Date Night

This recipe is a bit lengthy, perfect for date nights when the kids are away and you can enjoy the process of putting it all together. Complete with a glass of wine and the Gipsy Kings on Pandora, followed by this heartwrenching romantic movie . So perfect!

Black Bean Empanada's:

Filling:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 red onion

1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage

1 small shredded zuchinni

1 clove crushed garlic

1 can balck beans drained

1/2 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese

1 tablspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

squeeze of lime juice

handfull cilantro, chopped

Dough:

1 1/4 cup flour

6 tblspoon butter or shortening

1/3 cup COLD water

1 teaspoon salt

Egg wash:
1 egg
1/4 cup water

Pinapple green chile chutney:
1 can crushed pinapple
1 small can of green chiles
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 clove chopped garlic

So first start by making the dough. Mix salt into flour and cut in butter (I like to use a food processor for this), then add water little bit at a time until it resembles dry oats. Put into plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now after you chop veggies heat olive oil in skillet and add the onions and red pepper. Saute until soft and aromatic then add purple cabbage, garlic and shredded zuchinni and coook down a bit. Add cumin and salt and pepper, black beans and cilantro. Squeeze a bit of lime juice and at the last minute add the shredded cheese. Turn off heat and set aside while you make the chutney.

In your food processor put pinapple, garlic, green chiles, dash of salt and cilantro and puree.

To assemble Empanadas:

Take out the dough and divide into about 10 balls, and on a floured surface roll out each ball to about 1/8" thickness to make a disc. Place all discs onto lightly oiled baking sheet and get your egg wash ready.

Place about one rounded tablspoon onto each disc, brush egg wash onto half of the discs edge, fold over then crimp around the sealed edge with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash and make a slit with a knife to create a vent for the steam.

Bake in oven set to 4oo degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with pinapple chutney. We ended up with quite a bit of left over mix that we used it as a dip with corn chips, but would be really good with rice and use it to stuff peppers. Yum!

There has been lots of culinary goodies here lately, with Emile's birthday and Valentines day and also Mardi Gras you would think I'd have been here everyday with somthing yummy to eat, but as always life takes precedents and blogging takes a back seat, as it should. So here I am back and I am hungry and don't feel like being in the kitchen one bit!

Last night Adam made a DELICIOUS stir fry over noodles with fried tofu. I think I had three helpings! Today Avery made breakfast, frozen waffles. He ate five then threw up. Lovely, huh? Lunch came out of a box with a bunny on it, and dinner tonight was a compilation of what I had in the fridge and pantry thown together so that I could leave hubby with the three kids and go tp yoga (not something I do everyday!) Soooo... needless to say dinner tonight was so not blog worthy. I have ideas, oh yes I do. I just need a kitchen muse or something to get me in there.

I would like to leave you with this recipe. A Hummingbird cake that was delicious! I made this cake with lots of love for Emile's big third birthday party last Saturday. I almost had a complete avalanche while icing the darn thing, but it was gooood!

Chicken Chili Quesadilla

My poor picture really does not do this dish justice at all! I do not claim to be a food photographer and I must admit to having terrible lighting in my kitchen, but it's really all about flavor here anyway.

Chicken Green Chili Quesadillas

3 organic chicken breast

1 can green chopped green chili's

1 tbsp cumin

salt and pepper

olive oil

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup cream cheese(optional)

lime juice

1/4 cup cilantro

shredded Mexican blend cheese- (cheddar & monetary jack)

Whole wheat tortillas

Sweet potatoes

Season chicken on both sides and place in oiled skillet. Brown on both sides, when done place on a clean plate and with a fork shred the chicken and place back into skillet with the chicken broth and the green chili's and cumin. Cook down with the lid on until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add cream cheese (if desired), cilantro, and a bit of lime juice- stir well and set aside.

To assemble the quesadilla:

Turn fire to medium/low heat. In a large skillet add 1 pat of butter or olive oil just to coat the skillet , place one flour tortilla down in hot skillet and on one side of the tortilla sprinkle about 1 tbsp of shredded cheese, then 1 heaping spoonful chicken mixture, then another sprinkle of the cheese. Flip one half of the tortilla over so that you've made a half circle. When cheese starts to melt flip the quesadilla and brown on the other side. Feel free to modify the cheese/chicken ratio to your liking of course.

The baked sweet potatoes with lime, which if you've never tried will probably blow your mind, it did for me who was so used to making sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar or honey. Simply bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, slice open and squeeze the lime juice into the warm sweet potato. Yum!!!

Vegetarian option: You can use black beans or shredded zucchini/squash in the place of chicken. Omit chicken broth altogether, you wouldn't need any extra liquid. Saute veggies until soft add cream cheese (or not) and assemble quesadillas.

