One Pan Irish Nachos

We love nachos. So much, in fact, that we make them every week (Nacho Sunday!). 

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and I'm 1/4 Irish (and damn proud of it! Although I'm also damn proud to celebrate Cinco de Mayo...). It's also nacho day. I felt we should honor the Irish and the potato famine that caused so many of them to come to America (probably including my ancestors) by making our nachos Irish. 

Oh my goodness this was a good idea. Going to be doing this a lot more often.

This is called "one pan" because other than a butcher block to chop the veggies the whole thing was made in one cast iron skillet, and then we ate directly out of it. It was glorious.

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Soyrizo

Corn

Cheese

Bell pepper

Tomatoes

Cilantro

Avocado

Sour cream

Spices

Heat the cast iron skillet for a couple of minutes, then add a small layer of olive oil. Chop the potatoes into bite sized pieces and put them in the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper and whatever other spices you want. 

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, get one. The twenty bucks you'll spend is way, way worth it. Cast iron skillets keep very even heat on the whole thing so every piece gets cooked the exact same amount, preventing overcooking some pieces while barely cooking others. Plus, you can stick them in the oven. Seriously, they're great.

While those are cooking, chop the veggies and shred the cheese. We used the same veggies we do in regular nachos, but I imagine a wider variety of toppings will be good. Green onions, specifically.

Wow, that's a terrible picture... But you get the idea.

Once the potatoes are a few minutes away from being ready, add the soyrizo to the pan. I scooped half the potatoes on top of each other to make room. Once that was just about done, I added some corn. You could also add beans to make it real nachos, but there's so much going on you don't need to.

And then some cheese.

And then put it in the oven. That's probably one of the greatest things about cast iron - goes right from the stove to the oven. Just remember that the whole skillet is hot, so you absolutely need to use an oven mitt. Cook the skillet at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is as bubbly as you like.

Then put all the vegetables on it! So good. How good? We made this early in the evening after not having lunch, and because we're fat kids we were kind of hungry again at our normal dinner time (8-9pm), so we made a second batch. It really is amazing we don't weigh more.

LOOK AT HOW PRETTY IT IS!

Naturally, it being St. Patrick's Day and all, we paired it with Harp. And it was good.

Total Cost: less than $10, feeds two fat kids 

Total Time: ~25 minutes

Note: In this particular post, most of the photos are courtesy of my phone, which, while awesome and pretty decent at playing camera, is no match for Rich's actual camera. So if the pics look like cell phone pics, it's 'cause they are. Especially the one of the potatoes and soyrizo... it's like I didn't even look at it after. Ugh.

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Vegetarian Pho with Fried Tofu

 Hot, spicy pho

We discovered a love for tofu at this strange little bar right by my place that served pizza, tots, Vietnamese sandwiches, and pho. And beer. What an unusual combination, right? And they had things like breakfast pizza which sounded gross (egg on pizza?) but smelled so good. I ordered the pho with tofu one of the first times I went there on a whim and because I'd never had it before and I was hooked. I never ordered anything else at that place.

Eventually, they started running out of pho. I would be impossibly disappointed after getting my heart set on a nice big bowl of hot pho and learn they didn't have any. The bar went through a lot of changes in a few months, and we finally learned it was closing to allow the owner to move on to bigger and better things (you can read about that here). But I never stopped loving the pho.

So I figured... why not make it?

Turns out, however, the ingredient list for authentic pho is way long. To get the broth right you have to simmer a beef bone for hours and add all these spices I don't have. So I gave up and resolved to find another pho spot that wasn't 15 miles away. Then Rich got sick. It started with just a tickle in the throat one night, a very chilly night. Pho was sounding really good, and I'd just discovered pre-packaged pho base at Sprouts. So I figured why not, let's give it a whirl. And it turned out pretty darn good, especially for a first try. My only recommendation is to either get a meat base, add your own spices to a vegetarian broth, or load up on the sriracha. The vegetarian base by itself is a little... lacking.

The steps are actually ridiculously easy, as long as you have a good soup base.

Ingredients:

Pho starter base (veggie, beef, or chicken)

Tofu (and olive oil or butter for frying, plus any seasonings)

Rice noodles

Cilantro

Green onions

Bean sprouts

Basil

Jalapeno

Lime

Sriracha

Plum sauce (optional)

So. Yummy.

Chop your veggies. Slice jalapeno and lime, chop some green onions, and pick fresh basil leaves and grab a big handful of sprouts. 

