Food Blogger Bake Sale for Share Our Strength

Have you always wanted to try the goodies baked by your favorite food bloggers? Well, now's your chance and you also get to help feed hungry kids through Share Our Strength at the same time.

Twin Cities food bloggers will be cooking all next week do they can tempt you with treats on Saturday, May 14th at Midtown Global Market, 920 East Lake St. Mpls, MN 55407 from 11am to 4pm. I'll be baking up some of my All The Good Stuff Cookies.

Don't live in the Twin Cities area? Visit Share Our Strength to find a bake sale near you.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

Taco Hotdish

Normally, when Matt and I make tacos it's the soft shell version with grilled meat but, sometimes I just crave the hard shell version filled with seasoned ground beef. The problem is those hard shell tacos come in packages of twelve, too many for the two of us so, we always have a lot of leftovers. I suggested we break them up and use the rest of the leftovers to make a chilaquiles inspired dish.

Ok, this is not much like real chilaquiles at all but, the idea of taking crispy tortillas and other leftovers to make another dish is the same. The end result was a really tasty meal that comes together in a flash and we would make again in a second. The flavor is of course a bit like tacos, also a little like a loaded nacho. I particularly liked the way broken shells at the top crisped up a bit to make a topping with the melted cheese.

Taco Hotdish
This dish is best if made at least the day before so the taco shells have time to soften and absorb some of the salsa. Put it together after a taco dinner and keep in the fridge to have later in the week.

5 hard corn taco shells, broken up
1/2 lb cooked ground beef with taco seasoning
1/2 onion, diced
1 8oz jar salsa
other taco toppings you may have leftover like diced tomatoes, we added 1/2 a diced red pepper
grated cheddar
sour cream
hot sauce

Mix the taco shells, ground beef, onion, salsa and any other addition you wish together in a 6" x 8" baking dish. Cover and refrigerate at least overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cover the top of the hotdish with grated cheese. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and everything is heated through. Serve topped with sour cream & hot sauce as desired.

Makes 4 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu 5/2 - 5/7/11

It's birthday week around chez Good Appetite. Today is Matt's but we went out last night to celebrate. He chose to go to Manny's a very old school steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. We're talking one of those places where they bring around a cart showing you the cuts of beef before you order.

The kind of place that offers a plate of bacon as an appetizer. We went with the lobster cakes instead. Here's a few more not so great iPhone photos of the night.

That is the free birthday dessert! Crazy, huge! We took home a large doggie bag so those leftovers will show up in some meals this week. My birthday is tomorrow but we'll wait until Friday to celebrate it with sushi!

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Taco Hotdish - we had leftover taco makings and; an idea....

Steak and Lentil Salad

Creamed Spinach Pasta - using the leftovers from Matt's b-day dinner

Salmon Tikka - inspired by Jamie Oliver

Chicken Breast perhaps with a cilantro cream sauce

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

Cuban Black Bean and Ham Soup

Ok, forget any ham and bean soup I've made up to this point because this one is hands down the new winner.

It is cold again in Minneapolis and once again spring snow is predicted. Soup is just the thing in this kind of weather but, we are craving lighter, fresher spring foods. This soup is a great half way point. The ham and beans are hearty while the lime and cilantro give it a bright, almost tropical, flavor. If you've got some ham leftover from this past Easter, I can't think of a better use for it.

Cuban Black Bean and Ham Soup

1 T olive oil
3/4 c chopped yellow onion
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
2 c chopped cooked ham
zest from half a lime
2 15oz cans black beans (do not rinse or drain)
2 c chicken stock
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 t hot sauce (or more to taste)
1/2 t cumin
juice of one lime
chopped cilantro
salt
sour cream or plain yogurt (optional)

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper. Sauté until the onion is translucent, 3 - 4 minutes. Add the ham and sauté another minute. Stir in the lime zest, beans (including liquid), stock, tomatoes (including juices), hot sauce and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 45 minutes.

Add the lime juice and cilantro. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt if desired.

4 - 5 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

Do You Give Restaurants A Second Chance?

Recently, Heavy Table did a restaurant review that created a lot of discussion, one comment that really caught my attention said it wasn't fair to review a restaurant based on one visit. This got me thinking, doesn't the average person decide on a restaurant's value based on one visit? Do many of us have the expendable income to revisit a place where the service or food was not up to our expectations just to make sure that first visit was representative? I don't think so.

Here's an example from my own experience. There is a restaurant in town that everyone talked about how wonderful it was. We decided we had to check it out. We made reservations and dressed up for the occasion. From the minute we walked in the door we were treated horribly by both host and server. You would have thought we were two high schoolers on a date at the fanciest restaurant in town instead of two adults who eat out often and appreciate food. The food may have been excellent (not that we were ever told the specials or anything), I don't remember because everything was clouded by the rest of the experience. We never went back. Why would we when there are so many other wonderful restaurants in Minneapolis where we will be welcomed warmly and served by someone who cares about our experience and what they are serving. I'm happy to give them my $100+ dollars any night of the week.

That restaurant seems to be the culinary darling in town again with everyone talking about it and writing rave reviews. I find it hard to believe we are the only people who ever had such a bad experience there. Still, we can't bring ourselves to be excited about going back and giving it another try. When do you give restaurants a second chance? Are you more likely to give a cheaper restaurant the benefit of the doubt and expect more of higher end places? Are we missing out by not giving this restaurant a second chance?

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski