be fried.

These were just some roasted pasilla chilis that were stuffed with cheese, hot peppers, onions and corn.  A happy little vegetarian dinner.  Sorry, no recipe it was some windfall ingredients that I had a while back and popped into the freezer a month ago and I have no clue what it cost to make it.  Don’t be ashamed of your thrifty-ness and and creative ability; if your friends know about it, they will start giving you things they’re not clever enough to use up or don’t have the time for.

Here’s my fish and chips, made from some halibut that my Daddy slew up in Alaska.  Any white fish that you like would be great.  I did oven fries because shit was just getting a little to real around here with the new deep fryer.

Basic Beer Batter

Makes 3 cups, which is enought to fry quite a few things – cost approx $1.24 per batch

Ingredients

• 1 egg ($.16)
• 1 can cheap beer ($.58, yep I know, really cheap beer)
• 1 1/2 cups flour ($.25)
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• Pinch salt

Just mix everything together until it’s almost lump free.  I like to store my batter in a tall, slim container so that I can get maximum dunkage and minimal waste.

This beer batter will keep in the fridge for a day or so, I wouldn’t push it more that 2 days though.

Turkey Chili Verde Taquitos – The Thanksgiving Hangover #3

Tags

appetizer, beans, cheese, chili verde, leftover, taquitos, turkey

Hey Y’all!  Here’s a way to gobble up (har har) all those turkey pickin’s you may have in your fridge or freezer.

With all the excitement that football season brings, these are a great appetizer or finger-food dinner for when the game’s on.  These little buggers freeze up great too.  With my recent taquito obsession, I’ve been thinking of these chili verde turkey taquitos since I bought my Thanksgiving birds.

Chili verde pairs really nicely with white meat.  These taquitos aren’t too spicy, the chili verde just plays a the role of great background music in movie, so that your tastebuds can focus of the wonderful shredded turkey, beans and cheese.  Can you tell that I’m quite enamored with taquitos?

See? Beans, cheese and turkey, all wrapped up in chili verde sauce! nom nom

Turkey Chili Verde Taquitos

Makes 50 – cost approx $.11 per taquito

Ingredients

• 2 cups red beans – from 8oz dry beans or maybe 2 cans of beans ($.54)
• 1 cup chili verde sauce – I make this and can it when tomatillos and chilis go on sale for $1 per lb in the summer, but there’s tons of good chili verde sauces and salsa at the store that would be great in these taquitos ($.50)
• 1/2 lb shredded cheese – cheddar or jack would be good options ($1.20)
• 3/4 lb shredded turkey – ($.75)

• 50 corn tortillas ($1.38)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease – for assembly
• sour cream/salsa/guacamole for dipping ($1)

The first set of ingredients are for the filling, just mix it all together.  Assemble your taquitos and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until golden and wonderful.

If you need more detailed instructions on how to assemble the taquitos, check out my earlier post: https://fullbellyfullwallet.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/pulled-pork-taquitos-im-falling-fast/

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Taquitos – Vegetarian Fun-Land!

Tags

baked, black bean, black beans, cream cheese, cumin, flauta, sweet potato, sweet potatoes, taquito, vegetarian

I was going to say that I’m a master of turning healthy ingredients into things that are bad for you, (which I am) but when I thought about it I realized that my baked taquito craze isn’t all that unhealthy.  So, go buck-wild!  Destroy a tray of these little suckers without the guilt associated with plowing through a tray full of fried goodies.

Now that holiday entertaining season is upon us, these are a great make ahead appetizer.  Plus, these little buggers are vegetarian too!  At larger gatherings and when I’m planning out any sort of a party menu I always try to make at least half of the appetizers vegetarian-friendly.  I made a big ol’ batch of these last night and popped some in the freezer.  Stay tuned to see how they thaw/bake.  But, I can attest that cooked ones keep well in the fridge for a day or so and reheat well in the oven.

To be le’honest, I saw the idea for black bean and sweet potato taquitos on pinterest but I developed this recipe entirely by my onesies.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Taquitos – served with cilantro lime rice, sour cream and salsa

Makes 40 – cost approx $.12 each including fixin’s

Serves 6 as entree – cost approx $1.03 per serving including fixin’s and rice

Ingredients

• 1 lb sweet potatoes, 3 medium, peeled and small dice – ($.83)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2-3 cups cooked black beans – from 1 cup/8oz dry beans, you could use canned too ($.50)
• 8 oz cream cheese ($.24)
• 1 jalapeno, minced – optional ($.25)
• 1/2 cup or 4 oz shredded jack cheese ($.50)
• salt, to taste

• 40 corn tortillas ($1.11)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease, divided use

• 1 cup sour cream – for dipping! ($.50)
• 1/2 cup salsa – also for dipping ($.50)

Start off by cooking the black beans if you’re starting from dry beans.  If you’ve got a busy day, a crock pot on low for 4-8 hours is a great way to get your beans cooked while you’re out and about.

