Any Way Eggplant Enchiladas

Posted by caylacooks in Beef, Main Dish, Soup, Vegetables

This was originally a vegetarian recipe. But goodness knows our house is far from vegetarian. OK, only two years far for me… but I’ve come a long way =)

If you already made your sauce, pull a jar out of your freezer. Or go back and make some now, more recipes to come!

This is a have-it-your-way kind of recipe. It can be made in to the classic tortilla wrapped enchiladas, stacked like a casserole for our grain-free friends and without cheese if you want to make it paleo. I will give you options for each.

And the one thing we will not try to take out, vegetables =)
Cayla Cooks Paleo Enchiladas_48

Start out by sauteing the peppers and onions. 
Cayla Cooks Paleo Enchiladas_52I think I could just re-use this picture in every other post, this seems to be the base of almost all my recipes…

And for the non-vegetarian option, add the meat….mmm….

Cayla Cooks Paleo Enchiladas_55

Then it all cooks together with the eggplant in a big pot. If your frying pan is big enough, you could leave it in there, mine would have overflowed. Just make sure the eggplant is cooked through, there is nothing less appetizing than under-cooked eggplant.

Cayla Cooks Paleo Enchiladas_60

Alright, once it is all cooked through, add the sauce and the cheese (or not, as you like). Serve it up over cauliflower rice or in a bowl like soup.

enchilada pile
Or, if you want to take it to the next level, roll it in tortillas, put it in a pan covered with more sauce and cheese and bake.Or omit tortillas and make a casserole…. the choice is yours, my friend ;-)

Cayla Cooks Paleo Enchiladas_71

Any Way Eggplant Enchiladas
adapted from: Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 Tb oil
3 small eggplants, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 chopped bell peppers
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated cheese (omit for paleo)
1 cup chopped toasted almonds (optional but delicious)
1 jar enchilada sauce

Optional:
cauliflower rice
regular rice
tortillas
yogurt

How To:
1. In large skillet saute onions and peppers until translucent. Add garlic and cook another minute.
2. Add meat, salt and pepper. Stir until partially cooked. Transfer to large pot if necessary.
3. Add eggplant and cook covered, stirring occasionally until eggplant is soft and cooked completely.
4. Stir in sauce, almonds and cheese.
5. Serve over rice or in a bowl topped with yogurt or wrap in tortillas, place in baking pan, cover with more sauce and cheese and bake at 375′ for 30 minutes. Or omit tortillas and make into a casserole.

Enjoy!

Enchilada Sauce

Posted by caylacooks in Main Dish, Vegetables

A while ago I was craving enchiladas… not sure why, I have never eaten much of them, they are probably the last thing I would order in a mexican restaurant… but baby wants what baby wants =)

After finding this great recipe, though, I’ll be eating them more often… especially because it made 8 jars of sauce that are piled up in my freezer!

So this is just the sauce, with it you can make your favorite enchilada recipe, or eggplant enchiladas, enchilada casserole, enchilada stuffed peppers (recipes coming soon).

I will give you the regular recipe and the bulk. I would recommend the bulk though, if you are going to put all the work into it, might as well get more than one meal out of it!

Key ingredient… tomatoes!

Tomatoes!Don’t they look lovely =)

So I started out by sauteing garlic and onions, you can add your spices now or wait till later. I think in these pictures, I added them at the end. Next, I chopped up all the tomatoes and added them in also. They will steam themselves down with the rest of the ingredients. Then it just simmers away. Here is the progression:
Enchilada Pots
When it was all finished, I blended it up so it would be a thin sauce. If you have an emersion blender, that would probably be easier. Also, be sure to use a pot that will hold everything… mine was just about overflowing =/
Blend it up
Then I let it cool, jarred it all up (leaving room to freeze, of course) and put it in the freezer. Saving some out to add into that nights dinner.
Sauce in Jars
Now for the recipe…

Enchilada Sauce
adapted from Moosewood Cookbook

2 TB olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup water or broth
2 TB tomato paste
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

How To:
1. Heat oil in saucepan, saute onions and garlic 5 minutes. Add spices and stir.
2. Add tomatoes, water and tomato paste. Cover and simmer 1 or more hours. More is better. Add vinegar at the very end.
3. Blend with emersion blender or transfer to blender and blend until smooth.
4. Use with your favorite enchilada recipe

Bulk Enchilada Sauce Recipe (about 6 servings)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 kilo onions, chopped
2 bulbs of garlic, minced
1/8 cup cumin
1.5 tsp coriander
3 tsp cayenne (add in 1 tsp at a time, it will get hotter as it cooks)
1.5 tsp black pepper
3 tsp chili powder (or 1tsp each cumin, paprika and oregano)
4 kilos tomatoes, chopped
6 cups water or broth
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup salt

How To:

Same as the smaller recipe, just make sure you have a big enough pot!

