Chipotle Rice Bowls

Chipotle Rice Bowls 

Lime rice: 1 cup basmati rice to 2 cups water, simmer 20 minutes till water is absorbed then add zest of 1 lime and juice of ½ lime

Black beans

Roasted corn

Sliced black olives

Chop to approx. size of corn and beans:

Orange pepper

Grape tomatoes

Red onion

Avocado

Romaine lettuce, 1 large or 2 small

Juice of ½ lime

Toss together and the dress with:

1.5 oz. Ranch dressing mixed with 1 crushed clove garlic, cumin, smoked paprika

Put rice in bottom of bowl and then top with veges.

Would also be good wrapped in a flour tortilla as a vege burrito.

Chimichurri

Every which way but loose.

So, I started out with equal parts cilantro and parsley.

Chopped it up and set some aside for the potatoes.

The I added, 

2T red wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic,

1/2t red pepper flakes,

1/2t oregano,

salt and pepper

and spun it with 1/4 cup olive oil.

Put that on top of pork tenderloin medallions.

(or a shoe)

Next, add some cut up avocado and put that

on some thick tomato slices and 

WALA!

Chimichurri 

every which way but loose.

It's not often I name a meal.

PS, the one item not 

chimichurri-ized was that

delicata squash.

Not sure it could have saved it. 

Not a fan.

Cilantro Lime Tilapia

I have found that Tilapia and Salmon

are crazy easy fish to cook

but there is precious little you do to 

alter the fish itself.

Most of the variety in the dishes come from

the side you serve it with or a sauce.

My tried and true method of cooking

both fish is:

brush both sides with oil

(olive or grape seed)

salt and pepper

put under broiler set on low

cook for 8 minutes.

Perfect every time.

No need to flip, just sometimes 

I will turn the pan 1/2 a turn.

I have tried dusting the fish with some other

spices and that usually works nicely.

If I'm doing Mexican I'll dust it with

cumin, 

smokey paprika

or some chiplotle chili powder.

I think some Garam Masala

for Indian flavor would be good.

The only things I would stay away from 

would be the "leafy" dried spices.

I think they would burn.

I have found a new to me blog

that is proving to be a great source of ideas.

Food Faith Fitness

Here is the link to the recipe

http://www.foodfaithfitness.com/cilantro-time-tilapia/

Note:

I cooked the fish by my method

and Honey felt the lime was a bit over powering

so maybe cut it by half.

It's 

TILAPIA,

Shanna.

;)

Grilled Tilapia with Peach Guacamole

 I like a to have a 

photo to go with a food post.

I have made this dish twice and although it

tastes great, it has a bit of a problem.

The guacamole turns brown VERY quickly.

I grill the tilapia outside

and then make up a very basic

guacamole with the addition

of a fresh peach.

I put the tilapia on a bed of quinoa

and then top with the guac.

It's delicious.

The problem is, no amount of lime

juice keeps the concoction  

from turning brown.

Fast.

I suspect it's the fault of the peach.

But I'd like confirmation.

Mark?

Basic Guacamole:

one mashed avocado

a few slices of jalapeno, diced small

small amount of red onion, finely diced

salt

lime juice

one peach, chopped

Mexicanish Quinoa:

cooked quinoa

corn

black beans

jalapeno

olive oil drizzle on top

Chicken and Olive Tamale Pie

I almost took a picture of it 

before

I put it in the oven.

Instead I took one after it

came out.

 Nuff said.

Enchilada Pasta Casserole

Yep, Pintrest.

This was really good and not terribly difficult.

Maybe a little prep-pan intensive

but in the end worth it. 

I'm always on the look out for a good recipe

to take people and this one fits the bill.

And true to my last post,

here's the link:

http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/08/29/enchilada-pasta-casserole/

Cucumber-Avocado Salsa

Thanks, Mom.

Although this recipe comes from USA Weekend magazine,

I would not have had access to it if not

for my mom. 

I wonder if anyone does what we do in our family. 

My sister has a subscription to 

People magazine.

She reads it, 

passes it on to me, 

I read it 

and pass it on to Mom and Big.

Big gets Ladies Home Journal. 

She passes that on to me and I pass it 

on to Carol.

Mom and Big get the Sunday Tribune, 

Mike is interested in 

the travel and the transportation sections.

Mom and Big, not so much, 

but they save those sections along with

any food related items they feel I would enjoy. 

Sometimes it's a food related item that clearly

they would enjoy.

Like lemon stuff.

More often than not there is something

 in there that does interest me.

Like this salsa.

It was just a component of 

what they felt to be the main attraction,

Sizzling Steak Tacos.

Whatever, that salsa spoke to me and it was great!

I had never thought to combine cucumber and avocado.

It's a great combination and I may be 

throwing cucumber into more of my 

avocado dishes.

