Cheater’s Chiles Rellenos

I haven’t posted a recipe in a loooooong time, but this was too good not to share. Unfortunately, there are no pictures. Maybe I will remember to take some next time…because there WILL be a next time!

Last weekend I got a 25-lb. box of Hatch green chiles from Bountiful Baskets. That’s alotta roasting! I put most of the finished product in the freezer, but I had to throw together a couple of green chile meals since I had them on hand.

I’ve tried making Rellenos before, but I can’t seem to peel the chiles without tearing them. Maybe I need more practice? I don’t know. In any case, it was no different this time as my chiles quickly became un-stuffable.

So I improvised. This is not very precise, since I kind of just threw it together. And it requires that your chiles are mostly whole, or at least in generous pieces.

Cheater’s Chiles Rellenos

• Approximately 18 or so green chiles
• 2-3 beaten eggs
• Breadcrumbs mixed with salt and cumin to taste
• Bacon grease and vegetable oil (or cooking fat of your choice)
• 2 or so cups of grated Monterey Jack cheese

Once your chiles are roasted and peeled, dip them in the eggs, followed by the breadcrumb mixture. Fry in oil on each side until golden brown. Layer in a baking dish with the cheese and broil until the cheese has melted. Serve with rice and beans, and enchilada sauce to pour on top.

Next time, I plan to layer some cubed sirloin as well, since that’s what's in our favorite Rellenos from the Original Blue Adobe Grille. Yum!

So if you can’t manage to stuff and fry chiles without making a huge mangled mess (like me), this is a very tasty alternative that is comparable to the original. Enjoy!

Veronica, Gourmand

Paul and I went on a date last night, thanks to the generous offer from my parents to babysit. On the way to drop the girls off, we were discussing what we would do.

Veronica: Are you going to a restaurant?

Me: Yes! Where do you think we should go?

Veronica: Burger King.

Me: That’s not exactly the kind of restaurant we were planning on. We want something a little nicer.

Veronica: Burger King isn’t nice?

Me: Well, it’s not a nice restaurant for a date. We’re looking for something more fancy.

Veronica: Okay, I have an idea. Pizza Hut.

Me: …

Incidentally, we did not go to Pizza Hut, but to The Original Blue Adobe Grille instead. It’s one of our favorites! When we showed up with our leftover boxes (there are always leftovers, which makes me very happy the next day), Veronica was convinced that we had, indeed, gone to Pizza Hut and was very excited for us to share. Sorry to burst your bubble, honey.

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash Soup

I usually see spaghetti squash get rave reviews in the blogosphere. There are a ton of recipes out there, and some even use it as a replacement for pasta. I’ve tried it a couple different ways, but I just can’t seem to jump on the bandwagon. So when we got a spaghetti squash in our Bountiful Basket recently, I knew I’d need to find something different to do with it.

I’ve had good luck with other squash in soups before so that seemed a good place to start. The internet delivered this recipe and I decided to give it a try, with a few changes.

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash Soup

• 1 1/3 cups dry, uncooked black beans (or 2 cans black beans, drained)
• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced small
• 1/2 cup roasted green chiles, chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground oregano
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups chicken broth
• salt to taste
• cilantro
• shredded cheese
• sour cream

If you are using dry black beans, you need to start several hours in advance. Rinse the beans, place in a large pot and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and set aside to soak for one hour. In the mean time, preheat the oven to 375. Place the whole spaghetti squash on a baking pan and bake for about an hour, or until a knife slides in easily. When cool enough to touch, cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and discard. Scoop out the flesh and set aside.

Once the beans have soaked, drain the water and rinse the beans thoroughly. Cover with water and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Let simmer until tender, at least one more hour (possibly more). When beans are done, drain and set aside.

In your soup pot, heat olive oil and throw in the onions and garlic. Cook for a couple minutes, then add green bell pepper, jalapeno and green chiles and cook for a few minutes more. Add spices and cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Add tomatoes and stir, then add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

In a blender, combine most of the spaghetti squash with about a cup of the cooked black beans. Add a few ladles full of the soup and puree. Add puree, remaining spaghetti squash (I gave the strands a rough chop first) and remaining black beans to the soup. Add salt to taste (I needed about 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, but start with less and work your way up). Soup is ready when heated through.

