The Best Roast Beef Hash Recipe

I don't want to lose this recipe. It's very hard to find. It's so good that having it in multiple places helps me to not misplace it.

I got the recipe from the Parade section of the Sunday paper in 2007. There's no eggs over easy, no celery, no leftover gravy, precooked potatoes, no extraneous fresh herbs. What makes this delicious for me is the red and green peppers; hence, it's name Confetti Roast Beef Hash.

Sometimes I like to use a purple onion to really bump up the color.

Confetti Roast Beef Hash
2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 pound leftover roast beef, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 pound thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 onion, chopped
1 each red and green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper, to taste

 1. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, 8 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl with the beef.

 2. Cook the bacon over medium heat to render the fat, 5 minutes. Add the onion and bell peppers; cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the potatoes and roast beef, along with the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Toss.

 3. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet, then spread the hash mixture evenly in the skillet and weight it down with something heavy, like a smaller skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until golden brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the hash over with a spatula and cook until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Spoon the hash onto six plates. Serve immediately.

Our New Favorite Salad Dressing

Costco had an El Torito Chicken Caesar Salad kit that was outstanding.  I was telling a friend about it and she said that her husband made the El Torito dressing from scratch a lot in the 90's.  She said it was SO good and that the recipe was on the internet.  Sure enough it was very easy to find.  The recipe looked like it was a little bit of a pain in the butt.  I was up to the challenge for a delicious salad dressing though.

I read the comments that came with the dressing recipe to make sure nothing negative was said.  The only comment I read that caught my eye was it made too much dressing.  The recipe makes a quart.  I make Ranch dressing quite a bit and that recipe makes 2 cups, which is the perfect amount.  I decided to halve the recipe from the get go.

My Notes:  Roasting a pepper at my house is kind of a pain.  My oven sets off the smoke alarm.  So, can't broil it.  I have a portable roaster, so I set it up under my exhaust fan above stove.  It took an hour to roast the pepper.  Next batch I started the BBQ and again it took about an hour to roast one stinkin pepper.  Next I put my comal (cast iron plate) on the stove and roasted the pepper.  It worked the best of all my attempts.  I suspect if you can use your broiler in the oven that might be the fastest.

Finding roasted pumpkin seeds out of the shell have been a challenge.  Still haven't found any.  Maybe the health food store?  In it's place I used roasted sunflower seeds.  That worked great.  I just recently sat a shelled some roasted pumpkin seeds I'll let you known if I notice a big difference.

Cotija cheese tastes to me like just very salty kind of flavorless cheese.  I did buy some and use it, but in the future I always have Parmesan on hand I will try that and let you know how that works out.

Cilantro is what really makes this dressing in my opinion.  Yes, take the time to wash and stem one whole bunch.  This is what gives the dressing its beautiful green color too.  The pepper does not make it that pretty green color.  My dad doesn't like cilantro and I was worried he wouldn't like the dressing.  We went camping and it was the only dressing choice.  He asked me what made the dressing green.  I lied like a rug and said it was the roasted pepper.  After I talked him down from a minor freak out that anaheim peppers were not "spicy hot" he enjoyed the dressing.  He didn't even mention it had cilantro in it.

So, all and all is this a healthy dressing no, but every now and then it's a great delicious choice.  I've found 2 cups serves about 12 people.  Now on to the dressing recipe.  The recipe I have below is already scaled down to the 2 cup proportion.  BTW it fits into my Ranch Dressing container perfect for pouring and keeping dressing mixed.  I see it every now and then at the grocery store by the Hidden Valley Ranch packets.  Tupperware also sells a similar container.

El Torito Cilantro and Pepita Salad Dressing

1 medium anaheim chilies, roasted, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 garlic cloves, peeled
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces salad oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons grated Cotija cheese (you can also use Parmesan cheese if you cannot find Cotija)
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stemmed
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup water

Place all dressing ingredients except cilantro, mayonnaise and water in a blender of food processor.

Blend approximately 10 seconds, and then add cilantro little by little until blended smooth.

Depending on size of blender, it may be necessary to do in batches.

Place mayonnaise and water in a large stainless steel bowl, and mix with a wire whip until smooth.

Add the blended ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture, and mix thoroughly.

Place in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Will keep for three days.

A Beast of a Carrot!

My dad grows a pretty big garden every year. He's retired and has the time and loves fresh produce. In February we were up for a visit and he said he still had carrots in the garden. My daughter ran down to pick one. She loves a good uncooked carrot. Cooked carrots that's another story. All I have to say is "Thanks a lot Marley!" ;) Anyhow my daughter comes back with a carrot she referred to as "The Beast." This is what she came back with...

We had a good laugh, thought only in Rough and Ready do the carrots grow this big and washed it off.

We started wondering how should it be served? Chop up into carrot sticks? What I ended up doing was slicing it in big rounds. Then I used a large round biscuit cutter, which was perfect for cutting off the outer ring of skin. I served the carrot in large circles on every one's plate for dinner. They were delicious.

Toying with Vegetables

In an effort to be more healthy I cracked open my cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld called "Deceptively Delicious." I decided to do a recipe my family already loves Macaroni and Cheese. I had a butternut squash all ready to bake. One of the vegetables called for in the recipe. I first thought butternut squash might be too flavorful to disguise. I went on with the recipe after I had baked my butternut squash. I used sharp reduced fat cheddar. Also a slight change in procedure as my butternut squash wasn't moist enough to puree by itself. I added half the milk from the recipe and it pureed up nicely. So, when the recipe said "add milk" I ended up adding the butternut puree too. It didn't seem to effect the outcome.


