Tex-Mex Rice and Bean Casserole

This recipe is another great one to add to the Meatless Monday collection. It has a good mixture of filling foods along with just enough dairy to make me one happy girl! I made this recipe the other night for my parents while husband was out of town. Husband always tells me that he thinks this casserole needs meat in it, but I completely disagree. This recipe stands up well on its own or you can throw all the ingredients into tortillas and make yummy bean and rice burritos. My parents both added a little homemade salsa and I munched on mine with a side of tortilla chips.

I made very few adjustments to the recipe. It was so good I didn’t need to make many! I use frozen corn instead of canned. Canned corn has a certain amount of saltiness to it that I cannot get rid of regardless of the amount of rinsing I do. Besides, frozen corn is a better bang for your buck. The original recipe called for one tablespoon of diced green chilies but I decided to throw the whole can in. I love the taste of green chilies and I knew that one tablespoon wouldn’t be enough.

Don’t make the same mistake with the rice that I made the first time I made this recipe. I measured out one cup of rice and cooked it in the rice cooker. What I should have done next was measure out one cup of rice after it had cooked and put the remaining cooked rice in the freezer for later. Instead I dumped the whole pot of rice in the casserole dish and mixed in all the other ingredients. It was only after I was eating dinner did I realize I doubled the amount of rice in the recipe and nothing else.

This recipe is great if you are craving Mexican food (like I do ALL THE TIME) because it has great flavors but not the fat or calories. It would work well as side dish but don’t be afraid to try this as your main meal.

Enjoy!

1 cup yellow corn
4 oz. green chilies, diced
15 oz. pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup Mexican style cheese
¾ cup sour cream
¼ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 T. scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a two quart glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine corn, chilies, beans, rice, ¾ cup of cheese, sour cream, chili powder, salt, pepper and scallions.

 
Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Return to oven and bake until cheese melts and casserole is slightly bubbly, about ten minutes more. Let stand for five minutes to firm up before serving.

Adapted from www.weightwatchers.com/util/prt/RecipePage.aspx?Type=1&RecipeID=136321

Avocado Chicken Enchiladas

For some reason avocados have been making several appearances in my kitchen lately. I think it’s because avocados are hot on the Pinterest boards these days. It’s not because they are on sale. Oh, far from it! But I am happy to include these funny looking little fruits into recipes.

This recipe required some tweaking. After serving these for dinner I discovered that a few more changes are in order but the recipe as it follows below is pretty good. Any changes I make in the future will be updated.

I used some of my dad’s hot peppers from his garden instead of the Serrano chili but with the flavors in the salsa verde I couldn’t taste the extra peppers. So in the recipe below I omitted the Serrano chili all together. Go for a spicier salsa verde and it should all even out. I also omitted the salt that was in the original recipe. The enchiladas were a bit on the salty side so hopefully omitting the salt will make a difference. The original recipe called for one small yellow onion but 15-20 minutes isn’t really enough time to cook onions when they are inside of tortillas. I minced four green onions and used those instead. If you really want a regular onion I would suggest sautéing the onion before adding it to the chicken mixture. I also used two avocados instead of three. Three seemed a little excessive to me.

Even with the prep that is needed for these enchiladas they came together rather quickly. I’m always very pleased when a recipe comes together easily and when it’s tasty. The chicken mixture as it stands filled all 10 tortillas perfectly. One enchilada was a perfect serving for both husband and me. Pairing these with a side of beans and a salad would make a perfect meal.

Enjoy!

1 T. butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T. flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. fresh ground pepper
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 cup medium salsa verde
½ cup sour cream
3 cups chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
8 oz. Monterrey Jack, shredded
4 green onions, minced
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
10 flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic until golden, about one minute. Stir in flour, constantly stirring, and cook for one minute. Whisk in the chicken broth, cumin and pepper. Bring sauce to a low boil then whisk in the sour cream, salsa verde and cilantro. Remove from heat.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add ¾ cup sauce to the bottom of the baking dish. In a medium bowl gently mix together chicken, 1 ½ cups Monterrey Jack, green onion and avocado. Using a heaping ¼ measuring cup place chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla and roll. Place each enchilada seam-side down in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling. Serve immediately.

