Bolognese Sauce

Remember how we were talking about how you never want to cook when you get home late and are just exhausted and feel like eating burritos? And then I said you should make stuff the day before and eat it for a couple of days? Well, this recipe is exactly what I was talking about. And the best part is, you can change it a little bit so you don't feel like you are just eating spaghetti for days at a time.

Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 lbs ground beef (or, 1 lb ground beef, 1 lb ground pork/turkey, etc)
1 can, 28 oz, of crushed tomatoes in puree
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup milk
Salt and Pepper
Spaghetti and Parmesan Cheese for serving

Note: this is one of those recipes where I highly recommend chopping and preparing everything before you start cooking. I cannot even begin to describe how much this will simplify your life.


1. Make sauce: in a large saucepan, heat oil over high heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add meat; cook breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, cook 1 minute. Season generously with salt and pepper.


2. Add wine and tomatoes. Bring sauce to a simmer, and cook (partially uncovered), stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 1 hour. Add milk; simmer until completely absorbed, about 15 minutes more. Season again with salt and pepper.




3. When sauce is almost done, cook your pasta. Serve with the sauce, and reserve the remaining sauce for leftovers.


You can serve this later reheated with pasta, over polenta, or with a biscuit recipe (to come!). To save your sauce, wait until it is completely cooled, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Chicken Enchiladas

The funny thing about this recipe, is that Mom has told me how to do it multiple times, yet I almost always end up calling/texting her with a question. Really, its not that hard, but sometimes I get a mental block. So, I usually just go with my instincts (HA) and throw the very limited, very simple ingredients together.

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
2-3 cans of Enchilada sauce (depends on how saucy you like it)
1-2 bags of shredded cheese
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 bag tortillas
Tabasco Sauce


1. Place the chicken breasts in a glass baking dish, broil for approx. 30 mins, flipping halfway through, until cooked through. Make sure they don't get too dry (right Mom??)

2. When chicken is done cooking, take it out of the oven to cool. When cooled, shred into long pieces (I use two forks to do this.... or my hands when nobody is looking). Open 1 can of enchilada sauce- pour some on the bottom of a large glass baking dish. How much you pour depends on how much sauce you want left for the interior and top of the enchiladas.

3. Preheat oven to 350. Pour half a can of sauce onto a large plate. One at a time, take a tortilla and place it (one side at a time) on the plate to cover it with sauce. Place chicken, a handful or so of onion, and cheese on the tortilla. Roll up and place into baking dish.


4. Once the dish is full, cover with the remainder of sauce and add as much cheese as you'd like to the top. Cover with foil, bake for 20 minutes. Take off foil, and bake for remaining 5-10, until cheese has melted and is bubbly.

5. Serve with rice or corn or any other delicious Mexican accompaniments! Other optional additions include olives, peppers, etc. Sprinkle tabasco sauce to achieve your preferred amount of spiciness either on top of the enchiladas or inside of the tortillas when you are rolling them.