Pulled Pork Tortilla Pie

It’s time to whip up something new with your leftovers! Now that you have both the pork and corn ready to go, it makes this recipe go even faster.

Pulled Pork Tortilla Pie

Ingredients:

1 can corn, drained (or 2 ears of corn)     1 can green chilies, drained

12 corn tortilla     12 oz. pulled pork, seasoned (or your carnitas leftovers)

8 oz. sour cream     10 oz. green chile enchilada sauce

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese (your choice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Grease a 8×8 square baking dish.
3. Mix the corn and green chilies.
4. In the baking dish, layer 4 tortillas, followed by half each of the pork, corn, sour cream, enchilada sauce.
5. Add 1/2 c. cheese next.
6. Repeat layering one more time and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
7. Cover & bake for 30 minutes.
8. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes more.

How did you do with your first duo of planned, related meals? Think you can do more? Are you sensing a theme here? Perhaps, Mexican? Could you do a week of Mexican recipes or would you even want to? Meal planning doesn’t have to be that boring…that’s how you get into ruts. You might have a theme night or a bunch of related recipes based on ingredients. What works for you?

I try to watch what’s on sale to maximize my budget. However, as I do this more and more, I tend to start planning a few weeks out. I mean getting a schedule together of meals so I have a variety. I try to do a beef, a chicken, a seafood, a pork and a vegetarian dish each week. I also planned all 7 nights meals at first. What I failed to realize, pretty quickly, was that I didn’t always take servings into consideration. Making a lasagna as a a dinner for 2 will in fact feed us for 4 meals total. So that’s dinner and 3 lunches or 2 dinners and 2 lunches. Imagine if multiple recipes made that much food. Start doing the math in your head and you’ll realize that by mid-week you will be drowning in food.

If you have a few weeks planned out informally, then you can switch ones in and out depending on your need. I was in the grocery store one week and saw tuna steaks on sale. They weren't on my grocery list, but I knew I had a tuna recipe coming up so I scooped those up. This was probably my 2nd or 3rd grocery store stop, so I knew I didn’t buy everything for every recipe yet. Why and how I shop at multiple stores is a whole separate blog post! When I got home, I took a look at what I had for recipes and ingredients left to buy and switched my tuna recipe in to that week and bounced one of my meals that had pricier ingredients to a future date. This may seem overwhelming, but don’t be scared. As you do it more and more, it comes more naturally.

That’s all for now. As always, have fun!

Duke of Zuke

A very wise woman once told me “if you have to buy a zucchini at the store, it probably means you don’t have many friends”. HA I think she may have been a little biased as she was from a very small town in a rural area which also happens to be home to the Vermont State Zucchini Festival. Yes, Christa, you’v been outed so to speak.

After a Facebook discussion with my very dear friend about gluten free and casein free recipes, I looked at my recipe boxes in a whole new light. I’ve never had to deal with any kind of food allergy for myself, but know plenty of people with those kind of restrictions. I found plenty of chicken with x sauce or fish with x vegetables recipes. However, most casseroles I make either have wheat, dairy or both. It was so much easier dealing with these types of issues at our work functions when I was just making sure the kitchen knew of a restriction. It’s a lot different when I have to suggest recipes for home use. What’s a girl to do?

I settled on zucchini cornbread casserole, partly due to knowing that Ludlow Vermont is home to the Zucchini festival and partly because it seemed like a good recipe to adapt.  After all, I would say most grocery stores have a gluten free option for the corn muffin mix. As for the dairy items, eggs do not have gluten or casein and the cheese could easily be substituted with a vegan cheese that you like.

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients:

4 c. shredded zucchini     1 onion, chopped     2 eggs, beaten

1 8.5 oz. pkg. corn muffin mix     1/2 tsp. salt     1/4 tsp. black pepper

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Grease a 2 qt. casserole dish.
3. Mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, muffin mix, salt and pepper.
4. Stir in 1/2 the cheese.
5. Spread in your greased casserole dish.
6. Top with the remaining 4 oz. of cheese.
7. Bake for 60 minutes.

