Easy Chilaquiles

This couldn't be quicker or tastier! Great for a chilly night when you're craving some Mexican flavors, because this is even faster than takeout.

Easy Chilaquiles
2 Tbsp EVOO
3 minced cloves garlic
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes with puree
2 minced chipotle chiles in adobo, plus 1 Tbsp of the adobo
1 cup water
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 cooked boneless/skinless chicken breasts, shredded*
4 cups tortilla chips
salt & pepper
fresh cilantro leaves, sour cream, and/or cheese, for serving (all optional)

Add the olive oil and minced garlic to a 3-4 qt pot and cook over medium heat until the garlic starts to sizzle a little and becomes fragrant. Add the tomatoes, chipotles, adobo, water, cumin and coriander. Season well with salt & pepper. Stir to combine, then bring to a simmer and let it cook for 6-8 minutes, until the sauce is slightly thickened and the flavors have all combined. Add in the shredded chicken and heat through.

In each of four bowls, put a handful of tortilla chips, then ladle the sauce and chicken on top. Top with cilantro leaves, sour cream, and cheese if desired (I used queso fresco, a mild Mexican cheese, but you could just use shredded cheddar or jack cheese).

* If I'm really in a rush, I'll just grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shred the meat off of it, but this time I made chicken stock with a six-pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (they were on sale!). This way I have cooked, shredded meat for easy meals throughout the week, and homemade low-sodium chicken stock.

Chicken Stock
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 carrots, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into chunks
2 celery stalks, scrubbed & cut into chunks
1 yellow onion, cut into chunks
2 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
3-4 sprigs of thyme leaves
3-4 sprigs of fresh parsley
3 quarts of cold water
1 Tbsp salt

Put everything into a big ol' stockpot and bring to a full boil. Turn the heat down a bit and cook at a low boil, uncovered, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Remove the chicken breasts and shred them for future use. Strain the rest of the stock through a colander into a large bowl, and then put in plastic containers to store in the freezer. Makes about 6 cups of stock. (Yes, you read that right -- you lose half the volume of your liquid during the process!)

Birthday Risotto

I made this a few weeks ago, and Rugrat liked it so much he asked for seconds! And when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner this year, this is what he chose. :) Risotto only seems difficult if you've never made it before. And this version is fancy enough to serve at a dinner party (although maybe I'd use fresh asparagus instead of frozen peas, in that case).

Birthday Risotto
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
1 c arborio rice
1/2 c dry white wine
4-5 c chicken stock
1 c tiny bay shrimp
3/4 c frozen peas
1 c shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp white truffle oil
salt & pepper

Put the chicken stock in a pot over medium-high heat until it's simmering, then reduce temperature to maintain a simmer. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion, season with salt & pepper, and saute for about 7-8 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the rice, stirring to coat all the grains in the oil/butter, and turn the heat down just a smidge, to medium-low. After a minute or so, add the wine. When the wine is nearly all absorbed, add 1/2 - 1 cup of the simmering chicken stock. Stir frequently, until the chicken stock is nearly all absorbed. You'll know it's time to add more stock when you run your spoon along the bottom of the pan and you can see the bottom of the pan for a split second before the liquid rolls back over it. Keep adding stock, about a cup at a time, stirring frequently, until you've got about a cup of stock left in your pot. Taste the rice, and if it is still very raw, you'll want to add a bit more chicken stock to your simmering pot, because one more cup won't be enough. It takes me about 25-30 minutes to cook the rice. (One more way to tell if your rice is almost done: it starts absorbing the liquid MUCH slower -- your last addition of stock seems to take forever to absorb.) When the rice is al dente, throw in the shrimp & frozen peas. Let the risotto get hot again, turn off the heat, and then add your parmesan cheese. Finish with a drizzle of the white truffle oil.

Tomato season

The best month of the year, as far as I'm concerned, is August. No, I don't love the scorching East Bay Area heat. But I do love the tomatoes, the glorious, sun-ripened, warm, sweet, misshapen globes of juicy multi-colored heirloom goodness. I love driving out to the family farm stand on the weekend and picking up a few pounds of tomatoes and then bringing them home and devouring them in a day or two, usually accompanied by some Hawaiian red sea salt & freshly ground pepper, a little extra-virgin olive oil, a bit of fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkling of basil leaves from my backyard herb garden.

