nom (n.) The sound made when eating something (or someone). Can be referred to as "nomming" as a verb, and is often pronounced in the sentence "om nom nom".
-Urban Dictionary
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From start to finish, this dish takes about 35 minutes, including cook time.
What you need:
- 1 box pasta, cooked (I prefer macaroni)
- 2 cans of tuna
- 2 cans cream of mushroom or chicken soup (I used low sodium cream of mushroom)
- 2 c. cheddar cheese
- 1 c. frozen peas
- 1 sleeve Ritz crackers
- 3 tbsp melted butter
Set the oven to 350°. In a 13″x9″ dish, combine soup, cooked pasta, peas, and tuna. You’ll want to make sure that the tuna is even throughout the mixture. What’s nice about this recipe is that you can really add any vegetable to the casserole and it’ll taste great.
On the side, mash the Ritz crackers with your hands. Don’t get them too fine, because you want the cracker texture to still be there. Pour the butter into the crackers and stir, making sure that the crackers are nice and buttery. You may need to add more butter for this. Spread the buttery crackers over the top of the casserole and stick the entire thing in the oven for about 25 minutes. -That’s it!
I really like this recipe because it’s great if you need a quick recipe for some comfort food. You can easily personalize the recipe by adding your own ingredients.
My birthday was last week (April 28th) and I received a Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer. It’s awesome. I was so excited that I actually made cupcakes for my own birthday and brought them into work. The general consensus? OMNOMNOMNOMNOM.
The key to this recipe is slow baking at a lower temperature. This is enough for a 13″x9″, 2-9″ rounds, or a bunch of cupcakes. You get a better quality cake if all the ingredients are close to room temperature and the butter is very soft. Here are the ingredients:
1 c butter (I used salted)
2 c white sugar (I sifted to get out lumps)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c flour (all-purpose, sifted)
3 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 c milk
As always, preheat before you start – 350° should do the trick. Prep the pans with grease and flour. You want to cream the butter and sugar together and then beat in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. In a separate bowl, you want to mix the flour and baking powder. This is done so that the mix is relatively even throughout. Next, alternate adding the flour mix and milk. I tried 1/2 c flour, then 1/4 c milk, and it seemed to do the trick. This is done to make sure the mix is even. Here are the different bake times:
-
13″x9″ 45 minutes
-
2-9″ 40-45 minutes
-
cupcakes 20 minutes
*All ovens heat differently, so you’ll want to watch the cake when it’s about 5 minutes to go. Another trick is to rotate the cake 180° half-way through the baking so that it heats evenly. You can also stick the middle of the cake with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
You might remember my post back in March regarding Pi Day. At the time, I focused on a banana cream pie, but I wanted to share the recipe for an awesome flaky all-purpose pie crust too. I used a recipe found on allrecipes.com. The recipe is very easy, but you want to prep an hour or so ahead of time so that you are working with cold ingredients. The actual work takes about 10-15 minutes, which isn’t too bad. Also, I recommend making the dough a day beforehand.
Here’s what you need for 1 crust (top or bottom):
- 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 c butter (put in freezer and then dice up once hardened)
- 1/4 c ice water (after ice is removed)
The key to flaky pastry is cold. After combining the flour and salt, you cut int he butter. Because the butter is cold, you’ll want to use a mixer that can handle the stress, or use your hands. If you use your hands, try cooling in a bowl of water every so often so that you don’t soften the butter. Add the ice water gradually in small increments. Form the dough into a ball and warp in plastic wrap. Stick in the fridge for 4-12 hours. When you’re read to use the dough, roll out to desired thickness (and size).
I’ll be the first too admit – I usually opt for the frozen pie crust to save myself some time. I was actually surprised at how painless it was to make homemade crust. The final result was absolutely compliment-worthy.
Empanadas are delicious filled pastries that consist of dough wrapped around a filling. They are originally a Spanish and Portuguese dish, but every country/region adds their own flair. What’s great about empanadas is that you can use any filling you’d like. I’ll mention a few ideas at the end, but you can follow the recipe with your own filling. It takes about 40 minutes, most of which is preparation.
I make empanadas the easy way and buy those pre-made biscuits that come in tubes. It’s very quick to just sprinkle some flour on the dough and then roll it flat (maintaining the round shape of course). After adding any type of filling (you should cook first) to the center, you brush some egg on the inside perimeter and fold the dough in half. It also helps to seal the dough by pressing the edges with a fork. Place the empanadas on a baking sheet and cook in the oven until golden brown (usually close to the baking time on the biscuit packaging). For aesthetics, I brush egg white on top of the empanadas to get that shiny golden look.
Some ideas for filling include:
- Beef with taco seasoning
- Mixed vegetables
- Indian dishes (I love those packets that you can just microwave)
- Cream cheese and strawberry jam
- Pie filling
Well, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, so I searched the interwebs to find something appropriate. Guiness + Pudding = Win. Did I mention the pudding was chocolate?
I found this gem on epicurious.
You need:
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 c sugar
- 14.9 oz can of Guiness
- 2 1/4 cream
- 7 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
Basically, you mix half the can of Guiness and cream together and then heat to a point right before boiling. You remove from heat and then add the chocolate (the smaller the pieces, the easier the mixing will be). You mix some of the hot mixture into the eggs, and then pour the egg mixture into the chocolate/Guiness mix. After whisking thoroughly, let cool and pour into dishes.
Sounds super easy. And Awesome.
I Googled some more and found a picture of something similar from This Is Why You’re Fat – which, by the way, is a fantastically hilarious piece of cooking literature.
Enjoy!
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