Easy Homemade Taco Seasoning and Daktari's American Tacos

You know the drill.  Taco Tuesdays and you're half way through browning the meat when you realize you don't have any taco seasoning.  If there is anything I've learned since turning 50 it is that I am absolutely certain I have the ingredients in my spice cabinet to make any seasoning mix that can be bought in the store.

Have you SEEN my spice shelf?  5 tiers of awesome Penzey's goodness.

So with a little internet investigation, I pieced together a recipe that I think is just right for my homemade tacos.  A couple of notes before we begin.  This recipe calls for sea salt.  Sea salt does not equal granulated table salt.  So if you intend to use granulated salt, I'd use about half the listed amount.  The dominant flavor profile here is going to be chili powder.  If you prefer your tacos to taste a little more like cumin, you might tweak those amounts.  The crushed red pepper gives it a bite, but I usually use VERY HOT crushed red pepper from Penzeys.  Again, try it and if you want more of a kick, toss in a few more flakes.

I hope you like this.  I found it quick, easy, and a lot cheaper and easier than a special trip to the store for taco seasoning mix.

Very Easy Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 beef bullion cube (or 1 teaspoon beef bullion crystals)
1.5 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon sea salt (or 0.5 teaspoon granulated salt)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
0.5 teaspoon paprika
0.25 teaspoon oregano
0.25 teaspoon garlic powder
0.25 teaspoon onion powder
0.25 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons masa

Mix thoroughly. This can be made up ahead of time. When I do it, I leave out the bullion cube and the masa and add those in as I cook.

Liz's American Tacos

1.5 lb ground beef
1 onion (small dice)
1/2 can of your favorite refried beans
Taco Seasoning mix (all of the portion made above)
1/2 cup water
Your favorite salsa (or this restaurant-style salsa)
diced onions
diced tomatoes
sliced pickled jalapenos
cheddar or pepper jack cheese
sour cream
cilantro (for garnish)

To make tacos using this seasoning mix, add 1/2 teaspoon olive oil to a skillet with 1 finely diced onion.

Crumble ground beef over onions and heat until browned.  Drain fat.  Return meat and onion mixture to pan.  Add seasoning and 1/2 cup of water.  Mix thoroughly.  Stir constantly until liquid has turned thick.

Purists can stop here and plate up your tacos.  But for a little something something, add 1/2 can of refried beans to the meat mixture.

You can add a small amount of water here to facilitate mixing, but it is not necessary.  Simmer over very low heat until beans have incorporated.

Heat your favorite taco shells.  (I prefer El Milagro corn tortillas.)

Place one scoop of taco filling into a heated corn tortilla.  Top with your favorite taco toppings.  I prefer a salad mix that is primarily cabbage and homemade salsa, tomatoes, fresh onion, pickled jalapenos, and garnished with cilantro. The lactose tolerant might also enjoy cheese and sour cream.

Let me know what you think!

Chef John's Lamb and Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Lambage Rolls)

If you haven't been introduced to Chef John, Allrecipe.com's own pun master, let me be the first to introduce you.  Pinterest has led me astray many times with recipes, but Chef John never has.  I love his videos and I swear by his techniques.  Enter a chilly day in Missouri and I was ready for comfort food.  Chef John suggested cabbage rolls. Turns out I happened to have had a pound of lamb in the freezer.

Game on.

I highly recommend you check out his video for Lamb and Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.  I added some cubed granny Smith apples to the casserole dish.  Winner, winner, lamb and rice dinner.

Venison Chili

I was gifted 3 lbs of ground venison from a student.  Turns out that we were having a chili cook off in my wing of the building, so what better way to spread the love of game meats?  Knowing that venison hasn't a lot of fat in it, I knew pork would have to be added.  Other than that, this is entirely a riff I made up on the fly.  If early tastes are any indication, this one is going to make them sweat.

Here we go.

Ingredients:

6 strips of bacon, fat rendered, bacon removed

2 lbs. ground venison

0.5 lbs. ground pork sausage

1 large yellow onion, diced

3+ tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 bottle Schalfly's coffee stout

2 cans (small) Rotel tomatoes and peppers (Original) 10 oz?

