Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

Dump into each bag:

·         1-2lbs cooked chicken, diced

·         1 can refried beans

·         2 cans black beans

·         16 oz frozen corn

·         16 oz salsa

Instructions for Ziplock:

Dump into crock pot and add 2 cups water and 2 cups chicken broth.  

Cook on low 8 hours or until hot and bubbly.  

Stir in 16 oz shredded cheddar and serve with tortilla chips and sour cream. 

Crock Pot Steak Fajitas

I found this recipe here.
I, of course, didn't cook it to the exact recipe instructions.

Here's what I did ...

500g round steak or beef flank steak
2 medium onions, cut into strips
1 large jar of medium salsa
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 2 fresh limes
4 cloves garlic, minced
A pinch of ground chillis
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 small green bell peppers, cut into strips
2 small red bell peppers, cut into strips

For serving: chopped avocado, shredded cheese, chopped tomato, chopped spring onion, sour cream and flour tortillas, warmed

Cut steak crosswise into thin strips; place in slow cooker. Combine onion, 1 cup salsa, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt in slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 5 to 6 hours.

The original recipe said to ...add bell peppers. Cover; cook on LOW 1 hour. BUT we didn't. We sauteed them in a cast iron skillet instead.

I first posted this recipe in 2009 but tonight I added something new to these tonight so thought I'd repost it with the addition ...

Garlic ... as much as you's like, diced

Jalapenos and assorted red chillies out of my garden, also diced

Fry these two in olive oil til garlic is browned.  

Remove from oil to paper towel and set aside.  Pop this into the fajita when serving.  So tasty!

Repocheta

 

I have no idea how I have hitherto fore neglected to put this, my favorite Nicaraguan food, on the blog! It boggles the imagination! 

You will need:

12 corn tortillas - it's not as good with flour tortillas, they turn out too sweet

2 cups cooked red beans with cooking liquid - canned is ok

Chunk of onion

Chunk of green pepper

Queso fresco, shredded - I found it at Walmart

One med tomato, chopped

1/4 cabbage, shredded

Lime juice

Salt

Sour cream

Hot sauce (optional)

For the beans:

Fry the onion and green pepper in a little bit of oil. Add beans and cook down until the liquid has thickened. If desired, add some hot sauce. In a blender, liquify the beans until they form a thick, spreadable paste. More water can be added as necessary. 

For the tortillas:

Fry flat in oil until crispy, drain on paper towel.

For the salad:

Mix shredded cabbage and tomatoes with a little bit of salt and lime juice, to taste. 

To assemble the repochetas:

Once you have all your components assembled, spread beans over tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, add salad, a dollop of sour cream and a dash or five of hot sauce. Be prepared with many napkins to wipe the beans and/or sour cream off your nose. 

Serves 4

Chicken & Black Bean Tostada Bowl

When we were in the States I bought some Tortilla Bakers for making individual tostada bowls. I used them for the first time (with tortiallas) the other night.

I followed the instructions on the box for making the bowls.

Lightly spray your little bakers with non stick spray.

Between damp paper towls, microwave your tortillas for about 15/20 seconds. Fit it into the baker. Bake in 350F/170C oven for 5-8 minutes. (I will do ours longer next time. I was worried they would burn but the bottom and sides weren't really crispy like the top ~ as you can see in the photos !)

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from baker. Then place on rack to cool completely.

We filled these ones with ....

Chicken, diced and cooked with a mexican spice mix

Black beans, straight out of the can, drained

Tomatoes, diced

Spring Onion, chopped

Cheddar Cheese, grated

Greek Yoghurt, dolloped (you could use sour cream but we didn't have any)

Avocado, chopped

Lettuce, chopped small

Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas ~ Bread Maker Edition

I'm reposting this because it had an error. These never turned out right after the first time I made them and I couldn't figure out why !! Then a friend tried them and questioned the amount of water, then today I made them today and they were WAY too wet so I went back to the source and for some reason, I had the wrong amount of water. DOUBLE the amount, in fact. So ... I've changed the recipe here to be correct. It is in fact only 1.5 cups of boiling water ... not three !!! I had to add another couple of cups of flour to salvage the ones I made today ... I'm off now to cook them and pop them into the freezer for easy use during the week !!! Sorry if you all have tried these without success. Try them again !!! But ... with the right amount of water !!!

***

I've been wanting to try making flour tortillas for a long time. The thing that always stops me though is making the dough. I'm just not a lover of kneading ! NOT. AT. ALL ! I found this recipe and for some reason that is not obvious to me now, I thought I could do it in the bread maker. I did and it worked so well !! HUGE SUCCESS !! I'm so excited about it !!

I read through a whole bunch of the reviews of this recipe and found a few changes that I thought would be good and therefore almost completely changed the recipe ! Here's the way I did it.

Add the following to your bread maker ...

