Chicken Enchiladas

When our younger son and his family came to visit in January, we knew we’d try a new recipe out with them. They are foodies and love to try new things—plus since they’re a family of five, we knew we could make the recipe and have only a few leftovers. As it turned out, we didn’t which was fine by us.

You make the dish in two stages—the first stage is in the slow cooker and can be done well ahead of time. Then you assemble the enchiladas and briefly bake them. Using the slow cooker for the chicken and sauce means you can shred the chicken in the sauce. That makes assembling things easier, and it’s easier to eat, too.

Slow cooker ingredients:

• 2 T unsweetened cocoa
• 2 adobo chilies in chipotle sauce, diced
• 1 batch enchilada sauce
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Slow cooker directions:

Bear paws shred like a champ

1. Mix the cocoa, chilies and enchilada sauce together. 
2. Place the chicken thighs in the slow cooker and top with the wet mixture.
3. Cook on high for four hour or on low for eight hours.
4. Shred the meat while it’s still in the sauce (Kent likes his bear paws for shredding).
5. Divide in half; after the mixture cools, put half into a freezer bag and freeze for future use. Continue on with the recipe for the reserved mixture.

For the rest of the dish:

• About 2 cups shredded cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese
• 12 to 14 small corn tortillas

Assembling the dish:

1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.
2. Grease a baking dish or use cooking spray.
3. Put about half the meat mixture in the baking dish.
4. Place tortillas flat on the meat mixture, and top with about half the cheese.
5. Repeat to create a second layer.
6. Bake until bubbly, 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Falafel Tacos

Once again, this winner of a recipe was first pinned by the same friend who made the baked oatmeal and the Mexican Stew. She's got good taste, what can I say? We had this for Valentine’s Day dinner this year. They are incredibly good and full of flavor, and I can't wait to have them again.

Ingredients

Falafel:

• ½ C pine nuts
• ½ C cilantro (for us, it’s about half a bunch as it comes from the store)
• ¼ C chives
• 1 16-ounce can chickpeas (drain well and reserve the liquid in case you need it when forming the falafels); or make your own, and use 2 cups
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ C onion, diced
• ½ t cumin
• ½ t cayenne (optional but you’ll be sorry if you don’t add it)
• ½ t salt
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 T flour
• 2 T olive oil (plus a little more for brushing on top—we use our Misto for that step)

Amazing harissa

Green harissa:

• 2 T cumin seeds
• 1 T coriander seeds
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
• ½ C cilantro (there’s the rest of the bunch)
• 3 T dried parsley 
• Zest from half a lemon
• Juice from a whole lemon
• ½ t salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes

Yummy toppings

Tacos:

• Corn tortillas
• Avocado, sliced
• Diced tomatoes (we use cherry tomatoes, they taste better especially in winter)

Directions:

Falafal:

1. Using a food processor, pulse the pine nuts and the chickpeas until the nuts are evenly ground. Add the rest of the falafel ingredients and pulse until the mixture is smooth but with some chunkiness to it. 
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With your hands, roll about a teaspoon of the mixture into a ball and place on the baking sheet. Continue until all the mixture is formed into little balls and refrigerate for two hours. If you don’t, your falafel may not be as firm after baking as you’d like. 

Harissa:

1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰ (this is for the falafel). 
2. In a small skillet, lightly toast the cumin and coriander seeds over low heat for a couple of minutes until they are fragrant. Remove them from the heat and allow them to cool. 
3. Place the toasted cumin and coriander along with the rest of the harissa ingredients except for the olive oil into a food processor. While the food processor is running, slowly add in the olive oil until the harissa is thick but not too thick. 

Putting it all together:

1. Remove the falafel from the refrigerator, and brush the tops with olive oil. We use our Misto for this step. 
2. Bake the falafel for about 30 minutes until they are brown and crispy. 
3. If you want to, warm the tortillas. 
4. Spread some harissa on the tortilla, top with avocado, tomatoes and a falafel patty or two. 
5. Enjoy!

