Dinner – Page 6 – The Funky Oven

Beef enchilada casserole

This is the most ridiculously easy dinner. We are having this and a garden salad with ranch for dinner. Traditionally enchiladas have fried tortillas. Yes, this probably lacks some flavor because I skip that step. It also will be less calories my way…. which is never a bad thing.

1 pound 80% ground beef

1 7 ounce can diced green chili undrained

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

11-13 corn tortillas (white or yellow)

1 10 ounce can red enchilada sauce

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Combine the beef, onion, and green chilis in a skillet. Cook over medium low heat for about 20-30 minutes. After this step, I place the beef in a strainer and allow it to drip to remove additional fat.

In a 6×8 or 8×8 prepard pan, layer the following 1. 3 Tortillas 2. 1/2 beef mixture 3. 3 tortillas 4. 1/2 beef mixture 5. 3-4 tortillas.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the casserole. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 30-40 minutes.

Top with black olives, green onion, sour cream, and fresh cilantro.

Beef and broccoli Stir fry

Dinner

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds thin sliced chuck roast

1/3 cup corn starch

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 cup water

1 yellow onion coarse chopped

2 cups broccoli florets

3 cloves garlic chopped

2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons Hoison sauce

1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice

This recipe really work best if everything is prepared before cooking. Mix the seasoning. Mix the beef. Chop the veggies.

Mix the cornstarch, water, and garlic powder in a boil. Add beef and let set at least 30 minutes. Heat oil in wok over medium high heat. Add beef and cook until just done. Cook in batches if needed. Remove beef from pan when done. Add veggies into pan and saute for 3-5 minutes. Mix the soy, hoison and 5 spice. Pour over veggies. Cook until the veggies are done (to your liking). We like ours crisp so we just add the beef in and mix.

Serve over cooked white rice.

Garlic shrimp with mashed parmesan cauliflower

Dinner, seafood

We need to be a bit healthier when it comes to dinner. Normally we eat a LOT of BBQ. For the last year I have been trying to prepare seafood at least every 1-2 weeks. This is very challenging for a girl from Missouri who grew up hating seafood because it was frozen, gross, and fishy. This was my second time even cooking shrimp in my life.

Tonight’s dinner was amazing! We had a big side garden salad. The salad added vitamins and fresh flavors. I would like to say this dinner only took 30 minutes… but the prep takes a lot more time. Actual cook time is about 30 minutes.

1 pound or so shrimp – peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 cloves of fresh garlic minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 lemon juiced

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons butter

Heat the olive oil over high heat almost smoking. Add the shrimp. Cook 1 minute. Add the salt and half of the parsley and stir. Cook 1 minute. The shrimp should now be turning pink. Add the garlic and red pepper. Cook 1 minute. Add lemon and cold butter. Wait until butter melts. Change the temperature to low. Add remaining parsley. Cook 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens. The shrimp will be opaque and pink.

Mashed parmesan cauliflower

1 head cauliflower

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Steam the cauliflower for 20-25 minutes. It should be very tender. Place the cauliflower in a food processor with salt and parmesan. Pulse until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the cream while still pulsing.

I would have to say I would eat this any day. From a person who typically hates shrimp, I think that says a lot. I usually eat one or two. Tonight, I ate them all.

Slow cooker red beans and rice

Dinner, slow cooker

This is Valerie Bertinelli’s recipe from Food Network. As I have said before I am not a big fan of crock pots. A few exceptions exist, but they don’t typically cook with flavor and textures that I like. This recipe is really good. I had a very busy day and had to find a slow cooker recipe. I think it more should be called sausage and red bean chili than authentic red beans and rice because it is lacking the usual Louisiana spices of thyme and such.

Here we go….

1 pound Andouilli sausage chopped

1 pound dried red beans

3 stalks of celery chopped

1 cup diced ham

1 medium onion chopped

1 large green bell pepper chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumen

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

Salt and pepper

4 cups chicken broth

cooked white rice and sliced green onions

First I grilled the sausage on the propane grill at 400 for about 15-20 minutes.

Then i chopped the sausage and threw everything into the crockpot. It cooked on low. The recipe said 8 hours. No way! It was done in 4-5. It was 4 hours earlier than I planned so it was re-warmed for dinner. I did soak my beans for 4 hours and her recipe did not call for soaking. That is likely why mine cooked faster. She also did not recommend grilling the sausage first. I really enjoy the taste of the grilled sausage.

Beef stew

Dinner

Okay. There are recipes and then there are RECIPES! There are recipes you make and you eat because it took work and there are ones that you dont know why you can’t have more leftovers. Am I right? My husband ate 4 bowls of this. It is seriously that good. Even though my posts are all not my original recipes, I try hard to post only the best of the best that I create or find. There is nothing worse than spending time or money on something that fails.

2 pounds beef stew meat

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 large shallot diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1 cup cabernet sav wine

4 cups beef broth – or 4 water and 4 bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

4 cups red potato – small diced with skin on

3 cups carrots – peeled and cut into rounds

1 ear fresh sweet corn – remove corn from cob

1 12-14 ounce can diced tomatoes undrained

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Place the stew meat in a gallon bag or bowl with flour, pepper, cayenne pepper and salt to coat. Warm the butter and olive oil on medium high heat in a dutch oven or pot. Brown meat in 2 batches. Do not cook fully or crowd the pan.

Remove all the meat from the pan. Add the shallot and garlic. Cook about 3-5 minutes on medium high. Deglaze the pan with red wine. Add the beef broth, worcestershire, bay leaves, italian seasoning, and paprika. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer 40 minutes.

Prepare the vegetables.

Add them in along with the diced tomatoes. Cover. Return to boil. Boil anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours depending on when the meat is tender. It really depends on the cut of the meat. I say taste test it every 10 minutes or so.