5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 cups boiling water

After you stop wondering if it's going to bubble over, shut the lid, and turn your bread maker on to the 'dough' cycle. I did mine last night before I went to bed. When I woke up this morning, it looked great. I left it for an hour or two or three til I was ready for the next step. When you're ready, roll them into golf ball size balls and put them on a tray. I used a meatloaf pan. When you've rolled them all, cover it. I used press and seal because I was planning to leave them all day and I didn't want them to dry out. And then I left them ... all day, til dinner. One of the reviews said the longer they sit, the easier they are to roll out. So ... when you are ready to cook them ... roll them out, one at a time. (while one is cooking, roll out the next one) I found the ones I had rolled weren't big enough so I combined one and a half balls each time and rolled that out. I just used a rolling pin and I didn't flour the surface because I hate the feeling of flour on my fingers. But ... it was sticky so you might want to if you don't have my same flour foible. Heat your griddle or large frying pan over high heat. I put some olive oil in the bottom of mine. Fry your tortillas one at a time. I'm not exactly sure how long to cook it ... some people talked about bubbles. Some of mine bubbled, some of them didn't. But ... you do both sides. Doesn't take long. I just chopped off a piece of the first couple to see when they tasted done and went from there !!

This recipe says the tortillas can be refrigerated or frozen. I didn't cook them all tonight (there were 27 balls !!) and have refrigerated the leftover balls. Tomorrow, I'll cook up a few more. Freeze a few dough balls. Freeze a few cooked tortillas. You know ... experiment and see what works best !!

I served tonight's tortillas with :
black beans
avocado
tomato
spring onion
greek yogurt
cilantro lime rice

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY !

Turkey Tostadas

This is another recipe out of my delicious magazine.

Modified, like this ...

half a red onion
6 tomatoes
garlic, 2 or 3 cloves (to your liking)
bunch of coriander (cilantro)
4 cups shredded cooked turkey
can refried black beans
flour tortillas
shredded lettuce, avocado, sour cream and lime wedges to serve

Roast onion, tomato and garlic in 180C oven for about 20 minutes. Peel tomatoes and then process the three in the food processor til smooth. Add coriander. Season to taste. Heat beans. Warm tortillas. To serve ... put beans on tortilla, add turkey, sauce from food processor, lettuce, avocado, and sour cream. Season and garnish with lime and coriander sprigs.

The Disaster Meal

Tonight I made a disaster meal. Originally, it was hamburgers with fried potatoes.

Step 1: Form ground beef into patties and place on a rack sitting in a foil lined cookie sheet

Step 2: Swear in 3 different languages as stupid patties keep falling apart and falling through the rack. Stick in broiler.

Step 3: Look in cupboard for the potato (the using up of which was the reason this was even on the menu plan) and realize you have already used it in something else.

Step 4: Get out a bag of chips.

Step 5: Set your hot pad on fire while flipping the crumbling burgers over. Make sure to lose about 1/4 of your meat.

Step 6: Get out rolls and discover that even though you bought them YESTERDAY, they are harder than rocks.

Step 7: Weep.

Step 8: Cut up some jalapeno slices, spread over one side of a tortilla, add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Microwave for 30-60 seconds or until cheese is mostly melted.

Step 9: Carefully lay hamburger patties onto melted cheese, being careful to drop as many pieces of meat on the floor as possible. Squirt on some ranch dressing. Fold the tortilla.

Step 10: Serve.

Pollo Wrap

You may have figured out by now that we like to put leftovers in flour tortillas and toast them in our sandwich press !!

The Pollo Guisado con Papas leftovers were perfect for this ! Uh, yeah, we're not afraid of carbs around here. Probably shouldn't eat as many as we do but we're not going to talk about that right now !

If you find yourself with leftovers of this amazingly delicious dish and want to try it a different way, get out your sandwich press, fill a flour tortilla with the leftovers ... yep, even the rice. Wrap 'em. Toast 'em. Eat 'em !!

You could even add a bit of cheese ... like Rory and the kids did !

Tortillas

Here is my sister's recipe for tortillas. I've had these quite a few times at her house over the years and I don't know why I've never tried to make them. They are wonderful!

Tortillas
Recipe is from a family friend and my sister has adapted it over the years.

Ingredients:
3 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. white flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C. nonfat dry milk powder (optional--I don't usually use this much)

1 1/4 C. (warm) water
6 Tbs cooking oil

Directions:
Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Measure the water into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Add oil. Stir quickly and pour into flour mixture.

Stir with a fork until mostly mixed. Dump onto countertop and knead a few times. (Slighty moist dough is way easier to roll out than dry, tough dough.) Divide into 16 balls. Place the balls close together on the countertop and cover with the inverted bowl (put the fork in the way to make it easier to open and shut the bowl) to prevent drying out while you roll them.

