Take Them a Meal - Like Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas!

We have a new baby in our church family and last night J and I delivered the new parents a meal. I've written about the importance of and tips for meal delivery before, but since having a child of our own, this has become a real passion for me. Y'all, look around yourself and search for the new parents and offer them a meal. I promise you, "it takes a village" means more than helping raise a baby, it means making sure the harried parents are actually eating and eating more than just Easy Mac. The same goes for families in mourning, dealing with extended illness, or otherwise in crisis. 

I don't know this family very well (yet?), so we're just bringing dinner and sides tonight, but meal delivery can be so much more, especially if it's someone you're close to. As I mentioned in my previous post, after the birth of my niece we provided a few dinners, some breakfast items, snacks and all the fixins to make my in-laws' lives easier. 

It doesn't have to be a great production. Feeding people, I believe is my love language; I take so much pleasure in knowing that my hands produced something that will nourish their bodies, and maybe their souls. But just thinking about a person or family in need can be the thing that helps them keep their head above water. And those little extras are especially useful. 

How does that proverb go? Bring a mom a casserole and she'll have dinner for a single night. But bring her a casserole, some frozen pizzas, a pint of ice cream, a tub of cookie dough, freezable muffins, and a Stouffers lasagna and she'll actually retain her sanity during the first newborn sleep regression or bout of colic or postpartum hell. 


Let's go over a couple really easy tips to make meal delivery better for everyone:

 
• Use recyclable or cheapo plastic containers. New mamas have zero time or brain cells to spend on remembering whose Pyrex is whose. 
• Include idiot-proof instructions for reheating etc. Again, the brains of folks in are almost worthless at this point. 
• Include all the working parts for your meal. If you're bringing bagged salad with your spaghetti, grab a bottle of dressing. If you're bringing frozen waffles, bring syrup, too. Who knows the last time they hit the store. 
• And if you know they're going through a particularly trying time, with lots of visitors and little time (or money) for shopping, consider including a pack of paper towels, plates or plastic cutlery. 
  
• If you're organizing repeated meals with a group, use a planning service like Take Them a Meal, where you can include specific instructions (address, preferred delivery time, dietary needs) and each volunteer picks their "shifts" and logs what they're bringing. Please don't bring 10 broccoli casseroles in a row. They aren't a sponsor of my blog, but I can't sing the praises of Take Them a Meal enough; it's a great help to the volunteers and the family expecting dinner. 

So we showered little Eli with some love and offered his parents a chance to sit down and eat a real meal. I'm used one of my favorite recipes, which is perfect for meal delivery and freezer friendly (so you could benefit, too!). 

For some reason, as a single twenty-something, I was subscribed to a Pillsbury mailing list for coupons and recipes (probably why I resemble the Doughboy a little more now). I found this chicken enchilada recipe way back when and realized, even when I was cooking for one, that it was a find. 

It's relatively inexpensive and the prep takes less than 20 minutes. It's so easy to prepare, I could probably stop pulling the recipe out. You make an enchilada sauce from the soup, sour cream, chilies and cumin; then mix in the chicken and cheese; roll your enchiladas and top with sauce. Since all of the ingredients are fully cooked, you only need to heat through and melt the cheese and it's done! 

I love this recipe because it allows me to be thrifty with my ingredients and really plan ahead. You know I love to pinch a penny and we try to be especially economical with meat. Your local supermarket deli likely reduces rotisserie chickens at the end of the day,  at our Walmart you can sometimes snag them for less than $3; or whenever you make "basic" chicken - like grilled or even fried chicken, without a lot of sauce or bold flavorings - you can shred/chop those leftovers and freeze in 2 cup portions. Having chicken on hand is perfect for soups, chicken salad, or enchiladas! 

And these enchiladas are HUGE and hearty. If I'm delivering a meal for 3+ family members, I usually buy the aluminum 8x8" pans with lids ($1 for two!) and it's a legit struggle to fit eight enchiladas in there. What I like to do at home is use my 8X4" narrow pans and make two packs of four enchiladas. This way, we have dinner tonight and a freezer pack for whenever we, or someone else, needs it. The small packs are perfect for little families, so having a couple of these waiting in the deep freeze is very convenient. And they do freeze beautifully. 

