chimichangas

every so often when i'm pregnant, nothing else will do but a sizable portion of some luscious meat.  i was really pleased with this recipe.  i mostly followed the recipe found here, but did tweak it slightly...

ingredients

2 lbs roast
1/4 C water
1 1/2 C beef broth
3 T red wine vinegar
1 t cumin
chili powder to taste (if you're in to that sort of thing)
jack cheese
uncooked tortillas
vegetable oil
desired toppings--i used shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and guac

directions

Place beef in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Pour in water. Cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove cover, and cook until liquid has evaporated, and beef is well browned, about 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine beef broth, red wine vinegar, chili powder and cumin. Pour over beef. Cover, and cook until meat is very tender, and pulls apart easily, about 2 hours. Allow to cool, then shred and mix with pan juices.

preheat oven to 500.  brush a cookie sheet with oil.  put desired amount of meat and cheese in tortillas and fold.  brush with oil.  bake 6 min on each side.  voila!  i used 3 1/2 lbs meat and we had enough dinner for two nights for our family of six (one only really counts as half, though).

piroshki/burkrauts

this is a dish that's been in the family for years, but i've always thought something could be done to improve it slightly. i found a much better dough recipe and an idea to add dill to the meat from allrecipes.com and it turned out delicious. my kids love them, too.

filling

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 C shredded cabbage
pepper and dried dill to taste

dough

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

directions

make dough and let it rise til double. meanwhile, saute onion until slightly softened. add beef and pepper and cook til done. sprinkle with desired amount of dill and pour the cabbage in. cover and turn off heat, but leave on the burner. the cabbage should steam in 5-7 minutes.

break dough off into pieces a little bit larger than a golf ball. roll out thin. put a few generous spoonfuls of filling on one side and fold over to make a pocket. press ends together. place on a greased cookie sheet and lightly grease the tops. bake @ 425 for 10 minutes. super yummy to dip them in your choice of mustard. they freeze well.

alton brown's beef stew

it's not every day that my cooking gets called "exquisite" so i thought i'd make sure this one got recorded right away. i faithfully followed alton brown's every direction. i wasn't sure what english-cut short ribs were, so i just consulted with the butcher and we both decided on a short rib option that ended up working really well. my meat ended up producing more fat than liquid, so i had to add a little bit of stock to the potatoes and onions near the end so they wouldn't boil dry.

ingredients

• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbs, any combination of thyme, oregano and rosemary
• 3 pounds English-cut short ribs
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 pound red potatoes, unpeeled and diced small
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

directions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dried herbs. Set aside.

Season the short ribs with 1 tablespoon of the kosher salt. Place a large griddle over medium-high heat and once a drop of water bounces off, sear the meat until browned on all sides. Once browned, remove the meat to the bowl with the paste and toss to coat. Transfer to a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil and seal tightly. Place the package into a metal pan and put into a cold oven on the middle rack. Set the oven to 250 degrees F and cook for 4 hours.

Remove the meat from the oven and carefully poke a hole in the pack while holding it over a heatproof container. Drain the liquid into the container and place it into the refrigerator to cool enough so that the fat separates from the rest of the liquid, approximately 1 hour. After 1 hour, transfer the liquid to the freezer and keep there until the fat cap has solidified, approximately 1 hour. Allow the ribs to sit at room temperature while the liquid is cooling or if serving the next day, place in the refrigerator until ready to finish.

Retrieve the liquid from the refrigerator and remove the fat cap that has formed on top. Measure out 1 tablespoon of the fat and reserve the rest for another time. Place the fat into a large saucier and place over medium heat. Once the fat has melted add the onion along with the remaining teaspoon of salt and stir to separate the onions into rings. Allow to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes along with a pinch of black pepper and stir to combine. Next, add the liquid reserved from the meat and stir. Cover tightly and decrease the heat to low so that no heat is escaping the lid. Cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Meanwhile, cut the meat away from the bone, removing the connective tissue and discarding. Once the potatoes are tender, uncover and set the meat atop the vegetables. Cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

3 for 1 Meal Meat

As distasteful as the title sounds, this is actually awesome for future fast dinners. Make pulled pork sandwiches, enchiladas, and chili burros from 1 roast. (This can be done from a pork or beef roast.)

