Mexican Please!

     I don't know how much time one can spend in Barnes & Noble.  The cooking aisle just draws my attention, and my fascination with cook books is beginning to grow even more.  I think I may have a problem.. LOL.  So, in the search to find out what cookbook I wanted next, I thought I should ask Mr. Bloom what he would like me to make more of.. His response was Mexican.  I went to look at the Mexican Cookbooks, but didn't see one that  I was totally in love with.  I asked what exactly he wanted and he requested Enchiladas.. Ok, I could do that! I have made them once in my life, and they weren't too hard.. I have seen my mom make them, so I called her for help.  I was a little nervous about making them, but I knew it would be okay.  There is not much to it! Just all of the little tasks seemed a little time consuming, especially when you are also trying to make the sides and clean the kitchen at the same time!! So, here goes!  

THE INGREDIENTS 

(Made 15 enchiladas for me!)

- McCormick Enchilada Sauce Mix

- 1 1/2 Cups of Water

- 1 can (8 oz.) Tomato Sauce

- 1 lb. Lean Ground Beef

- Corn Tortillas

- Cheddar Cheese (About 4 Cups, Depending)

- Taco Seasoning (optional)

- Canola Oil

-Cooking Spray

THE DIRECTIONS

• Stir the sauce mix, water and tomato cause in a medium saucepan.  

• Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally...

• Brown the meat in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  I put about 2 or so tablespoons of taco seasoning, but the amount is up to you!  Consider the sauce has seasoning too!  Drain the fat. Stir in 1/2 a cup of the sauce. (I always buy the ground beef with the lowest amount of fat that I can find.  So, when I cook beef, I don't usually see that it needs to be drained.) 

• Now, you have to heat the tortillas in a small skillet with a little bit of canola oil.  You don't want to cook the tortilla in the oil too long.. That would be called a Tostada! : ) . I turned the burner on to about medium heat.  Do not put it too high! The tortilla will cook way to fast! I started with about a teaspoon of canola oil, and after a few tortillas it would evaporate.  So, replenish the canola supply when needed.  You don't have to cook them for very long, I would say 5 - 7 seconds on each side worked well for me.. 

The cheese Mr. Bloom willingly grated. Hmm.. I wonder why!!?

• After you remove the tortilla from the oil, you need to coat it in the enchilada sauce.  I poured some of the sauce into a big bowl and turned the tortilla over and over until it was coated well.  You can also use a spoon to spread it around.  Be careful though, because the tortilla will be HOT! 
• Keep a towel handy! This process can get VERY messy! 
• Then fill the enchilada! Some people only put beef inside, but Mr. Bloom and I love cheese, so I add cheese also.  When stuffing the enchilada, keep the meat towards the middle.  When you roll it you don't want it falling out of the sides.. I would say leave at least a 1/2 inch between the meat and what is to be the "end" of the enchilada.  

• After you fill the tortilla, tightly roll the tortilla into the shape above.  Place it in the baking pan with the seam facing down.  Repeat until there is no meat left.  I believe I put about 2 tablespoons of meat in each tortilla.  You can put more meat or less meat depending on your preference.  Of course, more mean would mean less enchiladas.  And my intention when I cook is to make enough for us to have lunch the next day.
• REMEMBER to grease your pan!! 
• Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas.  Top with cheese!! 

• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly at 350 degrees.

• They should come out looking a little something like this! The amount of enchiladas the recipe made required two baking dishes for me.  Let them cool for about 5 minutes and serve! 

Who doesn't love beans and rice with Enchiladas! 

     And there it was! I made Enchiladas! They tasted amazing.  If you are wondering how I made the rice, don't fret! You will find out soon.  One of Mr. Bloom's favorite dishes is my Chicken and Rice.  One of those signature dishes I told y'all about.  So, I will definitely have to get it posted, that way if you just take out the chicken, you'll have my rice recipe! Mr. Bloom doesn't like beans, so I heated up the Old El Paso canned refried beans.  I love them!  This meal to me was very rewarding.  It was a little more nerve wrecking because I had some direction, but it wasn't all laid out.  That is what learning is about, I suppose.  Trying, seeing, and going into the unknown.  This is definitely one of my favorite dishes yet!  I am going to have to go back to Barnes and Noble to see if I fall in love with a Mexican recipe book.  This little taste has left me wanting more! 

With that, Enjoy! 

