Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 9

Here are a few recipes I have made lately using up the last remnants of this summer's gardening bounty. 

First up, Black Bean Tostadas with Cucumber Corn Salsa. I dreamt these up when I was trying to find a way to use up some of the cucumbers I had grown.  The lime flavored salsa provides a fresh and healthy compliment to the home made tostada shells which are ten times better then any store bought tostada shells.  Overall this is a very light but satisfying meal!  Serve along side some beans or rice and you are good to go.

Next up, a taco salad I made with Marinated Veggies.  This is a very versatile recipe feel free to use any veggies you like.  I cooked the veggies and served over some mixed greens with fresh made refried beans, jack cheese, sour cream, corn salsa from Trader Joe's and avocado. 

Last but not least, Skillet White Beans, Spinach and Tomatoes over LInguine.  This is a quick meal that packs a flavorful punch.  I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, added extra garlic and subbed feta cheese for the parmesan.  Whole wheat spaghetti was my base and I served this along with some garlic cheese toast, yum!

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 8

It's been quite a long time since I last posted anything.  Honestly it has been a very very busy summer for me and my son.  We've had a ton of adventures outside the home so there hasn't really been much cooking.  Things are starting to whined down now and school will be back in session soon which means it's time to tighten up the budget and get back to cooking at home!

The last time I posted I announced that I was going vegan.  I tried it but I haven't quite been able to give up cheese, I just love it too much!  I did find an almond cheese that is delicious.  It could easily be used to veganize the recipes I am about to share.  Another flaw to my vegan plan has been eggs.  Since we have been dining out a lot I have found it difficult to find non-meat dishes that don't contain eggs, especially when eating breakfast out.  So, I have decided that for now I will stick with being a lacto-ovo vegetarian for simplicity sake.  Perhaps veganism is something I will pursue more in the future but for now, "Imma Vegetaaaaaaarian!"

Our garden has been very successful. We ended up with a ton of zucchini early on.  Right now we are overloaded with tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers.  My main cooking goal has been to utilize the delicious goodies that our garden has provided.  Here are a few recipes that I cooked up with them.

First up, Calabacitas Tacos!   This recipe made great use of our home-grown tomatoes and zucchini.  I originally got the recipe from a blog I follow called Last Night's Dinner which is full of delicious recipes, many of which I plan to make in the future.  I used fresh oregano instead of dried and the combination of it mixed with the fresh sweet corn was amazing!

Of course I still had more tomatoes and bell peppers left over so I decided to make my Veggie Pizza.  I have been making variations of this pizza for awhile now but never quite like this, I think this is my favorite so far.  The recipe utilizes a loaf of Trader Joe's Panne Rustico bread as the crust which you can pick up at your local store for about $3.  All in all it's a great tasting pizza for a fraction of the cost and calories as take-out pizza.  You can jazz this recipe up any way you want.  My son made his half of the pizza with pepperoni and cheese.  The Quattro Fromaggio cheese from Trader Joe's is my favorite for this recipe because it combines several kinds of highly flavorful cheeses that make for a tasty pizza.  You could also use just mozzerella or a mixture of italian shredded cheeses.

Last but not least is tonight's dinner, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas. I always cook the dish before I calculate the nutrition information.  In retrospect this dish is pretty high in calories.  In the future I will probably only use one tortilla folded in half for each serving instead of the full two to save about 140 calories.  Other then that these were yummy.  The classic tomato and garlic flavor mixed with the southwestern style black beans and fresh corn were just right.  You can never go wrong with cheese right?  The gooey goodness of the melted cheese completes this dish.  These go perfect with some lime drizzled avocado.  Cilantro would have been nice too but I didn't have any.

Until next time, happy cooking!

- j

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 7 (The Vegan Edition)

As of Monday I took the plunge into veganism eliminating the dairy and eggs from my previous decision to become lacto-ovo vegetarian.  The decision came after some research, like most of my decisions usually do, and the The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (which I of course picked up at my local library) sealed the deal.  Cooking without dairy can seem overwhelming but I can assure you it is easier then even I thought it would be.  Check out the recipes below that I either found or concocted myself.

