Happy July 4th, let's celebrate with Tortas!

Yesterday was July 4th and we had delicious burgers to celebrate.  And they were fatty and yummy.  But today I felt like cooking a festive meal because, why not?  And I had the day off so I had time to plan.   What is a Torta you ask?  It's a Mexican sandwich.  I decided to make Tortas because I am a Mexican-American!  (And it just sounded good.) Just like any other sandwich the ingredients can vary widely, but I love to make mine with slow cooked shredded pork, mashed black beans, and a chili lime mayo.  Also, I love to throw extra veggies in wherever possible so I pretty much put everything in my veggie drawer in this meal. 

Shredded Pork Tortas

Shredded Pork
1 lb pork shoulder or a fatty cut of pork loin
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 dried oregano
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 onion
2 garlic cloves 
1/2 large mushroom
1 Tablespoon butter

Mashed Black Beans
1 15oz can black beans
1/2 large mushroom
1/4 green bell pepper
1 Tablespoon butter
 Salt and Pepper

Chili Lime Mayo
1/4 cup mayo
1 Tablespoon lime juice
7-10 drops of Tapatio sauce

1 large fat crusty baguette (or better yet go to a Mexican store and ask for a loaf of Torta bread)
1 tomato
1/2 cup lettuce
1/2 cup cheddar or pepper jack cheese (Or use both on your Torta!)

 Now I know that it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it really isn't all that complicated and just takes a little bit of time.  I try to give my meat as least three hours to slow cook.  So I would say plan on about 3 and 1/2 hours from the fridge to mouth.

For the pork start by putting some olive oil in a dutch oven on medium heat.  Season the pork liberally with all of the spices listed above.  Put the pork in the pan and sear the meat for about two minutes on each side.  The point of this is just to get a little color on the pork, not to cook the pork quickly.  Chop the onion, mince the garlic cloves, and thinly slice the mushroom.  Next add the water, onion, garlic, and about half the tomato sauce.  I like to braise the meat, so you only want to fill the pot up to 3/4 the height of the meat.  Put the lid on and turn the heat down to low or just barely medium low.  Let it go for at least 3 hours.  At this point I usually watch trashy TV, but I should probably be cleaning the kitchen and prepping everything else.  Once that three hour window is about up, take the lid off the meat.  The pork should be easy to pull apart with your hands.  At this point add the remainder of the tomato sauce and throw the mushroom  in the pot.  Place the lid just slightly off center so the steam can slowly start to escape.  Leave the pork like this for another 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan heat up the black beans on medium heat.  While the beans are heating up thinly slice up half a mushroom and chop up the bell pepper.  Throw those veggies into the bean mixture and season with salt and pepper.  Add 1 tablespoon butter.  Next mash up everything in the saucepan with either a potato masher, a fork, or my personal favorite option....an old school egg beater.  I inherited one from my grandmother and I find it works really well for making mashed beans!  Turn the heat down to low and let the beans sit there until it is time to assemble the Torta.

In a small bowl add mayo, lime juice, and tapato sauce and mix together.  Set aside!  That is really all it takes and the mayo tastes so good!

Grate the cheese(s) and set aside.  When I am not pregnant I love to use Mexican queso-fresco instead of the hard cheeses, but this tasted amazing as well.  Place the bread in a 200 degree oven to warm for about five minutes.

Now back to the meat.  Take the pork out of the braising mixture and place on a cutting board.  Crank up the heat on the braising mixture to medium-high and add a tablespoon of butter so that the sauce starts to tighten up a little bit.  Shred the pork either with your hands or if it is too hot, with two forks.  After the braising mixture has reduced for about 5 minutes return the pork to the pot and turn the heat down to low.  The shredded meat should soak up all those extra juices.  This is really what makes the meat taste so good.

Now we are ready to assemble.  Cut the warm bread down the middle and tear out some to the middle of the bread so you have more room for all the sandwich fillings.  On the bottom half of the bread spread a thick layer of mashed beans and then put a thick layer of the shredded pork onto it.  Next add the grated cheese so it melts into the hot pork.  Add the tomatoes.  On the top half of the bread liberally spread the chili lime mayo and then fill in the hole you dug in the bread with lettuce.  Carefully place the top of bread onto the pork and bean side, give it a good smash and enjoy! 

