Burrito Additions

I recently posted a note about making burritos from leftovers. While they are very good as they are, here is a way to take them a step further. Cover them with a pepper cheese sauce. My wife asked me to make this to go along with the burritos and it turned out really well. Use whatever peppers that satisfy your need for heat.

2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Flour
3 Tbsp. hot peppers, minced ( jalapenos, habaneros, etc.)
2 Tsp. chicken base
4 oz. cheese, shredded ( I like white cheddar)
1- 1/2 cup Half and Half
Over medium heat, melt butter then add peppers. Saute for 2 minutes. Add flour and stir well to make a roux. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes then add chicken base and start adding half and half, slowly and stirring constantly. If the sauce is too thick or thin, adjust the amount of half and half. The cheese will thicken the sauce a bit. Let the sauce simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cheese and stir.

New Floors

Recently, my wife insisted that we needed new flooring in our house to replace the outdated, torn and worn linoleum. She wanted tile. Being a do-it-your-selfer and not wanting to spend a lot of moolah, I took it upon myself to learn the art of tile laying. Here are pictures of the finished project.

Left Overs - Top Round

A week ago, I found beef top round on sale two for one at the local grocery. If you are not familiar with top round steak, it is also sometimes labeled as London Broil. It is best, as a steak, broiled to rare or it will get really tough. Now, my wife is from Nicaragua where they pretty much eat meat well done. While I have enticed her to eat a rare to medium rare steak on two or three occasions, which she loved, she still at times insists on medium well. Despite my protests, she wanted her top round medium well and the results were as I expected. She got a tough, chewy piece of meat and promptly said she couldn't eat it. I froze the leftovers and was determined not to waste the meat. This week, while looking in the freezer, I noticed the leftover meat as well as some refried beans I had previously frozen. I decided that bean and beef burritos were in order. I had probably 3/4 lbs. of meat which I cubed and threw into a food processor along with a quartered yellow onion and three cloves of garlic. I processed until chunky. I placed the results into a pan with beef stock to cover along with 1 Tbsp. chili powder and 1/2 Tbsp Cumin powder. I let it simmer for an hour until the meat was tender and most of the liquid was evaporated. I served this and the refried beans in warmed flour tortillas along with a freshly made Pico de Gallo. It was excellent.

Homemade Pizza

If you live in a medium sized town as I do, your choices for pizza delivery are pretty much limited to the chain guys whose pizza is not always discernible from the cardboard box it is delivered in. Yes, we have some pretty good independent pizzerias, however, they don't deliver and by the time you go pick it up and get it home, well it is just not as it should be. The answer, of course, is to make your own. My kids love homemade pizza and enjoy helping to build their own. Once you have your dough made, the possibilities for toppings are limitless. Just remember that toppings can add moisture to your pizza, possibly making the crust soggy. That being said, drain your pineapple and precook your mushrooms. I like to make my own sauce so as to control salt content as well as flavor profile. Also, freshly shredded, whole milk mozzarella is a must. Add other types of cheese as you see fit, but to me, you have to have the mozz as a base.

The following recipe is for one medium sized pizza (it can be doubled with no problem):

3/4 cup semolina
3/4 cup bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 pkg. dry yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water.
1 Tbsp. olive oil

I use a food processor. Add flour and salt, start the processor and gradually add liquids. Process until dough forms 1 - 3 balls of dough. Remove and knead for five minutes. Put into a litely oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel and let sit in a warm place for three hours. Remove dough, roll out into desired shape and place on a pizza peel (wooden board for sliding the pizza into the oven and for removing it) sprinkled with cornmeal. Build your pizza on the peel. Preheat your oven (with a pizza stone) @450 for at least 30 minutes. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or your desired doneness. Let your pizza sit for about 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!!

Blog Name - What do you think?

I just created this blog and while doing so I thought the name "Mobile Musings" would be appropriate since I live here in Mobile, Alabama. Then I had second thoughts. Maybe using the city name, Mobile, wasn't the best choice since tons and tons of people have never heard of the place. But then I got to thinking about the word "mobile", which while it is a city, it has other meanings too. According to "Webster's Dictionary", one definition for "mobile" is: " changeable in appearance, mood, or purpose." Well, that is what this blog is about. While it will most certainly have some posts about my hometown, it will not focus on it. I have other interests and you will never know which way this blog might navigate. My musings are what's on my mind today. What's on yours? Here's a pic of my niece from Nicaraugua helping to make homemade pizza. Looks good, huh?