Next up, cook those sweet potatoes.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Toss the diced sweet potatoes with some salt, a few tbs of vegetable oil and the cumin and chili powder.  Bake on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes.

To assemble the filling, mix up the roasted sweet potatoes, cooked and drained black beans, cream cheese, jalapeno, shredded cheese and some salt.

Now that the filling is all made up, it’s time to assemble.  (I’m holding my imaginary mijolner in an “Avengers Assemble!” sort of a moment here, but I digress…)  Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Keep a pan with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil or bacon grease over medium-low heat and prepare a little assembly station.   I go into more depth on my assembly set-up in my first taquito post if you want to read about it in a little more detail.  ( https://fullbellyfullwallet.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/pulled-pork-taquitos-im-falling-fast/ )

Go ahead with the system of briefly microwaving a few tortillas at a time, dipping one in the pan of warm grease and rolling it up with a few tablespoons of filling.  Set each taquito on a baking sheet.  If we’re being completely honest here, I used the same tray I baked the sweet potatoes on.  Why make more dishes to wash?  Bake for 20 minutes at 400 F or until golden and crisp.

They’re so cute!

Pulled Pork Taquitos – I’m falling fast…

Tags

appetizers, cheese, corn, flauta, Pulled pork, taquitos, tortillas

You know that feeling that you’re going to get really into something in a great big hurry…  A foxy new squeeze, finding that special TV show and watching five seasons of it in a weekend, gin, a magic vacation in a fun new place.  I have just found taquitos. (Or you could call them flautas if you’re feeling like you need to class it up a bit.)  I am in love.  My fireman is very supportive spicing up our marriage with a liberal dose of taquitos.

I’m fairly certain that this will be the first of several taquito variations that I post.  I have designs on chili verde and vegetarian versions in the not so distant future; these pulled pork ones were bomb though!   Plus, I think I have a pretty good method for wrangling corn tortillas into being rolled up and cooked nicely, sans toothpicks and sans deep fryer.  Here we go!

Pulled Pork Taquitos

Makes 25 taquitos – cost approx $.21 each, with fixin’s included

Serves 4-5 as entre- cost approx $1.30 per serving, including fixin’s and rice

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup / 4 oz queso fresco ($.50)
• 1 cup / 4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded ($.33 – I got an awesome deal at the local discount grocery store!)
• 1 lb pulled pork – leftovers work great, that’s certainly what I used! ($2.50)

• 25 small corn tortillas ($.66)
• 2-4 Tbs bacon grease, lard or vegetable oil

Fixin’s

• 1 cup sour cream ($.50)
• Hot sauce
• 1 cup Avocado sauce ($.60) – It’s about a half batch of my recipe, (https://fullbellyfullwallet.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/avocado-pasta-salad-so-cool-you-might-just-rub-it-on-your-sunburns/)

Mix up the pork and cheeses to make the filling.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

Get everything together to make a little assembly line.  You need a pan over medium-low heat with your grease of choice in it.  Next to your grease pan get a small plate or cutting board plus your filling for a roll-up station.  Lastly, you need a greased sheet tray to hold your finished taquitos.

To assemble:  First, nuke 2-3 tortillas at a time for 20-30 seconds.  Second, dip one at a time in your warm pan with some grease in it.  Let most of the excess grease drip off.

Now, lay the tortilla, grease side down onto your roll-up station.  The grease helps keep the tortillas flexible and makes them crisp up nicely in the oven.  Put a line of filling, 2-3 tablespoons, along one edge of the tortilla and roll up as tightly as possible.

Move your finished taquito onto your prepped tray.

Once you have a row of little soldiers, bake them at 400 F for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crispy.  Serve with whatever dipping sauces strike the fickle of your fancy.

P.S. I made a ridiculous little cross stitch/embroidery project for a friend’s soon-to-be-housewarming-present.  Like me, she hates the way society oppresses us forces us to conform and wear pants in the almighty “public.”  This is a shameless copy of an idea I saw on Pinterest.

Chorizo Tortilla Soup – Fireman Approved!

Tags

chorizo, one pot wonder, soup, tomato, tomato soup, Tortilla Soup, tortillas

This is another soup that was inspired by our resident Soup-Master at the restaurant, Sous Chef Ceasar.  A few weeks ago he made this wonderful soup and I was quite taken with it.  It’s like a chorizo-filled, dream makeover for the classic tomato soup.

