Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa

I made a new salsa and it's really good if I do say so myself.  I was making this casserole and the recipe was so involved and time consuming and I ended up making this salsa as a result to save time.  It's my new favorite.  I'll post my version of the casserole tomorrow!

I used a couple poblano peppers (they are dark green peppers about the same size of bell peppers) in the salsa but you could just skip those and add a 7 oz can of chopped green chiles instead.




Fire Roasted Tomato Sasa

3 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
2 poblano peppers cut into big chunks
6-10 garlic cloves, peeled
3 jalapenos halved, ribs & seeds removed (I reserved the ribs and seeds from one of the jalapenos because we like spicy)
1 onion cut into big chunks
3/4-1 c. cilantro
juice of a lime
salt to taste

Turn on the broiler to 500.  Place the peppers, garlic cloves, jalapenos and onion on a baking sheet and spray them with cooking spray.  Roast about 20 minutes, shaking the pan after 10 minutes.  You want the garlic to be browned and the other vegetables may have some black spots but not be completely charred.  Remove the veggies from the oven and let cool a few minutes.  In a food processer or blender combine cans of tomatoes, roasted vegetables, lime juice, salt and cilantro.  Pulse until chopped and combined.  Enjoy!!

Herbed Potato Salad

I happened to have a 3 pound bag of Yukon Gold potatoes and wanted to make a potato salad so I went to my second favorite recipe site and found this recipe.  It is a hit.  I love it because it's different and it comes together really quickly with few ingredients.  I've caught Rob standing in front of the fridge eating this out of a tupperware a couple times.  He likes it.

The second time I made this I had red potatoes on hand and they worked well and I microwaved the potatoes, which is super classy, but it worked out well and didn't dirty a pot. 

This salad would be good warm or room temperature or even cold if you want to make it a day ahead of time.  We had it with burgers the first time I made it and flank steak and grilled asparagus yesterday I think it would go well with any summer meal.


Herbed Potato Salad

3 lbs Yukon Gold OR red potatoes
1 c. white wine
3 Tb white wine vinegar or white vinegar
2 Tb olive oil
1 Tb honey dijon or dijon mustard
3/4 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
3/4 tsp pepper
2 (or 5) garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c. chives or green onions, chopped
1/4 c. parsley, chopped

Scrub the potatoes and boil them until just fork tender.  Drain and let cool a few minutes.  While the potatoes are cooking, bring the wine to a boil in a small saucepan and let it cook until it it reduced by half.  Once the wine is reduced mix together the wine, vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic and set aside.  Slice the potatoes in thin slices and toss together the potatoes, dressing mixture, chives and parsley. 

Speedy Spinach Lasagna

My cousin is an English/Grammar genious and told me that you're only supposed to use one space after a period!! What?? So sorry that I've been failing you in my writing.  Then again, I just used a double exclamation point/question mark combo which I'm pretty sure isn't grammatically correct either so probably the double spacing is the least of my worries.  I digress. Onto the food!

My mom has been making this recipe a long time.  It is so easy, fast, and doesn't take any expensive ingredients.  You can really throw it together in 10 minutes plus baking time. It also happens to be low calorie/low fat so I'm always up for that.  Rob's been out of town a couple weeks so I made this on Sunday and have eaten it all week, needless to say I made my kids a quesadilla tonight because they're over it! I forgot to take a picture, but I think you all know what lasagna looks like. Just imagine this lasagna with no meat (unless you add some) and the cheese filling with a green tint...and then you've got the picture!

Rob is not exactly a fan of the meat-free meal so sometimes I throw in some turkey sausage or chicken. Do as you wish.  I had homemade marinara sauce in the freezer but jarred sauce works great.  It's hard to mess this recipe up.

Speedy Spinach Lasagna

4 c marinara (more or less depending on your preference)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
2-4 Tb parsley
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 Tb sour cream
16 oz cottage cheese
1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
8-10 lasagna noodles, broken in half (oven ready noodles OR regular noodles both work.  This also works with brown rice lasagna noodles)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Make the cheese sauce by combining eggs, salt, spinach, parsley, parmesan cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese in the food processer and pulsing until combined.  If you don't have a food processer just chop the parsley and stir everything together, that's how my mom makes it and it's great.  I just like it smooth.  Pour a little sauce on the bottom of a 9x13'' pan.  Layer half the broken noodles, half the cheese sauce, half the mozzarella cheese, half the sauce.  Repeat. Cover with foil and bake for 60-90 minutes.  You'll know it's done when it's heated through, bubbly and a fork goes into the noodles easily.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

1/8th of this recipe is 281 calories.

Cheater's General Tso Chicken

I saw an old friend this weekend and she said she was loving this blog but had noticed my blog-slacking.  It's true.  Life has been crazy around here which has adversely affected my blog updating. The upside to that is that I have still been cooking which means that I have a notebook full of recipes to post. This one's for you Brianne!

This may come as a shock, but I'm a sucker for a deal. So when the Sun-Bird Asian mixes were on sale aaaaand I had a coupon I had to get some.  I'm so happy I did.  This stuff is so good and I threw it together really fast and my son's comments (again) were, "Wow Mom, I love Pei Wei."  I love this because it's so quick it works well for an evening when we have something going on.

Cheater's General Tso Chicken

cooked rice
1 lb chicken thighs, chunked
1/4 c. flour
2 Tb vegetable oil
2 c. fresh broccoli, chopped
1 packet SunBird General Tso mix
2 Tb soy sauce
1/4 c. sugar (I used a bit less)
pinch of crushed red pepper (optional, we like spice)
1/2 c. water

While the rice is cooking chunk the chicken and toss it and the flour in a ziploc bag to coat.

In a bowl combine the seasoning mix, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper and water.  Whisk the sauce ingredients well and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the chicken and saute until brown tossing in the broccoli for the last minute of cooking.  Lower heat to medium and pour in the sauce.  Bring the sauce to a boil and cook until thickened.  (If the sauce thickens too quickly pour in a little extra water.) Serve over steamed white or brown rice.

Sweet & Tangy Slaw

Cabbage is super cheap right now, so what better time to make some coleslaw?  I am extremely motivated to save money and I almost always plan my meals around what's on sale that week and what I have in my pantry/freezer already.  Slaw it is.

This is a very good, simple, quick recipe.  I've found that people who "don't like coleslaw", like this. I first had this when a friend at work made it for our team.  Yummy.  It goes great with burgers, grilled chicken or steak.



Sweet & Tangy Slaw

8 c. shredded cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 Tb sesame seeds
2 pkg Ramen noodles, seasoning packet reserved (I prefer beef but chicken would do)

Dressing:
2 ramen seasoning packets
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
1/2 tsp pepper

Toss together all veggies, seeds and ramen noodles (crushed).  In a separate bowl mix together the dressing ingredients and wisk until incorporated.  Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss to coat.  Chill 2-4 hours.