Today it's found its way into my 

deconstructed guacamole.

I'll let you know how that turns out!

http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20120608/FOOD04/306080008/Recipe-Steak-Tacos-Salsa

PS, Shanna, how'd I do?

Use Your Imagination

I made polenta for the first time last night

and it won't be the last.

You'll have to use your imagination for how it looked. 

(new computer)

I *created* a mexican-y sort of stew

by browning off some ground beef, chorizo,

onions and bell peppers, then adding a can of tomatoes

black beans, tortilla strips, roasted corn, 

roasted butternut squash (just because I had it) 

and a bunch of spices.

I served that over the polenta and it was great. 

Could polenta be any easier?

You just boil some water, stir in the corn meal,

cook for about ten minutes

and then stir in some butter and cheese.

It kind of sets up at it sits and made a 

kind of a bed for the stew to sit on.

It would be kind of neat to 

line the inside of a bowl with it and

 then add the stew.

I have extra polenta so I spread it out on a sheet pan

and put it in the fridge. 

Tonight:

Fried Polenta!

I'll let you know how that goes.

Individual 7 Layer Dips

Another Pintrest find.

How cute are these!?

They are small cups filled with, 

you got it, 

7 layers of taco dip.

Little individual servings of everything

are all over the place. 

I've been doing the whole dessert thing.

It started with cupcakes in a jar.

And then moved on to the dessert "shots".

And now, snacks!

Here's the formula:

refried beans

salsa

guacamole

sour cream

shredded cheese

chopped black olives

green onions

tomatoes.

That's 8, but who's counting. 

What are they going to come up with next?

Pork Stew With Ancho Chiles

Let me start by stating I have not found

Rachel Ray's food to be as consistently good

as my smiley friend Giada.

That being said, I have stumbled upon a keeper

in Rachel Land. 

Did you know that there are entire sites devoted to the

hating of Rachel Ray?

That's not even nice. 

I'm not a hater, just maybe not a fan.

But I digress.

And I haven't made that statement for a while

so that helped prompt the little 

Rachel side note. 

On to the food:

Sorry the picture is not the greatest.

The meat was not burned as this photo might lead you to believe.

The sauce you make is a bit dark and I'm not 

too great of a photographer. 

The combination of which excuses or explains this shot.

You choose.

The recipe is actually (actually) called

Savory and Sweet Pork Stew with Ancho Chiles

Kind of an excessive title. 

If you ask me.

It was really good.

I think you could substitute a chuck roast or 

maybe even chicken for the meat. 

Dried chiles come in a very large bag

in my neck of the woods so I will be looking for

more recipes that call for them.

The "pickled" onions were fantastic with the meat.

Don't skip them.

I may not have gotten the sauce as smooth as

intended. I am going to try to 

pulverize it a little more next time. 

And that's about all my observations on this one.

Oh, but one last note, I am NOT going to freeze this.

There are peanuts and almonds smashed up in there

that you would never guess. 

I am scared to death that I would pull it out of the

freezer, forget the nuts, give it to Shanna

and kill her. 

Maybe I should re-name this.

Killer Pork Stew?

Tamale Pies

In zucchini bowls.

Everybody slices a zucchini lengthwise, fills them, and calls them

"boats."

I sliced across and called them 

"bowls."

That's just some ground beef, onions, tomatoes, 

olives, chilies and some mole spices with

a corn bread top. 

It worked out great just next time I think I will

bake the bowls a little before I fill them,

the zucchini didn't get tender. 

Wait a minute, who am I kidding?

How often am I going to have monster zucchinis in

my kitchen?

Individual crocks. 

That's the ticket.

Potatoes and Chorizo

This was so easy that you don't even need a recipe

but I'm linking it anyway. 

Think hash.

Mexican hash.

We ate ours on tortillas but I can really see this

with a couple of fried eggs on top also.

So here's the deal:

Dice some new potatoes in about 1/4 inch dice and boil them 

while you are browning off some chorizo.

After the chorizo is nice and crispy, remove it from the pan,

throw in some diced onions and the drained potatoes

and cook those a bit to soften the onions

and crisp up the potatoes. 

Add the chorizo back in and,

Wala! 

Deliciousness!

I know, stupid easy. 

My kind of easy :o)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/sauteed-potatoes-with-chorizo-recipe/index.html

Black Bean-Quinoa Burgers

Very Pretty.

This recipe comes from Vegetarian Times.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11676?section

You can "Like" them on Facebook, that's how I happened upon 

this little gem. They randomly post recipe links.

I love quinoa so that in the title always gets my attention.

The recipe is pretty straight forward.
The only thing I question is where they have you add 1 1/2 cups
water to the sauteed onions and then simmer it till most
of the water evaporates. That's a lot of evaporation going on.
I think I will cut that back to just one cup next time.
Also, I didn't have dried steak seasoning so I threw in some
Essence of Emeril. Not my best choice but I will say
the patty is neutral enough that you could pretty
much throw in any spice combo that suits you and it would be good.
Just be sure to go a little heavy, it needs the flavor.

