Fresh Caprese Sandwich

My social media feed has been full of varieties of fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, balsamic glaze and breads. Sometimes it shows fresh peaches, sometimes it shows prosciutto, sometimes they also use brie. Sometimes it's a dip or a sandwich or a tooth-picked appetizer... So many yummy suggestions!! 

I don't want to forget this one, so here you go! 

I bought a loaf of sourdough (from Sam's Club- inexpensive and yummy!) fresh mozzarella (happy to discover it was already sliced), beefsteak tomatoes, and some fresh basil. I also bought prosciutto and fresh peaches, but those weren't part of the first plan. Then the prosciutto was suggested and I still forgot to pull it out. 

My husband did a balsamic glaze, according to The Pioneer Woman blog HERE. 

I put all the slices of bread on the pampered chef baking stone (circa 2000- not dishwasher safe!) and drizzled some olive oil on the top side. Then I broiled it in the oven for about three minutes.

(above shows before the went in the oven. You can kind of see the oil drizzles...)

That single slice was cut in half for my kiddo. To the toasted side, I added fresh sliced beef steak tomato, then fresh mozzarella, then topped it with the other half of the bread.

It went in the air fryer for four minutes, at 400*. (ours has a pull out basket)
For the half sandwich, I added just a few drops of the balsamic vinegar glaze, and just a little bit of torn fresh basil leaves.

Below is my husband's dinner.

It was SO good!! 

My husband said it would have been even better with the prosciutto, he really wanted that hit of salt. Honestly, it could have stood a bit of freshly ground black pepper, so why not salt too? But it was so yummy and I am glad that was our dinner tonight! 

My kiddo asked if we could have pancakes next time. hahaha! 

~~~
Another day I made this open face version

And another day, I used up the French Emmental cheese that we're not fans of, that comes in a cheese platter we ARE fans of, haha.... 

It's all delicious!! 

Sweet Potato Avacado Soup

Today's recipe comes from a facebook page called 10 Pound Challenge with Melanie Douglass. I have followed this page for a few January's now, but I have never actually, officially joined. I just really enjoy the tips and food and workout suggestions. This was actually shared a year ago, but I finally tried it this weekend. 

This is what I did: 

1 sweet potato, as long as my hand and half as wide

1/2 avocado

1 tbsp lime juice

Freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup milk

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

I peeled and baked the sweet potato on a foil covered baking sheet, at 425* for close to 2 hours. I pulled it off the foil, lol, and put all the ingredients in my blendtec. I pureed it on the "whole juice" setting. I did scrape it down once and pulsed a few times to really blend it. Then I microwaved it for 2 minutes to get it hot! haha!

It says it makes 2 servings, and I ate probably 2/3 of it.

Full disclosure: I grew tired of it after a while, and I finally added a small pinch of shaved Parmesan to it. I wouldn't want this regularly, but every so often, it would be just fine. Pretty sure this will be lunch tomorrow!

I made two dinners that night: My daughter could live off spaghetti if we let her, and since it's quick and easy, we make it a lot....and I am tired of it!!! But I know the rest of my family really enjoys it, and, I knew they would not enjoy this so much. So I made spaghetti for them and this soup for me. I had them all try it and they all three pulled quite a face, haha, so no, this won't be a common meal around here. Still- a good one for my lunches!
~~~~
And here's the information with the original recipe.

1 large sweet potato (baked to soft flesh)
1 ripe avocado
Peel and put flesh in a blender with 1 cup of water. Puree.
Add juice from 1/2 a lime and a bunch of fresh ground black pepper. Puree a few more seconds. If you want it thinner, add a bit of milk or water.
Stir in some Crushed Red Pepper flakes and serve! Cold or hot. It's a thick creamy soup. Yummy! (er, on the scale of a "cleanse" recipe that has no sodium or junk and tons of fiber to promote weight loss wink emoticon. You can play around with other seasonings, like chipotle, cayenne or nutmeg, etc. But red pepper flakes did it for me!

