Meal Planning Round Two : Easy Enchiladas At Home

Because who doesn’t love enchiladas?

Welcome back!

We're going to assume your crowd was not hungry enough to eat up all that filling from our last recipe, and that you still have two thirds of that batch in the freezer. Before you get started reading this, if you plan on cooking today, you might want to go grab a third of it and set it out to defrost. It'll take quite a while in the fridge, but if you set it on the counter, it should be thawed enough to squeeze out of that ziploc bag by the time you're done assembling your necessary items and reading through this post.

In the event they were, in fact, starving, and you're out of filling entirely, we'll just send you back over to the first part of this series to begin again.

This week, you'll need (obviously in addition to your filling)

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas (you'll most likely have some left over from the first round)
1/4 lb cheese (brick; shredded)
6 ounces salsa
sour cream, to taste

Tools:
deep baking pan, sauce pan or microwave safe dish for reheating, cheese grater, aluminum foil, paper towels or clean dish towel, cooking spray, plate or platter on which to work, spatula, spoon, sandwich bag, gloves (optional - but this can get messy)

First things first, get that filling heated up - it will be much easier to work with once it's warm. While you're welcome to toss it in the microwave in a covered dish, we feel like it loses some of its texture that way. We recommend putting it into a saucepan (or a caldera if you have one) and simmering it, covered, on low heat until all the frozen spots have thawed out and the whole pan is warmed through. For reasons we'll cover shortly, please put the pan on a front burner if possible.

While your filling is reheating, preheat your oven to 375.

Dampen your clean dish towel or two or three paper towels and wring out the excess water. We're going for slightly damp, not dripping wet. Wrap your corn tortillas in the paper towels or dish towel, making sure not to leave the edges of the tortillas exposed. Place your wrapped tortillas in front of the oven vent. On most ovens, it's just under the display for time and temperature. Assuming you're not using the microwave for reheating, please be sure that none of your little bundle is too close to the burner warming the filling! Place it completely on the opposite side of the stove if you can. The goal here is to let the tortillas gently warm while your filling reheats and you take care of all your other prep tasks. Warm tortillas are much easier to work with and less likely to break.

This is an excellent time to shred the brick of cheese if you haven't already. Using store-bought shredded cheese is fine, but the anti-caking agent companies package it with can change the way the cheese melts. It still tastes good, but it doesn't look as pretty - which is why we usually suggest shredding your own. It only takes a minute, and it's also a good way to get a helper involved.

Set aside your shredded cheese (or let your helper work on it) and pick up the aluminum foil. Use a large sheet of it to line your baking pan and make sure the corners are pushed down. Give it a quick spritz with cooking spray so you don't get enchilada pieces later.

Lay out your plate or platter close to your filling, and glove up (or scrub up and be ready to scrub again later) - it's time to fill some tortillas.

Take your first tortilla from the warm bundle, and leave the rest wrapped. Turn off the heat under the filling to avoid scorching either the food or your hands while you work.

Spray one side of the tortilla with cooking spray, then flip it over on the plate and spray again. A little extra oil is another trick to stop the tortillas from tearing (corn tortillas are a lot more brittle than flour ones, we're sure you've noticed).

Spoon some of the filling from your pan (or microwave dish) into the center of the tortilla and roll it up, leaving the ends open. Feel free to adjust the amount of filling per enchilada to your own preference. We like to start with two heaping tablespoons and go from there.

Place the enchilada seam side down in your baking pan, right up against one edge.

Repeat the oil, filling, rolling and placing steps until you're out of tortillas.

As you place your enchiladas in the pan, make sure each touches the side of the one placed before it. This helps prevent them unrolling and dumping their filling all over the place.

At the end of your stack of tortillas, you may still have filling left - this is okay; extras tend to happen with batch cooking. You can add it to the pan and bake it up with the enchiladas and then treat it as spilled filling when you serve, or you can set it aside and make some more enchiladas or a burrito with it for lunch tomorrow.

Now that you have all your enchiladas in the pan, take that salsa and dump it across the top. Spread it around with a spoon so that there's a layer of salsa over all of the exposed tops of the tortillas. It's fine if it's a thin layer. We want crispy ends and tops, but we're trying to avoid reaching the burnt stage.

After you've spread the salsa around, sprinkle that shredded cheese over it all (be sure to thank your helper if you had one) and pop the pan into the oven for about 20 minutes. Since all the ingredients are pre-cooked, there's no worry about reaching proper internal temperature so long as it's nice and warm when it hits the dinner table.

Optional: scoop a little sour cream - about two tablespoons should do - into that sandwich bag, seal it up, snip off a corner and drizzle it over the top after you take them out of the oven.