So next time you want a sandwich think about making a Torta!

Keep Tasting

Sausage Lasagna!

What, two posts in a week?!  Unheard of.  Anyway I just had to tell you about the fatty goodness of Sausage Lasagna. Now normally when you make lasagna at home, people follow the recipe on the back of the box and use ground beef or if they want to be healthier, they use ground turkey.  Both choices are great, but that deep extra fat of sausage adds so much more flavor to the meal.  My husband and I once ate an entire 9x13 pan in one night.  Remind me to check my cholesterol at some point soon.  I think that sometimes homemade lasagna can be intimidating because of all the steps involved, but really if you just follow the recipe on the back of most noodle boxes and you will be fine.  And a bonus, unless you have no self-control like me and my husband, you should have days of leftovers!  So you have been warned, this is in no way a healthy meal, but hey, treat yourself once in a while! 

 

Sausage Lasagna 

1 lb ground sausage (I love Jimmy Dean's Sage or Maple)

1  8oz package no boil lasagna noodles

1 26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce (I love Newman's One or Classico brands)

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

 1/4 onion

4-6 Brussels sprouts

15oz ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley leaves

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper

1/2 chili powder

3 cups mozzarella cheese

 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook the sausage until brown.  Chopped onion and Brussels sprouts into small pieces.  Now at this point I would normally drain the pan of any excess fat, but not this time.  

Yummy fatty sausage

In the same seasoned pan (I used my dutch oven) add the jar of spaghetti sauce, the can of tomato sauce, chopped onion and chopped Brussels sprouts.  I like the have a lot of sauce in my lasagna so occasionally I will add a second can of tomato sauce or even just a little bit of water to ensure there is plenty of sauce to go around.  there really is nothing worse  I just add those few veggies to make myself feel better about using a pound of sausage in this recipe!  

Spaghetti, Veggie, and Sausage sauce

In a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, sour cream, egg and all the spices.  I like to add the sour cream because I think it makes the ricotta cheese a little bit smoother and its high fat content adds a little extra richness to the dish.  I add a few extra spices because I think that ricotta cheese can be slightly bland, and those spices really pump up the flavors in the cheese layer.  

Finally grate the mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese.  Set aside.  Most recipes call for 4 cups of mozzarella, but that is a lot of cheese!  I find that 3 cups is plenty for this lasagna!

Now is the fun part, layering the lasagna!  Using a 9x13 inch pan (I prefer to use glass pans) line the bottom with a small amount the spaghetti/sausage mixture.  Place 3 pieces of the no-boil noodles in  the pan.  Thoroughly cover each piece of lasagna with the ricotta/sour cream mixture.  Then cover with more of spaghetti sauce and finally top with a handful of mozzarella cheese.  Add another layer of noodles and repeat the whole process two more times.  At this point you should be out of ricotta mixture and only have three noodles left.  Put those noodles onto and add the remaining spaghetti sauce followed by the rest of the mozzarella and top with the Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off and then bake for an additional 15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and gooey.  Remove from the oven and let stand for at least 5 minutes.  This is often the longest 5 minutes of the process for me, but if the lasagna does not stand it will slide all over the place.

Enjoy the Lasagna

Keep Tasting,

Pickles, Lemonade, and Duck Eggs: My current preggo cravings!

I drank almost a gallon of Newman's own all natural lemonade in a week.  And I am addicted to the never heated Claussen pickles.  I went through a whole jar in week. And I usually don't really have any opinion on pickles.  I don't dislike them, but I have never gone out of my way to eat them plain.  And now I am ordering them on the side at restaurants!  But hey, I want what I want right now!  The lady who does my eyebrows says I am having a girl because of my cravings.  Who knows, I already have a boy name picked out, so now I am starting to think of girl names.

Now to the point of this blog post.  Duck eggs!  Now I didn't intend to start loving duck eggs but they quite strangely popped up in my life.  My husband works as a commercial glazier.  That means he installs glass in commercial buildings (think buildings like airports, all glass entry ways, new high rise construction, etc.)  Anyway, in the course of his work he meets lots of different people from architects to electricians and sheet metal workers.  Last week he comes home with a carton of duck eggs!  I was like, what the.....  But then I fried one up and it was delicious.  Duck eggs are fluffier, fattier, and bigger than chicken eggs.  And they have more nutrients and Omega-3 fatty acids than chicken eggs!  They are supposed to be great for baking, so I will have the try that very soon.  And my husband got them from a sheet metal guy who raises organic farm fresh eggs so they are way better than the caged eggs you can buy at the grocery store.  I am hooked on them.  I have been about 5 eggs a week.  My favorite way to eat duck eggs is in a delicious duck egg sandwich.

