and over three months later. . .

. . .here you go!! Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon* with my own little twist. I'm going to be honest with you it was a while ago when I made this so I don't exactly remember everything I put in but I did try to follow along her recipe as closely as possible. Also I just want to state that the beautiful pot you see in the pictures was a birthday present from my parents a couple years ago. My dad brought it back from Mexico for me. How sweet is that!?!?


Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In an oven proof pan saute stew meat in olive oil. I used about 1 - 2 pounds. Julia's recipe calls for 3 lbs. but I was just cooking for two, so I decreased the amount a little.


When the beef is slightly browned on all sides, sprinkle it with salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings you like. (I think I added some cinnamon and maybe some chili powder. This is one recipe, though, that I would be careful not to over season.) Then sprinkle in about 2 Tbsp. flour and toss lightly to coat. Put it in the preheated oven for about 4 minutes and toss it again and return to the oven for about 4 more minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.


Next you are going to add a small onion that has been sliced and a sliced carrot as well. I may have used two carrots, but I can't remember exactly. I guess it depends on how well you like carrots how many you should use.


Return to the stove top and add 1 Tbsp. tomato paste, 2 cloves mashed garlic, 1/2 tsp. thyme and a crumbled bay leaf.


Next stir in about 3 cups of red wine, such as Chianti and enough beef stock to cover the ingredients. Bring to a simmer on the stove top.


Then cover the casserole dish and return to the oven. Allow to cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I let it cook for about 45 minutes to an hour and then stir it and then repeat the process until it is done. The beef should be very tender when it is done.


Remove the casserole from the oven and either cool the stew and refrigerate for later use or if serving immediately prepare as follows. Quarter about a pound of button mushrooms and saute them in butter.


Add to the stew and stir to coat.


Then serve with boiled potatoes and buttered green peas and of course a glass of red wine. Enjoy!!



*Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.

the makings of something delicious

Get ready for some Julia Child deliciousness a la Meli.

meatloaf

The other day it was a bit of a dreary day and my roommate was having a sort of bad day, so I decided to make some comfort food. I'd been wanting to try making meatloaf for a while because it is usually made with eggs, and I wanted to try making it without eggs for my roommate.

I adapted this from the recipe that my grandma usually makes out of our family cookbook. I know, you wish you had a family cookbook too. I just threw in whatever spices I felt like. Feel free to mix it up however you want.

Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground elk
2 slices bread, crumbled up
ketchup
splash red wine
dash cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, chili powder

Crumble the two slices of bread in a bowl. I was able to find bread that wasn't made with eggs, so I went with that.

Then season with the spices you choose to use.


Add the ketchup.


Then add in the beef and elk as well as the red wine. Mix it all up together. I used my hands because that's just how I roll but I supposed you could mix it with a spoon.

Place in a loaf pan and pour some more red wine over it. Then top with some tomato sauce and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. I think mine was about 45 minutes because my oven runs hot.

I'm not a big meatloaf person. I didn't really grow up eating it, but this turned out well. I actually think it was better the next day because it had time for the flavors to combine and sit together and be all happy. It might actually be good to let it sit for a bit and marinate before topping with the tomato sauce and baking it.

taco rice

This, my friends, is taco rice. It's super easy to make, healthy and wonderfully delicious. I used this recipe as inspiration. Once again, I was well under way of cooking when I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures, my bad. This is so easy to make, though, you don't need pictures.

Make some sushi rice. Brown some ground beef (or in my case ground elk, we are currently out of beef). Make sure you season the beef well. Use lots of cumin so it will taste taco-y. I suppose you could also use taco seasoning, but I prefer to use all the seasonings in my cupboard. Cut up some tomatoes. Tear up some lettuce (I used green leaf lettuce). And hey, if the mood hits you whip up some fresh guacamole (I'll give you my recipe some other time).

Then just layer it up. Start with rice on the bottom, top with ground beef (or elk), and add your toppings on top of that. I was thinking you could also use black beans in this and it would be good. This is also nice because people can build their own and use whatever toppings they like. A quick, healthy, delicious dinner. . .yum!

chili for chilly weather

The weather hasn't been very spring like the last couple of days, so today I made chili. Yum! This is how I make chili. . .

Start with about half an onion diced up and a clove of garlic and some olive oil in a pan. This time I added some celery and mushrooms because I had some on hand. You can also add Worcestershire sauce if you want (I happen to be out right now so I didn't).