This week, I picked up a bunch of rainbow-colored tomatoes and last night I made a lovely golden-hued shrimp gazpacho. It was very simple, and required only a few minutes of cooking (for the shrimp). The resulting soup was a delight, pureed to a nearly-smooth texture, and studded with luscious, curling pink shrimp.

Shrimp Gazpacho
1/4 c plus 1 Tbsp EVOO
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
4-5 medium heirloom tomatoes, diced (approximately baseball- or softball-sized tomatoes, any variety you like; I'm guessing it was about 2 lb tomatoes)
1/2 English cucumber, seeded & diced
1/2 c diced red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small jar roasted bell peppers, chopped
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 c chicken stock
salt & pepper
fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, then add the shrimp. Season well with salt & pepper, and saute the shrimp just until they are opaque and curled up. Set shrimp aside to cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the soup.

Add the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, bell peppers, vinegar and chicken stock to a food processor, and puree until nearly smooth. With the processor running, drizzle in the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Serve soup topped with the shrimp, and fresh basil, if desired.

Note: You could also add some Tabasco or other hot sauce for a little heat, if you prefer that, but if your tomatoes are fresh and ripe, you'll want to let their flavor take center stage. Also, most gazpacho recipes call for tomato juice, but I didn't have any on hand and my tomatoes were wonderfully juicy on their own, so I just added the chicken stock to provide a bit more liquid. You could substitute tomato juice and omit the shrimp for a lovely vegetarian soup.

Easy Peasy Paella

The other night I whipped up this very simple one-dish "paella" with pre-seasoned rice, some pantry-staple ingredients, and some shrimp & sausage. I didn't make it too spicy, and the kids actually liked it! You know, rather than just suffering through it, like they usually do if it's not pizza or chicken nuggets. ;-)

Easy Peasy Paella
1 Tbsp EVOO
2 cups diced sausage (I used 2 chicken/apple sausages to keep the heat factor low for the kids, but it would be great with chorizo or andouille)
1 diced red onion
1 diced red bell pepper
2 minced cloves garlic
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 pkg saffron rice
1 box (4 cups) chicken stock
1/2 lb peeled & deveined raw shrimp
1/2 c frozen peas
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Brown the sausage, then add the onion & bell pepper. Season with salt & pepper and saute until the veggies soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the tomatoes, smoked paprika and the stock, and bring to a boil. Pour in the seasoned rice, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low (just simmering) and cook for 20-25 minutes. When the rice is nearly done, add in the shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the peas are heated through. Stir in the parsley, double-check your seasonings, and serve.

Tuna Stuff

The "Tuna Stuff" is my latest obsession. I go through phases where I'll eat lots and lots of something for a few months, and then I'll get sick of it and not eat it for a long time. Tuna Stuff is what I've been making for the past few months now, and it hasn't lost its appeal yet, so it must be good, huh?

The greatest thing about the Tuna Stuff is that you can throw all kinds of things in it. It's very forgiving. Any sort of canned beans & veggies will work, I think. Just don't go overboard with the onion like somebody did...*ahem* - I'm looking at you, Mr Wonderful. ;-)

Tuna Stuff
1 can tuna packed in olive oil (you can use water-packed but it's not quite as good, in my opinion)
1 can small white beans, rinsed & drained
1 stalk celery, diced
1 handful grape or cherry tomatoes, diced
1/4 - 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 small shallot, minced
1/4 c chopped parsley
2-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
0-2 Tbsp EVOO
salt & pepper

I usually throw all the veggies in a bowl first, along with the salt & pepper (be generous; salt makes it tastes good!) and a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Then I rinse & drain the beans and throw those and the tuna into the mix. Finally I add the parsley and stir it up. If you drained your tuna well, or if you used water-packed tuna, add a little bit of olive oil. Stir it up & then give it a taste. If it's a little bland, throw in some more red wine vinegar and maybe a touch more salt.

That's all there is to it! Healthy, fast, and especially tasty when you scoop it up with tortilla chips. Yumm....

Cupcake extravaganza!

