Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

This is one of my favorite new recipes. I love that it is so flexible. Also we used Whole wheat tortillas, but it could very easily be done with corn or spelt and be just as good:


Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas
2 t oil
1 small onion, diced
2 sweet potatoes, diced (about 2 1/2 c)
2 c. cooked black beans with a little cooking water (I used 2 cans of beans)
2 c. chopped greens (kale, spinach, etc)
sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 c. enchilada sauce
8 large tortillas (wheat) or 12 corn tortillas
8 oz. sour cream, yogurt cheese or creme fraiche

Preheat oven to 375.  
Heat oil in large skillet.  Add onion and saute 5-10 min or until soft.  Add sweet potatoes.  Cover and cook about 10 min.  or until tender.  Stir in beans and greens.  Cover and heat about 5 min.  until greens are wilted. Ad a little water if needed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover bottowm of 9x13 in baking dish with about 1/3 c of enchilada sauce.  Place tortilla on flat surface - fill with filling and roll and line them in pan-- At this point you are supposed to also add a little bit of yogurt, but I didn't realize that and it was still amazing. We just put a little dollop of yogurt on after it was cooked.  Cover enchiladas with remaining saue.  Cover pan and bake 20 min.


Variations:
black bean and squash: substitute 2 3/4 c squash for sweet potatoes
black bean and carrot: sub 2 3/4 c diced carrots for sweet potatoes
black bean and brown rice: sub 2 3/4 c. cooked brown rice for sweet potatoes but add them at the same time as the beans and greens.

Chicken, Grated Beets, and Beet Greens with Orange Butter

We had this for dinner tonight. Yum! I think next time I will put the beets over eggplant though. It is nice that everything is cooked in the same pan too.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Grated-Beets-and-Beet-Greens-with-Orange-Butter-355772
Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange peel (I used lemon peel)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 medium red beets with greens, greens stemmed and coarsely chopped, beets peeled and coarsely grated
2 teaspoons Sherry wine vinegar, divided (I used rice vinegar)
1/3 cup water (maybe my pan was too big, but I had to use closer to a cup)

Preparation:

Mix 1 tablespoon butter and 1/4 teaspoon orange peel in small bowl. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside until the end. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and sauté until cooked through and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Place 1 chicken breast in center of each plate; tent with foil to keep warm.

Melt remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter with 1/2 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; stir until tender and beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Add beet greens; toss until leaves are tender but still bright green, about 2 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon Sherry wine vinegar; stir 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon greens alongside chicken; cover to keep warm. Add grated beets and 1/3 cup water to same skillet ; cover and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue cooking until beets are tender and water is almost evaporated, stirring often, about 1 minute. Add remaining 1 teaspoon vinegar; stir 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon beets onto plates. Spoon orange butter atop chicken and serve.

Quick and Yummy Wonton stuff

We had a pretty yummy dinner tonight.

1 bag of mini wontons (we get bags at Costco-- CJ all natural chicken and vegetable)
half a can of coconut milk
some ginger (maybe 1/2 tsp?)
lemongrass (We had some on hand so I chopped it up and stuck it in. I don't know how much difference it made)
Small bunch of chives
Greens, like kale or bok choy

Saute the wontons in oil with all the ingredients except the greens. Once it's mostly cooked add the greens and finish cooking.

This was delicious, fairly healthy, and easy to make. I need to stock up on mini wontons. ;)

Gak

Just made this with the girls. It has the added bonus of not stinking like the store bought stuff. This smells like clean laundry. This recipe picture is from my new recipe book I'm making. It's the right dimensions that you should be able to save it and print it off like a 4x6 photo. that's what I plan to do eventually anyway. :)

Fantastic Whole Wheat Carrot Cake

Ingredients

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup honey

4 eggs

2 cups grated carrots

1 cup unsweetened crushed canned pineapple, drained

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1 Combine dry ingredients.

2 Add oil, honey, and eggs; mix well.

3 Stir in remaining 3 ingredients.

4 Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Pesto. Yes it is that good.

I really like pesto. I use it as an alternative to mayonnaise on sandwiches and as a topper for pastas. It makes for a nice change. It's very flavorful. And a little tiny jar lasts me a really long time. Tonight I tried making it fresh for the first time ever and it was fantastic! The best part is that it took about 5 minutes to make and had almost no cleanup.

