New Recipe: Green Chile Three Cheese and Chicken Enchiladas

It has been way to long since I have posted-I am very sorry but I can tell you this recipe that I adapted last night is definately worth the wait!

1 8oz cheddar blend shredded cheese
5 green onions sliced
1 tsp cumin
3 cups cooked chicken ( I used chicken thighs, but you could use rotisserie chicken)
1 8oz cream cheese softened
6-8 flour tortilla's
1 28 oz can green chile enchilada sauce
1/4 cup cojita cheese or queso fresco cheese

Preheat oven to 400 and spray 9 x 13 pan and set aside.

If you have a gas stove turn a burner on and lightly char each side of your tortilla's.

Combine 1/2 of the shredded cheese blend with 1/2 the cojita cheese with onions, cumin and chicken. I also added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce.

Spread cream cheese on each tortilla and then put chicken and cheese filling in-roll up placing seam side down in pan.

Pour sauce over enchilada's keeping any additional to serve overtop at the table. Top with additional shredded cheese and cojita cheese.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and brown on top.

Serve with warmed leftover enchilada sauce.

Enjoy

Garden Pesto

Went to the garden a little bit ago and cut some romaine lettuce, cilantro and chives-brought them in combined with garlic, roasted red pepper and some parm cheese and there you have it a different twisted pesto that I will use on my grilled pizza tonight.

Does anyone else make different created pestos?????

My First Attempt at Preparing Goat

We happened upon some freshly processed goat yesterday so I took on the task of finding a recipe to prepare it.

The following is the recipe that I found and we were successful. I served the meat sliced thin on charred flour taco shells with a little salad made from our garden of romaine lettuce, radishes, cilantro, purple onions and a squeeze of lime juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

PAPA'S BARBECUE GOAT (OR BARBADO), TEXAS-STYL

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 25 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Mexican Meats

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 lb Goat or barbado
2 Tb Salt
4 garlic cloves
3 chipotle in adobo
1 tb Black pepper
1 t Cumin (approximately)
BARBECUE SAUCE
3/4 c Sugar (or to taste)
1/2 Southwest Spicy mustard
1/4 Apple cider vinegar
1 t Salt
1 t Black pepper

Process salt, chipotle, garlic and black pepper and cumin. Rub
meat generously. Cook
slowly on grill 2 hours (or less depending on cut of
meat). Be sure meat is
well above fire (at least 20 to 24 inches). Meat may
be brushed with cooking
oil occasionally to prevent dryness. While meat cooks
prepare sauce. At least 30 minutes before removing
from fire; brush meat with sauce so it will
“set”. Continue cooking and turn the meat often,
brushing on sauce at every
turn.

If you ever have the opportunity to try goat I would recommend it. It has wonderful flavor.

Enjoy!

Watermelon

In the past I have stayed away from buying watermelon because with it being Frank and I we would tire of it before we could eat the whole thing.

Well no more-this past week I have made a Watermelon Pie and a Watermelon Upside Down Cake-it is amazing the different flavors and textures watermelon can take on.

In the pie you only used the juice of the watermelon and it wasn't baked. In the upside down cake you chunked up the watermelon and baked it as usual. The watermelon took on a baked apple texture and combine amazingly with the butter and brown sugar glaze the was created for the top of the cake.

Enjoy your watermelon the way you normally would-but don't hesitate to try something different with it who knows what you might discover!

Round 2 of Homemade Siracha!

This past weekend I started another batch of the homemade siracha-I originally made this a few months ago and posted the recipe.

This batch is made soley with dried thai chili peppers that we roasted on the grill....

It will be done on Sunday-I will update then.

I do know it smells awesome right now.

Yum!!!!

My mixed lettuce from the garden is finally ready and I am really enjoying my salad with radishes and greens from the garden topped with chickpeas and a few onions with a spicy southwest dressing!

MMMMMMMMMMMM-love this time of year!

Enjoy

Finally harvesting from the garden

We have gotten some great radishes from the garden-but one of the varieties did not develop into actual radishes.

So what to do with all the radish greens? Funny you should ask---

Tonight I am going to make sauteed radish greens with a little garlic, onion and then I found a recipe that made a dressing with Siracha, lemon juice and olive oil.

Sounds interesting enough to me.

Anyone else ever made radish greens???

