Salsa Verde

Hey everyone! A real quick update for you: I’ve been on a little vacay this week down on the island so today’s post will be the last one until next week. Now on to the main attraction….

I love salsa verde but until recently I had no idea exactly what it consisted of or how easy it was to make. This is another recipe by the fabulous Yvonne – click her name to link to her blog/web site which will also provide you to a link to her FB page. She is a wonderful chef and I couldn’t help sharing this recipe after I attended another one of her cooking shows and then tried to make the salsa myself.

As you can see here I put the salsa on some fish tacos but the options are limitless for what you can eat this salsa with.

1 lb tomatillo, peeled, washed and quartered

1 white onion, peeled and quartered

4 cloves garlic, peeled

2 jalapeños, seeds and membranes removed

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cilantro (no need to chop)

1/2 lime, juiced

1. Heat oven to 400*.

2. Place quartered tomatillos and onions, jalepenos and whole garlic cloves and place on lined cookie sheet (parchment paper is best but foil will do). Bake until tomatillos are soft, about 20 minutes.

3. Allow a few minutes out of the oven to cool and then place in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and pulse.

4. Cool in refrigerator until ready to eat.

5. Enjoy!

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June Menu ~ 2013

Holy moly, I am having a hard time believing it is June already! Don’t get me wrong, I am so ready for summer and for the kids to be out of school, but when I look back at the past 5 months, I’m like wha??? Where’d it go? And it’s not even that so much as realizing that you’re half-way through 2013 already! Before you know it it’ll be 2014 and I still haven’t gotten used to writing 2013 on my checks!!

Ok, fine, enough complaining.

This month I have a lot going on. Most times June is a busy month for this family and this year is no exception. In fact, I have even more going on than usual for June, but mostly it’s coincidence. With that said, I will be out of town for three of the five weekends, and  so my aim is make my menu as easy as possible. There isn’t much in the way of new recipes, though I am sure if I have the time I will add something else. I often do. And there are also the leftover recipes from my May menu that I didn’t get to in time, so I will most likely get to those as well. I hope you find something you like. Happy cooking and welcome summer!

Recipes I have posted before: Bourbon BBQ Sliders, Baked Tacos, Poor Man’s Mongolian Beef, Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Tomato & Zucchini Frittata, Dijon Dill Salmon, Honey Sesame Chicken, Lobster Risotto, Chili Lime Chicken Fiesta Salad, Crispy Cheddar Chicken, Maple Mustard Chicken, Pasta Lentil Soup.

Recipes I am working on this month:

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Brown Sugar Grilled Salmon

Tuscan Pasta

General Tso’s Chicken Sliders

Egg-Stuffed Potatoes

Crock Pot Pesto-Ranch Chicken

Chicken Pad Thai

Chocolate Fudge Tart with Mint Cream

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Pear Pecan Muffins

Raspberry Lemon Drop

Parmesan & Chive Quinoa Patties

Wow, these were good! Everyone enjoyed them and I definitely will be making them again. They were the perfect side to my Honey Lime Chicken Kabobs, and just as satisfying as my Rice Fritters but with less mess (always a good thing around here). You should yield about a dozen 2-inch cakes, however size and number will vary.

2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa

4 large eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp sea salt

6 green onions, sliced thin*

1/3 cup fresh shredded parmesan

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup panko bread crumbs

EVOO

1. Combine the quinoa, eggs, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the chives, onions, cheese, and garlic. *When cutting up the green onions, use the entire thing. Add the panko, stir, and let sit a few minutes. If the mixture is too wet add more panko, if too dry add water.

2. Heat 1 T oil at a time in large skillet over medium high heat. Form your patties into approx. 2 ounce/1-inch circles and place into the pan. Fry until bottoms are considerably browned then flip over and cook the tops. Drain on paper towels.

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Four Bean Salad

Recently I went to a dinner at a friend’s house where everyone brought sides to go around the main course, and it was there I discovered this awesome bean salad. Now, I know some of you will say this is old news, but to me it’s not and I had to make one of my own and share. I love the flavors of the balsamic mixed with sugar. It’s not too sweet and not too bitter. Just perfect.

There are lots of things you could add into a salad like this, such as onion and bell pepper, but I just wanted to keep this simple so it’s strictly beans and dressing. And really, you could use any combination of beans you’d like.

