Categories
Cooking

Enchisagna

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I love me some enchiladas, but I don’t always feel like prepping the tortillas properly and individually rolling the enchiladas…. enter enchisagna. Enchisagna is created by layering your enchilada ingredients like a lasagna. The baking dish I used in this photo is perfectly sized for a large corn tortilla to fit in it. However, I have cut corn tortillas in half and placed them next to each other to create the tortilla layer in larger baking dishes.

I start by placing a layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Next, I place a layer of tortilla, then a layer of chicken, then a layer of cheese, and finally a layer of sauce. Repeat this layering process 2 to 3 times. For the final layer, I place my corn tortilla(s) then pour in a generous amount of enchilada sauce and finally top the dish with cheese. I bake my enchisagna in a 425 degree oven until the sauce in the dish is simmering (about 15 to 20 minutes). The chicken I use is breast meat that I season with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, Mexican oregano, chilli powder, salt, and pepper. I cover the chicken and bake it for about 30 to 40 minutes at 325 degrees. I love chicken enchisagna but beef or cheese enchisagna with a red sauce is great too. Also, the fresher your corn tortillas are, the better. It is excellent if you have a tortilla press and make them yourself but I find the next best thing is finding a market that makes fresh tortillas and using those. Lastly, try using a quesadilla or enchilado cheese. Manchego cheese can be great too.

Enchisagna has many virtues but I love how you get a perfectly saucy bite each time. I also love that I can assemble this dish relatively quickly and its great to assemble in advance and bake when you get home from doing whatever you are doing.

Categories
Animals

Tested On Humans First

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The co-founder of Paul Mitchell, John Paul Dejoria, has created a line of pet care products including this foaming shampoo and various wipes. He was recently a keynote speaker at the American Animal Hospital Association’s (AAHA) annual conference. I heard great things about his lecture and I just think the “Tested On Humans First” tagline on these products is pretty cute.

I really like the waterless foam shampoo, the feel and smell of it is really nice. I currently use a good spray conditioner on the pets in between baths, but I’ll try out the JP foam shampoo and see how it goes. As far as the wipes go, they’re good but I simply have no need for them. There are also some tea tree oil scented products that I think smell great, but I’m not as keen on them for fear that they might encourage pet owners to believe that tea tree oil has mystical powers that will cure any skin ailment their pet has or might have them think they don’t need to visit a veterinarian.

I didn’t receive any free stuff or money for writing this post.

Categories
Animals

Dobie Selfie

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On the left is Drake, and I am in love. Drake is a 112 pound Doberman who is tall, lean, and gorgeous. Drake’s nuclear family consists of two dads who seem equally as sweet and interesting as he is.

When it comes to bigger dogs, Labrador and Golden Retrievers are one of my favorites but I really like Doberman Pinschers. In general, they are smart and sweet. Despite their seemingly intimidating stature, they are usually good with people and pets.

On the right is Gar’s dad’s former Dobie, Daisy, with Loki and Rowan at our home. She was a lot of fun to be around and was so cute with our dogs.

Categories
Cooking

Bacon vs. Bacon

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The stage is set… in the left corner we have a medium to thick cut maple-cured slice of bacon… in the right corner we have a medium to thin cut uncured slice of bacon (I took bites out of each corner, my bad)… who will win this epic showdown?

We recently got a shit ton of two different kinds of amazing bacon from Gar’s stepdad who is the head chef at a well-known country club. Before cooking each type of bacon (in different pans of course), I thought for sure I would like the maple-cured bacon better. It turns out, however, that I declare the uncured slice of bacon as the hands-down winner. Let me tell you why.

The reason I love a nice, fully-cooked (meaning no flabby fat), chewy-and-crunchy-but-not-too-crunchy slice of bacon is because of the salty pork flavor and the subtle sweetness of the bacon fat. Don’t get me wrong, the maple-cured bacon was great and had a wonderful hint of maple and carmelization after it was cooked… BUT… the sweetness of the maple completely overpowered the natural, subtle sweetness of the bacon fat for me. Therefore, uncured bacon wins!