Roll each ball into a 9" circle, with a consistently thin layer of flour (to prevent sticking and "folding") on the countertop. Cook in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for thirty seconds on each side. (When bubbles form, it's time to flip.) I use a double-wide pancake skillet turned to 350 degrees so I can keep a continuous supply going. It takes about 30 seconds for me to roll the next one. Patting the dough balls into a flat starting pancake is a good job for a little kid, and can speed the process up. These are labor-intensive, but it's what I'm used to now. Don't expect your first ones to be perfect! (i.e. don't get discouraged and never make them again)

Number Of Servings:16 9-inch tortillas

Preparation Time:longer than I'd like (about 25+ minutes)

Menu Plan Monday

Ok so it's not Monday here yet, but I won't get to it tomorrow and I'm leaving town Tuesday night. They baby and I are flying to Ithaca, New York for my annual sister's get together. (There are eight of us sisters :) )
So here are my two days of menus and the boys will have to eat leftovers and fend for themselves while I'm gone because Jared doesn't cook - but his Mom is in town so I doubt they will starve.
Tonight we had - Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos
Monday - Honey Pork Chops
Tuesday - Penne with Chicken Broccoli and Cheese


Here are the recipes :)

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos
(I got this recipe from my sister - not sure where she got it) We all love these and though they might sound a bit weird, the flavors really mesh well together. I promise! I usually half the recipe.



3 tsp oil
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
6 cups black beans rinsed and drained
2 cups water
3T chili powder
2t cumin
4t yellow mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3T soy sauce
4 cups mashed cooked sweet potato
flour tortillas
shredded cheese
sour cream
salsa -optional

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil. Add the beans to the pan and mash with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the water and remove from heat. Add the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
To serve spread some mashed sweet potatoes onto a tortilla. Add some bean mixture and shredded cheese Serve with sour cream and salsa if desired. roll up and eat :)


Penne with Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese

1 cup broccoli florets
1/4 cup butter
2 skinless chicken breasts halves cut into thin strips
2 garlic cloves crushed
salt and pepper to taste
3 1/4 cups penne pasta
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 gorgonzola cheese, rind removed and diced small
parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Plunge brocoli in a saucepan of boiling salted water. Return to a boil and boil for two minutes, then drain in colander under cold running water. Shake to remove surplus water and set aside to drain completely.
Melt butter in large skillet or saucepan. Add chicken and garlic, with salt and pepper to taste; stirl well. Fry over medium heat for 3 minutes or until chicken becomes white. Meanwhile, begin cooking pasta according to package instructions.
Pour wine and cream over chicken mixture in pan. Stir to mix, then simmer stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until sauce has reduced and thickened. Increase heat, add brocooli, and toss to heat through. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Drain pasta and add it to the sauce. Add gorgonzola and toss well. Top with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

(recipe from "Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer" Some of the recipes in there are written really wonky! For example, "Plunge broccoli. . ." ha ha)

Honey Pork Chops

(I havn't tried these yet- hope they're good)
6 boneless pork chops
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 t ground ginger
1 clove garlic minced
2 T soy sauce
dash of pepper

Place all ingredients except pork chops in blender and mix thoroughly. Place pork chops and the marinade in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hours turning chops occasionally while baking. Pork chops may also be grilled.(recipe from "Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer")

Bean and Squash Quesadillas

I got this recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cook book. We all love these! It is one of the few recipes I like and/or have tried from the book. Overall I'm not that impressed with the book - it was a gift.

1 T olive oil
1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder, or to taste
1/2 cup canned navy beans drained and rinsed
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup butternut squash cooked and mashed
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
4 (8 inch) whole wheat tortillas
1/2 cup bottled salsa

Cook the chicken in the olive oil, salt, pepper and chili powder. In one bowl stirl together the mashed squash and the shredded cheese. In another small bowl mash the beans and then stir in the sour cream. Spread the bean mixture over one of the tortillas and spoon some chicken on top. On the other side/tortilla spread the squash mixture.



Put the two tortillas together like a sandwich and bake them on a cooking sheet at 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa.
This makes about three large quesadillas.

I didn't have wheat tortillas so I used plain. I've made them with wheat before and they are great.

A Wee Bonnie Wrap ....

We have wraps quite a bit around here.
This was was particularly yummy so I thought I'd post it.

All I did was cook some basmati and wild rice. Chopped up fresh coriander ( cilantro ), tomatoes, black olives, purple cabbage, spring onion. Add to rice. Add a can of black beans. Add some lime juice. This is yummy to eat just like that.

But I cooked some chicken as well.
Chopped up and added some chipoltle chili powder and cooked in fry pan.

For the wrap. Used flour tortillas. Added avocado, shredded cheese and a bit of sour cream.

Toasted in sandwich press.

YUMMMY !

Bonnie's Enchilada Photos

These were delicious and would have been super easy if it weren't for the fact that I made my own enchilada sauce and re-fried beans. But, if you store bought those or had them already made ahead of time ... then, yeah, this would have been a cinch !

Here's the recipes you need :
Enchilada Sauce
Re-Fried Beans (I used black beans)
Enchiladas of Loveliness

It made way too much for us ... and it was too spicy for the kids. But, I just froze the extras and we'll see how it does re-heated next week !

What to do ...

...with all that left over Jambalaya !?
~
Put it in a flour tortilla, cover with baby spinach leaves & mozarella cheese.

Pop it in the sandwich press for a few minutes - 'til toasted.
Top with chopped avocado, black olives and sour cream.

Of course !