Pad Tai

Neil and I got culinarily creative this weekend and it was a HUGE success.
This requires some unusual ingredients, but if you buy them at an Asian food store you get a LOT for super cheap, much much cheaper than at Kroger/Dominicks/Whole Foods etc.

Pad Tai
Serves 2 (generously...)

1 8 oz package dried flat rice noodles
3 tbsp fish sauce (it smells bad... be forewarned)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp oyster suace
1 tbsp Asian chili pepper sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup veg oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
8 oz skinless boneless chicken breast cut in pieces
2 eggs beaten
3 cups bean sprouts
6 green onions cut up
2 tbsp dry roasted unsalted peantus

Fill a large bowl with HOT tap water and soak noodles 20 mins.

In a small bowl, mix fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, oyster sauce, chili sauce and chicken stock. set aside

Heat large skillet over high heat with veg oil. cook garlic, then add chicken and cook 7 minutes, stir constantly (or till chicken is cooked through). You could make this with any meat /seafood or tofu or omit this step entirely.

Move everything in the wok (or large frying pan) to the sides and pour eggs in center, cook till firm. Add noodles, pour in sauce, cook till noodles are tender. Stir in bean sprouts and onions. Remove from heat and garnish with peanuts and more sprouts. Serve with a lime wedge.

Chipotle Chicken and Tomato Soup

I was kind of looking for something new and I came across this great soup recipe on The Recipe Girl. This is a great and simple soup. I'm really starting to love fresh cilantro, so this was right up my alley. My husband even said this might have to become a regular meal for us. It has a little spice to it, but it's not too spicy. The good thing about this recipe is you can control the heat. The serving size is perfect for a small family, but it could easily be double if you have guests.

½ tsp ground cumin
One 15.5-ounce can navy beans, rinsed and drained
One 14.5-ounce can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes
One 14-ounce can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 whole chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce, finely chopped**
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about ½ pound)
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
½ cup reduced-fat sour cream
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Partially mash tomatoes and beans with a potato masher. Stir in chicken; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in oil. Place 1¼ cups soup in each of four bowls. Top each serving with 2 Tablespoons sour cream and 1 Tablespoon cilantro.

Servings: 4

** I used 2 chiles and the soup just had a little heat, for me anyways. Next time I'm using 3 maybe 4. The can of chiles has at least 6 in it, so it's not like you're paying more for more heat.

Guilt Free Guacamole

You guys are going to think I am losing my mind with the kind of food stuff I have been experimenting with lately, but with no job, what's a girl to do? cook! This is from the Weight Watchers cookbook, though we do not use weight watchers. Anyways, it's kind of a crazy idea, but it actually tasted good and would also be good for baby food?? Maybe? I don't have babies, so i'm not sure what kind of restrictions there are for making baby food.

Guilt Free Guacamole
Serves about 6, makes one large bowl full

12 spears of asparagus, steamed or boiled or otherwise cooked to tender
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup salsa
pinch of salt/pepper

Pulverize all of those in a blender till chunky and walla! you have a guacamole looking food. Honestly, it's pretty tasty, though I do have some suggested changes that I will implement next time. Careful not to overblend it because there is a lot of water in asparagus and I blended mine beyond recognition and there was some water in it, but no matter.

It could DEFINITELY use more garlic. The original recipe makes a LOT so i posted the half size portion which is what I made. The original recipe also called for 2 cloves garlic.

I would also add probably a tablespoon of lime juice, some minced jalapenos and maybe some diced tomatoes depending on how you like your traditional guac.

My dad also suggested substituting half of the asparagus for actual guacacmole. I'm not sure how that would turn out, but might be worth exploring.

Cannellini Bean Pate

This is another really super easy snack or sandwich spread. (or pita spread for that matter). It came from "Best Ever Three & Four Ingredient Cookbook".

2 14oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 oz Cheddar cheese (i think it's about a half a cup..though my math may be way off)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley ( i skipped this, we didn't have it, you could substitute anything really)
3 tbps olive oil

Put cannellini beans in the food processor with the olive oil in a steady stream. Process to a chunky paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the shredded cheese and parsley. Sprinkle with a little paprika , if desired. Serve with wholegrain toast.

I heated mine in the microwave because melted cheese is awesome and it tasted really good. I dipped carrots in mine, though I would probably not use that particular vegetable next time. I also think that tyou can whip this stuff on top of a tortilla with some lettuce and tomato and BOOM you have quesadillas! brillant, yo!

Cuban Pizza

This is what you can use some of that extra pork from the roasted pork, beans and rice. Lately I've been all about using leftovers in pizza form, and I think this is my husbands favorite so far. This is so good, it tastes like a Cuban sandwich (minus the ham). This is from the same blog I got the pork, rice and beans from, and yes, I still can't figure it out.

CUBAN PIZZA

1 pizza dough

yellow mustard

3 cups mozzarella cheese
2 cups Swiss cheese

Dill Pickles

Left Over shredded Roast Pork

Adobo Seasoning

Directions
Preheat your oven according to your directions on the dough package, mine was 400 degrees.

1. Roll out your pizza dough. Spread is with a nice helping of mustard( I know I know..just trust me on this one)
2. Cover it with the mozzarella and Swiss cheese
3. Put on the pork
4. Put your pickles on some paper towel and pat this dry. Put the pickles on the pizza.
5. Sprinkle with a bit of Adobo Seasoning.
6. Cook according to your dough package, mine was 13-15 minutes.

Time Constraints

I'm uploading these photos fast, but no time for recipes right now. I'll probably post some of the recipes later, and some I won't bother with.