Divide up with the spatula, serve and enjoy.

Thanks for coming back! Join us in two weeks so that you can see how we’re going to make a final meal out of that original batch of meat. If you’ve got other tips on how to make this work or tricks you find for meal planning, let us know on Facebook! We love to hear from you.

If the worst happens though an your oven stops working midway through, we can help you. Give us a call at ((214) 599-0055), or you can get an appointment set up over on our website.

Appliances of the Future

Concept and Cutting Edge Appliances We Want

Have you ever looked around your kitchen or your laundry room and thought 'I need to solve this problem.' Many of us do that and we fill our homes with gadgets and tools that solve a very specific problem. This week we're looking at five very specific tools to solve problems around the home. Some of them already exist. Some of them might exist in the future. Either way, we know we want them. 

For the ones that don't exist, we feel the need to place a disclaimer. These are tools and appliances that have been dreamed up by engineers. They aren't fully reproducible just yet. These are concept designs. We'll make sure to note which ones you can get right now and which ones you can't.

Table of Contents

iRobot Scuba

LED Shower Head

B-Iron 725 

Orbital Washer 

Electrolux Gel Refrigerator 

iRobot scuba

iRobot Braava robotic mop for keeping your kitchen and home clean! We love the idea of making the mopping easier!

The rounds of cleaning never end, especially when faced with a pandemic. Many of us have found the iRobot company to be very helpful and this design is no different. Although officially called the iRobot Braava, the idea stays the same. A robotic mop for your home instead of a vacuum. Now not only can you leave your vacuuming to your faithful robot, but you can also have one to deal with mopping as well. We love this idea, especially for making the weekly scrubbing easier. There are quirks to using it as is true of any piece of technology but it makes up for it in terms of time saved. Just don't go and buy this one as a gift for your significant other. (Although this one does exist, we're still dreaming of a day when we can have our own Rosie from the Jetsons.)

LED Shower Head 

LED Showerhead to show you how hot your shower is before you hop in.

 Taking a shower is something we hope, all of us do. Why shouldn't your time there be as relaxing or refreshing as possible? Or both! That's where an LED shower head comes in. Studies have shown that different lights can have different effects on how we think. Not only in terms of how bright the lights are but also what color the lights are. With an LED shower head you can control what your shower looks like. Some of them, like the one we have linked to, will even change colors based on the temperature rather than just a pre-selected color. If you're looking to update your bathroom and make it a relaxing place we think this should be in consideration.

B-Iron 725 

The transparent B-Iron 725 concept iron is one we wish we could use in our day to day lives.

This see-through iron was developed by Dong-Seok Lee and Ji-Hyung Jung. The idea is a simple one, what if you could see the garment you're working on through the iron? It's especially useful for working with pants and skirts that need a crisp pleat in them. Although this idea isn't in production yet we hope that it will be in the near future.

Orbital Washer 

The Orbital washer with its removeable baskets is one concept that we would love to have in our hoomes.

Sticking with the idea of laundry, we're looking at the orbital washer. This is also another concept design but it goes well with people who are working in a smaller living area. 

The machine comes with two baskets. You use these day-to-day for sorting your clothing same as you do already. Except now when the basket is full take it directly to the washer and pop it in no need to transfer from basket to machine. Then when the load is done, remove the basket, pop in the other one, and you can load the clean set either into your dryer or onto the clothesline. Anything that removes steps from something that is already an annoying task, is an appliance we want. So, thank you to Tiffany Roddis for coming up with this design. 

Electrolux Gel Refrigerator 

Electrolux Gel Biopolymer Refrigerator. Think about how many different things you could store in this?

I've been on the internet for any length of time you have probably seen this image. What most of us don't realize is that this is an actual concept design. It was created for an Electrolux competition by Yuriy Dimitrev. The idea is a radical change in how refrigerators function. Instead of having a large enclosed box, you have a gel inside of a frame. When you place an item into that gel, it would create a pocket of air around the food. The hope is that not only would this prevent your garlic from affecting your carrots and your bananas from affecting your apples, but that you would have foods last longer. It's also suggested that this gel would take less electricity to maintain its temperature. This design was first released to the internet in 2010. It's been 11 years and we have not seen any forward momentum on its development, but that doesn't mean we aren't hoping for it still.

Those are the five appliances we wish we owned. What about you? Have you seen any concept designs that you're dreaming about? Let us know over on our Facebook page or in the comments down below.

If on the other hand you're dreaming about new appliances because your current ones are busted, we can still help you out. If you head to our contact page, you can set up an appointment today or you can call us at ((214) 599-0055). At Appliance Rescue Service we are here for you. 