Makes 2 servings and packs some powerful nutrition:
240 calories (per serving)
50% heart-healthy monounsaturated fat
10 grams fiber
4 grams protein (not as high as I like, but it's a complete protein)
350% Vitamin A (want healthy glowing skin?)
50% Vitamin C
30% Potassium, Vit K, Folate, Manganese

Autumn Oatmeal

While grocery shopping recently I saw a box of instant oatmeal with 'applesauce & cranberry' as it's listed flavor. At first glance I thought that sounded good then I instantly realized I could make it myself. That's almost always healthier anyway, right?

These were the ingredients I pulled from my cupboard...

These are the measurements I put in my bowl....
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp craisins
1/2 tbsp pecans cookie bits (which means almost pulverized)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup milk

I stirred it together and microwaved it all for 2 minutes.
And here was my breakfast!

It was very quick and easy. And it was tasty just as it was! I think you could add more water or milk, but I like my oatmeal "dry". Just note that it does get drier as it sits there...haha. You could add some cinnamon or nutmeg, but really, the applesauce and craisins add enough sweetness for me, and that's saying something.

Potato Leek Soup & Brown Bread

Burt's Potato Leek Soup

3 Big Leeks (all of the white part and as much of the green part you think is edible)
3 lbs of potatoes (russet) cut into bite size chunks
1 onion minced
6 cups chicken broth or stock
1/4 cup butter for sweating, sauteing the leeks and onions
1/4 cup butter into the soup after the potatoes and stock are added
2 tbsp of minced garlic
Salt, Pepper (didn't measure these. Use until you think it's enough)
about 1/2 tsp each of Rubbed Sage, Celery Seed, Onion powder, ground thyme
2 to 3 tbsp of dried chopped chives
1 cup of half & half

Put the butter into a soup pot on med high, melt it, throw in the leeks, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and sweat/saute them until they break down and get soft. Takes about 10 to 15 mins.

Throw in the potatoes, toss them around and get everything nice and mixed up. Pour in the 6 cups of chicken broth, all of the herbs/spices and the rest of the butter. Bring to a quick slight boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft and all fall aparty. (it's a technical term)

At this point you can use a potato masher to kind of mash it all and leave chunks of everything or pull out the stick blender and blend until nice and smooth.

For the final touch pour in the half & half (or heavy cream if you want), stir it all up, add more salt and pepper if it needs it, then serve it up. Enjoy!

And the delicious molasses brown bread recipe came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found HERE.

I am posting Mel's full recipe here just in case her website goes away.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses

2 tablespoons unsweetened, natural cocoa powder

3 tablespoons oil (see note)

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional – see note)

3 cups white whole wheat flour

3-4 cups all-purpose flour

2-3 tablespoons butter, melted

Old-fashioned oats for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon if powering through this by hand), combine the water, yeast, molasses, cocoa powder, oil, honey, salt, gluten (if using), and 2 cups of the whole wheat flour. Mix until combined.

With the mixer running, slowly add the rest of the whole wheat flour. Start adding the white flour gradually until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5-7 minutes (about 10-15 if kneading by hand). The dough should be soft and slightly tacky but shouldn’t leave a lot of residue on your fingers if you grab a piece.

Turn the dough into a large, lightly greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap or a light towel, and let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.

Lightly punch down the dough and divide into three equal pieces. Form into tight oval loaves and place on parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheets (I fit two loaves on one large, rimmed 11X17-inch baking sheet and the third loaf on another baking sheet). Lightly cover with greased plastic wrap or a light towel and let rise until puffy and doubled in size. Optional: right before baking, using a very sharp razor, knife or bread-slashing lame (I use this one from King Arthur Flour), cut three deep slashes in the top of each loaf.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and lightly brush with about a tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle with the oats and bake for another 5-7 minutes.

NOTES:

I’ve used all sorts of different oil making this bread: olive, avocado, melted coconut. You could also use canola or vegetable oil.

