Curbing your Cravings- Chinese Cheese Spinach

So, I'm a sucker for Chinese/ Asian style buffets. I love sushi, and stir-fry and the strange, confusing side dish always labelled as 'Cheese Spinach'

I love Cheese Spinach. It's a sickness. If I find it when I go out to eat, it is one of the dishes I will load my plate up with, and go back for more. The best part about it? You may be piling a bunch of cheese on your plate, but you're also piling a LOT of spinach on it, too.

I'd say about half the recipe is spinach, and the other half is the creamy cheesy goodness that cuts the pungent taste of cooked spinach. This recipe is especially good for kids, since they'll go for the cheese, and barely bother asking what that green stuff is!

Now, I ended up "cooking" this recipe twice so you've got two ways to cook one recipe!

Chinese Buffet 'Cheese Spinach'

Yield: 2-4 servings depending on how you use it (side dish or part of your main meal!)

8 oz. Chopped frozen spinach, thawed (squeeze out a little excess moisture, but not a ton!)
1Tbsp butter, margarine, whatever you have.
6 oz. Queso Blanco Velveeta (yes, velveeta. I grabbed a box of it while shopping since I'd been using a lot of it on my burritos recently, and figured the queso blanco might go with more foods. It has a milder I'm-not-violently-orange-and-American flavor, and it melts wonderfully)
2 Tbsp Cream cheese
1/4 cup cheddar cheese (or whatever you have. I like cheddar, if you like a kick, try pepper jack. I certainly considered it while making this!)
A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, if you have it.
Salt
Pepper

• 'Kay. So when I made this, I popped the spinach in the microwave to defrost (and thank god for the defrost button. I use it constantly.), and started melting the butter in the skillet (10" if you please) on medium heat. After it was all melty, I lowered the heat and threw in the cream cheese. I sliceed up my Queso Blanco Velveeta and threw that in too. You're looking for melty cheesy goodness, so keep it stirring. 
• I threw in the parmesan, salt, and pepper, and gave it a good mix before tossing in my now-defrosted spinach, and giving it a good healthy mix. You're looking for a white-ish sauce that will coat the spinach, but not so much  that you no longer see the green. You want to see the spinach, honestly, you do.
• At this point I put my spinach in a 1 qt glass baking dish, topped with cheddar, and baked at 325 for about 30 minutes. BUT this didn't give me the desired end result. It ended up too loose. I ate part of it though, and realized it would be good on egg noodles- So I decided to keep that tidbit of information for my next semi-vegetarian meal. I threw some chicken in my bowl (not the dish!) at that point. Pretty good with chicken too. Perhaps my next post will be about spinach, cheese and chicken. Hm....
• If you're really looking for that classic Chinese buffet side dish: Take the spinach cheese mix and put it in a 9x13 glass baking dish, and cook for 30-45m at 325. This cooks out more moisture, and gives it the gooey, cheesy texture you'll find in your local Chinese restaurant. This is definitely the side dish I was aiming for!

Now I will say, next time I make this I'm putting in less Queso Blanco Velveeta and adding more cream cheese. I was short on cream cheese this time, but it ended up pretty awesome regardless.

I was obsessed with finding a recipe for this to make at home, I'm sure I'm not the only one who was. 

Happy Noms!

Sunday Insanity (or how to make food for the next week)

It's Sunday and it's a downright beautiful day! And a beautiful day off only means one thing....

Cooking! Yes, cooking. Sundays are designed for great works in the kitchen. You can get up as early or as late as you desire, with no time constraints. Today, I got up at 8:30 to start on my make-ahead meals.

I ended up baking a whole chicken for shredding and multi-use for the next week, I handmade tortillas (with vegetable oil this time) for breakfast burritos (more on that later), and I made pierogies.

Mmm. Pierogies. Y'know, I had never had a pierogi until I met my fiance. My mother, nor my grandmother (both of Czech and Polish descent) had ever made these little suckers. Didn't even buy them in the store. But one day my husband-to-be did, and pan fried them for me. Since then, I've been in love with the food, but not the grocery store price for them. I figured if my ancestors had made them, I could too!

