The first recipe I tried out was “Beef and Bean Tamale Pie.” Basically, it’s chili with cornbread on top. You cook the whole thing in the crockpot, and the chili juices soak up into the bread. It turned out great!

Beef and Bean Tamale Pie

I changed the recipe around a bit. First of all, they called for cornbread mix, but I made my bread from scratch. Also, I wanted more fresh ingredients than they called for, so I added a pepper and some tomatoes. Also, the recipe was originally for a 3 1/2 to 4 quart cooker. Mine is bigger, so I increased some ingredients. So here goes:

Beef and Bean Tamale Pie

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 15-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 10-oz can enchilada sauce (I used a “tomato and chiles” sauce)
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes, juice included
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until beef is thoroughly cooked. Drain and place in slow cooker. Stir in beans, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, and bell pepper.

• 1 1/2 c cornmeal
• 1/2 c flour (gluten-free folks can probably substitute cornmeal)
• 1 t sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c buttermilk (or milk with vinegar)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c cheddar cheese
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (include the seeds if you want it more spicy)

Mix all ingredients except cheese and jalapeno together, beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Stir in cheese and pepper. Pour into slow cooker over top of beef mixture.

Cook on low setting for 5-6 hours, or until bread is done. Cornbread is done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Serve topped with sour cream and chopped green onions.

I wasn’t in the mood tonight for any of my tried-and-true recipes.  But I also wasn’t in the mood to buy expensive ingredients or make anything too involved.  Which means it was the perfect time to look through my 1970’s Betty Crocker cookbook.  I found a recipe called “Tomato-Pepper Chicken” which was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to make.

Chicken ready to simmer in tomato sauce

Basically, you bread the chicken, brown it in shortening (so 70’s!),  cook up the peppers and onions, add tomatoes, mushrooms, and tomato sauce, then simmer the chicken until it’s cooked.  It turned out great, but here are some changes I’ll make next time.  1) Use less shortening. Maybe even replace it with olive oil. 2) Use chicken thigh fillets instead of leg pieces to cut down on the fat from the skin, and to make it easier to eat.

Dinner is served! Mixed greens and fresh mozzarella on the side.

While I was making this and while I ate it, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald on Spotify.  It was a pretty perfect night!

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Cookies

The card I stole from Mom's recipe box

Cream together:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs

Stir in:

• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Shape into balls and place on cookie sheet. Mark the tops with a fork.

Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until light brown on the edges.

Melt and drizzle on top of the cookies:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening (helps to smooth it out)

Refrigerate a bit to let the chocolate harden, then enjoy!

Nonie’s Overnight Oatmeal Bread

1. Dissolve:

• 1 pkg (2 1/4 t) yeast
• 1/2 c warm water

2. Combine in separate bowl & let sit 10 minutes:

• 2 c boiling water
• 1 c quick-cook oatmeal
• 6 T butter

3. Add to oatmeal mixture:

• 1/2 c sugar -or- 1/3 c honey (I used honey)
• 1 1/2 t salt

4. Add yeast mixture

5. Mix in gradually until dough forms:

• 4-5 c flour (I used part white, part wheat)

6. Let rise in greased bowl about 2 hours

7. Punch down and knead until smooth & elastic (I think I overdid the kneading)

8. Form loaves and let rise in 2 pans about an hour (should about double in size…make sure you have it in a warm place)

9. Preheat oven to 450º

10. Bake 10 min at 450º

11. Bake about 30-35 min at 350º

Note: the “Overnight” part is totally optional, but if you want to leave the pans in the fridge overnight, then let them rise in the morning, you can.  Nonie said she didn’t see any advantage to that, so she just makes & bakes in the same afternoon.

- Saute yellow squash, onions, and garlic in olive oil
- Sprinkle with salt and red curry powder to taste (I used McCormick brand)
- Add a can of kidney beans (drained)
- Serve over brown rice

Yum!

By the way, I’m not scared of salt like Jenny is.  Seriously, who rinses their canned beans?

“How was your trip?” (How can I summarize 11 weeks in 7 countries in just a few sentences?)

“What was your favorite place?” (How can I choose one favorite?  Every place had things I loved about it.  Seriously, I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of it.)

“Wasn’t the food wonderful?” (Yes and no.  I was traveling on a budget, so I ate a lot of sandwiches, yogurt, and trail mix.)

Still, I can tell you what my favorite restaurant was: Taverna Basca Irati in Barcelona.

This was the only place that had me wishing I had more time in the city so I could come back to the restaurant. This Taverna serves Basque ”pintxos” – which are open-faced sandwiches with a delightful variety of toppings. You stand at the bar (Mediterraneans think sitting is overrated), ask for “Un plato, por favor” then take your pick of the beautiful array of sandwiches displayed along the bar.  At the end, they count your toothpicks in order to charge you about 2 Euros per sandwich.

I loved this place because the ingredients were high-quality and super fresh.  Also I loved the system where you could eat whatever you fancied instead of having a portion of food that may be too big or too small.  I often was not able to finish what I was served while I was traveling.

Mouth-watering Basque sandwiches

I found out about Taverna Basca Irati from my Rick Steves travel book.  As I was traveling alone, I considered Rick to be my travel buddy.  I met a lot of other Rick Steves fans on the road, and we had fun swapping tips, or even following the same walking tours together.  We love you, Rick!

French Baguettes with Brie and Raspberry Sauce

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

I tried my hand at making homemade baguettes after finding this recipe.  I made them for my Mom’s birthday party.  We actually ate the bread as dessert rather than cake.  To go with it, I bought some brie and made raspberry sauce:

• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 4-6 tablespoons sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• a few mint leaves, torn into small pieces

I put the raspberries into a small saucepan with the water and sugar and cooked them over medium.  While they were cooking, I continuously stirred them and added the honey, lemon juice, and mint leaves.  The raspberries quickly lost their shape and became part of the sauce.  I brought the sauce to boiling for a short time, but mostly I let it steam and cook down until it thickened a bit.  Taste the sauce to see if it needs more sugar – the raspberries can be really tart!

I served this by slicing the bread and placing a couple of pieces on each plate with slices of brie and a serving of raspberry sauce.  Everyone had fun combining the pieces as they ate.

Candy Sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

I simply had to try this when my friend tweeted about making Rice Krispy sushi.  I used this recipe (using Fruit By the Foot instead of fruit leather), which made a lot of pieces!  I thought it would be too sweet with all that candy, but the Rice Krispies helped to balance out the strong flavors.  Besides, it was really cute, and that’s all that matters in this case!

First I mixed up the crepe batter, which I refrigerated while I prepared the other ingredients.  Here’s the recipe I used:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 c water
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 c flour
• 1/4 t salt

Mix the wet ingredients together first: that makes it easier to stir in the flour.  Beat until smooth, then put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.  You may need to add more milk to get the batter runny enough.  My first couple of crepes were more like pancakes.

Shrimp ready to be peeled

Next I boiled the shrimp (I boiled 2 pounds, but used less than half a pound) and sautéed the spinach just until it was wilted.  I peeled the shrimp and diced it, and cut the spinach into smaller pieces.  I made a creamy filling out of 3 ounces of softened cream cheese and about half a cup of sour cream, which I mixed with powdered garlic and ground mustard.  Mmm the mustard made the filling slightly spicy.

I prepared the crepes (I don’t want to go into detail about that process).  Next I spread the filling on them and placed various combinations of spinach, shrimp, and feta cheese on top.  I rolled up the completed crepes, and they were ready to eat.  Yummy!

This crepe had fresh spinach, feta, and the creamy filling.

Anyway, this is what I made:

• 3 small tilapia fillets
• 1 onion
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 2-3 T pesto
• 1 T olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Spaghetti noodles
• Mozzarella cheese

Tilapia Pasta

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in olive oil, then added in the fillets.  I was amazed at how fast fish cooks!  I’m used to working with chicken or ground beef. Next I mixed in pesto and squeezed lemon juice over everything. Meanwhile I boiled the spaghetti, which I added to the frying pan so it could cook with the sauté for a while (I learned this trick from The Splendid Table).  Wow, it was good!  I served it with mozzarella cheese melted on top.

See, I made this pie for a party. And this party had a ton of sweets. Everyone was handed a little molten chocolate cake (which tasted awesome, by the way) at the beginning of the party. After molten chocolate cake, how could anyone have room for peppermint pie? Sadly, only two or three pieces of my pie got eaten. It was disappointing to see my beautiful pie cut up and melting (it needs to be refrigerated) and not even being eaten.  This may seem silly, but it really was an unfortunate situation.

Pink Peppermint Pie

Anyway, the recipe is awesome, and I hope your experience with this pie will be better fated than mine. I found this recipe in Betty Crocker (the copy from the 70’s that my parents gave me for my 15th birthday). Here it is:

• Oreo crust (I made my own)
• 24 large marshmallows
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/8 t salt
• 6 drops peppermint extract
• 6 drops red food color
• 1 c chilled whipping cream
• 2 T crushed peppermint candy

Bake pie crust.  Heat marshmallows and milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, salt, peppermint extract, and food color.  Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon.

Beat whipping cream in chilled bowl until stiff.  Stir marshmallow mixture until blended; fold into whipping cream.  Pour into crust.  Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

In order to decorate this, I melted chocolate chips (about 1/3 cup) with shortening (about a tablespoon) in a saucepan. I dipped a heart-shaped cookie cutter in the melted chocolate, then made heart-shaped impressions on the pie. Then I used the cookie cutter again to sprinkle peppermint candy inside the hearts. I had so much melted chocolate left over, I covered the whole edge of the crust too.