Falafel cookies!

In the interest of sparing anyone shock at what the falafels look like after baking, here's a photo of our falafel cookies, as we called them. We think it's because we didn't drain the chickpeas well enough.

Mexican Stew

A friend had pinned this recipe on her Pinterest board; since she is also the friend who made the blueberry oatmeal bake, I looked over the recipe and was intrigued. I’d already decided 2015 would be the year I would master cooking butternut squash and I figured I might as well get an early start.

I have a red enchilada sauce recipe but in this case because I was short on time, I opted for the canned stuff. I used beans I’d cooked, but they didn’t have any extra seasoning in them, and in the interest of convenience, I used the prepackaged taco seasoning—this is box cooking at its finest! Otherwise, it’s an easy dish to make and also cooks up pretty fast in the slow cooker. It’s a stew, not a soup.

Updated to add that I get better results if I cook the quinoa separately from the rest of the stew, then add it in at the end.

Ingredients 

• 1 pound butternut squash, cubed
• 1 can corn
• 2 C cooked black beans
• 1 C uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1 large can fire-roasted petite diced tomatoes (29 ounces)
• 1 small jalapeno, optional
• 1 batch enchilada sauce (about 29 ounces)
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth, or water (I use water and rinse out the cans)
• 1 packet (1.25 ounces) taco seasoning

Directions

• If your slow cooker isn’t non-stick, consider using some kind of cooking spray.
• Assemble all the ingredients except the quinoa in the slow cooker.
• Stir well.
• Cook on high for about four and a half hours (no clue what the time would be if you did it on low).
• Follow the package directions to cook the quinoa.
• Add to the slow cooker and stir. 
• Enjoy!

Smitten Kitchen's One Pan Farro with Tomatoes

[Picture soon]

A friend introduced me to this Smitten Kitchen recipe – in a very unusual twist for me, I’ve made no changes. But because I find the font on the web site horrible to read and because the directions are sort of scatted around and difficult for me to follow, I’ve posted it here. I served this to my folks on a recent visit and the dish was a complete hit.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup semi-pearled farro
• ½ large white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, put through a press
• 9 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 ¼ t kosher or coarse sea salt ¼
• About ¼ t red pepper flakes
• 1 T olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• Few basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

1. Place water and farro in a medium saucepan to pre-soak while prepping the rest of the ingredients – add each to the pan as they are prepped
2. Thinly slice the onion so that it’s in quarter moon slices
3. Add the garlic
4. Halve or quarter the tomatoes
5. Add salt, pepper flakes and olive oil
6. Set a timer for 30 minutes
7. Bring uncovered pan (no lid necessary) up to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. 
8. When the timer rings, the farro should be perfectly cooked and the cooking water almost entirely absorbed. If necessary, cook longer till the faro is more tender. 
9. Transfer to a wide serving bowl, scatter with basil and Parmesan and enjoy.

Spaghetti Pie Casserole

This recipe is also originally from my mother. If it sounds like I have a recipe box full of her recipes, well I do. I’ve only made this one a couple of times and is typical for me, I’ve changed it. It’s quite tasty and a real crowd-pleaser but it’s not exactly what you’d call low fat. Still, when the weather is cold and you need to fill up a lot of people, this dish will get the job done.

Ingredients:

• About 10 ounces spaghetti, broken in thirds, cooked and drained
• 1 pound sausage, crumbled, cooked and drained
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ¼ C shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 T olive oil
• Half a medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press
• 10 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 C light sour cream
• 3 C marinara sauce
• 1 C water
• 4 ounces sliced Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• While the spaghetti pieces are still warm, mix in the eggs and Parmesan cheese; put in a greased casserole dish and set aside
• Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onions till limp
• Add the mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes
• Stir in the marinara sauce and the water and heat through
• Add the sour cream to the skillet, and then spoon about half of the mixture over the spaghetti mixture in the pie pan
• Add the cooked and crumbled sausage to the pie pan and top with the rest of the sauce
• Top with the Mozzarella cheese
• Place in the oven and bake until bubbly and the cheese is melted

As made, I served four adults, two children and had another three servings for lunches later in the week. 

