Parmesan Vegtable Stir-Fry, Red Beans and Rice, Mexican Hot Dish

Happy Friday!

As promised, I am back cooking for the Family and Friends recipe book, trying to finish before January 25th. I cooked through three recipes this week, right on schedule! Cooking was not without incident though....

Parmesan Vegetable Stir-Fry: So this one wasn't too bad, and actually is really easy. The only difficult part is when you go to the store buy the ingredients, come home, pull out the ingredients and...where's the onion? I know I paid for an onion. Perhaps the onions disappeared into the great unknown or perhaps the onion grew legs and walked right out of my bag. Or maybe, although more unlikely than the previous ideas, the onion was left in the bagging area. Oh well....back to the store!

Parmesan Vegetable Stir-Fry
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• ½ onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• ½ oz (2 Tbsp.) Parmesan cheese, shredded
Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add mushrooms and cook until done. Add spinach, toss well and sauté very briefly. Sprinkle on lemon juice and Parmesan cheese. Serve hot. Makes 1 serving.

Red Beans and Rice: So I guess this is a classic dish that everyone has had before...apparently everyone but me. I insisted to Jeff that we make a half order. Jeff said it 'won't be that much' and it 'freezes well' so we went ahead and made the full batch. Uhg! The recipe filled my largest cooking pot. I will now be eating Red Beans and Rice for the next 3 months.

Red Beans and Rice
• 2 pkgs. of sausage
• 2 bell peppers chopped
• 8-10 green onions chopped
• 2 large cans of kidney beans (don’t drain)
• 2 large cans chopped tomatoes
• Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste
• Rice
Cut sausage into bit size pieces and brown from skillet, leave drippings. Remove sausage from skillet, place in large in large pot. Sauté the bell peppers and onions in drippings, add water and Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Add everything together; beans, tomatoes, sausage, bell pepper and onions, simmer for as long as you want. Serve over rice.

Mexican Hot Dish: This on really went astray. I was brought back to my first recipe...where I was immensely confused and didn't know which way was up. I went to my parents to make them this dinner and was ready to wow them with all that I had learned. Ha! Not even close. As I was making this dish, I was also trying to make some peanut butter chocolate sauce for the dessert party on Sunday which lead to averted attention. So I am browning the meat and I miss a pretty integral step: drain the grease. So that never happened and the dish was little...extra savory we could say. So then the meat is taking FOREVER to cook and I even had it on med-high,what the heck? Turns out my mom's burner dials are backwards from mine and it was actually on med-low. Rookie mistake! Don't even get my started on the peanut butter chocolate sauce; after a huge spilling of powdered sugar, a mixing bowl that was too full and chocolate everywhere my mom says to me, "It's on the toaster! and on the walls!" I will get this some day.

Mexican Hot Dish

• 1 can Enchilada Sauce (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 jar Pace Hot Sauce (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 can Can Green Chilies (Diced) (mix with browned hamburger)
• 2 – 3 lbs. Hamburger
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
• 1 large bag Tortilla Chips
Brown hamburger in large skillet. Pour off excess grease. Mix in all liquid ingredients and simmer (just until all are combined). In a 9x13in pan, place all but one cup of the tortilla chips over the bottom. Pour sauce over chips. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes Top with cheese and remaining chips (crushed). Bake 10 min uncovered, or until cheese is melted.
*Hamburger may be substituted with chicken or shredded beef.