Taco Crescent Squares 

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy

Sometimes I fall for ads in corners of pages when I'm on the web...like one that linked me to this recipe from Paula Deen.  There was not anything particularly special or flashy about it except for the word "Taco" which makes my stomach growl.  My bf always says that I could eat Mexican every day...he's right.  This one actually eats like a Mexi-pastry creation or even like a stuffed Mexican pizza.  It has a nice balance of sweet and savory.

The recipe I lifted is simple enough and left room for me to do my stuff....

Ingredients:

1 onion finely chopped

2 lbs ground chuck ground turkey meat

1 package taco seasoning

1 cup enchilada sauce

2 cups 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend (use low-fat)

4 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 large egg beaten 2 egg whites beaten

sour cream reduced-fat sour cream for garnish

+ salt and pepper

+ olive oil

+ yellow, orange or red bell pepper chopped

+ 1 jalapeño chopped (and seeded if you're a heat wuss)

+ 5 cloves garlic chopped

+ 1 1/4 cup beef stock

+ 14 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

+ 1 handful cilantro chopped

Pre-heat your oven to 375°

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet over Medium+ heat.  Add your turkey meat and break up with a wooden spoon while browning.  After the browning process has gotten a good start, season your meat with the taco mix, salt and pepper.  When completely browned, add your onions, peppers and garlic.  Cook until your veggies are soft.  Throw in the stick and mix  with your spoon.  Cook for a few minutes and add your tomatoes.  Allow to simmer until the liquid has had a chance to reduce and fold in your cilantro.   Continue to let it to reduce for a bit while you prepare the rest of your recipe.  Add your cheese and mix.

Lightly grease a  17"x 12" rimmed baking sheet.  If you want to curb the heat some, use butter.  If you don't, use a vegetable spray like PAM.).  Unroll 2 of your crescent cans.  Press dough into the baking sheet, pressing edges together.  Bake about 8 minutes.

Spoon the meat mixture on top of the baked crust and unroll the other two crescent cans and place over the meat mixture.  Brush the top dough with the egg.  Bake between 25-30 minutes.  KEEP AN EYE ON IT and pull it out when golden brown.  Let cool a few; cut into squares; top it with some  enchilada sauce,  sour cream or maybe some hot sauce and plate it.

Notes:

This is a very easy recipe that virtually anyone can do.  The original recipe was just like making tacos with mix and adding an onion.....boring.

Tweaks:

I pretty much substituted the whole inside of this dish.  I added a bunch of ingredients (listed above) to make a more fresh and natural tasting taco filler with a little more heat to it.

Healthy Tweaks:

I swapped ground chuck with turkey meat.

I used reduced fat sour cream as well as low-fat cheeses for this recipe.

I used egg whites instead of a "regular" egg.

Have recipes for me?  e-mail me: TheManicCheater@gmail.com   And for goodness sake, please get into the comments section.

Very Very Strawberry Cake Pie

Verdict: FAILURE

Not Neighbor-worthy



I have no idea why I have been baking so much lately.  The truth is I'm not all that good at it and am also not really that into sweets.  Maybe it's summer and the desire to eat fruit?  Maybe it's 'cause I'm into challenges lately or just to satisfy my shallow ego by making something that looks great. 

Either way, this one was most surely chosen in the cruisiest of manners....I was on the prowl for something that aroused my senses and when I saw this one I knew I had to do it!

There was not much room to tweak this one as it stands pretty much on its own.  I did however up the nature of the dessert by focusing on the strawberry factor and revolving the whole recipe around that essence.

Unfortunately, this attempt was a most devastating FAIL.  Perhaps it was supposed to be mushy and wet on the inside like a pie, but I think the intent of this recipe was to be a mix of pie and cake and it was just not up to par.....so FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

Ingredients:
1 box vanilla cake mix plus required ingredients strawberry cake mix (plus eggs 'n stuff)
3 cups or 1 lb fresh strawberries quartered
1/4 cup sugar
salt
flour for dusting
coarse sugar (you all know my rule about too many kinds of sugar in my cabinet-BS)
vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving (pick your own poison if you want, I'll skip)

Pre-heat oven to 350°

Spray a pie pan/plate with vegetable cooking spray (like PAM). Make your cake batter and pour it into your pan/plate until 3/4 full. Bake until almost set (rim is cooked but not the center too much--maybe like 20 minutes.) While the cake bakes, toss your strawberries, sugar and salt in a bowl and let it sit until you take your (almost) baked cake is taken out and put on a cooking rack. Up the temp of the oven to 450°

Unroll one of the pie crusts (on a flour dusted work surface) and cut into 1 1/4" strips. Unroll the other crust and cut 3 1" wide strips from the middle of it and press the ends of the strip together, end-to-end to make a long strip to be used as the rim of the dessert.

