Every now and then I need to take a meal to someone. A friend has lost a loved one, a colleague has had a baby, someone has just had surgery--the response is to take them food. Right? In situations like that I usually bake: bread, brownies, muffins. Maybe I'll make some soup to go along with the bread, but my focus is on the baking. Recently a friend and I teamed up to take a meal to someone and that worked out great: I did rolls and soup, she did dessert and salad. Easy-peasy, and a good meal for our friend as well.
Today, though, I need to make some real meals. Someone I know from church is having a double lumpectomy today; a colleague has just had a baby and has no family in town. These are folks who need food in the freezer, meals that they can pull out later and enjoy without planning. A loaf of bread or a pan of brownies just won't cut it.
So I scanned through my recipes here on the blog and guess what? Mostly they're for side dishes and desserts. I have a few quick dinner recipes, but they're not really freezable ones--stir-frys and pastas and the like. I'm thinking strata could work, or maybe chilaquiles; I suppose a pot of chili could go in the freezer, but we're having temps in the 80s these days and chili just seems too heavy. I can do strata with spring vegetables--asparagus and mushrooms, maybe? And then it can be brunch or dinner or lunch or whatever is needed (I remember those topsy-turvy days of early parenthood, vaguely...).
What do you make for a friend in need? Why am I so stymied by this?
Showing posts sorted by date for query chilaquiles. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query chilaquiles. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Friday, February 10, 2006
Friday Food #5: Chilaquiles
I think I'm actually making the chicken/edamame dish tonight, but here's one I invented recently that worked out well. In some ways you might as well be eating seven-layer dip with chips, but the fact that you serve it out of a casserole makes it feel healthier.
Chilaquiles
Ingredients
1 bag good tortilla chips
1-2 cups salsa (or see below)
2 cans organic refried beans
1 lb. Mexican cheese (queso fresco or queso blanco, I think. Jack cheese would also be fine). Slice or shred the cheese. This was a lot of cheese to use, and I think it would have been fine with less, but the block I had was one pound so I just sliced it all up.
Layer the ingredients two or three times in a casserole dish, starting with a little salsa under some chips and ending with cheese. Bake, covered, for about 30 minutes at 350, then uncovered for another 10-15 (long enough to brown the cheese on top). You can raise the temp a bit at the end to brown faster. You can serve this with sour cream, guacamole, and/or additional salsa on top if you like.
Salsa:
I made this because I didn't have any salsa in the house, and it was pretty good!
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
1-2 tsp garlic
small amount cooking oil
1 can (14.5 oz.) no-salt tomatoes
1 small can ortega chilis, chopped
Chop the onion and bell pepper and saute in the cooking oil with the garlic until fragrant and tender, but not brown. Chop the tomatoes (a food processor or blender is great, because you want them pretty smooth) and add them and the chilis. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the flavors meld.
A dash of cumin or cayenne wouldn't hurt in the salsa, either, but of course you may already have a salsa you like This one is quite sweet because of the bell pepper--my kids don't much like spicy food so that was ok with me. Nonetheless, I have to confess that Nick didn't like this much at all, but his friend who was over for dinner that night asked for seconds and then pestered his mother to get the recipe. So I felt vindicated.
Chilaquiles
Ingredients
1 bag good tortilla chips
1-2 cups salsa (or see below)
2 cans organic refried beans
1 lb. Mexican cheese (queso fresco or queso blanco, I think. Jack cheese would also be fine). Slice or shred the cheese. This was a lot of cheese to use, and I think it would have been fine with less, but the block I had was one pound so I just sliced it all up.
Layer the ingredients two or three times in a casserole dish, starting with a little salsa under some chips and ending with cheese. Bake, covered, for about 30 minutes at 350, then uncovered for another 10-15 (long enough to brown the cheese on top). You can raise the temp a bit at the end to brown faster. You can serve this with sour cream, guacamole, and/or additional salsa on top if you like.
Salsa:
I made this because I didn't have any salsa in the house, and it was pretty good!
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
1-2 tsp garlic
small amount cooking oil
1 can (14.5 oz.) no-salt tomatoes
1 small can ortega chilis, chopped
Chop the onion and bell pepper and saute in the cooking oil with the garlic until fragrant and tender, but not brown. Chop the tomatoes (a food processor or blender is great, because you want them pretty smooth) and add them and the chilis. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the flavors meld.
A dash of cumin or cayenne wouldn't hurt in the salsa, either, but of course you may already have a salsa you like This one is quite sweet because of the bell pepper--my kids don't much like spicy food so that was ok with me. Nonetheless, I have to confess that Nick didn't like this much at all, but his friend who was over for dinner that night asked for seconds and then pestered his mother to get the recipe. So I felt vindicated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