Bean and Chicken Tostados

This dish came about because I had various bits of leftovers in the fridge and wanted to use them up while also having a full-flavored dinner. If you prefer burritos, you could roll your bean mixture up rather than spreading it out on the toasted tortilla as I did. Or you can slide a tortilla into four pieces and toast it; it gets crispy like chips but with far less fat. If you are not pigs the way we are, you can get four servings out of this. Sadly, we are pigs.

Ingredients:

1 can refried beans (I use fat-free spicy refried beans; I’d rather have the fat calories elsewhere)
1 to 2 adobo peppers, finely diced plus some of the sauce from the can
1 cooked boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
½ avocado, cut in thin strips
2 to 3 T diced fresh cilantro
Sour cream (I use light sour cream)
Shredded cheddar or jack cheese (or a mix)
Adobo seasoning
Salsa verde
2 to 3 tortillas

Directions:

• Mix the beans and diced chicken in a microwave-safe bowl and heat thoroughly.
• Toast the tortillas in a toaster oven, taking care not to burn them OR place in a sauté pan and cook till crisp. If you are making burritos, omit this step.
• Sprinkle some cheese on the hot tortillas and spread the bean mixture on top.
• Sprinkle the adobo seasoning on the beans.
• Sprinkle some cilantro on the beans.
• Top with sour cream, avocado slices and salsa verde.

Spicy Vegetable Soup

You control how spicy this soup is—if you like it hotter, dice the adobo peppers finely and use two or three. If you don’t want it hot, then use one and either don’t dice it at all or cut it into large pieces. The heat comes from the seeds in the pepper and when they get diced, they get hot. The adobo sauce isn’t (or shouldn’t be) hot; it’s just flavorful. I’ve also found that the Lacostena brand is hotter than the Hernandez brand. I prefer Hernandez for the flavor.

As written, this soup makes about eight to 10 servings, depending on how much water/broth I add.

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (we use fire-roasted)
28 ounces chicken broth or water or a combination
2 C frozen corn OR one can corn, drained
1 pound carrots, peeled and diced
1 pound celery, diced
1 small or ½ large white onion, diced
3 or 4 small red potatoes, diced
1 to 3 adobo peppers, diced or a packet of taco seasoning
1 can pinto or black beans, drained

Directions:

• Saute all the vegetables, beans and potatoes in a skillet (I use a bit of canola oil) until the onion and celery are softened.
• Stir in the beans.
• If you are using the taco seasoning, sprinkle over the vegetables and stir. Cook just a bit longer til bubbly. 
• If you are using the adobo peppers, add to the skillet and stir. 
• Put the vegetables in the slow cooker and add the tomatoes and broth.
• If needed, add water to almost fill the slow cooker. 
• Cook on high for about eight hours.

Go here for nutritional information per serving.

Cheater Chicken Soup

Very occasionally, we’ll pick up a grocery store rotisserie chicken for dinner. To alleviate the guilt of not having made dinner from scratch, I stretch that bird to cover a few meals and then use the carcass as the basis for what I call cheater chicken soup. It’s cheating because it’s not entirely made from scratch but boy is it tasty. I prefer pasta in the soup because the pasta ends up behaving like dumplings. Use potatoes if you prefer that instead.

This is not a complicated recipe in terms of hands on time but does take two days just so you can get your broth properly made.

Ingredients: 
The carcass of one rotisserie chicken OR the remnants of a whole chicken you’ve previously roasted
Two carrots, peeled and diced
About half of a medium white onion, coarsely chopped
One small potato, diced into cubes OR a handful or two of your favorite uncooked pasta
Two stalks celery, diced
A liberal sprinkling of Italian seasoning
One bay leaf
Lots of water

Directions:

Day 1
Simmer the carcass and seasonings in enough water to fill a large stock pot for several hours.
Cool overnight.