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 can green beans, drained and rinsed

1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup EVOO

1/2 tsp salt

Combine the beans in a large bowl. Whisk vinegar, sugar, oil, and salt until sugar dissolves.

Pour vinegar-sugar mixture over beans and toss well to coat.

Cover and refrigerate over night. Stir several times.

Melt in Your Mouth Mondays @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, In & Out of the Kitchen @ Feeding Big, Tempt My Tummy @ Blessed with Grace, Simple Supper Tuesdays @ Hun, What’s for Dinner?, Tuesday’s Table @ Love in the Kitchen, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain, Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hungry Little Girl, What’s in Your Kitchen @ Kitchen Meets Girl, Thursdays Treasures @ Food Done Light, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Foodie Friday @ Simple Living & Eating, TGIF @ A Peek Into My Paradise, Weekend Potluck @ The Country Cook, Saturday Spotlight @ Angel’s Homestead

Mushroom & Peas Pulao

A pulao is an Indian rice pilaf. Honestly, this dish could be a meal in itself. It’s hearty and delicious; a perfect vegetarian dish.

Mushroom and Peas Pulao

2 cups brown or basmati rice, cooked

1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth

8-10  oz. mushrooms, any kind (I used baby bella crimini)

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

small onion, diced

3-4 garlic cloves, sliced thin or minced

1 green chili, minced (I used jalapeno)1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom (or 1/2 & 1/2 nutmeg-cinnamon)

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp chili powder, or to taste

juice from 1/2 a lime (about 1 T)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook your rice according to package directions. I always prefer to cook rice with chicken broth over water. It adds flavor and a little protein.

2. While the rice is cooking you can get the onions, garlic and jalapeno going in the skillet in 1 T of EVOO over medium heat. While that’s happening you can wash and cut your mushrooms into quarters, or smaller pieces if you prefer.

3. Time to get those spices in the skillet (ginger, cardamom, cloves & chili pepper). Make sure the heat isn’t too high. You want to release all those flavors without burning up your skillet. What you end up with is like a paste so put it your broth now and whisk.

4. Add the mushrooms and peas (if frozen. If fresh, wait until mushrooms are almost done). You’ll see quite a bit of moisture come out of them. Cook it all down slowly and combine everything well. 

5. Combine with cooked rice and stir in lime juice, fresh cilantro, and salt & pepper.

Quinoa, Black Bean & Corn Burritos

I am stoked to share this recipe with you today. After a very loooong week of hardly any cooking and no posting, I am back in the saddle and kicking May off with this awesome vegetarian (and potentially gluten free) tex-mex  meal! These burritos can easily be made with a GF tortilla or even better in corn tortillas and eaten taco style. Enjoy!

1 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 cup quinoa to 1 cup water)

1 T EVOO

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilis, undrained*

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn

2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

flour or corn tortillas

If desired: avocado or guacamole, diced tomatoes, chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, taco or hot sauce

1. Heat EVOO in large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onions, about 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook one more minute.

2. Pour in broth and tomatoes. *I used tomatoes that didn’t have chilis in them so I added a can of diced green chilis (4 oz can) but only used 2 oz. It’s up to you how much heat you like. Add in spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt & pepper) and cooked quinoa; stir well to combine.

3. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for about 20 minutes or until mixture thickens.

4. Stir in black beans, corn, lime juice and cilantro, and allow to simmer an additional 5-10 minutes, uncovered.

5. Serve on tortillas with desired toppings. If making burritos I suggest heating up a small pan with some cooking spray and setting the folded burritos in the pan for just a few minutes on each side. This will help keep your tortillas together and it gives it a nice added flavor and texture.