I've made a version of Laura's apple dumplings a couple of times. They're my new favorite now. Ridiculously fast and easy and delicious. There's not a lot of sauce with them so we eat them like little hand-held apple pies. Soooo good. And a great way to use up apples that are not being eaten.

These Sweet Potato Quesadillas were pretty good. You have to like the taste of sweet and salty together to enjoy them though (which my husband does not). I like that these bake in the oven too, instead of frying them.

Peter's birthday somehow snuck up on me this Monday. It's been over a week since I did our bimonthly shopping trip, so supplies were low. But I successfully managed to make my first from-scratch cake with the help of my Kitchen Aid. The cake turned out pretty good. For a dairy-free icing, I used a powdered sugar icing that simply consisted of powdered sugar, cocoa (unsweetened) and rice milk. It's a drizzle frosting, as you might be able to tell.

Oops...crooked...I don't feel like fixing it!

And this cinnamon bread was delicious. I was happy to have a yeast bread turn out successfully. I will post the recipe to this when I get a chance. It smells great baking in the oven.

Cream Soda-Toffee Cupcakes

I haven't made cupcakes since I was a little kid. Boy, I was missing out! These are really good. I found this recipe was in this months Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ cup butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp. molasses

1½ tsp. vanilla

½ cup buttermilk

½ cup cream soda (not diet)

¾ cup toffee pieces

1 recipe Brown Butter Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line 18 2½-inch muffin cups with paper bake ups; set aside
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt; set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add sugars; beat until well combine. Beat in eggs, one at a time, on low until combined. Beat in molasses and vanilla.
4. Alternately add flour mixture, butter milk, and cream soda to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Stir in ½ cup of the toffee.
5. Fill cups ¾ full. Bake about 18 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.
6. Cool in pans on racks 5 minutes, remove from pans; cool.
7. Frost; top with the remaining toffee.

Brown butter frosting
½ butter, divided
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
dash of salt
2 tbsp. buttermilk

In a sauce pan heat ¼ cup butter over medium-low heat until lightly brown, about 8 minutes; let cool. In a bowl, beat ¼ cup of softened butter on medium for 30 seconds. Add cooled brown butter; beat until combined. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. Beat in the buttermilk until spread able. Use immediately.

Pork, Beans and Rice....Cuban Style

I've been trying to cook out of my comfort zone lately, since we aren't eating out anymore. This is the perfect example of something different, yet easy to cook. This is a great recipe to entertain with, because it does make a lot (about 6 servings) or you can just enjoy it a couple more times (like we did).

There are a couple things (the Adobo seasoning and the Mojo Criollo) I could not find in my local grocery, so I had to get them on the Internet. So if you decide to make this, look for the spices about a week before you want to, so you have time to order them if need be.

I got this recipe from another cooking blog, but for the life of me I can not find it again! So if by chance the fellow blogger reads this, I want to give you credit for this recipe.

ROAST PORK WITH BLACK BEANS AND YELLOW RICE

PORK
4-5 pound Pork Rump Roast
Adobo Seasoning (Goya Brand)
3/4 cup Mojo Criollo marinade

1. Preheat over to 350
2. Generously season meat with Adobo Seasoning. Place in a dutch oven(or oven safe large pot with lid) along with the mojo criollo.
3. Cover and cook about 25 minutes per pound. Until the pork reaches 140 degrees internal temperature.

YELLOW RICE
1 package Vigo Yellow Rice (16 oz.)
mojo criollo

1. Cook according to the package, but instead of using only water, use 1/2 water and 1/2 Mojo criollo.
   

**The package doesn't tell you to stir the rice at all. You need to stir it 2 or 3 times during it's cooking process.

BLACK BEANS
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minces
2 tablespoons cumin
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup mojo criollo

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, saute onions in olive oil for about 10 minutes.
2. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add cumin, and stir.
3. Add beans, bay leaves and mojo criollo.
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until beans are soft and warmed through.

**You will need to buy 3 bottles of the mojo criollo for this entire meal.

And there you have it! It's very good with a couple shakes of the hot sauce as well. If you think this is a lot of pork, I have a recipe coming to use the leftovers. :)

Indian-Spiced Roasted Chickpeas

These take no time at all and you have a healthy snack. I bet kids would like them too and they wouldn't even know they're eating healthy. I forgot to toss them halfway through and it didn't make one bit of difference. Man these are good..

Indian-Spiced Roasted Chickpeas
Serves 4

2 cups canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, spices and salt in a large bowl; toss well. Spread on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast, tossing halfway through for 20-25 minutes or until chickpeas are dark brown in spots. Let cool.

Crunchy Beef Wraps

This is a great quick weeknight dinner. It has some off the wall ingredients, but in the end they all work together. It takes about 20- 25 minutes to make! I got this recipe from my favorite book, Fast fix, family food by BHG. Of course, I tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients
8 8inch flour tortillas
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped red or green onion (I used red)
2 cups packages shredded cabbage with carrots (coleslaw mix)
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Barbecue sauce (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stack tortillas and wrap in foil. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until meat is brown. Drain well.
3. Stir in cabbage mix and corn. Cover; cook about 4 minutes or until vegetable are tender, stirring once.
   
4. Stir in barbecue sauce and sesame oil. Cook and stir until heated through.
5. Spoon 1/2 cup filling onto each tortilla.
   
6. If desired, serve with additional barbecue sauce. (I didn't do this)

* I had some leftover black beans, so I put in about 1/2 cup on them in at the same time as the corn. It was good, I may continue to add them.