The surprise part of this was the little
tomato-olive salad I made to throw on top.
I had a bunch of small heirloom tomatoes that I had bought
at the farmers market the other day and I couldn't
stand for them to go bad so I cut some up, threw in the
left over black olives from Margarita Friday, some shallots,
garlic, olive oil, basil and balsamic. I copped it all up
pretty fine, thinking a tampanade sort of thing
and threw it on top of the burgers.
Yum!

Score one for the Vegetarians!

Refried Beans

I didn't take a picture of them.

They aren't particularly photogenic.

But I did take a picture of what I did with them:

I had a Mexican Lasagna production line.

The little individual ones are to take to a guy from church.

I made a big one for us and I am trying it in my small Crockpot.

It occurred to me that the crock pot was about the same size as the 

casserole I would make for us. It's hot out today so let's 

see if this works! It's better than heating up the oven.

But about the refried beans.

It's my understanding that the ones you buy in a can

 have a multitude of unhealthy things for you that 

they slide in there along with the beans.

I found this recipe from All Recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/refried-beans-without-the-refry/Detail.aspx

They cook in the crock pot and are too easy!

I've made them a couple of times and I've adapted the recipe a bit.

I use 1/2 pinto and 1/2 black beans.

I only use 2 cups of beans.

I use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water.

I have yet t have a jalapeno sitting around

but I do pretty regularly have a can of diced chilies around so those

are what I have used. 

And now with our low salt focus, I left ALL the salt out.

And know what?

Don't miss it!

There are so many good flavors in there that I 

think the salt is just unnecessary. 

So there you have it; 

Salt Free

Fat Free

and 

Heat Up The House Free!

Time well spent :o)

Chipotle Brisket with Sweet Potatoes

I love making things I haven't made before. 

It's funny, when I go to a favorite restaurant  I 

will frequently order the same thing.

But when it comes to cooking I really enjoy experimenting. 

So here you have today's adventure:

This came from my friends at Relish.

http://www.relish.com/recipes/chipotle-brisket-with-sweet-potatoes1/

Try to ignore the ads, I am not a fan but I guess

everybody needs to pay their bills.

This was really good. I have a couple of comments.

The only time I have prepared a brisket was one that was corned.

As in Corned Beef.

I was tempted to grab a chuck roast, they were quite a bit cheaper,

but hey, you have to spread your wings.

I'm glad I did. The brisket was really 

tender but not all shreddy and fally aparty (technical terms)

like a chuck roast would be. 

It also had great flavor but different from chuck. 

My other point of interest was the 

Chipotles in Adobo sauce.

The instructions call for you to "seed" the chilis.

Good luck. 

I gave up and just tossed the whole mess in. 

Well, it was a bit on the *hot* side and 

I did need a glass of milk at my side. 

But, the smoky flavor they imparted was amazing.

Bottom line, I will make this again, but somebody.

PLEASE, 

Give me a clue about "seeding" chipotles in adobo sauce!

Fish Tacos

In keeping with my fish theme

I offer this for your consideration:

Fish Tacos.

Let me begin by saying I have had a fish taco

once.

Last week.

Let me also state that I have had no desire to eat a fish taco

until last week.

I have no idea what they are supposed to contain

except fish.

I am not entirely certain the fish taco I had

was a fair representation of what one should be

so I set out to give it a try myself. 

So, flying by the seat of my pants, I brushed some

olive oil on a couple of tilapia filets, sprinkled them with 

homemade taco seasoning mix

and broiled them.

I made a kind of avocado/black bean/corn salad

and put that with the flaked fish and some sour cream 

on top on a flour tortilla.

It was good. 

 I don't think I get the attraction.

Is the point just that it's *fish* and not *meat*?

I'm perplexed. 

But I'll probably make them again :o)

Here's my taco seasoning mix:

1 Tbsp. Onion Powder

1 Tbsp. Cumin

4 tsp. Chili Powder

2 tsp. Garlic Powder

2 tsp. Paprika

2 tsp. Oregano

1 tsp. Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

Butternut Squash Cincinnati-Style Chili

You won't even miss the meat.

That's what the article says and it's right!

I found this recipe while sitting in my doctor's waiting room.

Like Mike said, you just never know where or when a great recipe

is going to cross your path.

This is from Family Circle's February issue.

You can go on their website and down load the recipe.

I actually roasted the squash yesterday but we got a last 

minute invitation to a friend's house for Bolognese. 

Squash can wait, anything Schley cooks is going to be amazing.

And it was. 

Having roasted the squash ahead of time served to make

assembling the chili tonight pretty easy.

