Quick Pizza Dinner with Leftover Mexican Ground Beef!

Ok, I had quite a bit of the ground beef mixture left from my Mexican Beef Burritos last night...and it was a long day....so here is what I've come up with for dinner tonight!

Using the following beef mixture (although I'm using leftover) here it is for reference.

Beef Mixture:

• 2 lb of extra lean ground sirloin/beef (I try to find 95% lean)

• 4 tsp chili powder

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 1 can of black beans or pinto beans (or both), drained and rinsed

• 1/4 - 1/2 C green onions, or red onion, chopped

Cook ground beef in 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat.  If liquid remains when beef is cooked, drain and place back into skillet.  Add seasonings, and stir well over medium low heat.  Turn off heat and add beans and onions. 

What I've used in the Pizza:

• One recipe of the following pizza dough, or use frozen pizza dough (a good thing to keep in the freezer for quick dinners)

• 1 Jar of Newman's Own Marinara Sauce

• 1lb of Kraft's part-skim shredded mozzarella with philly for better melting

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

I rolled my dough out about 2 inches larger than my pizza stone so I could place some of the shredded cheese in the crust and roll the dough around the cheese and press down to secure and form a thick border.  Place the dough with the stuffed crust on a pizza stone and into a preheated 425 degree oven for approx 5 minutes. 

Remove from the oven.  I used one jar of Newman's Own Marinara Sauce, then topped with the beef mixture and the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Brush the crust with extra virgin olive oil (or garlic olive oil if you have some), place back into the oven for 16-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush crust with olive oil to keep it soft. Let stant 5-10 minutes before slicing!

Amy's Favorite Pizza Dough

(makes 2 approx 12 inch pizzas--OR 1 thicker crust or stuffed crust)

1 1/4 C warm water

2 T Olive Oil

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1/4 C cornmeal

3 T whole wheat flour

3 C unbleached white flour

1 T yeast

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water (about 105 to 110 degrees F), add the rest of the ingredients and beat using the dough hook of a stand mixer until a nice dough ball is formed. If it is still sticky place flour on the counter and turn out the dough and knead until smooth.  Be careful not to knead in too much flour and make the dough too heavy. Let rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size. Punch down and turn out and divide into two dough balls to roll out for pizzas.

• Option—Do you have a bread machine? Place the ingredients into your bread machine in the order the machine suggests, set for the dough cycle, when complete, turn out and divide into two balls which you will roll out for the pizzas.

--If you don't have one, you should look at investing in a Zojirushi bread machine...it is my second machine and I just love this machine. I make most of our bread and it is so nice to place ingredients in, go to work and come home to dough ready to go, or even a baked loaf!  www.zojirushi.com  They also make great rice cookers....this is a necessity in my kitchen too!

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Place pizza stones in the oven if you have them. If not place your pizza pans into the oven.  When hot, roll out the dough into your circle to fit your pan (doesn't have to be perfect). Take stone/pan from the oven and place dough on stone/pan.  Place back into the oven for approx. 4 minutes, then take it out of the oven, it's time to top it!

Beef Burritos with Jicama Salsa

Looking to lower the fat and keep dinner fresh and healthy. Tonight we went in a Mexican direction with Ground Beef Burritos with Jicama Salsa.  You can also use these ingredients to make a lower fat version of the popular Mexican Salads. I skipped the cheese in mine but added lots of cheese to my kids, trying to keep mine lower fat, but have more calories for them.

Beef Burritos with Jicama Salsa—

OR Mexican Salad see option

Beef Mixture:

• 2 lb of extra lean ground sirloin/beef (I try to find 95% lean)

• 4 tsp chili powder

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 1 can of black beans or pinto beans (or both), drained and rinsed

• 1/4 - 1/2 C green onions, or red onion, chopped

• 10 inch flour tortillas

• Shredded Mexican Cheese (colby-jack or one with jalapeno if desired)

Salsa:

• 2-4 tomatoes, squeezed to remove seeds and juice, then diced

• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

• 1 small jicama, peeled and diced

• 2 green onions or about 1/4 C red onion diced.

• 1/4 to 1/2 of a jalapeno, finely diced

• Zest and juice of 1 lime

• kosher salt & black pepper to taste (or use a pinch of cayenne)

Sour Cream topping or salad dressing:

• 1 C of light sour cream

• zest and juice of 2 limes

• pinch of kosher salt

Optional Salad: Romaine Hearts, shredded

Cook ground beef in 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat.  If liquid remains when beef is cooked, drain and place back into skillet.  Add seasonings, and stir well over medium low heat.  Turn off heat and add beans and onions. 

Combine salsa ingredients and toss to combine, season to taste.

Combine sour cream with lime and salt. 

Place tortilla on a microwave safe plate and add beef mixture and cheese, microwave for 1 minute. Remove and add salsa, roll up burrito style, then top with sour cream and more salsa.

Salad Option: Place shredded romain on a plate, top with beef mixture (optional to add cheese or I prefer chopped avocado added), top with salsa veggies and lime sour cream (use more lime juice to make this mixture thinner if you'd like).

Ratatouille Lasagna

My kids like lasagna, and I want them to eat more vegetables. I have a meatloaf I put plenty of vegetables in that they love, so saw an idea for making lasagna with eggplant "noodles." I thought this might be pushing too far for my kids so I've gone with a hybrid of sorts.  My husband and I loved it.  The kids ate it better than I thought they would on the first try, so I've deemed it a success! The kids came up with the name and I think it is very fitting.

