Still waiting!

I still do not have internet at home, so I have not been able to update in ages. Not much going on, but I've been able to do a lot of cooking! I am looking forward to sharing some of the goodies I've come up with lately.

Summer!

Summer is here! We had a 108* day, then a week of under 80*. It's been weird weather, that's for sure.

Katie is blossoming every day and blowing me away!

I've been cooking, but have not had internet to share some of my latest creations. I can't wait to get internet going again so I can document some of these meals! Fun stuff!

Kitchen Sink...... Casserole!

So I'm getting some amazing R&R. A friend of mine picked me up and brought me up to her place for a few days. Dinner time rolls around, day 2. We need to finish off the leftovers in the fridge, so I told my friend that we'd make a casserole with all (or most) of her leftovers. She gave me that look. That look that said how are you going to mix Italian, American, and..... Fajitas to make a casserole?!

Trust me. Taco seasoning is a very dear friend of mine.

Here's the list of food in the fridge:

Homemade Italian stewed pasta sauce with Parmesan and basil
Corn
BBQ Chicken
Rice
Olives
Cheese
Fajita mix: onions, chicken, peppers

So I chopped everything up into small pieces while my friend mixed up some Bisquick. Everything went into a bowl besides the rice and bisquick. Mixed in about 4T of Taco Seasoning, let sit for a few minutes. Here we have the "Kitchen Sink" :).

We greased a casserole dish and put the rice in the bottom and flattened it out. On top of the rice went the Kitchen Sink ;), then topped with a small amount of shredded cheddar cheese. On top of that, went a few globs of bisquick biscuit dough.

In the oven it went @ 350* for about 30 minutes: 

See the layers? 

Literally: Gooey Goodness! 

Sopa?

Growing up, my grandma made what we always called "Sopa". It was noodles (usually penne), homemade chili sauce (smooth, not with chili seeds), and cheese chunks. Simple and delicious. I can guarantee you there were NEVER leftovers. 

Meanwhile, grandma's long gone and I can't find anything similar to her recipe because everywhere I look, sopa is soup. Anyway, I took my dad's advice and tried the same idea but used enchilada sauce since we couldn't figure out the chili sauce recipe. 

My latest attempt was my best yet. It was amazing when it was fresh, not so much when it was leftovers the next day. So make sure you eat it up when you make it! 

Here's what you need: 

Noodles (I used egg noodles this time)

1 can enchilada sauce (this time around it was verde)

Cheese (choose your favorite, and quantity is your discretion)

Onion, chopped

Santa Fe seasoning

While your noodles are cooking, sautee onion in a big non-stick pan. I have a 6 qt I use and it's perfect. Once onions are done (just barely still crunchy), add sauce. Allow sauce to get hot. By now your noodles should be/could be done. Drain, add to sauce. Sprinkle with Santa Fe seasoning (or just add pepper, dash of garlic, & salt). Once noodles are fully mixed in sauce, cook just long enough for everything to be HOT! Turn off burner, add cheese and fold in. Serve immediately. 

The fun in this recipe, is that the options are endless - you can use red or green sauce, homemade or canned. Either way it's delicious. If you like really spicy, go with a medium or hot enchilada sauce. You can use any noodles you like, and you can choose your cheese. I tend to prefer Mozzarella or Sharp Cheddar for this meal, but I still have my whole life ahead of me to try different cheeses. 

Hot summer day refresh.

So I decided to make "sassy water", something I saw on Pinterest. Sassy water had cucumbers, lemon and mint in it. So I added my own twist and as the days go by, I twist it up a bit with different ingredients. I have a new favorite summer drink, it's calorie free, and it. is. delicious. 

This was my first time making it. I used sliced cucumber, lemon, strawberry, and a few spearmint leaves. The cucumber is very dominant but I can still taste the rest of the ingredients if I allow myself to savor it. Sorta like wine tasting, but better *wink*

I have also made it with: 

• cucumber, apple, mint, and cilantro
• cucumber and lime
• cucumber, apple, lemon

It's hard to taste the apple, because cucumber still so dominant, but it's there! And it's soooooo refreshing! 

Pizza.... everything!

So I had some Nasoya wonton wrappers and turkey pepperoni in the fridge.... I've been dying to make pizza wontons, so I made a special trip to town to get cheese. Mark this on the calendar, because I rarely go to town for ONE thing! Okay, so it turned out that I got more than one thing when I found Grands Crescent Rolls 2/$1!! So I figured I'd have some fun with it all while I was at it. 

I tried pinching the wrappers to 'seal' them but that didn't work, so I started using a fork to press the edges together and that worked almost too well. Upon frying them, they filled up with air and I was concerned they were going to pop at me, but they didn't.... 

I fried them in about 1/2" of EVOO in a non stick pan. The cheese melts down to almost nothing, but you can still taste it:  

Rather than putting the sauce inside the wonton and risking the sauce leaking into the frying oil and exploding on me, I served them in a bowl with marinara for dipping. Delicious! 

Now, for those Grands rolls I found on sale: 

I unrolled the dough rolls (keep in mind, the instructions say DO NOT unroll them). You kinda have to unroll them to make them even more perfect ;) 

Anyway, I placed two pepperoni and two tiny pieces of cheese on the strip of dough and rolled it back up: 

I used two cans of biscuits since I was cooking for 5 people. They looked like perfection going into the oven! Since my daughter's vegan, I made hers with soy pepperoni and Veggie Singles - the cheese melted and everything so you could hardly tell the difference by looking at it. She was super happy to be eating what everyone else was eating... *wink wink*

Finally.... I served these in the middle of the wontons. They were great dipped in the marinara, too! 

Zucchini pizza?

So, I've been busy doing this and that, and even cooking. I just haven't really had a chance to get on here and update with photos, so here goes!

Tonight I made the most amazing dinner. I think it had to do with the sauce. I don't know what brand it is, but it has a blank label that says something similar to Artichoke Walnut Marinara. O. M. G. I have GOT to find this stuff! I acquired it through a friend cleaning out their cupboards and it's been in my cupboard for a long time so I couldn't even begin to figure out where it came from originally. 

Anyway, I took a zucchini and sliced it long ways, about 1/4" thick. Also took an eggplant and sliced about 3/8" thick, and lathered both with sauce: 

Added cheese (Mozzarella and Cheddar)

Baked for about 8 mins @ 400* - or until cheese bubbles. 

I could not believe just how yummy this was. Even the eggplant was delicious! Who knew eggplant could be transformed that quickly! Katie even loved it (I gave her the zucchini/eggplant w/o cheese).