Long time, no write!

Well, it’s been months since I’ve written a blog post! Life kind of got in the way with coaching softball and some medical issues. Now that it’s summer, I can get back to some good cooking! I’ve been spending more time with my doctors than I’d like due to a couple of melanomas in 3 months time. My surgeon recommended a book and taking it’s advice for diet and exercise. I’m working on becoming as organic as possible in multiple life areas so that has been an interesting challenge.

Ok, ok, enough about life, lets get to the food!

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole

While I’m a huge fan of chicken enchiladas, I’m working on some meatless recipes to decrease inflammation in my body.

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 (10-ounce) can Old El Paso™ mild enchilada sauce
• 1 chopped green chiles either canned or frozen
• 1/2 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  Coupons
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
• 1 Roma tomato, diced

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook quinoa according to package instructions; set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8×8 or 2 quart baking dish or coat with nonstick spray (I’m in love with my new coconut oil non-stick spray from Trader Joes!)
3. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, enchilada sauce, green chiles, corn, black beans, cilantro, cumin and chili powder; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
4. Spread quinoa mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheeses. Place into oven and bake until bubbly and cheeses have melted, about 15 minutes.
5. Serve immediately, garnished with avocado and tomato, if desired.

 

Sweet Potato Nachos

Holy smokes were these good…and filling!! I saw these on Pinterest and thought I needed this in my life and boy was I right!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced into ¼-inch rounds (I think I’ll go smaller next time)
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup corn kernels
• ¼ cup salsa or diced tomatoes (I only had cherry on hand and halved them)
• ½ avocado, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• Shredded Cheese or Vegan cheese (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Arrange the sweet potato rounds in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until slightly browned and crispy.
3. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare your toppings.
4. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a plate and top with black beans, corn, salsa/tomatoes, avocado, jalapeno, cilantro, and cheese.

Amazing nacho treat!

Breakfast of Champions

With 3 chickens and 2 people in the house, I tend to make eggs frequently. My husband usually eats salmon pretty often and I found salmon bacon at Trader Joe’s and thought, let’s give it a try!! I scrambled two eggs with 3 diced mini sweet peppers and browned the salmon. It kinda makes for a stinky house but it was fun and worth the experience for the Omega-3s. A dash of Maple Bacon Jalapeno Sauce from a recent Mother’s Day fair and I was set!

Dinnertime!

Dinners

Chicken Parmesan and Leftovers!

My air fryer and I are getting to be good friends! Instead of frying the chicken parm in oil, I used the air fryer to give me a lovely crisp piece of chicken.

Once the chicken was cooked, I used a nice marinara, placed the chicken in it, covered it with more marinara, fresh Parmesan and fresh mozzarella.

While that cooked, I steamed a couple artichokes, boiled some fettuccine and toasted some garlic bread!

The next night, I used the leftover chicken breasts and cooked up some zoodles for a fresh dish (of course we love our garlic bread so that had to be made as well!).

Chicken Pot Pie

The weather had turned cold again so I reached back for my old standard, Chicken Pot Pie. I’m still working on my pie crust and it’s getting better!

I used the ole faithful Betty Crocker cookbook and it’s still my favorite!

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 1/2 to 3 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey

1 box (10 oz) frozen peas and carrots

1 package (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box (I had one and made one)

Directions

• In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in chicken and peas and carrots; remove from heat.
• Heat oven to 425°F. Roll 1 pie crust into 13-inch square. Ease into ungreased 9-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish. Pour chicken mixture into crust-lined dish.
• Roll remaining pie crust into 11-inch square. Cut out designs with 1-inch cookie cutter. Place square over chicken mixture. Arrange cutouts on top crust. Turn edges of pie crust under; flute edge.
• Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Crock pot Pork

Thanks to a Facebook recipe, I thought I’d give this a try! It didn’t come with any measurements and nothing was precise as I cooked!

 

I’d found this beautiful pork loin on sale and couldn’t wait to try it out!

I started with a palm full of oregano and basil (about 2 Tablespoons), 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then I added 4 minced cloves of garlic, about 1/3 cup of honey 1/8 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup soy sauce (for anyone that saw the Facebook recipe it called for grated Parmesan which I omitted).

I pulled the pork out of the crock put and poured the liquid into a sauce pan to reduce and thicken.  I poured the liquid on the sweet potato and carrots as well!

Celebration Dinner

My husband and I celebrate all kinds of things in our relationship and like to have a delicious meal. We try not to go too crazy but make it fun instead.

I’m still on my mission to win the battle of puff pastry. So I decided to give bacon and puff pastry wrapped asparagus a try. I will definitely do this again!