Delicious Duck Egg Sandwich
2 pieces thick cut whole wheat bread
1 over hard duck egg
1/2 a roma tomato sliced
1 half classen pickle thinly sliced
1 think slice sharp cheddar cheese
miracle whip

Basically I just make sure the egg is thoroughly cooked through, melt the cheese onto of the egg and construct a sandwich.  And the funny thing is I usually don't even like miracle whip!

Anyway if you get the chance to try some duck eggs please do!

P.S. Pregnant or fat?

Keep Tasting,

What to eat when you are expecting (A hungry pregnant girl's rant)

Hello,

 

So I have taken a long hiatus from food blogging because I am pregnant!  I am a little over 14 weeks pregnant today!  I am excited and terrified.  And I have found the pregnancy and food are strange bedfellows. Sometimes they agree, and sometimes they have angry fights in my head and in my stomach.
 In my head I fight a new fear of food that I have never had before.  I have never ever worried about food borne illnesses, and now I have to worry about them for the sake of the lemon sized fetus inside me!  And I have had my episodes of food fear lately.  Did you know that listeria can possibly be on every vegetable and in soft-serve frozen yogurt, soft cheeses, and humus?  And apparently listeria is bad whilst pregnant.  So everything needs to be washed or avoided.  I can pretty much say that in the last few months I have pretty much unknowingly eaten every food you are not supposed to eat.  Yesterday I accidentally ate some sausage that looked a teeny tiny bit pink.  It was blackened on the grill and my husband has patiently been telling me that I am fine, but I still worry.  The grill literally caught fire so I think I might be okay, but this nagging fear sticks in my head.  And then I go on the internet and Dr. Google convinces me that no matter what I do I am wrong and I have caused irreparable harm to myself and my baby.  My husband and my family have all threatened to cancel my internet and take away my smart phone! But my husband has been so great and supportive listening to my crazy worries about everything involving this pregnancy!  I am secretly praying that I have the immunity to toxoplasmosis.  Toxoplasmosis is really bad to get when you are pregnant unless you already got it from eating undercooked or raw meat.  Let's hope all my years of eating raw meat has paid off with this disease. You can also get it from cats, but I hate cats, so at least I don't really have to worry about those things.  The list of worries goes on and on, so it is hard not to be a little afraid every time I sit down to eat.
But since I am pregnant I am always hungry.  Thankfully I had very minimal nausea, instead my healthy appetite just got better and bigger.  And I have a new fondness for lemonade and olives.  Lots and lots of lemonade.  Coincidentally I have the worse heartburn ever!  And I am so tired all of the time.  The absolute last thing that I want to do is stand in a kitchen and cook.  All I want to do is eat and sleep.  What am I supposed to do?  I have to keep eating, especially since I am eating for two!  So I will be blogging my steps and missteps of eating (and not drinking) while pregnant.  Pray for me that at the end of all this I wont be too fat, my marriage will be intact, and we will have a healthy baby!
I was going to write about my homemade tacos, but let's be real, I haven't made those since March.  Before I knew about the growing bundle inside me.  Lately I have been eating lots of chips, salsa, ritz crackers with nutella, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, candy, ice cream, fried eggs, salmon, and salads.  My husband is good at making salads and cooking salmon!  I make sure everything is thoroughly washed in the salads though! 
Today though I had just enough energy to make a semi-homemade meal.  I browned some chicken legs in my beloved dutch oven.  I added some chopped onions, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts to the pot and let them cook down for a few  and then poured some organic red lentil curry soup (I will have to write another blog about my new fondness for organic box soups).   I let the meat and soup cook together or another 15 minutes.  I removed the bone and skin from the chicken legs and made an enhanced boxed soup!  I cooked some orzo to add a little more texture and carbs to the meal.  I added a dollop of sour cream and it was actually really good.