Day 2

• Strain and discard the fat from the surface of the broth.
• Pick off any meat remnants from your carcass and toss into the broth.
• Add the vegetables.
• If you are using pasta, add the pasta.
• Simmer for another couple of hours.
• Add salt and pepper to taste to your individual bowls.

Tortellini Salad

I got this recipe from my mother; the original recipe actually calls for goat cheese. However the first time I made it, I didn’t have any on hand, but I did have feta. I think you could use either kind and get good results; I’m just used to using feta. I like the flavor combination.

Ingredients:

1 pound tortellini, cooked, drained and cooled (I use cheese tortellini)
6 sundried tomatoes, diced
6 roasted red peppers, diced
3 T olive oil
5 T balsamic vinegar
1—2 T oil from the sundried tomatoes (optional; I usually add just 1 T for extra flavor)
7 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 ounces crumbled feta or goat cheese
Parsley to taste

Directions:

• Combine the oils and vinegar and whisk til thoroughly mixed.
• Pour the oil/vinegar mixture over the pasta.
• Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
• Chill before serving.

Chicken and Swiss Cheese Casserole

When my children were growing up, I made a lot of chicken and rice dishes. A lot. So when they hit their teen years, they both basically refused to eat them anymore. Now that they're adults, I think the dislike has worn off and one has even asked for a few of the recipes, including this one.

A few words before I get to the recipe: You can make your rice on the stove if you prefer, but I have come to love my rice steamer. If you don't have one, you can make it on the stove and cook it with the broth and herbs and onions. Either way works.

Ingredients:

Casserole
2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, either minced or put through a garlic press
3 C cooked rice (I use brown rice)
1/8 C sherry or white wine (not cooking wine) or vermouth
Water or broth to deglaze the pan
1 bay leaf
2 t dried thyme or about 1 t fresh
1 ½ C cooked, diced chicken
6 to 8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

Topping
2 T butter
1 T flour
1/3 C milk
Paprika to sprinkle

Directions:

Casserole

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet.
• Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter until the onion is clear.
• Add the sherry or white wine or vermouth and enough water or broth to deglaze the pan.
• Add the diced chicken and heat thoroughly.
• Quickly combine the chicken mixture, cooked rice and Swiss cheese and put into a large greased casserole pan.

Topping

• Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
• Stir in the flour ensuring you have no lumps.
• Slowly add the milk and stir constantly until thickened.
• Pour over the casserole and sprinkle the top with paprika.
• Cover and bake about 20 minutes.

Macaroni and Cheese

When my younger son was little, I bowed to the tyranny of a two year old and made mac & cheese from the blue box. But honestly that stuff is expensive and full of strange ingredients. Plus I dislike using canned soups a great deal. In fact, you could say I downright hate it. Fortunately this mac & cheese recipe doesn’t rquire cans of anything.

Ingredients:

2 cups pasta (we prefer gemelli but if you like elbow macaroni, have at it)
4 T butter
¼ C all-purpose flour
3 C milk
2 C shredded semi-hard cheese (cheddar, Gouda, Monterey Jack—whatever you have on hand and feel free to mix it up)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2/3 C freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions:

• Preheat the broiler.
• Cook your pasta OR follow my "no humidity added to the house" method described below. Drain well.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
• Whisk in the flour until a paste forms.
• Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth.
• Bring the sauce to the boil over moderately high heat, stirring or whisking constantly, until thickened.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add in the shredded cheeses until melted (not the Parmigiano-Reggiano just yet).
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir in the cooked pasta and then put the mixture into a 9 x 13 glass or ceramic baking pan.
• Top with the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
• Broil about four inches from the heat for about four minutes or until richly browned.
• Let the dish sit for about five minutes before serving.

*Bonus no-humidity method for cooking pasta:

• Bring the water to the boil in a covered saucepan.
• Add the pasta, cover and immediately turn off the heat.
• Let sit, covered, on the stove for 20 minutes.
• Drain and enjoy your humidity-free home.