The McCormick Directions can be found in full, HERE! I did add a few of my own steps! (Well, mom's steps!) : ) 

Pounds of Love...

     I had never heard Mr. Bloom request a Lemon Glazed Pound Cake for dessert before.  When I asked what he wanted for dessert, I never thought those words would escape his lips!  I heard them though, and was I glad to hear them! Being that is one of my favorite desserts, I was excited to test a recipe out.   Who else should I have gone to, but good ol' Martha Stewart?  I never made a pound cake before, and I wanted it to be perfect.  I was already in a cooking mood, as I had made the pizza that evening.  Well, if you want to call it the day before, you can.  The pizza finished around 10 and after eating and relaxing, I want to say I started the cake around midnight!! I did not finish this cake until around 4:00 AM! Did I mention that I had to be at work at 10:00 in the morning? Haha.  Don't feel sorry for me, because I am a night owl.  I mean, we just got done at the movies and I felt the need to write this blog before bed! So, here goes...

THE INGREDIENTS

THE DIRECTIONS

Floured Pan

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, make sure to put the rack in the lowest position.  Butter and Flour your pan.  I always love to use Bundt Pans when I can.  They make your cake look a million times prettier.  I bought mine from Target.  It is Calphalon Kitchen Essentials.  I have other pots and baking pans that brand and have enjoyed them, thus far.  

• To butter my pan, I took a stick of butter and just  “wrote” all over my pan with it.  Make sure you get all the little crevices that a Bundt Pan entails.  I sprinkled the flour in the pan, and I made sure to rotate it as I sprinkled to get it to coat all of the butter.  

• I googled “how to zest” tips, but they weren’t much help! I did figure out a tip that helped me.  Make sure when you zest, that you go back and forth on the zester without lifting your zesting object (in this case, lemon).  I figured this out on the second cake I made.  (Don’t worry, I’ll post it soon!) 

•  To juice the lemon, I squeezed it over a strainer into a bowl.  You can probably strain through your hands, but I got a better handle on the lemon with two hands squeezing.   

•   In a small bowl, combine buttermilk with lemon zest and juice.    

• In a medium bowl whish together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  If you notice, the ingredients specify that the flour needs to be spooned and leveled.  What does this mean? I went to GOOGLE for the answer.  If you know me, you know I google everything I need to know.  I learned from the link I posted, that it means to spoon the flour into the measuring cup, then level it off.  If you just scoop the flour out of the bag, you are probably compacting the flour.  This would give you way more than a cup of flour.  Baking is a science.  Sometimes if you don't have exactly what the recipe calls for, your end product may not come out right.  

• Then, I put the butter and sugar in my mixer.  The recipe calls for softened butter.  This is important! At first, my butter wasn’t soft enough so I put it in the microwave for a few seconds.  If it is not softened the butter and sugar will not become fluffy, like the recipe calls for.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Make sure to beat them well into the mixture before moving on to the next.

• With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture in two, beginning and ending with flour. So, you really don’t have to think about it, it's: 

(Flour, buttermilk mixture, flour, buttermilk mixture, flour)

• It can get confusing in the wee hours of the morning!! Beat the mixture until it is smooth, but DO NOT over mix it! I presume that if you do, your cake will be less fluffy! Educated Guess. Haha. 

• Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  I did not have a toothpick, so I used a fork.  Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan.

• Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack, and let it cool completely (Don't get impatient!) before glazing! 

Now you need the GLAZE!! 

THE INGREDIENTS

• Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl and stir in lemon juice.  The consistency was great.  I used 4 tablespoons of the fresh lemon juice.  I think in all I used two lemons.  This was VERY easy.  And makes a beautiful addition to a pound cake.  

• Set rack with the cake over a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Pour the glaze over the cake and let it run down the sides.  There is no fancy way to do this.  I think a glaze automatically gives off a fancy look! Notice I did this on my cooling rack.  I didn't even notice the recipe said to do it over a baking sheet! Mind you, I started this cake at midnight.  I had to wait for it to bake and cool!! My cooling rack was not that hard to clean, so it didn't bother me much.  

• Let the glaze dry for 30 minutes.

• In my case, I covered it and called it a night! I didn't even try a piece! 