1 large can Brook's chili beans (mild) 29 oz.?

16 oz. Hunt's tomato sauce

Directions:

In a large cast iron skillet, cook the bacon over low heat until crisp.  Retain fat, remove bacon and set aside.  Saute onion in bacon fat until translucent, about 3 mins.  Brown venison and pork with onion until brown.  Do not drain.  Add chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, and mix well.  Move mixture to slow cooker.  Add 1/2 bottle of beer, Rotel, chili beans, and tomato sauce.  Cook over low for 8-10 hours.

West Virginia Style Hot Dog Sauce

West Virginia, for those who've never been, is just as the song advertises. Entering West Virginia from Kentucky will see you moving from rolling hills into sharper inclines until finally, you can drive into hills so steep that the road cut might not see daylight until the sun is directly overhead.

My parents grew up in West Virginia.  My grandparents were lifelong residents.  I spent countless summer days visiting family in West Virginia.  I even lived there for a very short while before graduating from Marshall University (We are Marshall!).  It is, more so than Kentucky, the place I think of as "home".

But West Virginia is more than rolling hills and hillbilly accents.  It actually has a unique culinary tradition.  And among the things that West Virginia is famous for are her hot dogs.  West Virginia style hot dogs are always all-beef dogs.  They differ from hot dogs further south and to the northeast.  West Virginia lies above the "slaw line".   That is that hot dogs, and more often than not, pork bbq sandwiches are topped with a generous helping of mayonnaise-based cole slaw.

In my opinion, the only way to truly enjoy a hot dog is to prepare it boiled, in a steamed bun, with mustard, finely diced onions, a heaping helping of hot dog sauce and topped with a creamy slathering of cole slaw.

The hot dog sauce I remember from my youth can't be purchased at the grocery.  It is not chili sauce (even though it does have chili powder in it).  It does not have beans.  There are canned varieties--which are NOT the same--but after the Castleberry botulism debacle of 2007, I don't know of anyone who will try them.  West Virignia-style sauce is a mild, tomato based meat sauce, and you can find numerous awesome classic examples from Fairmont to Huntington.  I admit that some of my favorites are Stewart's Original Hot Dogs in Huntington, WV, and Sam's Hot Dogs in many locations throughout the Tri-State region.  This hot dog tradition even trickles into eastern Kentucky where you can find numerous worthwhile examples such as Crisp's Dairy Treat and the now out-of-business Dairy Cheer (Home of the Smashburger).

No one should die without trying a West Virignia hot dog.  So if you can't travel there, make your own at home.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, fine dice
2.5 lbs ground beef
0.25 lbs ground pork
1 box of beef broth
1.5 t black pepper
1.5 t salt
1.5 t chili powder
2 T crushed red chili pepper (medium hot)
16 oz. tomato sauce
7 oz. tomato ketchup
1/2 small can tomato paste
1/4 t cumin
Tabasco sauce to taste (I use about 12 shakes)

Directions:

In a dutch oven, saute the onion in the olive oil until tender but not browned.  Crumble the ground beef and pork and add to the pot.   Cover with beef broth and cook for 1 hour, uncovered, adding water if necessary.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook, covered, over low heat, just simmering, for two more hours.  If you wish a thinner sauce, add more water half way through the final two hours.  For thick sauce, cook down, uncovered for a while longer.

This recipe makes an entire dutch oven full of sauce.  It can be scaled down, but keep in mind, it freezes well and you are going to want this again.

Jerk Chicken Chili

Can we just agree that nothing beats chili on a cold day?  Nothing warms the soul like a smooth chili with bite.  Over the past decade, I've fallen in love with chicken and pork based stews.  This is one of my favorites.  This is definitely a winner.  Without further ado, I present my Jerk Chicken Chili.

