Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 - Mardi Gras: Cook - Jude Power

She's still a bit nervous when she cooks.  Jude pondered many recipes, she took recommendations from co-workers, printed some stuff off the net (Like we needed more recipes printed from the internet) and finally decided to try one of the recipes from a magazine I purchased for her last summer that contained some fairly easy recipes that you could prepare in about 30 minutes.

She  requested my input on her choice for the main and I gave her the go-ahead.  I perused the recipe and made a few recommendations on how to alter it to give it a more mexican taste.  The recipe called for Cilantro which I quickly substituted for Parsley as we all know how much Dan loves his Cilantro.  We would have never heard the end of it!  One of the ingredients for the meatballs was paprika, which I recommended she use Ancho Chilli Powder instead to give the meatballs a little bit more spice but not enough to burn your mouth off.

Jude's menu:

Greek Salad

Mexican Meatballs and Rice

Cheese Bread

Strawberry Cheesecake

Greek Salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 Green Peppers
• 1 Orange or Yellow Peppers
• 1 Red Peppers
• 1 English Cucumber
• 2 Tomatoes
• Feta Cheese
• 1/2 cup Black Olives
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Greek Salad Dressing (Preferably Renee's)

Directions:

1. Chop all vegetables
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Crumble enough Feta Cheese to ensure a good ratio of cheese to vegetables.
4. Add dressing.
5. Toss and serve

Mexican Meatballs and Rice (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh cilantro (or parsley)

4 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped fine

1 teaspoon paprika (We used Ancho Chilli Powder)

2 teaspoons dried oregano

salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces

1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups instant white rice

Directions:

1. Puree cilantro (or parsley) and 1 1/2 cups water in blender (I recommend substituting the water with either a low sodium beef or chicken broth.  This will give your infused rice much more of a rich flavoring). Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add half of onion, paprika, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Transfer onion mixture to large bowl. Add bread and 1/2 cup water and mash to form paste. Add beef and knead gently to combine. Shape into 1-inch meatballs.

2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half the meatballs and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to plate and repeat with remaining oil and meatballs.

3. Add remaining onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt to empty skillet and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in rice, cilantro (or parsley) mixture, and meatballs. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until liquid is absorbed and meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve

Serving Suggestion for the above:  We served the above dish with Salsa.  It gave it an even more of a mexican look and flavor.

Cheese Bread - This is a store bought loaf purchased fresh from Metro (formerly known as Dominion). It's fantastic and contains 1/2 a pound of cheese!  I love it toasted with Butter!  Calories Smalories!

Strawberry Cheesecake:

Jude got this recipe directly from Sara Lee herself.  Jude says she and Sara are just friends but we all know better!

To alleviate the pressure of having to cook everything on Tuesday, Jude prepared the meatball recipe until step 3. We decided to triple it just to make sure we did not run out of food.   I helped her out as forming 3 pounds of meatballs is quite time consuming and this way, we could alter the recipe more if required to give the meatballs more flavor.  No additional flavoring was needed and I discovered I had the skill to flip the meatballs like a pro in the skillet simply by lifting it and giving it a quick but assertive flick of the wrist. Jude's face was priceless as I'm sure she was foreseeing a disaster! I love my All-Clad Skillet!  It's great and heats up evenly, cleans real easy and truly worth the money.  Sandra taught me well, if you enjoy cooking buy nothing but the best!

Dinner was quite tasty and the rice dish filling.

We patiently waited until The Biggest Loser started so we could finally have our dessert.  It just would not be tradition if we did not eat something sinfully delicious as we watched people changing their lives!  We truly love the show and felt sorry for Momma that jumped off the 3 inch ledge in order to avoid falling into the pool. She face-planted  into just a metal structure and decided to hit it with her nose first.  This resulted in the white team coming in last place and getting a 2 pound penalty at the next weigh in but we knew she would overcome this disadvantage as she easily lost about 3 pounds of blood!  Jillian  then took it upon herself to teach Momma to swim.  Jude patiently awaited Jillian's exit from the pool in her wet t-shirt but was bitterly disappointed when she did not see anything that would have made her just as moist as a Betty Crocker Cake!

Jude packed up some left-overs for her co-workers.  I'm pretty sure they'll be impressed with her increasing confidence in the kitchen.  She had previously passed off one of my homemade tourtieres as her own at a Pot Luck!  Good thing she watched me make it, she was able to bluff her way through the fibbing!

Next week - Toffer's on the hook!  I wonder what vegetables he'll roast and what kind of soup he'll conjure up to delight our palettes!