The vital wheat gluten is optional but I highly recommend it if you want a really soft, light, chewy loaf of bread. Another alternative is to use bread flour in place of the white flour (and omit the gluten). Also, if you don’t have wheat flour, you can make this with 100% white flour. I haven’t tried making this with all whole wheat flour – if you experiment, I’d suggest increasing the kneading time by a few minutes to really develop that gluten and get a soft, light loaf.

The oats in the recipe are more for looks – and they tend to fall off while slicing but I like the look and texture of them so I’ve kept them along for the ride. You could easily omit them if they’re not really you’re thing.

This recipe transitions very well to rolls (about 12-14) or any size of loaves.

My own carrot soup!

So maybe a year ago, maybe longer, I decided to absolutely keep linking to the sources of the recipes (copyright, etc), but also to copy the actual recipe in here, just in case that website ever took it down. And this is why: I cannot for anything find the carrot soup recipe I loved.
I never printed it, that I can tell, so that added to my frustration.
In my notes I said to half the butter, but not one recipe I found used any butter and in fact only used very small quantities of any oil at all!
And most of these had savory spices, or lemon, and mine had sweeter spices....
This meant I had to get creative and make my own recipe up, off memory and based upon the ones I found online. So here's what I did....

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
3 small russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger root
1 tbsp minced garlic
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water
plenty of freshly ground black pepper
dash of salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Saute the onion in the coconut oil (on the stove top) til soft and translucent.
Put the onion and all other ingredients into the crock pot, cooked on high for 2.5 hours.
Puree with a stick blender, and serve!
*we did add salt to taste, after it was pureed, to brighten the flavors. And one or two of us added some shredded parmesan to the bowl.

It was a hit! Everyone enjoyed it, and one of the kids even had more later!! Trust me- that tells you it was good!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I was starting to just pin the online recipes we're using... You can find the recipes I'm interested in trying HERE and the recipes we have tried and enjoyed are HERE. And yes, certainly, some are also found on this blog. *grin
But making tonight's dinner we didn't follow the instructions, and I want to record how we made it. Because I hate washing dishes by hand and at this point in our lives I feel like I can only "make" my kids wash hand dishes once a week, and I was not going to dirty a bunch of dishes for one pot of soup! You can find the original recipe and instructions HERE. We stuck to the ingredients, just put them in the pot in different orders.

I started by putting 1/4 cup butter in the pot and letting it start to melt. Then I dumped three cups of half-thawed chopped broccoli in, and the salt and pepper, and let it heat thru, stirring not quite constantly but more than occasionally...
Then, I poured in the turkey stock we made after Thanksgiving and froze, with a heaping tablespoon of dehydrated onion (but only because I was pulling out stuff for dinner when I discovered we were out of onions). I brought that to a boil and let it all simmer on medium high heat to soften the broccoli and re-hydrate the onions.
I added the 1/3 cup flour and whisked it in completely. Then I slowly poured in the 2 cups of milk, not heated, and continued whisking...We added maybe a teaspoon of granulated garlic, and about a teaspoon of onion salt too.
When it was fully heated thru again I slowly added the shredded swiss, and then the shredded cheddar, continually whisking, and making sure each handful of cheese was fully incorporated before adding more.
And then we served it with slices of French bread and a glass of milk!

It turned out great- even the child who said "it has too much broccoli flavor" ate it right up! Yeay for cold, rainy days, and hot, creamy soup!

9/21/17 ETA
Today is supposed to be the first really cold evening this autumn, and it is a jam-packed evening at my house. We're going to have a late dinner of this broccoli soup, done in the crock pot.

And just in case the link stops working, the ingredients are listed here:

• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, preferably sharp or extra sharp
• 1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups chopped, lightly steamed or blanched broccoli

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

So today I tried a breakfast from a healthy living challenge you can view HERE.

Breakfast: Peanut butter oatmeal ~400 cal
1/2 c dry oats
2/3 cup milk 
1 big spoonful peanut butter
1 tsp cocoa powder
few drops of honey
Mix milk and oats, microwave on 50% power for 1 - 3 minutes. Then mix in pb, cocoa and honey. (It's not a flavor explosion, but it's smooth, creamy, low sugar, high fiber and good protein... don't expect it to taste like a cinnamon roll wink emoticon
*Regular peanut butter and dairy milk are higher protein, but it's fine modify to almond/soy/etc for your personal preferences. 

Turns out, she's right, it is rather bland, but it isn't bad at all. And I can eat exactly half of it. Hmm...But I like the change up from my daily smoothies, so I'm keeping the recipe!

My Favorite Zupas Copycat!

I {heart} Zupas! If you don't know what that means, you can check it out HERE.
My very favorite is their Nuts About Berries Salad, with an Ultimate Grilled Cheese on the side, haha!
I can't recreate the salad dressing and I won't usually pay for the fresh berries either, so that one I really get there. the sandwich is another story...!
I found a link on Pinterest to make their mayo, and splurged on a jar of pesto and a block of Muenster cheese, and made myself this:

So, just in case I stop making this any time soon (HA!) and forget how, I'm recording the instructions here!

Combine 3 tbsp mayonnaise and 1 tbsp pesto. Spread onto insides of both slices of bread.
Thinly slice Muenster cheese to cover one of the insides of the sandwich.
Thinly slice a tomato, lay across one side cheese.
Top with thinly sliced cheddar.
Melt butter in frying pan...set sandwich in the butter, press down using a spatula, to get the cheese all over the tomato and sandwich.
Cut in half and ENJOY!!!

*I do NOT like real mayo. Ever. On anything. I always pick Miracle Whip, or nothing. But that would completely change the flavor soooo I actually DO use real mayo.
*I didn't have cheddar in the house, so I used American cheese instead. However, it is actually too cheesy for me, so I just use the one slice of Muenster.
and I'm eating this 3-4 times a week. Yuuuuummm!!!!

Butternut Squash Soup

Edited, photographed, revised and recreated on 10/13/14.

1 small butternut squash
2 strips fatty bacon
1/2 white onion
3 small russet potatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1 cube chicken bullion
nutmeg
salt
black pepper
half and half cream
shredded parmesan

I cut and roasted the squash for almost an hour, til it was fork tender.

I cooked two strips of almost-white bacon like I do for my potato soup - super crispy and then set aside to be crumbled in at the end.

I sauteed half a large onion in the bacon grease that was left in the pot.

I cubed up 3 russet potatoes and put them in, then added the soft squash.

I had chicken stock on hand so I used 4 cups of that, and another 1 cup water + 1 cube chicken bullion just to get to "enough" liquid.
When the potatoes were completely softened, I pureed it all with the stick blender and added the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and bacon, and! about 1 tablespoon of half and half, and about 2 tablespoon shredded parmesan.
We then served it with a homemade sourdough baguette, made into garlic bread.

YUM.

Original recipe posted 11/10/12 and found below:
On another lovely produce sale, I picked up a butternut squash. I knew a snow storm was coming, and different soups are more and more welcome in my house, lol. I used THIS recipe as my starting point, but I changed it up a little.

1 butternut squash
2 large red potatoes
1 smallish onion
6 cups water
8 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup crumbled bacon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt
pepper

I started by roasting the squash. That just means I cut it in half, scraped out the seeds, stuck it in a large baking pan with 1/3 inch or so of water (cut side down) and put it in the oven for 40 minutes til it was super tender.
I chopped the onion finely and sauteed it in the pot with the melted butter. Chopped the potatoes into chunks, scooped out the roasted squash, added the water and the smashed bouillon and let it simmer til the potatoes were softened. Then I pureed the whole thing with my stick blender, added nutmeg, salt, pepper and crumbled bacon, and there you go!!
I also picked up some artisan sourdough bread to enjoy on the side. YUM!!!