Serve with cilantro, shredded cheese and sour cream.

The verdict: very good! As Paul said last night, we have found it’s hard to go wrong with Southwestern soups in our house. I will definitely have this on my list of go-to spaghetti squash recipes. By itself. At least for now. Do you have a tasty spaghetti squash recipe? Feel free to share!

Loving Lentils

For reasons of both health and finance, we’ve been trying to cut back on meat a bit and replace it with other proteins. This week I tried two new recipes featuring lentils.

 

Brown Lentils with Kale and Rice

I had some kale from Bountiful Baskets last weekend and thought that seemed like it would go well with lentils. After perusing some recipes that contained both lentils and kale, I cobbled this together.

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 2 Tb olive oil
• 4 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 orange sweet chile, finely diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground oregano
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 bunch of kale, shredded or torn into bite size pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• juice of 1 lemon

Boil the lentils until tender, about 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a large skilet over medium, add scallions and garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add chile and tomato, stir and cook for several more minutes. Add spices, then kale, and cook until wilted. When the lentils are tender, drain and add them to the skillet and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Serve over rice.

 

The verdict

Me: Scrumptious! I thought it was very tasty, with an almost Indian flair. I ate leftovers for lunch twice this week.

Kids: They both ate second helpings!

Paul: It was just okay. He thinks this is because he’s not a big fan of rice.

Despite that…I will be making this again. Tasty, frugal and filled with nutrients makes this mama happy. I think it goes great with the rice, but I may try pairing it with potatoes and see if Paul likes it any better.

 

Brown Lentil Tacos

While it may sound less than appetizing, this worked out surprisingly well. I don’t have a precise recipe (or a picture), I just replaced the ground beef with cooked lentils and made it all up like I usually do.

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 2 Tb taco spice
• 1 can refried beans
• taco shells
• shredded cheese
• diced tomato
• sliced black olives
• sliced scallion
• shredded cabbage (or lettuce)
• Sour cream
• Tapatio

Boil the lentils until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, then place in a medium saucepan with the tomato sauce. Heat over medium low and add taco spice. Meanwhile, heat refried beans and prepare other fillings. When everything is heated, toss it all into some taco shells and enjoy!

The verdict

Me: Scrumptious again! I could barely tell they were made with lentils and not ground beef. They tasted great and were extremely satisfying.

Kids: They again had second helpings. I think that is mandatory with tacos.

Paul: Good! He said while it wasn’t exactly the same, he didn’t feel like he was missing out by not having beef.

Success! We’ll be doing that again as well. You could even go half and half with the lentils and beef if the thought of meatless tacos sounds wrong to you. Either way, I think the key is having a really great taco spice that packs a lot of flavor.

Our lentil experiments went very well this week. I wish I could say that for all of my kitchen experiments. But at least this encourages me to keep trying new things!

Any tasty lentil recipes out there?

Samoas!

Since it’s Girl Scout Cookie season, I’ve seen a lot of tasty homemade cookie recipes on Pinterest. I decided to try one.

 

I liked the idea of making them as bars to save time, but I wanted to see what would happen if I tried making them in muffin tins. I figured it would be a little faster than rolling and cutting the shortbread dough, and would keep all the layers nice and tidy. So that’s what I did.

 

I pressed the cookie dough into the tins and baked them. I used two muffin pans for a total of twenty-four cookies, but they came out a little thick. I think I’d try to spread it out more next time, or halve the recipe.

 

While the dough was cooling, I toasted the coconut and made up this caramel sauce to use in place of the caramel candies. I halved the recipe, which was good because I burned the first batch. Yuck. If you try it this way, be sure to keep a close eye on the stove , keep the heat on the lower side, and stir almost constantly. Burned sweetened condensed milk smells nasty.

After mixing the coconut and caramel, I pressed the topping into the tins on top of the cookie. It seemed at first like it didn’t want to stick to the cookie, but they stayed together pretty well once they set.

 

Then it was time for chocolate. I melted some chocolate chips and started dipping.

 

The chocolate tended to form a thick layer on the bottom, so I scraped each one against the side of the bowl as I dipped them. It worked pretty well.

