Food Fridays: Beef Quesadilla

First of all, don't worry; Fiscal Fridays isn't going anywhere. The series is more popular than I ever anticipated, so I'm keeping it around. But I don't always have a financial topic to talk about, and I love alliteration, so I decided to introduce Food Fridays as another Friday series. Hooray for variety!

Second, a big huge thanks to everyone who gave some feedback on whether to post financial advice or a recipe today. I love knowing what you guys want to see! So yeah, feedback is sweet :)

So. Quesadillas. They're easy and delicious and one of my go-tos on nights that I don't really feel like cooking. Sometimes I make them with just cheese (and dip them in Italian dressing, haha, I'm a strange one), but for this recipe, I added some leftover beef we had in the freezer. Because I was feeding Matt, too, and he's a hungry dude who simply cannot survive on cheese alone ;) Unfortunately, this is one of the recipes where I just kind of winged it. It turned out wonderfully, but I didn't write anything down because I thought I'd remember it. Now here it is, three weeks later, and I'm kind of guessing what I did. But I'm a pretty good guesser, so I'm going to say with some confidence that the recipe below is pretty close to what I actually made :)

You will need:
- about 1/3 pound stew beef, chopped into small pieces
- tomato juice
- Jameson or another decent whiskey
- spices (I'm pretty sure I used ancho chili powder, cumin and regular chili powder)
- hot sauce (optional)
- salt and pepper
- tortilla shells
- cheese (I used a mix of cheddar, mozzarella and Colby Jack)
- cilantro (optional)

Start by pouring about a cup (give or take, this isn't an exact science here) of tomato juice into a medium-sized skillet. Heat until simmering, then add a healthy splash (no more than 1/8 cup) of the whiskey and a good dash of your spices, as well as the hot sauce if using.

Increase the heat to a strong simmer and cook until the alcohol evaporates, about five minutes. If you sniff the pan and still get a strong whiff of alcohol fumes, let it keep simmering. Once the alcohol's mostly burned off, taste the mixture, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Add in the chopped-up beef, then cover and let simmer. Stir occasionally until all the meat is cooked through. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes, depending on how small you chopped it. Reduce heat to low to keep it warm.



While the beef is cooking, heat up another skillet large enough to hold a tortilla. (Griddles work really well for this too, if you have one.) Lay the tortilla flat on the skillet and let it toast a bit.



Flip the tortilla over and add cheese to half of it. (This helps the cheese melt faster and more fully!) Sprinkle with cilantro, if using.



Add the beef on top and fold the tortilla in half. Flip when the underside gets a little brown and crispy. Cook on the other side to the same level of doneness.





And there you have it! A toasty, crunchy tortilla shell wrapped around cheesy and tomato-y beef goodness. Yum. Serve with salsa and sour cream, or just be a lame-o like me and eat it as is ;)

Take two, part two

Aaand, here's the other blog post from Thursday that went missing! These Asian-inspired dishes, as I said before, are so quick and easy to make. It's a Rachael Ray recipe, so naturally I had to cut down the ingredients list a bit to make this a practical meal. Ray-ray loves her long ingredients lists! (This recipe makes enough for two, just FYI.)

Ingredients:
- 1 can each chicken broth and beef broth (or two cans chicken broth)
- 1/2 box linguine
- 1/2 lb stew beef
- a few scallions or chives, cut into bite-size pieces on an angle
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots (I used my mandolin, or you can buy them shredded at the store)
- 1/2 bag frozen snap peas, thawed

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously, then add the linguine. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil in a separate pot (one large enough to hold the broth and the meat). Drain the linguine just before it's finished cooking and divide into two bowls. Put veggies on top of noodles.

Add the beef to the boiling broth and poach until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick the pieces are. Then add the meat to the bowls and ladle the broth over them. Cover the bowls tightly with small plates or foil and let steep for 5 minutes to finish cooking the noodles and the veggies. Uncover and slurp away!

A note: I don't really like to add raw meat to a broth that I'll be eating. Ray-ray insists it's okay, but it weirds me out, so I browned the meat on all sides first in a separate pan with a little bit of sesame oil. You could just as easily use canola oil or another vegetable oil substitute.