Ingredients:

1 t olive oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

3 T chili powder

1.5 t thyme

1 t cinnamon

0.5 t ground allspice

1 large roasted chicken, meat removed and shredded (about 6 cups)

4 c chicken stock

14 oz. diced tomatoes

15 ox. black beans, undrained or only partially drained

15 oz. Cannelli (or other white) beans, undrained or only partially drained

1 roasted jalapeno

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro

1 oz semisweet chocolate

2 T cornmeal or masa 

Directions:

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add chili powder, thyme, cinnamon, and allspice.  Cook until fragrant, about a minute.  Add shredded chicen and stir to coat with spices.  Add stock, tomatoes, beans, and jalapenos.  Bring to a boil.  Cover partially and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer 20 minutes.

Add garlic, cilantro, chocolate, and cornmeal or masa.   Turn off the heat and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir well.  Serve.

Chili Verde (Chicken or Pork)

Fall is upon us and it will soon be soup and stew season.  If you are like me and a fan of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, you will really enjoy this recipe.  As for me, I'm in love with New Mexico chilis.  I'm always searching for new and exciting recipes that will allow me to make use these gems of the Southwest.  This traditional chicken stew inspires dreams of Southwest travel.  It makes generous use of lean chicken, tomatoes, tomatillos, onions and garlic.  Not spicy.  Not hot.  Just full of great flavor.  It is packed with protein, incredibly flavorful and only 2 Weight Watchers Smart Points per serving!   It can be made on the stovetop or in a crock pot.

Just a tip, I make this for all my Super Bowl parties.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1.5 pounds cubed pork stew meat or chicken (I use boneless skinless chicken breasts)
salt and pepper to taste
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped, roasted New Mexico chiles
1.4 oz fire roasted tomatoes, with juice
1.5 c tomatillo salsa (you can buy store bought or make your own below)
2 c chicken broth
0.5 t dried oregano
pinch ground cloves

Tomatillo salsa:
8 large tomatillos, husk removed, cored
4 garlic cloves
2 c water
2 roasted jalapenos, skins removed

Place in blender and puree.  Use as tomatillo salsa above.  This will make more than called for.  If your pot will allow it, use it all.

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Season the pork or chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then place into the hot oil.  Cook until golden brown on all sides, about 7 minutes.  Once browned, remove the meat and set aside.  Reduce heat to medium, and add the onions.  Cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Return the meat to the pot, add the garlic and green chiles, diced tomatoes and juice, tomatillo salsa, and chicken broth.  Season with oregano and clove.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, then reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

With a hand-held blender, blend a small amount of the soup until smooth.  You don't want to blend all of the vegetables; just enough until the soup is somewhat thickened.  To further thicken the soup, add up to one tablespoon cornmeal or masa .  Continue to simmer at least 35 minutes more.  Remove the chicken and shred, then return to the pot.  Eat with corn tortillas.  These are amazing!

This can also be made in the crockpot.  When I do so, I omit the oil, and I don't pre-cook the onions or meat.  I throw everything else as described in the crock pot and cook it on high for 4 hours or on medium/low for 6 hours.

Easy Bolognese Sauce

I love me some red meat sauce.  My ex's aunt used to make the best marinara I've ever tasted. Claimed she only used pork bones, tomatoes, tomato sauce and garlic salt.  I don't believe her.  But if I ever figure out what she did, I'm sharing it.  In any event, I combined a couple of recipes from Allrecipes.com into my own version of Bolognese (pronounced BOLO-NAZY) sauce.  It is rich, with depth of flavor, and some serious comfort food.

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, chopped
2 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 onion, small dice
3 carrots, small dice
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 lb. lean ground beef
0.5 lb. ground pork
1.5 t salt
1 t dried basil, or 3-5 whole fresh basil leaves
1 t oregano
1 t freshly ground black pepper
1.5 C milk (2%)
2 C white wine
28 oz. peeled plum tomatoes (I use San Marzano)
8 oz tomato sauce (optional)

Directions:

Put chopped bacon and olive oil in a dutch oven over medium low heat.  Cook until bacon is crisp.  Melt butter.  Add onion, carrot, and celery until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add ground beef and pork and spices.  When meat is browned completely, drain most of the fat off.  Return to pan and add milk.  Simmer milk until it is almost completely reduced.  Please don't allow that milk to burn!  When milk is reduced, add white wine.  Allow it to nearly completely reduce as well.  While you are waiting on the wine to reduce, put the San Marzano tomatoes in a bowl and break them apart with your hands.  When the wine has reduced, add the crushed plum tomatoes and tomato sauce (optional) to the pan.  Bring to a very low simmer and allow to remain that way for 4-6 hours. Make sure you don't have the heat up too high.   It should barely be bubbling.  Even then, keep an eye on it.  If your pan gets too dry, add water.  The longer you cook this, the better.