 

Then I drizzled a little chocolate over the tops, and stuck them in the fridge for the chocolate to set. Not the prettiest cookies out there, but they sure tasted good.

You can see that little guy on the left has an extra chocolate layer between the cookie and coconut. That’s because he came apart when I pulled him out of the tin, and I had to glue him back together. I saved him. Then I ate him.

So while I like how the muffin pans worked out, they were definitely on the thick side. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I may try to get them a little thinner next time.

These cookies freeze really well, which makes it easy to pull out just a few at a time. Just be prepared for some chocolate beards and mustaches if you feed them to kids.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I departed a little from our usual corned beef and cabbage St. Patty’s tradition in favor of something a little simpler. It was just me and the girls at home since Paul was at the Renaissance Festival promoting greyhound adoption with the hounds. And it was just one of those days! You know the kind I mean. So I give you our St. Patty’s dinner:

 

Cloverleaf rolls, made from this potato bread recipe formed into the shape of a clover as per these instructions.

And Colcannon, thrown together using this recipe and this recipe. If only we had had bacon…

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

How to Destroy the One Ring

 

1.

Pork Chops with Garlic and Wine by Ree Drummond

I made this earlier in the week. It was very easy and very tasty. You should try it.

 

2.

I also made a first attempt at homemade flour tortillas recently. They weren’t perfect, but I didn’t expect them to be the first time around. It will take some practice to get them right, but I think this is the start of a wonderful new relationship between me and Mexican food.

 

3.

I hadn’t been able to get a picture of Ariadne in the bath because she usually cries the moment her “delicate” skin touches the water. But the other night she was pretty chill so I even got to style her hair before snapping a few pictures.

“Love the hair, Mom.”  *fistbump*

 

4.

Jacinta was “helping” me bathe Ariadne. She can’t resist the camera.

 

5.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was methodically cleaning and organizing our house. I did the master bedroom first, then moved onto the laundry room. This is week two in the laundry room because we’ve had some other things going on that have made it a little difficult to do much in there daily. But it is easier to move around now and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m torn about whether to keep working in there until it’s “done”, or move to another area next week.

 

6.

The Renaissance Festival starts tomorrow! We are very excited to be going again this year. It’s really become a fun family tradition. I won’t be able to wear my garb this year but Paul and the older girls each have something. Ariadne and I will be stuck in the 21st century I guess.

 

7.

The casting of The One Ring into Mount Doom, as told by Veronica.

Happy Friday everyone!

Mini Mince(meat) Pies

Ever since returning from the semester of college that I spent in Oxford, England, I’ve missed mincemeat pies. Yes, I’ve missed them for nine years. Up until now, I’ve just accepted that. But no more! I felt it was time to test my cooking skills and make my own.

After perusing the interwebs for recipes, I cobbled together a list of things I wanted in the mincemeat. Meat was not one of those things. Though it seems that traditionally they did contain meat – hence the name, mincemeat – the ones that I tried way back in my Oxford days did not. At least, not as far as I know.

Once I assembled my ingredients, I played with the quantities until I came up with this combination. (DISCLAIMER: I in no way claim that this recipe is “authentic” or anything. It was pieced together from the internet, which we all know is extremely accurate and never lies.)

• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 4 apples, peeled and diced very small
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 scant cup of dried figs, chopped*
• 1 cup green holiday cherries, chopped*
• 3/4 cup candied citrus peel (recipe here)
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves

(*Next time I think I would leave out the cherries, they weren’t needed. Maybe the figs, too. I only included them because I couldn’t find currants. We’ll see.)

I put everything in a pot and simmered on the stove until the apple softened and the house smelled wonderful.

 

Then I made up a batch of Pam’s Pie Crust and cut it into little shapes with a cookie cutter. I pressed a small circle of dough into a mini muffin pan, making it fit by removing a small wedge from the circle first. I filled each little pie, then put the tops on and baked at 410 degrees F according to these directions. I had a little leftover dough so I made a couple in a regular muffin tin, too.

Yum! They were very tasty. The pie crust recipe made enough for one full mini muffin tin (24 pies) and a few extra in the regular muffin tin. But I had a lot of leftover filling, so I put it in the freezer to use another time. Which is good, because I’ll definitely want to make them again soon!