Meal Planning One : Tacos for Days

The weather is starting to turn... Which, if you're like us, means you're looking forward to all your cooler weather comforts. Fuzzy sweaters, a mug of coffee or tea or cocoa, and maybe in the not too distant future, even some snow.

When the weather starts to show signs of getting ready for fall, we like to start planning ahead. However, planning for later means figuring up and readying all the little things now - that way, you still have a couple of brain cells left for dealing with whatever other things sneak up on you.

Today's recipe is just as much an introductory meal plan as it is a recipe. We're going to figure out how to feed your crowd tacos on the cheap. Freeze the leftover filling, because next time around, we'll show you how to use exactly the same ingredients to do enchiladas. And as a bonus, for the recipe after that, we'll use the same ingredients to make tostadas. That's three meals in a row designed to use the same things - but without breaking the bank or running back to the store.

It's easy to fall down the rabbit hole of needing every single specialty item for a specific dinner. The real magic of meal planning is that it allows some of the things on the grocery list to do double or triple duty. Once you get this down, you'll be able to make three nights of dinner in one day. That doesn't sound like much... But just wait until you learn to apply it to a holiday dinner.

Ingredients

3 pounds ground beef (we like 80/20)

1 pound dried brown lentils

1 pound carrots

1 yellow onion, diced

1 24-count package corn tortillas

1 15-oz can black beans (or pinto, if you prefer)

3 10-oz cans diced tomatoes and green chilies (use chili-ready tomatoes for less heat)

2 packets taco seasoning*

1 large jar salsa (mild or hot, whatever you like)

4 oz (1/4 pound) cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (reserve the other 3/4 for next recipes)

1/2 head lettuce, chopped

8 oz sour cream

*feel free to sub in any other store-bought or homemade seasoning blend you prefer - or just toss in chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic, if you'd rather keep it simple!

Tools

large pot with lid, slotted spoon, large colander, cheese grater, cutting board, knife, mixing bowls, measuring cup, cooking spray

Pour your dried lentils into the colander, and give them a shake and a rinse. Weed out anything that either isn't actually a lentil (sometimes random debris gets swept up with them) and also anything that looks sad and shriveled. Dump all the good ones into the pot and add enough water to cover them twice over, plop the lid on top and crank up the heat to medium-high. Let them simmer away for at least 20 minutes - we like them to be soft but to still hold their shape. If you cook them much longer than about half an hour, though, they become easier to hide in the final product because they partially dissolve. (Feel free to consider that a picky eater tip, but also a word of caution.)

While your lentils are simmering, rinse out your colander and begin to crack open your canned goods. Pour your beans into the colander and rinse them - this removes the excess dark bean liqueur and prevents it from dyeing the rest of the food icky colors. As they drain, feel free to dump the tomatoes on top of them.

While you're still waiting on your slow-poke lentils (it feels like forever, we know), you can get started with your lettuce. Give it a quick wash and shake off the excess water, then plop it on the cutting board and chop it down to desired size. Set it to the side, since you won't need it for a while yet.

If your onion isn't already diced, this is a good opportunity to take care of that, too. To be honest, we've come to hate onion tears, and now tend to buy the boxes of diced onion in the grocery store cooler case. /lazy

Pick up the cheese grater and grate... the carrots. No, we really aren't kidding. Use the finest grate to shred the whole pound of carrots into a mixing bowl. Then give the grater a quick scrub and shred the cheese into another bowl.

Your lentils should be about done now - test a couple to make sure they're at your chosen level of doneness, and assuming they are, dump them into the colander. Allow them to drain out over the beans and tomatoes but don't rinse.

Preheat your oven to 375. Give your cooking spray a shake and lightly spritz both sides of eight of the corn tortillas. Drape them over the center rack in the oven so that they form a flat surface in the center and both sides are even. (If you're concerned about a mess, there's no reason you couldn't put a sheet of foil on the rack beneath them.) Allow them to heat up along with the oven. Once the oven signals you're at 375, set a timer for ten minutes. At the ten-minute mark, you'll likely be distracted by browning the beef - so it's fine to just turn the oven off and let your taco shells stay warm in there while you finish other tasks.

Put the pot back on the burner and brown up your ground beef in it. Once it's no longer pink, add the carrots and the diced onion and cook a little bit longer. As the onion starts to become translucent, get ready to drain the fat off. Same colander. Yes, for real. And yes, we know the colander is looking pretty full here; there's a reason we specified a large one. Remember you're batch cooking for three meals, so it's bound to look like a lot. It is a lot.