Since everything is fully cooked, you don't necessarily need to par-bake the dish (but you could, just for 15 minutes or so), then wrap thoroughly in foil. To prepare, thaw in the fridge the night before and then bake until hot (which does take a little bit longer than when everything's room temp). And for the love of Pete - WRITE THESE DIRECTIONS ON ALL YOUR FROZEN FOODS. 1. You'll know what the eff those stacked up aluminum pans are filled with and 2. you (or whomever you deliver them to; fresh or frozen) will know how to reheat. This is incredibly obvious and a total pain if you forget to do it...like I do ALL.THE.TIME. 

Courtesy of Pillsbury.com 

Even if you aren't planning a meal delivery and could care less about deep freeze meal prep, this is a great in-the-moment meal. The enchiladas feed a crowd, they're really flavorful - you really get the cumin and the chilies, and you can dress them up as much as you like with salsa, sour cream, guac etc. 

I like to serve mine with what my Venezuelan friend calls "Mexican salad" (now that's a sociology project for sure). It's greens and cucumbers topped with canned whole kernel corn, canned black beans (rinsed and drained), cheese, and crushed tortilla chips. For the dressing you mix a taco seasoning packet into ranch dressing. We're talking Taco Bell level of culinary accuracy, but it's so good. Who could turn down "fiesta ranch?" 

But in all seriousness, take a minute this week as you meal plan to see if anyone in your circle is hurting, stressed, totally drained or just in need of a night off from the stove. And offer to bring them a meal. Or a pie. Or a drop off a gift card to a local pizza joint. Your small amount of effort will make a huge impact on their life and show them how much you truly care. 

Week Seven: "What on Earth Would Possess You to Make a Tomato Soup Cake?"

You poor readers are constantly hearing how strapped I am - for time, for cash, for motivation - and this week's cake is a wonderful reflection of (and solution to) that. 

Some of my favorite recipes were designed with such shortcomings in mind. There's a whole world of "substitution"cooking that helped families get through tough times, like war-rationing, without losing delicious food. 

For example: mock apple pie is quite possibly the best apple pie you'll ever eat. But it doesn't include a single apple, it's made of Ritz crackers. 

A few years ago, we found a handwritten recipe inside of an old church cookbook (the sacred tomes of all cookbook-dom) for "imitation pecan pie." And girls, I get it, pecans are EXPENSIVE. They're also my favorite nut to mindlessly eat from the freezer (or dig out of cans of mixed nuts before anyone can catch me); so any way to save money or pecans, is a win. This pie is actually made with pinto beans and corn syrup, but nary a nut. It was good, but probably better when you don't know you're eating bean pie. 

Women, we are so resourceful and determined to serve our families in a meaningful way. Yeah, we might have to make meatless sausages (like Welsh Glamorgan sausages, popularized in WWII), vinegar pies, or repeatedly thinned out stew; but we try so hard to make sure our families are fed something tasty. 

And sometimes, maybe most of the time, you aren't strapped for ingredients, but you're short on time and won't have the chance to develop deep flavors. Thank you, God, for things like bouillon cubes. This week recipe is from the 50's, when mothers' time became even more precious and the scientific future was becoming a reality. Post-war, U.S. life was largely improving, women had more options outside of the house, and tools of convenience - from shiny appliances to instant Jell-o pudding - were everywhere. Instead of laboring over the stove to create home cooked meals, you could open a box or a can or even throw a TV dinner in the oven. 

Which brings us to a recipe that would make both Andy Warhol and Betty Draper proud. 

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We're seven weeks in and drifting into the "unusual" recipe pile. Ages ago, I saved a Buzzfeed listicle of "15 Unusual Cakes You Need To Make Right Now" and this week's 
recipe (and next's) came from it. 


To recap:

Week 1: Coconut Cream Poke Cake 

Week 2: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 

Week 3: Orange Chiffon Cake with Candied Zest 

Week 4: Upside Down Banana Toffee Cake 

Week 5: Maple Bundt Cake 

Week 6: Little French Fudge Cakes 

Week 7: Tomato Soup Cake from Food52

Some 1950s/60s meals of convenience were downright TERRIFYING. Recipes leaned too heavily on mayonnaise and Jell-o (even together!) and provided us some of the scariest recipe cards I've ever seen. But I promise you, this use of a totally random, processed food is brilliant and delicious, and makes for quick prep. 


First things first: no, you can't taste the tomato. No, the cake isn't bright red. No, it doesn't smell like condensed soup. 

