Addicted to the Food Network!

Monday, December 13, 2010

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!



Friday, December 10, 2010

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!





Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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! ;)