Coming soon: Eggplant Enchiladas, Enchilada Casserole, Yum Yum Chicken Enchiladas

Enjoy

The Anytime Frittata

Posted by caylacooks in Beef, Main Dish, Vegetables and tagged with , , , , , ,

I haven’t mentioned it here yet, but a baby is growing inside of me =). And if baby has consistently wanted one thing, its eggs. Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs… baby likes eggs.

Well, the other day I was getting a craving and I thought about a hole cake made of eggs when I realized that is a thing… Frittata! So I whipped one up and it was so easy and so good that I have made it probably three more times in the last two weeks. And the possibilities are endless!

All Finished
The one pictured here was with some roasted veggies I had leftover in the fridge (feel free to throw anything left over in the fridge into your frittata) but the recipe I will give you will be for a simpler one.

The best thing about this meal is that it can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night snack, anytime. And the leftovers can be heated up, made into a sandwich or just eaten cold straight out of the fridge… with pickles and ice cream. Haha, just kidding about that one, but I do like it cold.

I start out by sautéing some peppers and onions, then add some garlic and breakfast sausage. You could use anything here though, bacon, leftover meat from last night’s dinner… what’s in your fridge?

Then, I beat up all the eggs in a big bowl with some milk or cream, herbs, salt and pepper. Cheese is good here too. Then add in what was on the stovetop and mix it all together.

Stir it up

I butter the pan real good before pouring it all back in and putting it in the oven. And then voila! Egg cake =)

Going in the oven

In the pan

The Anytime Frittata

Ingredients:

2 Tb butter (divided)
1 medium onion diced
1 bell pepper diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup breakfast sausage or other meat
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream (optional)
1/4 cup crumbled feta or other cheese (optional)
1 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

other options: mushrooms, chopped spinach, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, pepperonis… oh my, my next frittata might be pizza themed! Ok, moving on…

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 375′

2. Heat 1 Tb butter in large frying pan. Add onions and peppers and saute until tender. Add garlic and meat (if not yet cooked)

3. In large bowl, beat eggs, milk or cream, cheese and spices. Add in meat and veggies from stove top. Mix well.

4. Butter frying pan well then add egg mixture back in.

5. Put in oven for 15-20 minutes until eggs are cooked through. It will be puffy and browning on the edges.

6. Slide onto another plate or cut right in the pan. Serve with favorite salsa, extra cheese, whipped cream…

Enjoy!

Frittata half gone

Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps

Posted by caylacooks in Uncategorized

My husband loves soy sauce. Seriously, I think I could serve him cardboard covered with soy sauce and he would gobble it up. I’ll admit, it does add some great flavor. And it is easy, so I’m not complaining =)

This recipe maximizes on that very thing. Meat, veggies, sauce, done.

The first time I made this, I served it over cauliflower rice and that was great. Someone mentioned though that it reminded them of PF Chang’s lettuce wraps so I tried that the second time and it was even better.

Wrap It Up
We don’t have iceberg lettuce here and all the romaine looked wilty that day, so I did it with green cabbage and it worked great. For anyone else in this predicament, I will detail below how to get cabbage ready for rolling. It’s not too hard, I promise.
Lettuce Wraps

Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
1 Tb sesame oil
1 lb ground beef, turkey or chicken
1 large onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots grated

optional ingredients:
water chestnuts
chopped cabbage (if serving over rice)
chopped broccoli
really, any veggie you like or have on hand

Sauce:
1/4 c soy sauce (or more if you like it saucier)
1/4 c brown sugar, coconut sugar or date syrup
1 tsp fresh ground ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more depending on your taste)

For Serving:
1 head iceberg lettuce or green cabbage
or serve over rice

How to:

1. Heat oil in large pan, add onions and peppers and saute for a couple minutes. Then add the meat and garlic and saute it all together until done. Add carrots or other vegetable toward the end, they won’t need as long to cook.

2. Meanwhile, mix together your sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

3. When meat and veggies are done, add sauce and mix until incorporated.

4. If using lettuce, wash and pull apart. Arrange it on a plate for serving.

5. If using cabbage you will need to steam it a little to make it manageable for rolls. Heat about an inch of water in a large pot on the stove. Cut out the core of the cabbage and place in the pot core down and allow to steam covered for a minute or two. Carefully remove from pot and peel off the outer layers that have softened. Put back in the pot and repeat until you have pulled off all the layers. Arrange on plate and serve with meat mixture.