Fry the tofu. I always use olive oil, but I know butter tastes better. Use whatever you like. Or just boil it and don't fry it at all, or do a dry fry with no oil or butter (just keep an eye on it). I like to put a bunch of seasonings on my tofu: chili peppers, black pepper, some garlic salt, and a good amount of sesame seeds.

Cook the rice noodles! Follow whatever the package says, but it's just like cooking any other noodle. Also, simmer the broth in a big pot until nice and hot. You might also want to add the tofu into the broth so it can soak up the flavor (and stay warm), and add in a few more spices if you go the veggie route.

Scoop some rice noodles into a big ol' soup bowl. I did not have the kind of bowls you get at pho restaurants, and I plan on remedying this soon. Add the green onions and cilantro.

Pour the broth and the tofu over the noodles. Let it steep in. Top with the rest of the ingredients!

Shrimp pho is also really good. And I'm sure the beef and other cow parts are delicious as well. But I really dig the tofu.

Total Cost: ~$15 (less if you already have some of the toppings)

Total Time: ~30 minutes (assuming you don't spend 12 hours simmering a beef bone)

Note: In this particular post the photos are partially courtesy of my phone, which, while awesome and pretty decent at playing camera, is no match for Rich's actual camera. So if some of the pics look like cell phone pics, it's 'cause they are.

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Black Bean Enchiladas Suizas

Enchilaaadaaaaaaas

Before Rich and I got together I made these enchiladas once or twice a month (or more) with my lady friend. They're fantastically delicious and easy enough to make a giant pan to have leftovers for a couple of days (or feed several people). I made them for the first birthday I spent with Rich and they were gobbled up. Fast forward to very recently when Rich asks why I haven't made the enchiladas since his birthday almost a year ago.

Ummm... 

Probably because we've been making these every week? 

Oh god... tomorrow is Nacho Night.

Anyway, now that the weather is potentially getting cooler I think these babies will have to make a comeback. I've also made a promise to not let it get that long in between enchilada nights (which, honestly, I'm kind of surprised at myself... I love these things!). 

Ingredients:

Tortillas

Cheese (pepper jack, but cheddar or Monterey Jack works)

Black beans

Corn

Large can of verde sauce

Toppings (jalapenos, hot sauce, black olives, bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, avocado, sour cream, whatevs)

Get enough ingredients to fill a 13x9" pan and you'll feed the whole house for two days. Seriously. It's a good idea to warm the tortillas so they're pliable and can be rolled without breaking in half. I use a tortilla warmer (my favorite kitchen tool) but a damp paper towel over a stack of tortillas in the microwave works, too.

The great beginnings.

Spoon black beans and corn into the middle of a tortilla and top with a small fingerfull of cheese (you can also put the jalapenos in the tortilla). Roll it up nice and tight and place it in the pan. You don't want the tortillas to be too full or they won't roll very well. Repeat this until you have a full pan of rolled tortillas.

Saucy!

Sometimes we end up with leftover ingredients and I'll spoon them over the top of the pan. Cover the whole pan with the verde sauce and sprinkle a good amount of cheese over the top. Get the corners so it comes out a little crunchy. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is as bubbly as you like it or until the smell is too overpowering to wait any longer.

Cheese!

Once it's done, top with whatever toppings you like. I always have black olives, sour cream and hot sauce, but it goes so well with everything else, too. 

Ah. Maze. ING!

Nom.

Damn, I totally want enchiladas now. Here it is again, just because it's so delicious looking.

NOM

Total Cost: $11-$17 including toppings (feeds 4-8)

Total Time: 45 minutes

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Five Layer Dip

This should have been a six layer dip, but I forgot the salsa, and the bottom layer was, like, 7 layers in and of itself thanks to the joy that is leftovers. 

I seriously love leftovers. We know people who do not like leftovers, and to us they're just crazy. Sometimes the best part about a meal is the leftovers (hello, turkey sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving?), especially when that meal gets to marinate in itself overnight, becoming even more flavorful and delicious. 

The bottom layer of this bean dip is actually the rest of the stuffed bell peppers we made last week, which were bomb (go check out that recipe, it's amazing). Basically beans, rice, tomatoes, soyrizo and a ton of spices. And corn, I'm pretty sure there's corn in there.

