Happy New Year!

Well not surprisingly, I did not in fact even manage to stay up to ring in the new year. Could be because I was sitting in someone else's home in the Australian suburbs of Bendigo while they were out at a previously made engagement, with just the wife and a dog (not ours). Or likely it could just be because I am incapable of staying up late 99.99% of the year. Regardless, I was satisfied with my glass of port and watching the "kiddies" fireworks in Sydney at 9pm. I was less satisfied with the brother-in-law who felt the need to burst into our room at 2am after arriving home from previously made engagement to yell Happy New Year and scare the jeepers out of wife and myself.

My favorite local..

It was quite a luxury to escape to summertime (if ever so briefly, in the middle of winter) and be treated to home-grown peaches, plums, lemons, lettuce, beets and potatoes, but it is also a joy to be back in my own kitchen concocting meals.  However while we were temporarily in summer, my mother-in-law introduced me to one of the simplest and most delicious salad recipes ever: roasted beets, orange zest, and balsamic vinegar. If you want to make it a little more complicated, you can add some orange juice. :) That's it. The most perfect salad - hot, luke-warm, or cold.

Eucalyptus sunset

Actually I could get into the Australian style of Christmas meals. It goes something like: prepare 3-4 cold salads the day before or the morning of. Roast one ham. The end. Was there dessert? Yep! Plum pudding cooked 3 weeks before and stored in the freezer. Hard to beat in terms of non-fuss. I may well carry this tradition forward to north america this year ..... oh wait, that would mean giving up my menu planning of a 12 dish meal with unlimited budget supplied by my parents?! Are you kidding??

Coming home to incredible Northwest views

 Now to kick off the New Year with: a casserole! I know, it's not swanky sounding but it's an incredibly versatile casserole and it always makes enough to supply 2 people's worth of lunches and dinners for at least 4 days! Yay!  It's based off a recipe my mom gave me, who knows where she got it, but here goes. (The key is good salsa).

Mexican Tortilla Casserole
18-20 corn tortillas
1-2 cups grated cheese (cheddar, monterary jack, a mix, mexican cheese blend etc.)
Salsa verde or regular salsa, probably 1.5-2.5 cups worth
1-2 16 oz cans black beans (or freshly cooked black beans)
1 package mexican veggie ground round (or you could use cooked ground beef)
1 large onion  *optional
2 large bell peppers  *optional
2-4 cloves garlic  *optional
sliced black olives or green olives (NOT KALAMATA)  *optional
1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated *optional

1. If you are including optional vegetable ingredients: chop the onion and bell pepper and saute in olive or canola oil until tender. Saute the grated sweet potato (or steam it) until tender.  You could also cook it in in small chunks, boiled or roasted. Roasted would be excellent.
2. In a lightly greased (or not greased) 11x13 pan (with tall sides), spread a thin layer of salsa followed by overlapping corn tortillas (I use about 6 per layer), followed by a layer of beans, meat, veggies, cheese, olives. Then tortillas, salsa, beans, meat, veggies, cheese, olives. Then tortillas, salsa, cheese, and olives.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes until bubbling along the edges.
4. You could also serve this with rice as a side.