6. Scoop meat into leaves, top with chopped green onions, cilantro, chili sauce, whatever you like!

Enjoy!

Zucchini Noodle Lasagna

Posted by caylacooks in Beef, Main Dish, Vegetables and tagged with , , , , ,

I’ve been wanting to try new things with the fresh milk we can get here, so I was looking up cheese recipes. Turns out ricotta cheese is quite easy and I was able to turn a whole gallon of milk into cheese and whey (I used this recipe). But then I had 3 cups or so of ricotta cheese. All I could think of was lasagna. My freezer is still full of marinara, so I thawed some of that and some beef and got to work.

I started with the noodles – zucchini for our grain-free appetites. I sliced them lengthwise added some salt and left them to dry out on a towel.

Zucchini Noodles

Meanwhile, I got the other layers ready. I browned the beef and added the marinara sauce then combined the ricotta cheese with some parmesan and egg.

Screen shot 2013-02-26 at 1.16.36 PM
Then I cooked the noodles a bit by browning them a bit in a dry skillet. This got the remaining moisture out and par-cooked them so they were ready for layering.

IMG_0820

As I did the noodles, batch by batch I put them out on a clean tea towel again to dry, cool and I started layering.

Screen shot 2013-02-26 at 1.20.06 PM
The first layer is meat sauce, topped by noodles then covered with the ricotta mixture. This was the most difficult part, that cheese just did not want to spread. I kind of had to do it with a fork and my fingers, very carefully to not disturb the noodles. Of course it doesn’t have to be perfect because it will be covered up anyway, but I did my best.

IMG_0832

Next, more sauce, more noodles, more cheese, until everything is used up. Finally, I topped it all off with mozzarella cheese and it was ready for the oven. It takes about 45 minutes at 375′

IMG_0833

This is a great make ahead meal also, at this point it can go in the fridge and wait for later to be put into the oven.

Zucchini Noodle Lasagna (Grain-Free Lasagna)
caylacooks.com

4 medium sized zucchini
4 cups of your favorite marinara sauce (THIS is my favorite =)
1 lb ground beef
3 cups ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (or more if you’re a cheese-lover)

How to:

1. Wash and cut off ends of zucchini. Slice with mandolin or knife into long, thin, noodle like pieces. Lay out on a towel and sprinkle with salt.

2. In a skillet or saucepan, brown beef and stir in marinara sauce, set aside.

3. In mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, egg and salt, set aside.

4. Pat down zucchini with towel and warm a large skillet on the stove. Lay zucchini noodles in skillet a few at a time, browning on each side. This should only take 1 minute or so for each batch. Lay back onto dry towel to cool.

5. While you are cooking the zucchini, begin to layer lasagna in a 9×13 pan. First, cover the bottom of the pan with about a cup of the meat sauce. Next, add a single layer of zucchini, cover with about half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Repeat with sauce, zucchini and cheese until all ingredients are used up.

6. Top it all off with mozzarella cheese and cover in the fridge for later, or put straight in a preheated oven at 375′. Cook covered for 30 minutes, uncover and let brown on top for about 15 minutes. It should be bubbly, melty and starting to brown on the edges. Yum!

7. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Roasted Salsa

Posted by caylacooks in Side Dish, Snack, Vegetables and tagged with , , , ,

Roasted Salsa

I have been missing chips and salsa lately. I love making fermented salsa, but you can’t buy cilantro in our city and my plant isn’t really producing much right now.

loner cilantro

So how do you make salsa taste good without a key ingredient? Roast it. Anything is better roasted. The oven makes nuts nuttier, chicken crispier and veggies sweeter. Seriously. A roasted tomato will kick a regular tomato’s butt any day. I’ve started throwing them in any time there is extra oven space and saving them in jars in the freezer for the day I can throw them into a soup or something and let them work their magic.

Roasted Tomatoes Garlic
For this recipe, I roast not only the tomatoes but the peppers, onions and garlic as well. Then I blend it all together with some spices and herbs and ta-da! Roasted salsa.

roasted veggies

Roasted Salsa

(double for a bigger batch)
2 lbs tomatoes
3 bell peppers (the more colorful the better)
2 bulbs of garlic
2 medium onions
1-2 spicy peppers (if you like it that way, serano or jalapenos would work)

1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 TB lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350′
2. Wash veggies. Cut tomatoes and peppers in half, remove seeds from peppers. Peel skin off onions. Place everything on a baking tray.
3. Peel off outermost skin from garlic, wrap in foil, place on baking tray.
4. Put everything in the oven and roast until soft and brown around the edges (about one hour)
5. Pull out and let cool.
6. Peel off skin from tomatoes, garlic and peppers.
7. Using a food processor or blender, blend everything to desired consistency. Start with the onions, add peppers, garlic and then tomatoes.
8. Add lemon juice and spices.