Start by making pulled pork sandwiches:

1 rump roast or shoulder roast - 5-8 lbs
1 bottle of BBQ or seasoning sauce (I used Lawry's baja chipotle marinade)
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce

Trim the fat from the roast. Put it in the slow cooker for 7 hours, along with most of the bottle of marinade. After 7 hours take the roast out, and cut it off the bone if necessary (my bone just fell out, the meat was so tender) and use 2 forks to shred the meat. You can also trim/remove any fatty bits at this time. Return it all to the slow cooker, add the tomato sauce to thicken the juices a bit. Cook it 30-60 minutes more.

Serve as pulled pork sandwiches by slicing ciabatta or rolls in half, and slathering with the meat.

Then freeze any meat that you don't want to use as pulled pork sandwich leftovers. Before freezing divide it into 2-3 containers for easy thaw out.

For enchiladas:

1 can of enchilada sauce
-or-
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup flour
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
oregano
cumin
garlic
diced onion or dried onion
salt
pepper
1 container frozen meat left over from pulled pork sandwiches
corn tortillas
grated cheese

Heat a saucepan to medium. Add the olive oil. When the olive oil is warm, add the chili powder. Toast the chili powder in the oil, but don't burn it. You should be able to smell a difference between untoasted and toasted, it will become more savory and rich. When it smells toasted, add the flour (this prevents it from burning). Mix it all together, and then dump in the tomato sauce. Fill the can with water and add, twice. Then add the seasonings. I usually put several shakes of each into the sauce. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. The sauce will thicken. After stirring during the boil for 2 minutes, turn it down and let it simmer for 20 minutes with the lid partially on.

To compile you can either do 2 things: add 1/2 cup olive oil to a frying pan and soft-fry the tortillas for easy roll up, or make a casserole. To soft fry the tortillas, put them in hot oil for about a minute (not long enough to turn hard like tostadas) and transfer to a dish with 1/4 cup sauce on the bottom. Add a spoonful of meat, a spoonful of sauce, some cheese, and roll. Continue until the pan is full or you are out of meat. Cover the tops with sauce, cheese, and green onion if you like. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered at 325.

For the casserole: Use a pizza cutter to slice the corn tortillas, straight out of the package, into 1.5 inch strips. Put some sauce in the bottom of your dish, and layer the tortilla slices on top of it. Then repeat layers of sauce, meat, cheese, tortilla until the dish is full or you are out of meat. Make sure the top has sauce, cheese, and chopped green onion if desired. Bake, covered, at 325 for 40 minutes.

For chili burros:

1 container frozen meat left over from pulled pork sandwiches
flour tortillas
grated cheese,
can diced tomato
chopped onion
chopped bellpepper
can of green chilies

Heat the meat, tomato, onion, bellpepper, and green chilies up together on the stove. If you think it needs thickening, add some tomato sauce. When it is all hot and mixed together compile the burros:
On an open tortilla put a spoonful of the mixture down the middle. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up.

Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole on top.

Delicious Pot Roast

Ingredients:
1. pot roast, pork or beef variety
2. dijon mustard.


Smear the mustard (about 4 tablespoons) across the top and bottom of the pot roast. Place the pot roast in a pan that does not lose moisture. Put tin foil across the pan under the lid if necessary. Place in oven and cook for 5 hours at 250 degrees. If desired add vegetables for last 2 and 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let stand 20 minutes. Serve.

(I made this today and just left the oven on while we went to church. It turned out great and was ready to eat as soon as we got home. Wondeful.)