Black Bean and Sweet Potato Flautas

From Peas and Crayons

This was really good! It was a winner with Mark and I'm pretty sure Tyler and Clara liked it too. A good veggie dish!

Ingredients:

9 corn tortillas
1 cup of black beans
1 cup mexi-corn [corn + colorful red/green peppers!] (I didn't have this so I just used regular canned corn and then added some chopped peppers to it)
1 small/medium sweet potato
1/4 cup of diced white, yellow, or red onion
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried or fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes [optional]
2oz cream cheese, room temperature [optional] (didn't use it)
4-6 ounces of grated cheese
1 heaping tablespoon [or two!] of taco sauce, enchilada sauce, or salsa (I used red enchilada sauce and more than a tablespoon. Just keep tasting until you get the flavor you want).
salt and pepper to taste
all-natural olive oil spray or plain oil


Directions: (She had a lot of good tips so I'm basically just giving her directions verbatim)

-Pre-heat your oven to 425F.  
-Poke a few holes in your sweet potato, wrap it in a slightly damp paper towel, and microwave on high for about 6-8 minutes.  
-While you wait, combine corn/peppers/onion with your black beans, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cilantro, cayenne, and taco sauce/salsa.  
-In a separate bowl mix your cheeses.  Add the sweet potato [minus the skin] to the rest of your veggies and mix thoroughly.  Add salt, pepper, and any additional seasoning or sauce to taste.
-Next wrap your corn tortillas in a damp paper towel, followed by a dry paper towel, and microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Follow it up with an additional 30 seconds.  The goal here is to steam the tortillas so they roll into perfect flautas without breaking or cracking (This worked great! I think I did 4 or so at a time) 
-Spray or rub one side of the tortilla with oil and add "line" of veggie filling to the center of the "dry side" of the tortilla, about 1-inch thick.  Top it off with a layer of cheese and roll the tortilla. -Place on a wire baking/cooling rack and seal with a toothpick, if needed.  
-Give them one more spritz of olive oil to get them extra crispy and set on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  
-Bake on the middle rack, at 425F, for 15 minutes.  At the end, set to broil on HIGH for just under a minute to crisp the tortillas into a perfectly golden, crunchy shell.

Tuscan Soup

This is DEEEEEELICIOUS!! Our friends made it for us once and ever since Mark's been on my back to get the recipe. Yes, you read that right, MARK wanted the recipe and that man never likes soup.  Then I made it while mom and Jim were here and they wanted the recipe. The other great thing: it's SUPER easy and pretty fast.

Ingredients:
-1lb spicy (hot) sausage
-3/4 c chopped onion
-1 slice bacon (or 2 tbsp bacon bits) (optional - I don't use it)
-1/2 tsp minced garlic
-1 quart water
-2 tbsp chicken bullion
-4-5 medium russet potatoes
-2 c (or more) chopped Kale (it looks like a lot, but it shrinks down tons. Next time I will use more.
-1 cup half and half (or heavy cream)

Directions:

-Chop everything ahead of time. Peel and chop potatoes into bite size pieces, dice onion and garlic, and chop kale. You can leave the kale in fairly large pieces, like you're preparing a salad.
-Heat a bit of EVOO in a large stock pot and saute onion and bacon until onion becomes translucent.   --Add garlic and saute for another minute or so.
-Add chopped potatoes, water, and bullion and simmer about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender.
-While it's simmering, brown sausage.
-When potatoes are tender add sausage, kale, and cream and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread or rolls. The left overs are great too!

Fluffy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Apple a Day

Confession: I don't (or I should say didn't) like chocolate chip cookies. They always turned out flat and crunchy and just not that good. I've tried so many recipes that claim to be fluffy, but they never worked. That is until I tried this recipe. These were the yummiest, fluffiest, chewiest chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten in my entire life! I will definitely make these again! So you should try them post haste!

I didn't change anything from her recipe so I will just post what she did.

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened (I left it out on the counter all day)

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch (surprising ingredient that maybe gives it the fluff?)

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In your mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

4.  Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto a baking sheet.  Don't flatten - just leave in the rounded shape. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes. I cooked mine about 9 min)

5.  Place on cooling rack to cool.  Makes approximately 3 dozen. 

Veggie Enchilada Casserole

I have been trying to find a good and easy veggie enchilada casserole that both my kids and my other kid (aka Mark) will eat. I finally created one using a combination of a recipe I found on Aggie's Kitchen, a recipe I found on 100 Days of Real Food, and my own brain. YAY victory!

Ingredients:

• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans (low sodium)
• 1 can corn
• salsa of your choice (don't use picante..yucky. Use real salsa)
• half of an onion or so
• 1 small-medium green bell pepper (or whatever color) 
• a few cloves of garlic
• shredded cheese
• 9 medium sized tortillas
• 1 10 oz can of red enchilada sauce (use a bigger can if you want it more saucy)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Rinse and drain pinto beans. Place in food processor and add a couple heaping spoonfuls of salsa. Process until a refried bean consistency.