The only thing I changed from the recipe as written

was the beans. I didn't have any pinto so I substituted a can each

of Northern and Kidney beans. 

Be warned, this makes a LOT, invite friends. 

I also made the Sweet Spiced Short Ribs

from the same magazine. 

That was amazing but I neglected to take a picture.

I do have a couple of things to note;

you cannot buys bone in short ribs

in the northern hemisphere.

You can buy a chuck roast anywhere.

I did.

I used it.

It was great.

Brown the roast off before you put it in the slow cooker.

Deglaze the pan with the tomato sauce and red wine vinegar

and pour over the meat.

When it's done cooking remove the meat and shred it.

Skim off the fat from the sauce and return the shredded meat to

the pot, mix it all with egg noodles.

Yum!

There are a few more recipes from that magazine that I 

have in mind trying.

All in all I'd say it was a rather productive visit to the doctor.

Oh, and I got a flu shot too!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

An experiment that went right!

Who doesn't love soup?

I got it in my head to create a chicken tortilla soup.

I make a Taco soup that is so easy it's dumb.

I figured if I took the bones of that and just take it up a notch

I could be on to something.

Here's the Taco soup recipe:

1 lb. ground beef that you brown with a taco seasoning packet

1 - 24 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 - can corn (not drained)

1 - can beans

And that's it!

Stupid easy, right?

Here we go, 

I got bone in, skin on chicken breasts, rubbed taco 

seasoning between the skin and the meat and baked

them in a 350 oven for about 40 min.

I shredded the meat and then took the bones and skin,

put them in a pot, covered with water and simmered for 4 hours.

This made some pretty intense stock so I used mostly 

regular chicken stock and just a hit of this stuff.

Probably 3 to 1 ratio. 

The rest I put in quart size ziploc bags

and froze, with a warning on the label, "hot".

Now the construction! 

Into my pot:

The shredded chicken,

black beans that I drained and rinsed,

frozen roasted corn (from Trader Joes)

24 oz. can crushed tomatoes

14 oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies

The chicken stocks

and the the secret ingredient,

strips of corn tortillas!

They melt away and thicken the soup and give it that

extra layer of flavor.

Ina would be so proud!

For toppings I served the usual suspects, shredded cheese and

sour cream, but then I made my own tortilla strips.

You just take corn tortillas and sprayed them with Pam,

sprinkled them with a little salt, cut them into strips

and then baked them in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes.

They're baked, not fried.

They're a health food, right?

A Little Treat From the Summer

This is Aggie's Black Bean Grilled Burrito. 

Except she calls them Skillet Grilled Burritos. 

Fine. 

Semantics aside, it's a great little dish.

I did not put spinach in mine because Mike is pretty sure that

 he doesn't like it. Kinda like he's pretty sure he doesn't

 like Chinese food, but that's another whole can o'worms. 

I used Aldi's "Fit and Active"Multi Grain Wraps. 

I took Aggie's good advice and used some shredded 

rotisserie chicken just to make life easier. 

There's a yummy Creamy Cilantro-Jalapeno sauce it

all gets mixed with. Aggie notes where she has swapped

out ingredients. Some people may call it "substituted"

but that just implies you fell short and didn't have 

what was deemed necessary. 

I rather to think of swapping out some odd ingredient for something 

else I must prefer because I have it in my kitchen. 

It's all in how you look at things. 

http://aggieskitchen.com/2009/01/20/welcome-home-fiesta-real-margaritas-and-skillet-grilled-burritos/

http://aggieskitchen.com/2010/11/04/adventures-in-napa/

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to look at this and not 

be consumed with envy. 

I'm so happy for Aggie. 

Really I am. 

And actually, the post is going to be very useful when 

Mike plans our trip to Napa.

Someday. 

Really. 

Mexican Lasagna

Here's a little something I left for Shanna 

when I was down there in September.

They are mexican lasagnas and are soooo easy. You probably have

most everything you need to make it in your fridge and pantry.

I use flour tortillas as the "pasta" but you could definitely use corn

if you prefer. I use salsa as the "sauce". Some ground beef browned

 up with a taco seasoning packet is good. I think in this one I used the 

leftover parts from a rotisserie chicken. Cheese is a must but from 

the looks of it I must have used some blend. 

And then start layering whatever you have around. 

Corn.

Black olives.

Canned chilies.

Sautéed onions and peppers.

Banana peppers.

Black Beans.

Just build it like a lasagna, little sauce on the bottom, tortilla,

meat, assorted goodies, sauce, cheese, repeat (as many times

as you like). Put it in a 350 degree oven for probably about

an hour. Everything is cooked really, you're just heating it through

and melding the flavors. 

Yum, this is making me think about my taco soup. I'll have to post that

along with the "recipe" for making herbed oyster crackers. 

I love cold weather cooking!