I've been MIA for a while now, I know. But in my defense I 1) got engaged, 2) lost my camera for a while, and 3) got laid off. So my wedding, which was initially planned for October, is now taking place the first weekend in May. I'm a bit overwhelmed. :)

Today I did a trial run for my wedding cupcakes. I'm not much of a baker, but I figured i could manage mini cupcakes for the shoestring-budget potluck BBQ wedding we're planning. So I bought three boxes of cake mix and got them all gussied up:

Spicy Mexican Chocolate Mini Cupcakes
1 box milk chocolate flavor cake mix
water, eggs, oil as per directions on box
1 1/2 tsp good cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1 Tbsp excellent cocoa mix (I used Sharffenberger cocoa mix)

Mix it all up and bake in mini-cupcake tins lined with paper liners for 13 minutes at 350. Frost with ganache:

1 c heavy cream
1 pkg good semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1-2 Tbsp orange liqueur

Put the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl and toss with the cinnamon. Heat the cream in a small saucepot over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the cream just reaches a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and walk away for 2 minutes. Then slowly whisk the cream and chocolate together until the chocolate is completely melted. If you still have bits of unmelted chocolate, put the bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure boiling water does not touch bottom of bowl) and whisk slowly but constantly until the chocolate JUST melts. Whisk in the liqueur. Chocolate should be smooth and glossy. To frost cupcakes, turn them upside down and dip the top in the chocolate, swirling a little bit to coat completely.

Pina Colada Mini Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small can pineapple chunks in juice, pureed in small blender
1/4 c white rum
3/4 c shredded coconut, plus 1 cup for toasting

Put cake mix in bowl of stand mixer and add in 3/4 c coconut, and mix together. Prepare the cake mix as directed, substituting 1/2 c pineapple puree for 1/2 c water and 1/4 c white rum for 1/4 c water (you should end up adding a bit more than 1/2 c water to the mix). Save the rest of the pineapple puree for the frosting. Bake in mini-cupcake tins lined with paper liners for 13 minutes at 350. Frost with pineapple cream cheese frosting:

1 8-oz block cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 box powdered sugar
reserved pineapple puree from cupcakes (about 1/4 cup)
reserved 1 c shredded coconut

Beat together cream cheese and butter in stand mixer until fluffy. Add in powdered sugar and pineapple puree, beating until completely mixed and fluffy. Toast shredded coconut in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even browning, then sprinkle on the frosted mini cupcakes.

Lemon Mini Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 lemons

Zest the lemons and add to the cake mix in bowl of stand mixer; mix together. Juice the lemons. Prepare the cake mix as directed, substituting 1/2 c lemon juice for 1/2 c water. Bake in mini-cupcake tins lined with paper liners for 13 minutes at 350. Frost with passionfruit buttercream frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
1 Tbsp meringue powder
pinch salt
1 box powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp passionfruit puree
1-2 Tbsp milk

Beat butter in stand mixer until fluffy. Add in salt and meringue powder. Gradually add powdered sugar and passionfruit puree. Add in a tablespoon or two of milk at the end to get frosting to proper consistency.

Stuffed Pasilla Peppers

I've been promising to make stuffed peppers for Mr Wonderful ever since he got transferred to the local hospital, in celebration of his massively reduced commute. But the thing is, I hate stuffed peppers. It's basically meatloaf in a green bell pepper. Ick. But the other day I saw a 30 Minute Meals episode where RR makes a poblano pepper stuffed with corn & topped with cheese, and I thought it sounded perfect. Mr Wonderful & I love Mexican food. I decided to change it up a little, though. I had leftover chipotle peppers in adobo and some enchilada sauce (after making Yum Yum Chicken Enchilada Casserole for a friend who just had a baby), and this is what I came up with. It may not be the most photogenic meal I've made, but it is one of the tastiest!

Stuffed Pasilla Peppers
2 pasilla peppers (the store didn't have poblanos, but they would work just fine if you can find them)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 c frozen corn kernels, defrosted
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatos, drained well
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
2 chipotle peppers in adobo (from a can), minced
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 c shredded cheese (I used bagged Mexican mix, but you can use jack or cheddar or whatever floats your boat)
1 c enchilada sauce
salt & pepper

Preheat the broiler. Wash the peppers and put them (intact) on a baking sheet & pop them under the broiler. Broil for about 10 minutes, turning once or twice to ensure even charring. You want them blistered and blackened just a little bit, but not completely deflated and turned to mush. (Leave the broiler on after taking out the peppers. You'll need it later.)

In a saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and corn. Season with salt & pepper, and allow to brown up just a little. Then add the black beans, tomatoes and cumin. When everything is warmed through, turn off the heat and add the fresh cilantro.