Black Bean and Veggie Wrap
This is a very light and veggie packed lunch that I whip up while at work.  The black beans give you a protein punch and the avocado adds some healthy fat.  I wasn't even missing the cheese of a typical burrito. The more lime the better!  Add a dash of salt to the mix and you have a tasty and quick lunch that won't leave you wishing for a nap when you are done.

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe's Filling
I found this recipe on My Veggie Kitchen.  I thought I would give it a try since my son is fighting the conversion slightly so I wanted to give him something meat like.  This filling was pretty good I must say, but my son didn't care for it much.  I highly recommend cooking the bulgar first, I wished I had done so to make it more tender.  These really aren't half bad and reheat quickly on the stove, just add a little water and warm through.

Fruit and Veggie Salad with a Kick
This is a nice salad that makes good use of the fresh fruits and vegetables abundantly available in the spring season.  I love pineapple and thought it would be great in a salad so I gave this one a shot.  I didn't care for the dressing much but then again I forgot to add the pineapple juice to the mix.  I served mine over greens, even-though the recipe didn't call for it, in an effort to get in some extra veggies.

Vegan Spicy Enchilada Casserole
Saved the best for last!  I previously posted my recipe for Chicken Enchilada Casserole, a go to dish for me in the past when trying to make my food dollar stretch.  I got a hankering for some enchiladas and decided it was time to come up with a creative way to make them vegan friendly.  Viola, this recipe was born!  The soy chorizo from Trader Joe's is the best I have had so far.  It has a nice spice to it and the enchilada sauce they sell complimented it well.  I made this stretch into 15 servings and got the seal of approval from two 12-year olds.  I even had a non-vegan friend fooled!

Happy Cooking Folks!

Adventures in Cooking: Vol 6

Recently I decided to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, a personal decision to eat healthier with less fat and cholesterol.  At this point I am still eating dairy and eggs, man I loooove cheese, but I am planning to switch to soy dairy all together once I get used to not eating meat and poultry.  That being said my latest adventures in cooking are all meatless recipes.

Potato and Soyrizo Tacos
I love chorizo, but I hate the fat that it contains.  I was a little leary about the soyrizo but was happy to be pleasantly surprised.  These were excellent!  My son and his friend gobbled them right up eventhough I offered a ground beef taco as well. I topped mine with some Wholly Guacamole I got at Costco, soy cheese and some fresh made salsa.  The leftovers were stuffed into a burrito with some canned beans and wrapped in a wheat tortilla. 

Strawberry Romaine Salad
This is a tasty salad with an easy to make homemade dressing.  I used frozen strawberries that I thawed out before-hand.  I added the juice from the strawberries as well as a few whole strawberries to the dressing mix and liquified in the blender. I subbed a baby lettuce mix for the romaine lettuce because that's what I had on hand. All around a delicious salad.  Would have been good with some blue cheese crumbles and some walnuts.  My son wasn't too keen on this one though.  He is new to eating salad though so the fact that he gets some leafy greens in his diet makes me happy so I made him an alternative salad with his favorite fixens.

Watermelon, Blueberry Salad with Feta
This is the perfect blend of sweet and savory.  I used a feta dressing I got at Trader Joe's for $1.99 in place of the dressing created in this recipe.  The feta dressing worked perfectly with the feta that was already in the salad.  Delish!  I will definitely be making this one again!

Green Monster with Strawberries, Banana and Peanut Butter
I made this smoothie in place of the usual one I make as a means to switch things up a little.  I used a chunky peanut butter with flax seed from Trader Joe's instead of the creamy one called for in the recipe.  The color of the shake isn't all that appetizing but it is indeed a tasty breakfast treat.  My son liked it better then our usual Green Monster. Sorry no photos for this one.

Veggie Greek Wrap
Costco has a fabulous tatziki (creamy mediterranean yogurt sauce).  For about $7.00 you get a huge container of goodness.  It is great with pita chips as a veggie dip and as a salad dressing, my favorite of all.  I created this quick fix lunch with the tatziki sauce in mind.  I even made hummus myself to use in the recipe.  If I want to cut calories I ditch the hummus and tortilla and make this Greek Side Salad.

Crisp Garlic Oven Fries
I look for every opportunity I can to use my Mandoline Slicer, it's my favorite kitchen gadget!  These oven fries, more like chips actually, were a breeze to make thanks to my mandoline.  In 10 seconds flat my potato was cut into perfectly sized round discs.  These oven fries cook up great and are very good.  My son and I dipped them into some ranch dressing, who doesn't love ranch and fries right!  The spices were just right.  I paired them with a dinner salad for a complete and  light evening meal.