Caveat: Angel hair pasta doesn’t really need the full 20 minutes and gemelli may take up to 25 minutes.

Curried Chicken with Rice

Originally this recipe (which came from my mother) was called Curry Glazed Chicken and it didn’t have rice or vegetables in it at all. But I have no problem with altering recipes both to provide more complete nutrition and also to stay within a budget. Meat tends to be pretty expensive compared to vegetables and rice and so this recipe morphed into a mostly meatless main dish.

Also a word about spices—don’t buy into the hype that you must replace all your spices every three days or something silly like that. If you can still taste the flavor, why would you replace your spices? Plus spices aren’t always cheap. We’ve found that if you shop the ethnic aisle of your supermarket you can often find what you need for less than the same product housed in the spice aisle. And don’t overlook online sources. We get a lot of ours from Herbco, including the curry powder I use in this recipe.

As written, this recipe serves two. You can easily double it though.

Ingredients:

1 C cooked rice (I use brown rice and steam it outside in my trusty steamer)
1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cooked (sauté it, bake it, microwave it—whatever works for you) and diced
1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
¼ C honey
1 T Dijon style mustard
2 T curry powder (adjust for your own taste buds—remember, we like it hot)
½ white onion, coarsely chopped
1/3 C frozen peas
1 small or ½ medium carrot, peeled and diced. Note: I omitted the carrot this particular day because I served the Spicy Carrot Salad with it.
1 T canola oil

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients. Sauté the chopped onion.
• Meanwhile, in a microwave proof bowl, mix the honey, mustard and curry powder together. Heat in the microwave until the honey is fairly runny.
• (If you are using carrots, add them to the saucepan and continue cooking until cooked through, probably about five minutes.)
• Add the ginger and continue to sauté.
• Add the peas and chicken and heat thoroughly. If the pan gets a bit dry or things are sticking too much, add a little water or a bit more oil.
• Add the rice and the sauce.
• Mix thoroughly and let the sauce heat through.

Amazing Tomato Soup

I love soup for lunch when the weather gets cooler. When we lived in Boston, I improvised a tomato soup very loosely based on a recipe from Food & Wine. This is a quick soup and is ready in less than an hour from start to finish. It makes four to five servings as written.

Here’s a tip—you don’t need to peel your garlic cloves before you put them through your press. In fact if you don’t peel them, your press will be a lot easier to clean up.

Finally, I almost never add salt and pepper while cooking something. I prefer to add them at the table.

Ingredients:

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 small or ½ medium white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
2 t smoked paprika (it makes a difference to the taste so get smoked paprika)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted tomatoes)
3 T tomato paste
1 ½ C water
1/3 C light cream
1 sprig of thyme or about ½ t dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Directions:

• Melt the butter and oil together in a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Add the finely diced onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender and translucent, about five minutes.
• Add the paprika and stir well.
• Add the tomatoes with their juice, the tomato paste, the water, the thyme and bay leaf.
• Stir well and simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in the cream.

Fra Diavolo Sauce

While out for dinner, Kent enjoyed a Fra Diavolo shrimp dish at a restaurant and decided to create his own version. So he took a basic tomato sauce recipe we love (created by Oyster Evangelist) and tweaked it to come up with his own version.

When I made this the other night, I had some chicken sage sausage on hand so I diced that up and sautéed it and added it in. The sauce is equally good with no meat—it’s got lots of flavor all by itself. Cut down the red pepper flakes and the cayenne if you don’t like things hot.

Ingredients:

4 T (1/2 stick) butter
1 small onion, minced (1 cup)
2 t red pepper flakes
1 t cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 C water
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
1 32-ounce can crushed tomatoes and their juices

Directions:

• In a large heavy pan, melt the butter.
• Add the onion, red pepper flakes, cayenne powder and oregano, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and cook a few minutes until it begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. 
• Stir in 1/2 cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan to pick up any cooked-on bits. 
• Add the tomatoes and the garlic.
• Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Put on your favorite pasta.

