Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cooking for 14 people, in 5 easy steps :)

So last weekend I embarked on a true cooking/domestic adventure. Let me begin with how it all started...

At the house where I live, the four girls each take one week each month to cook for everyone. Each person usually cooks about 2 times a week and we eat off leftovers or make our own food the other nights. Well, last week was my first official cooking week. I made the Swiss chicken casserole on Tuesday for 6 people (housemates and a couple guests). That meal was a success, with no fires or food poisoning :), so I thought hey, I'll invite some new friends/coworkers over for dinner on Saturday.

To make a long story short, pretty much everyone I invited was able to come, and a few brought spouses or significant others or friends. The grand total ended up being 14 people! I woke up Saturday morning and thought, "What have I gotten myself into?!" As I was feeling slightly panicked at the prospect of cooking for 14 people, I checked my email and had a note from my dad. Dad has become quite the chef over the past year and had some good advice. Here is what I learned and then some :)...

1. When you get the grand total count for guests and it's higher than you expected, don't panic! The more people, the merrier.
2. Delegate! I "assigned" some of the guests to bring chips and salsa (I'll post the main dish recipe at the end :) and drinks. I also bought salad ingredients but had other people chop the vegetables and put the salad together when they got to the house.
3. Read each recipe at least twice to make sure you don't forget that one "key" ingredient and realize you need it as you're cooking! I was able to make a quick store run Saturday morning to pick up some last-minute ingredients.
4. Give yourself plenty of time, but realize that the food probably will not be ready as soon as you originally plan. I thought I'd be done by 7, but it turned out closer to 7:30.
5. Have fun! Remember that the real reason you're cooking is so people can get together. Even if things don't go quite as you envisioned, as long as people are talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves, that is what is the best part!


Ok, so after all that, here is what you really want...the recipe! :)

Mexican Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
1 (16-oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15-oz.) can tomato sauce
1 cup picante sauce
1 T (tablespoon) chili powder
1 1/2 t (teaspoon) ground cumin
1 (24-oz.) container low-fat, small-curd cottage cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t garlic salt
12 (5-in.) flour or corn tortillas (I prefer flour)
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Stir in corn and next 4 ingredients (tomato sauce, picante sauce, chili powder and cumin). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Stir together cottage cheese and next 4 ingredients (eggs, Parm cheese, oregano and garlic salt). 

Arrange 6 tortillas on bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Spoon half of meat mixture over tortillas; top with cottage cheese mixture. Arrange remaining 6 tortillas over cheese mixture; top with remaining meat mixture.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serves: 8-10 (I doubled the recipe for the big dinner :)


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Domestic Challenge

Hey girls! I feel like life has been busy recently, but I know there are lots of good stories out there for our beloved blog... aka Ashley cooking for 14 people! We have to hear the story there :)

I just finished eating dinner... good ol Stouffer's frozen vegetable lasagna. For as long as I can remember I have LOVED this veggie lasagna and was thinking it might be fun to try to actually MAKE it sometime. So I went to work looking online for a recipe and found about a zillion different ways to make it.

Do either of you have any cookbooks that recommend a recipe? And one preferrably without tomatos and ricotta? All my cookbooks are down at Matt's. There's no time frame on this, my curiousity just became sparked by all the varieties of recipes for it.

Take care!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Ingredient Substitutions

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade! O wait, we want to avoid buying the lemons in the first place! Well I googled Jamie's question below, which has made me skip recipes all together, and found a great website. http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciqsubs.shtml

My two favorite are for lemon zest and fresh herbs:

Herbs, Fresh
Amount: 1 tablespoon, finely cut
Substitute:- 1 teaspoon dried leaf herbs- 1/2 teaspoon ground dried herbs

Lemon Zest (fresh grated lemon peel)
Amount: 1 teaspoon
Substitute: 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Hope this helps in your recipe substitutions!
Andrea

If Life Hands You a Lemon...

Hey girls! Remember our conversation about substituting dried herbs/seasonsings for the fresh ones the recipes call for? Well is there anything like that to do about lemon zest? I was looking at a Chicken and Asparagus Risotto recipe that was sounding delicious until I got to the "1 tbsp lemon zest." I've never cooked anything needing it before, and was just wondering if there is any way to short-cut this ingredient? Is there such a thing as dried lemon zest? Does a splash of lemon juice work the same? Is there any alternative to buying a whole lemon to trying to shave off some of the peel?

Thanks much!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Canoeing as Newlyweds

This weekend we went up to Cook Forest to visit my parents and John and I went canoeing (Ashley, is that spelled anywhere near right?) Well, that was definately an adventure in communication! It was a four mile canoe ride and the first mile or so went something like this -

"Go right!' 'I am going right, you're the one going left!' 'I told you to go left to miss that rock!' 'Well I can't hear you.' 'Well then tell me you can't hear me.' 'If I can't hear you and don't know that you're talking how am I supposed to tell you to speak up?' 'Why are you stopping us? Why are you out of the canoe? Don't tip us! What are you doing?! Ok, you back in now?' 'Don't hit my dad's kayak! Dad watch out!' 'I'm getting out to help your dad flip his kayak back over.' 'Don't flip me getting back in!' Which way do you want to go to miss that rock ahead?' 'What rock?' 'The one we are heading for!' 'Go left!' 'Why are we going all the way over here?' You said to go left to miss that rock' 'Yeah, that rock way back there!"

Well you get the idea. I am happy to report that we did very well in the last two miles and our communication greatly improved! We didn't lose any oars and we didn't flip! I just thought you guys would get a little chuckle out of that story and I am sure we are all learning how important communication is in any domestic situation, especially canoing!
Love,
Andrea

We are fabulous bloggers!

These have been some good posts! I finally read the money article and I really liked how they broke things down by time periods (if you want to buy something in this amount of time, put it here). Also, that pasta carbonara recipe looks great! Any ideas if there is another type of pasta you can use other than spaghetti? John doesn't eat spaghetti (surprise, surprise). It sounds so good I really want to make it! Ashley, I made your Chicken and Cheese recipe that you posted as well, it turned out really good! I kind of adapted and used what I had in the house, but it was awesome that I had a bunch of random stuff and your recipe used it all. Jamie, I also have been using your trick of not defrosting the chicken all the way. It makes it quicker and easier to cut. You guys are awesome and I love how easy it is to keep track of stuff on here! Well, I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you guys getting on board with this, I really enjoy it! And can't wait to see what else we come up with!