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 5

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie
I was looking for an alternative to the standard bowl of oatmeal with raisins my son and I have been eating for awhile.  This was mainly for my son's sake as he really doesn't like oatmeal but I like the health benefits it offers both of us.  The recipe as outlined is only for one cookie so I multiplied all ingredients by ten and made a whole pan full of oatmeal bars, approximately 12 servings.  I also added chopped up dried apricots, pears, peaches and prunes for an extra fiber boost.  I think I will add some almonds or walnuts to the mix next time around for a little crunch. They came out chewy and delicious! 

Green Monster Smoothie
I found this recipes on a blog called She Runs, She Eats.  I was looking for something different then my standard morning shake that would provide me with a couple fruit and veggie servings to start my date off right.  I found just what I was looking for in the green monster smoothie, complete with some banana, apple and spinach.  I know spinach in a shake sounds weird, but I couldn't taste it at all.  This shake is light, refreshing and delicious.

Easy Enchilada Casserole
Many people know me for my enchiladas.  I used to make them traditional style warming each tortilla and rolling up the meat and cheese one by one, a very time consuming process.  I discovered that making this casserole took half the time and tasted just as good.  This past weekend I taught the secret of my enchilada casserole to a handful of friends at an enchilada themed dinner party.  We went through 5 lbs of cheese, 12 lbs of chicken, 120 tortillas and a ton of salsa and sauce.  All well worth the work and everyone went home with a pan of their own.  This recipe makes at least 12 servings easy and every bite is a mouthful of happiness, I promise.  The recipe is for a red version but you can switch the red salsa out for salsa verde and use green enchilada sauce instead of red. Both the red and green versions are yummy, I suggest you try both!  An easy way too cut down on the cooking/waiting time is to boil the chicken in a crockpot beforehand.  Just drop the frozen chicken into the pot, fill with water, set to low and let it cook while you are at work.  If you prefer a non-meat version just double the cheese and leave out the chicken.

Meatloaf Muffins
My son has been getting bored with his daily school lunch which usually consists of a sandwich or two.  He loves meatloaf and could eat an entire loaf by himself.  I found this recipe and decided to jazz up his daily lunch with a meatloaf sandwich instead of good old ham and cheese.  I subbed out half of the bread crumbs with some old fashioned rolled oats for extra fiber and protein.  These perfectly portioned servings were tasty and the kiddo really liked his lunch.  I cut two muffins in half and placed them on some wheat bread with a little ketchup. 

Lentil and Rice Casserole
I am currently focusing on non-meat meals as a means to get more fiber into my diet and less cholesterol.  I love lentils but have never used them any other way besides soup.  I saw that they were in this casserole and thought I would give it a try.  The brown rice makes it filling but it isn't heavy like some casseroles can be.  You can add just about any vegetable you like to easily mold this recipe to your veggie preference. I used diced tomatoes in place of the tomato soup to keep the sodium down and mozzerella instead of swiss because that's what I had on hand.

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 4

The last few days I have been eating vegetarian. Here are a couple tasty recipes.

Primavera Salad a la Trader Joe's
I love LeBoulanger's Primavera salad, but it is so huge and high in calories due to the dressing they use.  Here is a lower calorie and lower fat recipe with ingredients all available from Trader Joe's.  The best part is the dressing.  At 25 calories per 2 tablespoons it doesn't get any lower in cals!  I whip up this salad at work in less then five minutes.

Eggplant, Black Beans and Zucchini
This was pretty tasty.  Reminded me of Rachel Ray's Black Bean Chili, but spicier.  I didn't have any eggplant on hand so I doubled the zucchini.  I also added some spinach to get in some more greens.  The recipe calls for a tablespoon of chili powder but I was a woosie and only used 1/2 a tablespoon.  The chili pepper gives it a great kick of flavor.

Adventures in Cooking: Vol 3

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Roll-Ups
I concocted these on a whim.  Very tasty and ubber cheesy, YUMM-Y! Very simple to make and you get to work out all your stress an anger for the day on a helpless piece of chicken!  