In addition to being a hit at the restaurant where I work, my version was quite the hit at home too.  My man has a deep, deep love for chorizo.  He walked into the house while I was cooking and immediately his eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face as he asked with hope in his voice: “Chorizo?”  Chef Ceasar was happy to hear that my fireman liked this soup so much.

Chorizo Tortilla Soup – served with sour cream and garlic toast

Serves 4 – 6 – cost approx $.90 per serving

Ingredients

• 10 oz package pork chorizo – or beef chorizo or soy chorizo ($1.19)
• 1 onion, roughly chopped ($.30)
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped ($.17)
• fresh chilis, roughly chopped – to taste and optional
• 2-3 Tbs tomato paste ($.14)
• 1/2 can cheap beer – optional ($.33)
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes ($.79)
• 4 – 6 cups meat or vegetable stock
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• garlic salt, to taste
• 12 corn tortillas, roughly chopped – a good use for stale or leftover tortillas ($.33)
• 1/2 bunch cilantro ($.25)

• garlic rubbed toast ($.50, I used home made)
• sour cream ($.25)

*Since this is a pureed soup, there’s no reason to make the vegetables look pretty, just a rough chop will do!*

Start the yummy soup by browning the chorizo in a large pot.  Remove to a bowl, leaving the delicious mystery grease in the pot.  Add in the onion, carrot, garlic and chilis (if using) and saute 5 minutes over medium heat.  Add in the tomato paste and saute 2-3 minues, letting a layer of happy brown crud form on the bottom.  Deglaze the pan with the beer and scrape up all those yummy brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Next, add in the can of tomatoes and stock and bring to a simmer.  Add in the dry spices, garlic salt and tortillas.  Cover and let simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While the soup is simmering, the tortillas will get mushy and thicken the soup.  Check to see that all the vegetables are soft and fully cooked, then remove from the heat.  Throw in the cilantro (whole!) and blend with and immersion blender, the cilantro will get chopped in the process.  Once the soup is thick and smooth, put it back on the heat and simmer.  Add back the chorizo and taste your creation, add salt if necessary and add more stock if the soup is too thick for your tastes.  Ladle yourself a bowl and serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few slices of garlic rubbed toast.

That’s a pot of love! Yum!

I see you admiring my TARDIS cookie jar…

Tacos Al Pastor – Dynamic Duo Part 1

Tags

Al Pastor, crock pot, low fat, pork, spicy, tacos

My fireman grew up in a Bay Area neighborhood that, over time, became predominantly a Mexican neighborhood.  As the apartment buildings started to go up, their house was one of the few that still had a big, grassy yard.  My Prospective-Mother-in-Law has let two generations of neighborhood little ones play in her yard, occasionally yelling at the kids and her little grandson in Spanglish.  From being a part of that interesting neighborhood cultural mash-up, my fireman has attended quite a few quinceaneras, baby showers and everyday block parties and has eaten quite a bit of great, homemade Mexican food.  That and he’s never been known to ignore a taco truck!

Mexican food has always been my fireman’s favorite, and Tacos Al Pastor has always been his favorite dish.  I wanted to give it a try and it ended up being a big hit.  The sauce was scraped from the crock pot!  I started by comparing Spanish-language recipes with ones in English online, and there was a big difference!  Taking a little bit from each recipe I perused, I made this batch that was absolutely delectable.  Plus, I realized after the fact that this recipe also has no added fat!  It looks and tastes like something drowned in gorgeous red mystery grease but any fat comes from the meat itself.  You can’t say that about the taco stand!

Now to explain why it’s a ‘dynamic duo.’  After reading so many recipes, I wanted to use pineapple juice in my pork Al Pastor.  I didn’t want to buy pineapple juice, so I drained a can of crushed pineapple.  But what to do with the pineapple now, y’all know that I’m morally opposed to throwing anything away!  Here’s where part two comes in.  Stay tuned for the recipe to my Mamma’s most excellent pineapple cookies, which calls for (surprise!) drained, crushed pineapple.

Tacos Al Pastor

Serves 4 – cost approx $.88 per serving

• 1 lb pork, cut in 1 inch pieces – any kind will work, I used shoulder roast ($.75, look for the store discounts on meats that are expiring soon and eat or freeze them quickly!)
• garlic salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp dry oregano
• 2 whole cloves – You could substitute a pinch of ground cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 20 oz can of crushed pineapple drained – juice and pineapple used separately! You should have about 1 – 1 1/2 cups juice ($.40)
• 3 chipotles in adobo – You can add more or less depending on how spicy you want it ($.50)
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp paprika

• small flour tortillas – they’re quite cheap if you make them yourself! ($.50)
• lime cabbage slaw ($.45)
• 1/2 onion, diced ($.18)
• sliced avocado ($.50)

Break out your crock pot and put in the pork, sprinkle with the garlic salt.  Toss in the oregano, cloves and bay leaf.  Turn the crock pot on high.  Put all the remaining ingredients in the first set together and blend them up.  Pour over the pork and let cook for 4-8 hours or until the pork is fall apart tender.  I left the lid of my crock pot ajar so that the sauce would reduce a little bit.