Second Planting Completed

The weather this Spring has been not so user friendly for our gardens. This caused me to have to purchase 40 tomato plants and 40 pepper plants this past weekend. All of the plants that I started from seed did not survive the windy conditions that have occurred almost everyday since I planted them a few weeks ago.

It is dissapointing that the original plants did not make it-but hopefully I will have better luck next year!

Hope all of your gardens are progressing nicely!

Rainy and Nasty this last weekend....what to do????

Well if you are like me-which I can hear many people saying..there is no one like you Becky!

Anyhow, when it is nasty outside and I really don't feel like doing much else-the Food Channel is turned on. My luck Triple D was on which is one of my favorites. I am not sure where he was but they made this Bacon and Blue Cheese Burger which looked amazing.

Frank and I tried our hand at it last night. For 4 people you need 1 pound of burger, 8 pieces of bacon and about a 1/2 to 3/4 cup blue cheese. The surprise item that you need is 4 large mouth jar rings!

Arrange the 4 rings on a cookie sheet like it would be positioned on a jar-the lip on the top. Cut 2 strips of bacon per burger into small pieces and press into the ring. Next top it is blue cheese to essentially cover the bacon-press tightly.

Slowly remove ring and then form a 1/4 pound seasoned burger over the bacon/blue cheese, pressing gently to mold them together.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Then either in a fry pan or on a blackening pan on the grill-get the pan screaming hot and put bacon side down and fry until crisp-most of the cooking of the burger will be done on this first side as you need to be sure everything holds together.

Flip and fry until burger is your desired doneness.

I have to say I have created lots of burgers over the years but this one has to be the most unique and it is made with stuff I use all the time-you just gotta try it. Why not this weekend for Memorial Day!

Enjoy

First Rhubarb!

Harvested the first batch of rhubarb yesterday and this morning I have a quick Rhubarb and pineapple orange juice sauce cooking that I will be serving over a pillow of puffed pastry and topped with a little whipped cream!

Can't wait until I am done eating dinner tonight so I can enjoy it.

Will be making the roasted rhubarb vinaigrette this weekend-talk about yummy!

Enjoy

Finally!

Minnesota weather has not been very cooperative this Spring. However, it appears we may have turned the corner and my gardens are tilled and ready for some compost and chicken goodness which will then lead to another tilling. But the good news is that by this weekend, I will have my gardens planted!

Hopefully everyone is in the same boat and is able to proceed with the start of their gardening season.

Pictures will be forthcoming!

Chive Egg Noodles

Yesterday I decided that I would try my hand at making homemade egg noodles. My Mom made them all the time while I was growing up but for some reason I have never attempted them.

I had to incorporate the chives as they are the only thing growing in my gardens and I am very anxious to have other things in the garden! If only the weather would cooperate.

Once completed I put the egg noodles into a Turkey Vegetable Soup and served it with Gorgonzola Cheese toasts.

I am sharing a few pictures-Enjoy

Additional Ciabatta Information

Techinical difficulties prevented me from attaching the link for the recipe-so here it is www.startribune.com/taste

Ciabatta Bread Update

Well I have to say the Ciabatta bread was awesome!

After the rise time of about 18 hours you take the cover off the bowl and are greeted by this wonderful aroma-which gets even better when you are baking the bread!

Last night I sauteed some mixed greens with a little garlic and some homemade Sriracha and combined that with some provoline cheese to make a wonderful pannini!

I would highly suggest that you check out the recipe at the link given.

Enjoy

Next Recipe Testing Out of Taste Section of Newspaper

On this rainy blustery day, I have decided to take on the next recipe that caught my eye in the Taste section of the paper.

This time it is no need Ciabatta! I have attempted the No Knead breads before and although they have great flavor, they still do not necessarily come out like the artisan breads that were promised.

So this Ciabatta bread is a 2 day process-here I go.

Check back in a day or so for the results!

Sriracha Hot Chile Paste/Sauce-Completed!

Well it has been a week and a day since I started making the homemade Sriracha and after the taste test last night with our dinner I would have to say, I will definately make it again with a few little tweaks! I am providing you with the recipe the way I made it and afterwards I will mention my tweaks for the next time.

2 oz dried japanese chiles
3/4 lb fresh fresno chiles
3 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
water as needed

In a food processor take all the chiles and additional ingredients excluding the vinegar and water. Process to a paste like consistency. Put this mixture in a jar and cover with a lid. For the next 7 days leave this jar sit on the counter and stir daily.