*My husband thought it needed cream, but we didn't have any. He also says the bacon was a kind of weird addition, even tho it was his suggestion. so, take that into consideration if you choose to make this!
~~~

Vegetables for dinner!

While it is true we've gone a lonnng time without trying any new recipes that I cared to keep, really, I just haven't had time to blog about food. But I happen to have a little time, so here's at least this post! haha...

A long time ago, I pinned THIS on pinterest. We finally got around to trying it!!
I followed that recipe almost exactly. I used at least three tomatoes and I think two small potatoes, and filled an 8x8 pan. Yep, I layered them in a pattern and had my son photo the process...

 Here it is, ready to bake...

 And now it has melty cheese all over it- ready to eat!

I figured if we split it in fourths that was about an average dinner for each of us, along with a slice of bread. Well, it was enough food for me, but not for anyone else in my family, so I'd recommend you use it as a side dish along with some grilled chicken or something like that!
It was easy, but a little tedious to make.
Two of us liked it, one of us tolerated it and the fourth didn't like it at all.

Minestrone, by ME!

 

My husband is coming home today after being gone most of the week. I wanted to surprise my him with dinner, but I also wanted to use the crock pot. I started by searching my food emails for crockpot dinners that I was

a- interested in eating and
b- had all the ingredients for!
I found THIS minestrone recipe and was inspired!

However...it seemed to me that recipe was lacking ingredients from minestrones I have had before. Off to Pinterest I went in search of more ideas!
And that's where I found THIS recipe!

buuut that seems to cook faster than a crockpot allows. HMM.
And so I present, my own minestrone recipe, and goodness I hope its tasty! LOL!

1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
4 cups broth (I used 4 crushed chicken boullion cubes and 4 cups water, microwaved for 3 minutes)
1 cup water
2 carrots, grated
2 celery stalks, minced
1 zucchini, minced
1/3 cup minced green beans
dehydrated onion
3 tbsp olive oil
basil
salt
pepper
oregano
thyme
parsley
minced garlic
onion powder
1 1/2 cups small elbow pasta
baby spinach

I put most of the ingredients (everything but the pasta and spniach) into the pot to cook on high heat for about an hour, and then low heat for three more hours. Then I turned it back to high (my crock pot only has two settings) tossed in the pasta and spinach til softened, which took about 20 minutes. We sprinkled Parmesan and cheddar cheese, and serve with a slice of bread and you're set! YUM!

The four of us ate and I had enough left over to set aside two lunches for my husband and I'm pretty sure there's plenty for still another nights' dinner!
(oregano at the top, then going around like a clock: thyme, parsley, basil, sea salt, and onion powder in center)

just LOOK at all those fresh veggies, ready to go into the pot! (I prepped these all the night before becuase I knew I wouldn't have time in the morning!)

Meatless Lasagna-ish Casserole!

Recently I had some zucchini and some tomatoes that needed used up. A year or two ago I pureed a huge squash of some kind and hid it in a lasagna, so I thought I'd try that method again. But I only had half a pkg of cook-first lasagna noodles and half a pkg of no-cook lasagna noodles so I couldn't do that. As I stared at my pantry wondering how to make this work, I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for a similar concept in a cookbook before!

This recipe is based off the Pampered Chef Pronto Pasta Bake and is listed below. But what I did this night is listed first.

I started by pureeing the zucchini, and the tomatoes, using my stick blender!

I mixed oregano, basil, thyme, sage, onion powder, minced garlic and a bit of brown sugar into the tomatoes, along with a can of tomato paste to make it thicker. (fresh tomatoes are very, very juicy, and somewhat watery!) Then I mixed the zucchini in with it to hide it well, haha! I cooked up some bowtie pasta and created my own layered pasta dish: pasta, sauce mix, cheese, pasta, sauce mix, cheese.

and, since no one knew I used fresh tomatoes and zucchini in their dinner, I added carrot sticks on the side, for a very healthy dinner!

Pronto Pasta Bake:
12 oz rotini pasta
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 oz fresh parmesan, grated