3. Rinse black beans and corn and set aside

4. Chop onion, pepper, and garlic and saute in EVOO.

5. Pour a bit of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a greased casserole dish and lay out first layer of tortillas (I highly recommend going to 100 Days of Real Food to check out how he lays out his tortillas. It's genius! No more cutting tortillas into a million strips!)

6. Now layer on the pinto bean mixture, black beans, corn, saute mix, cheese, and sauce. Put more tortillas on and do it again. Put more tortillas on and top with sauce and cheese. So got that? That's 2 layers of veggies/beans, 3 layers of tortillas, and 3 layers of sauce and cheese.

7. Cover with foil and cook for about 35-40 minutes or less (I just kept it in until Mark came home) a half and hour is probably fine. Take off the foil and cook a few minutes more to crunchify the top. 

8. Serve as is or with avocados and plain greek yogurt. 

  

French Dip Sandwiches in a Crockpot

From Confections of a Foodie Bride

If you are craving a big, meaty, warm sandwich this is a great recipe and it's so easy, especially since its in the crockpot all day. Perfect for a cold day and perfect for a get together. We made this Monday and had a bunch of friends over. I doubled the recipe and it easily served 8 adults and a few kids with a tiny bit of left overs (granted some of the man adults ate more than one). Everyone raved about it!


Ingredients: (I doubled this recipe - this is the original)

• 1 medium yellow onion (I used a sweet onion - no prob)

• 3/4 cup beef broth/stock (Make sure to get  low sodium. If you can't find that, don't salt your meat, or at least go easy on the salt. I used regular sodium and salted my meat and it was a bit salty.)

• 1/4 cup soy sauce (go low sodium on this too)

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1 Tbsp creole mustard (I just used some dijon with a bit of ketchup)

• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• ~3lb chuck roast

• salt

• pepper

• 6-8 sandwich rolls, split (I used the french sandwich rolls you get in a bag - they look like subs)

• 6-8 slices of provolone or swiss cheese

Instructions

1. Slice the onion into 1/4-inch rounds. Place them in the bottom of the crockpot.
2. Add beef broth, water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard/ketchup, and garlic to the crockpot. Just drop a dollup of mustard and ketchup in the liquid between a few onion rounds.
3. Salt and pepper both sides of the roast and place on top of the onions. (remember my salty warning)
4. Cook on low 6-8 hours until beef is fall-apart tender
5. Transfer the roast to a cutting board or bowl and shred. While the meat is out you can skim the fat off the top of the liquid - I didn't - too much work. 
6. Return the roast to the crockpot - switch the crockpot to warm. 
7. Before you eat heat the broiler. Make your sandwich by spooning some meat onto the bread, add some cheese, and broil open faced for a few minutes until cheese is melty and bread is slightly toasted.
8. Serve with small bowls of the au jus.

cuuuteeee

Here's a cute picture of Eva. You are WELCOME! :)

Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca

I did take a picture of this, but my computer won't let me download it for some very annoying reason. Just imagine mine looks as good as the picture in the recipe. Because it totally did... Regardless, it was very delicious and a lot quicker than I thought it would be. Came together in like 10 minutes. So on a night you're not feeling like cooking this is a good option.

What you need:
-Chicken cutlets or whatever type of chicken you want to use
-Sage leaves
-Prosciutto
-Chicken broth
-Lemon Juice
-Cornstarch
-Olive oil

All you do is put the sage leaves on top of the chicken. Wrap it in a piece of prosciutto to hold the leaves on. Cook it in a little olive oil in a pan on medium. Take them out and then combine lemon juice, chicken broth, cornstarch, and a little olive oil. Cook unit boiling and slightly thickened. Spoon that on top of the chicken and you're done! Very tasty!

Here's the real recipe: Yummy chicken

Beet and Citrus Quinoa Salad

 

       You can find the real recipe here!

       I did it a little differently though. I went to three grocery stores and none of them had blood oranges or kumquats....so I just used regular oranges and tangerines. It still tasted excellent though! I also added feta cheese which isn't in the recipe, but was an excellent addition. Set aside some time to cook the beets though. Those suckers really take time. Basic gist though...avocado, beets, orange-like fruit, quinoa, and a yummy dressing mixed in. Verrrry tasty!

Using excel for meal planning

Pretty random post. Not actually a recipe, but I just thought I'd share how I recently started doing meal planning that's easy for me. This way you don't have to keep the recipe bookmarked or saved or anything. The link takes you right to it, and you can also make a table that tracks calorie amounts and sums them all up. It can also highlight which meals have the most, or which days have the lowest so you know when to eat a lighter or heavier lunch. Lots of cool stuff. Anyway, here is a little pic of what I've been doing. Holler if you have any interest.