As I was coming to the end of making the sauce I got a spoon and took a taste. Anxious to see if it was over powered by butternut puree. It tasted fantastic. Then the aftertaste kicked in.... a very strong strange butternut aftertaste. I was SO disappointed. I thought I can't feed my family this. They'll know I'm trying to pull one over on them and not very successfully! I got to thinking I'd season it up like I do my own homemade Mac N Cheese. My seasonings wouldn't add any calories or fat and it might just disguise the butternut aftertaste. I added a sprinkle of onion powder, a sprinkle of dried mustard and small squirt of Worcestershire sauce. I'm guessing about a 1/4 tsp of each. Viola, it did cover up the butternut after taste! Now to serve it.


Keeping dinner simple I steamed up some broccoli and served. Everyone liked it. Everyone knew it was a new recipe and a more healthy recipe. The only comment was that the sharp cheese was a little strong. Maybe use medium next time. Not one word about leaving out the butternut squash. Evidently, I did fool them as they didn't know it was in there.


Macaroni and Cheese 1 (with Butternut Squash or Cauliflower)
Created by Jessica Seinfeld

Ingredients:Serves 4
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup nonfat skim milk
1/2 cup butternut or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces)
4 ounces (almost 1/4 cup) reduced-fat or nonfat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander.While the macaroni is cooking, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the oil, then the flour, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned, 1 to 2 minutes.Add the milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until the mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, Cheddar, cream cheese and seasonings and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Stir in the macaroni and serve warm.

Don't turn your back on this delicious dish!

This is the spinach dish my 2 year old son would steal off my plate if I looked the other way. Seems like a crazy thing for a kid to like, but who's gonna stop them?

Spinach Maria

2 pk frozen chopped spinach
2 pk 8 oz cream cheese
1 onion
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese or more
1 teaspoon butter
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cook spinach according to directions, drain very well. Saute onion in butter until tender. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Add spinach, parmesan cheese, and pepper. Cook several minutes more. Stir until well blended. Place in greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Lynne's note: The only real change I made was to add one more cream cheese. It just wasn't creamy enough for me. I use the 1/3 less fat cream cheese. As for the cayenne pepper... I don't like things that burn my mouth I'm a whimp that way, so I add half as much of the cayenne pepper. This dish is also really good served cold and taken to a picnic.

5 vegetable servings a day... are you trying to kill me?!

Yes, this is how I feel about vegetables. I try and eat healthy for myself. I have kids and I need to eat healthy and make them eat healthy. In the world of fruits and vegetables I feel like I just don't like many of them. Although once I start to name them off... the ones I like... I do like quite a few. My kids, my son in particular is pretty picky about the ones he likes. I read many years ago to start kids off eating a variety of fruits and vegetables and they'll like them all their lives. BIG FAT LIE! If anything my son's love of fruits and vegetables gets less and less each year. He's the kid that loved carrot juice. He's the kid that stole creamed spinach off my plate when I stepped away from the table to get napkins one night. It became a game after that. When it was Spinach Maria night I'd say, "Now don't you touch my spinach!" I'd come back and he'd have eaten it. Not a bad game get your kid to willingly eat spinach. My daughter started in the opposite direction. She didn't care for many things when young and has embraced fruits and vegetables more and more the older she's got. In middle school she asked if she could make her own lunches, because the hot lunches at school just weren't healthy. As a mother I remained calm and showed no emotion (wanted to jump for joy!) and said sure. Just write on the grocery list the things you want for lunches. She's been packing ever since.

I know where my son gets it as the older I get the less fruit and vegetables I want to eat too. So, when I do I want to get as many into a meal as I can. This is where my friend Julia showed me a book she bought by Jessica Seinfeld called "Deceptively Delicious ." This gal has written a book where she's hidden vegetables in recipes. Again something I've been doing for years and why the heck didn't I write a book. Anyhow she's got it down to a science (sort of) in that she REALLY hides the vegetables by making purees. I thought this would work to get more vegetables in my day as well as my kids.
I went to my friend Julia's house and we spent an evening cooking and pureeing vegetables to be prepared for the recipes. I knew that like Ms. Seinfeld I would not be making purees every week. So, I decided to freeze mine in portions suitable for the recipes. That created a problem as some recipes ask for 1/2 cup, some 1/4 cup and some 2 tablespoons of pureed vegetables. I thought that is a either a lot of baggies or plastic containers. That seemed cumbersome and wasteful. So, I decided to freeze my purees in 2 tablespoon size portions in ice cube trays. At first I used a 1 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to fill the trays. This worked out really well. Then I realized that each cube held 2 tablespoons and therefore measuring was no longer necessary. I then just snipped the corner off my baggies and filled the trays. This worked out GREAT! After frozen I then popped out the cubes into containers to store in the freezer.

This has worked out SO great. I keep planning on trying one of Ms. Seinfeld's recipes, but popping these veggies into my own recipes has worked out great. Funny thing is I have teenagers and my son actually read the book so he'd be prepared for any hidden vegetables coming his way. He quizzes me daily thinking he'll find out I'm making one of her recipes, but I haven't. One evening I was making my spaghetti and meatballs and he thought it was the "Deceptively Delicious" recipes. I asked, "Are there spaghetti and meatball recipes in the book?" He said sheepishly, "Yes." I asked, "Have you read the book?" Then he laughed and said, "Here I thought I was calling you out and ended up calling myself out." We had a good laugh.

I've really enjoy adding a bit more nutrition to my day (and my kids'). When I actually use one of her recipes I'll review it here. Her idea on ready made purees is genius though. Having them on hand means you can defrost in the microwave if need be and use them at a moments notice. I've slipped carrot puree into my "Mom"ba Juice. I've slipped sweet potato puree into my spaghetti sauce. Neither time could I taste the addition. Life is getting healthier.