Pork Carnitas

You have to try this recipe.  It was so good, I didn't even have time to take a picture of it before it was gone.  The most amazing thing is it is made of pork.  I usually hate pork.  But this is melt in your mouth magic.  I'm not kidding.  You can also double this recipe.

Ingredients:

5 lb pork shoulder

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon adobo sauce

juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup orange juice

12 ounces beer

Garnish

purple onion, small dice

avocado

fresh cilantro leaves

lime juice

Rub

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Directions:

Put the pork shoulder in your slow cooker.  Rub the garlic all over the meat.  Pour the rub over the meat and rub it in.  Add the lime and orange juice, beer, and adobo sauce. Cover and cook for 6 hours.  Shred the meat with forks and return to slow cooker.  Preheat broiler.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place the meat on the cookie sheet and broil a few minutes until the edges sort of carmelize on the pork.

Serve on corn or flour tortillas with fresh cilantro, diced onions and a drizzle of lime juice.

Fish tacos!

I first had fish tacos at a little joint at Huntington Beach, California.  They were rock-my-socks-off delicious.  Ever since then, I've been determined to re-create that first experience.  This recipe is not exactly like the tacos I had that day, but they are every bit as authentic a California eating experience, and they are rock-star fish tacos.  I kid you not.  Try these and you may find them in your regular rotation for a while.  Or at least as long as your arteries hold out.

Beer-Battered Fish Tacos

Batter
1 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup beer (plus more to make a thin batter)


Sauce
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons of capers, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper

1 lb cod fillets, sliced into 2 oz. chunks
package corn tortillas
shredded cabbage
chopped tomato
vegetable oil (for frying)

Mix the batter and set aside.  Mix the sauce ingredients together and refrigerate.  In a deep, heavy bottomed pot, put one quart of oil and set on medium high heat.  Once the oil is hot, dredge the cod in some flour and then dunk in the batter.  Add no more than 5 pieces at a time.  Do not let them get too dark. Dry cod on paper towels.  Heat a non-stick skillet on high.  Heat a corn tortilla (not too stiff) on both sides.  Load with fish, sauce, cabbage, tomatoes and top off with a little lime juice.

The fish is amazing by itself.  The sauce by itself is amazing.   And, if you use El Milagro corn tortilla shells (out of Chicago), the tortillas by themselves are amazing.  But this dish put together is electric!

The sauce has many more applications beyond this dish.  I can see it as dipping sauce for french fries (even though I'm not a french fry fan), on beef sandwiches, etc.

I'm not a big fan of fried food and I don't make it very often.  (What do you do with all that oil when you are done?)  From a health perspective, I suppose that's a good thing.   But like homemade fried chicken, there is nothing quite like home cooked fried fish.  So I only do this once every two years or so.  I think my arteries will forgive me on those rare occasions.  And this, my friends, was worth it.

On the other hand, the original fish tacos I had in Huntington Beach were grilled.  I'm pretty sure they used tilapia or some other white fish.  I think that you could use any "substantial" white fish (tilapia, cod, perch, etc.) and it would still be fine. I think if you sprinkled that fish with a little cumin and cayenne before baking it, it would also complement the flavors.  So this doesn't have to be only an every-once-in-a-while dish.  I also think it would be more visually appealing with purple cabbage and a nice fresh slice of avocado.  Maybe even a few pinches of shredded carrot.

Delicious.

Parmesan Enrusted Talipa

There was a time when I was watching my carbs.  Say what you will, it is an effective diet regimen.  Not a lot of fun, but effective.  This dish made it suck just a little less.  OK, a whole lot less.  Then again, I'm a fish lover.  If I had my way, I'd probably die of mercury poisoning.

