cooking? cooking!

Calzones

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup(s) (plus additional for sprinkling) grated Asiago or Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup(s) chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed, and drained
1 bag of pepperoni
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 package(s) (10-ounce) refrigerator all-ready pizza crust
• 1  egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. In medium-size bowl combine ricotta and Asiago cheeses, spinach pepperoni, and salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
2. On lightly floured surface, unroll pizza crust. Roll out to 14-inch square. Using 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles a knife, cut three slices; brush edges with some of egg yolk mixture. Place 1 teaspoon filling (just eyeball it) on lower half of each circle; fold pastry over to enclose, pressing edges of fork to seal. Brush with remaining egg yolk mixture; prick top of each with point of sharp knife and sprinkle with additional grated Asiago cheese.
3. Place calzone on large, greased cookie sheet. Bake 5 to 7 minutes, until puffed and golden; cool slightly before serving.

Tortellini Toss with Herbed Goat Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 package(s) (9-ounce) refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 1 bag(s) (5- to 6-ouce) baby spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup(s) oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 1 tablespoon(s) oil from tomatoes
• 2 ounce(s) herbed goat cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)

Directions

1. Heat large, covered saucepot of salted water to boiling on high. Cook tortellini as label directs. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta cooking water; drain tortellini and return to saucepot with reserved cooking water. Stir in spinach.
2. Into saucepot with cooked tortellini, stir lemon peel and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and their oil; toss to coat. Transfer to 4 serving bowls and sprinkle with goat cheese to serve.

Delicious! I made this like two weeks ago with Christy and Vanessa (we added garlic, which I think improved the recipe quite a bit) and then again this morning.

Spicy Barbecue Burgers with Blue Cheese-Carrot Slaw

A+ WOULD COOK AGAIN

Ingredients

Slaw:

• 2 cup(s) shredded carrots
• 1/3 cup(s) chunky blue-cheese dressing
• 1 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice

Burgers:

• 1 1/2 pound(s) ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 4  hamburger buns, split
• 1 tablespoon(s) canola oil
• 4  romaine lettuce leaves

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup(s) smoky chipotle chili barbecue sauce, or your favorite barbecue sauce
• 1  minced chipotle chile in adobo sauce (optional), mixed with favorite barbecue sauce, if desired

Directions

1. Slaw: In a medium bowl, toss ingredients to blend.
2. Burgers: Prepare an outdoor grill or heat a stovetop grill pan to medium. In a medium bowl, gently mix beef, 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce (or barbecue sauce mixture), chili powder, cumin, and salt. Divide mixture evenly and shape into 4 patties, each about 3/4-inch thick.
3. Brush hamburger buns with oil, then toast on grill, 1 to 2 minutes; set aside.
4. Grill burgers 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare, brushing with the remaining 1/4 cup sauce.
5. Place a piece of lettuce on bottom of each bun; top with burger, then slaw. Replace top half of bun.

These were a success! Everyone liked them. The only problem is that the chunky blue cheese dressing was not chunky at all????? I would totally buy some blue cheese and crumble it on top next time.

Beef Fajitas

Ingredients

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 package of Mexican rice
• 1 thing of beef fajita meat…
• 1 Corona
• 2 limes
• 1 thing of cilantro
• 1 large white onion
• 1 garlic thingie…
• 5 Serrano peppers
• 1 package of tortillas
• 1 package of Mexican cheese
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 1 avacado
• 2… small… tomatoes? We didn’t use regular tomatoes, that’s all I can remember.
• 1 can of refried beans (if you are so inclined)

Directions (ps I am writing these from memory)

1. Marinate the fajita meat in Corona for like two hours.
2. Prepare your salsa while you wait! Chop the cilantro, four of the Serrano peppers, however much garlic you want, half the onion, and half the green bell pepper. If you really like green bell pepper you might actually want to have an extra one for the actual fajita. Then put it all in a food processor! Drain the can of diced tomatoes and then put that in the food processor too. Mix.
3. Chop up that avocado too! And those actual tomatoes. Mix. Add in some salsa. Voila, now you have guacamole.
4. Are you ready for your fajitas? OKAY, PUT IT IN THE PAN AND COOK IT. But only if it’s been marinated for two hours, remember! Flavor with some onions, however much of the remaining Serrano pepper you want, and lime juice.
5. The rice and the refried beans are packaged, please don’t expect me to tell you how to cook those.
6. Chop up the remaining bell peppers and onion and cook those up too.
7. Okay, your preparation is done. Heat up those tortillas, throw in the stuff you’ve made plus a little cheese, and you’ve got a tasty meal ahead of you.

So perhaps I should not be enlisted to write recipes. Especially when I am not the one who did most of the cooking. (pretty sure I managed to remember all of the ingredients..) I made the salsa and assisted the chopping and the making of the guacamole for this; my friend did everything else, so I have written this based on what I remember her doing. It was really good! I never knew you marinated stuff in Corona before… speaking of Corona I have found it’s a beer (that isn’t lite!!) that I actually enjoy. That almost never happens. I digress, but seriously, what else is there to say about fajitas, especially when I didn’t do the majority of the cooking?

I have no idea what the fuck checking “let people answer this” means but I guess we’ll find out.

Fusili with Herbed Ricotta and Grape Tomatoes

A+ WOULD COOK AGAIN

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 tablespoon(s) fresh oregano leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup(s) (plus additional for serving) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup(s) (packed) fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 12 ounce(s) fusilli or corkscrew pasta
• 1 pint(s) (2 cups) grape tomatoes

Directions

1. Heat large covered saucepot of salted water to boiling on high.
2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine ricotta, oregano, 1/4 cup Romano, and half of basil.
3. Add pasta to boiling water and cook as label directs, adding tomatoes when 3 minutes of cooking time remain.
4. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta and tomatoes; return to pot. Add reserved cooking water to ricotta mixture; stir into pasta and tomatoes. Toss with remaining basil. Serve with additional cheese if you like.

So I was really nervous about this recipe because when I called my mom excitedly to talk about it, she was like, “Courtney… don’t you… hate cheese sauces?” I was like, “well fuck :( forgot about that.” BUT ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, aka this tasted GREAT! I should have added more cheese and tomatoes, and my dad made a great suggestion to add chicken to it, but yeah. Really good for my first real cooking attempt! Also, I had… a… difficult time finding the fresh oregano and basil, so I just used spice stuff. It definitely would have been better with the fresh ingredients, and I will be better prepared for my next search in the veggie aisle, so. uh. woooo! cooking!