Adapted from www.thenovicechefblog.com/2012/05/spicy-avocado-chicken-enchiladas-giveaway/

My Mother's Day Dinner

I wanted to take a moment to brag about my dad and my husband. On Mother’s Day they took me out for brunch (along with little one, my mom, two of my grandmas, my grandpa, my aunt, two of my cousins and two of my cousin’s kiddos) at one of the hotels downtown. The food we very yummy and the mimosas were pretty darn good. Little one fell in love with the pasta salad and was a very happy camper. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the company.

I had requested that if we didn’t go out for brunch that husband and dad whip us a five course meal for dinner. This was a joke. I would never expect them to do that. And even though they took me out for brunch I got a pretty amazing homecooked dinner too! Dad pulled out his trusty tapas cookbook and made a very delicious Salt Cod with Green Peppers and Potatoes Soup. It was so yummy. The broth was light and didn’t compete with the flavors of the other ingredients. Husband tried out Prawns in Garlic and Herbs. It was a heavenly little side dish to the soup. The olive oil that the shrimp was cooked in had such a lovely flavor that everyone around the table was sopping it up with their bread. Dinner was a smaller affair, just my parents, my grandma, little one, husband and me but oh it was wonderful.

It was such a treat to have my dad and my husband cook dinner. I love cooking for friends and family as it’s the way I show my love. So to have to very special people prepare a meal for me – I felt loved. Very very loved.

Asian Chicken Salad

One thing I’m going to try to work on a little bit more in my kitchen is making main dish salads. My recipe section is seriously lacking some good salad recipes. Now, you really don’t need a recipe to make a salad. Salads can be thrown together deliciousness. I love pulling odds and ends out my fridge and making a yummy filling salad. But sometimes a salad recipe can inspire you to think about adding a few more salads and that’s just the inspiration I need right now!

I love homemade dressings and one of the joys about salad recipes is that they usually come with a great dressing. I have a few bottles of my favorite dressings sitting in the fridge. Who doesn’t? But there’s something delightful about a freshly made salad dressing. One of the things I love about the dressing in this recipe is that all of the ingredients are hanging out in my pantry (even the ginger).  No extra ingredients on the shopping list!

This recipe is wonderfully simple. I love that the recipe calls for an already cooked chicken! How much easier could it get? Of course, if you have some extra chicken hanging out in the fridge you could easily use that instead. I didn’t use the greens that were suggested, I just bought a head of red romaine and it was great. I decided to half the recipe just to make sure that I would like the dressing. I could easily see myself doubling the recipe in the future – it’s that good! The salad comes together in just a few short minutes and was light and flavorful but also very filling.

Enjoy!

¼ c. rice vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. sesame oil
2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp. honey
6 c. romaine salad greens
6 c. spring mix salad greens
Rotisserie chicken, skin removed, deboned and chopped
2 medium carrots, shredded
2 c. snow peas, trimmed
30 oz.  mandarin oranges, drained
½ c. sliced almonds, toasted

Mix the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and honey together in a small jar with a lid. Shake ingredients until combined. In an extra-large bowl, toss together salad greens, chicken, carrots, snow peas and mandarin oranges. Add dressing and gently toss to coat. Sprinkle with almonds.

Adapted from http://www.hy-vee.com/seasons/recipe.aspx?r=7635

Brazilian Feijoada

According to MyRecipes.com and Cooking Light “Feijoada (pronounced fay-ZWAH-da) is a delicious stew of pork and black beans that's traditionally served over rice with fresh orange slices. In Brazil, this dish is often served on special occasions…”

One of husband’s favorite restaurants in town is the Brazilian grill. He likes it so much that we went there to eat right after we got engaged. I love going out to eat at Brazilian grills. I love how interactive the service is! I giggle when I see husband ogle stacks and stacks of meat as they glide past him on long metal poles held by waiters with “TEEK” accents. I also like that I can get my hands on South American sodas. It’s the little things. Our local Brazilian restaurant has an incredible feijoada that is part of their buffet. I could easily eat only the feijoada each time we go there. The sauce is thick, the meat is tender and there is just the right amount of beans to make my heart sing.