By this time your peppers should have cooled enough to handle. Make a slit from stem to tip (not cutting all the way in half, just slicing the pepper open), and remove the stem and seeds. You should have a kind of floppy pepper "cup". Fill the cup with the corn mixture - really load it in there. Top each pepper with about 3/4 cup cheese. Pop it under the broiler, keeping the door cracked open just a bit so you can keep a close eye on it. Don't let the cheese burn! You just want it to melt and get golden brown.

Heat the enchilada sauce in a pan or in the microwave. When the peppers are finished, plate them up and spoon about 1/2 cup of the warmed enchilada sauce over each one.

Smoky-Sweet Butternut Squash Soup

Autumn is my favorite time of year. The leaves change colors, the weather turns brisk and sweater-worthy, and everything returns to a regular schedule. The kids are back in school. Television stations stop showing reruns and cheap summer filler. What's not to love about autumn? So to celebrate the advent of autumn, I fixed my favorite soup, the one that most clearly evokes autumn for me: butternut squash soup.

Smoky-Sweet Butternut Squash Soup
1 Tbsp EVOO
3-4 slices bacon
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 golden delicious apple, peeled, cored and diced
About 1 dozen fresh sage leaves
1 jar butternut squash puree (I get those big jars from Williams-Sonoma), or one large butternut squash, roasted & pureed (if you're not lazy like me)
2-4 cups chicken stock (one big box = 4 cups)
2 Tbsp butter
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until crisp; remove and drain on paper towels. Add the onions to the pot and saute in the olive oil and bacon grease for a few minutes, until translucent but not browned. Add the diced apple and saute for another couple of minutes. Chop up about half a dozen sage leaves and add them to the apples and onions, and season everything with salt & pepper. (Reserve another half dozen large, beautiful sage leaves for garnish.) When the apples are nice and soft, add the butternut squash puree and about two cups of chicken stock and raise the temperature to medium-high. When the soup starts to bubble a bit, lower the temperature back down to medium and break out your immersion blender and blend it up until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add more stock (final amount will depend on how much butternut squash puree you have and how thick you like your soup). When everything is heated back up again, taste the soup, and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

To garnish, melt two tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter is completely melted and done foaming, add the reserved whole sage leaves, making sure to keep them separated. Remove the sage leaves after about 30 seconds, and drain on a paper towel. The leaves should be crispy. Chop the cooked bacon and the fried sage leaves and top your bowl of soup with a little of each. Delicious!

Pork Chops with Orange & Fennel

Mr Wonderful likes fennel, but I haaaaaate black licorice, so I was a little leery of cooking with it. I figured if I mixed in some orange juice, and cooked the fennel down a bit, it wouldn't be so strong. It ended up being delicious, with just a little hint of heat from some cayenne pepper. Plus it gave me a chance to put my new All Clad pan through its paces!

Pork Chops with Orange & Fennel
2 Tbsp EVOO
2 boneless pork rib chops
1 small onion, cut in half and then sliced radially to make thin wedges
1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
juice and zest from one orange
1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the pork chops with salt & pepper, and when the oil is hot, add them to the pan, and then don't move them for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, flip the chops over and brown the other side for another 3 minutes. Remove the chops to a plate and cover with foil.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet, and then throw in the onions and fennel. Let them cook for about 5-6 minutes, until they get soft and begin to caramelize. Add in cider vinegar and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Then add in the chicken stock, orange juice and orange zest. Let the veggies cook for another minute or two, then add in the nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Add the pork chops back into the pan and cook until the interior temperature of the chops reaches 145.

I served these garnished with supremed orange wedges. I'd show you a picture of it all plated up beautifully, but I had to pack it up into tupperware and take it over to the hospital because Mr Wonderful was working the swing shift. He started working at the local hospital a few weeks ago, and I've taken dinner to him a couple of times now. It's nice to share dinner together, even if it is in the less-than-romantic atmosphere of the laboratory break room.

Tom Yum Soup

I was craving some spicy Thai soup but needed something low-cal (and low-carb!) so I picked up some lemongrass and threw together some Tom Yum. It turned out to be really quick and easy to make, not to mention absolutely delicious.

South Beach Tom Yum Soup
5-6 c chicken stock
1 stalk lemongrass
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
2-3 small cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 c sliced mushrooms (I used cremini)
1 red bell pepper, sliced (slices cut in half so they're not too long)
1/4 c thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts divided
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Sriracha
2 cans light coconut milk
1 lb cleaned, shelled shrimp
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

First, prepare the lemongrass: remove the tough outer leaves, trim off the root end, and then thinly slice just the ivory-colored part. Take the thin slices and either pulse them in a blender or food processor, or do what I did, and have your Rugrat mash them well in a molcajete. The lemongrass should end up looking like little bitty threads.