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375*. Cook pasta & drain. Mix zucchini, garlic, spaghetti sauce and basil. In 9x13 pan, layer 1/3 of the sauce mixture, half of the pasta, 1/3 of the sauce, and half of each of the cheeses. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake 45 mins. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes.

Twice Baked Potatoes & Broccoli

This was a *really* tasty dinner. The twice baked potatoes were a long time staple in our house and I am shocked that I either haven't made it or haven't photo'd it since creating this blog!! My original recipe was a mix of recipes we found, edited to suit our tastes. The measurements were enough for two large potatoes and one small, perfect for our very small family at the time. Now I simply add "more"!

Wrap potatoes in foil and bake for 1 hour. (I spray the foil with cooking spray, poke the potato with a knife or fork, and spray the potato with cooking spray too)
Remove potatoes from oven, unwrap from foil. Slice off top bit of potato, enough that the skin stays totally in tact. Scoop out insides, and put it in a bowl to mash. I find it easiest to use a small eating spoon to scoop out the potato.

In the bowl of potatoes, add the following and mix well:
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1/3 cube butter or margarine
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/4 cup ranch dressing
chives
black pepper
dash parsley

Stuff potato skins with potato mixture - it will be heaping! Sprinkle with cheddar cheese, put top back on, like a lid. Bake again for 20-30 minutes, until warmed again and cheese is melted.

Now for the broccoli...!
My friend sent me THIS link after they had it for dinner, and was excited for me to try it too. It was so good!! I used the same edits the original poster did- leaving out the pine nuts and eye-balling the measurements. However, I used thawed broccoli and it never did fully dry. Also it was a bag of broccoli, rather than just the florets. The florets were absolutely the best part so next time I'll use fresh! Also, I finished off the parmesan with the potatoes, thinking we had more! So when we started eating, there was no parmesan on the broccoli. My husband came home about 20 minutes later, with parmesan and the kids liked it better with. I thought it was just fine without. And SO yummy!!

I get two bunches of fresh broccoli. Cut into bites. Put on a sheet pan. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Slice 4 garlic cloves and toss that too.
Roast at 425* for 20-25 mins until the tips are browned.
drizzle with lemon juice, a little more olive oil, and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese. ENJOY.

*I left out lemon zest, pinenuts and fresh basil.

Italian Cheesy Crepe Pillows

Here's a fabulous dinner my husband created last night! Its a twist on one of our favorites actually- stuffed manicotti shells! We didn't have any shells but since we had the ricotta he thought up something new and scrumptious!

So first he made the cheese filling, which again is what we put in manicotti shells usually.
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 clove pressed garlic
8oz frozen chopped spinach (squeeze it as dry as you can)
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 tsp minced fresh parsley
1/2 tsp black pepper

Then he made the spaghetti sauce, minus the meat, which you can find HERE.
And then he made the crepes, which you can find HERE.
He put a little sauce on the bottom of an 8x11 baking dish. The cheese mixture went into a large ziploc bag and piped a few tablespoons into the middle of a crepe, wrapped it up burrito style and laid it in the sauce.

Ten fit into the pan, and then he put a little more sauce and topped it with cheddar cheese.

And here it is, yummy and fabulous!

Layered Bean Dip!

So this isn't typically DINNER, but on hot summer nights when no one is in the mood to cook, it works! It has protein, calcium, and a bit of produce if you make it right. Serve it with chips and some kind of fruit and you've got a meal!

This time my layers are as follows:
Refried beans (16 oz can)
home-mixed taco seasoning
little shredded cheese
3/4 cup-ish frozen corn, which I boiled in the microwave
homemade salsa
Black Beans, rinsed (16 oz can size)
sour cream
shredded cheese
(my actual recipe calls for other things like green onions, lettuce, chopped black olives, but I used what was in the house, and I think you could use any thing you like)

When I ate it, I added a dollop of some nuclear guacamole my husband had made, and just ate it all with tortilla chips! YUM!