7 Holiday Recipes

 

For this week’s 7 Quick Takes, here’s some new (to us) holiday recipes we’ve made this fall and winter.

 

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1. Pumpkin Cornbread – A tasty variation of cornbread that is perfect for fall. Just be careful not to let it dry out, like I did the second time I made it. My oven seems to run a little hot, so I need to bake it for less time than the recipe calls for.

 

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2. Crispy Pumpkin Cookies – I love pumpkin cookies, but my husband is not a fan of how soft and chewy they are. Well, these cookies are the best of both the pumpkin-flavored and crispy cookie worlds.

 

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3. Candy Corn Bark – I saw several different variations of this recipe pop up all over Pinterest before Halloween. This version turned out fantastic! And I even found real white chocolate chips (made with cocoa butter instead of oil) at the grocery store. Super yum.

 

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4. Meringue Cookies – I have a lot of leftover egg whites from making ice cream (see below) and I decided to give meringues a try. I went with the Vanilla Rum flavor, it tastes great! Mine are definitely not as pretty, though.

 

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5. Peppermint Bark Fudge – I’ve been on a real peppermint kick lately, and this seemed like the perfect recipe to try to get my fix. So easy, and so good.

 

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6. Peppermint Ice Cream – Speaking of peppermint, one of my favorite holiday treats is Peppermint Ice Cream. I simply must have it around Christmas. Since my homemade ice cream has been turning out so well, I wanted to try my hand at making this holiday treat, and The Pioneer Woman came through for me as usual.

 

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7. Eggnog Ice Cream – Finally, a new favorite in our house, we discovered Eggnog Ice Cream last Christmas and fell in love. So, of course, I had to try my hand at this one as well. I used The Pioneer Woman’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream as a base (and cut back on the vanilla a bit), then added flavorings from this recipe. I did compensate for the difference in volume between the recipes, but I think I would even go a little heavier on the spices next time.

If you have a chance to try any of these, do it! They are all fantastic ways to celebrate the season.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Pineapple Meringue Pie

I saw this recipe last week on Tasty Kitchen, and just had to make it. It took a few days before I had enough time, and during those days my taste buds were in an agony of anticipation. It looked so good!

Finally on Tuesday I was able to put it together. I had some pie crust dough frozen in the oven which saved some time. (Oven??? Of course I meant freezer. Oy.) Instead of crushed pineapple, I used some fresh pineapple that I had on hand and just pulsed it through the food processor to get it to the right consistency. And even though I had never made a meringue pie before, the instructions – and my Kitchen-Aid – made it very easy.

You have to try this pie! It is simply delicious.

Here’s the step-by-step tutorial on Tasty Kitchen.

And the recipe, Grandma Inez’s Pineapple Pie, courtesy of Perry’s Plate. Whose pie pictures are much prettier than mine.

Go. Eat. Enjoy!

Christmas Baking

One of my favorite things about the holidays is all the tasty food that goes along with them. From Thanksgiving until New Year’s there is no lack of edibles, no matter what your taste is. And a sure way to tell that Christmas is approaching is the heavenly smell of something in the oven, that staple of Christmas fare – Christmas cookies!

 

This year I decided that Veronica was old enough to give me hand.

 

No, the smiles on our faces aren’t because of the six pack of beer that I neglected to move off of the counter. You can see they’ve all still got their caps on. *Hic*

 

 

Operating the sprinkles was the job of choice.

 

And she was good at it!

 

A little too good. How do you dispose of excess sprinkles?

 

Eat them of course!

 

Yum!

 

Jacinta helped by sitting and being cute. She was good at her job, too.

 

It’s always been a tradition in our family to bake butter cookies for Christmas, so it was fun to share with my daughter. Just like my mom did with me and my siblings, and her mom before that. And while it makes me miss my grandmother a lot, it’s nice to know that a part of her still lives on with us when we continue to share holiday traditions like this one.

Happy Baking, everyone!

Thanksgiving Photos

I got my camera back from my parents’ house, which is where I left it on Thanksgiving. So now I can share my favorite Thanksgiving photos.

 

A burp cloth can be a bib in a pinch. And a fashionable head covering!

 

“Bring it on!”

 

Crazy boys.

 

Omi and Opa.

 

Is Veronica eyeing Daddy’s drink? Or his cranberry sauce?