Ratatouille Lasagna

Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pump sprayer, or canned cooking spray.
1 medium or 2 small eggplant, sliced lengthwise in 1/4 inch slices
2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise in 1/4 inch slices
1 large egg, beaten
15 oz low-fat (part skim) ricotta
1/2 C grated Parmesan, divided
2 jars of Marinara (I like Newman's Own)
1 lb of part skim shredded mozzarella (I like the Kraft with philly in it to melt, keeps my boys from complaining about "rough" cheese...some of the low fat cheese just don't melt well)
Barilla No Boil Lasagna Noodles
optional: 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and/or fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place eggplant and zucchini on two baking sheets sprayed with oil. Spray the vegetables and place in the oven for 10 minutes, turn and cook another 6-10 minutes, zucchini will need to be removed closer to 6-8 and the eggplant closer to 10 (but don't over roast, it is going back in the oven in the lasagna).

While roasting the vegetables, combine egg, ricota, and 1/4 C parmesan (optional, add fresh garlic, and/or fresh basil to this mixture), set aside.

In a large baking dish, 9X13, place some marinara, then a layer of noodles, top with dollops of ricotta-half of mixture, then mozzarella. Add the eggplant layer, then sauce and mozzarelle, then zucchini layer, dollop the rest of the ricotta mixture, then sauce and mozzarella, another layer of noodles, the remaining sauce (should cover the noodles) mozzarella and remaining 1/4 C of parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Let sit for appox 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

Chorizo, Squash, Black Beans Over Spelt Berries— A Mexican inspired dinner! With a side of Apple Jicama Slaw!

My CSA bag has been wonderful lately, such great variety.......leeks, butternut and acorn squashes, sweet potatoes, apples, apple cider (apples & cider from Hircshs fruit farm near Chillicothe for my hometown friends!), onions, beets! YUM! So this past week we received spelt berries! Which, my kids really like! We had these earlier in the season and it was the first time I had cooked them and surprisingly, they were a big hit! You should really find these and give them a try if you have never had them...and here is a wonderful recipe that was inspired by my dear friend Janet Menges (who lives in Circleville), she posted on my last blog link with the basics.  So here is my version and the amounts that I used.

Chorizo, Squash, Black Beans Over Spelt Berries

For the Spelt Berries (if you can't find spelt, brown rice, bulgar wheat, or quinoa would be a good substitute):
2 Cups of spelt berries
4 C of chicken broth, heated
1/2 C of white wine
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Olive Oil

For the Main Dish:
1 lb Chorizo Sausage (bulk or links, but remove the casings...this is easy, just make a slit long ways on the sausage and peal off the casing)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 poblano pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained well
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp cinnamon
Olive Oil
Optional: Cilantro or Sour Cream to Garnish

First, in a saucepan add a few Tbsp of olive oil and add garlic, saute until fragrant, just about a minute, add the spelt berries and toast for a few minutes, then add the white wine and saute until mostly absorbed, add the chicken broth bring to a rolling boil, lower but keep a boil and cover. Cook for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour, to your preference of softness, stirring occasionally. We prefer it al dente–with some bite left in it.

While the spelt is cooking, place the diced sweet potatoes in a glass dish with about 1/2 C of water and cook in the microwave until fork tender.  Remove from the microwave, add the maple syrup and cinnamon, cover and set aside while the spelt is cooking.

In a large saute pan, cook the sausage, then drain on paper towels. Add another Tbsp of olive oil if needed to saute the poblano peppers until softened, remove to a large bowl, add the drained beans, the sausage and sweet potatoes and toss gently to combine.

Place about 1/2 to 1 C of the spelt on a plate and top with sausage and sweet potato mixture. Garnish if desired.

With the apples we received I was craving a dish I used to make often, and it was the perfect match for the spelt dish! Cool and crunchy and the vinegar was just right to cut the richness of the sausage and sweet potatoes! 

Apple Jicama Slaw

Dressing: 

4 Tbsp honey

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Salad:

2 C of savoy or Napa cabbage shredded (green cabbage)

2 C of grated or thinly sliced jicama

3 apples grated (leave the skins on) or finely chopped
4 green onions (white and green tops) finely chopped

1 C dried cranberries

1 C toasted walnuts, chopped

Optional: Blue cheese to garnish

In a small bowl whisk the dressing ingredients together and set aside. Prep the salad ingredients and toss to combine. Add dressing and toss until combined. 

I certainly hope you try this and enjoy it!

Fall Inspired Pasta

When fall arrives I like to make pastas that include winter vegetables, like butternut squash or sweet potatoes. Risottos and rices are great with squashes as well...but tonight we needed simple and fast, so the following fit the bill!

Pasta with Leeks, Garlic, Sweet Potatoes and Raisins

1 lb of Farfalle (bowtie) pasta
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 leeks, rinsed and cut into ribbons
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Cup Chicken Broth
4 oz Neufchatel Cheese (Philadelphia 1/3 less fat)
1/2 C raisins
kosher salt
black pepper
grated parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (when boiling add a few tablespoons of salt and the 1lb of pasta--cook per package directions)... In the meantime, slice the leeks and saute in olive oil on medium heat, seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper to taste (about 1 tsp of each is a good starting point). While the leeks are softening, peel and dice sweet potatoes. Place in a large glass microwave safe bowl with about a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup of water. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, check in 3 minutes for tenderness, and continue cooking until sweet potatoes are tender. While the potatoes are cooking, chop the garlic and add to the leeks, total cooking time on the leeks is about 10-12 minutes.  Add a few tablespoons of white wine vinegar to the leeks to deglaze the pan, then add the chicken broth. Drain sweet potatoes and add to saute pan with leek and garlic. Turn the heat to medium low and add 4 oz of cheese and stir to melt, stir in the raisins.  Turn off the heat and when the pasta is cooked, drain (reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water) and add to the saute pan...toss..add 1/2 to 1 Cup of the starchy pasta water, toss,  this thickens the sauce. Top each portion with grated parmesan.