Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas with Gooey Jack Cheese

This one is thanks to Robin Miller at the Food Network.

Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces *see cook's note
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
1/3 cup prepared salsa, mild, medium or hot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/3 cups shredded Monterey jack and or Cheddar
*Cook's note: this is enough chicken to make this meal and another meal. If you are only making this meal, use 1 pound chicken.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes. Add chicken and saute 5 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove half of the chicken and reserve for another use.

Stir in black beans, green chiles, and salsa and simmer 5 minutes, until sauce thickens and reduces. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Arrange 4 tortillas on a flat surface. Top each tortilla with an equal amount of chicken mixture. Roll up tortillas and place side by side in a shallow baking dish. Top tortillas with shredded cheese (1/3 cup per tortilla).

Bake enchiladas 15 minutes, until cheese is golden and gooey!

Bible Sandwiches

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 avocados
4 roma tomatoes, cut in thin slices
mayonnaise
Spike seasoning
mushrooms (optional)
sprouts
4 swiss cheese slices
4 pita bread slices

Mash up the avocados. Add a little mayonnaise. Spread the avocado mixture on the pitas. Top with tomatoes and mushroom, if using. Sprinkle each with Spike seasoning. Top with sprouts and swiss cheese. Broil for a couple minutes, until cheese is golden brown.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Black Olives, Garlic, and Feta Cheese

The title pretty much gives away the recipe, but here it is anyway...

Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes (about 3), seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 c. kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 lb. feta cheese, crumbled
3 T. drained capers
3 T. chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper
3/4 lb. spaghetti
6 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic

1. In a large bowl combine tomatoes, olives, feta, capers, parsley, salt, and pepper.
2. Cook the spaghetti and drain.
3. Meanwhile, in frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the cooked pasta and the garlic oil to the tomato mizture and toss.

Lazy Eggplant Parmigiana

1 eggplant (the recipe called for 2 but 1 was plenty for us)

some salt

some flour (1 c.?)

some oregano (1 t.?)

some more salt and some pepper (1/2 t. each?)

4 eggs

1-2 c. Italian bread crumbs

2 T. olive oil (not e.v.o.o) per batch in the frying pan

Peel eggplant. Slice somewhat thinly (1/4"). Put in colander or on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Let drain 30 minutes. 

Put flour, oregano, salt and pepper in a ziploc. Whisk eggs together in bowl. Put bread crumbs on a plate. Line these up and now you have your assembly line. 

Heat 2 T. oil in frying pan. Toss slices in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in bread crumbs. Put in hot frying pan. Cook until brown on bottom, flip over until brown on that side too. Put on paper towels to drain while you finish cooking the remaining slices.  

The Parmigiana Part:

1 jar spaghetti sauce

8 mozzarella cheese slices

parmesan cheese to grate over the top

You're now supposed to take the slices and layer them with sauce and cheese in a casserole dish, then bake at 350 for 15 mins.

But I got lazy and didn't bake them.  I just thought they looked too lovely and crunchy to cover with boring sauce and cheese.  So we had them appetizer style, just dipping them in the marinara sauce. The crunchy crust was so yummy and the eggplant was very tender inside. It ended up being a fun, finger-food dinner. Luke even ate an entire slice. 

illegal chocolate thing

trust me. this recipe should not exist. it's so so so good and so so so not good for you.

12 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
2 containers (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese Spread
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

MIX crushed cookies and the butter in foil-lined 9-inch square pan. Press firmly onto bottom of pan to form crust.

BEAT cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until creamy. Gradually add milk, mixing well after each addition. Blend in chocolate. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spoon over crust; cover.

FREEZE at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove from freezer 15 min. before serving to soften slightly. Cut into 16 squares to serve. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

[note: the next time i make this--and there will be a next time--i plan on using an entire package of oreos and using a 9 x 13 pan so that the chocolate topping isn't quite so thick and overwhelming. i can't believe someone actually sat around and thought of rolling oreos in butter. wow.]

Lazy Lasagne

This is a vegetarian lasagne. It is perfect for this time of year where the vegetables are all in season and you don't really want a heavy, comfor meal, but a lighter version of a tasty staple. I love thewebsite www.thepioneerwomancooks.com because she shows pictures of each step and ingredient, that is why I copied her idea! Obviously my photos are much worse, and I lack her humor, but here we go! It is worth a try!

Ingredients: 1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini
2-3 Broccoli Bunches
2-3 Cauliflower bunches (by bunches I mean sections of the whole head, not 3 head's of caul)
1 large container of Ragu: Traditional Style (you can use Prego if you must)
1 large container of cottage cheese
Well, we need to construct each layer of the lasagne by preparing the layers! So, first you chop the veggies in any sort of way you'd like. You can add diffrernt veggies if you'd like but I will warn you I can't promise a positive outcome. Once I added carrots, and was sorry I did! It took away from the squash and zucchini flavor!




After cleaning your chopped veggies, you are ready to rock, and also ready to move onto the next step:


Now it is time to make your sauce. I keep it easy with the cottage cheese and Ragu. You can use whatever you want, but to me, these two items make the taste exactly what I love. I love the flavor. Even if it isn't neccesarily "gourmet."


This is what the consistency should look like, orangy, but not too light!


Get out your no cook noodles to layer...obviously you can use the cooked kind of noodles, but I just find these to be loads easier!


Now it is time to layer your lasagne! This is what the layering will look like. You first add a cup of the sauce mixture at the bottom and then follow it with your noodles. Break up the noodles to fit your particular pan. Then add your veggies, and top it off with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat as many times as fills your pan. For the last layer, make sure to add an extra layer of sauce on top of your noodles, so they will get nice and cooked. Then follow with the veggies and cheese to top it off.
I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of the end product, but cook it at 375 for 50 minutes and it should be all bubbly and the cheese browned slightly.
Serve and enjoy!

pork n bacon

this for sure is lazy, but i'm not positive it's gourmet.

preheat oven to 400 (this is essential)

take leftover pork roast
cut into 1/2 inch thick slices (ish)
take a piece of raw bacon and wrap around the outside, securing with toothpicks
roll each piece in brown sugar (coating only the bacon)

place on baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes
until bacon is crisp (or not crisp, if you're paul) and carmelized

[in fact, paul could probably skip the baking step altogether]

yum yum tasty

Red Lentil Curry

This recipe is sort of a mix of 3 different red lentil curry recipes I found...

Reviews: Paul and our friend Nick gave it a thumbs up.  I loved the fact that it was non-dairy and tasty too.  Since it's pretty cheap and easy, I think it will stay in our recipe book.

2 T. oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. grated ginger root (or 1 t. powdered)

1 1/2 c. red lentils, cleaned and rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

3 c. chicken broth

1 can coconut milk

2 t. curry powder

1 t. turmeric

salt to taste

hot cooked rice

cilantro, for garnish (It was fine without, though it would have been nice)

Start rice cooking. Heat oil in skillet, add onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Add ginger.  Cook until onion is soft, then add broth, lentils, garbanzo beans, coconut milk, curry powder, and turmeric.  Cook until lentils are soft, 20-30 minutes.  Taste for salt, add more if necessary.  Serve over hot cooked rice.  Could also make into soup by adding more liquid and either eliminating rice or adding a little with the lentils.

First Post

Just making sure this all works.  Make sure to put labels on your posts so that we can search by category: main  dish, dessert, etc.