At the end of 7 days, put the mixture into a saucepan and add the vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool and transfer to a food processor once again. Process until very smooth-adding additional vinegar or water as needed to allow mixture to process properly.

Once processed mixture should be strained either thru cheese cloth or fine seive.

Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.

Now given the recipe and the way mine turned out here are some additional tidbits for you.

We tasted both the "sauce" and "paste" the sauce is what you are supposed to keep and the paste is all the seeds and such that doesn't get blended. Anyhow, as with the Jalapeno Sauce that I made over a year ago-I find uses for both the sauce and the paste.

I will add additional garlic the next time as I don't think it has as much garlic flavor as the original Sriracha.

I also think I went a little heavy on the vinegar for my taste-I added additional vinegar during final processing to allow it to move more freely in the food processor-next time I would use water instead.

Bottom line it is awesome and well worth the week wait time!

Enjoy and please if you try this recipe give me your opinion.

Sriracha Hot Chile Paste/Sauce

This is a condiment that you see almost everywhere right now. In my opinion it is the best universal hot sauce condiment available. It add great heat as well as flavor.

So a few weeks ago when the Taste Section of the Star Tribune ran an article about making your own Sriracha I decided I had to try it.

Today I started the 7 day fermentation process.

So at this point.......you will have to stay tuned for at least a week to see if it is worth the time to make your own or if it is one item that is better to be bought at the store!

Pizza Obsessed

This week it was Venison Fajita Pizza, last week it was Stuffed Pizza, the week before it was just a straight up Pepperoni and Sausage. I do believe I am obsessed with making pizza.

In this picture is our Venison Fajita Pizza. I used venison, poblano peppers, onions, a jalapeno and fajita seasoning and then quick grilled them all to get some char on and used reduced salsa as the "sauce"!

Goes to show you, you can make a pizza out of anything.

Enjoy a pizza today and let me know what you strangest ingredient was that you put on a pizza

Pork and Mushroom Ragu

Well if I do say so myself this recipe I created last night was very very tasty!

Here is my recipe-it takes awhile to get the ultimate flavor so plan ahead. Trust me you will decide that eventhough it takes a little planning it is well worth it.

Pork and Mushroom Ragu
3 slices of bacon
½ medium onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
½ cup chopped celery
½ pound pork shoulder cut into ¼ inch pieces
½ cup red wine
8 Dehydrated Portobello mushrooms-rehydrated save the liquid
14 ½ oz tomatoes with Italian seasonings
½ tsp sage
1 bayleaf
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 jalapeno chopped
4 morel mushrooms chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fry bacon in kettle. When bacon is crisp, remove from kettle and add pork-brown this until good color is obtained. Add onion, celery and garlic. Once these have become soft add the wine to deglaze the pan.
Meanwhile, put Portobello mushrooms in a small pan. Add about 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Remove the mushrooms from the liquid-reserving and chop the mushrooms roughly.
Once the wine is absorbed add the tomatoes, broth and mushroom juice. Allow this to heat thru and add the sage, bayleaf, jalapeno, mushrooms and tomato paste. Stir to incorporate all ingredients. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
At this point you will want to simmer this for at least 2 hour reducing the sauce up to ½. The longer you simmer the more intense flavor you will achieve.
Right before serving crumble bacon into sauce and add in morels if you are using them.
Serve over fettuccini.

Enjoy!

Spring Starts Today

Spring starts tonight at 6:21 pm-however, it doesn't feel like spring out today. It is rainy and very windy. So I guess that means we won't be grilling to celebrate Spring instead we will have a big plate of pasta. I am creating a pasta dish tonight with pork, bacon and mushrooms with a slow cooked red sauce-still using the tomatoes from the garden from last year.

If the recipe turns out I will post tomorrow!

One sign of spring, I will be planting all my seeds this week for my garden-I can't wait until I am able to plant them in the garden!

Enjoy

Raw Almonds

So a friend gives you fresh raw almonds-what would you do?

Well I received about 4 cups of raw almonds and I decided to make my own spiced nuts and what an easy fun project-almost like an artist with a blank canvas!

I created my own spice mixture using some left over chili seasoning, hot chili powder, black and red pepper, fajita seasoning and little sugar and salt.

You line a baking sheet with foil-then take you almonds and put them in a large bowl and sprinkle with a tablespoon of vegetable oil per every two cups. Then sprinkle the seasoning mixture over the almonds until you can see the flecks of flavor on every almond.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 10 minutes toss almonds and then bake 5 minutes at a time until the nuts get brown-be sure to toss them every 5 minutes. This may take up to 30 minutes.