Sunday Dinner Pot Roast

I never actually made pot roast as a Sunday dinner but you could, very easily. Actually you can make this for dinner almost any day you have about 30 minutes of prep time in the morning. Your slow cooker does the rest.

Ingredients: 

2 ½ pounds beef or chuck roast
2 T flour
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (I prefer white onions)
6 to 8 baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1 C carrots, peeled and diced into large chunks
4 cloves garlic, put through a press
1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
Several sprigs of thyme—strip the leaves into the slow cooker OR 1 t dried thyme
2-3 T tomato paste
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes; reserve some of the juice in a small bowl
2 C red wine, like Merlot (boxed is fine)

Directions:

• In a sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
• Put the roast into a large plastic bag along with the flour. Keeping the bag closed, shake the bag until the roast is lightly coated with the flour.
• Sauté the roast in the pan until browned on all sides.
• Meanwhile, put the onions, carrots and garlic into your slow cooker.
• When the meat is browned, place it on top of the mixture in the slow cooker.
• Add the mushrooms to the sauté pan and sauté until done.
• Put the mushrooms in the slow cooker.
• Add the herbs.
• Add the tomatoes and all the juice except what you’ve put in the small bowl.
• Stir the tomato paste into the reserved tomato juice and then add to the slow cooker.
• Cook on high for about six hours or on low for eight to ten hours.
• Cut the meat into pieces and serve with the juices and veggies and possibly the roasted potatoes.

Chicken and Rice

This recipe is based on one from Pierre Franey's The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet.

I’ve reduced the meat, increased the rice, substantially reduced the fat and replaced the white wine—which I never have on hand—with a good sherry. This recipe works well with roasted broccoli. Although this recipe may sound similar to the chicken, Swiss cheese and rice recipe I posted earlier this year, they taste quite different from each other.

Ingredients:

4 to 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 T butter
½ C finely chopped white onion
1 clove garlic, put through a press (more if you like, which I definitely do)
½ pound baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf
½ good sherry, not cooking sherry
1 C raw white rice
1 ½ C chicken broth or water

Directions:

• In a large skillet that can hold all the chicken pieces in one layer plus the rice, melt the butter over medium heat.
• Add the chicken pieces and brown for about 5 minutes.
• Turn the chicken, and add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and bay leaf. Make sure these don’t rest on the chicken but are getting sautéed. Cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add the sherry and cook until it’s almost all evaporated. You may want to turn the chicken pieces during this bit so they all get a nice bath in the sherry.
• Add the rice and broth, and make sure the rice doesn’t rest on top of the chicken pieces.
• Cover closely and cook for 20 to 30 minutes over low heat until the rice is done.

Fish Tacos

Don't let the multi-step directions scare you off. These are well worth making and are a nice variation on Mexi-Cali food. As always, dial down the jalapeno if you don't like it hot. As made, we get two generous tacos and one generous tostada from the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 T sour cream (for the crema)
2 T light cream (for the crema)
Hot sauce to taste (for the crema)
1/2 C thinly sliced cabbage (for the slaw)
4 or 5 scallions, thinly sliced (for the slaw)
1 red jalapeno, half finely diced and half left whole (for the slaw and for the fish)
1 T fresh lime juice (for the slaw)
2 T sour cream (for the slaw)
3/4 pound firm white fish like tilapia (for the fish, well duh this IS the fish)
A bit of flour for dredging (for the fish)
1 to 2 T olive oil (for the fish)
Tortillas (for assembly)
1/2 C finely diced fresh cilantro (for assembly)

Directions:

Crema:

• Mix the sour cream and light cream together. It should be fairly thick.
• Add hot sauce to taste.

Slaw:

• Mix the lime juice and sour cream together in a small bowl.
• In another bowl, combine the cabbage, scallions and diced jalapenos.
• Add the lime juice/sour cream mixture to the cabbage mixture and toss well.