May Menu ~ 2013

You may have noticed that I took a little sabbatical from blogging. I didn’t know I was going to take a break but it was obvious that I needed one. It’s also pretty obvious that I didn’t cook nearly as much of my April menu as I intended and I usually try to make those recipes up the next month, but alas, I probably won’t get to those any time soon. But I do have a whole menu of new and exciting recipes to share, and I appreciate all you wonderful readers and fellow bloggers for coming back to see what I’m cooking

Recipes I’m cooking that I’ve shared before:

Zucchini Noodles,  Cilantro Lime Rice,  Spinach Tomato Feta Frittata,  Cheeseburger Salad,  Black Bean & Steak Taquitos

Recipes I’m working on this month:

Quinoa, Black Bean & Corn Burritos

Fish Cakes with Cilantro-Lime Dip

Mushroom & Peas Pulao

Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake

Skinny Cheeseburger Casserole

Southwest Chicken & Corn Chowder

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

White Bean Turkey Chili

Marinated London Broil

Cajun Chicken Fritters with Cajun Aioli

Bourbon BBQ Sliders with Garlic Aioli

Southwest Chicken Wraps

Honey-Lime Chicken Kabobs

Shredded Beef Tacos with Lime Cabbage & Queso

Chopped Thai Chicken Salad

Chipotle Steak Burritos

Crispy GF Sweet & Sour Chicken

Chili’s Chicken Enchilada Soup

 Sides & Other:

Thai Dragon Noodles

Turkey Bacon & Cheddar Potato Cakes

Four Bean Salad

Parmesan & Chive Quinoa Patties

Deviled Potato Salad

Breakfast Enchilada Bake

Desserts:

Gooey Butter Bars with Fresh Strawberries

Mini Apple Tarte Tatin

Strawberry Tart with Basil Cream

Vanilla-Coconut Rice Pudding

Chocolate Banana Pudding Pie

Lemon Cake with Raspberries and Yogurt Frosting

Asparagus Feta Tart

This was a yummy side dish for my Poached Salmon with Sour Cream Dill Dressing and a fun way to get the kids to eat their veggies. We are all feta fans here, me especially, but you could use just about any strong-flavored cheese you like. Feta doesn’t melt well, so if you think you might have a problem with your asparagus rolling off the tart, you may want to use Gruyere or Jarslberg or something else equally yummy.

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled fine

1 bunch asparagus*

EVOO

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400*. Unfold the pastry sheet and roll out to about a square foot in size. I roll it out over parchment paper so that I can easily transfer it to a baking sheet. Just flip it over and slowly peel the paper off.

Fork the dough all over so it won’t rise during baking. Bake for about 10 minutes or until very light brown.

While it’s baking prepare your asparagus. *I used rather fat ones because that’s what was available, which were fine, but thin ones crisp up so nicely in the oven. That would be my preference and recommendation. Cut off the ends and try to get all the stalks as even in size as possible. Toss with EVOO and salt & pepper. You could even throw a little minced garlic or garlic powder in there if you’re feeling frisky.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and sprinkle the feta pieces evenly. Then top with the asparagus spears, arranging them by alternating tips and ends.

Bake for about 20 more minutes.

Cheesy Stuffed Zucchini with Ragu

I’ve noticed a few Facebook and Pinterest re-posts going around for something very similar to this. It seems to happen occasionally that I’ll put something on my menu plan and several weeks later when I’m finally getting to it it’s already hit the blog circuit. Does this mean I have awesome food instincts??

Yeah…unlikely, I know.

Well, whatever it is, I can’t be too far off the foodie path, I just wish sometimes that I had something with a little “wow” factor. Hopefully this will make someone happy, as it did me. I found this recipe through TLC’s Take Home Chef, but I had to adapt it quite a bit as I’ve noticed that chef Curtis Stone likes to really stretch his culinary skills and I’m just a bit of an underachiever most days

1 T EVOO

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp basil

salt & pepper

extra zucchini, chopped*

3 zucchini

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

3/4 cup grated or shredded mozzarella

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

pepper

1. To get the ragu started it’s best if you have about an hour. First saute the onions in the EVOO, then add it to the diced tomatoes, extra zucchini, and the wine, with 1 tsp thyme and the bay leaf, over medium-high heat and reduce it by a third. Sauce will be thickened. (20-30 minutes)

2. Meanwhile, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and spoon out the seeds. If the zucchini are still a bit hard inside just run a sharp knife down each side and score it a little. This will help when scooping out the seeds. *Also, if your zucchini are different lengths, you can cut them all the same and chop up the excess for the ragu, other wise I highly recommend you chopping up a fourth, smaller, zucchini to add to the sauce. It’s just a tomato sauce without it, and while it’s still good, the zucchini really adds something to it.

3. Combine the tomato sauce to your ragu along with the remaining tsp of thyme and the basil. Salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer, stirring often, for another 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350*. Combine the three cheeses together in a small bowl using a fork. Season  with pepper, and mound the cut-side of the zucchini with the cheese mixture.