Let them cool and enjoy the wonderful artful almonds that you created!

Asparagus!

A wonderful sign of Spring.

Get some roast it and enjoy!!!!!!!

Success!

Well the weigh in was completed on Friday and Frank lost 31 pounds in 9 weeks!

He is amazing-but I have to take some of the credit too-he did all the tough working out-and I got to do what I love most, cooking the food that provides enjoyment to those that eat it!

Another year in the books with the weight loss challenge and the message that I take out of it this year-portion control, fruit and lots and lots of greens!

I am so very proud of my husband!

It's Over!

Today is weigh in day for Frank's weightloss challenge-so what did I do? I got up and made a recipe that I found during the challenge-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies! The only switch up is that I am making it Peanut Butter chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies.

Sounds sinful-I will let you know how they taste!

Enjoy

Not your Mom/Grandma's Pressure Cooker

Here is a picture of my Fagor Electric 3 in 1!

This wonderful appliance is a rice cooker, slow cooker and a pressure cooker all in one.

In the old days the pressure cookers that were used on stovetop involved alot of guess work and in my opinion luck! Making sure it was up to the pressure you needed and then timing it and releasing the pressure manually-if you dared!

This wonder does all of this for you and can I tell you it makes some of the best meals you can imagine in under 1 hour.

A few years back my stove was broken during the holiday season-I cooked everything in my pressure cooker from soup to dessert. It was awesome.

Here is one of my favorite meals-which I can gaurantee you, you will not find this recipe in any of the old fashioned pressure cooker cook books.

Cheese Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce

Sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion-chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Filling
4 oz calamari tentacles, finely chopped
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 garlic clove crushed
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

12 large calamari bodies
For the sauce: in a 5-7 quart pressure cooker, heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic. Cook stirring often until the onion begins to soften, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and hot pepper.

Lock the lid in place. Bring to high pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure and open the lid.

Meanwhile make the filling: In a medium bowl combine the chopped calamari tentacles, bread crumbs, ricotta, parmesan, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Loosely stuff the calamari bodies with the filling (fingers work better than a spoon), leaving some room for expansion, and close the openings with wooden toothpicks. Pinching the openings closed quickly rinse off any filling on the outsides of the stuffed calamari under running cold water.

Place the stuffed calamari in the sauce. Lock the lid in place. Return to high pressure and cook for 15 minutes. Allow pressure to release on it's own.

Serve calamari and sauce in bowls sprinkled with fresh basil and french bread.

Enjoy this recipe and please let me know what experiences you have had with pressure cookers.

One week and counting......

We are in the final week of the weight loss challenge! My mind is racing as to what I am going to make when we are done with this portion of the winter (9 weeks total)!

All I think about is pizza, pasta and fresh baked bread all of which we have pretty much gone without over the last 8 weeks! I know you are saying to yourself-is that possible? Yes I guess it is-but not neccesarily enjoyable.

Don't get me wrong I am definately noticing the difference in how things are fitting and I am getting compliments-which is awesome........but bring on the goodness! I will do a count down this week and then wait for next weekend and I will do the rundown of ALL the bad things we eat!

Keep your fingers crossed Frank is at the fish shack this weekend with his brothers which is a true test on how he will eat and where is weight will go in 3 days away.......

Wonderfully Flavorful New Sidedish!

In the paper this past week there was a recipe for Spinach in Browned Butter-now remember we are still on the weight loss challenge and anything that has butter in it sounds or so naughty!

But this dish as it was presented was only 156 calories per serving-I added a few things that would add a little bit in the calorie counter-but nothing that put it over the top. Here is my version of Spinach in Browned Butter

2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup rough chopped oyster mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 pound spinach
salt and pepper to taste
2 hard boiled eggs chopped
1 small lemon cut into wedges for serving

Heat butter in large saute pan-as it starts to brown at the mushrooms and saute them for a couple of minutes until they take on some color. Then add the chopped garlic and saute for a minute or so. Add the spinach and wilt. Season with salt and pepper and serve topped with the hard boiled eggs that have been chopped.

Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing on dish as being served.

Try this one and I can promise you will become a huge fan!

Enjoy

Almost Famous!

Check out the article in yesterday's Star Tribune-I was interviewed about a month ago about our winter cooking on our Big Green Egg-unfortunately our schedules didn't work out and we didn't get featured in the pictures!