     So, we woke up in the morning to a Lemon Glazed Pound Cake.  What do you think we had for breakfast? Is that not in the commercials? Breakfast of Champions : Lemon Glazed Pound Cake! Well, it should be... it was delicious.  My first pound cake out of the way.  A Happy Husband with a Happy tummy was a plus! It's about 4:05 AM right now, so I shall go to bed and dream about this cake! 

With that, Enjoy! 

As usual, I paraphrase! If you want to see the full recipe with directions click HERE!

Pizza Who??

      How many times in your life have you given Pizza Hut (Or other places) $15 or over for one pizza or even just $5 for a Hot and Ready at Little Caesars?  Why do we do this? I don't think I'm the only newlywed, or person for that matter, who likes to save a little bit of money here and there.  One of the biggest things I have dealt with during my married life is learning to budget.  You have to start realizing that money REALLY doesn't grow on trees.  You aren't only paying for one person anymore, and though there are two incomes (sometimes) you are taking on more bills.  Rent, Car Insurance, Phones, Groceries.... AH. Jumping into that is scary!! And thats not even all the bills! So, saving when you can is a MUST.  We willingly give fast food places up to a hundred dollars a week! So, Mr. Bloom and I are trying to cut out eating out to help with the budget.  That leaves me answering the ultimate question... What am I making for dinner?? 

    

The Answer: Pizza (Easy choice because Mr. Bloom had been asking for it!)

(This pizza will leave you saying, Pizza Who?)

• The first ingredient when I am cooking anything is music.  My choice for this night was John Legend.  I have a deep love for music, so it's pretty much playing all the time! 

• After googling a few recipes, I noticed this one... I mean, I could trust Paula Deen right?? If the pizza recipes that I saw had any bad reviews, I steered clear.  This recipe had no bad reviews and to my surprise looked really easy to make.  This was my first time making pizza from scratch.. EVER! 

THE RECIPE

THE DIRECTIONS

• Measure out 1 3/4 cups of warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top of the water.  Let it sit for about 10 minutes.  You don't have to stir it or anything like that...  Usually, when cooking you can do other things pertaining to the recipe, but you need the yeast right away.  So, find something else to do like picking up around the house, kitchen or even getting a load of laundry together.. Being doubly productive is a nice feeling! 

• This recipe calls to use a food processor , but I only have a mini one.  I used my Kitchenaid Mixer instead.  If you don't have one, a whisk and your hands/big spoon will do. So, this is the first attachment that I used.  But only for the dry items! A whisk and dough do not mix well! 
• Put the salt and 2 cups of the flour into the bowl and mix it together.

• After I mixed the dry items together, I switched my attachment to the dough hook.  I have never used this one and didn't even know if it was necessary.  Context clues led me to believe it was just what I needed to mix my dough! 
• Pour the yeast and water and mix thoroughly, then add the olive oil.  Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time, mixing and make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl.. that way you can be sure the mixture is mixed well.  

• As soon as the mixture is combined, dump it out onto a well-floured board and knead for 15 turns, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

• It should look a little like this.  Smoother than when you first dumped it out.  If it is still a little sticky, I would suggest putting a little more flour on the dough... putting it on your hands while you knead it helps also.  

• Place the dough in an olive oil greased bowl.  I poured some olive in the bowl and spread it around with my hands.  I didn't measure the amount out and I don't think you can really go wrong.  I want to say I probably used a few tablespoons worth.  Turn the dough in the bowl and make sure you coat all sides of it.

• Cover with plastic wrap.  Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.  Then pick your husband up from work.  This is important and you must not forget! Ok. Maybe everyone doesn't have to do that, but it was an important part of my recipe! 

• When I got back, my dough looked like this! It should be about double in size.  Punch the dough down and divide the dough in half.  I used a pizza cutter to make this happen.  Earlier that day I did see a dough cutter for about 3 bucks at target.  This makes about two pizzas.  I read that some people didn't need two pizzas, so instead they made bread sticks! Yum.  A great idea for next time! 

• Get your pizza pan out! We got this for our wedding! Along with a rolling pin and pizza wheel.

• Have you ever wondered what the stuff is on the bottom of your pizza?  The grainy stuff that you have to brush off onto your pants (or napkin, lol).   I have and I have never known what it is.  It's cornmeal! Dust the pizza pan with cornmeal before you roll your dough onto it.  Don't be afraid to stretch your dough to the edges of your pan, but don't stretch it so much that it breaks.  
• Roll up the edge slightly to create a ridge around the pizza.  I did this with my finger, pressing all around the pizza about half an inch into the dough.  Making an indentation.. I hope that makes sense! 

