Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Jerome "Moustachio" Mourits' Perpetual Moustache Machine

Being November 30th, it was the last day for Jerome's face fur to grow. 
As you can see he did a pretty great job both growing and ungrowing it! 
We'd like to thank everyone who donated very much, we really appreciate it! 


And if you were still interested, there's still time, visit       http://mobro.co/jmourits.
Hope you had as much fun this Movember as we did! 

Stay tuned, regular cooking blogs will be back imminently! 
Starting with our Thanksgiving Feast posts  later this week! 



Sunday, November 20, 2011

Movember!

Today's post is a bit different than usual, no tasty edibles or recipes, but it's for a good cause we promise! 
Jerome has been participating in Movember and growing a neat moustache for the month to raise awareness and funds for men's health and prostate cancer. 


During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

As you can see Jerome's moustache is well underway and we'd really appreciate any help you could give to  support a worthy cause (and moustache)!

http://mobro.co/jmourits

Thank you! 

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Mexican Lasagna

Tonight we had one of our stand-by comfort dinners. It's quite easy, not a lot of dishes and has lots of taste and veggies all in one nice tasty and spicy package! It's from the cookbook Eat Shrink and Be Merry and it's official name is No Weigh, Jose! Mexican Lasagna because the lean meat and abundance of veggies. Here's the recipe as we've tweaked it over the years:

1.5 lbs extra lean ground turkey
1 cup diced red or regular onions
1 cup diced green bell or pasilla pepper (or if we don't have one, some chopped up pickled jalepenos)
2 tsp/cloves minced garlic
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen or canned corn
1 1/2 tsp chili powder }
1 1/2 tsp cumin }  we substitute these two with 1 tbsp or so of our taco seasoning
3 cups total of salsa and tomato pasta sauce - depending on what we have hanging around
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh minced cilantro if it's handy
4 tortillas
Grated cheese
Sour cream and green onions for garnish if you have them

You can easily vary the level of spiciness to your taste with the hotness of the salsa, tomato sauce, peppers and spices - you'll probably have guessed by now we use hot salsa, spicy spaghetti sauce, and an extra few scoops of taco seasoning! 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
You'll need a deep 9x9" casserole dish or if it's shallower than a 9x13" as well as a large non-stick pan or a skillet if you have one big enough. 


Start by cooking the ground turkey, onions, garlic and the green pepper if you have it.


Once the turkey is cooked through add the spices, black beans, tomatoes, corn.
Stir through and cook for another few minutes - until the corn is defrosted and heated through. 

Next add the salsa, tomato sauce, some black pepper and the pickled jalapenos if you're using those.
Stir through, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro as you turn off the heat. 

Next comes the lasagna part. Coat the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of your mixture so nothing sticks to your dish. 

I figured out if you cut the tortillas in half and put the flat sides to the edges you get really good coverage. So lay four halves on top of your initial layer. 

Put half the remaining mixture on top. 

And cover with 4 more tortilla halves. 

Add the rest of the sauce - it just fits in our 9x9 dish.

Add a layer of cheese to the top. Cover with tin foil and cook for 35 minutes at 375. Then remove the tin foil and cook for another 10 minutes. 

Once its done let sit for 10 minutes - that way it will hold together when you cut your pieces out.
And enjoy! It usually lasts us for several dinners and lunches as leftovers!