Mine was not as thick as I wanted so I mixed 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with the hot soup in a small bowl until mixed and poured it back into the pot about 40 minutes after adding the vegetables.

This is really quite amazing with the wheat bread I posted earlier. I have tried it with cornbread and french bread. The wheat really makes it pop.

Pulled pork BBQ pizza

Dinner

My husband treated me by cooking a pork shoulder yesterday. 18 hours on the propane grill to reach a temp of 200 makes a wonderful treat that we can eat all week. Not only did we buy it for like $10, but we had enough to feed us as well as gift half away. This is perfect! You could really use any pork… grilled, crock pot cooked, deli style, etc.

Crust:

2 1/2 cups white flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 cup 110 degree water

1/2 packet of quick yeast – 1/8 ounce

Mix the yeast and sugar into the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Once the yeast is frothy, mix all ingredients together. The dough will be sticky. Let it rest about 20-30 minutes.

Toppings:

1 cup of shredded cooked pork

1 cup bbq sauce – I mixed 1 part Trader joe siracha bbq, 2 parts Maul’s original, and 3 parts sweet heat from Stubb’s

3 diced green onions

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

1 handful fresh cilantro

1 cup colby jack cheese

1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes

Once the dough was ready, I preheated the oven to 475 degrees. I sprinkled corn meal on a baking sheet. A pizza stone works even better but I cannot find mine today. I made 2 pizzas out of the dough. With each portion, I pressed it out on the baking sheet until the bottom portion was very thin and almost breaking. I layered the toppings in this order – sauce, tomatoes, cilantro, pork, onions (both), and finally cheese. This baked for about 15-18 minutes or until the edges were brown.

I immediately transferred it to a wooden cutting board to keep the crust crispy while cooling slightly. It make a really great thin crust pizza! So yummy!

Poblano chicken casserole

Dinner

Okay. My chicken from last night… Here is how I meal plan. Tonight it is a casserole and tomorrow chicken paninis. Each very different and not tasting like leftovers. I basically cook 2 big meat dishes per week then fill in the gaps. Sometimes we have cold leftover chicken on giant cobb type salads with fresh warm rosemary bread.

This is also another great garden dish because we grow onion, garlic, poblanos, and tomatoes. I have even grown tomatillos and made my own salsa verde. That is a whole other story.

The casserole….. I dont use “cream of xxxxx” soup if possible. I think the only fattening thing in this whole casserole is 2 tablespoons of butter and a cup of cheese. I would consider this lower fat. I am not a fan of loading up every dish with cream and cheese and butter.

Roast 2 poblanos in the oven at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Cool fully. Peel and remove seeds. Then rough chop.

My sauce….

Saute 2 tablespoons of butter with 1/2 onion and a clove of minced garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add all poblanos. Add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir. Gradually add in 2 cups of chicken broth. Add 1 tablespoon cumen, 1 teaspoon mexican oregano, and a handful of fresh cilantro. Cook 5-10 minutes stirring often. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of salsa verde…. any brand.

Now the layers in the cassrole pan.

1: one cup of sauce

2: corn tortillas – about 4 – just break them up and cover it in one layer

3: chopped cooked chicken – 1 cup

4: 1/2 can of rinsed and drained black beans

5: half of remaing sauce

6: 4-5 corn tortillas

7: 1 cup chicken

8: rest of black beans

9: more tortillas

10: dump rest of sauce over

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Turn oven off. Remove when ready to eat.

Ha! I forgot to buy chips so I baked leftover flour tortillas for 10 minutes. I was going to break them up as chips. They puffed up. Still tasted great!

Roasted chicken

Dinner

This is so simple…

A whole chicken rinsed. The cavity is stuffed with 2 heads of garlic and a sliced lemon. 1 tablespoon each of onion powder, salt and pepper is mixed and then put on the breast under the skin. A little canola oil over the skin. I pour a whole light beer on the pan under the chicken. Cook on the propane grill at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours approximately. The meat thermometer on the breast against the bone tells me the temp. This is my favorite meat thermometer. You set the meat type and it rings when it is the right temperature. The best part of this is that we can eat about 3-4 meals from one chicken. I keep the seasoning basic then add it to tacos, soup, casseroles, etc later in the week.

Cabbage rolls

Dinner

These cabbage rolls have a slighy different flavor than most. They do not have the sweetness typically expected. Instead, there is a more smokey flavor. Not only is this a healthy make ahead casserole type meal, but it also pairs very well with the pickled carrots and jalapeños that I have posted as well.

The recipe:

First prepare the meat filling by mixing together the following:

1 pound 85% lean ground beef

1 cup of cooked white rice (not instant)

1 egg

1 yellow onion – diced

1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

2 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

After mixing this fully, keep refrigerated.

Next prepare a head of cabbage by coring it and removing the outer leaves.

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Once you have achieved a rolling boil, add the cabbage and cook 3-5 minutes. Remove the cabbage and allow it to cool. Once cool enough to touch, gently remove the leaves one by one trying not to break them….. but if they do it will still work.

Place the cabbage leaves with the concave surface up. Add about 1/2-1 cup of the meat mixture. Fold this into a ball and place seamed side down in an ungreased casserole pan. Continue until all meat has been used.

For the topping, mix together a 14 ounce can of petit diced tomatoes with italian seasoning as well as 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika. Pour this over the rolls.

Cover the dish using aluminum foil. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45-60 minutes or until thermometer inserted to the center of a roll reaches 170 degrees.

Again, we serve these with crusty french bread and some pickled carrots and jalapeños.

I have made these in the morning and stored them in the refrigerator to bake in the evening. I feel that making it ahead enhances the flavors of the dish.

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