Drain your strawberry mixture and spoon it on top of your cake. Press 'em into the top of the cake to secure them in there (but not too hard-duh). Arrange half of the crust strips (not the long rim one) atop the berries, parallel to one another and spaced out by an inch (using the shorter strips toward the edges-again, duh). Fold them back and make a lattice formation with the remaining strips. If you can't figure it out at first, think of it as a mind game and play 'till you find the solution.

Wrap the long rim strip around the perimeter of your pan/plate, overlapping the lattice pieces. Trim any overhanging spots and crimp the dough all around the edges with your fingers. Sprinkle the lattice with sugar and throw pie into the oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Notes:
This was such an upsetting fail.  I was looking forward to making it for a week.  The bake times, I have to assume, were the cause of my FAILURE.  When the pie/cake was done, the batter of the cake was oozing out, upward through the strawberries and lattice.
Even as a FAILURE, this was pretty damn good looking. 
This was my first lattice which I am okay with.

Tweaks:
I substituted a strawberry mix for the prescribed vanilla to justify the "very very" claim.

Cheats:
Now that I know how to make cakes from scratch, I always feel that I'm cheating when I use a cake mix.

Got something that'll get a rise outta me or help redeem myself as a baker?  Send it my way.  theManicCheater@gmail.com

Brain Food:

Watermelon: the Perfect Food(?)

IN THE PAST IT WAS ALWAYS SAID THAT THE CHIQUITA BANANA WAS "QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORLD'S MOST PERFECT FOOD"--2012 BEGS TO DIFFER.  Studies have proven that Watermelon may have usurped the throne and wear the crown.

Watermelon is a member of the Cucurbitaceae Family* and, in addition to tasting great, is a fantastic source of nutrients and is concentrated in important, powerful antioxidants (not to mention-at 92% water-a power house source of hydration).  The summer treat is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A (notably through its concentration of beta-carotene).  The antioxidants found in Watermelon run through the body, neutralizing substances in us like free radicals that can cause damage to...well, your insides.  The good things fight against the bad things like cholesterol, risk of asthma attacks, inflammation that occurs due to osteoarthritis, arthritis and joint damage.

Eating this wonderfood (I made up that word I think) has been proven to reduce the risk of colon cancer, risk of heart disease and battle symptoms of asthma.  All that and it tastes good.

MMMMM....healthy.


Definition:
Cucurbitaceae Family: The family that consists of edible gourds (such as other foods including cantaloupe, squash and pumpkin) and other plants that grow on vines on the ground.

Just the Tip:

A Good Meal Does Not Need to Be Complicated!

SOMETIMES THE SIMPLEST OF MEALS ARE THE MOST SATISFYING Sometimes I run around-actually a lot of the time-and I don't have the time to do some new and challenging dish that looks pretty on a plate. 

I admit that I have been a little too gung ho with my recipes in an effort to both challenge myself/grow as a cook and (honestly) show off. I realized last night that those in-between simple dishes that don't make it to the blog can be every bit as good.  AND, the best meals can take little effort and way less time than a challenge.  For instance, last night I had plans and made my man a chicken club (w/ turkey bacon) with a side of zucchini and chips so he'd not have to order out.  It made me almost want to stay home and eat....almost ;)

Long and short of the tip: Don't forget the simple things.



Just the Tip:

Keep The Oven Door Closed

OPENING THE OVEN DOOR WHILE COOKING ALLOWS A LOT OF HEAT TO ESCAPE Anywhere from 10°-200° can escape from your oven every time you open the door (depending on how long you keep it open obviously).  Escaping heat is a big cause of failures in the kitchen.  It screws up the steady cook and integrity of what you're making, not to mention the timing.

Keeping that door closed saves you time and energy or gas as well, so it's being a little more green too.

Long and short of the tip: Use the window of the oven.  That's what it's there for.