Categories
Cooking

Greek Turkey Sloppy Joes

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This unique take on a sloppy joe is deeply satisfying just like a traditional sloppy joe but it is also very fresh and light. First, I put together some Tomato Cucumber Relish but left out the lemon juice. Next, I browned some lean ground turkey and added a can of my favorite sloppy joe sauce. Finally, I used a kaiser roll and hollowed out the top of the roll to create more room for the toppings. I topped the turkey with the relish and some feta cheese. Do not add too much of the relish, you want the turkey to be the star. This recipe is surprisingly good. Every time I took a bite I thought, “This is different, but this is SO GOOD.”

Categories
Animals

Hug Your Cat Day

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Yesterday was national hug your cat day (real thing) and I was trying to get a photo with both my cats but they were extremely unhappy about the event. I just wanted one picture with both of them to add into a collection of photos that I had compiled for a cute little project for the day. I could only get this one photo before kitty jumped ship. It was bullshit, normally they are so nice and snuggly with me and the one time I ask something of them they tell me to fuck off… I guess that’s cats for you.

Categories
Animals

Republic of Dog

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I had Loki at work with me and decided to get a picture of him sitting under his own picture in one of our exam rooms. When I looked at the photo I laughed inside, imagining it as a propaganda poster for some authoritarian regime. Yet, Loki is too nice for an authoritarian regime so this would have to be his presidential photo for the venerable Republic of Dog… or something like that.

Categories
Animals

Nobody Here But Us Cushions

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Rowan likes to snuggle down deep into the cushions.

Categories
Life

Dreamy Day

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70 degrees, light breeze, blue sky, toy story clouds. Days like this are best described in one word: Dreamy.

Categories
Cooking

Grandma’s Baked Chicken

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This chicken dish comes from a friend’s great grandmother. It is very easy to make, very inexpensive, and will make you enjoy chicken thighs whether you usually like them or not. The instructions for this recipe are for 2 servings but I could have easily made 4 servings in this dish.

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Categories
Cooking

Bacon Burgers

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Ground bacon is excellent, especially in burgers. I am lucky to have Ventura County Meat Co. nearby because they specialize in local, grass-fed, sustainable meats and they always have great stuff including ground bacon. Last year I got and cooked a kick-ass, thick-cut bison ribeye from them for my birthday and it was amazing… the best bison I have had to date. If you want ground bacon and don’t have a meat grinder, ask your butcher to grind it for you. The guy at my local grocery store is very accommodating and always slices my london broil for jerky for me.

Back to the bacon. I know some burger joints out there do burgers that are half ground bacon and half ground beef. I am a huge bacon fan but I prefer to make a bacon burger that is not so rich but still quite bacony (trust me) and consists of 1/3 ground bacon and 2/3 ground beef. A few tips… If you are grilling your burger, do so on a low heat. You don’t want lots of fire and burnt burgers as some of the fat cooks off. Also, I like using a sharp cheddar on bacon burgers because it stands up to the bacon better. Finally, do not mess with your burger too much while its cooking. I think this rule goes with any burger but it especially applies to bacon burgers. These burgers kind of want to fall apart a little so you should wait until one side is cooked well and nice and firm until you flip them. I always try to only flip my burgers once. I ate this burger simply with ketchup and mustard on a freshly baked ciabatta roll. It was simple, sweet, salty, smoky, cheesy goodness.

Categories
Cooking

Meat Grinder: Broccoli Chicken Cheddar

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Meat Grinder!

Meat grinders are fun and a hand crank one is relatively inexpensive. When Gar and I brought ours home we searched the kitchen for anything we could find that would be fun to grind and we came up with this… broccoli chicken cheddar burgers.

