Enchilada Taco Dinner

by
No comments yet

A Family or Company Meal

Enchilada Taco dinner and Wine

Enchilada Casserole, Taco Salad, and Wine

Pair this casual dinner with a dry or sweet Rose’, or beer or even a skinny Margarita. Sounds a bit like summer! Just a bit of fun before slipping into the icy cold of winter. No intense spiciness here. This enchilada casserole can be a welcome in cold weather too … with rice and beans. Or for a brunch!

For those intense spicy meals wines with higher alcohol content are not suggested nor are expensive reds. The expensive reds will be clouded by the spiciness. And alcohol adds fuel to the fire of spice. FYI: Dry Rose’ generally has a higher alcohol content than the sweeter variety.

Continue reading

London Broil Recipe Dinner Menu

by
No comments yet

London Broil Recipe Dinner Menu

Meat and Potatoes, these guys are still around! And this one is having a birthday today. This London broil meal can be fixed in a jiffy. And is so economical … not to worry about how many guests he brings! Pair it with a good tasting economical wine. This is a London Broil Complete Dinner for Four!

Good cheap wine choices are out there, and it makes good sense to pair this meal with a value wine instead of something you would serve with filet mignon. The wine … spicy Cline zinfandel. All this is a hungry man’s delight! Oh, and French apple pie for dessert!

Three recipes here … Well, four if you include the mushrooms smothering the meat … London broil with mushrooms, twice baked potatoes, and balsamic salad dressing.

The sequence of putting the meal together could go like this.

  • Marinate the meat overnight
  • Make salad dressing up to the day ahead
  • Potatoes can be made the morning of the dinner. Baking for the last time just before serving.
  • Put the salad together the morning or afternoon on the same day. Add tomatoes and avocado, if using, as well as dressing just before serving.
  • Prepare the mushrooms at the time of the meat being broiled.
  • Uncork your value wine while the meat is broiling. Two bottles for 4 people. Just 20 bucks for two bottles of this wine.

Come join us, wine or beer or even diet cola to celebrate Stephen’s birthday!

For recipes HERE!

 

Macaroni and Cheese

by
No comments yet

A Family’s Style macaroni and Cheese

With one of the most popular instant macaroni and cheese products changing their recipe this seemed to be the perfect time to introduce my instant, sorta, Macaroni and Cheese.

My first two children rarely experienced instant box dinners. These box mixes were not plentiful in the day. And everyone in my family was a scratch cook, including my dad … apple pie and Portuguese beans. It was hard to take the step.

When my next two children became toddlers more than ten years later the choices for these instant meals had grown into quite a selection and had a popular following. While the older children loved home cooked the younger children definitely had different food likes and dislikes. So, while i was busy working nights on the oncology floor and my husband was busy by day prosecuting a lengthy infamous trial were we serving this out of a box to the children? The younger ones, maybe. Or maybe the taste for this came along in their college days.

There is definitely a smoothness, creaminess, that is hard to achieve with some cheeses … Something that is easily achieved with a box mix. But this is just what makes scratch recipes interesting … The ability to change up texture and taste.

Continue reading

Braciole

by
No comments yet

A Winning Family Dinner – Braciole

 

The Mystery Man in Black introduced me to this dish, Braciole. Marc or Ed has been my Italian Food Critic for over 15 years. I knew when I heard, this tastes as good as my mom’s … It was just right! This is my reinvented recipe.

I hope you will enjoy this perfect family meal. Too … great to share by candle light and Jerry Vale’s Mama. 

Mangia! 

Continue reading

Change Up Chopped Salad

by
No comments yet

Change Up Chopped Salad

A MEAL IN ITSELF

Change Up Chopped Salad

 

This is one of my favorite green salads. Actually, it is many salads in one. The main ingredients are green and red leaf lettuce. Need some crunch in your lettuce? Just add a little iceberg. No bag lettuce here. Nothing against bag lettuce. I use it. But for this salad full flavor is needed to compete with the other ingredients. The choice of ingredients is up to you. Do you want the salad to have a Mexican flare, Italian, or…. I’ll give you some ideas and then you change up as you and your family like. I have a simple dressing that too can be changed up. My favorite dressing for this has no measuring and only includes two ingredients.