Just reading the article makes me anxious for the weekend when it is supposed to be good and warm and we will fire up the old green egg!

Enjoy

Chicken Larb or Lettuce Cups from P.F. Changs or Pei Wei??

I hope you have all had the opportunity to enjoy the lettuce cups the P.F. Changs and Pei Wei serve. They are awesome-however, I would have to say they have numerous more calories then the following recipe that I found in my latest Cooking Light Magazine!

The recipe is for Chicken Larb-not the most appetizing name for something but don't let that stop you.

2 Tbsp Red curry paste
1 pound chicken breast
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/3 c chopped english cucumber
1/4 c shallots
3 Tbsp cilantro
2 Tbsp lime juice
8 cabbage leaves

Combine curry paste, chicken and salt in a food processor, process until smooth. Het a large skillet. Add oil to the pan and saute chicken mixture for about 6 minutes being sure to break up the chicken into very small pieces. Cook until crumbly and chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from pan add cucmber and next 3 ingredients-heat this thru and then add chicken back to pan.

Divide mixture thru 8 cabbage leaves, serving size is two leaves.

This serving is 174 calories!

I substituted chopped broccoli for the cucumber and it was extremely tasty-also you could use any large leafy lettuce for serving cups.

Another tip is to top with a little chili paste or asian hot sauce.

Enjoy this one-it is definately a keeper

Nothing Fancy but OOOh is it Tasty

On the road to a lighter me I am always looking for new ways to serve veggies and lots of them.

My latest "trick" is to roast cauliflower and garlic until golden brown.

In a food processor combine the above with seasonings of choice, a little chicken stock and process until smooth or slightly chunky whatever way you like your mashed potatoes!

It is an awesome way to enjoy the texture of mashed potatoes without the calories!

The possibilities are endless-try it!

Enjoy

Chicken Corn Tortilla Soup

So we are in the beginning phase of the Weight Loss Challenge and I was really hungry for my Chicken Tortilla Soup-but the way I normally make it is with lots of tortilla chips sauted with my veggies and of course that is not the greatest way to start a soup if you are looking to trim calories. Plus I wanted to get more veggies in the soup.

So the following is the recipe I came up with.

¼ large yellow and orange bell pepper
½ large onion
1 large jalapeno
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 ½ cup roasted corn
2 14 ½ oz cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes
2-3 cups cooked chicken
6-8 cups broth
3-4 Tbsp cornmeal
1 Tbsp fajita seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400. Place peppers and onion on large cookie sheet and roast until bubbly and brown. Remove from oven and put peppers in plastic bag to sweat the skins off.
When peppers are cool enough to handle remove skins and chop onions and peppers.
In large soup kettle put a little oil-add onions, peppers and garlic. Saute these for about 5 minutes at medium high. Season with salt and pepper. Add cornmeal and stir to incorporate into veggies. Continue to sauté until the cornmeal begins to brown. This will take 5-7 minutes.
At this point add about 1 cup of broth stirring to be sure there are no clumps. Add another cup of broth and cook for a minute or two. Now add tomatoes and corn and fajita seasoning.
Lower heat to simmer and let this cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times. It should be quite thick at this point.
Add another couple cups of broth and stir to incorporate. Add chicken and see what the consistency is after chicken in incorporated. This is where you determine how thick you want your soup and add the additional broth as you wish.
It is best to allow this soup to gently simmer for at least an hour prior to serving.

Just a few notes-cornmeal is only 90 calories for 3 tablespoon's compared to about 280 calories for 16 tortilla chips which is probably close to what I would normally use.

Plus this recipe has corn and lots of tomatoes in it where my other soup does not.

This recipe makes approximately 8 servings-it depends on how much broth you end up adding.

After dinner last night Frank rated this one in the top 3 of soups that I have made. I must agree it is a very tasty dish.

Enjoy

Sorry so long since I have posted!

Christmas and New Year's have come and gone-it is hard to believe that it is already the 10th of January!

Today we start our weight loss challenge program-hopefully we are as successful this year as last. I lost 12 pounds and Frank lost 25 all in 8 weeks. Not to mention that Frank won the challenge at his work and won over $200.

Bring it on is all I have to say.

So in the week's to come I will again be trying to reinvent food that we love to eat but isn't necessarily that good for us.

Tonight we are starting off with Oven baked perch with a medley of peppers stir fry over brown rice.

Enjoy