(Ingredients for the sauce: 1 Small can of tomato paste, 1 can of water, 1 teaspoon each of oregano, basil and garlic salt)

• Now you need sauce! I texted my mother in law who makes amazing pizza for the recipe.   I noticed that we got the paste with oregano, basil and garlic salt, so I wasn't sure if the recipe would still be the same! I had to do a trial and error kind of thing.  I sprinkled each of the spices into the pasta sauce.  I noticed in my spice rack I had a spice called "Pizza Seasoning", and it contains oregano, basil, granulated garlic salt and marjoram (which smells a little like oregano to me).  I sprinkled some of it right in the mix.  Taste. Add more. Taste. Give to Husband. He approves it.  Put it on your pizza!  

• Here is Mr. Bloom helping out.  When there is cheese around, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be in the kitchen.  "Checking" how it tastes.  I used the rest of the bag cheese that I had, then shredded some myself.  It is up to you how much sauce to put on your pizza and definitely your choice of how much cheese and which topping to put!  

We chose pepperoni's and jalapeno's! 

• Bake the pizza for about 16 to 18 minutes.  Until golden brown.

Almost Done!!                         

Mr. Bloom cutting the pizza!

He says. "Take my picture!!!"

Looks Delicious!!

The cornmeal dusted pan.

The second pizza.

Second Pizza complete!

     There you have it! My homemade pizza!  Before Mr. Bloom tried it he stated that he would like us to try a few other crusts.  After he tried it, he said that we should look no further! That is what a lot of the reviews said for Paula Deen's Pizza Crust.  The crust came out perfect.  Browned on the outside and soft on the inside.  The pizza sauce was perfect!  It was really easy and came out great.  We had a whole leftover pizza and we took it for lunch for a couple of days.  So, we saved money with that and not having to go out and buy dinner.  Budgeting never tasted so good!

I did learn a few things..

1. Pasta sauce in a white mixing bowl is a no-go.  I stained my poor little bowl!

2.  A Pizza Cutter was the easiest way cut the dough, I tried a knife at first and it didn't work very well.  Mr. Bloom suggested the pizza cutter.

3. At first when I was rolling the dough, I thought the pizza roller was my only tool.  The pizza wasn't spreading all the way to the edges.  Mr. Bloom used to work in fast food and had to prep the pizzas they served.  He showed me how to work the dough a little better.  Like in my post, Don't be afraid to stretch it with your hands..

With that, Enjoy! 

(The recipe directions have been paraphrased by me, but if you want to see the recipe along with directions, you can see it HERE!)

A New Venture..

    I think one of the things that I was most excited about when I got married was the cooking.. Of course other things trump the cooking, but to have a husband who I can do experimental cooking on is the best!  I started cooking a lot for myself in my junior year of college.  I really didn't have to do much cooking before that, with parents, fast food cooks, roommates and such.  I enjoyed it from the beginning and I definitely have a love for cookbooks.  I work retail and we are across from Barnes and Noble, and every time I leave they have a section by the door of on sale books.  It always gets me! They are usually cookbooks, my weakness.  After I graduated college I got a couple of cookbooks and realized that it was more of a love than an "I just like" to cook... To put all these ingredients together and at the end come out with what is (hopefully) an amazing masterpiece  is such a great feeling.  People actually liking your masterpiece is an even better feeling.  Cooking is also not something that a husband would ever get tired of you doing, (I wouldn't think so anyways!) and it just makes me so happy!  

     So, here I am at the beginning of my marriage (Wow, 4 months today!) trying to become a better cook.  I have about 5 signature dishes, and really, it's just recently that I realized 5 dishes for the rest of our lives simply won't be enough!  Though, Mr. Bloom loves them, I feel the need to expand my horizons..  And this is definitely not a venture that Mr. Bloom is opposed to!! Haha. I am fully supported!  So, being that I love to write, I felt that I should blog about my journey in this new venture of mine.  The recipes I am using, things I learn to do and NOT to do, and any little anecdotes that might help you get to know me a little better... Who knows, it  might help other newlyweds (or anyone for that matter!) know that they are not alone if they ever find themselves in this situation.. Being a newlywed is a learning process, and learning to cook for two is just a small piece of the pie! ; ) 

            With that... I think I am officially, A Cook in Bloom!

Enjoy!