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Categories
Cooking

Tomato Basted Chicken Kebabs

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My obsession with grilling continues… I recently got a new grill and have been using it almost everyday. I just really look forward to grilling. So I was making chicken kebabs and I had a couple of large tomatoes I needed to use. Don’t ask me why but I thought I’d put a skewer through them and put them on the rack above the kebabs so that the liquid would trickle down.

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Categories
Animals

Cat Naps

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Stitch is so sweet to everyone, people and animals included. I have way too many pictures of him sleeping

Categories
Cooking

Loaded Deviled Egg

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So Gar was gone for a night visiting family and I wanted to cook a bunch of stuff for him when he got back. Yes, cooking a lot for him was a nice gesture but it also kept me happy and occupied all afternoon. So I decided to make some deviled eggs as a snack before dinner. When I opened the fridge to get out my eggs, I saw the really nice bacon I had got the day before and this idea suddenly came to me… I should make a deviled egg that is a fun play on a loaded baked potato.

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Categories
Animals

Grumpy Stitch Murphy

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Stitch Murphy sometimes tries his hardest to impersonate grumpy cat.

Categories
Cooking

Meatball Sandwiches

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The other day, I made really simple and easy-to-make meatballs. I make a few different kinds of meatballs depending on how I feel and how much work I want to do. Sometimes I stuff meatballs with cheese. Sometimes I throw minced onion and garlic into the mix. This time however, I just mixed in some garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and dried italian seasoning into a pound of ground beef. Whenever I am making meatballs, I mix in a couple of eggs then add breadcrumbs as needed until the mixture is sticky, not wet. Of course you could pan fry your meatballs but consider putting them in a 325 degree oven on a baking sheet for 20 minutes or so.

Most of the time, I actually prefer the dark brown, evenly crisp exterior of baked meatballs to the extra crispy pan-fried meatballs. Also, I don’t have to babysit the meatballs the whole cooking time and I’m putting them in sauce before serving anyways. So I made a shit-ton of meatballs for spaghetti and leftovers. I considered doing a different pasta dish with the leftovers but then settled upon sandwiches. I just picked up a couple rolls from a local deli, cut them, and scooped out some of the bread on the top to create a nice pocket for the mozzarella. I also put some mozzarella on the bottom piece and put them both in the toaster oven until the cheese melted. Then I just scooped on the meatballs that had been simmering in some sauce and that’s it. I’m getting really hungry just looking at this picture again, those sandwiches were so good.

Categories
Cooking

Chicken Shawarma Wraps

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When I first saw Jeff Mauro’s recipe for Chicken Shawarma I thought of Marvel and The Avengers. There have been brief mentions of shawarma in some relatively recent Marvel movies, cartoons, and comics. For this reason alone I decided to make chicken shawarma as soon as possible. I slightly modified the recipe by using chicken breast instead of thighs and smoked paprika instead of normal paprika.

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Categories
Cooking

Tahini Yogurt Sauce

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For those that don’t know, tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and it’s good (I know its hard but try to hold back your admiration for that incredibly informative description of tahini). I picked up my tahini at a health food grocery store and it was next to the peanut butter oddly enough… or maybe it’s not odd I don’t know. I wanted to make a tahini sauce for some falafels that I was frying up.

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Categories
Cooking

Tomato Cucumber Relish

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This relish is so good, just combine the ingredients and it’s ready to go. I absolutely loved the oregano in this dish. Also, the lemon juice, olive oil, and juice from the tomato and cucumber combine to make a super juice that is incredible. I made it to accompany falafels and tahini sauce in a pita pocket. Gar was craving falafels that day. I went on my food network app to find a recipe for a tahini sauce and saw this relish recipe with a chicken shawarma recipe from Jeff Mauro. The recipe also called for fresh chopped parsley but I didn’t feel like having the mouth-feel of the little leafy bits so I left that out, although I’m sure the relish would taste great with the parsley. I saved some of the relish to use on chicken shawarma wraps. I could eat this relish with so many things, I’m thinking at one point I’ll put it on a burger with some feta cheese.

½ of a large english cucumber, chopped
½ of a small red onion, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, grated
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano