A Casserole the Mattson Family Will Eat!

1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers
1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream or light dairy sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
8 6-inch corn tortillas
1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce or one 101/2-ounce can tomato puree
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

Directions
1. In a large skillet cook the ground beef, onion, chili powder, and cumin until onion is tender and meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir pinto beans and undrained chili peppers into meat mixture; set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl stir together sour cream, flour, and garlic powder until combined; set aside.
3. Place half of the tortillas in the bottom of a lightly greased 2-quart rectangular baking dish, cutting to fit if necessary. Top with half of the meat mixture, half of the sour cream mixture, and half of the enchilada sauce. Repeat layers. Cover dish with plastic wrap; chill in refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
4. To serve: Preheat oven to 350F. Remove plastic wrap; cover dish with foil. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes more. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Susan's Chicken Spaghetti in a White Sauce

4 chicken breasts chopped
(Or one rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 cup onion chopped
1 cup celery chopped
1 pint half and half
(fat free works perfectly well!)
2 T dry white wine
2 T cooking sherry
S/P to taste
Parm Cheese
6 oz. spaghetti

Melt butter in skillet and saute vegetables until soft.
Add chicken, half and half, sherry, wine, s/p.
Heat to almost boiling.
Mix 2 T of flour to make a paste.
Add paste to chicken mixture and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cook spaghetti, drain, rinse and place in butter shallow casserole dish. Pour chicken mixture into dish and gently stir noodles into mixture. Spring top with parm.

Mattson Family Beef Burgundy
(FW Star Telegram)

4 slices bacon
1 1/2 lbs of lean stew meat
1/4 cup onion, chopped
4 oz. sliced mushrooms, fresh
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp parsley
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 T flour
1 cup beef broth
1 cup burgundy red wine
cooked noodles

Saute bacon. Cool then crumble into large casserole (or crock pot). Brown the beef in the bacon fat. Place beef in casserole. Top with onion, mushrooms, seasoning, parsley and bay leaf. Add olive oil to skillet if ncessary to bring the remaining fat to 3 T. Add flour and brown. Add beef broth and wine. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened. Pour over meat etc.
Bake covered at 325 for 2-3 hours. Remove bay leaf and serve over noodles.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th at 6:30PM
Tuscany Art in Dining
RSVP to Susan or Evite

I wanted to share a new favorite recipe, my whole family loves it and the best part it takes about 5 min. to make. I serve it over the Carb-Nada pasta and make a salad to go with it.

Slow-cooker Burgundy Beef Tips
2lb. stew meat - already cut up
1 pkg. sliced baby Portobello mushrooms
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup (I use the reduced fat one)
1/2 c. dry red wine
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/4 t. pepper

Stir all ingredients together and put in crock pot, cook on high for 4 hours. Stir it occasionally. Enjoy!!

I've also added carrots, baby onions or celery to it.

Christine

Sweet Potato Fries

2 sweet potatoes cut into sticks

Put on cookie sheet and brush w/olive oil

Sprinkle w/salt and pepper (my kids don’t like pepper so we do some w/just salt)

Cook at 425 for about 30-35 minutes (the slightly burnt ones taste the best)



Roasted Green Beans

Clean and trim green beans

Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper

Cook at 400 for about 20 minutes



Enjoy the recipes!

Christine

Jen's Summer (Winter,Spring,Fall at the Mattson home) Pasta

1 lb. Orrichette (you can find it at Market Street)

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 T. Kosher Salt

1 clove garlic – minced

¼ t. red pepper flakes

Crushed black pepper

2 Mozzarella balls cut into small cubes

18-24 cherry tomatoes halved

1 c. fresh basil – julienned



Put EVOO, salt, garlic, red and black pepper in bowl and stir. Add cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls and basil, stir. Let tomato and cheese mixture sit while pasta is cooking. Boil Pasta until ready, drain and add to tomato and cheese mixture. Mix all ingredients; wait about 5 minutes to let cheese melt a little. Enjoy!



Sometimes I add grilled chicken to the recipe for a light dinner.

Christine's Sangria

It called for Brandy but I used Cream Sherry. Cut up fruit, oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries, I used 2 oranges, one lemon, lime and then a couple cups of Strawberries. Soak the fruit in the Cream Sherry(Brandy). Meanwhile add together 1 bottle red wine, ½ bottle sprite (from 2 liter) and 1 cup of oj. Let fruit soak for about an hour and then add everything together. You can play w/sprite, oj, wine combo to your taste.

Healthy Chicken Soup



2 T. of olive oil

2 gloves of garlic crushed and minced

1 medium onion chopped

1 cup of celery diced

1 cup of red bell pepper diced

1 cup of carrots diced

1 4oz. can chopped green chili

1 16oz. can of northern white beans

1 t. of thyme

2 t. of cumin

1 t. of crushed red pepper flakes

1 t. of oregano

salt and pepper to taste

4 cans of chicken broth

4 cups of water

1 whole roasted chicken (tuscan rub from Market Street) pulled into bite sized pieces

Juice of 1/2 lime

Chopped Cilantro



Saute garlic, onion, celery, red pepper, and carrots with oil under medium heat for about 5 minutes in a soup kettle. Add thyme, cumin, pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and water, and bring to a soft boil. Turn down heat to medium low. Add white beans, green chili, and chicken. Add more salt to your taste. Simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Squeeze in lime and garnish with cilantro before serving.