Guest Chef in the House

Sunday night we decided to bring back an old tradition with my Dad at the stove. As far back as I can remember my grandparents made coush-coush for us, to me it was a special treat for them it was a staple. Coush-coush is basically water and cornmeal and a bit of salt and pepper steamed in a heavy bottom pot to create a nutty flavored dish that is served over a fried egg and on special occasions shrimp stew. The Coush-Coush itself is dry but with the runny egg underneath creates yummy soft lumps of mealy goodness. Sounds odd? For me it's more than comfort food, it's the epitome of nostalgia. I can remember my grandfather giving me my first lesson in how to eat this stuff- always with a tall glass of milk to wash it down. And the best part has to be the crust that forms on the bottom of the pot. My dad talks about how him and his six siblings would fight over the it!

Coush-Coush:

3 cups white cornmeal

salt and pepper(2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper)

water

vegetable oil

cover bottom of pot with oil, making sure to coat the sides of pot with oil. In separate bowl mix cornmeal with salt and pepper and stir n small amounts of water at a time until cornmeal resembles wet sand. Then place mixture in oiled pot and put on low heat. Cover pot to allow steaming. Check on corn meal every 10 minutes, stirring but careful not to scrape bottom pot. Do this until cornmeal is fluffy and loose (abut 45 minutes), some clumping may occur (the lumps were my grandfathers favorite, putting them into his milk)

Pour cornmeal into a separate bowl and invert crust onto separate plate.

Serve this over fried eggs or Shrimp stew with a tall glass of cold milk.

Rockin Chili Quiche

I'm all about the one pot meals these days, especially with the new baby and two other monkeys running around me all of the time. So I created this Quiche (which on this occasion and with this recipe is just a fancy word for eggy casserole). It goes together rather quickly and again bonus with everything being in one cooking vessel!

Chili Quiche:

Crust:
3 1/2 Cups thawed hash browns
4 tablespoon butter

Filling:
1 large can green chile's, chopped
1 can vegetarian chili (I use Hormel veggie chili or Amy's Organic)
1 cup monetary jack cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
7 eggs

For the crust press thawed potatoes with paper towels to get some of the excess moisture out. Melt butter then toss with potatoes in 9 by 12" baking dish and press down to form the crust. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

When crust is done layer green chile's, veggie chili, then cheese. Beat eggs with dash of hot sauce and salt and pepper then pour evenly over top pressing down with a wooden spoon. Bake for 45 minutes until browned slightly and set in the center. Serve hot with a side salad or by itself!

"The Best Quinoa Ever" part 2

Tonight called for rich and delicious Indian inspired goodness. So easy to whip up (that is if you don't ruin the rice as I did), and oh so yummy!!

Normally we serve this over brown basmati rice, but for some reason my rice cooker pooped out in the middle of cooking and became a soggy mush-so I resorted to the all so dependable quinoa.

You should have on hand:

1 Can Garbanzo beans

1Can coconut milk

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped,

2 medium potatoes, cut into cubes

1 small can green chile's

1/4 cup water (or more to thin out the curry)

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

salt and pepper to taste

Juice of one lime

handful of chopped cilantro

Saute onion, celery and carrots in 1 tablespoon olive oil until softened. Add green chile's and potatoes and cook for 2 minutes more then add curry powder coconut milk and garbanzos.

Cover and cook down on medium heat until potatoes are done, stirring regularly and adding water until it is desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste, lime juice and chopped cilantro, serve over rice or quinoa and enjoy!

After dinner I thought I'd make rice pudding with the soggy rice. I got out the heavy whipping cream, whole milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar, put it all into a pot set to medium heat and went to change a diaper and when I came back I was met by a very scorched pudding.

Needless to say that rice was just not meant to be eaten tonight.

"The Best Quinoa Ever!"

Quinoa is by far my favorite grain ever and probably the most perfect food I can think of. Dating back more than 5,000 years in South America, cultivated and treasured among the Incan Civilization, this (complete) protein packed grain contains loads of essential amino acids and B vitamins.

We love to use it in place of rice in many dishes, but this is the tastiest recipe I have made so far. And being that it has so many added veggies and even beans it is totally a one pot wonder, a complete meal in and of itself!

Here is my own recipe for " The Best Quinoa Ever!" -as quoted by Avery (6)

1onion Chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Bunch asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 zucchini, grated
1 cup Quinoa
2 cups veggie broth
1 table spoon Curry powder
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Saute Onion and Bell pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil until softened. Add chopped asparagus and shredded zucchini and cook down a few more minutes. Rinse off quinoa really well and add to the pot off veggies. Add the two cups of liquid, curry powder and garbanzos. Stir well and cover. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes with the lid on until the outer ring on the quinoa is transparent and starts to separate from the grain.