Browsing Tag

damn delicious

damn delicious

Damn Delicious: Easy Green Juice for Juicing Newbies

April 9, 2020

I’m about five years late to this party, but MeeshyD is in the juicing house!

I have this weird resistance to jumping on cultural bandwagons. I’ve never read Harry Potter and I won’t watch the Tiger King and I sat idly by for two entire waves of juice frenzy. It started with cleanses and meal replacements in phase 1 and then transitioned to celery juice as the miracle cure in phase 2 and I just watched. It’s not that I think cultural moments are whack. I am NOT a pop culture snob. I watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians religiously, but for some reason I tend to just sit on the sidelines of these movements.

But, I’m into juice. I developed a taste for green juice at this awesome little espresso stand by our house here in Oakland. It’s about $7 for a small cup, which I know isn’t too bad considering labor and the product juicing requires. I can’t get it right now due to the shelter-in-place restrictions and plus, I was always left wanting more than my little cup of juice. I needed a venti, you know what I mean? A quick scan of the Facebook Marketplace let me know that the phase 1 and 2 juicers are trying to unload their dusty, unused machines, so one thing led to another last week and here I am, an official Juicer.

I bought a Breville (Amazon) for $40 via social distancing on the marketplace and I took my first crack at green juice a la casa today at lunch. I tried to approximate my beloved juice recipe and here’s what I did: one entire pineapple, one small head of celery, one medium-sized Fuji apple and about five massive handfuls of greens mix from Costco. The juicer handled it like a pro and the juice was honestly pure heaven. I had a massive canning jar full with ice and I have another smaller jar to drink with breakfast tomorrow morning.

I am, no lie, completely over the moon about juicing. I’m glad I have this space to write about my newfound juicing passion because all the phase 1 and 2 juicers I know have lost their enthusiasm. I gave some of my juice to Keith to try today and all he said was ‘that tastes earthy’ and I didn’t know if it was a compliment or not.

So, that leads me to my question for you: are you a juicer? Phase 1 or Phase 2? What are you favorite recipes? I am ALL ears for all positive juicing commentary. Please don’t tell me that I’m going to lose enthusiasm for my new hobby because I’m in the honeymoon phase and no one wants to hear the truth when they’re newly in love….

damn delicious, Procrastibaking

My Cooking and Baking Dream List…

March 27, 2020

The shelves may still be ransacked and it may be impossible to meal plan right now, but that isn’t keeping me from dreaming up all kinds of food I want to try my hand at while I have so much extra time on my hands.

People are calling it ‘procrastibaking’, but I’m calling it all of my food dreams coming true. I finally feel like I have the energy to pursue my love for cooking and expand my skills. I am keeping a running list of ingredients I’ll need. I comb the shelves when I go to the grocery store once a week or so for anything I can gather. Yeast and flour is hard to come by these days, but if that’s my main ‘problem’ right now, I feel super grateful.

Here’s my current cooking and baking bucket list:

  • Challah Bread
  • Barbacoa Meat
  • Homemade Tortillas
  • Chicken Gumbo
  • Biscuits (both drop and rolled)
  • Cheesecake Brownies
  • Homemade Pasta
  • Chocolate Banana Bread
  • Cacio e Pepe
  • Broccoli Cheddar Soup
  • Oven Roasted Chicken
  • London Broil
  • French Silk Pie
  • Dutch Baby Pancake

That’s all I can think of for now and I think that’s plenty enough to get started. I already made the barbacoa and tortillas for dinner last night and it was the meal of my dreams. I’ll write tomorrow to let you know more about it…until then, please let me know: are you procrastibaking, too? What are you making? Do you have anything else you think I should add? After I perfected French Onion Soup a few weeks ago, I feel like the sky is my culinary limit!

Image via.

damn delicious, recipes I've tried and liked

Damn Delicious: Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

March 4, 2020

Does anyone make casseroles anymore? We should definitely bring back the casserole! You dump a bunch of stuff together and smear it with cheese and it comes out delectable. Dinner should be easy like this.

This Vegetable Enchilada Casserole, or ‘veggie enchies’ as I like to annoyingly call it, has graced my table for at least 5 years. It isn’t really much of a recipe, but it’s a good, stick-to-your-ribs dinner you can throw together to use up the extra veggies in your fridge and skip the meat-heavy meals every once in a while. It feels good, it tastes good, it’s easy to make and it makes ample leftovers. That’s a winner in my dinner playbook.

Here’s how you make it… the recipe looks a bit complicated, but I promise it’s really super easy. Much easier than making individually wrapped enchiladas. Who has time for that?

Ingredients:

  • 18 pack corn tortillas
  • About 2.5 Cups Pre-shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
  • 1 Large Can (28 ounces) Enchilada Sauce
  • Veggies. Go wild here, friends. You really can’t go wrong. I typically do one white onion, one zucchini, one quarter head of cabbage and one can of corn. I will say that I added shredded brussel sprouts to this version and it was a little overpoweringly brussel-y for my taste.
  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon of Taco Mix Seasoning
  • 1 Can (14 ounces) Black Beans, drained

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Chop veggies. Go for smaller, uniform pieces. These veggies are going to be the ‘filling’ of your enchiladas. Do you want to bite down on a huge piece of onion? Probably not. Dice pretty small, but don’t freak yourself out. Veggies cook down easy, so you can’t mess it up.
  3. In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions. Let them get nice and brown. Add garlic and stir for a quick minute.
  4. Add remaining veggies. If they’re all pretty uniform in size, you can add them all at once. Cook until the veggies start to get soft and release their juices.
  5. Add taco mix seasoning. Salt to taste. You want the veggies to have a lot of flavor because that adds the oomph to your enchiladas. If you want more seasoning, feel free to sprinkle on some garlic powder, a pinch of cayenne, black pepper. Go wild on the flavor train, but taste as you go so you don’t go overboard.
  6. Once your veggies are nicely browned, stir in black beans. Don’t overmix them or your beans will turn to mush. Turn off heat for skillet.
  7. Now it’s time to layer. Have you ever made lasagna? It’s like that. Prep your corn tortillas by tearing or cutting them into smaller pieces. Don’t overthink it. Maybe aim to tear or cut into quarters? I like a nice chunky bite of tortilla. I also zap them in the microwave for about 40 seconds covered with a paper towel to get them ready for the heat.
  8. Pour a layer of enchilada sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.
  9. Add a layer of tortillas.
  10. Add a layer of veggies.
  11. Add a layer of cheese.
  12. Repeat.
  13. If you still have more, repeat again, but DON’T PUT THE TOP LAYER OF CHEESE ON. Save that for later.
  14. Cover enchies with a layer of aluminum foil and pop in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. Once the enchiladas are heated through (but not dried out), add a final layer of cheese and return to oven without aluminum foil to melt the cheese.
  15. Let stand for about five minutes after you take them out of the oven to allow the flavors to do a final meld.
  16. Top with exorbitant amounts of sour cream and devour.

What’s your easy go-to meal to make at home? I’m always looking for new ideas to add to the rotation.