Sometimes I add in elbow macaroni to make the soup heartier. Enjoy.



Gigi

PEAR AND BLUE CHEESE SALAD
Ingredients
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 1 bag of mixed baby greens
• ½ bunch of romaine lettuce
• ¼ head of iceberg lettuce
• ¼ pound bean sprouts
• 2 ripe Bosc pears or any other pear available, such as Anjou, Bartlett, or Comice
• 4-5 ounces crumbled blue cheese - I used Stilton
• Briana’s blush wine Vinaigrette dressing
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the nuts on a sheet pan in a single layer. Bake, shaking the pan occasionally, until the nuts are toasted and fragrant, about 7 to 10 minutes. Let the nuts cool, and then coarsely chop.
Trim the stems of the lettuce. Wash and dry the leaves. Tear into pieces and add all the lettuces and the sprouts to the bowl. Quarter and core the unpeeled pears and thinly slice; add to the salad. Scatter the cheese and nuts over the salad, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Just before serving, drizzle the vinaigrette dressing over the salad to your taste. Toss the salad gently to evenly dress all the greens. Divide among 8 plates and serve immediately.

Jen’s Apple Cake with Carmel Topping

3 cups all purpose flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
½ - t. nutmeg
1# Golden Delicious Apples, peeled cored and cut in 1/3 “ cubes (I used 3 -1/2 apples)
2 cups brown sugar
1-1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
4 t. vanilla
¾ cups pecans, coarsely chopped


1 stick butter
¼ cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray bundt pan with with nonstick spray. Mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Transfer 3 T. to Bundt pan and tilt to coat. Set pan aside.
Place apples and 2 T. flour mixture in another medium bowl. Toss to coat.
Combine 1 cup brown sugar, vegetable oil, 1 cup sugar, eggs and 3 t. vanilla in a large bowl. Beat until mixture is thick, about 4 minutes. Gradually beat in remaining flour mixture. Fold apples and pecans into batter. Transfer to bundt pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, approximately 1 hour. Transfer cake pan to rack, let stand while making carmel sauce.

Melt butter in a small pot, whisk in remaining 1 cup of brown sugar and milk. Cook until blended and comes to a boil., about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1 t. vanilla. .

Spoom ¼ cup hot carmel over warm cake in pan. Let stand until toppin is absorbed. Cool for a while and turn cake out of pan. Pour about ½ of remaining carmel over top of cake. Save the balance of the carmel to sauce your plates before serving.

Enjoy!

(Sometimes I add raisins, sometimes I serve with Butter pecan ice cream)

Next, I just fixed a pork dish tonight that was yummy!!! And the best part, Thursday is my crazy day so I either crock pot it or do something I can put together at 4:00 and be ready for the different shifts that everyone eats. Anyway, here it is…by the way, the recipe called for Brandy and I didn’t have any (I know, I didn’t have some spirit on hand) anyway I improvised with Cognac and it was awesome, you could probably use port too.

Also, I bought the big Pork Loin Roast and cut it in half, used half tonight and the other is in freezer.

Pork Loin with Brandy and Dried Cherries

½ c dried cherries

½ c brandy

2 lbs. Boneless pork loin roast

1 t. dried mustard

1 t. pepper

1 t. salt

1 c. finely chopped onion (I actually didn’t have any, so I used shallots instead, always improvising)

3 garlic cloves, minced ( I used about 6)

1 c. chicken broth

1 T. red currant jelly ( I used black cherry)

1 t. fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Combine Cherries and brandy and let sit 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325

Sprinkle pork with salt, pepper and mustard

Heat dutch oven and sear pork on all sides, remove from pan.

Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft, add cherry mixture, broth, jelly, thyme and bay leaf, bring to a boil.

Add Pork ( I actually use my stones at this point), cover and bake in oven for 2 hours or until tender. (it was falling apart)

Bring broth mixture to a boil until reduced and thickened, slice pork and serve sauce over. Yuuummy!!

Enjoy,

Christine

Keith and I ate at Grace last Sat. night in downtown Ft. Worth. It’s a steakhouse but kind of swanky and I didn’t have steak. I loved the atmosphere and the food was really yummy!! They had some unusual sides you don’t find at other steak houses – asparagus/shrooms with poached egg on top….Anyway, if you’re heading to FT. worth try it out, another place to go is Eddie V’s in Ft. Worth. If you’ve eaten at the one in Austin you know how awesome it is!

Recipe Club at Jen's -
Does it get any better then this?

Tortilla Soup
The Mansion on Turtle Creek

3 T corn oil
4 corn tortillas coarsely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 T chopped fresh epazote (or 1 T chopped fresh cilantro)
1 cup fresh onion puree
2 cups fresh tomato puree
1 T cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 bay leaves
4 T canned tomato puree
2 quarts chicken stock
salt to taste
cayenne to taste
1 cooked chicken breast, cut into strips
1 avocado peeled, seeded and cubed
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips and fried crisp

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
Saute tortillas with garlic and epazote over medium heat until tortillas are soft.
Add onion and fresh tomoato puree and bring to a boil.
Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, canned tomato puree and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to simmer. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste and cook, stirring frequently for 30 minutes. Skim fat from surface if necessary.
Strain and pour into warm soup bols. Garnish.