I performed an experiment to make sure the cake was 1. delicious and 2. not a tomato-y disaster. I made the cake alone in the kitchen and served it to my husband and parents, asking only if they could find my secret ingredient. They all picked up on the strong spices and could point out the cinnamon and nutmeg (I was out of cloves). 

When I told them it was made with tomato soup concentrate, they were all flabbergasted. J actually made me dig the can out of the recycling bin and then ate three pieces "just to be sure he didn't taste tomato." 

Honestly, I have NO idea why this recipe exists or what ingredients/preparation you might need to create a similar flavor and depth sans soup. But, since it was originally on a Campbell's label, I imagine it came from their burgeoning research and development department. And, it was so successful, unlike this "tuna 'n waffles" gem, it was allegedly included in the first edition of "The Joy of Cooking." 

This isn't a vegetable pun, but if you enjoy carrot cake, I think you'll really enjoy this cake. It's rich and spicy; those flavors that are so comforting and warm. Usually you add one of the major "mulling spices" - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice - but this recipe uses three. And the raisins add a bright burst of sweetness and juicy texture to an already soft, moist cake. 

And that sweet, thick cream cheese frosting. I'll be honest here, since the target audience of the original recipe was housewives who didn't have time to mess around, I totally used canned frosting. And no, I didn't do a crumb coating and piped rosettes; I followed the instructions of the author's mother and spread frosting between the layers and on top, nothing on the sides. Brilliant time savers, these ladies really had the right idea! 

This was a perfect cake for our surprise snow day Friday. We were unprepared with supplies and hankering for something comforting and sweet. Snow days are notoriously my best cooking (and eating) days, but we were hopelessly short on junk food staples. The snow kept piling up (9+ inches!), but a little digging in the pantry made for a delicious 3.5" of cake! 

If you're looking for a walk on the wild side, something out-of-the-ordinary, or a retro centerpiece, this is the recipe for you. It sounds outlandish, garish, and totally unnecessary, but it truly is a tasty, moist, and beautiful cake. 

Tis the Season for Quick, Make-and-Take, Potluck-Friendly Foods

Yes, dear readers. It's that time of year where it seems all of our spare time is filled with holiday parties, family gatherings and seasonal socials. We get the chance to see friends and family and eat delicious food; but we also have to cook said food, and that can be tiresome, expensive and downright inconvenient and ruin the fun with our guests. So I want to share two recipes I just tried that were delicious crowd pleasers that were easy on my time, money, dishes and skills.

Tonight, we had Jordan's parents over for dinner. And afterwards,we shared dessert and they met my parents. Since the idea of introducing our families (less than two months before our wedding) is stressful enough amid holiday hurriedness, I chose two new recipes that would feed a crowd and not cause a panic attack in front of my future in-laws.

For dinner, we had tossed salad and store-bought (but home-heated!) garlic knots and I made a ravioli lasagna. This dinner took less than ten minutes of prep/set-up and the oven did all the cooking for me. It looked tasty, and tasted just as good. This would be a great make-and-take meal, especially if you have an insulated carrier (otherwise, just toss it in the oven for a few minutes to reheat); it tastes as delicious as lasagna with about a third of the effort! If you had the resources of time and/or money, you could also easily jazz it up - you could add Italian sausage, fresh herbs, sauteed mushrooms or wildly flavorful raviolis or sauces.

Ingredients: Note: I had to double the recipe to make sure we'd be able to feed six, but here's the original formula.

1 bag frozen ravioli (any flavor - I used Great Value brand five cheese)
1 jar pasta sauce (I used 1 jar Newman's Own marinara, 1 jar organic portabello mushroom, see note)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13x2" pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour 3/4C sauce in the bottom and spread evenly. Layer half of the ravioli on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Repeat.

Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes to get cheese melty and bubbly (I added more cheese here, too). Remove from the oven and let set for 10 minutes.

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For dessert, I tried a strawberry cheesecake with a pretzel crust from Iron Chef Michael Symon on The Chew. Michael shared this family recipe that was his 96-year-old grandfather's signature holiday dish and I figured if a whole family has enjoyed it for a generation, it had to be good. This recipe was also quite easy but tasted like I'd slaved over a stove for hours. The filling is creamy and smooth with the signature tangyness of cream cheese and sour cream but is well-balanced with sugar and the saltiness of the pretzel crust. This recipe is easy for travel - no reheating required - and is perfect for making ahead (I made mine a day early). And, like the lasagna, this recipe would allow for great customization. You could use any topping instead of strawberry or could leave it plain.