This photo does a much better job of showcasing the layers:

Bean mixture

Sour cream

Cheese

Avocado

Cilantro (not pictured... it didn't occur to me until right before eating it to use cilantro)

Just goes to show that every bit can be used and reused. We threw this together in about 5 minutes; it would have taken 10 if I wasn't lazy and actually mashed the avocado into guac with some tomatoes, but it worked this way.

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Stuffed Bell Peppers

Even though stuffed bell peppers should be the easiest fancy dish ever, this took us a couple tries to get right. The first time I was going off of several different internet recipes that all said to use uncooked rice, so I also used uncooked rice despite thinking it wasn't going to work. I was right and it did not work. Rich still says the first try was great, except for the rice, but I couldn't get past the hundreds of hard little uncooked rice grains... so the second time around I cooked the rice first.

Ingredients:

Bell peppers

Tomatoes

Onion

Garlic

Soyrizo (or ground meat)

Cheese (pepper jack and Colby work really well)

Mushrooms

Rice

Worcestershire sauce

Cilantro

Corn

Green onions

Black beans

Canned tomatoes

Canned diced peppers

Seasonings

Whatever else sounds good, honestly

This is a prettier photo than boiling rice, even if the step is useless.

All of the other internet recipes said to boil the bell peppers for five minutes to get the skins softer and more prepared to be baked, but the second time around we skipped this step and it didn't make any difference whatsoever. I'd say skip this step for the sake of time and all that water. Instead, use that water to boil your rice!

Cook the soyrizo! Seriously, soyrizo is the best meat-ish thing to put in a stuffed bell pepper. It has such a great flavor on its own that it imparts to the dish as a whole that ground beef or even ground turkey just won't be able to match. Go generous with the soyrizo because there's plenty of other ingredients that'll try to steal its thunder.

Add the diced onion (like, half the onion), chopped garlic, and for funzies some chopped bell pepper. I'm pretty sure there's some diced eggplant in this photo too... these two tries taught us that it really doesn't matter what you stuff inside a bell pepper as long as it tastes good to you.

 This mix is good all on its own.

Add the canned tomatoes, diced tomatoes, canned diced peppers (or diced jalapenos), black beans, corn, cilantro, green onions, Worcestershire sauce (about a table spoon), whatever seasonings you like, and mushrooms, if you like them cooked. I prefer fresh mushrooms so they were more garnish than ingredient.

Hollowed peppers

Cut out and clean the bell peppers. You can do them two ways: like a bucket, above, or like boats, below. The first time we used buckets because the peppers were small and were able to stand up on their own (you could also cut portions off the bottom to help them stand upright), but the second time we did it boat style because they were much bigger and more weirdly shaped. I like boat style best because it's easier to eat.

Boats!

Spoon the delicious goodness that you've prepared (remember to mix the rice in) into your bell peppers. Fill those guys up to the brim and get the mix into the little crannies that bell peppers have. If you're doing them bucket style pack it in 'till it's almost overflowing. We also mixed some shredded cheese into the mix before stuffing the bell peppers to make it creamier.

Cheesey bell peppers

Top with cheese! The blend of Colby/Cheddar with pepper jack cheese is really pretty and it melts perfectly and the tastes complement each other. The meltyness helps keep the goods in the pepper.

Buckets!

Here are cheesy stuffed bell peppers boat style. These stood up in an 8x8 baking dish. (Because we're fatties, we each ate two... but when properly prepared and with rice they can be a meal on their own.)

That one has a chipotle cheese that I wanted to try. Yum.

Line the dish with foil (though I'm not sure what that does) and set up the bell peppers so that they won't move around. We fit 6 large halves together in a 13x9 baking dish. Cover the whole thing with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Check on them and if they look like they need a bit longer keep them in the oven another 10 minutes.

Maybe top with some mushrooms, or cilantro, or green onion and DIG IN. This is a super hearty meal that's surprisingly healthy and pretty impressive if you're going to serve a group (you could make a big pot of the mix ahead of time and bake the peppers right before guests arrive). Yum!

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Growing Our Own Food

We planted a garden!

From left to right: Jalapeno, Cherry tomato and orange bell pepper.

And an herb box! Cilantro, green onions and basil. Sooo can't wait 'till harvest time! Be prepared for fantastic food posts with our home grown food. So glad Rich has a balcony for growing things: my apartment is the only one in my building with no balcony/patio, so my tomato and pepper pots just hang out in the open... And speaking of my apartment, the pepper plant is starting to sprout leaves for its second season (yay!) and I bought a yellow tomato plant to give the tomato pot a second go. Hello summer!

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