Then make up yourself some little tacos and dig in!

Tex-Mex Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Tags

black beans, corn, queso fresco, Stuffed, sweet potato, Tex Mex

I’m pretty sure that I saw a picture of something like this on Pinterest and that’s where the inspiration for this dish came from.  I love how the soft sweet potatoes pair with the spicy and flavorful filling.  It’s an exciting and colorful vegetarian dish that’s warm and filling too.  Also, I was quite pleased that my fireman dubbed this one ‘the best sweet potato dish he has ever had.’  I’ll take it!

*Note: I made this recipe with twice as many black beans, but it made a bit too much filling.  So I reduced the black beans in the recipe to make it a little more balanced.  Don’t be frightened if your looks a little different, it should be just as tasty, I promise!*

Tex-Mex Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4 – cost approx $1.19 per serving

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 onion, diced ($.18)
• 1/2 bell pepper, died ($.45)
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 jalapeno, minced ($.25)
• 2 Tbs minced herbs, I used green onions, but parsley and cilantro would be nice too.  ($.25)
• 1 cup corn kernels, frozen or fresh ($.23)
• 1 cup black beans ($.25)
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 lime, zest and juice ($.20)
• 1 cup queso fresco, crumbled ($0 because I had a friend who gave up dairy and gave me a few pounds of cheese she didn’t want anymore; it pays for your friends to know you are a resourceful and thrifty cook!)
• 3 lbs sweet potatoes, baked ($2.69)

Preheat your oven to 375 F. (And make sure you bake your sweet potatoes first, it takes about an hour or so depending on their size.)

Start making the filling by heating the vegetable oil in saute pan and cooking the onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno for 5 minutes or until the veggies are soft and fully cooked.  Add all the remaining ingredients except the sweet potatoes to complete the filling.  Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Split the sweet potatoes and put them on a baking sheet then pack them full of the filling.  Bake them about 15 minutes to heat all the way through and brown up the queso fresco a bit.  Enjoy!

Conqueso Mac ‘n’ Cheese – On one’s down home roots

Tags

breakfast sausage, chilis, conqueso, mac 'n' cheese, Tex Mex, Velveeta

My folks spent about 20 years living in Texas, about 10 of which I was around for.  In that time, my Dad mastered many essential Texan dishes.  One of which is his delicious conqueso dip.  Melty Velveeta, Rotel chilis and breakfast sausage; it’s a game-day essential in our family now!  Last Sunday (during the Packers win – Go Pack!) we started calling it ‘Crack Dip.’

I made a dinner version of my Daddy’s dip incorporating all those great flavors: Conqueso Mac ‘n’ Cheese.  I make so much mac’n’cheese that my fireman thinks I should make a weekly feature on the blog on my endless variations.  Good thing we both love pasta and cheese!

My fireman wanted to take this picture to demonstrate his love of pasta and cheese…

Conqueso Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Serves 4 – cost approx $1.36 per serving

Ingredients

• 1 lb short pasta, cooked al dente ($.89)
• 1/2 lb breakfast sausage – either bulk sausage or removed from the casings ($.99)
• 1 onion ($.28)
• 1/2 bell pepper ($.39)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups pasta water
• 1 1/2 cups milk ($.28)
• 1 cup shredded cheese, divided use ($.63)
• 8 oz Velveeta, cubed ($.99)
• 3 Tbs chopped herbs – I used green onions and parsley ($.25)
• 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilis, drained ($.50)
• salt
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

*Note – to make this a true ‘One Pot Wonder’ boil up the pasta first while you prep all the other ingredients, reserving a few cups of the pasta water and setting the drained pasta aside.  Then make the sauce in the pasta pot.*

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Start by browning up the sausage and breaking it into small pieces in a large, oven safe pot.  Throw in the onion and bell pepper and saute along side the sausage for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle over the flour to make a little roux with the sausage fat, stir 2-3 minutes.  Whisk in the pasta water and milk, being sure to scrape up all the brown goodies on the bottom.  Bring to a simmer, let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add in half the shredded cheese and the Velveeta and let melt in the sauce.  When the cheese is melted, taste and add salt to taste.  Stir in the herbs, drained tomatoes with chilis and cooked pasta.  Mix the bread crumbs with the remaining cheese and sprinkle over the top.  Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes or until the top is browned and crispy.  Enjoy!