Quesdillas and nachos!

I love making dinner and knowing that the leftovers can be repurposed into a adult snack!  I say adult snack because there will be no shortage of jalepenos on the nachos that will be made!

First I started with sautéing onions, garlic, and red peppers.  I seasoned this with chili powder, salt and pepper.

Once these were tender I set them aside.  Now for the meat; I decided to use ground beef.

I buy the 4lbs package of ground beef from Costco and divide it into 4 portions.   I freeze the beef flat in ziploc bags for easy thawing.

Again I season this the same way as the veggies however I drain this thoroughly before I mix with the veggie mixture.

Last nights Dinner: 

I got my assembly line organized to assemble the quesdillas: 

Whole wheat tortilla shells

Light tex mex cheese mix

Jalepenos

Beef veggie mix

When I'm just making one I use my cast iron pan but when I'm making more than one I use a sheet pan and do them in the oven.

I preheat my oven to 375F on convection.

I put a little olive oil on a parchment lined sheet pan.  I coat the top tortilla shell with a bit of the oil and set aside. Then I place two shells on the pan side by side.

Spread a little cheese

Filling

More cheese (and for mommy and daddy ....jalepenos!)

Top with the top tortilla shell; olive oil side up.

Dance party?!

She can't wait!!!

She made her own; as requested hers had red pepper, mushroom and mozerella cheese.

These took 8-10 minutes

I let them sit for about a minute and then I cut them in wedges.  Serve them with your favourite sauces.  

This is a great easy meal; you can do all the prep ahead of time.  I have even assembled these the night before, wrapped them well and stored them in the fridge.  The next day all you do is pop them in the oven!

Late night nachos:

Tonight we repurposed the beef and veggie mixture for nachos.

Chips

Lightly add Cheese, filling, jalepenos, and then more cheese

We baked these at 400F convection for 3-5 minutes.  

We served this with plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and salsa. 

Perfect late dinner!!!!

And now for my bedtime snack:

Pulled pork in the slow cooker with classic coleslaw

Jeff and I have decided that going to the store with meal ideas in mind will help us make a once a week shopping trip; in a sense; stick to our budget! I don't know about you but we seem to spend a pretty penny on groceries; that being said we are not ones to eat out but still I find myself wondering what the "norm" is as far as a monthly grocery budget for a family of 3?

We purchased a "pork butt" or "picnic shoulder" from the store for $15. This made 6 very generous servings. 

Jeff seared the pork on all sides in a pan and seasoned with salt and pepper.  He set this is the crockpot and covered with the leftover rib sauce we froze from last week.  That being said you could use any diluted BBQ sauce of your choice.  Set it on high in the crockpot and forget about it.

  It should take 5 plus hours but You can also know when it's done by when the bone comes right out. 

Once the bone came out he shredded the meat with a pair of tongs and put it back in the sauce.  He took some of the sauce out and set it aside.  

We are going to let this cool again and freeze it for another time. There is nothing wrong with it; it has just added flavour!

The meat can be as saucy as you prefer; we thought this was a great ratio of meat to sauce.

Jeff said this was so simple with the sauce being pre-done; so if you had to use pre-made sauce this would be a breeze to make!

Now for the coleslaw:

We just bought this bag of coleslaw mix for under $2; to me this is worth it to not have to finely chop everything.

I love my moms coleslaw.  I definitly prefer a vinegar coleslaw over a creamy one but either would be great on a pull pork sandwich.  

This one is simple; equal parts oils, vinegar and sugar with a dash of salt, pepper and fennel seed.

You boil the oil, vinegar and sugar until the sugar is dissolved then pour over the coleslaw mix.

I let this sit in the fridge for a few hours; I like it to slightly soften.

Here's the final product! It did not disappoint.  Aubrey loved the "chicken"; she couldn't get enough!!!!

Ideas to re-purpose the left over pulled pork; quesdillas, nachos, sloppy joes, tacos, salad, meat pie etc. 

Bon appetite!

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with Maldon sea salt

I have a friend coming over tomorrow night for dinner.  We've been emailing over the past while trying to figure out a date to get together.  She had mentioned that she found my blog while looking for some recipes online.  I thought that was so funny; I sometimes wonder who might be reading this! She asked if I could blog about these cookies I used to make all of the time.  

So Pauline; here they are....oatmeal chocolate chip with seasalt!

1cup of soften unsalted butter

1cup white sugar

1cup brown sugar

2eggs

1tsp vanilla

2cups large flake oats

2cups white flour

1tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1tsp Maldon sea salt

2cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375F

First I beat the butter with the paddle.

We mixed in the sugars and beat well and scrape down the sides.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well!!!

Hug break!

Then we dumped in all the dry ingredients at once while the mixer is off and then turn the mixer on and mix well.

Mix in the chocolate chips just until incorporated.

I scooped tablespoon sized balls onto a parchment lined sheet pan.

I flattened these with the palm of my hand before they went into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Don't over bake!!!!!! 

And there you have it; the perfect salty/sweet combination!!!!

Twice baked carrot cake?

I set out; with very good intentions to make a simple carrot cake. This new recipe looked very easy and I had all of the ingredients so I thought I'd give it a chance!

We got two round pans (which now I realize are 8 inch pans) ready by tracing parchment circles to line the pans with.

Then sprayed the sides.

As far as the cake batter went I mixed all the wet ingredients and then added in the dry ingredients.  For some reason this recipe said to beat for 2 minutes. I have never seen that in a cake recipe before, usually you see "don't over beat!!!!"; but I followed the directions.

Then we mixed in the shredded carrots just until combined. 

Filled our pans.

Bake them at 325 F for 45 minutes....

Meanwhile; I started the icing. I beat the butter and creamcheese until smooth.  I added in the icing sugar, scraped down the sides and then added the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy!

Taste test!

Twenty minutes into the cakes baking time we all of a sudden smelt something....

The recipe called for two 9 inch pans or one 11x13....I guess the inch makes a difference....note to self for future reference.  However I would like to be able to tell you that this was the first time this has happened; unfortunately I cannot!

I quickly decided to try and save them; I needed to take a dessert to my moms for dinner and I really hate wasting good ingredients!

I threw the par-cooked batter in a bowl and mixed it well.

I poured the batter into a greased 9x13 pan.

I got Aubrey to do a puzzle while I quickly turned the oven off and tried to grab the burnt cake droppings from the bottom of the oven before they caught on fire. Trust me it's happened before! Good thing I had put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack in the oven; that saved me a little trouble. 

40 minutes later the cake was ready.  Hoping for the best I let it cool and then iced it.  Everything is better with cream cheese icing!

Moment of truth:

It was delicious, not sure what it normally tastes like but this turned out amazing.  Kind of had a carrot "brownie" quality to it. We all agreed it was delicious.  Normally baking mistakes can't be saved as easily as when you're cooking but I really persevered!  I'm so glad I didn't just throw it out and forget about it.  I have been known to do that before.