Easy Tamale Pie
This is a tasty, easy to make meal that you can make stretch.  My son especially liked it.  I would have liked more of a real tamale taste myself.  But not bad If you want to whip something up quickly.

Roasted Asparagus
I looooove asparagus and was so happy to find it was back in season!  Asparagus is good on it's own but add some parmesan to the mix and it really packs a flavor punch!  My son didn't agree but he hates asparagus, worth a try though right?

Green Beans Sautee
A delicious and flavorful recipe for green beans sauteed with onions.  My son gobbled them right up, though he swears it was just because he was "really hungry."  I think he just really liked it and didn't want me to know.

Zucchini Oven Chips
I will be the first to admit that I have never really liked zucchini.  Something about the mushy texture just grosses me out.  I thought I would give this recipe a try as a means of getting more vegetables in my stomach.  Boy was I surprised, these are great!  I forgot to spray the cooking rack with PAM first so if you make these be sure to do so because mine stuck like crazy, but they still tasted great!  The kiddo even gobbled them right up!

Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Shake
My friend Dwayne concocted this one.  We were discussing alternatives to oatmeal for breakfast and he told me about this shake that he has for breafast.  The oatmeal makes it very filling and you get an extra serving of protein from the protein powder.  Thanks D!

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 2

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
Okay so this wasn't exactly Armadillo Willy's Pulled Pork but it was pretty darn good.  Very tender and tasty.  I used some Costco BBQ sauce instead of the one in the recipe.  It was really easy to make, what's easier than a crockpot right!  We ate it over rice one night then as a sandwhich the next couple.  My son even took a sandwich to school and enjoyed it cold.  I heated one up at work for lunch and was told I can't eat at my desk anymore because the food smells too good and was making people hungry. 

Asparagus Au Gratin
This is a simple way to serve asparagus.  My son even ate it, and he hates asparagus.  Very cheesy and yummy. Best to eat right away so the cheese doesn't get cold.  

Green Beans Saute
Sorry, didn't take a photo of this one.  This is a simple veggie saute that is easy to make and offers a great alternative to simply steamed green beans.  The onions give a great flavor and I added some minced garlic to give it an additional burst of flavor.  I served this with the pulled pork and rice, great combo.

Strawberry Mango Muffins 
I put these together on a whim because I had a mango and a ton of strawberries that were going to go bad.  What better way to make use of ripe fruit than in a muffin, right?  Baking is going to be the death of me I swear, but at least it'll be a sweet death!  These muffins are super moist and full of strawberry goodness!

Adventures in Cooking: Vol. 1

I have always enjoyed cooking, but recently it has become a passion.  I absolutely love it!  It calms my nerves and brings me great joy to see people consume the food I worked so hard to make.  So, for those that like to cook or those interested in learning to cook here are a couple of recipes I tried recently and really enjoyed.

Cinnamon Apple and Carrot Muffins
I don't bake much at all, and when I do it is NEVER from scratch!  I found a recipe for Apple Doughnut Muffins on a blog called She Eats, She Runs.  I tried the original recipe and liked it but it just wasn't the perfect muffin to me.  After several tweaks I came up with this recipe.  They are good without the lemon sugar topping if you are looking to save on some calories.  My son and I baked the final batch together and had a blast doing so! I highly recommend getting the little ones involved.  I wish I had spent more time in the kitchen with my father, grandmother and mother who are all terrific cooks.


Cheesy Garlic, Chicken, Ham and Veggie Calzones
Sorry I don't have the photo for this one, forgot to take one.  These came out delicious!  So much flavor and oh soooo cheesy!  My son and I once again made these together and by the end there was flour all over the kitchen since he was in charge of rolling the dough.  He doesn't like a ton of variety in his pizza or calzone so he made his with ricotta, mozzarella, ham and pepperoni.  They were very good as well.  I will say that cornmeal is the key here!  The dough sticks to everything so coat the rolling board, baking sheet and any in between board to sheet surface you put it on.

Caribbean Chicken
I found the original recipe here but the nutrition didn't seem quite right so I re-created the recipe less the brown rice. The flavor seems more asian to me I think due to the cider vinegar and pineapple.  It is very light and won't leave a lump in your stomach.  I do warn you though, if you don't like fruit served warm or pineapple mixed with your savory pass this one up.  If you don't mind that then enjoy!