Tortilla-Tamale Pie

Tortilla-Tamale Pie
original recipe by Steve Tamburrino

1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tblsp taco seasoning
1 tblsp flour
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can (16 oz) kernel corn, drained
1 cup black olives, pitted and halved
12 (5 inch) corn tortillas
8 oz shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (I used mozzarella)

In a large skillet, brown beef and onion. Drain. Stir in garlic powder, taco seasoning and flour. Gradually add tomato sauce, beef broth and corn. Bring to a boil. Stir and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add olives. Lightly grease a 13x9 pan. Overlap tortillas in pan covering bottom and sides. Pour beef mixture on top of tortillas. Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts.

Serves 6

Ready to be baked


Ready to be served


It did not come out of the dish very nicely,,,,,,


Close up of the leftover in the pan


First off let me tell you about something I do,,,,,,,,I write in my cookbooks. Yes that's right I write in them. If I change an ingredient or the quantity of something I note what I changed. I always write a comment about how the recipe turned out. Was it good, great, awesome or did it totally stink. If it was something that I thought was horrid and I would never make it again I actually mark through the recipe, lest the title persuade me to try it again somewhere down the road. I got this habit from my mother.

So for this recipe I made a few changes.
I used a whole medium sized onion not just a cup of chopped onion.
I substituted the garlic powder with 4 cloves of fresh garlic.
I used a small can of sliced olives, maybe 2.5 ounces.

We both agreed it tasted good but you couldn't really taste the taco seasoning. Next time we will use an entire package of taco seasoning.

Be warned, when I first added the tomato sauce and beef broth I thought it was a little watery, but after simmering it thickened up and then got even better once it had baked in the oven.

Baked Ham with Savory Apricot Sauce

Baked Ham with Savory Apricot Sauce
original recipe from Steve Tamburrino

1 1/2 lb boneless canned ham
1 can (15oz) apricot halves in syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp cornstarch
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced
1 tsp butter

In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients except for dried apricots and butter. Blend for 1 minute until smooth. Pour into medium saucepan; stir in dried apricots. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; lower heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve warm with ham.





I really liked the apricot sauce with the ham. Very tasty and not too sweet. Changes I made: I used 3 large cloves of garlic and since I did not have Worcestershire sauce I substituted** the same amount of A-1 steak sauce. I also forgot to add the butter at the end but I don't think that would have made a difference.

**A few years ago I bought a book "The Food Substitutions Bible" it is wonderful and gives "more than 5,000 substitutions for ingredients, equipment and techniques". I think everyone should have one. $15 on Amazon

The Positions of Kelekona

We have had Kelekona two weeks now and it is fun to watch her. She seems to think that MY chair is really hers and everytime I turn round she is sleeping in it.

Check out the photos,




What a cutie!

Spring Cleaning,,,Outdoors

Life in the mountains is not always fun. Yes the winters offer skiing or sledding and the summers have concerts, flowers and some great local produce. But after a long cold winter the outside needs some work before we can enjoy the time "living" outside.

We started on Saturday morning by draining the pond near the front door. It was a mess from decomposing leaves, three very dead frogs and a few small pieces of firewood.

The pond as it is being drained. I was extremely grateful when Richard said he would step into the pond and clean it out.


By early afternoon the clouds had built and we had to run inside. We watched through the french doors as the storm moved through. Lots of lightening, heavy rain and two rounds of hail,,maybe the size of marbles.

Sunday morning I awoke early and was treated to a lovely sunrise.


After Richard had made us breakfast and did the dishes we headed outside to finish out projects. One was to move the wood that we had stacked on the back deck last fall (see Another Working Weekend 11/10/10). All that wood was stacked where our outside dining table goes and it had to be moved. I sorted it out into two piles. One pile went back into the woodshed and the other was neatly stacked near the fountain to be burned in the chimenea.


By lunchtime we had the pond scrubbed and refilled. The frog is now running again for the summer.


Here is our fountain and the chiminea wood.


At the end of the weekend we were able to enjoy the fruit of our labors and sat outside in front of the fire.

Ham, Pecan and Blue Cheese Pasta Salad

The cookbook for the month of April is Our Cup Runneth Over and was put together by the Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church. I vowed I would not make any of my own recipes when using this cookbook, that would be cheating,,,,,,,sort of.

Anyway, the first recipe I made for this month is a Ham, Pecan and Blue Cheese Pasta Salad. I have several comments at the end of this blog.



Ham, Pecan and Blue Cheese Pasta Salad
recipe originally from Dianne Kirkwood

3 cups cooked pasta (ziti or bow tie)
4 cups cooked ham, chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
4 oz. Blue cheese crumbles
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tblsp fresh rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. (Better if left overnight) Serve on lettuce leaves with garlic bread.




First off since I have an abundance of tri-color rotini I used that as the pasta. I only had dried rosemary and parsley so I used that, only in lesser amounts. I used 4 large cloves of garlic.

I asked Richard what he thought and he said it was good and needed no changes. I however had a different view. I thought the rosemary was too much. I thought the salad was too dry, it needs more dressing and next time I would not add the pecans until right before serving so they would be crisp. Also, blue cheese crumbles come in 5 oz packages so I used all 5 ozs.

Sorry the picture isn't the best. I almost forgot to take it.

A Sunday Stroll

Last Sunday was just too nice to stay inside so we decided to talk a walk with the "kids".

Those of you who have met Lili know of her great intense desire to play fetch. So before we were off the property she had found a stick. Richard made her day by throwing up into the vacant land.

All three dogs would go running after it. But Lili always gets there first,,she is really fast. If you look left to right; there is Morgan bringing up the rear, Kele in the middle and Lili in the lead on the right.


Lili waits for the next stick toss while Kele eats snow.


Lili tracks the path of the stick while Kele tries to get to Lili.


The pause that refreshes,,,,,since they do not salt our roads the snow lasts longer on the sides. Here the Kele eats the last of the snow.


Liliuokalani enjoying her Sunday outing.


Sir Henry Morgan,,handsome as always.


On a footnote: Kelekona got an unplanned swim lesson on Tuesday morning. For some reason she decided to turn right at the bottom of the front porch stairs and wound up in the pond. Lucky for her its only 18-24" deep and she was able to get out. For a picture of the pond go to my May 2010 entry "Its Spring But Its Not Warm.

I felt bad for her as it was 28 outside with snow and sleet. Richard is willing to bet that she never goes in the pond again.

A Lazy Saturday

Yes it is April and yes it is supposed to be Spring. However we woke up to about 2 inches of fresh snow. We let the "kids" out and fed them then Richard made us French toast for breakfast.

Late morning we headed down to our local grocery store for a few items. They are almost done with a huge remodeling project and had a large amount of wine on clearance for 50% off as it was being discontinued. Of course we had to buy some,, roughly a case of it plus a couple more bottles.

Richard had been talking about how we just have to have a Calzone sometime. So while we were at the store we picked up the necessary ingredients.

As we headed into the kitchen to have fun with food Kelekona and Morgan took up their posts at the edge of the kitchen to watch and hope that somehow some food would be sent their way.


Richard and I combined 3 different recipes to create the filling for our calzone. After a minute of hand mixing he decided to get smart and use the mix-master instead.


Once the filling was ready he rolled out the dough, stuffed it and sealed it.


Now since we had purchased all this wine and were playing in the kitchen he decided that we should have a wine tasting. We had never heard of cranberry wine. It tastes just like cranberry juice.


After a great dinner and some wine we watched Secretariat. What a great movie. By the end of the movie Kelekona was out and Richard was trying to stay awake.