 

Me and my Ty-guy.

 

How did I birth these blue-eyed children?

 

Veronica had a little of all her favorites.

 

And a fork for each different one.

Yum!

Thankful

I’m thankful for… family, friends and lots of good food. Lots.

I’m thankful for… my camera, even if it’s left at my parents’ house instead of with me.

I’m thankful for… pecan pie with whiskey maple cream sauce.

I’m thankful for… some time to recharge my batteries.

I’m thankful for… leftovers.

I’m thankful for… pecan cheesecake pie (with whiskey maple cream sauce).

I’m thankful for… my decision to skip Black Friday this year.

I’m thankful for… cool air and warm sun.

I’m thankful for… socks.

I’m thankful for… my two-year-old.

I’m thankful for… my baby.

I’m thankful for… nap time.

I’m thankful for… my wonderful husband.

I’m thankful for… whiskey maple cream sauce.

Yum Yum Pumpkin

Sunday afternoon I was browsing through some of the blogs I frequent, and came across this recipe for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls on MADE. I knew I had to make them right then. Lucky for me, I had some extra cream cheese frosting waiting to be used. AND pumpkin puree in my freezer for just such an occasion.

 

Photo courtesy of Good Life eats

The recipe is originally from Good Life eats, you can find it here. They take a little bit of work and rising time, but are totally worth it.

 

Photo courtesy of MADE

I followed Dana’s tip and used some thread to cut my rolls. Much easier than using a knife!

 

Photo courtesy of MADE

Yum! Go make some. Or if you don’t have pumpkin…make PW’s!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made Broccoli Cheese soup last night. This has been one of our standby recipes for a while. Hits the spot every time!

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com a few years back, and just tweaked it a little to suit our taste.

My changes:

• I use fresh broccoli most of the time, though frozen works fine.
• I use butter instead of margarine. Yech!
• I leave out the onion. I started making this recipe before I really started appreciating onions, and I just can’t bear to change it now.
• I use half Velveeta, half sharp cheddar.

Tasty, comfortable and warm. Perfect now that the weather is (finally) cooling. And it gets some vegetables in Veronica, as long as the broccoli is chopped small. That alone makes it a favorite in my book.

Check out some other Tasty Tuesday recipes!

Roasted Vegetable Minestrone

Last week I made this Minestrone soup that The Pioneer Woman posted on her blog recently. The pictures lured me in, it just looked fantastic.

 

Photo by Ree Drummond

See?

And it tasted fantastic, too! I did have to add an additional 4 cups of liquid to mine. I think my zucchini and yellow squash were on the big side. I may just do one of each next time, it made A LOT of soup. I also substituted Great Northern Beans for Cannelini Beans, since that’s what I had in my pantry. I’m looking forward to making it again when the weather cools a bit!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 whole Zucchini, Halved, Cut Into Strips, Then Cubed
• 2 whole Summer Squash, Halved, Cut Into Strips, Then Cubed
• 8 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Stems Removed And Quartered
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• 2 Tablespoons (additional) Olive Oil
• 2 whole Carrots, Washed And Sliced (not Peeled)
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 3 stalks Celery, Sliced (leaves Included)
• 8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cans Cannelini Beans, Rinsed
• 1 cup (heaping) Cut Green Beans, Fresh Or Frozen
• 1-½ cup Medium Or Small Pasta Shells, Uncooked
• 1 can (14.5) Diced Tomatoes With Juice
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ¼ teaspoons Turmeric (optional)
• Parmesan Cheese, Shaved

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Toss cubed zucchini, squash, and mushrooms in a bowl with olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. Arrange onto two sheet pans (to avoid crowding) and roast in the hot oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until brown and black parts begin to show. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, onions, and celery and stir to cook for 3 minutes. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for ten minutes.

Add cannelini beans and green beans. Cook on low for five minutes. Add pasta and cook for an additional five minutes. Add canned tomatoes, stir, and cook for an additional five minutes on low heat. Check for seasonings, adding salt, pepper, and turmeric.

Add roasted vegetables at the very end. Stir and allow to simmer and heat for a few minutes before serving. Be sure to check seasoning! Add more broth if necessary to increase liquid amount.

Serve with Parmesan shavings and crusty Italian bread.