Give me your tips...themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Neopolitan Cheesecake

Taste Verdict: Success
                   Presentation Verdict: Eh                   

Neighbor-worthy

This was one of my riskier attempts at making my own dessert.  I love cheesecake and have been craving it something fierce lately.  I have already posted my margarita cheesecake, but this one was a stretch and I thought would be a good blog entry. 

This weekend I wanted to make my own marble cheesecake.  Then I thought "Ok, I'll make a strawberry-marble cheesecake for the blog".  Then I thought about trying to make a vanilla bean cheesecake.  Blah, blah, blah-I was obviously longing for a fun cheesecake-and I thought up a really fun thing to try: Neopolitan. 

Neopolitan is the ice cream choice that my parents (and probably yours) made for gatherings thinking it would cover more peoples' preferences as it is 1/3 strawberry, 1/3 vanilla and 1/3 chocolate. More times than not, we were left with a carton of strawberry 'cause no one wanted it.  That was fine with me as I hated it (SEE NOTES).  Well, I don't think that could ever be the case with cheesecake...cheesecake is just too good to avoid a flavor. 

I used this recipe for the basis of my recipe. I tweaked it by stripping it of its flavor and made the rest up as I went along. 

Ingredients:

Vanilla Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean split with seeds removed but reserved

Crust:

1 3/4 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 stick melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cheesecake(s):

3 8oz packages cream cheese reduced-fat cream cheese
3 eggs plus one yolk
1 15oz can pureed pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sour cream reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Heat a small sauce pan over Medium-high heat and combine water, sugar and the stalk (pod) and seeds. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir occasionally as you cook it until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and allow the syrup to cool. 

In a medium bowl, place the graham crumbs, sugar and cinnamon and mix the hell out of them.  Add the butter and mix.  Press mixture firmly into a 9" springform pan (trailing it up the sides some).

Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth and add the sour cream and sugar, then eggs, one by one.  Add the flour and the vanilla and continue to beat until combined.  Separate into three bowls.

In a small sauce pan, melt your chocolate and allow to cool-but not long enough for it to harden.

Bowl 1: Add your chocolate and mix well.
Bowl 2: Strain your simple syrup, add 1/2 cup and mix well. 1/4 cup.
Bowl 3: Add your jam and mix well.

Pour the contents of your chocolate mix into your crusted pan first.  Chill in fridge for 10 minutes.  Then CAREFULLY layer your vanilla above on top of the chocolate and chill for 10 minutes.  Pour the strawberry upon the vanilla.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hr.  Remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes.  Cover with plastic wrap and throw in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Before you pop the spring to serve, run a knife along the rim to loosen the side crust trail.  Some will fall off-no big deal.

Notes:
I love being adventurous.  This was my creation including making a vanilla cheesecake as I have never seen one nor read a recipe for one.  I had used a simple syrup in another recipe and thought "why not try it here?"
This is probably the worst presentation I have had for something I've made to date (on the blog).

No-foul Error in Judgement:
When I do this again, I will use less syrup for the vanilla.  It watered that layer down causing the strawberry to integrate with it when poured in.  It ended up tasting just fine (well, awesome actually).

Happy Accident:
**The strawberry ended up being the slightest layer which works for me.  :)


Tweaks:
I made the receipe Neopolitan
I substituted reduced-fat sour cream and cream cheese for the recipe.
I (obviously) removed the spices and pumpkin from the recipe.
I added graham cracker crumbs to yield more crust (I LOVE crust).


Any ideas for me?  themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Just the Tip:

The Best Way to Clean Up Broken Glass

SOMETIMES WE BREAK A GLASS, PICK IT UP AND END UP WITH GLASS IN OUR FOOT LIKE 3 DAYS LATER.  While we are all able to clean most of the pieces and sweep up the rest,  it is almost impossible to get it all up with our hands or dust pan and a broom there is always those crystal clear shards and dust behind that lingers for a while and often ends up in our feet.  If this has never happened to you, you are a LIAR.  Regardless, I learned the best way to get it all up while working at my Aunt Georgia's restaurant as a teen...

The best way to get that dust or those missed shards of glass is by using a piece of white bread.  It works like a sponge for solids.  It grabs all those missed remnants.  Try it (next time you break something glass or ceramic, it works.)


If you have similar tricks of the trade, shoot them to me.  themaniccheater@gmail.com