Pour everything from the colander back into the pot. Add eight to ten ounces of water to it, then pour in your packets of taco seasoning (or homemade seasoning) and stir thoroughly to make sure all your powdery ingredients dissolve. Allow it to simmer on medium-low, uncovered, for eight to ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pull your taco shells and stand them up on a plate - one of the big benefits of making your own is that they come out flat-bottomed and can stand up on their own! - to fill. Use a slotted spoon to transfer filling from the pot to the shells. Top with salsa, cheese, lettuce and a dollop of sour cream, and serve. Remember to refrigerate your remaining toppings

Once you're done enjoying your meal, the filling should have had some time to cool. Divide the remaining filling into two-gallon size ziploc bags, label them and drop them in the freezer. Come back next week to learn how to make it into something else!

Let us know what you thought over on our Facebook page, or in the comments below.

If you’re here because your freezer isn’t keeping things on ice, you can call us at ((214) 599-0055) or schedule an appointment via our contact page. We’re always here to help.

Which Grill is Which?

 Taking a look at different fuel types for different grills and what you can achieve. 

Already we’re nearing the end of summer! For many of us, Labor Day is the last chance to host a big backyard party. For just that reason, we’re taking a  look at grills. 

To many of us, a grill is a grill. You light the fire somehow, and you toss food on. You make sure to flip it occasionally, and you don’t let it burn. Then, yay, you have food. For those who are skilled in cooking with a grill, this is a gross simplification. After talking with experts we learned how different grills can actually be used to achieve a different effect. We aren’t talking models, but instead styles. The bells and whistles don’t matter here. 

Charcoal Grill 

One of the most popular types of grills, a charcoal grill is also extremely finicky. They take time to catch the flames and build up the heat needed. Usually, you need about 20-30 minutes to get a solid fire going, and you’ll need time in the end for the coals to be extinguished when you’re done cooking. The good thing about all of this time though is that whatever you cook on the grill is also going to have a rich, smoky, complicated flavor. You can grill anything you want, but steaks, salmon fillets, and as many vegetables as we can fit on the grill are our favorites. You can cook at much lower temperatures with a charcoal grill because the fire will keep going, without going out. 

Gas Grills

If you’re looking for something that heats quickly and can feed a crowd, this is it. Gas grills use propane to heat quickly and evenly, but you’re still able to manage the flame to get different temperatures.  A gas grill can give you a little bit of charring and a little bit of flavor. Even better they’re extremely easy to care for. So if your backyard party is large and you’re looking for the usual hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn, this is a  fantastic choice. 

Kadamo

Maybe you’re looking for something different though. You want something that can maintain the high temps of a gas grill and the low temps of a charcoal grill. Then what you’re looking for is called a kamado grill.  These are grills that are based on ones that China developed 3000 years ago. It can hold a temperature of 225*F or go as high as 1000*F.  They use lump charcoal for fuel, just like a charcoal grill, but their shape and composition allow them to get far hotter.  Unlike a gas grill though, it’s capable of not just grilling foods, but also smoking, roasting, and even baking. 

Pellet Grill 

Pellet grills are easy to use and heat up quickly, which makes them great for weeknights. However, we will point out they don’t get much about 475*F at their highest. This means that if you’re wanting them to sear your meat, you might look at something else. Many of them do have a digital thermostat though that allows you to specify exactly what temperature you want them to hit. A major downside, for us at least, is the difficulty of finding pellets compared to propane or charcoal.  You might be able to if you live in a major area, but not if you plan on taking it with you when you travel. 

Now that you’ve got your preferred grill selected, let’s quickly talk about fire safety. (We know you know, but humor us, ok?)  Every year outdoor cooking fires account for $37 million in property damage. So to prevent your home from being on this list, here are a few things you can do. 

• Make sure you don’t have anything too close to the grill. If it can fly, flap, or be shoved by wind, move it at least 3 feet away from the grill. 

• At the beginning of the day and again at the end, take a few minutes and clean out the grease trap. Doing this can prevent your grill master from getting burned.

• If it’s lit, don’t leave it unattended. If you need to step away, switch places with someone else. 

• Make sure to have a sand bucket nearby. Yes, the food would be absolutely terrible after, but at least you won’t’ be on fire. 

Follow these four rules to enjoy your next outdoor party without worrying. 

Which one are you most interested in? Grills aren’t something we fix, but we do love grilled food as much as the next person, so we’re interested in hearing what you have to say. Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page!

