Friday, July 27, 2012

Machaca Beef Goodness

One of the big disappointments in being only half-Mexican is that you get to taste all the amazing homemade food your extended family makes, but no one teaches you.  Dang.  Well, that is if your dad is the Mexican one and is the non-cooker.  So that means I get to learn a lot by trial and error.  And the Internet.  Thank heaven's for the Internet!

For a long time, I've really been wanting to try to make authentic machaca beef.  I found this awesome recipe over at food.com.


Beef Machaca. Photo by Sue Lau
(photo courtesy of food.com)

Ingredients:


1 1/2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast
1 large onion, sliced
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon seasoned adobo seasoning (note that this Latino seasoning is made with salt, cumin and garlic and is not the Phillipine versio) or 1 teaspoon salt
6 -8 peppercorns
1 cup salsa

Directions:

  1. Place beef in crockpot.
  2. Cover roast with remaining ingredients except salsa.
  3. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until roast is tender and can be pulled with a fork.
  4. Remove the beef from the crockpot and set the cooking liquid aside.
  5. Using two forks, shred beef.
  6. Mix beef with salsa, and if you like it a little moister, add some of the cooking liquid to the meat.
  7. Adjust the seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.
  8. Use as a filling for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimis, etc.

***Here's our review on it:  Oh.My.Stinkin'.Gosh.  Awesome!!  This was incredibly easy and yummy.  We made into burros last night and since I doubled the recipe, there was enough for tacos tonight.  My belly is already growling.

Did you try it?  Let me know how you like it.  In the mean time, here's to more Smoochin' in the Kitchen!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Caramel Banana Muffins

Are you looking for a way to bribe your family one Saturday morning?

Do you find yourself wishing that you had that perfect muffin recipe to make your overnight guests feel like they've stepped into a b&b?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be everyone's muffin-making hero (or heroine, whatever the case may be)?

Are you ready for me to stop asking you nonsensical questions?

Then, have I got a deal for you!

Reverting yet again to my good old trusty Taste of Home recipe collection, a couple of weeks ago, I came across this recipe.  I made them for my family in order to bribe them into doing their chores and within about twenty seconds it looked like the Tasmanian Devil had devoured the whole plate of them.

They really are that good.

Jumbo Caramel Banana Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • CARAMEL ICING:
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon 2% milk
  • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

  • In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Beat in bananas and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture just until moistened.
  • Fill paper-lined jumbo muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 23-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • For icing, in a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil. Cool slightly. Beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Transfer to a small resealable plastic bag; cut a small hole in a corner of bag and drizzle over muffins. 

*Jamie's notes:
  - I don't have a jumbo-sized muffin tin, so I just used my regular sized, which worked out just fine.  The baking time will be a little shorter, about 18-20 minutes.  
  - Don't forget to drop the pan on the counted a few times after filling them with the batter to get any air pockets out of them.
  - Don't be fooled by the picture of the muffin up there.  The recipe for the icing makes quite a bit and so I just spread it on with a knife rather than the whole messy bag process.  But don't skip the icing, though!  It makes the whole muffin incredible!

This of course is a perfect way to use up those bananas that you're children won't eat because they have spots on them and heaven knows no child (or this mama) will eat a banana with spots on them.  Ew.


Friday, July 6, 2012

Pizza Margherita

Friday night around here is pizza night.  Always.  We love pizza and usually make our own, unless Paco pleads with those big brown eyes of his and I give in.

We usually make just a basic pizza dough and then the regular toppings.  Good, but not anything terribly special.

That is, until I found this recipe from (wait.  can you guess?)...  Yes, Taste of Home.  

I've had the recipe cut out and ready to try for um, a couple of years now.  Well, I finally got around to trying it and it is now our family's most favorite pizza ever.  No, seriously.  You should have seen us inhaling it.  It was enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes.

Traditionally, pizza margherita is meatless, which is fine by me, but not my carniverous hubby.  So I added 1 pound of italian sausage and it was awesome, although it would have retained the same level of awesomeness without it.

Pizza Margherita Recipe


Ingredients

  • 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • TOPPINGS:
  • 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, drained
  • 20 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 8 cups (2 pounds) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

  • In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
  • Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
  • Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to two greased 14-in. pizza pans; build up edges slightly. Cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rest for 10 minutes.
  • Spoon tomatoes over dough. Top with basil (savor the fresh smell of that basil!), oregano, cheese (make sure you grate enough for little fingers to grab as they run by), pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil. Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

*Because I'm having a love affair with my bread machine, I made the dough in the bread machine and I added a little bit of italian seasoning.  Super yummy and easy!

You could also use fresh tomatoes from your garden if you have one rather than the diced tomatoes.  Of course, if, like me, you have a black thumb and you live two miles away from the surface of the sun, you would understand how completely laughable that is for us.


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Classic Macaroni Salad

Happy Independence Day, y'all!

(No, we're not Texans, but I still love saying it.)

We are celebrating today the "right" way.  Swimming, fireworks, hot dogs and hamburgers (with homemade hamburger buns), homemade ice cream and my favorite macaroni salad.  How could it get any better than that, y'all?  (Oops, sorry.  It just kind of slipped right in there.)

Ours is chilling in the fridge as I'm writing this and I can't wait to dig right into it.  I might have to take a nibble or two while Paco and the kids are in the pool.  I totally will, too.

I love macaroni salad.  I like it simple and traditional, thankyouverymuch.  I know alot of foodies out there like to jazz it up and change it all up, but to me that's just downright un-American.  Macaroni salad isn't supposed to be all fancy-schmancy where you can't even recognize it.  I know, that makes me way not cool, but I'm okay with that.

So without further ado, here's our family's favorite macaroni salad that I found last summer over at allrecipes.com:

Classic Macaroni Salad Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1/4 cup grated carrot 
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pimento peppers (optional)

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir in the onion, celery, green pepper, carrot, pimentos and macaroni. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, but preferably overnight.                
*Um, yeah, we don't add the pimentos.  Sorry, but I just like to keep it as simple as possible.  Plus the thought of trying to sneak those past the kids makes me want to cry.  

I hope your day is filled to the brim and then overflowing with love for our country and the wonderful blessings it's given us... especially macaroni salad!

What are some of your favorite 4th of July recipes?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...