Spice up a Monday Night Dinner

A quick note before this post. Thanks for reading! I'm excited to find out that so many new and old friends stop by to check out what's cooking. I hope that you'll take a minute to say hi in the comments and let me know what you think - or just say hello! It's fun to see all the readers and find out where they are from! Thanks! Now on to the fun....

Cooking almost every night is a challenge - coming up with interesting meals and making sure to vary the ingredients. Often I find myself going back to the same meals and repeating them a little too frequently. The trick is to vary some piece of the meal to keep it interesting.

One of these meals for us is meatloaf muffins. The recipe lends itself a lot of variations - different veggies, sauces, even types of ground meat. For this occasion I kept it pretty simple, but decided to dress them up as 'cupcakes'. The perfect way to spice up a Monday night!

For the 'cake', I used the meatloaf muffin recipe that I previously posted. I cut out foil squares to line my muffin tin (no foil muffin cups on hand). I sprayed them well with some olive oil cooking spray before filling them with the meatloaf mixture. I topped the meat with a good layer of ketchup before cooking.

For the icing, I made some basic mashed potatoes and put them into a large ziploc bag with the bottom corner cut off (a make-shift pastry bag). I piped the potatoes on top and 'sprinkled' them with some dried basil.

For a real party, serve with green bean 'candles'! I have to admit, I feel silly even posting that sentence. Here's the photo anyway!

Guest Post by Jim (our fab photographer)

When our friends Jim and Chris came over for dinner last month for the Good Cook Doris photo shoot, I made a quick apple-cinnamon pull apart bread with biscuits. Jim put his own spin on it with fresh peaches and cinnamon rolls. Looks delicious!

Make sure to check out Jim's photography too!

My Take on a Corn Tamale

These days dining out is reserved for special occasions (like birthdays, weekends when I've worked all day, or vacations). Since we're not going out for our favorite meals, I decided to start making my versions of them at home. It is much cheaper and you can control what you put in and how much you get with the order. We spent $17 at Whole Foods for 4 servings of this meal - not bad!

Inspired by the delicious Mexican food that Rick Bayless is cooking up on Top Chef Masters (specifically the tamales), this week's restaurant dish is my take on sweet corn tamales from The Cheesecake Factory. Tamales can be labor intensive and take some time to cook. I opted for a quick weeknight dinner cheat, and bought some precooked polenta. The topping is something that we could eat all the time and never get tired of it. On the side was another favorite that we could eat all the time - fried sweet plantains.

I cut the precooked polenta and seasoned it with some smoky cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper. The toppings included black beans with garlic and onions, fresh corn, fresh salsa, diced avocado, crumbled goat cheese, and cilantro. Mmm....I'm hungry just thinking about it! This was so good that we ate it two nights in a row (and could have done three or four).
Here's how you can create it at home! I prepared all the toppings and cooked the polenta last. This serves 2 - multiple the ingredients to fit the size of your party. Another note, I recently bought corn oil for a recipe and decided to use it here instead of the usual olive oil. Feel free to substitute your favorite oil instead.

Corn 'Tamales' with Black Beans and More

Presented in the order of preparation

Black Beans
1 can of drained black beans
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 of a yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan
Add in garlic and onion and cook until softened (about 3-4 minutes)
Add in black beans and bring to a boil
Reduce to low and keep on the heat until it’s time to assemble the dish

Salsa

I cheated and used a store bought salsa for this. You can check out my salsa recipe from a previous post. If you are making this fresh, chop some extra cilantro and set aside to use as a garnish.

Avocado
Simple cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Remove the pit. Use a spoon to carefully scoop out the avocado flesh. Dice into small pieces and cover with lime juice. Or, if you forgot to buy a lime like I did, use some limeade (it worked wonders!)

Fresh Corn
Remove the husk and all the silk from one ear of corn
Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the kernels away from the cob
Heat a small amount of corn oil over medium-low heat in a non-stick skillet
Cook corn for about 5 minutes (keep stirring so it doesn't burn)
Set aside in a bowl until you are ready to assemble everything

Southwestern Polenta

6 half-inch slices of precooked of polenta (save the rest for the next meal)
About 1 tablespoon of chili powder
About 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Salt and Pepper
Corn Oil
Spread the polenta out on a plate in a single layer
Sprinkle the seasonings evenly across the top
Heat corn oil in a non-stick skillet (enough to coat the bottom of the pan)
Cook polenta for 2 minutes on each side and remove to a paper towel

Fried Plantains
I can't remember where in the prep I made this. I'm pretty sure that I cooked them before I cooked the polenta and then put them in a 200 degree oven to stay warm.
1 sweet plantain, the peel should be dark brown (that means it is ripe)
Corn oil
Cut the plaintain into 1/4 inch slices
Heat the oil to medium in the same non-stick skillet
Add the plantains and cook for about 2 minutes per side, being careful not to burn them
Take them out and place them on a paper towel to drain off excess oil

Putting it all together
Take out two plates
Put 3 polenta rounds on each plate
Top with a generous scoop of black beans
Divide the corn evenly over each plate
Sprinkle the goat cheese crumbles next
Top with avocados, salsa, and fresh cilantro
Put the plantains on the plate and devour!

Summary:
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Skillet, cutting board, knives, spoons, paper towels, serving dishes and utensils