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.

Then I saw this come up on my google reader.  For starters, I don’t make anything fancy.  I take fancy and make it casual.  It’s what I do.  I’m good at it.  So “Fancy Sloppy Joes” isn’t really my style.  But do you know what is?  Sneaking veg into sloppy joes.  So I ran by the grocery store on my way home from work, all prepared to pick up some carrots and zucchini to put inside of them.

These are a bit on the spicy side of things, but feel free to modify them to your taste.  I wouldn’t at all frown on you if you wanted to use a spice pack, either.  I was going to, but the only brand I could find put all kinds of gluten into it.  Dumb.

I ate it on two slices of Rudi’s multigrain, and while the flavor was great, the texture wasn’t quite right.  The bread fell apart in my hands so I went at it with a fork.  Manageable, though not ideal.

Sneaky, Sloppy Joes:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 zucchini, shredded
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 c. water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• dash red pepper flakes
• salt to taste (I probably used a couple teaspoons)

Cook the ground beef and onions over medium high heat.  Drain off any excess grease.  Mix in veg, water, tomato paste, and the remaining ingredients.  Cook until veg is soft and cooked through and excess liquid has thickened.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I have this steak marinade recipe that came from my brother’s roommate’s mom.  Did you follow that?  It’s really good.  But what I realized is that it’s really good even if you’re missing half the ingredients.  So here’s the deal.  You should make steak sometime.  And when you do, use garlic, vinegar of some sort (red wine, white, balsamic, whatever…), brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and steak sauce (if you have it; I didn’t).  Marinate half an hour.  Then make your roommate grill them to perfection while you finish off the mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Then eat like a pig.  It’s the only way, really.

That said, I like reinvention.  It’s fun.  It’s familiar.  But only sort of.  It’s perfect.

Remember the time I made empanadas?  They were really good.  Seriously.  Whoa.  This time, I made them like this…

• 1 lb. chorizo, casings removed
• 1 zucchini, shredded
• 1/2 head of cauliflower
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cups shredded cheese

I roasted the cauliflower, then mashed it up with my potato masher.  It felt good.  While that was roasting, I shredded the zucchini in Lola, and sauteed it just a bit with the onion.  I set aside the onion/zucchini mixture, and cooked up the chorizo.  Now this is very important: I drained the chorizo of all that disgusting greasiness.  Then I mixed it all together.  And into my beautiful little dough it went.  Baked as usual.  Then I totally snarfed it.  All by myself.  That’s a lie.  I ate with other people.  But still… I would have made these even if nobody had told me they were “dank”.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I never really think of salt as being part of a recipe.  It’s in there, sure, and I take it pretty seriously in baking.  But I can’t remember the last time I actually measured salt into a recipe, whether baked goods or mashed potatoes.  You just kinda dump some in, right?  That’s looks like a teaspoon, right?  Right?!

And sodium freaks me out.  There’s so much of it.  Everywhere.  And it’s not good for you.  So I buy low sodium anything they have at the local grocery.  I drain and rinse my canned beans because so much of the sodium is in those tasty juices.  I often under-season my soups, and if I don’t, I feel like I’m going to die from some sort of sodium overdose.  Sodium is scary stuff, and salt… well, we’re not exactly the friendliest.

But I made this chili the other night.  It’s adapted from Jennifer’s adaptation of two other recipes, so I’m pretty sure the original recipe is completely unrecognizable now. It went like this:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (I used “petite” so they were smaller)
• 1 can hominy (you could use corn, too)
• 1 bottle of a full-bodied beer (Jennifer uses a stout, but that’s a bit too much for me to ever have around the house)
• 1/2-1 cup of water (to desired consistency)

And I browned the meet with the onion, garlic, and pepper.  I added the spices, and then the cans of stuff.  Lastly, the beer and the water.  And I let it simmer for awhile.

And then I tasted it.  And I was not happy.  It needed more.  A lot more.  So I started thinking through which of these spices and how much to add.  The chipotle could be good.  And chili powder would certainly help.  And you know how much I love cumin.  And I was about to start throwing in more spices when I saw a note at the bottom of the sheet of paper Jennifer had given me.  Salt.  She added 2 tablespoons.  I opted for one.

But it was a big step for me.  I think I often add more spices, when a little salt would be more appropriate.  And boy oh boy, did the chili taste better for it.  I crumbled cornbread into it.  Topped with cheese.  Amazing!  Try some.  For reals.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Also, look at what Rebecca did to my cornbread:

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

It was amusing at the time.  I’m pretty sure it still is.

… and thinking.  And when I was grocery shopping, I thought some more.  And before you knew it, I had bought all the ingredients for this:

I was going to do a picture, but it basically looks just like brown goo… not very appealing at all.  But it was tres delicious.  Trust me.  It was a bean dip kinda thing.  Here’s what I did:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 green peppers, diced
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 1  1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (or just regular chili powder)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
• 1 can black beans
• 1  1/2 cup cheese (I used “mexican blend”, but I don’t think we really need to be picky here), shredded

Brown the beef along with the onions and peppers.  Stir in the spices, sweet potatoes, and beans.  Spread into a baking dish and top with cheese.  Bake on 350 until cheese is melted.  Serve with chips, tortillas, or pita bread.  Top with plain yogurt or sour cream (they’re kind of really similar).  Or do whatever you like.  That’s not a bad plan.

Meatballs:

Oh wait!  Did I mention that these are stealth meatballs?  They are.  I sneaked all kinds of veg into these little babies.

• 1/2 eggplant, sliced
• 1 head of cauliflower (minus whatever I set aside for lil’ buddy), chopped up
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 Tablespoons “Italian” spices
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425.  Drizzle olive oil into baking dish (or two).  Put the eggplant and the cauliflower into the baking dishes and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast those babies until they start to brown.  Reduce heat to 350.  Then process them.  Process them real good.

Mix all the ingredients together by hand.  Then make your little meatballs.  Cook on medium/high heat until browned.  Transfer to baking dish.  Bake those suckers for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.

Then make them into this…

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

<beshamed>I used store-bought sauce for this, no adjustments made.</beshamed>  I topped with a smidgen of parmesan, fresh spinach, and provolone.  And naturally, they were served on homemade rolls.  Do you see me chowing down back there?  That’s how good these were.

So here’s what I’m assuming… y’all are waiting, with bated breath for a quality recipe.  And guess what I’ve got for you!

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

They were pretty awesome.  I cannot tell a lie.  Here’s what happened:

Remember what I said yesterday?  So that was inspired, in part, by this.  I love smitten kitchen, much like I love my America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook.  I really do love them.  But… I also get a little frustrated.  Because the recipes are super complicated, of course.

The Recipe:

I made the dough exactly as I was told.  Except for the baking.  We’ll get there, though.  So the filling got a little crazy.

Beef and Potato Filling:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2ish big ol’ potatoes, peeled, chopped, and boiled
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Chipotle Chile Powder
• Paprika
• Black Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt

Go with the flow on this one.  Cook the veggies and the beef together.  Mush (you heard me) the potatoes in there.  Mix in the spices (completely up to your tastes).

Chicken Zucchini Filling:

• Shredded chicken
• 1 zucchini, shredded (and by that, I mean food processed)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Cumin
• Salt
• Black Pepper

Saute the veggies in some olive oil.  Add spices and chicken.

Now preheat the oven to 400, and take a bit of the dough (golf ball sized), and pat it out into a small round.  Fill with the filling.  Fold in half and seal the edges.  Repeat until all the dough is gone.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Brush all the empanadas with beaten egg.  Bake for 25ish minutes or until golden brown.  Just straight up in the middle of the oven.  None of this moving baking sheets around nonsense.  Save your time.  Do the dishes, instead.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

This recipe is less than perfect.  It’ll give you more filling than dough, and that’s just silly.  You could go with one filling or the other.  Or double the dough.  But the way I did it is silly.  Or is it?  We’ve made quesadillas out of the leftover filling.  Mmm….

Scoot yourself on over to my happy birthday post and get yourself entered in this contest.  No really.  Do.

I woke up with a chill this morning, absolutely certain that getting out of bed will cause me to freeze to death.  Wanting to preserve my life, I stayed in bed longer.  And longer.

This is how I excuse my laziness in the fall and winter.  It’s like the whole world is telling me that I’m making the right decision.

And then I make soup.  ’Cause it’s delicious.  And warm.  And makes the season feel more “real” to me.  I like that.

I also like this.  So did a lot of other people.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I kind of did my own thing with this soup, but I kept the original idea.  Here’s what happened:

Creamy Cauliflower Soup:

Adapted from My Man’s Belly

• 1 head cauliflower
• 3 red skin potatoes
• 1 lb. bratwurst, casings removed
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup beer
• salt and pepper to taste
• sharp cheddar cheese

Chop up the cauliflower and put it, the garlic, and the onion into two baking dishes.  Coat thoroughly with olive oil.  Roast at 350 for 40ish minutes.

Meanwhile, chop up the potatoes and boil them until soft.  Brown the sausage.  Mash up the potatoes, then add them and the chicken broth to the sausage.

When the cauliflower stuff is done, throw it into the food processor and process those babies.  Then dump the puree into the soupy mixture.  (Set aside a little bit for the ridiculously cute baby boy that you live with, if applicable.)  Add the milk, salt, pepper, and beer.  (Finish off the beer.)  Heat the soup on medium-low, and bring to simmer.  Serve.  Top with cheese.  Because it’s yummy.  For real, it is.

I make no promises, but a certain boy has declared this the yummiest thing I’ve ever served him.  Keep in mind, that I have served him this and this and this, among others.  … so yea…

The problem with vegetables these days is that they’re rarely integrated into the meal.  I’m trying not to get to education-y on you, but integration means that the veggies (and the rest of the dish) taste better because of them.  We don’t do this, though.  We throw veggies on the side, if at all, as a healthy afterthought.  Not the worst thing in the world, but not really appealing to kids (or grown-ups), either.  The creaminess of this sauce, matched with the spiciness of the pepper and sausage, demands the peas and carrots which offer texture, sweetness, and amazing flavor… not to mention health.  Sneak those veggies in!

Photo by ME!

So how’d I do it?

• 1/2 lb. italian sausage
• 1 cup shredded carrots (you could probably got lighter, if you wanted)
• red wine (optional)
• 1 jar vodka sauce
• black pepper
• red pepper
• 2 teaspoons “italian” seasoning
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 lb. penne pasta
• cheese (LOTS of it!)

Brown the sausage.  Add the carrots, then the wine.  Let the wine evaporate as it simmers.  Add the vodka sauce and herbs and spices (go as spicy as you’re willing).  Simmer for a good little bit.  Right before it’s done, add the peas.

Cook the pasta.  You know what to do.

Combine the pasta and the sauce in a baking dish.  Top with oodles of cheese.  I wanted to use Fontina, but they were out at the store.  I opted for mozzarella and Parmesan instead.  Bake at 425 until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.