When the lemongrass is prepared, put the chicken stock into a large stockpot or dutch oven over medium heat. I used about a box and a half of chicken stock (about 6 cups). To the chicken stock, add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, and the white parts of the green onions. Add the fish sauce and Sriracha, and then let it simmer for about 5-7 minutes, until the veggies are tender and the flavors have had a good chance to combine. Add in one can of coconut milk and taste the soup. Mine was very strong at this point, so I added another can of coconut milk to mellow out the flavor a little bit. If you need a bit more salt, add another shake or two of fish sauce. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and add in the shrimp. Let the shrimp cook about 2-3 minutes (if your shrimp are on the small side; 4-5 minutes if you've got bigger ones), until they're opaque, pink, and curled up. Take the soup off the heat, stir in the green parts of the green onions and the chopped cilantro, and serve.

Note: You could add some fresh shredded basil to this and it would be wonderful; I just didn't happen to have any and it wasn't looking all that hot in the grocery store.

Black Bean Soup

This soup is based on the recipe in the South Beach Diet: Super Charged book, but I made a few changes.

Black Bean Soup
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced (or one small diced onion)
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 wax peppers, chopped (I had these in my CSA box last week)
1 serrano pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cans black beans, rinsed & drained
1 large tomato, chopped
2 c chicken stock
1 Tbsp cumin
2 tsp Sriracha
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a fairly large pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the celery, onions, bell peppers and wax peppers. Season with salt & pepper. Saute until the veggies begin to soften, maybe 4-5 minutes. Add in the serrano pepper, garlic, and the white parts of the green onion, and saute for another minute or two. Add in the black beans, tomato, chicken stock, cumin and Sriracha, and stir well to combine. Let the soup come up to a simmer and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Then, using an immersion blender, blend up the soup until it's only a little bit chunky (you can transfer about half of the soup to a blender and puree, then return the blended soup to the pot, if you don't have an immersion blender).

Serve hot with low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, some plain low-fat yogurt, and the reserved sliced green parts of the green onion.

Spicy Seafood Stir-Fry

This is a great refrigerator-clean-out meal that you can throw all kinds of veggies into. It could easily be a vegetarian meal, if you omit the shrimp. And it is perfect for South Beach: for Phase 1, leave out the rice; for Phase 2, use brown rice instead of white.

Spicy Seafood Stir-Fry
1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Sriracha
1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/2" wide half moons
1 chopped bell pepper (I used red)
1 cup chopped mushrooms (I used cremini, but any would work)
3 baby bok choy, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 container of tofu, diced (I used silken but I think firm tofu would hold up much better)
1/2 lb cleaned & shelled raw shrimp

First make the sauce: in a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, Sriracha, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. Add the tofu and set aside.

Heat the canola oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is rippling slightly, carefully throw in the zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms. After the veggies have started to soften and brown slightly (just a couple of minutes), throw in the bok choy, the tofu and sauce, and the shrimp. Cook just until the bok choy is wilted and the shrimp is done (opaque, curled up, and pink). Serve over rice (or not, if you're on Phase 1 of South Beach).

Caribbean Dinner

I was having a craving for coconut rice a few weeks ago, before I started the South Beach diet, and came up with this easy, quick dinner.

I roasted the chicken bone-in, skin-on, as usual at 400 for about 40 minutes, but with a Jamaican Jerk seasoning on the skin rather than the standard salt & pepper.

The long grain white rice was cooked per package instruction, but instead of water, I used one can coconut milk and enough chicken stock to bring the liquids up to 3 cups. After cooking, I fluffed up the rice and tossed with some fresh cilantro and green onions.

But the black beans were my favorite part...

Caribbean Black Beans
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 small chopped onion,
1 chopped bell pepper (I used orange, but red or yellow would be fine)
1 minced (seeded) jalepeno pepper
1 minced clove of garlic
1 can beans
1 large tomato
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onion, sliced thinly
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Throw in the onion, bell pepper and jalepeno, and saute until the vegetables are softened. Add the minced garlic and saute for one more minute. Then add one can of rinsed & drained black beans and a large chopped tomato (I used an heirloom from our CSA box) and just let the beans warm up. Take the beans off the heat and toss in some chopped cilantro and green onion. Serve with the chicken and rice.

