Thanksgiving with an Organic Bird!

For the first time, we had Thanksgiving at our house. I was so excited to have my in-laws over and cook for them. This was also my first time to cook the Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts and corn bread dressing. I have to give props to the Germantown Commissary as I didn't make the cornbread dressing, but that was the only thing I didn't make. It actually all turned out very well and I was able to keep it all warm before serving. I used a couple of styrofoam coolers to keep the sweet potatoes and dressing warm while keeping the mashed potatoes and the green bean casserole in crock pots. Thankfully I have two. The lead in the meal, Bob the Turkey, turned out perfectly. The night before Thanksgiving, I prepared a sage butter and rubbed him all over as well as stuffed him with a lemon, onion and some fresh sage. The pics I have attached are not the best pics. After I started carving Bob, I realized I forgot to take a pic, so I was off running to grab the camera, take some pics of the food and the table all while getting everyone seated. It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again.

It's a Cooking Kind of Thursday

I don't know why I have been on such a cooking kick lately, but today was one of those days.  I have been making what Chef Sunny Anderson (from the Food Network) calls "Maniladas".  They are enchiladas but made with manicotti shells instead of corn tortillas.  Many a time I mess up a recipe and, it happened today, darn it.  I burnt the onion, garlic and tomatillos I was roasting in the oven. I must have cut them up too small.  So no tomatillo sauce to go on the "maniladas," and they were still yummy.  Here are some pics and recipe is at the bottom of post.

Before topping with cheese sauce.

After topping with cheese...

Earlier, I cooked a favorite staple of little K's and mine...Lentils.  We have tried green lentils and yellow lentils, so today we had red lentils.  They really all taste the same if you ask me.  These little legumes are so easy to prepare and they are great for you.  Yay for something that tastes good and is good for you too.   I like to cook them in my Costco version of a Le Creuset pot.  It works great and it was way more affordable (about $50).

Here is the pot....

Here are the lentils....I add carrots to mine so that little K gets a veggie in there too.

Manilada’s

Ingredients for Tomatillo Sauce:

·         1 lb of tomatillos

·         1 red onion

·         1 head of garlic

·         Olive oil

·         Salt

·         Pepper

Ingredients for Manilada Filling:

·         1 Grocery Store Roast Chicken (with the plain flavoring, no BBQ, lemon, etc)

·         1 Yellow Onion (or however much onion you prefer)

·         2 – 3 cloves of garlic

·         Olive Oil

·         Cilantro

·         4 Roma Tomatoes (seeded and chopped)

·         1 to 1 ½ cups of Sour Cream (again to your liking and I used a light sour cream)

·         1 box of manicotti shells

Ingredients for Cheese Sauce:

·         12 oz. Cheese (she used Fontina cheese, but I just used the shredded cheese I had left in the fridge:  cheddar)

·         2 cups of milk

·         3 tbsp of butter

·         3 tbsp of flour

·         Nutmeg

Cooking Directions for Tomatillo Sauce:

Cut up large chunks of onion and tomatillo’s, smash up garlic in large chunks or leave whole and you can get the garlic out of the leaves after roasting

Place on pan and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

Place in 400 degree F oven for 45 min. (watch it as I burnt mine)

Cooking Directions for Manilada filling:

·         Shred Chicken and place in large mixing bowl

·         Saute onion and garlic in olive oil (remember to add garlic at the end for about 30 sec…don’t want it to burn)

·         Place cooked onion and garlic in bowl with chicken

·         Cut up cilantro (as much as you prefer) and mix into chicken

·         Add the seeded and chopped roma tomatoes

·         Mix in sour cream

·         Add salt and pepper to liking

Cooking and Stuffing Shells:

Cook Manicotti Shells for about 8 – 10 min and drain.  Keep a little of the pasta water to use for your tomatillo sauce

Stuff manicotti shells with the shredded chicken mixture.  Cup one hand on the bottom of the manicotti shell and use your fingers to gently push the chicken mixture into the shell

Place the stuffed shells into greased baking dish

Cooking Directions for Cheese Sauce:

Heat butter in a pot and add the flour, whisk together and then add the milk (preferably at room temp), I also added a little cumin and nutmeg

Whisk until roux becomes thicker.  Once thickened, begin adding your cheese and stir.

Once mixed together, pour over the stuffed manicotti shells

Place in 350 degree F oven for 30 – 35 min.

Making Tomatillo Sauce

Place the onion, garlic and tomatillos (not all at once, but a little at a time) to a food processor or blender, use the pasta water you set aside to liquefy

Voila, you have sauce to spoon over your Manilada’s

Mexican Lasagna

Here is the recipe for the Mexican Lasagna I mentioned in earlier post.  My mom has been cooking this for years and passed the recipe down to me.  Try it out, it is some yummy goodness.

Mexican Lasagna

 Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of ground beef/ turkey  

1 small onion

Season salt or Salt to your liking

1 tsp  of cumin

1 tbsp of chili powder

8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup ( I use the fat free)

½ package of medium sized egg noodles ( I use whole wheat)

Sliced velveeta cheese (or cheese of your liking)

Directions:

Bring water to boil for noodles and cook while preparing below

Brown meat, onions, salt

Drain excess fat

Add cumin, chili powder, tomato sauce, cream of mushroom soup

Mix together and let cook on low while your noodles are cooking

Layer noodles then meat and top with cheese (as much cheese as you prefer), then layer again  ( I always have two layers)

Cook at 350 degrees F until heated through

** If you have a large number of people to cook for, doubling above recipe works well.

I serve with tortilla chips and a salad