Sunken Southwestern Fajita Pie

Hello again Fellow Eaters,

I hope you all are eating well!

I believe .....that I am an inspired cook (as I believe that most, if not all, cooks are). I can often look back on my recipes and figure out what, or whom in particular inspired me to think up a specific dish. Sometimes it's the music that I'm listening to that inspires me, or a movie that I have watched recently. Sometimes my recipes can be related to what I was feeling at the time, or to what the weather is like outside. Even books inspire me! Other times I can tie a recipe back to a childhood memory, or to a person in my life, especially when it comes to my friends and family.

I owe the concept of this recipe to my dear friend Nicky's mom, Mrs. C! Back in middle and high school, Nicky used to have get- togethers at her house and Mrs. C would feed us WELL .. (that woman can COOK!!). On those evenings (and many times in between) we also got to have tons of girl talk, advice from the wise Mrs. C, and lots of chocolate!

For my "Going- Away- to- College Party" Mrs. C made her taco pie for dinner.

Sunken Southwestern Fajita Pie

I have never forgotten that pie and so some weeks ago, when I was faced with leftovers from a cookout (many many hamburgers) I decided to make my own rendition. I already had bell peppers, onions, and garlic chopped up from the day before so, I cut up the hamburgers (I would estimate that it ended up being 1.5 lbs of meat), grabbed 2 boxes of cornbread mix, 2 cans of beans ( I used black or kidney beans). The first thing I did was to make the cornbread batter and bake it until the edges were mostly firm but the middle was still quite soft. While the cornbread was bakng, I sauteed the bell peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil. I added some salt, pepper and chili powder. In a large bowl I tossed the beans, the cut up hamburgers, and the sauteed mixture. When I took the cornbread out of the oven, I poured everything into the center of the cormbread (the softest part) and let it sink. This creates a crust of sorts around the edge. I topped the whole thing with some grated cheddar cheese and popped it back into the oven until the cheese was melted the filling was bubbling. I topped it with some sour cream, and served it up. A side salad goes well with this dish, and is a great way to add some color, and some more nutrition to this meal.

Thank you to my dear friends Nicky, and Mrs. C, for their many (many) years of loving friendship, encouragement, good advice, and for feeding me marvelous food on many occasions! I love you both!

Not Mashed Potatoes

Hello Fellow Eaters!

It's crazy how life can get so busy, it just spins you around and a month can pass way too quickly. Between traveling, sickness, heartbreak, and more laughing than any group of friends should be allowed to do, I did manage to keep cooking (not so much during sickness..ugh), but I have missed writing about it. So now I have to back track a bit to my first week home which was right after traveling and sickness.

Heartbreak-
The reason is a long tale that I won't tell here...BUT it caused me to cook so I will tell you about that!

I needed something to be creative with, but I also wanted comfort food. When ever I think of comfort food I think of something warm, buttery, a bit starchy, and flavorful. Well, I didn't want to eat a pot of mashed potatoes so I came up with something slightly more healthy that included potatoes.

I think I am slightly addicted to using this pie crust (atleast until I learn to make my own, which I hear, [from Crystal P.S.- She is GENIUS!!] is not that difficult at all!) and I decided to use it to make mini tarts. I grabbed my new food processor for it's first time use ever (!!!) and threw in some carrots, onions, and cooked sausage, until it was (not pureed) a nice looking mix. I sauteed all of that in olive oil (and a small bit of the sausage fat, left over from cooking, for flavor) along with spinach, garlic and (TA-DA) some potatoes. During the sauteeing I added some salt, pepper, and a bit of paprika. While I left the mixture to cool a bit, I attended to the dough.

After rolling the dough out on a floured surface. I turned a cup over and used a knife to trace around the mouth of the cup. I place each little circle into the greased muffin tin, pressing slightly into each cup. I filled each cup with the veggie and sausage mixture and topped with cheese. I alternated between cheddar and muenster. In the ones I topped with cheddar I also layered a small pat of cream cheese between 2 layers of the filling. What I ended up with were these delicious (more healthy than a huge pot of yummy mashed potatoes) miniature pies!

Until next time (which should be sooner rather than later)!