Pizza Dip

Food Category: PG-13 with Food Porn tendencies

Difficulty: Easy

My pizza dip is a slightly pimped out version of the Pampered Chef recipe that was super-popular back in the mid-late 90's. It's a great potluck, party & snack dish. I make my dip in a 9X13 stoneware dish because it will stay hot for quite a while out of the oven.

Pizza Dip

Soften one package of cream cheese (full fat or not) in the microwave on the lowest setting. You want a consistency that is easy to stir & spread.

To the cream cheese add:

• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon basil
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (either powders or shredded)
• 2 large crushed cloves of garlic

Mix well and spread into the bottom of a baking dish.

Pour one large can (26 oz) of spaghetti sauce on top of the cream cheese.

Sprinkle the sauce with precooked & well drained Italian sausage (2-3 links, casing removed).

Top with 2-4 cups of mozzarella cheese & a sprinkling of more Parmesan.

Top the cheese with other favorite toppings. I used sauteed onions & tri-color peppers. Mushrooms & black olives would have been great, too. I left the onions & peppers off the kid-friendly side.

Bake in a 400F until heated through & the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve with crusty French bread, either toasted or not. And, a salad.

Leftover potential: I don't know from experience, but I think this would keep well in the fridge for a few days. Reheat in either the microwave or oven.

Texas Beer Chili

Food Category: PG-13, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Tonight, I added a few more veggies & less meat than I normally do, but it still turned out characteristically HausFrau delish. The veggies are definitely in the background & won't be obvious to any veggie-haters. Of course, you can always used an extra 1-2 pounds of meat & less veggies and beans.

Texas Beer Chili:

• Brown 2 lbs of lean ground beef in a big ol' soup pot, remove from pot & drain fat. Set aside.
• Add about 2 T evoo to the pot & chopped tri-color bell peppers. I chopped most of 3 peppers - the rest is in the fridge for a future meal - maybe cheese steaks or minestrone.
• Sautee on medium high heat until the peppers have given up most of their liquid.
• Add the chopped onion. One large or 2 medium. Sautee with the peppers until most of the liquid is cooked off.
• Add the shredded carrots. About 2 large carrots -- double handful.
• Toss the drained meat back into the pot.

• Heat meat & veggies over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.
• Add 350-500 ml of beer -- preferably a German Dunkel.
• Toss in a lot of crushed garlic - about 4-5 decent sized cloves.
• Continue to cook until the beer has reduced by half.

The picture is cloudy because of all the steam coming off the beer.
But this is an idea of how much garlic to add.

Now it's time to add: can of pumpkin, large can of crushed tomatoes, 3 cans (6 cups) of beans (your choice as to what kind), 4 cups of beef broth (or beef granules in 4 cups of water) & chili seasonings (I totally cheat and use Carroll Shelby's Original Texas Chili Kit -- it's got great flavor & has never not made an awesome pot of chili. Don't add the masa thickening agent until later!).

Stir everything together & reduce heat to medium low. Continue to cook for 45-60 minutes. Once the veggies are looking thoroughly cooked, add the masa, stir & remove from heat.

Tonight we made Frito Chili Pie -- just ladle the chili into a big bowl & top with Fritos, extra-sharp cheddar & chopped chives. Other great toppings: sour cream, chopped red onion, chopped tomatoes (if that's you thang), chopped peppers, etc.

Leftover Potential: Hopefully, you'll have leftovers. I was so incredibly sad the one time I took chili to a potluck lunch. I was hoping to come home with leftovers for dinner but ended up having the potluck participants practically lick my crock pot clean. I came home with dirty dishes & a house that smelled wonderfully of chili. But, sadly, no chili. Leftover chili will hang out in the fridge for a few days & it freezes well. Besides chili pie, you can slap chili on hotdogs, baked potatoes, nachos or serve it with cornbread.

Wine & Cheese or Tuna Sandwiches

Food Category: Bum Lovin', PG-13 (because of the rotwein)
Difficulty: SuperEasy

This is HausFrau's favorite go-to meal for no fuss, no mess.

Whole grains, calcium, good fat, heart healthy red wine . . . eat & repeat.

Others in my family had tuna sandwiches with leftovers from lunch. I make my tuna with:

• Solid white albacore or chunk light Starkist (the big can)
• chopped celery ribs with leaves
• finely chopped red onion
• 2 chopped boiled eggs
• chopped Kosher dill pickles
• 1/2 chopped red apple
• Miracle Whip -- the bare minimum needed to hold it all together
• pepper, lemon herbed seasoning, fresh parsley

Served preferrably on whole wheat. Certain family members prefer worthless white (Man, Laze-E).

Pork Gyros & Garlic Potatoes

Food Category: PG-13, bordering on Food Porn
Difficulty: Easy

Pork Gyros

• season thinly sliced pork loin with prepackaged Greek seasoning
• or a combination of: oregano, crushed garlic, salt & pepper, paprika, mint
• in a tiny bit of evoo, sautée one thinly sliced onion until tender crisp
• add pork and continue to stir fry until the meal begins to crisp
  

If you need the basics of cooking gyros, try this recipe.

The Rose's Garlic Potatoes

• wash, peel & thinly slice potatoes into circles
• deep fry until golden brown
• drain excess oil & season with salt or pommes frites seasoning (all purpose seasoned salt)
  
• top with fresh minced garlic & chopped parsley

Tzaziki

• line a colander with paper towels & place over a bowl
• place approx. 20 oz of low fat plain yogurt on the paper towels
• refrigerate for several hours to drain excess water from yogurt
• mix 3 parts drained yogurt with 1 part light sour cream
• crush 2 cloves of garlic & mix with a bit of salt to make a paste
• add paste to yogurt/sour cream
• finely grated 1/2 cucumber, and drain all excess liquid by squeezing between paper towels
• 2 splashes of red wine vinegar
• 1 splash of olive oil
• few shakes ground black pepper

If that is way too confusing for you, this looks like a decent alternate recipe. I don't know for sure, but I'm going out on a limb here and declaring it not as good as mine.

Salad

• mix of red tipped lettuce & spinach leaves
• sliced red onion
• cherry/grape tomatoes
• sliced Greek peppers
• Kalamata olives
• seasoned crumbled feta
• sliced cucumbers
• Greek salad dressing or other oil/vinegar dressing

Flat Bread

I used warm Naan bread because I can't find decent pita bread. Any kind of yummy flat bread would work great.

The Rose, located in Giebelstadt, Germany, is my absolute favorite restaurant in the World. For those of you who have eaten there, you know what I'm talking about. I've been on a mission for several years now to duplicate some of our favorite menu items.

So far, I've totally mastered the tzatziki & the garlic potatoes. If you are located in Germany, you can find frozen Bratkartoffeln at any store. Deep fry those. This is exactly what The Rose uses to make their food porn potatoes. If you must use real potatoes (like me) use small ones with a diameter no bigger than 2 inches.

My gyros tonight were made with pork loin that was packaged with gyros seasonings. Any commissary in Europe should carry them. It's the stir fry pork loin, gyro style w/onion. If you are in the States, you probably have lots of options for pulling this tasty meal together.

Just make sure that you take the time to drain off all excess water from both the yogurt & the cucumbers. Tzatziki is supposed to be very thick & creamy, not runny & watered down.

This meal is wonderful with an opening shot of Ouzo, followed by a medium Greek red wine. My favorite is Imiglikos. That's a #80 on The Rose's Menu.

If you want to lighten up this meal, skip the potatoes or make oven fries instead. The tzatziki is made with a low fat superfood, and you just can't go wrong with that. The salad is a bowl of total health & the pork is a lean white meat. Skip the bread or serve with the low fat, whole grain flat bread. This meal could be very Bum Lovin' under the right circumstances.

HausFrau Wisdom: To remove obnoxious odors (like onion & garlic) from your hands, rub them over a stainless steel sink or carefully along the flat side of a knife.

Leftover potential: Tossing leftover meat & tzatziki in with leftover salad makes a great entree salad for lunch. We never have leftover potatoes. If you do, you might want to seek counseling. Seriously.

The only way to add to my perfection would be if BB Lady would come over tonight locked and loaded with a warm pan of baklava for dessert.