But all that aside, this no-carb dish is delicious.   If you like fish, you'll love this dish.

I stole this recipe from Food.com.  It isn't often that I prepare Food.com recipes, but the ones I have tried, including Bobby Flay's Orange Jalapeno Turkey, are fantastic.

As I said in my review of this dish, I made it for four adults who can't agree on anything.  Everyone loved this dish.

Because I'm not following a low-carb diet at the moment, I served this with long grain and wild rice.

Topping:

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (do yourself a favor and use fresh)

1/4 cup butter, softened

4 Tablespoons mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon celery salt

pinch of table salt

2 lbs tilapia fillets

Directions:

Line a broiler pan with foil and spray lightly with Pam.  Turn the broiler on to heat up.  In a small bowl mix together Parmesan cheese, butter, mayo, lemon juice and garlic.  Add the seasonings and mix well.  Set aside.

Arrange the fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan and broil a few inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes.  Turn the fish over and broil 2-3 more minutes.  Remove from broiler and cover with the Parmesan mixture on the top side only.  Return to oven and broil for about 2 minutes or until the topping is browned and the fish flakes easily.  Don't overcook the fish!

Cook's Illustrated Swedish Meatballs - Great meatball flavor

Note:  I had to revise this post because, well, I was wrong.  The sauce is the most magnificent thing I have tasted in a while.  Maybe it needed to sit.  Maybe it was the sitting overnight that turned it from meh to magnificent.  I was wrong, wrong, wrong.  This dish is perfect as is.  The meatballs are superb and the sauce is...well, you'll see.  Just try it.

I was a little overambitious this weekend and thawed a lot of meat thinking I'd get to all of it before the weekend ended.  That didn't happen.  Every dish took twice as long and Anthony's Pasta Sauce took much longer than that.  In any event, tonight I got around to the Swedish meatballs. I found a recipe on Cook's Illustrated website and tried it out.  The meatballs were delicious.  I prefer them to the meatballs I made yesterday, also from Cook's Illustrated, which were meant for classic spaghetti and meatballs.  Those meatballs were a bit too soft. These are slightly more dense.  Not like a hamburger, but that just right place where meatballs belong.  They were perfect in every bite.  Actually, there is no comparison.  Maybe it's because these meatballs are fried.  I don't think that's it.  Maybe it's the spices.   But these were so much better than the others, that I'm not even going to publish the recipe for the spaghetti meatballs.

However, I'm not sure sure I like this sauce.  Maybe it was because I was already full when I cooked the dish.  Maybe it didn't agree with what I just ate.  I followed the directions exactly and the gravy turned out beautifully (quite possibly the best looking gravy I've ever made), but I thought it tasted 100% better before I added the cream.  Weird, huh?  Who doesn't think heavy cream improves everything?  Anyway, I'll have some tomorrow and let you know if a day for those flavors to marry improve it much.

But don't let that put you off these meatballs.  They are keepers.

 Swedish Meatballs

Published January 1, 2009.  From Cook's Illustrated.

Why this recipe works:We wanted our Swedish meatballs recipe to produce substantial yet delicate meatballs with a sausagelike springiness and satisfying snap. To achieve the right texture, we combined beef, pork, bread, cream, and a surprise ingredient, baking powder, which kept the meatballs delicate and juicy.  For the meatball gravy recipe, we wanted a light cream sauce instead of heavy brown gravy.  To get this, we added a bit of cream to our stock to lighten it up and and a splash of lemon juice for some bright flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

The traditional accompaniments for Swedish meatballs are lingonberry preserves and Swedish Pickled Cucumbers (see related recipe). If you can’t find lingonberry preserves, cranberry preserves may be used. For a slightly less sweet dish, omit the brown sugar in the meatballs and reduce the brown sugar in the sauce to 2 teaspoons. A 12-inch slope-sided skillet can be used in place of the sauté pan—use 1 1/2 cups of oil to fry instead of 1 1/4 cups. The meatballs can be fried and then frozen for up to 2 weeks. To continue with the recipe, thaw the meatballs in the refrigerator overnight and proceed from step 3, using a clean pan. Serve the meatballs with mashed potatoes, boiled red potatoes, or egg noodles.