Pierogi Dough

Makes 20-ish pierogies

• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. Sifted flour (or if you're lazy like me, 1 1/2 c. flour, then adding more until your dough comes together)

I mixed the dough until it came together, then turned it out onto my floured counter, and kneaded it until it was smooth. If you're making your pierogi same day, let it rest 20 minutes. If you're doing the dough beforehand, wrap it in plastic wrap and toss it in the refrigerator. The dough will still be good for up to 2 days before needing to be rolled out and pierogi-fied.

Now, my pierogi had a semi-traditional filling of potato and cheese. But instead of cooking, mashing, and then mixing my potatoes with cheese, I used mashed potato flakes (one serving of potatoes according to your package, plus about 2-3 ounces of cheese should be a perfect match for the dough recipe), and velveeta with some onion powder. The filling tastes pretty awesome, and since I'm out of cheese this was the only way to make them. Velveeta melts nice, so I didn't end up with weird stringy bits of cheddar in my potatoes.

I ended up making about 20, but most of them were very ugly. But I figure beauty will come with practice, and really, as long as they taste good, it doesn't matter.I made the dough for the pierogies the night before (well, sort of. I made the dough at 1 a.m. so technically, I did everything on Sunday) chilled it overnight, and let it come to room temperature alongside the tortilla dough while I quick-thawed the chicken in the morning. 

The one thing that really stinks about my kitchen is the complete lack of counter space. Every time I roll out dough, I end up having to relocate my dish strainer to have enough room to get everything nice and flat.

Which brings me to my tortillas. I used a different recipe this time (3 c. flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 c. veg oil, 1c. warm water), and let it chill out overnight. Rolling it was a LOT better than the last time I made tortillas. A lot rest makes a world of difference. They were still thick, though. I might have to experiment with different ways of pressing them out. Hm.

Anyway, the tortillas were for another make-ahead meal; Breakfast burritos. 

I've been wanting to make microwavable breakfast burritos for ages. Seriously. I love breakfast burritos, and I hate having to go to a Mickey D's or a Gas station in the morning to get one. I just popped these in the freezer, and they were so easy.

Okay, once again, since I don't have everything for a 'classic' breakfast burrito, I winged it.

Breakfast Burrito Filling

Makes filling for 6 burritos

• 1/2 Lb. Hamburger, thawed 
• 4 oz velveeta cheese, cubed
• 1 egg
• Splash milk
• 3 Tbsp chopped onion (I just took a hunk and cut it up nice and tiny. No big onion bits for me, thanks.)
• 3 Tbsp medium salsa

Brown the hamburger, and drain off the fat. Set the hamburger aside. In a bowl, scramble the egg with the splash of milk (and no, I have no idea how much a splash is. If you can scramble eggs, use your best judgement), and cook them (yep! Scrambled!) in the pan you cooked your hamburger in. 

Once your eggs are almost done, throw the hamburger back in, and add your velveeta cubes. Let the cheese melt into delicious goodness, then mix in the salsa. Spoon into tortillas and either serve hot, or freeze.

The filling is pretty close ringer for McD's burritos, but not 100%. If you have breakfast sausage, use that, and if you like more filling in your burritos, then by all means, add an extra egg. 

So that's what I did today. Lots and lots of make-ahead cooking!

Hungry and Creative, Fridge Raid Post!

So when you're hungry and bored, many times you come up with strange, confusing recipes. This was one of those times.

So, my grocery budget has been usurped recently by many other surprise costs that have been popping up (isn't that how it always goes?), and I've been having to get a little more creative with the staples in my house. I ended up making a delightfully weird recipe, that ended up being delicious!

This recipe was out of desire for something to dip rye crisps in (And the rye crisps themselves were a freebie, since they came from a food bank during a period of hungry desperation), and involved the staples I did have in my house.

Mean Green Soybean Dip

Yield: enough to dip a bunch of crackers in! (Yeah, I didn't measure- so what? Wanna fight about it?)

• 1/4 c. shelled edamame, either hand shelled, or if you're lazy like me, scooped out of a bag of frozen ones.
• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp Mayo
• Herbs and spices (I like garlic, onion, black pepper, and salt, but if you like something else, go for it!)

Now, putting it together is the super easy part; Whip everything together in your food processor, blender, or Magic Bullet! The cool thing about this recipe is it's healthy, turns a very bright green, and still tastes very un-vegetable like. My fiance, the anti-green gentleman that he is, gobbled this up and wanted more!