I make no guarantees, but I will try to update more as my hunger and my stomach continue to grow in the next few months.  And after this baby is born in November, I have already asked my husband to have a plate of blue cheese, a rare steak, and a big old glass of red wine waiting for me in the hospital!

Keep Tasting,

Tears and well done meat

I have to admit, I have been a little scared of food lately.  Recently I found out that there are so many things I cannot eat.  Pretty much everything I love is now off limits. And now some of my favorite foods make me sick.  And cooking a steak well done actually brings me to tears.  Today I barbecued steak and I literally just stared at my husband's perfectly medium-rare steak and tried not to get tears on my well done meat.

 And on top of that, we got a new stove and apparently when you buy a new stove they put all of sorts of crazy chemicals that have to be cooked off.  And we bought a good brand, it's not like it was some cheap knockoff.  So I used the self-cleaning function, like the manual said, to burn off the smell and it stunk up my house!  And it worried me.  I am still worried actually.  I was out of the house the whole time, but I am worried that I somehow smelled too many harmful fumes.  Who knew I was such a hippie? Now I am scared to turn on the oven!

So right now I am in a weird place, I still have a desire to cook and eat, but I am suddenly very nervous about most things I am putting in my mouth.  Or smell. I have never in my life thought about whether something was cleaned properly (I actually have a soft spot for dive eateries), or cooked thoroughly (in fact my motto has always been the rarer the better).  Half the reason I bake so much is to eat the raw dough, or batter!  I have been known to literally drink cake batter.  Sooooooooo good.   

I will get back into blogging, cooking, and eating soon.  Hopefully I will start to worry less, a lot less, and find ways to survive these new dietary restrictions.

Keep tasting and have a glass of wine for me!

Salmon, Salad, and S'more Pie. An Anniversary Dinner

Today is my second wedding anniversary!  We sort of eloped a year after meeting each other.  A year and 10 days to be exact. Well I saw him at work and I tracked him down, but that's a whole other blog post.  We went to the courthouse with our families and I wore a red dress and it was fabulous!  We threw a big party a few months later and the whole thing was just amazing and relatively stress less. 

Eating carrot cake after our wedding

 So for our first anniversary we went to Peru as honeymoon/anniversary celebration.  How do you top that for your second year?  Well, we bought a house!  Peru had been my dream since I was in the 6th grade, and my husband has wanted to own a house forever so we are accomplishing both of our dreams.  Since we just closed on the house a week ago, we decided that a dinner at home would be great and cost-effective way to celebrate our anniversary.   We had to celebrate a day early because of my husband's job, but it was quite the celebration nonetheless. Whilst my husband finished clean out our old rental, I cooked a feast.  Clearly I got the better task!

Our new house!

My husband is on a salad and healthy fish craze (I thought I would never see that happen) so I centered the meal around that.  I made a big salad, pan seared wild salmon with a sweet and sour chutney and homemade yogurt tarter sauce.  I also made a broccoli, cheese, and potato casserole.  Because I cannot have a meal without cheese.  And I absolutely love S'mores so I have been craving them since I bought some graham crackers and a brownie mix on a whim last week.  So I decided to make an impossible easy S'more pie for dessert. 
Let's start with dessert because life is short, eat dessert first! 

S'more pie

S'more Pie
One package Graham crackers
1 stick of butter
Favorite brownie mix or homemade brownies
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Graham crackers come in a box with about four plastic packages containing whole graham crackers inside.   Just open one of those and dump all of them into a large Ziploc bag. Take a rolling pin and take out some of your aggression and smash those Graham crackers until they are in small crumbs.  Melt one stick of butter on the stove.  Take out a 9" inch pie pan.  Glass is my favorite, but metal will do.  Pour the Graham cracker crumbs and the melted butter in the pie pan and mix together.  Then press the Graham cracker/butter mix into the pie pan and up the sides to make the crust.  I like a crispy crust so I like to pop the pie pan in the oven for a few minutes, but it isn't necessary. 

Now I hate boxed cakes, and cookies, but I have soft spot for good brownie mixes.  And they were on sale for 98 cents the other day so I bought a box.  Or two.  I use Pillsbury or Ghiradelli mixes.  I prepared the brownie mixture as instructed and threw in about 1/4 cup butterscotch chips.  Bake for about 30 minutes, and then I pressed the mini marshmallows on top of the brownie mix and let the pie bake for an additional 5-7 minutes.  In a small sauce pan melt the butterscotch chips with a little bit of butter and drizzle over the pie.  Enjoy!