The beans are vegetarian, so I've tagged this post as vegetarian. You could easily omit the chicken and still have a filling, delicious meal.

Easy Asian Sole

I do not like fish. I will go out of my way to eat anything other than fish, unless it is deep-fried or comes inside its own shell. But I am trying to eat healthier these days - I consider myself kind of "in training" before starting the South Beach diet in earnest - and I've been inspired by watching reruns of the BBCAmerica show You Are What You Eat. So with that in mind, I picked up two petrale sole filets at the grocery store and whipped up this quick and easy meal. And here's another first: with all the delicious green onions, cilantro and ginger, I'm submitting this as my first entry to Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging, which is being hosted by Cooking 4 All Seasons this weekend.

Easy Asian Sole
2 filets sole
1 cup milk (approx)
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp chile paste (sambal oelek)
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 green onions, sliced (green & light green parts only)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Put the sole in a wide dish and pour the milk over it - the milk should just barely cover the fish.

In the meantime, mix up all the rest of the ingredients (except green onions and cilantro) in a bowl. Mix in about half of the green onions. After the fish has soaked in the milk for 20 minutes, pat it dry, season with salt & pepper, and put it in a shallow oven-safe dish. Pour the dressing over it. Bake for 10 minutes, until the fish flakes easily. Serve over brown rice (they have frozen brown rice at Trader Joe's - cooks in 3 mins in micro!) and spoon a little of the marinade over the top - the rice tastes great with the dressing. Sprinkle with the reserved green onion & the cilantro.

This really turned out well, and soaking the fish in milk first removes a lot of the "fishy" taste that I hate.

Lemony Chicken & Peas

This was a quick dinner I pulled together that had a light, lemony sauce and healthy brown rice. How did I manage a quick dinner with brown rice, you ask? Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice -- it cooks in three minutes in the microwave!

Lemony Chicken & Peas
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
zest and juice of one lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
1 - 1 1/2 c chicken stock (I used turkey because that's what I had on hand)
2 roasted chicken breasts, shredded into bite-size pieces (I roast several chicken breasts at once and use them for the next few days for quick & easy dinners)
1 1/2 c frozen peas
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
3-4 c cooked brown rice (I used two packages of Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice)
salt & pepper

Melt the butter over medium heat in a saute pan. When the butter is totally melted, add the olive oil, rosemary, lemon zest and minced garlic. Season well with salt & pepper. After a minute or so, add the flour and stir. Cook the flour for a minute, and then add the stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Add the lemon juice and then throw in the chicken, frozen peas and parsley. Once everything is heated through, it's ready to go. Serve over the brown rice.

Whole wheat goodness

Over the past few days I've made a couple of loaves of bread from scratch. The first loaf I tried was a white bread, no-knead recipe that I followed to the letter. The second time I decided to get a little creative. The bread turned out fairly dense, with a fine crumb and a fantastic crispy, crunchy crust. With the antioxidants in the flaxseed, this will be my submission to Sweetnicks' ARF/5-a-day roundup this week.

Wheat & Flaxseed No-Knead Bread
1 1/2 c unbleached all purpose flour, plus a little more for working the dough later
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1 heaping Tbsp honey (I used a nice local wildflower honey)
1 3/4 c water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Add the honey and the water, and mix just until the dough comes together in a big ball. Cover the bowl with a clean dishtowel and leave alone for 12 hours. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with a little flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. Pull the blob of dough from one end into the center, turn and repeat. Do this until all four edges have been folded into the center. Turn it over so that the "seam" is on the bottom and pat the dough into a circle shape. Cover it again with the dishtowel and let it rise for another hour.

Preheat oven to 500 with a 5 1/2 qt round covered dutch oven inside the oven while it heats. When the oven is preheated and the dough disk has risen for another hour, put the dough in the dutch oven and cook, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 10 minutes. Immediately remove the bread from the dutch oven and put it on a rack to cool. Leave it alone until it is completely cooled or you just can't stand it anymore and have to try it (it will cut much better when it's cooled).

