Only Cheated Once!

We had an insane meal for dinner tonight and we only cheated once!

It took us about an hour of staring at each other and recipe's online to decide what to make. Necessity is the mama of invention, that's what "they" say.

Our dilemma was that we didn't want to make a trip to the Wal-Mart (let's not mention that the Wal-Mart is probably about a half mile from my teeny apartment).

We had steak enchilada's with spanish rice and black beans.

We only cheated once!

The only thing we didn't make ourselves was the enchilada sauce!

First we had the Spanish Rice.

Here we have our rice and onions doing a little saute and our liquids brewing!

Then we had to do a little slicing and dicing

And, you are NOT going to believe this but...Instead of  using one of those packets of "taco seasoning" we made our own!

Peppers (from the Menonnites), Onions (from the Kroger), Steak and our very own Taco Seasoning!

Wrap this deliciousness in a tortilla and cover with Enchilada Sauce and Cheese and bake AWAY!

AND

Oh Boy was this good!

Peevish

So I have this thing...this peevish thing.
I cannot stand for both of my hands to be dirty at the same time. EWW, I hate it. Washing dishes, with both my hands in the water is like my kryptonite.
I have in fact been known to (while kneading) put one hand behind my back, just in case there is a little splashish.
It's a compulsion, it grosses me out.
Well, today I made English Muffins. I kneaded with both hands...it's a step.

Heating up the flour. I put it in the microwave for about a minute and half. I think that was a bit too long. Next time I'll do it for about a minute.

Take a look at my little attack of genius. I stuck everything on this platter so that I didn't have little clouds of flour everywhere!

Yes, yes my friends...I put both my hands in that....uggg

I don't have a cast iron pan, I think that effected the done-ness of my muffins. If you have a cast iron pan, definately use that.

Delicious English Muffins!!

Recipe follows out of the cleverly named The Bread Book:

You will need:

3 cups of white bread flour

3/4 cup of all purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 envelope active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

1 cup of lukewarm water

2/3 cup of lukewarm milk

Yeast, sugar and half the water. Follow the ingredients on the envelope to make the yeast frothy.

Mix both flours and salt. Heat the flour (I know...strange). In the oven at 250 or in the microwave the a minute to a minute and a half.

Add frothy yeast, milk and the rest of the water to the warm flour.

Mix well.

Knead on a floured service with floured hands until it's no longer sticky.

Seperate into the size muffins you would like and put on a cookie sheet.

Let sit for 30 minutes.

In a cast iron pan over medium to medium high heat add the muffins. For 10-12 minutes minute on each side.

*I would keep it to medium or less and lengthen the time in the pan. My outsides got done before the inside.

These delightful little muffins grew up to be the base for PW's Tuna Melts. MMM Good!

Teamwork

I love to cook with my husband. He tells me that he likes cooking with me...so we'll go with that.
Quick story...I decorate cakes.
Husband decided one afternoon, rather late that he wanted me to decorate a birthday cake for someone for the next afternoon. He also had a very specific cake in mind. He needed it to look exactly like a certain firetruck. WHAT?!?!?!?
Cake wasn't built in a day!
So I told him if he would help me make it that we'd get it done.
Husband likes to tell people that it's the hardest he's ever worked in his life :)
He was an excellent sous chef and actually went on to offer his services later as well!
Anywho, moving on...
Tonight we got to cook together.
While he was away, playing soldier, Sunday was my day to be creative in the kitchen. I spent all afternoon just throwing ingredients together and hoping for the best.
I am pleased to say that I get to cook every night now. That was one of the things that I was so looking forward to. AND since the hubs gets home before late he gets to help some too.
But on the weekends we plan out in advance what we'll work on. This Sunday was pizza and "something."
Ham and Pinapple Pizza starts out with...

Don't you love this fantastic little spoon. It came with a bridal shower favor from David and Amy Green. The favor was a cute little mixutre for cookies with these fantastic spoons with measurements such as "A Heap of Love" instead of Tablespoon!
First we had to make the crust. I wanted to use Emily's from over at a Tasty Life, BUT I looked down at the time and factored in letting the yeast do it's thing for two hours and had run out of time. So I had to use a yeast free crust.
I was a little worried about this crust, but it turned out great. You have to work it a little bit, but it's not sticky at all.

Work hubs, work it out!

While I worked on the toppings

Hubs was prepping the crust:

Husband was a bit concerned because this pizza did not involve pepperoni. I have been trying to get him to understand that pizza can have anything on it. This first "weird" pizza was not all that weird.

Before...

AFTER!



The crust was just perfect. It was crispy on the outside and delicious and the perfect consistency on the inside. Next time, we'll probably work it a little longer so that it's a little thinner. But I was pleasantly surprised by this really simple crust.

Our plates stacked up like this.

PIZZA PIZZA!

Brussel Sprouts (that were steamed and then backed in a little alfredo sauce)

Eggplant (that was dredged, bread crumbed and sauteed in a little EVOO with a side o' marinara!)

Frank's Hamburgers

This is Frank's:

I've been wanting a cheese burger, a delicious, delicious cheeseburger.

Research and Development got right on it. He found the top 3 burger joints in Clarksville.

Frank's and Frank himself are both cute as little buttons!

There was this big newspaper write up on the wall from back when Frank's had to pick up the pieces after the place was destroyed in the great tornado of '99. They added a whopping 2 barstools and 2 two top tables. See, cute!

I know I've said before how great the people in Clarksville are. Every where we turn, and of course at Frank's. As we were walking in it occured to us that this might be one of those delightful places that doesn't take a card. We walked in and asked and Frank's son told us not to worry about it. He said, there's an ATM across the street and that we should eat first, get the money later.

Frank, who is apparently the oldest fry cook in Clarksville, TN is darling. He cooked our burgers in between hits off of his oxygen machine. How much dedication is that? That man loves his job.

I had a cheese burger and Research and Development had a "Buster Burger," which was explained to him and "A great big burger."

It wasn't the most to-die-for cheeseburger I've ever had, but it was great.

The toppings were all fresh and delicious. The fries were made from real live potatoes! (gasp)

The place was precious, the staff was fantastic and it was a good, cheap burger. I had a fantastic time at Frank's and I know it will become a regular haunt for us.

If you're here, and you haven't go to Downtown Clarksville. It's so great. I love it there.