Easy.Beefy.Cheesy!

So, if you follow any other food blogs, like I do, you have for sure seen this recipe before. Every blog I follow has made it! It is from a recent Cooking for Real with Sunny Anderson. The minute I saw this recipe for her Easy Beefy Cheesy Enchilada Casserole, I knew I would make it, and then seeing other foodies attest to how good it was made it a must! This recipe is reason #948 why Sunny is my favorite FN Chef. Her food is approachable, affordable, easy and well, Real! This was so easy to make, so flavorful and sooooo comforting on a chilly winter day watching football! The kicker I think is the layers of flavor, not only in the meat, but the sauce as well. To make this casserole of deliciousness, first you make the sauce:

and the meat:



Then layer up with the tortillas and cheese:

Be sure to make a double-batch, cause it's THAT good!

I DARE you to only eat one piece!

Who needs to spend all day rolling tortillas? This is the quick fix way to a comforting dinner ANY time of the week. The leftovers are just as tasty for lunch the next day too, FYI. Highly recommend!

Way to knock it out of the park again Sunny!



Now.Eat.This.

Surprise, surprise I am a cookbook collector. I wish I had more time, money and people to feed, then I would really would be cooking non-stop! As it is I rip through the cookbook on the first day I get it, post-it tab all the recipes I want to try, and then I'm lucky if I ever get to any of them. Luckily, I picked two good ones from Rocco Dispirito's latest cookbook, Now Eat This. This cookbook is a all of your favorite comfort foods, all under 350 calories. I knew I had to get this cookbook after seeing Rocco's demonstration at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and he made brownies that are 53 calories. Yes, you read that right! 53 calorie brownies my friends, the man is a genius! (And pretty cute too!)

OK, back to the cooking. His recipes really are pretty genius.

For my first attempt I tried his Jambalaya:

So moist and delicious, you would never know it was low fat!

Admittedly, I am not a fan of brown rice normally, but in this I totally forgot it was even healthy for me! I did spice it up by adding some red pepper flakes, but the smoky flavor of the paprika had a ton of flavor already.

I also made the Skinny Chef's Salad, not pictured. Another hit!

One thing that I have noticed, is that the portions are pretty generous in this cookbook, which is another plus for me! Good food, lots of it and low fat? Winner! Way to go Rocco, can't wait to try those brownies next!

Tailgate, Take seven

This past tailgate would be my last with Scott, as I am taking some other friends for the last two games, so this one had to be special. Being an early game, I decided to open Scott's eyes to the wonder that is chorizo. He had never had it, so the pressure was on for me make it good...and I think I did, but you be the judge!  

First up were some potatoes:

potatoes, onions, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes= perfection!

Then came the chorizo:

brown and spicy and perfect

Add in the eggs:

Warm the tortillas:

Put Scott on tomato chopping duty:

And put it all together for one hunger & soul satisfying pre-game breakfast!

This is how much we loved it:

 

I'd say Scott is definitely a fan of Chorizo now!



Tailgate, take six

Sorry for the delay is posts lately folks, been running a bit behind. I know you've missed me! I'll try to catch you up in the next couple days, starting with this random tailgate from about a month ago.

Trying to come up with new ideas for tailgating can sometimes be a pain. That's why I pass the idea torch over to Scott, and he always comes through with great ideas! For this one, we went way outside the typical  boring burger bun and went with a classic, the BLT.  How does one make a delicious BLT at a tailgate you ask? Well, with the careful planning of my dear SIL Tammy and some creativeness, that's how! First you start with good quality ingredients: Potato Bread, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo (not Miracle Whip) and salt & pepper. Tammy pre-cooked the bacon for us, so all we had to do was heat it up and toast the bread:

Put it all together, and you have a wonderful pre-game snack if I do say so myself!

Add some of Tammy's potato salad, and it's game on! Yum!



You can help Sunny Anderson Bake for the Troops!

This blog is originally from Holly at Random Cravings:

I'm on The Best Thing I Ever Ate!

As you recall from a post back in July, I went and saw a taping of The Best Thing I Ever Ate at Rosario's Ristorante. Well, the episode finally aired on Monday, and guess who was the star?! Yes, Alex Guarnaschelli spoke highly of Rosario's Garlic Bread (Rightfully so!), but did you see who also made an appearance???? ME!!!! Check out some screen shots from the episode...