If you’re not up for grilling next weekend though, that means you’re cooking. If your range is giving you trouble, you might want to give us a call. Whether it’s broken, behaving oddly, or you just want to give it a thorough going-over, we’re here for you. You can reach out to us at our contact page or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055).  

Additional Reading: 

Fire in the Kitchen

7 Reasons To Build An Outdoor Kitchen 

What To Know Before You Build Your Outdoor Kitchen

Brown Sugar - Cinnamon Oat Bars

 AKA Tablespoon Cake - AkA The Easiest Cake You’ll Ever Make

This one started out as a copycat recipe - we tried some fancy, expensive diet company snack bars this week. We enjoyed them, but we didn't enjoy the price tag quite so much. So we decided we were going to take a crack at producing something similar, with similar nutritional value. We're even going to do out the irritating math for you, so you know what your calorie intake and your approximate nutrition facts are for each serving.

Keep in mind, for that to stay accurate, you'll need to follow the instructions to the letter... But you could also be like us and wing it, and then re-do the math later. Like we did. Three times.

There was a lot of "less this, more that," and a lot of "what if?" in the making of this one. If you make it better, let us know over on our Facebook page!

Ingredients:

7 Tablespoons granulated sugar

4 Tablespoons quick oats

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour

2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

1 Tablespoon water

2 eggs

Tools:

Mixing bowl, one! measuring spoon - a tablespoon, fork, 9x9 baking pan, aluminum foil, baking spray

Grab your trusty tablespoon and let's get to work.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Measure your two different kinds of sugar and your two different kinds of flour into the mixing bowl - and please do not add more coconut flour in an attempt to make the recipe gluten-free unless you have used coconut flour before. Coconut flour is a very mercurial ingredient and can really muck up a recipe if you're not familiar with its properties.

Add in your oats, your ground flax and your cinnamon. If you're not a fan of the texture the oats add to this, feel free to toss them into a blender for a few pulses and chop them down before you add them.

Take the fork we suggested you have handy, and stir all your dry ingredients together. We know it's all basically one color to start with, but still, you want these things to be uniformly distributed. Otherwise you'll end up with pockets of too much sugar, caramelizing and causing divots in the final product. We're not against crunchy spots where the sugar turned into hard candy, or spicy little lumps of cinnamon for that matter - but these things are not part of the original goal.

Break your eggs into the dry ingredients and toss that tiny little bit of water into the bowl while you're at it. We know one tablespoon doesn't sound like a lot, but it's very important in this recipe. It's low enough moisture to start with that every bit is absolutely necessary - and the coconut flour is going to make it disappear really quickly.

The fork is still the ideal tool to mix your batter. That batter is going to be thick, and it's also going to be sticky. We promise, that's actually what you want. It will yield a dense, chewy oat bar with a brownie-like texture and crunchy edges good for grabbing and running. And since that was the big nameless diet company's original intention with it, we think we're doing alright with this copycat thing.

Once you have everything mixed well, line your baking pan with a layer of aluminum foil (leave enough around the edges to lift by later) and spray the bottom thoroughly with cooking spray. Scoop your batter from the mixing bowl to the center of the baking pan, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go. After you've gotten as much as you can from the mixing bowl, take the fork (yes, again!) and use it to smooth the layer of batter out and push it as far as you can into the corners of the pan. Be gentle and work slowly so that you don't accidentally poke through the aluminum foil.

Pop the pan into the oven and let it bake for half an hour. If you're not sure if it's done after the half-hour, give the pan a little shake. If the center jiggles, put it back for five more minutes. If not, it's ready.

Let it cool for ten minutes, then lift the aluminum foil out of the pan. Invert it over a plate and peel to remove the foil from the bottom of the oat bars. It helps to hold the center down gently and lift up from the corners of the foil.

Flip that plate over onto another so your creation is right side up again, and cut into four equal pieces. We know we've called them oat bars this whole time, but we like to cut them into triangles to mix things up a little.

Each of these four servings will have 5 grams of protein and just under 4 grams of fiber, along with almost 40% of your daily value of vitamin D and 10% of your necessary iron - all for about 190 calories.

Be mindful that there's quite a bit of sugar and carbs in this, also - so it's not exactly a diabetic-friendly recipe as shown here. A little quick math says using Stevia instead of granulated sugar would make quite a dent. That could trim calories down to 130 a serving, cut sugar from 23 grams to only 5 grams, and take total carbohydrate per serving from 34 grams to 18, while also giving a tiny boost to iron and potassium. Even bigger diet company goals accomplished - still without the big name brand price tag!

And if you need new appliance performance, preferably also without the jumbo-sized price tag, maybe reach out to our service department. You can reach them through our contact page, or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055)