Ingredients:

• Meatballs  
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 large slice sandwich bread, crusts removed and bread torn into 1-inch pieces
• 8 ounces ground pork
• 1 small onion, grated on large holes of box grater (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar (see note)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 ounces 85 percent lean ground beef
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• Sauce  
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar (see note)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon
• Salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

1. 1. For the Meatballs: Whisk egg and cream together in medium bowl. Stir in bread and set aside. Meanwhile, in stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat pork, onion, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder on high speed until smooth and pale, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl as necessary. Using fork, mash bread mixture until no large dry bread chunks remain; add mixture to mixer bowl and beat on high speed until smooth and homogeneous, about 1 minute, scraping bowl as necessary. Add beef and mix on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl as necessary. Using moistened hands, form generous tablespoon of meat mixture into 1-inch round meatball; repeat with remaining mixture to form 25 to 30 meatballs.
2. 2. Heat oil in 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat until edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles (oil should register 350 degrees on instant-read thermometer), 3 to 5 minutes. Add meatballs in single layer and fry, flipping once halfway through cooking, until lightly browned all over and cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. (Adjust heat as needed to keep oil sizzling but not smoking.) Using slotted spoon, transfer browned meatballs to paper towel-lined plate.
3. 3. For the Sauce: Pour off and discard oil in pan, leaving any fond (browned bits) behind. Return pan to medium-high heat and add butter. When foaming subsides, add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until flour is light brown, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in broth, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Add brown sugar and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce is reduced to about 1 cup, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream and return to simmer.
4. 4. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer, turning occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and serve. 

Easy Weeknight Moussaka

I love moussaka and when eggplant is as cheap as it's been the past few weeks at the farmer's market (50 cents each for very large eggplants!), I'm going to dive in and make this comfort food dish.  It isn't that hard and it lasts quite a while.

2-3 large eggplant, peeled and sliced in thick slices
sea salt
1 lb. ground beef, very low fat content is best
2 large onions, diced
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dark red wine
8 oz. tomato sauce
Parmesan cheese, grated

Slice the eggplant and coat both sides of each slice in sea salt.  Place in a dish and allow to rest until a good amount of water has accumulated in the bottom of your dish (about a half hour).  Rinse the salt off the eggplant well and towel dry.

In a non-stick skillet add a small amount of olive oil and fry the eggplant slices about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Set aside in a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Brown the hamburger and onion in a skillet.  Drain if necessary.  Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Allow to simmer for at least 15 minutes.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish (I prefer glass), arrange a layer of eggplant along the bottom.  Cover with 1/2 the beef ragu.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese all over the top of that layer.  Add another layer of eggplant, ragu, and cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-50 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

Venison roast and cheesy polenta

I'm the first to be straight up with you.  I'm not a fan of salt.  Sure, I'll shake a little on popcorn.  Maybe on fried chicken.  But that's about it.  Salt started getting a bad rap about the time I was in junior high school, and my junior high school answer to bad health news was to stop using salt altogether.  It has literally been decades since I was a regular salt user. Before I became interested in cooking, my salt shaker would gather dust on the shelf.  I think I carried the same one-pound Morton salt container through four different moves.

Turkey Overload: Meal Planning and a Call for Ideas

I have been trying to do some better meal planning.  When I started thawing a turkey last week, I thought that I would be ready to tackle turkey dishes around Thursday of  last week.  It took significantly longer than that for the turkey to thaw in the fridge, so I moved on to other dishes.  Unfortunately, those dishes lasted me longer than I anticipated.  When I finally got around to cooking the turkey on Monday, I was still working through other leftovers.  Now, I'm faced with an entire 13-pound deboned, skinless turkey sitting in some premium turkey broth  that HAS to be processed this weekend or thrown away!

Gasp!

So, meal planning for this week is heavy on the turkey.

Ho hum Vegetable Lasagna and Kick Ass Eggplant Dip

I made a Weight Watchers recipe of roasted vegetable lasagna for New Year's Day at Bek's.  Spoiler alert:  I'm not impressed.