Quesadilla "Pie"

This meal idea was shameless swiped from my stepsister, Anne, who made something similar for our whole family a few weeks ago. My husband absolutely loved it, and he's been pestering me ever since to make my own version. With a little help from Betty Crocker's fajita chicken marinade, I have to say I whipped up a winner. Next time, I'm going to add black beans, too; I think they'd be really good in this.

I served the "pie" with tortilla chips and homemade guacamole. I don't have a recipe for the guacamole; in addition to the staple ingredients (avocados, cilantro and lime juice), I just use whatever I have on hand: usually some combination of red onion, garlic, tomatoes, sour cream and Frank's Red Hot. This meal was delicious -- so filling, yet the guacamole made it so refreshing at the same time.


Quesadilla "Pie"
Source: "pie" adapted from Anne; marinade from The Betty Crocker Cookbook

For the chicken marinade:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the "pie":

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package flour tortillas (8 tortillas)
2 jars medium salsa
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
1 can fiesta corn, drained

1. Cut chicken into chunks (for easier shredding) and marinate for at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours. Cook chicken in a skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink; set aside to cool. Shred cooled chicken.

2. Preheat oven to 350º.

3. To assemble the pie, place one flour tortilla on a nonstick baking sheet. Top with salsa, chicken, corn and cheese. Repeat layers so that the stack is 4 tortillas high. On the top tortilla, use salsa and cheese only. Repeat process with a second pie.

Family-Favorite Macaroni and Cheese

There are some recipes that are timeless for one reason and one reason only: They are just that good. Betty Crocker's macaroni and cheese is one of those recipes for me. I've made countless variations of this classic comfort food, and yet I always come back to Betty's mac and cheese. It just can't be beat. I made it again one night last week to go along with the pork "butt roast" Joe cooked on the grill all day long (YUM), and Joe promptly declared it the best mac and cheese I've ever made. Thank you, Betty! I only have a couple of additions/changes to this recipe, which are in purple as usual.


Family-Favorite Macaroni and Cheese
Source: Betty Crocker (also found in The Betty Crocker Cookbook)

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (7 ounces)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 ounces) (I use a blend of all kinds of cheeses, usually about 3 cups' worth instead of 2, and I always use a little bit of Velveeta and some cream cheese to make this even creamier)
1 sleeve crushed Ritz crackers
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 350º.

2. Cook macaroni as directed on package.

3. While macaroni is cooking, melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constanly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheese. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted.

4. Drain macaroni. Gently stir macaroni into cheese sauce. Pour into ungreased 2-quart casserole. Mix Ritz crackers with melted butter and sprinkle over the top. Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Blueberry Crunch Cake

A young couple recently moved into the house next door, and I wanted to make them something to say "welcome to the neighborhood." (I say "young couple" as though my husband and I are elderly, don't I? What I mean is they're just younger than us -- as is evidenced by the two rather rowdy parties they've had so far. Joe and I are waaaaay past the rowdy party stage.) I wanted to make something for Joe, Andrew and I to take over so that we can introduce ourselves and so that they can see we have a baby, which I'm hoping will make them think twice about playing their music at full volume every night.

ANYWAY! I will give them a chance to get settled in before I judge too much. I found a recipe in Paula Deen's magazine for a "dump cake" of sorts that sounded absolutely delicious. I decided to try it out on my husband and our best friends before I sent it off to the neighbors, which turned out to be good for us but absolutely unnecessary: This cake was delicious. I should have known Paula would never fail me! This is probably one of the tastiest and definitely the easiest cake I've ever made. No dirty dishes! No mixing or measuring of any kind required!

I loved it with the blueberry pie filling, but Paula says you can try it with any fruit filling: strawberry, blackberry, cherry or peach. I love the crumbly quality of the cake and pecan layer, which works so well with the sweet juiciness of the pineapple and blueberry. I can't say enough about this cake; I've made my whole family try a piece, and they all love it too. It's such a refreshing summer dessert (although it's very rich, not light by any means!). (The cake is delicious topped with whipped cream, too, but then: what isn't delicious topped with whipped cream?)

So welcome to the neighborhood, new neighbors...Keep your damn music down!

(LOVE YOU, Paula!)



Blueberry Crunch Cake
Source: Cooking with Paula Deen, July/August 2008, page 63

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in juice
1 21-ounce can blueberry pie filling
1 box butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Pour pineapple with juice into a 9 x 13 baking dish; spread evenly over bottom of dish. Sppn pie filling evenly over pineapple.

3. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pie filling; level with a fork. Sprinkle pecans evenly over cake mix; drizzle with melted butter.

4. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until browned and bubbly.

Smothered Mexican Pork Chops

This meal was neither good nor bad. There was nothing particularly fantastic about it, and it probably wasn't something I'll rush to make again, but the pork chops had good flavor. Overall, a pretty decent dinner. It was so easy to throw together and required such minimal clean-up, so that alone means a lot in this house! I served the pork chops with rice a la Chipotle: with lots of cilantro, and some lime zest tossed in for good measure. As usual, my changes are in purple.


Smothered Mexican Pork Chops
Source: Taste of Home Cooking School 50th Anniversary Cookbook, page 142

4 boneless pork chops (1/2 inch thick)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, undrained
1/2 cup medium chunky salsa
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 16-ounce can black beans, undrained (I drained about half the liquid from mine)
1 16-ounce package frozen broccoli, corn, and red pepper combination (I omitted)
1 16-ounce can fiesta corn

1. In a large skillet over high heat, cook pork in oil fro 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Add tomatoes, salsa, chili powder and cumin; reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Uncover; add beans and corn to skillet. Arrange pork on top of vegetables.

3. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until pork is no longer pink.

Shells Stuffed with Sausage, Spinach and Artichokes

Sometimes I surprise myself with how tasty some of my kitchen creations are. I don't just "make up" recipes very often; I usually use cookbooks or the internet and then add or change ingredients as I see fit.

That being said -- I don't know where I dreamed this recipe up, and I was surprised by how well it turned out. I think the idea for it started with the spinach artichoke dip I made a couple of weeks ago. I started thinking how good spinach and artichokes would be with pasta in a creamy cheesy sauce, but instead of just making a plain pasta dish, I decided to stuff some pasta shells. Hence, this creation.

I used a whole box of jumbo pasta shells and a large container of ricotta cheese, so I had a lot of both left over -- much more than just Joe and I could eat. I went ahead and made about half for us, then froze the other half for a future meal. I'll be interested to see how well they froze. (Incidentally, we loved this with sausage -- but ground chicken or turkey would probably be good in here too, and much more figure-friendly!)


Shells Stuffed with Sausage, Spinach and Artichokes
Source: Cassie

1 box jumbo pasta shells
1 pound Italian sausage
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
2 cups Italian-blend shredded cheese
3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta shells according to package directions, just to al dente; drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

2. Brown sausage in a medium skillet; remove from heat and let cool.

3. In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, spinach and artichokes. Add cooled sausage to mixture.

4. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When butter is melted, stir in flour. Continue to stir and cook for one minute until flour is thoroughly combined. Add milk and cook until sauce begins to thicken. Add cheeses to sauce, along with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Stuff each shell with the ricotta mixture and place in a greased baking dish. Pour sauce over stuffed shells. Cover with aluminum foil and cook in a 350° oven until sauce begins to bubble, about 30 to 45 minutes.