Beef Taquitos

Finally, another recipe!  Trust me, I've been cooking up a storm but since the last post...let's see...I've had a baby, packed up my home, moved across the Metroplex, and started a new life with my family in a new town.  I've been a little busy.  Hopefully, though, all of the new recipes I've tried recently will make their way onto the blog in a more timely fashion.  Here's hoping the boys keep cooperating at nap time.

2 dozen corn tortillas
oil for softening tortillas
1 batch, or at least 2 cups, shredded beef filling
1 small can diced green chiles
2 green onions, finely chopped
toothpicks

In medium skillet, heat oil until shimmering. Using tongs, fry tortillas in hot oil until softened. Drain on paper toweling. Combine shredded beef with green chiles and green onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Assemble taquitos by rolling about 1-2 Tablespoons of filling tightly into each tortilla. Secure with a toothpick and set on a tray.

If freezing, flash freeze until firm, but not so firm that you can’t remove the toothpick. If the toothpick gets stuck, that’s fine, but you won’t be able to store them as compactly in your freezer container. Once frozen, pack into freezer containers and store in the freezer.

If baking right away, leave the toothpicks in, and pop into a preheated 475° oven. Bake for about 10-20 minutes, turning at least once.

If baking from frozen, place taquitos seam side down on tray and bake at 475° for up to 25 minutes. Check for crispness.

Remove toothpicks. Serve with sour cream and guacamole.

Mongolian Beef

This is ridiculously close to the Mongolian Beef at Pei Wei, which just so happens to be my favorite dish there. In fact, it's so good, I've actually decided I can try other things when we do go to Pei Wei because I know I won't be missing out on the Mongolian Beef because I know I can now recreate it at home! Let's get started.

1 lb flank steak , thinly sliced crosswise

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece) - I minced mine.

1 tablespoon chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (this made it a little spicy and thus different from Pei Wei but Matt said he actually preferred it spicy)

3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds

First, make sure the steak slices are dry (pat them dry) and mix them with the corn starch. Using your hands or a spoon, move them around to make sure all pieces are coated. Place beef slices in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch.

Heat half of the oil in a large wok at medium-high and add the garlic and ginger. Immediately add the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Don't worry if the sauce doesn't look thick enough at this point. The corn starch in the beef will thicken it up later.

Turn the heat up and add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the beef and cook, stirring until it is all browned (this is a quick thing). Pour the sauce back into the wok and let it cook along with the meat. Now you can choose to cook it down and reduce the sauce or leave it thinner.

Add the green onions on the last minute so the green parts will stay green and the white parts crunchy.

Serve over hot rice.

Creamy Salsa Verde

This stuff is ridiculous. Make it today. That is all I have to say.

2 ½ lbs. tomatillos, husked and rinsed

2 large onions

10 cloves garlic

4 jalapenos

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 teaspoons ground cumin

2-4 teaspoons salt

1 cup packed cilantro

3 avocados

1 lime (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Peel and chop the onions into quarters. Place the tomatillos, onions, garlic and jalapenos on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil.

Roast in the oven for 15 minutes—until the exteriors are blistered but the insides are still slightly raw.

Meanwhile, half the avocados, remove the seeds, and scoop out the flesh. (Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds if you don't want it too hot.) Place HALF of the tomatillos, onions, jalapenos and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until mostly smooth.

Add HALF of the cumin, salt, cilantro and avocado. Pulse until the avocado is pureed into the mixture. Taste for salt. (I ended up adding about 4 teaspoons of salt but that was because I kept tasting it and something still missing. Cilantro. Cilantro was missing. It ended up fine with all 4 teaspoons of salt.) Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Pour into a large bowl, squeeze the lime over all and stir.

Number of servings (yield): 4 quarts According to the website below, this freezes well. But, if you don't want so much, you can always just make half the recipe.

From: http://aspicyperspective.com/2011/08/creamy-avocado-salsa-verde.html

Hostess Cupcakes

These just might be my all-time favorite store bought dessert. I love, love, love these things. So naturally when I found a recipe for them, I had to find an excuse to make them. Enter: Memorial Day. The perfect solution. Really, the recipe is pretty simple. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Maybe because it's too easy to run into a convenience store and grab a 2 pack. Yum. Anyway, here goes.

For the cupcakes:

Hershey's Chocolate Cake Recipe

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

For the filling:

Seven Minute Frosting

2 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the ganache:

(I used the recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook)

1 cup whipping cream

12 ounces chopped milk, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate (I used semisweet)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper baking cups. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans, 2/3 full. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, combine ingredients for Seven Minute Frosting with a pinch of salt in metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Reserve 1/2 of the filling to use for piping the swirls on top of the cupcakes later.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled, use an apple corer to create your holes for the filling. (Click the link for a how-to.) I just stuck a frosting tip down in the cupcake and squeezed the frosting out but I didn't feel like I got very much in there. Next time I'll use the apple corer method and then fill them using my pastry bag and tip.

Once all the cupcakes are filled, make the ganache. In a medium saucepan bring whipping cream just to boiling over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate (do not stir). Let stand 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Cool for 15 minutes.

Transfer ganache to a small bowl and either pour over cupcakes or dip the top of each cupcake to thoroughly coat. Using the reserved filling and a very small plain tip, pipe swirls across the center of each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 10 minutes to set the frosting.

Using the reserved filling and a very small plain tip, pipe swirls across the center of each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 10 minutes to set the frosting.

Store the cupcakes in the refrigerator. Makes about 24-30 cupcakes.

*Adapted from My Baking Addiction

Easy, Kid Friendly Fish Sticks or Chicken Nuggets

Like any other kid, my boy loves him some fish sticks and chicken nuggets. When he first started eating meat, I would buy him the bags of breaded fish sticks or chicken nuggets from the freezer section of the supermarket. Even though I always baked them for him, they still felt so greasy whenever I'd cut them up. So I decided it couldn't be that hard to make my own version. I recently discovered Panko bread crumbs (I know they've probably been around forever) and I'm in love. They make everything so crispy, like it's really been fried. Don't get me wrong, he gets the real thing every once in a while (he's even had McDonalds's once or twice). I just feel better about giving him these from day to day.

1 to 1 1/2 cups Panko Japanese Style bread crumbs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

1 pound fish filets (I used tilapia) or chicken breast, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Season raw meat with salt and pepper, to taste, and set aside. In a shallow dish, combine flour and spices.

In a separate shallow dish, combine Panko bread crumbs and melted butter.

In a third shallow dish, beat eggs.

Dip meat, one piece at a time, into flour and shake off excess.

Dip in egg and then press into bread crumbs, coating all sides.

Place coated meat on a baking sheet. Repeat until all the meat is coated.

Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cooked through. The chicken usually takes a couple of minutes longer than the fish. After they have cooled, you can put them in a ziploc bag and store in the freezer. I put them in the toaster oven or microwave straight from the freezer and they're ready in just a few minutes. (Pay attention to the chicken when you microwave it; it's easy to get rubbery chicken if you nuke it too long.)

Medovník (A Trial Run)

This was probably our favorite dessert the Czech Republic had to offer. Absolutely delicious, not too sweet, and perfect with a cafe latte. Medovník is Czech for Honey Cake and the recipe actually originated in Ukraine. But the Czechs have perfected it. It's also been known to "help fight flu, calm nerves, and strengthen organism." The Czechs seriously believe in honey's healing powers. Come to think of it, I hardly ever got sick in CZ, and I ate a lot of medovnik.

Anyway, my dear friend Tereza found a Czech website with the recipe and translated it for me, graciously baking the cake several times and taking photos for clarity. I know her husband certainly didn't mind being the taste tester. Here's the original recipe in metric units with my approximate conversions beside. It's probably best just to use a kitchen scale if you have one. Mine had a dead battery so I had to make do with the approximations.

For the cake:

250 grams margarine (1 cup and 2 tablespoons -you can also use butter)

3 eggs

300 grams sugar (1 1/2 cups)

3 tablespoons honey (use dark honey if you can find it)

1 tablespoon baking soda

400 grams flour (3 1/4 cups)

For the cream:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (396 or 397 grams - luckily, the can size is the same in both countries)

300 grams butter, softened (1 1/3 cup)

2 tablespoons honey

Other materials:

double boiler

parchment paper

mixer

*Here's my disclaimer for this recipe: This was my first time to make the cake and I usually don't do pictures until my second or third time around on a recipe. So, obviously, I made a lot of mistakes. I'll be interjecting here and there to note what I would change the next time around.

First, we'll make the cake. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C or 325 to 350 degrees F. Using the double boiler (or any kind of hot water bath you can create - I used my stock pot and an oven proof bowl), melt the margarine or butter.

Remove from heat and whisk in eggs.

Gradually add sugar, honey, baking soda, and flour. (At this point you might want to enlist the help of an electric mixer; the dough gets pretty thick.)

