Food Chronicles

Mission Cookbook continues! Today’s recipe was similar to yesterday’s minus the whole flipping it over on a plate and oh yeah burning myself. haha So yes this recipe called for one of the things I have a hard time saying no to: Potato Chips. I like chips, fries, and cheese. These three things make the world go round. It’s safe to assume I was pretty darn excited for this recipe. I’m not sure where they got the whole tortilla element, since I found that I used potato chips and not tortilla chips. Furthermore, the recipe makes no call for any form of tortilla, so why add tortilla to a recipe title if it’s not even in the recipe! Any who, I think my knife skills are getting better (or at least that’s what I tell myself). I found seeding a tomato was a lot easier today than yesterday. I figured that after a while some of my culinary skills should improve right? Well that’s the goal at least! Okay enough rambling, let’s talk food!

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Okay so I’ve been MIA for a bit BUT I’m back!!! I go through days where I don’t feel like cooking! haha I’ve heard it isn’t good to cook if you don’t feel like it or are emotional. Apparently your food reflects the mood you are in. Not sure if that’s all the way true BUT, why risk messing up a recipe, right? Deal!

Okay, Cheeseburger Frittata sounds good right? Cheeseburger and frittata? Well to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what a frittata until I saw the picture. According to the dictionary it’s an Italian dish made with fried beaten eggs. So if you think about it now it does sound like a more tantalizing dish. The burnttata part is really for two reasons. Well 1. I sort of burned the dish/over browned the eggs. Pictures can explain it better! and 2. I burned myself pulling the dish out of the broiler. lol I’m okay nothing major, just super painful! Alright here is the list of ingredients for this tasty recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil (I used corn oil)

8 ounces lean ground beef

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon of dried oregano, crushed

1 large tomato, seeded and chopped (3/4 cup) (I used 2 medium roma tomatoes)

6 eggs

1/4 whipping cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I went ahead and used a handful, then again I like cheese)

salt and pepper

Shredded lettuce (optional)

Chopped, seeded tomato (optional-for garnish)

Instructions:

1. Preheat broiler. In an 8 inch nonstick broiler-safe skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Add the ground beef; cook for 4-5 minutes or until browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Add the onion, garlic, and oregano; cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato and season with salt and pepper; cook 1 minute more. Spoon mixture into a plate and let it cool slightly. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel.

2. In a large bowl beat the eggs and cream; season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and the beef mixture; mix well. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet over medium-low heat. Add the egg mixture; cook 5-6 minutes or until edges are cooked and pulled away from the sides of the pan.

3. Transfer the pan to broiler; broil for 3 to 4 minutes (keep an eye out if not it will over brown) until the eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Run a spatula around the edges to loosen the frittata. Let it stand for a few minutes before inverting in onto a plate. Top with additional cheese and, if desired, lettuce and tomato.

Egg-Beef Mixture

So this one required a bit more knife work and quite a few ingredients. Besides that, it wasn’t too hard to manage. I do recommend cutting everything up before you start.

So as you can see by the picture, it came out looking less than appetizing BUT it actually tasted pretty good. I recommend a side of ketchup. I found I could have added a bit more salt, but once I drizzled some ketchup on top it really brought it all together. This was my favorite recipe thus far granted there have only been three, but this one tasted the best! :) Happy Cooking everyone!

Interesting name right? So it’s supposed to be a corn cupcake/muffin. The “frosting” in this case will be cream cheese. Now I am a fan of all things spicy so this recipe caught my attention just with the title.

I had to do make some small adjustments, but nothing major. Turns out I don’t own a normal cupcake baking pan BUT, I do own a pan that makes 9 mini loaves. Crazy right? Since no one makes paper cups to line the pan with I improvised an used aluminum paper. Hey you have to make the best of it! haha Okay let me share with you the recipe.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of cornmeal

1 cup of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

2.5 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 (4oz) ca chopped jalapeño chile peppers, drained

1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick), melted

2 (12oz) containers whipped cream cheese

Finely chopped red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers (left these out)

snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large bowl stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl beat the eggs. Add the milk, jalapeños, and melted butter to the eggs and stir well. Pour the egg mixture into the cornmeal mixture; stir until just combined (or use corn muffin mix and add jalapeños)

3. divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

4. Frost the cuffins with whipped cream cheese, as you could a cupcake, and garnish with the chopped sweet peppers. If desired, sprinkle with snipped cilantro.

Right before going into the oven!

Fresh out of the oven!

Easy enough right? This one over all was easy to prep. It was like making a cake from a cake box mix. If you want to make the frosting of the cuffins really cool you can use a pipping bag OR a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. The most challenging part of the recipe? Lining the pan with aluminum foil! Funny how the hardest part didn’t have to do with cooking.

Initial first taste reactions? Not bad but not good! haha I followed the directions exactly as listed so it wasn’t a matter of like “oh darn, i forgot the eggs”. I think I had a different idea in my head of what it would taste like so once i finally bit into one, it was a lot different from what i expected. I think if you use the corn muffin mix, the taste of corn will be more obvious than just using corn meal. But I do enjoy the nice kick from the jalapeño that gets countered with the coolness of the cream cheese. Fun times I must say!

Day 1 of this adventure! I started with the very first recipe in the cook book which was as the title suggests a Spinach Breakfast pizza. The ham was a last minute addition thanks to my good friend. I ventured to Ralph’s to pick up the necessary items since like most people, I find that recipes call for every single item that is NOT in my pantry. I found myself a little nervous to even start the recipe. Not sure why, I guess I feel that despite the fact I’m following a recipe there is room to mess something up. haha oh well. Allow me to share the the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 (10-ounce) prepared thin pizza crust (The ones that are pre-made is what I used)

1 teaspoon extra virgin oil (I used corn oil)

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

8 eggs

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive iol (again corn oil)

1 large onion chopped (1 cup)

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (2 oz)

1 ham steak chopped (3/4 cup)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit. Brush the top of the pizza crust with the 1 teaspoon of olive oil (OR use two fingers as a brush, I found it works just the same). Place crust directly in the middle rack of the oven. Bake 8-10 min

2. While crust is baking, cook spinach according the instructions on the package. Drain, reserve 1 tablespoon of the liquid. Squeeze spinach dry. In a bowl whisk the eggs and the liquid you reserved. Season with salt and pepper. In a skillet heat the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the spinach and ham. Break up the pieces and heat through. Add the spinach mixture to the eggs and mix together. Lower the heat to the low. Pour egg mixture intovthe skillet. Cook and gently stir eggs for 3-4 minutes or until they are set but still moist.

3. Spread the egg mixture evenly over the baked pizza crust and top with cheese. Bake for about 1 minute or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot

Easy enough right? So for my first time cooking something this complex, it didn’t turn out half bad! So the mixture you end up making is enough for about 2 pizza crusts if you like your pizza toppings on the thinner side. I added a layer of cheese underneath the mixture and then on top. (I really like cheese) Good first day of cooking! Cheers!

Hello everyone! So I’ve decided to embark on a delicious journey. Ever seen the movie “Julie and Julia?” Well that’s exactly what I’ll be doing, minus the french cuisine. I’ll be working my way through “Take this Dish and Twist it,” by George Duran. Why? Well mostly just to fill up my summer, but mainly because I love food. I think most of us do, I hope most of us do! I don’t have any sort of culinary training but I figure my love for food will be enough.

Well I hope you enjoy reading about my culinary adventures. I have no idea where this will all end up, BUT I do know there will be lots of food to try out!