I sliced the dough into 10 pieces, sliced the bacon in half and spiral wrapped them around an asparagus stalk. Then I brushed the dough with an egg wash. I baked them at 400° for 18 minutes.

While that baked, I put filet mignon wrapped in bacon on the grill. I added a dollop of Stonewall Kitchen Horseradish Aioli and wow! What a perfect paring!

       

Copper Pan Burn

As much as I love my copper pans, I have to admit I had a tiny mishap! I’d taken the pan out of the oven with the potholder and forgot that I still needed it! I grabbed the handle and yowza, that hurt! I haven’t been able to wear my wedding ring for the last 3 weeks. I’m not positive how I burned the inside of my ring finger but lesson learned!

Week 1

Week 3

 

Christmas gadgets, food prep and leftover fun!

Christmas Gadgets

Christmas was pretty fruitful for my kitchen this year (it must have been good!). My mother-in-law, husband’s grandma and brother-in-law’s girlfriend really added to my collection of various things! I think it’ll only be necessary for me to send some treats their way soon!

Anyway, I’d heard of an air fryer but was pretty neutral in whether I wanted to make the leap. I don’t fry anything at this point because growing up with the smell of it as a kid I’ve realized turned me off. Copper pans have also been on my radar map but again hadn’t made a commitment. As I use them more, I’ll be able to weigh in on the hype but for now, it was just a simple test run.

The fries came out of the air fryer quicker than in the oven and left any extra grease on the bottom and not on my plate-win! They had an ever so slightly different texture but were delicious. I used the copper pan for the burgers and they cooked so evenly that I was pretty amazed! Not the healthiest of dinners but it was quick and easy amidst a full day of food prepping.

Food Prep

For the last 5 years, I have spent at least 2-3 hours prepping on a weekend day-today was 4 hours. Usually it’s Sunday but since Christmas break ends, I’ll need to spend the day in my classroom getting ready for a new semester.

My first step is to have a plan. I always sit down and make a shopping list based on what I’ll make for the week, what I have in my freezer/pantry and what is on sale. Our schedules get pretty hectic but I like to plan for that too. I try to space things out so that my husband will have leftovers for his lunches or crockpot dinners for when I have after school meetings. I ended up spending less than $85 for the week! Here is our menu:

It has become a habit to immediately start prepping when I return from the grocery store or it never gets done. I make all of my lunches and snacks for the week as well as prep what I can for dinners.

Rinsed mixed berries

Portioned Berries

Vacuum sealed chicken breast

Shredded Chicken

4 prepped lunches

While I put the groceries away, I rinsed and let the berries dry off. After mixing, I scooped them into individual containers so that they are portioned and ready to eat. After I finished with the berries, I trimmed 2 large packs of chicken breasts, threw 3 into a pot to boil, put 2 in a copper pan in the oven and bagged up the rest (I forgot to check my menu to know I needed the bag of 3 for the week and didn’t need to vacuum seal them, whoops!).

Once the chicken was handled, it was time to start some assembly! Two salads were prepped, the sweet potatoes went into the microwave (I rub them in coconut oil to soften the skin) and dinner was prepped as well. I made it my mission to use one of the copper pans as much as I could so as soon as the chicken was out of the oven, I threw in the green beans and then the burgers when those were done. All the while, I was cooking up a pack of bacon for dinner and breakfast prepping.

Color me impressed! Evenly cooked and juicy without adding any liquids!!

OK, so now all of my lunches are done but I decided after Pinteresting (is that even a word?) some new prepping ideas I decided to make ahead all of my husband’s breakfast sandwiches for the week. He loves bacon but I don’t really enjoy cooking it so I like to get it done in one day.

I was a bit worried about the egg situation and I still am. I’m not impressed with the copper pan for those and will try another method if these sandwiches get a thumbs down. I scrambled 8 eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper and put them in the copper pan. I cut them into circles with a large mouthed cup and then flipped over. I fear the bottom is pretty rubbery. I saved the excess egg scraps and put them in the freezer for breakfast burritos. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic!

Here’s what the assembly for those look like:

Yes, I still found a way to get his daily note in there – can you tell we are still newlyweds?! I decided to put them on a small plate so he can reheat easier, put the note under the plate and wrapped it in foil.

Ingredients:

Everything bagel

Jalapeno Cream Cheese

Eggs

Pepper Jack

Bacon

Sriracha Ketchup

Leftovers

Last week I made pork burritos out of the leftover carnitas I shared in November and December Kitchen Delights. My husband has been working on his man cave and needed something hearty so I pulled a couple burritos from the freezer, warmed them up and threw them in the toaster oven to crisp the outside and dressed them. They received rave reviews!!

It’s been a lovely 2 weeks off from school and now I must head to my classroom to prepare for the grind!