Spicy Spaghetti

I popped in to Kinder's (a local butcher) the other day for some chicken breasts and peppered bacon, and the sausages caught my eye. I asked for two mild links, thinking I'd make some spaghetti for an easy weeknight dinner. Turns out, the butcher gave me the wrong ones and our spaghetti turned out much spicier than I planned. It was way too much kick for Tomboy, but Mr Wonderful loved it and said it reminded him of when he lived in New Orleans.

Spicy Spaghetti
1/2 lb angel hair pasta (I used the Barilla Plus kind, which is a healthier multigrain pasta)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 hot Italian links (any spicy sausage would be good here), cut in half lengthwise and then into thin half-rounds
1 large can (28 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1/4 c fresh basil, torn or sliced into thin strips
salt & pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds or so. Throw in the sausage and cook for another few minutes. Add the tomatoes. Wait for the sauce to start bubbling a little, and then turn down the heat to low. You can simmer this for a loooong time; I did for about half an hour, waiting for Mr Wonderful to come home. The flavors just all mix together and get better and better. Just before serving, add the basil and adjust the seasoning (the sausage probably added plenty of heat and salt, but check just in case).

Pork Chops and Roasted Fingerlings

I was watching Rachael Ray the other day and saw her make a meal with huge veal chops topped with a "raw sauce" (which was essentially just a salad). I wasn't impressed with the pompous name, but it sounded tasty (hot meat, cool salad) and I had all this organic produce from Trader Joe's, so dinner was born.

Pork Chops & Salad
2 thin cut boneless pork chops
2 tsp salt-free seasoning blend
2 c baby salad greens
1 c chopped heirloom tomatoes (cherry tomatoes will work fine instead)
1/2 small red onion, diced
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

In a large-ish bowl, combine the greens, tomatoes and onion. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and then about 1 Tbsp olive oil. Season well with salt & pepper. Toss to combine, then let this sit off to the side while you make your pork chops.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Put 2 Tbsp olive oil in the skillet. Prepare the chops by sprinkling liberally with the seasoning blend, and salt & pepper. When the oil is shimmering in the pan, you'll know it's hot enough - add your pork chops. Remember that these chops are really thin though, so don't overcook them! I cooked mine for about three minutes, TOTAL - about 1 1/2 minutes per side.

Serve the salad with a chop on top and the roasted fingerling potatoes on the side (see below).

Roasted Fingerlings
1 small bag fingerling potatoes from Trader Joe's, cut in half
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp salt-free seasoning blend
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400.

On a rimmed sheet pan, toss the potatoes with the olive oil so that all sides are coated. Sprinkle with the seasoning blend and salt and pepper. Turn all the potatoes so the cut side is facing down, then roast 'em for about 25-30 minutes, until they are shriveled a bit and beautifully browned on the bottom.

Summer fruit parfaits

The strawberries and blueberries were calling my name at the farmer's market this weekend, so I whipped up some tasty, healthy parfaits with fruit and yogurt for dessert on Father's Day. This will be my submission for Sweetnicks' ARF/5-a-day this week; be sure to check out her roundup on Tuesday night for more tasty recipes.

Summer Fruit Parfaits
2 c fresh strawberries, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 c fresh blueberries
1/4 c good balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar (or a little more, if your strawberries aren't very sweet)
4 c lowfat plain greek yogurt
1/4 c chopped roasted pistachios
2 Tbsp balsamic glaze (I got this at Williams Sonoma)

In a large bowl, mix the strawberries and blueberries together with the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Let stand at room temperature for at least an hour to let the berries macerate.

In six parfait glasses (or juice glasses), divide the berries and yogurt, layering first the yogurt, then the fruit, ending with fruit. Top each parfait with a sprinkling of chopped pistachio nuts and drizzle with a little of the balsamic glaze. Serve immediately.

Perfect roast beef sandwich

I've had such a craving lately for roast beef sandwiches. This is my idea of the perfect combination of flavors for a roast beef sandwich.

Perfect Roast Beef Sandwich
2 half-inch slices toasted sourdough pugliese bread
2 Tbsp dijon-horseradish sauce (see below)
3-4 slices thin, rare roast beef
1 thin slice sharp cheddar cheese
1 leaf butter lettuce

Spread the both slices of toasted bread with the mustard sauce, then top with the meat, cheese and lettuce. Enjoy!

Dijon-Horseradish Sauce
2 Tbsp lowfat sour cream
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp prepared horseradish
salt & pepper

Mix the first three ingredients together in a small bowl, and add salt & pepper to taste. Makes enough for 2-3 sandwiches.