Quick Spanish Rice

Another Food Confession for you...I love Rice-a-Roni Spanish Rice.  I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it.  So, usually when i'm doing burritos I whip up a box of Rice-a-Roni.  Last time though, I didn't have any on hand so I researched a few recipes online and put together a few ideas to make this recipe.  It turned out really well and it was really fast easy.  I had everything I needed which is something I love about a recipe--simplicity.

I'm sure I will make this over and over for a fast "mexican" side dish.

Quick Spanish Rice

1 Tb olive or canola oil
1 1/2 c. instant rice
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, un-drained
3/4 c. chicken broth (watch for wheat and soy)

Heat oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan.  Saute onions and green pepper until onions are transluscent.  Stir in garlic and rice and cook another minute or so.  Add in salt, seasoning, tomatoes and chicken broth and cook five minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Mexican Spaghetti

My friend gave me this recipe, and we really loved it.  Again with the Velveeta cheese...I can't help myself!  I made a couple changes only because I wanted it a bit milder for the kids (and I was still pregnant and couldn't take the heat!)  So adjust the heat level with more or less jalapenos.  The picture is on the old harddrive that died and wasn't backed up so I think it's gone forever!

Mexican Spaghetti
1 1/4 lb cooked chicken breast, cubed (I seasoned mine with chipotle chili powder, garlic and cumin)
1 lb cooked spaghetti
1 lb 2% milk Velveeta
1 can rotel
1-2 Tb chopped jalapeno
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
fresh cilantro

In a microwave safe bowl heat together the velveeta cheese and soups, stirring every minute until the cheese is melted. Combine the spaghetti, cheese mixture, rotel, chicken and jalapeno and pour into a 9x13'' pan.  Top with the shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Top with cilantro before serving.

**Note--IF you omit cheddar cheese on top, use 2% milk Velveeta, and 99% fat free cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup the entire pan has roughly 2472 calories.  That meas 1/9th has roughly 275 calories.

Texas Sheet Cake

I made this cake for my friend's goig away party--they were moving to Texas so it seemed appropriate.  It was a hit.  One of Rob's favorite things in life is Texas Sheet Cake so I've made it a few times since then too.  This cake probably contributed to my pregnancy weight gain.  Ok, I'm sure it definitely contributed.  Make it.  You'll love it.  I added a little cinnamon to the cake and we really like it that way but if that doesn't sound good to you, leave it out.




Texas Sheet Cake

Cake:
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. sour cream
2 eggs
1 c. butter
1 c. water
5 Tb cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350.  Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, soda and salt.  Beat in eggs and sour cream.  Melt the butter in a saucepan add in water and cocoa powder.  Bring the butter mixture to a boil and remove from heat.  Cool slightly then stir it into the dry ingredients.  Pour batter into a jelly roll pan and bake 20 minutes.

Frosting:
6 Tb milk
5 Tb cocoa powder
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a saucepan combine mlk, cocoa and butter.  Bring it to a boil and remove from heat.  Stir in powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla andmix until blended.  Spread the frosting over the warm cake. 

Honey Lime Fish Taccos with Chipotle Slaw

 This recipe is a MUST-do.  Seriously.  If you even like fish a little bit, try these.  I will say though that if you have small children, be prepared for this to take alittle longer than your usual meal prep.  It is an easy recipe, but has lots of steps and is a bit involved. 

Once again I am reminded that I need some photography lessons or something becaue this just looked good, smelled good, and tasted good--but my pictures are a little lame, so please forgive that and give these tacos a chance.

Honey Lime Fish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw

Honey Lime Glaze:

1/3 c lime juice (squeeze it fresh)

2 Tb honey

1 Tb vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin

Whisk everything together and set aside.

Chipotle Slaw:

1/2 c mayo

1 chipotle pepper

1 Tb adobo sauce

salt & granulated garlic to taste

3 c coleslaw mix

1 1/2 c cilantro, chopped

Mince the chipotle pepper or put it in the food processer.  Mix together the minced/pureed chipotle, mayo, adobo sauce and salt & garlic.  Mix together dressing with the coleslaw mix and cilantro.  Refrigerate until needed.

Fish:

1.25 lbs tilapia, chunked

1/3 c flour

2 eggs beaten

3 c panko bread crumbs

1 c. vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Dredge the fish in the flour, then the egg, then the panko.  Test the oil, when it's hot add the fish to the pan cooking 1-2 minutes per side.  You will probably have to do this in 2 batches.  Remove the fried fish from the pan onto a plate with a paper towel.  Brush the honey-lime glaze over the cooked fish and assemble tacos on flour tortillas with fish, slaw, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Mango Salsa

Here's another summer recipe I have to sneak in real quick before the mangos are all gone!  These mangos were another treasure from our produce basket and they were so juicy and delicious.  Rob loves mangos just diced up on top of vanilla ice cream.  We've decided next summer we'll get an ice cream maker and make our own vanilla ice cream and the mangos will be even better with that!
I was always leery of trying fruit salsas because something about it just creeped me out, but I did it and we all LOVED this salsa.  It's sweet and spicy all at the same time.  My almost 2 year-old ate this with a spoon.

Mango Salsa

1 large ripe mango, peeled and diced
2 Tb red onion, minced
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced (leave the seeds in if you want it spicy, take the seeds out if you want it mild)
juice of a lime
salt & pepper to taste

Mix it all together and refrigerate at least an hour. Enjoy!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

I LOVE this salad, it's super fresh and summery.  Because it's so summery I thought I'd better put it up on here really quick before tomatoes and peppers are out of season.  The recipe calls for canned corn but I had some fresh corn from the produce basket so I used that--yum!  I made this with some yellow rice and grilled steaks and it was a great summer meal.