Fish:

• Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to hold all the fish in one layer.
• Add the half jalapeno to the oil and move it through the oil. Leave it in the pan to continue cooking.
• Dredge the fish in flour (or toss the flour in a plastic bag, add the fish and shake gently to coat).
• Sauté the fish in the skillet along with the jalapeno and cook until done.
• Remove from heat and put the fish in a bowl. Shred the fish with a fork or knife.

Assembly directions:

• Heat your tortilla.
• (If you want cheese, add it now)
• Place some diced cilantro on the fish.
• Top with slaw.
• (Add sliced avocadoes if you want)
• Drizzle crema over your masterpiece.

Slow Cooker Pork

This recipe is loosely based on a couple of recipes I found online. I'd gotten a boneless pork loin but wasn't feeling the love for my normal recipe so I looked around and cobbled something together. I served it with plain, shredded cabbage and it was amazing.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin
4 to 5 cloves roasted garlic
3 bay leaves
1 t sage leaves
1 t rosemary leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup brown mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup beer

Directions:

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, not including the cranberries or garlic
• Add the brown sugar, mustard and honey to the bowl and mix well
• Pour some of this mixture into your slow cooker and put the pork on top
• Top the pork with the remaining mixture
• Sprinkle the cranberries and garlic around the pork
• Add the beer
• Cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until you can shred the meat easily with two forks
• Shred the meat and serve with shredded cabbage or cole slaw if you prefer.

Sliced Baked Potatoes – Two Versions

Version 1

Version 2

How do you find new recipes? I find a lot of mine while eating out or surfing the web. I ran across an image for this recipe a couple of weeks ago on Pinterest. Well I like potatoes, and these seemed pretty interesting so I thought I’d give it a try. We tend to go meatless a couple of days a week and this looked like a hearty, meatless entrée to me.

I googled sliced baked potatoes and found a handful of recipes so I sort of combined them all together to create my own.

Be warned, neither version is a hands-off recipe. You’ll need to tend to your potatoes about every 10 to 15 minutes until they are cooked.

Ingredients:
2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and with the skin on
4 T butter, melted
½ C shredded cheese, your choice (I use cheddar/jack cheese from Costco)
Italian seasoning to taste
Directions:

Version 1

• Preheat the oven to 400F.
• Place two wooden spoons on a cutting board about as far apart as your potatoes are wide. Use the handles to hold your potato in place as you slice the potatoes and to keep you from slicing all the way through. You want the bottom of the potato to remain intact. Also, slice thinly—my slices are about ¼ inch wide.
• Place the sliced potatoes in a baking pan. I use cooking spray only because I wanted an easier clean up session afterwards.
• Carefully open your sliced potatoes and drizzle the melted butter across them. Don’t worry when it runs out the sides—you will be basting the potatoes with this butter throughout the cooking process.
• Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on the potatoes and try to get some inside the slices.
• Bake for a total of 60 minutes. Important! About every 10 minutes, pull the potatoes out and re-baste with the butter. Also turn them over. That will let all the skin get a butter bath.
• After 60 minutes, remove from the oven.
• Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the potatoes and return to the oven for about 10 minutes.
• When done, place each potato in a shallow bowl. Pour the remaining melted butter over the potatoes.

Version 2

• Preheat the oven to 400F.
• Slice the potatoes into thin slices, preferably about ¼ inch wide.
• Pour about half of the melted butter into a large baking dish (9x13) that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Tilt the pan around until you’ve coated the entire bottom of the pan.
• Place the sliced potatoes in the so that the slices are in no more than two layers. Ideally you want just one layer of potatoes.
• Drizzle the melted butter across the slices.
• Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on the slices.
• Bake for about 60 minutes. About every 15 minutes, pull the potatoes out and flip them. This helps a lot with ensuring the potatoes brown evenly.
• After 60 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle the shredded cheese over the potatoes. Bake for another five minutes or until the cheese is all melted.
• Serve with sour cream if you feel decadent.