5. Lightly spray a 7 x 11 baking dish. Spoon the ragu into the bottom of the dish and place the stuffed zucchini on top. Bake for 20 minutes. Then broil for an additional 10 minutes. Zucchini will be tender but if you prefer them more cooked through try pre-cooking them a bit before assembly or leaving it in the oven at 250* for an extra 15-20 minutes.

I served this over Parmesan Couscous and it was amazing. A very satisfying vegetarian and, if you serve it with rice, a gluten-free meal.

Spinach Squares & the Liebster Award

I love these spinach squares. This is such a great way to serve spinach and it makes a great side dish to just about anything. Also, if you are trying not to do a lot of the “bread thing” like me, this has just a hint of Bisquick in it so you get that feeling you’ve eaten a bit of bread.

Spinach Squares

1 (10 oz) pkg chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic, minced

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp thyme

1/3 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup Swiss cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350* and grease an 8×8 pan.

2. Whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme and Bisquick.

3. Stir in spinach and cheeses.

4. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 -30 minutes, or until edges are browned and a toothpick comes out of the center clean.

5. Let cool before cutting. Makes 9 squares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very special thank you to Shikoomkoom @ welcomebackbelly  for nominating me for the Liebster Award, which is intended to recognize up-and-coming blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

If you haven’t seen her blog yet please click the link and check it out.

Rules to follow when you are nominated…

1. Upload a picture of the Liebster Award badge onto your blog post.
2. Post 11 facts about yourself.
3. Answer the questions posted by the person who nominated you.

Eleven facts about myself:

1. I have CD’s I like to listen to occasionally in the privacy of my car by artists I will not admit to
2. I rarely bother shaving my legs in the winter.
3. I love Yorkshire Pudding.
4. I still have my childhood stuffed Winnie-the-pooh and will probably be buried with it.
5. Scratch that- I want to be cremated, so I guess that means Pooh will be coming into the incinerator with me.
6. I’m an avid hair twirler. Have been my whole life. You can even see me twirling my hair as I’m driving in my car.
7. I memorized the majority of Steel Magnolias over 20 years ago, and even to this day that movie makes me bawl.
8. I take my coffee black, 2 cups every morning.
9. I love Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes. It’s a really good thing those are only seasonal.
10. My keyboard is a mess because I’m always eating at the computer.  (I know…eww)
11. At different times in my life I have gone by these nicknames: Casey, Chatang, Chanise, Lips, Cappie, Peaches, Cranberry, and Capricious.  (And one rather dirty nickname via Nicole I won’t share here – you’re welcome. Also I don’t acknowledge car related nicknames.)

11 Questions for me from Shikoomkoom:

1. If you won ridiculous amounts on the lottery, what would you do with it? I would buy our retirement home (mine and Hubby’s) and set up funds for my kids. 
2. What are your guilty pleasures? Wine and chocolate, and The Sims
3. What are your 3 favourite traits in a person? Honestly, loyalty, humor
4. What kind of things make you happy? Wine and chocolate. Oh, and hearing my kids play and laugh together. And good food. 
5. If you had to pick one cause to champion for the rest of your life, what would it be? I would start a non-profit organization that goes into schools and educates teachers and parents about ADHD.
6. Food heaven and food hell? Food Heaven: Filet Mignon & Tiramisu. Food Hell: Snails.
7. If you had children, what would you call them? If you do have children, what are their names and why did you choose them? Number One’s name is Brandon, which is Hubby’s middle name. Number Two is Jadon, who was a man in the book of Jeremiah. He helped rebuild the walls of Jericho. It means “God hears”.
8. If you were granted one wish, the effects of which would last for the rest of your life, what would you choose? To reverse my back injury.
9. Your favourite book? Sell it to me! Pride & Prejudice. Seriously. And I don’t have to sell it because everyone loves it, only I’ve loved this book since 1995 before it was fad.
10. The best dessert you have ever had? Hmm…tough one. I can think of a few. The best tiramisu (vs. the worst), a chocolate torte with raspberry puree, or my Pot au Chocolate de Creme  (<– shameless plug, but that one made me very happy). What do you know? All chocolate
11. Where in the world would you most like to visit? Greece and London