Can't say it's the most flattering images of me ever, but pretty neat, nonetheless! Don't know if it will re-air anytime soon, but it's the With Garlic Episode, so be on the lookout if you wanna see it yourself. I'll be signing autographs in the meantime though! ;)

Strike two, Big Daddy

In the spirit of watching approximately 300 hours of Thanksgiving recipes on Food Network these past two weeks, and since I made a very traditional Thanksgiving feast, I thought I'd try at least one of the recipes I saw on the day after. Of all the recipes I saw, only one really caught my attention. It was on one of the Dear Food Network, prepared by Aaron McCargo Jr.  His recipe was 2 in 1 Sausage Stuffed Stuffing. I thought I'd give Big Daddy another try, since the last time I tried a recipe of his it didn't work out so well for me. Well, Can't say this one was any better. The concept sounded delicious... stuffing wrapped around a ball of sausage sitting in a bowl of gravy. What could be bad about that?  Well, here's how it broke down:

First I browned up the sausage balls

Then, you use the same pan to make the gravy:

Easy pan gravy, but he called for oil, instead of butter to make the rue, so quite frankly it tasted, well, oily to me. Disappointment #1.

Then, I covered the sausage in (gasp!) box stuffing....still can't figure out why a 'chef' recipe calls for box stuffing, but anyways. Then, dip in flour and fry up.

This is where Disappointment #2 comes in. The stuffing balls proceeded to fall apart right there in the pan and it got worse from there.

Not only did they fall apart, but they tasted like oil. FAIL.

So I tried just browning them in a dry pan.

Those came out only slightly better. They looked better, but still fell apart the second you touched one.

So I tried to do it the way Big Daddy had showed it, floating in a bowl of the gravy. I figured there must have been a reason he did that instead of dipping in the gravy...

Only slightly better, I have to say. Still tasted like a bowl of oil.

 

Sorry, Big Daddy, but overall, today was a HUGE disappointment. How could something that sounded so good come out so wrong?! I guess next time I'll just stick with my girl Sunny Anderson and her Fried Stuffing with Cranberry Pesto I made last year.

 



I give thanks

There are many reasons I love Bobby Flay, but one of them is the fact that he and I both count Thanksgiving as our favorite day of the year. Food, family, and football....how does it get any better? I look forward to it all year! I have actually already cooked and devoured my Thanksgiving meal. Tomorrow is just the bonus round for being a good girl all year! ;)

I don't get why people stress about making the big meal each year though. Really, the turkey just sits in the oven for a few hours, when it comes out to rest, all the other sides go in. As long as you have a good sous chef and dishwasher, (thanks mom!) it's really an easy meal! My menu this year was standard, no fuss no flash. My sister made a bet that at least one dish would have chipotles in it, but (sorry Jan!) I went old school this year. Take a look at my line-up:

It may not be the prettiest bird I have ever made, but it was THE.JUICIEST.BIRD.EVER! Don't know why the skin didn't crisp up (ideas?) but lord have mercy was it moist!

Green Bean Casserole.
Yes, the kind from the can, no judging I HAVE to have it!

Sweet Potato Casserole.

Classic recipe, but what you can't see is the ration of potato to marshmallow. (I'd say it's 50/50!)

White Potatoes.
Notice I didn't say mashed, because I went a step further and used a ricer to make them light, fluffy and creamy.

Turkey Pan Gravy

I could drink this by itself, honestly.

 Add mamas stuffing and some rolls, and you get one perfect meal!

Oh, and of course there was pie! I always make two, even if I know it's just gonna be me tackling the leftovers. It's a tradition to have pumpkin pie for breakfast following Thanksgiving. My mama says pumpkin is a vegetable, so it's OK! :)

This picture right here says comfort to me. Isn't Thanksgiving GREAT?!

Well, I hope you all enjoy your day as much as I will! And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for following me and supporting my little blog. I love all of you and wish nothing but the best for you!

XOXO,

Heather



Great Balls of Fire!

So, this weekend I tried my first recipe by Aaron McCargo Jr, aka Big Daddy (Season 4 Winner of NFNS), from  his show Big Daddy's House. The recipe was Buffalo Chicken Cheese Balls. The name alone sounds great, right?! Basically it's a Buffalo Chicken Wing rolled into a ball...how can that be bad? Well, the technique sounded easy enough, but I struggled BIG TIME with it. I think my problem may have been that I purchased the chicken the night before, so it was cold, and did not form into a ball well with the cheese, which, in turn made the breading process very difficult. They turned out to be more like chicken cheese ovals....