I realize after writing out the instructions to this recipe, it also qualifies under some of my other objectives for this blog. It’s relatively simple and not time consuming to put together. It’s a vegetarian dish, so you can make it relatively quickly, without worrying about defrosting meat before heading out for a jam packed day. Finally, for those who have kids, it’s a pretty kid friendly in the kitchen dish. You may have to shred the zucchini and chop the onion but they can do the rest of the measurements and the mixing. You’ll slide it in the oven for them and in an hour, you’ll be able to enjoy a meal together that everyone helped with!

As always, have fun!

Who Doesn't Like a Meatball?

I’ve got copious amounts of meatball recipes. I may just be a meatball addict! But, you have to admit they are easy to make and fun to switch up. For the picky eaters out there and those with young kids, I have a question. How many of you love spaghetti and meatballs? Or perhaps a good meatball sandwich? Well, here’s your chance to make a casserole with all the flavor of those yummy sandwiches and none of the mess.

If your time is limited, this is also a great go to recipe. Though I will include how to make the meatballs for it as part of the instructions, know that you could buy a bag of meatballs at the store and use them instead.

Meatball Sub Casserole

Ingredients:

1/3 c. chopped green onions     1/4 c. seasoned bread crumbs     3 tbsp. Parmesan

1 lb. ground beef     1 loaf Italian bread, cut in 1 inch slices

8 oz cream cheese softened     1/2 c. mayo (don’t use light or fat free)

1 tsp. Italian seasoning     2 c. mozzarella, divided

28 oz. spaghetti sauce     1 c. water     2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

1. Combine onions, crumbs and Parmesan cheese.
2. Add beef and mix well.
3. Shape into 1 in. balls and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.
4. Arrange bread in single layer in an ungreased 9×13 pan.
5. Combine cream cheese, mayo, Italian seasoning and spread over bread.
6. Sprinkle with 1/2 c. mozzarella.
7. Combine sauce, water and garlic then add meatballs.
8. Pour over cheese mixture.
9. Sprinkle with rest of cheese.
10. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through.

The other time saver on this goes hand in hand with a blog post in progress about making your own spaghetti sauce in bulk.  If you subscribe to that idea, you will always have meatballs and sauce on hand in the freezer, making this recipe even easier to get together when you’ve just had that superbly awful day and just want something warm and yummy in a jiffy!

Stay tuned in the next few weeks for my tips and tricks on spaghetti sauce. It’s a time investment but such a savings when you figure out how much a jar you pay at the store and end up doctoring it anyway to make it taste more like what you really like.

As always, have fun!

Comfort Food

Comfort food. Everyone has that one food that is your go to when you have a bad day or you want to celebrate. It’s that recipe that you might be known for or just something that you can’t live without. I often get into this discussion with people when they say mashed potatoes is their go to food. Anyone who knows me, knows that mashed potatoes would probably still go untouched even if they were the last food on earth!

I digress. I went flipping through the boxes to find that special recipe. Again those who know me are probably trying to guess. Is it my brownies? Perhaps my mom’s Sour Cream Apple Pie? Or maybe my grandmother’s chicken wings? All good guesses, but no.  Instead it’s my mama’s spaghetti pie. I told you I really like pie … what can I say?

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

6 oz spaghetti     1/3 c. grated parmesan     2 tbsp. butter     2 well beaten eggs

1 c. cottage cheese     1 lb ground meat (I use turkey but I’ve had it with beef)

1/2 c. chopped onion     1/4 c. green pepper (also could sub in red, yellow or orange)

8 oz. diced tomatoes     6 oz. tomato paste     1 tsp. sugar     1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp. garlic salt     1/2 c. mozzarella

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti and drain.
2. Add butter, eggs and cheese.
3. Form a crust in a greased pie plate.
4. Spread the cottage cheese on top.
5. In a skillet, cook the ground meat, onion and pepper until the meat is brown.
6. Drain the fat and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, oregano and salt.
7. Pour this mixture into the pie plate.
8. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350.
9. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top and bake it for 5 additional minutes.
10. Cut into slices and serve.
11. Enjoy!

As always, have fun!