Mexican Casserole

My momma loved a casserole. What she lacked in formal cooking skills, she made up for in creativity. Give that woman a casserole dish and step back. One of my personal favorites was her Mexican casserole. She always said when she was pregnant, one of her biggest cravings was Wendy's taco salad. Of course they stopped making it so she had to reinvent her own version. It wound up looking like a taco and a lasagna had a baby, but put it on top of crisp lettuce and ice cold tomatoes and wow.
This recipe is the closest I could find to hers:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/20680/easy-mexican-casserole/
I went for more of an enchilada feel by rolling up my meat, salsa, and black beans into corn tortillas. I made my own cheese sauce which was so yummy as the topping. I had to add my salsa to the food processor because it was chunkier than I like. Love love love my mom's food processor. I want to plug the Hormel packaged taco meat for anyone in a hurry. So easy to use and tasty. We saved so much time we ended with some cookies. The family is full and happy and the kitchen is safe another day. It wasn't my mom's casserole, but it was yummy. It also reminded me that my mom wasn't a chef and was super busy but she was still able to put together a home cooked meal for us every night. I aspire to be more like my mom in that way. Till the next mom made adventure!

I can mess up boiled eggs?!

Project 1: Boiled eggs

My mom made boiled eggs pretty regularly. It is the one item I thought I had down to a science. Place eggs in a large pot cover with cold water, bring to a boil, boil for 10 minutes uncovered. Drain and peel. Simple right?

Wrong! I love to watch Good Eats with Alton Brown. He is a cooking rockstar. I love how he gets all science-y in the kitchen. Very specific. I can follow that. So the other day I was watching an episode on Spinach Salad and he boils eggs. My jaw dropped. Eggs don't have to have yucky gray yolks? They can be yellow and fluffy? What is this magic? 

Fast forward to today when Terry buys eggs and says he wants to boil some. We find the episode and give it a try. 

Place your eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and set aside 15 minutes. Drain, cool in ice water and peel.

They were amazing! Fluffy yolks! Now I can eat the yolks. We pulled out some tuna and pickles and mayo for the normal people and had a delicious dinner. I think my mom would approve. 

Moms can all cook right?

I've been thinking about starting this blog for a while now. Last month was the sixth anniversary of my mom's passing. Just like many people told me, it hasn't gotten easier. However, my two daughters are great reminders of my mom and my childhood. I find myself showing them pictures and telling them stories of the amazing woman they will never get to meet. I want to share everything. How funny she was, how tough, how caring.

She was not a chef, my dad loves to tell us that she couldn't cook when they got married. She was not one of those moms that spent hours in the kitchen. Yet, we never starved and some of my favorite memories involve food. Now I have my own kids and no cooking skills. I can't let them starve. I'm embarrassed to say we eat out more than we should. Since it's the holiday season, I figure it's time to dust off those memories and try to figure out how to cook.

Unfortunately, my mom was a cook by taste with no recipes to follow. Here comes Pinterest to save the day! All of my hours weren't wasted! There's my starting point then I'll just tweak it till it tastes right. Voila! If I can manage to not burn the house down. We do own a fire extinguisher. Here's my Pinterest board for this blog if you would like a preview of the recipes I'll start experimenting with:
https://www.pinterest.com/jessica_wright1/things-my-mom-made/

There are a couple I have already mastered: cornbread, red beans and rice, and pigs in a blanket woohoo! There are a couple I have attempted before: fried rice, chicken and dumplins, and cheeseballs.
There are a couple that terrify me: Mexican casserole and coconut cake.
But overall I think it will be pretty entertaining and maybe tasty. Tea will be my sous chef, Terry is my taste tester, and Emory will give the pep smiles. I promise to provide some funny play by plays and some cute pictures. Like this one. My mom being super 80s fashionable with a skillet on her head. This picture sums up this project perfectly.

So what feeling comes to your mind when you're in the kitchen? Fear, excitement? Do you have a favorite food memory to share?