But it didn't affect the taste at all! They were ooey gooey and delicious inside...

Who cares what they looked like, because I could.not.stop eating them! The spice was perfect and the sauce was divine! It seems like a lot of sauce for not so many apps, but trust me you will want to eat the leftovers with a spoon!

Big Daddy has a new cookbook coming out soon, and if this is any indication of how delicious the recipes are, then sign me up!

SpookyVille

Yes, yesterday was Halloween. Leave it to me to post pictures of food instead of costumes! Check out these scary good treats!

Witches Brooms

Cauldron Dip

Friendly Ghost Cupcakes

Severed Toes in Bandages

Cute right?! What a fun day! Click on any of the above links for recipes.

Tailgate, Take five

I am getting pretty good at this tailgating thing, if I do say so myself! No boring burgers or dogs here! Not that there is anything wrong with them once in a while, but I think keeping it exciting is important. This week, I went with the same theme as last time and did a panini again. This time, the inspiration came from Food Network Magazine and their 50 Great Panini booklet from the October Issue. My partner in crime this week was Amanda, and we went with #20, the Steak and Gruyere Panini.

Curious about what's in that other foil??? Stay tuned! :)

Rain was definitely an issue, and I was very afraid that we would end up sad, soggy sandwiches, but we made friends with nearby tailgaters and shared their tent. I still got pretty wet, but it was worth it for this delicious pre-game treat!

Yes! That's Asparagus! At a Tailgate!! I told you I keep it exciting!

 Not pictured, chocolate croissants I baked the night before. Yes, I am that good!

A poppin' good time

It's no secret I love good dip, maybe a little more than the average person! Being Football Season and all, I am getting plenty of opportunities to try new dips! This week, another Rachael Ray play on a traditional dish, the Jalapeno Popper. Yes, it's a Jalapeno Popper Dip In all honesty, it tastes exactly like eating a popper! Smoky jalapenos, melty cheese and a little crusty on top..., yes please!! Not overly spicy, just the right amount of kick. Another tick in the win column!

And yes, that is my new Rachael Ray Bubble & Brown, thank you for asking!



and I helped!

Don't judge me, but I got an urge for Shake 'N Bake the other night. Now it has been quite a few years since I have made Shake 'N Bake. Did you know there are  a ton of new flavors available? It's not just chicken or pork anymore people! I was a little overwhelmed, but I ended up deciding on the crispy buffalo. You can never go wrong with spicy, right?! Here are my Crispy Buffalo Chicken Tenders.

To go with my old-school favorite, I decided to spice up my potatoes with a Horseradish Potato Gratin. Smooth, creamy, crispy topping and slightly spicy...definitely not what you normally expect out of a side of potatoes!

Can you see the bubbles of goodness there in the corner? Yum!

For dessert, I tried to go the healthy route, but you would never know these Blueberry Bran Muffins  (something else I haven't had in decades) were low-fat. Sweet, soft, loaded with blueberries, you coulda fooled me!

Throw in a salad, and you've got one heck of a Sunday Supper! (and leftovers for days) It may not seem super-fancy to you, but sometimes going old-school is just the comfort you need on a fall evening. Mmmm, feeling very warm and cozy right now!



silly sausage

I love pizza (who doesn't?) and I adore dips, so why would I not love something called Sausage Pizza Dip?! Yes, it is every bit as good as it sounds! Basically, it's a sausage pizza in a bowl for your dipping pleasure. Take a look at this bubbly magic right out of the oven:

Add some french baguette for dipping...

And you have a lovely plate of dipping deliciousness!

It may not look like much, but it really tasted like eating your favorite takeout pizza! With only a few ingredients, it was simple to make and a sure crowd pleaser!



a little taste of Cali to sweeten my day!

It's no secret I miss Cali pretty much every day; either the friends, the culture or mostly, the food! So I love it when I come across something that brings me back to my Cali days, and the new Eco Yogurt Lounge does just that. Self serve Cali-style healthy frozen yogurt? Yes please! With it's techno music, leather couches and changing neon lights, I can just image this place on a Friday night with all the local college students nearby!

I always go with the California Tart (naturally!) with Strawberries, Granola and Chocolate chips:

Whereas others go for something sweeter:

That's cookies-n-cream yogurt with Oreos, cookie dough and brownie bites for Amanda!

All that love for usually about $3.50. Not bad at all! Not as good as making it at home, but it'll do when I need a sweet treat during the week! ;)