Add seasonings. I like to season twice. Once when the base ingredients are cooking and once when all the ingredients are in the pan. I feel like it gives the dish a nice depth of flavor (but that could just be me, feel free to season however you want to).


Then add a pound of ground beef. You can also use deer or elk meat here for a slightly different flavor. The benefit of wild game meat is that it generally is much leaner than beef, but then again, we have lean beef, so it's whatever you like.


While the beef is browning, place three tomatoes in a pan of water on high. I use roma tomatoes because I like the flavor and the low acidity of them. This is just to blanch the tomatoes so that you can remove the skins easily. You don't want to overcook them or they will turn to mush.


Once the skins on the tomatoes have split, remove them from the heat and bathing them in cool water remove the skins. Chop them up and add to the meat mixture.


Then add one can each, tomato sauce, black beans and red beans. Give it a good stir.


Add the second set of seasonings, and check the flavor. I usually add a little more chili powder and cayenne pepper because I like a little spice. Depending on how spicy you want your chili you can add more or less of both these spices.


And there you have it. I like to let it sit and simmer for a little while so all the flavors mingle nicely, but this is also a great leftovers dish because the more it sits, the better the flavor gets (until it goes bad, then it's just no good).

why the oscars were invented

I'm not entirely sure why the Oscars came to be, but I do know why I think they did. I think the Oscars were invented so that my friends and I would have a great excuse to get dressed up and throw a party. I didn't do the best about taking pictures of everything I made, but I did try. . .I will hopefully get better about that as this project continues.

The first thing I made were tiny chocolate cakes. My roommate has this fantastic mold for tiny cakes, so we thought we would try using it. I made chocolate cake to use in the molds, and the cake turned out well. I adjusted it a bit to accommodate my roomie, but sometimes you just can't win all fights. One of the things that my roommate is allergic to is chocolate, so these cakes were already against the rules, but I was going to try to make them as good as possible.

I started with a favorite chocolate cake recipe: Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake. Yum. I did a half batch because the full batch makes enough for two 9" layers and I just needed enough for a pan of baby cakes. I went ahead and used unbleached all-purpose flour, but I chose not to use eggs. Instead I used applesauce and a tiny bit more baking soda than the recipe called for. I also added a touch of coconut rum, Kahlua, cinnamon and nutmeg.



The cakes turned out well with the ultimate verdict being that they were okay for my roommate. She is allergic to wheat and chocolate but those were the only things she was allergic to in these cakes. I also liked the cake without the eggs. I might have to try that when I make this as a cake again.


I love all things British, in case you don't know that about me. I especially love the tradition of afternoon tea. Taking a bit of a break in the afternoon to just have a cuppa and enjoy life for a moment. So, yes, I took a it of a tea break in the middle of my cooking.

Okay, moving on. . .I also made a beef and bean dip to eat with tortilla chips. I didn't have a recipe, so I just kind of made it up as I went. I started with half of a yellow onion diced up (I used the other half for guacamole), a clove of garlic diced, and some olive oil in a pan over medium low heat. I like to let these cook for just a little bit before adding the beef.


Let's talk about seasoning for a minute. I love using seasonings. Almost every time I cook, I use nearly every spice in my cupboard. I'm not even kidding you. I added all of these to my onion and garlic mixture. One of my pet peeves about American cooking is that we don't use spices enough. There is so much salt and sugar in everything we eat that we don't taste our food enough to know if there is seasoning in it. If you cut the sugar and salt out of most American food, there is no flavor. I love flavor. I love seasonings. Amen.


Then I added the beef and browned it. Just a side note, this is one of the first things that I learned to do in the kitchen. I have been browning beef for most of my life. It's kind of like second nature to me at this point.


After I drained the grease off, I added one can of black beans and part of a can of tomato sauce. Make sure you check the seasonings at this point. If you need more of anything add it. I usually do another round of all the spices and taste it to make sure I like the flavor. Then I let it simmer for just a bit so that it thickens a bit.


I put it in an oven proof bowl and covered the top with cheese. Let's be honest, can you really get too much cheese? Load it up! I then put it in the fridge and about 15 minutes before I put it out, I put it in a 350* oven until the cheese was melted. I then flipped the broiler on high and let the cheese get brown and bubbly.


The party was a success, and I was happy to have an excuse to cook for my friends and savor their presence in my home. So fun!