That's a hint. We are all awaiting your recipe over on Strudel.

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Category: PG-13, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Cheese Steaks

sautee tri-color peppers in evoo for a few minutes
add sliced onions & continue to cook until translucent & yummy
remove veggies from pan & sit aside

cook 3 servings of sirloin beef steak in the skillet
add any of the following to beef up the flavor:

• Worchestshire sauce
• steak sauce
• hamburger seasoning
• salt/pepper
• garlic powder

When the meat is cooked, add the veggies back to the pan.

Build sandwiches with meat/veggie filling & provolone cheese, preferrably on bread/rolls that have been lightly toasted on a stove-top grill.

You can also toss open-faced sandwiches into an oven with only the top burner on to make the cheese all bubbly & delish.

Serve with:

• Side Salad
• carrot & celery sticks, sliced cucumbers
• individual bags of chips

The prepackaged beef steaks have quite a bit of sat fat. I always cook the meat and remove as much of the fat as possible - either by draining, rinsing with hot water and/or patting with paper towels. I use 3 servings of meat to make 4 sandwiches. The more veggies: onions/peppers, the less meat needed to fill a sandwich.

I can only get full-fat provolone. Maybe you can find reduced-fat and save a few calories.

I also make my Philly Cheese Steaks with worthless white bread steak rolls or a French baguette. If you are looking for a healthier alternative, I'm sure you can find a higher fiber roll (especially if you are in the States).

The more veggies in the sandwich & the bigger the side salad, the healthier the meal. 3 cups total of sauteed onion/peppers, salad and raw veggies equals the 5-a-day requirement.

If you stick with individually packaged chips & limit yourself to one bag, this meal is not that bad calorie wise.

Careful with the meat, cheese, chips & salad dressing. Especially if you aren't planning on a food porn night.

Leftover potential: Any leftover meat/veggie mixture can be used for omlettes, quesadillas, fajitas, stirfry or frozen & tossed into soups later.

Tortilla Soup & Cheese Quesadillas

Food Category: High-5, Bum Lovin', PG-13
Difficulty: Easy

Tortilla Soup

sautee onion, celery, tri-colored peppers & sliced carrots until tender crisp
add chicken broth (homemade, canned or flavor granules)
bring to a boil & add remaining ingredients, your choice as to which ones & how much:

• zucchini & yellow squash
• beans (pinto, black, kidney)
• corn (canned or frozen)
• green chiles (to taste, remember they are flavorful)
• crushed or diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you skip the chiles)
• leftover peas, green beans & mashed potatoes work well with this soup too
• leftover fajita meat & chopped up grilled veggies
• leftover chicken or turkey

seasonings/spices:

2 cloves of freshed minced garlic
cumin
chili powder
roasted red pepper seasoning
Sazón (1-2 packets)
salt/pepper
onion & garlic powder
envelope of taco seasoning if you don't have the other stuff in your kitchen

Cook the soup on low until veggies look good to you. You may also finish this up in the crockpot.

I usually make this soup broth-based to keep the calories down. The beans add the most calories, but it's all good carbs & fiber. You can add cheese/velveeta to the soup based on personal preference. Leftover fridge/frozen mashed potatoes thicken up the soup, but with added calories.

When serving the soup, top with crushed tortilla chips (like Tostitos), shredded cheese (we like cheddar & pepper jack), sour cream & fresh cilantro. Certainly, the toppings add lots of flavor, but pack quite the punch to the fat/calorie content (thus the PG-13 rating). You have been warned.

I'm making a double batch of this soup to cover us for dinner tonight & a Mexican Potluck tomorrow. Soups are usually better the next day, so it's not like the Potluck people are getting the scraps. I'll just reheat in the crockpot.

Cheese Quesadillas

Laze-E won't touch my soup & Man will want something more Manly.

These will be simple quesadillas, only slightly more difficult than nuking the flour tortilla & cheese. Spray tortilla with olive oil & heat on a med-hot skillet. Flip, add cheese, fold over. Flip to the other side and serve.

Leftover potential: This soup does well in the fridge & freezer. The most flavorful way to reheat quesadillas is by wrapping in foil and tossing in a toaster oven. Microwave works too, but only use half-power.