Corn and Black Bean Salad

1 can corn, drained (or 2 c. fresh or frozen corn)
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
6 green onions sliced or 1/4 c. red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (if you don't like things spicy take out the seeds)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. cilantro chopped
3/4 c. italian dressing
1 tb. lemon juice
3/4 tsp tabasco
1/2 tsp chili powder

Combine all the vegetables in a bowl.  In a smaller bowl combine italian dressing, lemon juice, tabasco and chili powder.  Mix together salad and dressing and chill for several hours. 

Creamy Pasta Skillet

A good friend of mine is a Pampered Chef consultant and she gave me these great recipe cards with photos on them and a shopping list and I love them!  This recipe was originally called "Pronto Pasta and Sausage Skillet".  I made just a couple small changes and we LOVED it.  I had my friend's son that day so I sent the leftovers home with her and she immediately asked me for the recipe because they loved it too. 

My skillet was a little small for this so next time I'll make this in an electric skillet, but if you have a really large skillet it will work.  If you find that you have too much liquid to fit into the skillet you're using, just add the liquid in batches as it cooks in, which is what I did and it worked out fine.

Creamy Pasta Skillet

14.5 oz box of penne (4 c. uncooked)
1 lb sausage (or ground beef)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
4 c. water
26 oz jar pasta sauce (I used homemade marinara--about 3 1/2 c.)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 oz softened cream cheese
1 c. mozzarella
1/4 c. grated parmesan

Brown sausage and onion.  Drain the fat.  Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper and let it cook a minute.  Add uncooked pasta, water and sauce.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until pasta is cooked.  Remove from the heat and stir in the softened cream cheese, then top with the other cheeses.  Let stand a minute.







 

7-Layer Bake

I'm Baaaaack!  I've now had the baby, for those of you who didn't already know and were wondering why I hadn't posted a recipe in a couple weeks!  As a mom of three I haven't cooked anything so far (except scrambled eggs in the microwave)  because my friends have been bringing us food every night for two weeks which is SUPER awesome.  Every night our dinner just shows up with a smiling face in throw-away dishes.  It's awesome.  I do miss cooking just a teeny tiny bit, but I don't miss the shopping for ingredients and cleaning up the mess, so really this could go on for years!

Anyway, this is a recipe from a few weeks ago and it was really delicious.  But as I went to take a picture I realized my camera battery was dead so Rob took a photo on his iphone which is why it looks wierd.  I based this recipe off of an old Pampered Chef bean dip recipe which was so awesome that we decided we had to make it into a dinner.  It worked out well.  Since I try to avoid naming recipes "Casserole" I came up with 7-Layer Bake.  Call it what you want.

7 Layer Bake

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves

3 Tb taco seasoning

1/2 c. water

3 c. refried beans (I made my own.)

1 block cream cheese, softened

2 c. sour cream

1 tsp granulated garlic

2 Tb taco seasoning

4 burrito sized tortillas, cut into 2'' squares

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 small bunch cilantro, chopped

1 can sliced black olives

2 Tb. diced onion or 2 green onions chopped

Preheat your oven to 350.  Brown the ground beef with the onion and drain well.  Add the garlic cloves and cook another minute.  Add in the taco seasoning and water and cook over medium heat a few minutes until it thickens up.  Stir in the refried beans.

In a separate bowl mix together the sour cream, cream cheese, granulated garlic, and taco seasoning.  Set aside.

In a 9x13'' pan layer the diced tortillas, meat mixture, cream cheese mixture and then the shredded cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  Top with the diced onions, tomatoes and cilantro, and black olives.

Turkey Pesto Panini

This isn't a picture of a true panini, because I don't have a panini press so I just smashed it as much as possible but I think this would make a delicous panini--if you do have a press!

We got some loaves of amazing sourdough bread from the produce co-op and that day I made these sandwiches for lunch and we're hooked!  I had some homemade pesto in the fridge which put them over the top, but a jar of pesto would work just fine!

The recipe is for an individual sandwich so adjust as you need to.

Turkey Pesto Panini2 slices sourdough bread
1/2 Tb pesto
3 slices deli turkey
1 slice provolone cheese
tomato slices
drizzle of balsamic vinagrette (Ken's creamy balsamic vinagrette would work great too, but don't use a runny balsamic dressing.)
Olive oil for brushing

Brush the bread with the olive oil.  Spread the pesto on the bottom, then layer the tomatoes, turkey, cheese and drizzle the balsamic vinagrette.  Grill on each side until the bread is brown and the cheese is melted.  If you're feeling particularly daring add a slice of provolone to each side for extra cheesy-ness.

Frozen Margaritas

The fact that I'm 9 months-pregnant may make it strange to see a recipe for frozen margaritas, but we had some good friends who were moving to Texas so naturally their going away party was a Tex-Mex theme and what goes better with Tex-Mex food than a margarita? I made several batches of these frozen margaritas for the party. They are a hit!

My mom keeps a batch of these in her freezer a lot of the time and when we're up there (and I'm not pregnant) it makes a summer evening to sit on the patio with a margarita. This recipe has become a family favorite. You can store a batch in the freezer for a few weeks and it doesn't seem to go bad (if you can keep it around that long.) A pitcher of the frozen margaritas would be a great addition to a Labor Day barbecue.

Frozen Margaritas4 c. water

1 can frozen limeade

1 c. tequila

1/2 c. triple sec

1 lime, juiced

Mix everything together and freeze for several hours. You may have to let it sit on the counter for a little while if it's been in the freezer for a really long time. Or you can smash it up with a wooden spoon and eat it like a slushie.