Continue reading

Pork Chops Recipe

by
No comments yet

Seared Pork Chops Dinner Recipes

Side of Cheese Potatoes

Side of Sautéed Green beans

Seared Pork Chops

This Pork Chops Recipe will quickly become a family favorite. A great treat anytime. Impress guests too! The addition of apples gives a nice presentation and adds just the right amount of sweetness.

Everyone will feel special at the dinner table with this Pork Chops Dinner. Enjoy!

Continue reading

Portuguese Linguica Sausage

by
No comments yet

My Brother’s Recipe

Portuguese Linguica Sausage

A Family Recipe

Portuguese Linguica Sausage, A Family Recipe

Yep, this is my brother, Dan, who was one tough high school and college football player … even playing for the Arkansas Razorback Team way back when.

He has mastered the taste of Portuguese cuisine, notably from the Azores. Never being timid about spices … this being taught by our Grandmother Rose. Cumin and cinnamon are of particular importance.

Dan and his son, David, are the cooks in his family. Well, wife, Ruth, can certainly hold her own but she leaves this cuisine to Dan. Thank you Dan and David for including us and providing the photography. Dan has promised to send me some linguica soon.

Continue reading

Cheese Enchiladas and Beans

by
No comments yet

Cheese Enchiladas and Beans

My first taste of enchilada came early.  Estrada’s Spanish Kitchen was a family owned restaurant in Visalia established long before my parents were born. It was fine dining … Frequented for forty some odd years by our family.

The old Victorian house on Main Street was a business on the first floor and a family home on the second. It was our family’s favorite place to eat especially Christmas Eve … Forty six years in a row according to my brother. As a kid it seemed to take forever for the food to be served. I amused myself when young … picking the enormous wax covered wine bottle that was providing more temptation than candle light … seeing coins embedded in the wax … digging. Yep, I was disciplined. My brother, more self disciplined, just explored the upstairs bathroom, the only one available. But I bet he was really looking for Susie.

I have tried to recreate the tastes of Estrada’s dishes. (Estrada’s taste alike here) A friend married into this restaurant family not too long ago, and had mentioned the recipes were definitely a family secret. Yes, I asked. He said, I could give you the recipes but then I would have to kill you. Of course he was kidding! Do I have to even say that? There were about a half dozen of these Estrada’s restaurants throughout California owned by the same family. Only one now exists … Daly City. (Closed Feb 3rd, 2019)

In my teens, mother, every few months, would form an assembly line of hot vegetable oil, heated canned enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, cheese and onion. She and I would make two dozen enchiladas, some to be eaten … some to be frozen. We used Velveeta cheese … Considered a healthy alternative to cheese in those days.

(For this dish, I will be using a quick sauce recipe I picked up from a former neighbor about 40 years ago. I was shocked at the time to find enchilada sauce got the red color from peppers not tomatoes. Labeling was yet to reach today’s sophistication.)

Continue reading

Chicken Breasts with Roasted Vegetables

by
No comments yet

Chicken Breasts With roasted Vegetables

Serve This Dish Hot Or Cold

Caramelized vegetables are a favorite. So easy to do, and why not add the chicken in the last minutes and have a one dish meal … Chicken Breasts with Roasted Vegetables.

Ina Garten first introduced me to roasted vegetables … Something I now cook regularly and especially at Thanksgiving. I put just about every vegetable I can think of in the mix. My sons now find brussel sprouts one of their favorites. Who knew!

In this dish I have included summer vegetables, cauliflower, red potatoes, and onion. These were cooked until almost done and then I turned the heat down, added the chicken on top and continued to cook until chicken breasts were tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Continue reading

Easy Baked Pasta

by
No comments yet

A recipe for your pasta sauce or jar sauce

Easy Baked Pasta

This Easy Baked Pasta is a changeable recipe. Use your favorite meat sauce or marinara, or try my gravy, or use a jar of marinara, and even make it vegetarian. It’s easy to change up.

The dish in this picture was made with my Italian gravy rich with meat and meat balls. The only ingredients I added to my gravy were the cheeses and pasta. Just layered in this oblong baking dish without much significance in what layer goes first.

Now I am going to give you ways to change this up, add meat or vegetables, add your sauce or jar.

Continue reading