I was pretty excited when I found this recipe. I knew that it wouldn’t be the same as the one at the Brazilian grill but I had a feeling it was going to delicious. I decided to make half of the recipe (the full recipe is listed below). I saw the amount of meat that I was going to have to purchase and I hesitated for a few moments before adding this meal to the menu. Then I thought about how happy husband would be to see this much pork entering our kitchen and I knew it must be made.

I still don’t trust myself with dried beans so I used a can of black beans. Other than that I kept everything the same. I was shocked at how expensive applewood-smoked bacon is compared to my trusty turkey bacon. But I completely understand that the bacon fat is important to this recipe so I gave in and bought it.  

Husband was very happy with this recipe. He ate his entire bowl and half of mine. We tried squeezing the orange wedges over the dish, but it really didn’t do it for us. I did serve this over rice and that soaked up the little bit of sauce nicely. The meat falls off the bones and shreds just enough to get little bits of short ribs in eat bite.

I imagine that traditional feijoada is simmered for hours over on a stove or cooked in a pressure cooker. Since I just don’t have the time for that these days I really liked that I could cook this in the slow cooker. The house smelled amazing when I came home from work. I would happily cook this for a group of friends and family.

Enjoy!

4 slices applewood-smoked bacon
Click to see savings1 lb. boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into ½ in. cubes
Click to see savings¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. bone-in beef short ribs, trimmed  
15 oz. black beans, drained
3 cups onion, chopped
Click to see savings1 ¼ cups chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, minced
9 oz. smoked ham hock
Click to see savings1 T. white vinegar
8 orange wedges

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and crumble.

Sprinkle pork with 1/8 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add pork to drippings in skillet and sauté for eight minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Transfer pork to a slow cooker.

Sprinkle ribs evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and remaining pepper. Add ribs to skillet and cook for three minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in slow cooker.

Add beans, remaining salt, onion, chicken broth, garlic and ham hock to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on low for eight hours or until the meat is tender.

Remove ribs from slow cooker and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove meat from bones then shred meat with two forks. Discard bones. Discard ham hock. Return beef to slow cooker. Stir in vinegar and crumbled bacon. Serve with orange wedges.

Adapted from http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brazilian-feijoada-50400000110438/

Avocado Chicken Salad

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I was intrigued. Avocado? In chicken salad? Sure! The fact that I was even attempting to make this recipe is amazing. I used to not like avocado at all. I would avoid avocados like the plague. I’m not sure what it was about them that made me feel icky but looking back I lost a lot of good avocado years by being so picky. My uncle used to live in this amazing house in Ventura, California (correct me if I’m wrong dad) with a huge avocado tree in the yard. My uncle and parents would use a very cool avocado picking tool to pull down tons of avocados. How I wish I could revisit that house.

Trying a new beer
in Switzerland

Husband has helped me see the light. He introduced me to how amazing avocados can be. We now split guacamole when we go out to eat and I am very happy to have avocados included in many meals. He does like to brag about how he has influenced some of my food choices. I hated cilantro before we met. Seeing me tip back a beer was a very rare occurrence pre husband but now I’m just as happy with a beer as I am with a glass of wine. Ah husband, always making my world a bigger happier place!

When I looked at this recipe there were no measurements at all. The ingredient list was short. The author gave me cooking freedom! I gathered all my ingredients and decided to start experimenting. The original recipe and photo both include mayo but I didn’t use any. The avocado was creamy enough to cover all the ingredients. Mayo would be good to have on hand though just in case. I added a stalk of celery because I had a few hanging out in my fridge. I thought about adding some chopped nuts but I didn’t have any. Dried cranberries came to mind too but husband isn’t a fan of fruit in his food so I left it out. After mixing everything together and gobbling up the goodness I realized I forgot the lime juice. Do not forget the lime juice!

I used two very small chicken breasts so one avocado coated everything nicely. Adjust the amount of avocado you need based on the amount of chicken and other goodness you included. I ate this with crackers. The original recipe suggests pita bread. Tortillas or lettuce wraps would be good too!

Enjoy!

So much green!

2 cups chicken, shredded
1 avocado
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 T. mayo (if needed)
1 T. lime juice
Salt and pepper
 
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Chill for at least one hour. Serve with pitas or crackers.

Inspired by http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html