• 1 cup packed, coarsely chopped fresh basil (can vary by a third cup either way)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (fresh grated is best)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts or sunflower kernels
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 clove garlic, peeled

Directions

1. In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients; cover and process until blended. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

A friend of ours made this when we came over for dinner the other night. They were so good. Josh ate like eight of them. So fantastic!

Recipe by OurBestBites.com

Ingredients:
1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions

2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions:
Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Dip 'em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or this dressing.

Zucchini Bread

I tried a new recipe today. Here it is. 

Ingredients:

3 cups whole grain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (you could cut this back for sure; I used olive oil but I probably won't next time-- wrong flavor)
1 cup honey
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (I'll add more next time-- maybe another half cup)
1 cup chopped walnuts



Directions:

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and honey together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes (it was closer to 40), or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool-- soooo much better once it has been in the fridge for a couple hours!

Simple Nectarine Pie

Okay so this is great because you don't have to peel or boil or anything. The nectarine peels just go soft when you bake it. So quick and so yummy. I adapted it from this recipe at food.com.

food.com

Ingredients:
pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie
5 cups nectarines, sliced
1 cup sugar (I've done it with honey and I would recommend a bit more than 1/2 cup)
1/3-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash, and slice nectarines. Mix together all ingredients. Put it in the pie crust. Sprinkle top with 2 tablespoons of sugar (optional). Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust.

Note: you may want to cover the edges with foil to prevent burning.

Mimi's Cafe Bread

Have you ever had that stupendous carrot raisin bread that they serve at Mimi's Cafe? This is a very good imitation of it. So fantastic! Taken from here

Mimi's Carrot Raisin Bread
Ingredients:

1 1/2 C flour (I used whole white wheat)
1teaspoon baking soda
2t baking powder
2t cinnamon
1/2t salt
3/4 C oil
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C walnuts chopped (I forgot to add these)
1/2 C crushed pineapples drained
1/2 C raisins
1 C shredded carrot

Method
Sift first five ingredients In a separate bowl whisk oil, sugar and eggs. Stir liquid mix into flour mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients. Grease a 9-in pan or four mini loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 mins. For the mini loaves you want to bake for about 30.
**After its done baking leave the bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer it to a cooking rack. If you take it out right after its in the oven, it will fall apart, and so will you**

Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

We had this for dinner tonight with grilled cheese sandwiches. I got it from allrecipies.com

Ingredients
4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 onion chopped
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste


Directions
In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and put in blender until smooth.
In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.

I added a little bit of milk at the end, then poured it into bowels and sprinkled grated cheese and parsley on top.

A lot of people recommended straining this after you blend it. I liked it how it was, but I didn't like the cloves floating in it... I will probably either fish those out or use ground cloves next time.

Double it.

Dill?

Does anyone have a good recipe that uses dill? I'd love to see it.

Lemon, Asparagus Fettuccine

This is a great recipe that I stole from Angela. We double it.

Ingredients:
8oz Fettuccine Noodles
2 cups asparagus
1 summer squash
2 (1 tsp) cloves garlic
1Tbs butter
1/2 cup cream
2 tsp lemon peel
Parmesan cheese

Cook Pasta. Cook asparagus, squash and garlic in butter for 2-3 minutes. Remove vegetables and add to pasta. Combine cream and Lemon peel in skillet. Boil 2-3 minutes or reduced to about 1/3 cup. Poor cream over pasta. Stir gently. Add Parmesan.

Quinoa, Black Bean, and Corn Salad

This is so yummy and fresh tasting. I love it! Perfect for the summertime. I have made it as a side or as the main course.

This recipe doesn't have peppers, but this was the best picture I could find.

Ingredients:
1 cup red quinoa, cooked with broth
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen roasted corn kernels (or plain corn)
1 avocado, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved (or other small tomatoes)
½ red onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
¼ cup lime or lemon juice
Zest of 1 lime
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions
Cook quinoa with broth according to instructions on package. Cool quinoa. Combine quinoa, beans, corn, tomatoes, onion and cilantro. Make a dressing with the oil, lime or lemon juice, lime zest, salt and pepper to taste. Toss together. Garnish with the avocado and additional cilantro.