Enjoy!

Onions and Peppers blended
Blend it up!
All blended

I served it with THESE amazing chips.

Zucchini Noodles

Posted by caylacooks in Side Dish, Uncategorized, Vegetables and tagged with , , , , , ,

Because of what we have learned about grains and how they should be prepared, we have been trying to limit our consumption of them, especially processed grains from the store like crackers, cereal and pasta. There are still so many things that are great with pasta though… spaghetti, chicken parmesan, lasagna, chicken picatta…. So what is an italian food lover to do?

Well, we have found a fun substitute that not only tastes great, looks like pasta but knocks out one more of your 5-a-day!

Zucchini.

I admit, it is not a noodle. You can’t make mac and cheese with it (though I may try soon). If you are an avid pasta eater, it may take some getting used to. But I love it and think you should at least give it a try.

Here is how I make it:

Zucchinis

Wash zucchini and cut off the tops and bottoms

My Favorites 2

Then I use a mandolin (you could cut them up with a knife, but who has that kind of time?) to slice them into noodle size.

My Favorites 3

I put them in a colander and sprinkle salt all over so that all the water comes out. You will be amazed after an hour or so at the puddle underneath and much less zucchini you have.

My Favorites 5

Then I squeeze them out in a towel to get the last bit of moisture out. This isn’t completely necessary but helps them fry up in the pan a lot better.

Others 13

Then I melt butter in a pan and throw in the noodles, tossing them until they all seem done. You could do this in smaller batches with more butter if you want them to brown a bit. It only takes a few minutes, depending on how you like it.

Then enjoy with any of your favorite italian dishes!

Zucchini Noodles

Ingredients:

2-4 lbs zucchini (about a pound per person)
2 T butter
salt and pepper

How To:

1. Slice the zucchini in long thin strips. I used a mandolin, but this is definitely do-able with a knife.

2. Put zucchini in a colander, add salt and let sit for an hour, so that the water will drain out.

3. Transfer zucchini to a towel and squeeze out remaining moisture.

4. Heat butter in a large skillet. Add zucchini and saute until tender. I like it a little browned so I let it go a little longer over high heat.

Serve with one of these:

Chicken Picatta

Chicken Parmesan

Spaghetti

Breakfast Sausage Beef

Posted by caylacooks in Beef, Main Dish and tagged with , , , , ,

Here is another one for my ground beef collection, especially for my friends in the middle east. A friend gave me the idea for this and I love it. As you may know, we don’t have access to much breakfast meat – as all the good stuff comes from pigs – so we’ve got to get a little more creative.

The first time I did this, I used a breakfast sausage seasoning mix (your easy way out if you have access), but as it was full of sugar, I was eager to try to mix my own.

I used a some herbs for flavor: thyme and sage. Then something for sweet: coriander, nutmeg and cloves. And something for spicy: paprika and cayenne. Yum!

Spices

If you don’t have all of these on hand, you could experiment with what you have. Also, if you want it to be a little sweeter and don’t mind the extra sugar, go ahead and add it in instead of the coriander.

I just mix it all together with the beef and brown it on the stove. Sometimes I like to add chopped onions and garlic for extra flavor.

Autumn.2012.Sulaymaniyah.Iraq_31Another option is forming the meat into little patties and cooking them that way. Or you can freeze the raw patties to be taken out and thawed another day. 
 Autumn.2012.Sulaymaniyah.Iraq_37

I like to make extra then store it in the fridge to be added to eggs or greens each morning. Autumn.2012.Sulaymaniyah.Iraq_41

Ground Beef Breakfast Sausage

1 lb ground beef
1 onion (optional)
2 cloves garlic (optional)

1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp coriander (or omit for 2 tsp sugar or other sweetener)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it)

Salt and pepper to taste

How To:

1. Mix spices together with the meat

2. Brown in large pan with onion and garlic or form into patties to be frozen or cooked right away.

Enjoy!

Here it is stirred up with some sauteed onions, greens and quinoa.

Autumn.2012.Sulaymaniyah.Iraq_42

And my very favorite way to eat it… with sauteed greens and topped with a fried egg!

Autumn.2012.Sulaymaniyah.Iraq_46

Breakfast of champions.

Enjoy!