Now you'll need 7-8 sheets of parchment paper, a little larger than the size of the cake you want. You can either trace a circle from a cake pan on the paper or just freestyle it. Put about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dough on the parchment paper and spread thin. It doesn't rise just a whole lot in the oven so spread it just a teensy bit thinner than you want your layers. I made mine about a 12 inch by 12 inch square (too big, I think). If you've drawn a circle, spread the dough about 1 inch past it.

Bake each layer for 7 -10 minutes, or until golden brown. Watch it closely because it goes from almost there to overdone really quickly. Once cooked , set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, make the cream filling. In a medium bowl, combine the butter, sweetened condensed milk, and honey. Mix with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes.

*Here's another little aside: I made two mistakes here. One, I accidentally microwaved the butter too long trying to soften it and ended up melting it. So I had to put it in the fridge until it firmed up. I still don't think it was right, though. Two, I didn't use a mixer to combine the ingredients. I just stirred it. As a result, it was kinda runny instead of fluffy.

Once the cake layers are cool, use a cake pan to guide you as you trim the excess. Save the extra though, because you'll need it later.

Once you have all of your layers trimmed, you can start with the cream. Spread on each layer, stacking as you go. Then smooth the cream on the top and sides.

In a medium bowl or plastic bag, crumble the trimmings (much finer than pictured - I was in a hurry, a little someone was tugging on my leg to go outside) and press into the cream on the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle with a handful of finely chopped walnuts.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

This pizza will always remind me of Prague. The first time I ever had it was at our friends' the Brummitts when we were living there (in Prague, not at the Brummitts). I have to admit I was pretty skeptical the when Andrea told me what was on the menu for dinner. You see, my only experience with pizza had ever been with the kind that involves tomato sauce and mozzarella (just call me old fashioned). I called it adventurous when I tried ham and pineapple for the first time. I was just always afraid that trying something new on pizza would be such a waste of a good pizza-eating experience. Boy, was I wrong. This definitely makes my top 3 pizza topping choices. Okay, enough reminiscing, let's get to it!

pizza dough for 2 pizzas

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 - 1 cup barbecue sauce

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

2 cups cheese (your choice!)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a medium skillet, brown chicken. When chicken is cooked through, pour about 1/4 cup barbecue sauce over and toss to coat. In a small skillet, saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil until tender. Roll your pizza crust onto a pizza pan or stone. Top with half of the remaining sauce and use the back of a spoon to spread around.

Top with onion mixture and chicken and then cheese. (I used colby jack cheese for the first pizza and mozzarella for the second. We really prefer the colby jack.)

Repeat for second pizza. Bake pizzas for 15 minutes or until crispy and cheese is bubbling.

Strawberry Poptarts

Pastry Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pats

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

Strawberry Filling:

2 cups strawberries, diced

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 additional egg to brush on pastry

Strawberry Frosting (optional):

1/3 cup strawberry filling

1 tablespoon softened butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender, or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it.

If you've used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and milk and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate while you make the filling.

To make the filling, combine strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla in medium saucepan. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Give it a taste and add another tablespoon of sugar, if needed. Remove from heat and mash with a fork or potato masher. Let cool completely.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If it's been in the fridge a while and is really firm, let is sit on the counter for a few minutes until it softens. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8" thick and about 9"x12". Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cut each piece of dough into thirds, forming nine 3'x4" rectangles.

Place the rectangles you will use for your bases on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the base rectangles. I skipped this step and wish I hadn't. Here's why:

BUSTED!!

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each of your bases, leaving about a 1/2-inch border.

Place another rectangle on top of your base and use your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press a fork around on all sides. Repeat with remaining tarts. Using a toothpick or a fork, prick the top (just the top!) of each tart a few times to create holes for steam to escape.

"I need to vent!"

Refrigerate the tarts for about 30 minutes while the oven preheats to 350 degrees F. Remove from the fridge and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly golden.

While they bake, prepare the strawberry frosting. In a small bowl combine ingredients for the frosting and mix well. I like mine just a little bit runny, but if you like it a little thicker, just add more powdered sugar.

When tarts are finished, cool in a pan or rack. After they have cooled, spread the frosting over the top.

Alternate Filling Options from Smitten Kitchen:

Cinnamon Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste

4 teaspoons all purpose flour

Jam Filling:

3/4 cup jam

1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Other fillings: chocolate chips, nutella, chocolate and marshmallows, etc.

*Adapted from smitten kitchen.