To make the taco seasoning, I followed the link and used the same ingredients but I eye-balled it all. Also, I think the entire total seasoning wasn't a whole tablespoon. It was just fine like that.

Here's the finished product!

Another day, another layer: 

refried beans,
taco seasoning,
cheese,
black beans,
salsa,
avocado mash,
sour cream,
olives,
cheese,
tomato

Cinco De Mayo!

Well, it IS May 5th and I have a long list of new Mexican recipes I am interested in trying out, so today its this one. From THIS POST  on my freind's food blog, I used the Honey Lime Enchiladas.

I browned the chicken with freshly ground black pepper in the pan. I also used half-and-half instead of heavy cream. It doesn't specify so I used a 4 oz can of green chiles. This one in fact:

I got 10 enchiladas into my pan and still had enough filling for two more enchiladas. They were pretty good! And it was a good change from our typical Mexican fare.

Variation on Grilled Cheese

This was a good idea in my head and not so much in reality. It was one of those extra crazy nights when there was way too much going on and dinner was more like "in the way", lol.
I thought I would do grilled cheese but faster and we could all eat at once and be done with it. I like the toasty-buttery-ness of the sandwich, so I buttered the down-side and cheesed the top...stuck them on my much-loved Pampered Chef baking stone and set it to broil.

and ended up with toasty tops and butter sogged bottoms...
and ended up browning them in a pan on the stove top like normal.
Soooo my speedy dinner took twice as long as the usual method. sigh. LOL! But at least it was tasty! And perfect for dipping in the cozy tomato soup!

Burritos at home!

Tonight was pretty busy, so I turned to another of my mom's staple-meals that is easy, quick and filling. If you skip the final step it can be pretty nutritious too. *wink. I keep mine pretty simple, which is nice because I don't have to have fresh ingredients on hand, haha!

First I lay out my flour tortilla. I like to buy burrito size for everything I use flour tortillas for. Then I use a large tablespoon and get a couple scoops of refried beans. For my own burrito I sprinkle salsa on the beans. I put half a slice of cheese on top of the beans, but shredded cheese would be fine too. That's where my burritos stop, but you can add shredded lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, anything you like.

Folding was something I had to learn. Really. So in case you are burrito inept like me, here's what you do. First, put the beans and stuff towards a side. Not to the edge, but close-ish. If you want your cheese melted, and if you want the tortilla to fold and not tear, stick in the microwave right now for about 15 seconds. Then fold that side into the middle, yep, the whole blob of food. Now fold the ends in so it doesn't squish out. I really hate that and it doesn't work so great if you fry it... Then roll it up the rest of the way and to get it to stay- slide a toothpick in to "fasten" the end down. I use the same pan to make chips to fry them, in about the same amount of shallow oil. Fry til its browned and En.Joy!

love that crispy-tortilla goodness!

If you wanted a healthier option, skip the frying. Just microwave til its heated thru, fold it up and dinner's ready! ...faster this way too.

Cheesy Potato Chowder

Winter has arrived.

Winter is the best time for soups and stews. I only like to eat a few meals like that and tonight's dinner is one of them. This recipe comes from my mother-in-law and is easy, filling and yummy so its a winner for me!

When I was a kid my mom would make soups or stews on bread baking day. I cheat and serve pillsbury biscuits or crackers. but homemade bread can't be beat!

Cheesy Potato Chowder
crispy, crispy bacon
potatoes (I do at least 8 for our family of four)
onion (1 diced, or 2 tablespoons of dehydrated)
corn (I use frozen...maybe 1.5 cups)
carrots (4-6 whole carrots, cut into 'coins')
garlic salt
pepper
chives
celery flakes (ground up in my hand, mortar and pestle style)
chicken boullion (about a cube per cup of water)
1 part milk to 2 parts water
1 can cheese sauce

I start by putting 2-3 slices fatty bacon in the bottom of the soup pot to brown. Basically I burn it, even by my standards of overcooking meat, haha... I take them out and rest them on paper towels, drain off the excess grease, and throw everything else into the bacon-ed pot.
Put everything but the cheese sauce into a pot to boil. (I do enough water/milk to cover the ingredients) Allow to simmer until the potatoes and carrots are soft. Put the cheese sauce in as soup is finishing up.

En. Joy!!!