Pakistani Kima

Posted by caylacooks in Beef, Main Dish and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

We’ve been away from home for awhile, sorry for the severe lack of posts. We most recently returned from the south where we ate from the same restaurant for two weeks straight. It was nice to have meat at every meal and to have it prepared for me, but I am glad to be back in my own kitchen with spices ranging beyond tikka and briyani.

I was pretty lucky to find a chunk of ground beef in the freezer and a truck came by with all the vegetables I needed so I didn’t even have to go out to get anything. I decided to make a dish that one of my friends showed me, inspired by the spices of Pakistan.

I am trying to build up my ground beef recipe repertoire because it is the easiest, most consistent way to buy red meat here. So here we go…

I’ve heard some people call this dish ‘hamburger curry’ and it sort of is. It is ground beef, vegetables and spices. This time I used eggplant and pumpkin, but it is also great with green beans, potatoes, peas, carrots, or whatever you like.

Pakistani Kima
2 T oil or butter
2 med onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced

1 kilo ground beef (about 2 lbs)

2 T curry powder
1 T turmeric
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t cayenne (depending on how much heat you like)
2 t sea salt
1 t ground pepper

4 cups chopped tomatoes (2 cans or 6 med ripe tomatoes)
3 cups diced winter squash or potatoes
3 cups green beans or sliced eggplant or peas

1. Melt oil or butter in large pan, saute onion, add garlic after about 5 minutes, cook another few minutes
2. Add meat and cook through
3. Add spices and stir well
4. Add tomatoes, squash, and your choice of vegetable bring to a boil then simmer until vegetables are done (about 25 minutes)

Serve over rice (cauliflower rice is great here) and enjoy!

Fermented Sauerkraut

Posted by caylacooks in Side Dish, Vegetables


It is summer and our organization’s interns are here. They have been keeping us busy and though I have been cooking for them a lot, its been nothing new or fancy. I guess this is my excuse for why I haven’t posted anything all summer.

This is a recipe I have wanted to put on here for a while though. I learned how to make it last year sometime and since then it has become one of my favorite foods. It is a great addition to salads, a side for meat dishes, or good by itself or toped with nuts. Once you get the technique down, it is easy to make and the benefits are worth it. Give it a try, your intestines will thank you.

What you will need:

1. 2 heads cabbage (about 5 lbs)
2. 1 Tbs sea salt
3. 1/4 cup whey
optional ingredients: sliced onions, shredded carrots, chopped garlic
large glass jar with a good seal
large bowl
large wooden spoon
something to pound with

Start out by slicing your cabbage really thin. Put it all in a big steel bowl and sprinkle the salt over it. The salt will help bring out the moisture, so sometimes I do this first and leave it for a while before I begin to pound. If you want to add the extra ingredients for more flavor, do that now. Onions are my favoriete addition, garlic is good too. The first time I tried it with garlic, I put the cloves in whole thinking they would get mashed up when I was pounding. Somehow they survived that though and made it into my mouth whole , boy was that a flavorful bite!

The next step is to crush the cabbage until it is almost translucent. This is a great way to release any pent up frustrations from the day (maybe this is why I have been making sauerkraut so often lately ;-) . I usually use an empty olive oil bottle but if you have a hammer or mallet, that might work even better (make sure it is clean though, or covered with something). Pound and stir until you have a good consistency. Sometimes I will take my time with this, pounding for a few minutes, then leaving it and coming back before the next pound. This gives it time to drain out on its own, which means less effort for you in the long run.

When your cabbage is looking really watery, it is time to stir in the whey and cram it into the jar.

I use a large wooden spoon and put it in spoonful by spoonful, cramming it down on all sides in between each addition. You really want to get it as packed in as possible, I often put it on the floor and push down with all my weight. This will push all the liquid to the top and make the fermentation possible. Make sure all the cabbage is submerged, if anything is out of the water it may go bad and need to be thrown out when you open the jar, you may need to add water to make this possible. Do this without filling it too full. It is important to leave about an inch of space above the water line. As the cabbage ferments, it will create air bubbles and push the cabbage up towards the lid, creating a lot of pressure if there is not sufficient space. Once a friend and I stopped washing dishes to try and locate the source of a strange hissing sound. I didn’t realize until the next day that it was a jar of sauerkraut on top of my fridge leaking everywhere and making a mess.
 Leave it in a warm place for 3-5 days (if it is too hot it will turn mushy, try to keep it around 75′F). I find that in the winter it takes longer and I really have to keep an eye on it during the summer. Watch it transform before your eyes and when it looks something like the photo below, its ready. Open it up, give it a try and if you like what you taste, move it to cold storage.

Enjoy!