Ingredients:

For crust:
1 1/2 c pretzels (ground)
1/2 c graham crackers (ground)
1/4 c sugar
8 Tbs unsalted butter (melted)
pinch salt

For filing:
24 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 c sour cream
1 c sugar
5 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
10 oz. strawberry preserves

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the pretzels, graham crackers, 1/4 sugar and butter.Add a pinch of salt and press it into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9x13x2" glass baking dish. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the cream cheese on medium, scraping the sides often. Next, add the sour and mix until combined. Next, add the sugar and mix until combined. With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla. Pour the filling over the crust and bake for one hour or until the center is no longer jiggly.

Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes while prepping the jam. In a small sauce pot melt the strawberry (or any flavor) jam over low heat. When melted, you can strain it if you don't want seeds or blend it if you want it smoother. Pour onto the cheesecake and smooth into an even later. Let the cheesecake cool for 30 minutes to an hour then slice while still warm. Refrigerate to chill completely.

The good news is, cooking this meal was completely stress-free, and best yet, our families got along great!

Happy Birthday, Food Network!

Food Network's Original Logo from 1993

I would easily consider myself, Jordan, my dad and sometimes my mom as foodies. We enjoy eating new food, we enjoy cooking with obscure ingredients and experimenting with flavors. But it wasn't always this way and I realized that one of the biggest influences on my life - not just what I ate, but how, when and what I learned to cook - was Food Network, who is celebrating their 20th birthday this month.

My parents have always kept me in the kitchen with them; there are pictures of me standing on a stool cooking and I won a blue ribbon at Mountain Heritage day as a five year-old with green beans I helped can. But I only owned one cookbook of my own, a children's version of the classic red-and-white-checkered Better Homes and Gardens classic cookbook. I enjoyed making dishes from it and memorized my first "signature dish," cornflake chicken, from within its very retro pages and realizing that I enjoyed cooking.

I was only five years-old when Food Network first started airing their food-laden programming, mostly talking about cooking and some segments with locally known chefs like Emeril Lagasse, and at that time we certainly did not have satellite or cable. I remember us starting to watch FN when I was in my tween years and I began to understand that there were so many flavors and techniques I'd never tried and that cooking (and eating) could be fun and exciting.

On a special birthday show aired this weekend, FN revealed that their most downloaded recipe is Alton Brown's baked mac n' cheese from his Good Eats show. I remember the first recipe I downloaded and made at home was from a Bobby Flay show where he visited a high school home ec class and taught the students how to make a braised pot roast. I copied his recipe and made some of my own changes to make a spicy, robust roast that my parents loved (ironically, my first FN dish was too hot for me to enjoy).

We'd always eaten traditional Southern food, inexpensive frozen foods and our ventures into the exotic and fancy were limited to occasional trips to Olive Garden and making copy-cat recipes with jars of alfredo sauce, frozen broccoli and canned chicken breast. Good Eats made the unfamiliar comfortable and brought new techniques and flavors into our home. Unwrapped brought us information about the production and development of our favorite foods. Jacques Torres transformed chocolate into art. How to Boil Water introduced us to Tyler Florence and taught us cooking basics. And Emeril brought "Bam!" into our vernacular.

Everyone changes as they grow up and of course our life has changed in obvious ways - my parents are more financially stable, the Internet puts everything at our finger tips, the racial make up of our area has changed and brought with it a change in grocery and restaurant offerings, and we've travelled more and met new people - but thinking back on it, I can't deny that FN was a major force in our culinary change. We've grown with FN from simple shows like Water that taught us how to pick good recipies and ingredients, to 30 Minute Meals that pushed us to be more organized and skilled, to creating our own recipies and thinking we could win Chopped.

A recent story of NPR's Weekend Edition discussed FN's growth and 20-year evolution and postulated that they may be tired and blase. But I couldn't disagree more. Between FN, FN magazine and Cooking Channel (owned by FN but with a hip, young, edgy vibe) there are programs for novice cooks, half-assed cooks (Sandra Lee, anyone?), big eaters, connoisseurs of food porn, reality tv junkies and lovers of good stories (check out CC's My Grandmother's Ravioli). I assert that as long as there are people - and especially families - who love to cook, shop, eat, drink and talk, there will be an audience for the Food Network.

Here's to 20 more years. Cheers!