Our anniversary meal

Pan-seared Salmon

1 pound wild salmon, filleted

Lemon juice

Lemon pepper

Dill Weed

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Salmon is actually really easy to make.  Salmon tastes amazing on its own, and you can pretty much season it anyway your want to, so I like to keep it relatively simple.  My aunt, uncle, and two cousins are all in the salmon fishing industry in Alaska and this spice recipe comes from them and has never let me down.  Simply marinate your salmon fillets in a little bit of lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper for about 15 minutes. 

Never marinate anything with lemon juice or citric acid for too long because the acid will start to break down the meat and cook it.  Ever heard of ceviche?  Ceviche is made from raw fish that is marinated, i.e. cooked in citric acid.  So 15 minutes is about perfect to get the flavor without cooking your salmon in lemon juice.

Heat a large saute pan to medium high and pour a generous amount of olive oil and a little butter in the pan.  When everything is sizzling place salmon fillets skin side down.  Turn pan down to medium and generously sprinkle lemon pepper and dill weed all over your salmon.  I like to add a little more salt as well.  Add a little bit of water and a tiny bit more lemon juice to the pan and cover.  Let cook for 5-8 minutes until the salmon has turned a lighter pink. 

Yogurt Tarter Sauce

Plain Greek yogurt

salt

pepper

onion powder

garlic powder

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped pickles

So easy, so good, and so much better for you than store bought tarter sauce.  Just mix everything together and chill until you are ready to serve

Sweet and Sour Chutney

1/4 onion

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

I got this recipe for The New Best Recipe: America's Test Kitchen.  I wanted to do something a little different because it was our anniversary after all.  Combine all the spices into a small dish and set aside.  Finely chop onion and saute in the olive oil  in a small saucepan at medium heat.  Cook onions until translucent, about 3 or 4 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-high and toss in spice mix.  Cook for an additional 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until the spices start to smell strongly.  Add in red wine vinegar, sugar, and water.  Let the mixture simmer until it reduces.  Serve as a topping for the salmon.  Be cautious though, a little goes a long way with this spicy concoction!

Broccoli, Cheese, and Potato Casserole

One head of broccoli

2 red potatoes

1/4 chopped onion

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup grated cheddar

Dash of nutmeg

Breadcrumbs

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop all the vegetables into bite sized pieces.  Place in a small casserole dish.  Now make a rue!  I've never made one successfully, but it wasn't that hard this time.  In a small sauce pan melt butter and then add flour and whisk thoroughly until mixture darkens.  Slowly add milk, nutmeg and grated cheddar.  Mix until blended and pour over the veggies.  Top with breadcrumbs, over and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the potato is soft.  Take off the cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes until the breadcrumbs create a nice crust. 

Serve, hot, bubbly and delicious.

Lastly make a large salad, I throw every vegetable I can in a salad.  I love to add nuts, cheeses, and dried cranberries on top.

It was quite the dinner and great way to celebrate our marriage and our new home!

Keep tasting,

Best Pizza Place ever!

Now I usually think that I can make most things rather well, but there is a pizza place in Yelm, WA that makes the best pizza I have ever had.  And I know when I've been beat, and their pizza is just better than anything I can ever make. 

My camera phone does not do this place justice

So if you are ever in Yelm or Olympia then please do yourself a favor and stop by La Gitana Pizzeria.  http://pizzerialagitana.com/wordpress/.  I think part of the reason is their food is so amazing is because the owners are a family from Italy.  They grew up around the world's best pizza and by the sweet grace of God they have brought their expertise and the finest ingredients to me!  They import all their meats, olives, and oils from Italy.  And they make this perfectly crisp and thin crust that I cannot even dream of replicating.  And to top it off they put their pizzas in large, warm, woodfire oven which cooks all those pizzas to perfection. 

Did I mention they have great Italian wine as well!

So do yourself a favor an stop by their Yelm or Olympia restaurants.  And don't forget to save room for dessert.  They have a tiramisu to die for.

Keep Tasting,