Dinner Love Address Change!

Hello everyone!

I'm just letting you all know that I have changed Dinner Love's web address from dinnerlove.blogspot.com TO dinnerlove.com. I decided to host dinnerlove.com on a different server, which is why blogger will not automatically redirect to the new site.

I will post blogs on both sites until May 12, 2009 (Tuesday).

So please, update update your bookmarks, etc, because I have a schnazzy new site (complete with all old material) over at:

www.dinnerlove.com

Thanks!

<3 Stef

Recipe: Chicken and Zucchini Layered Enchilada

Today is the day! Enchiladas made, Mexican feast delivered, Rubik's cube solved. Perfection.
Ok, I didn't solve the Rubik's cube. But everything else is true. Scout's honor!

Enchiladas are crazy easy to make, especially when you make them casserole-style (as I do). You can use nearly anything for a filling, just add some enchilada sauce, cheese, and tortillas and BAM! Enchilada madness. These are made with leftover chicken and zucchini. Leftover chicken because I had it, and it needed to be used. Zucchini because I received some in my CSA box and it's extremely important to me to use fresh, local produce. I'm lucky because I live in California, which means that some kind of produce is available year-round. In August I'm moving to Boston for grad school, and I'm already wondering what kind of CSA boxes are available, or if anything even grows in Boston in the winter! I've never lived on the east coast, so I have no idea what to expect.
You can make these vegetarian really easily by leaving out the chicken and the chicken broth, and doubling the amount of zucchini (or squash of your choice) and substituting veggie broth.
If you're looking to turn your enchiladas into a full-blown fiesta, add some pico de gallo and a margarita or two!

Sauce:
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 C chicken broth
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp flour
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan.
Allow to simmer 10-15 minutes, until sauce has reduced by about 1/2 C. While you are waiting for the sauce to reduce, start on the enchiladas.

1 medium zucchini
1/2 lb of chicken
quarter of an onion, diced, about 1/3 C
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 TB olive oil
4 turns black pepper mill
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 C jack cheese
corn tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and the onion, saute until fragrant. Add the zucchini, the pepper, and the salt.
Cook until browned on the edges. This is total zucchini porn. This is when you know it's getting good-when it get brown and slightly caramelized. Delicious!
Add the chicken. If you're using leftover chicken, cook a few minutes just until the chicken is heated through. If you're using raw chicken, cook until the chicken is cooked through.
Turn off the heat, and assemble the casserole.
First spoon a very light layer of sauce on the bottom of a pan 8x8" W and approximately 2.5" D. Then add a layer of tortilla, followed by chicken and zucchini mixture, sauce, and cheese. Repeat. Then add a final layer of tortilla, sauce and cheese.
Your casserole should be:
Little bit of sauce
tortilla
chicken and zucchini
sauce
cheese
-
tortilla
chicken and zucchini
sauce
cheese
-
tortilla
sauce
cheese
At this point, you can either cook it or store it to cook at a later date. It will keep for about two days in the fridge, or if frozen it will keep for at least 4 months, possibly longer.
If you cook it immediately, put it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. After refrigerating, cook at 350 for about 30-45 minutes. After freezing cook it at 350 for 30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered.


So. Good.

<3 Stef

Mexican fiesta on hold.

Hey guys,

I had this amazing Cinco de Mayo enchilada extravaganza planned for yesterday, but the fates conspired against me. I ended up being just to busy to pull something adequate together! Sorry about that.
Never fear, however. I will absolutely, definitely post the Mexican enchilada feast on Thursday, followed on Friday with a Mother's Day brunch special.

Thanks for being patient!

<3 Stef

Recipe: Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies

My birthday was last weekend, and my one request to my boyfriend was that he procure a birthday cake-specifically carrot cake-by any means necessary. I bought my own birthday cake last year, and it was a little depressing! I told him that I didn't care if he bought the cake or used a box to make it, as long as I didn't have to get it myself.
He surpassed my wildest expectations when I discovered him in the kitchen, making me cupcakes from scratch.
This is photo documentation of the first baked good he has ever made! He's measuring and everything.I don't have pictures of the final product, but let me assure you that they were delicious. I mean seriously. I had to fight people off of my cupcakes. Well, okay, the cupcakes were for sharing. But I wanted more than one! (I ate three. Maybe more. It's all a haze. . .)

The frosting was a maple-cream cheese frosting and while it was extremely tasty, there was an absurd amount of it left. I don't know who wrote the recipe but they are insane if they think that 2 dozen cupcakes require 3 cups of frosting. We have tons of frosting left.

Exhibit A.
This tupperware contains nearly 2 cups of frosting. Which brings me to my brilliant leftover frosting cookie idea.

Gingersnap sandwiches! Yessssss.

Ginger Cookies
Recipe modified from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (1963 edition)
Ingredients:
3 TB butter
1/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
1 TB milk
5/8 C (1/2 + 1/8) flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp coriander
1 tsp vanilla

Maple-cream cheese frosting
Recipe from smitten kitchen. I cut the entire recipe in half and increased the maple syrup. This should make a little less than 1.5 C of frosting.
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 C powdered sugar
1/4 C maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350˚.
Let the butter (for both the cookies and the frosting) come to room temperature. This is really important! I usually try to speed things up by putting it in the microwave, but that never works as well as you think it does. Melted butter actually is much different from softened butter. This is a lesson that has taken me years and dozens of flat, melty cookies to find out.
Cream together the butter and the sugar.
Add the egg, molasses and milk and stir well. Mix in all of the dry ingredients, and the vanilla. Mix until the batter is smooth.
Chill in the fridge for at least an hour, or until the dough is firm. Spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet using a small spoon, making sure they are spaced at least 2" apart.
Bake for 15 minutes. While you wait for the cookies to bake, make the frosting.

Cream together the cream cheese and the butter. Slowly add in the powdered sugar. When all of the sugar has been thoroughly mixed in, add the maple syrup and stir again to combine.

When you remove the cookies from the oven, allow to rest for a few minutes before removing. My cookies became attached while baking. Touchy cookies.
Pick a few pairs of cookies that are approximately the same size and shape. I choose four, to make a cookie sandwich for me and one for boyface. I prefer to create sandwich cookies as I go, as opposed to making a bunch of them and having to store them in their delicate frosted state. I also assumed that I would eat less of them at once if I didn't have a dozen on a plate staring at me.
Anyway, find matching-ish cookie pairs.
Turn them on their backs.
Fill a plastic bag with frosting and cut off the corner. Or, use a pastry tube. Squeeze frosting out onto one of the cookies.
Now cover with the other cookie. Mmmm.
Way better than any oreo.
The cookie recipe turned out to be completely perfect for this use because they bake flat and have crispy edges but soft chewey centers. Frosting will likely fall out of your sandwich while you eat. It's worth it.

<3 Stef