• 

This is a dip where you can definitely tweak the amount of each ingredient. You could add more soybeans for a protien boost, or up the olive oil for a smoother texture (it did have a bit of a thick consistency, and it wasn't 100% smooth. ). My hubby mentioned a bit of prepared wasabi mixed in would be awesome. Kids, once they get over the fact that it's green, will probably snarf it down faster than you can make it :)

So, one small recipe for an after work or after school snack.

Happy Noms!

Mmmmanwich.

'Kay. Another time of desperation. The ham from Christmas I was hoping to use and abuse for dinner (ham and eggs? Breakfast for dinner? Score!), disappeared. All gone. Poof! Instead, my temporary shelter distributor (thanks, Grandma!) had tossed a ziploc bag of about a pound of hamburger in the fridge for me to use and. Originally, my idea was hamburgers. Boring, drab hamburgers. Sigh, went the husband to be- Your hamburgers aren't really that awesome, anyway. Gasp! Subpar hamburgers?! Lies! What about spaghetti?, he suggested. Well, I didn't want spaghetti, and I'm way too lazy to sit there and boil pasta, and then cook hamburger. That's two pans, and twice as many dishes to do! Noooo thank you.

So, my grandmother in her infinite wisdom stated I think there's a can of manwich in the pantry... and hubby's eyes lit up. MANWICH!? I could hear him think in his head- I LOOOOVE MANWICH!  How can you not love something with the word 'man' in it!? I'm a man! (Yes, I'm pretty sure that's how it went). So, I marched off to find a can of manwich. Surprise, surprise, no manwich to be found. I came back, dejected, and announced the misfortune. My grandmother, being my magical mystical kitchen savior, stated Then just make some. You need Ketchup, onion, and a bit of brown sugar. 

And so I did. I marched right in that kitchen, no recipe in hand, dazed and confused from hunger, and made some gosh darn Manwich!

Better than gosh-darn Manwich!

Serves... 2? 3? Somewhere around there. 

-1 lb. hamburger

-1/4 of a small onion, thinly sliced, then destroyed by the nearest knife (little bitty bits)

-1/4 to 1/3 cup ketchup... somewhere around there. I just took the bottle and squirted some in there. Look for more Joe, less sloppy. 

- A good palmful of brown sugar. Maybe about 2 tablespoons? Around there.

*Optional - dash of worchestershire sauce. I think it'd be good in there. 

-Brown hamburger. Cook it, and beat it up with your spoon or spatula, or whatever you're cooking with. I like wooden spoons. They're cheap, they're easy to clean (sandpaper!), and you can use it to gauge cooking oil heat. Stick your spoon in the oil- if bubbles come up, it's ready! Okay, I'm sidetracking.... look for bitty pieces of hamburger. My husband didn't like how mine turned out a bit chunky, but I like big bits. So, find a happy medium. 

-Throw in your onions. Once your hamburger looks cooked, but not cooked enough to not be deadly, it's time to throw them in. You don't want them dead to the world, but over crunchy is just gonna make your sloppy joes have a weird texture.

-Drain your hamburger. I know, counter intuitive- seems like you should probably drain before adding onions, but I didn't. I took a wad of paper towels and pushed all the meat to one side, and tipping my pan to the empty side, soaking up all the grease. Threw it all away, and none of it messed up the drain.

-Add your gigantic squeeze of ketchup. Eyeball it. If it's not enough, you can always add more. Cooking shouldn't be rocket science- If I can figure out a good squeeze, you can too. 

-Add your brown sugar. Remember to stir. Brown sugar chunks is not delicious with ground beef. In fact, it's really weird.

At this point, your manwich is done. You've used stuff around your house (and I know you have ketchup and brown sugar around the house. If not, use some leftover ketchup packets... if there's no bottle of ketchup and some brown sugar, you're probably living off McDonald's anyway), and you're not poor because you've bought 8 zillion cans of manwich at $1.29 for a can of ketchup and onion bits. Serve it on whatever bread you have. 

My hubbers to be said it was "better than manwich", which is major praise from him (I know, I'm a total sucker for praise. Say I'm awesome and I'm sky high for a week). I know I'm going to be making this again.