Vegetarian Quesadillas Supreme

The original idea for making these scrumptious Quesadillas came from these Cowboy Quesadillas.  However we were missing two of the main ingredients--BBQ Sauce, which we have bought all of one time in 5 years of marriage, and chicken--so I just went with this on my own.  This is a really simple recipe; it's perfect for those busy weeknights when you need something quick, easy, and delicious.

As a quick disclaimer, I didn't actually measure anything when making these so all measurements are approximations. This is meant to be one of those meals where you can use whatever you have on hand!  This made just enough to serve our family of 3, so you may want to up the Filling Ingredients to fit your crowd.

Vegetarian Quesadillas Supreme
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Small pat of butter
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1 Roma Tomato, diced
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 c. black beans
1/2 T Taco Seasoning
1 1/2 c. Shredded Cheese
4-8 Flour Tortillas, depending on amount of filling you make (I used 5 tortillas)

Directions:
In a small sautee pan, heat oil and butter over Medium-High heat.  Sautee the diced onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients and add onion once cooked. 

Fill tortillas with filling mixture and cook in large, lightly oiled skillet, over Medium heat until the outsides are golden and the cheese is nice and melted inside.

Serve with your favorite toppings--in our house it's sour cream and hot sauce, or fresh salsa if by some miracle we have it on hand!

Crocked Chicken

Beginning last fall, I decided to start using more whole chickens.  It's pretty easy in these parts to find good, local chickens from a number of farms, and chicken meat and stock are pretty basic to quite a few recipes.  Plus it's a lot cheaper {and more versatile} than buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Over the winter I typically roasted the chicken in the oven or boiled it and made a stock and/or soup.  However, summer calls for some changes.

Enter the crockpot.  I have very few crockpot recipes that I actually like {but that's another story for another  day}.  This one though, is a real winner.  It's simple:

One Whole Chicken (3-5ish pounds)
+
1 can diced tomatoes with juices
+ 
A few spices (paprika, cumin, italian season blend...whatever suits your fancy)
+
3.5-4.5 hours on High in the slow cooker
=
Lots of yummy and juicy chicken to be used for soups, salads, casseroles, sandwiches, or whatever else you want
Oh and some really good "stock" to make rice with {more on this below}.

Seriously. It's that easy.  But if you want a few more details, here's my take on directions for this recipe:
I take off most of the chicken skin*, take out the insides if they are there**, set the chicken in the slow cooker {breast side down}, empty a can of diced tomatoes over the top of the chicken, sprinkle on a few seasonings, set the lid on the cooker, and cook it about 4 hours on high.  I just watch it after the first 3.5 hours to see when it's fully cooked so it doesn't get dried out. 

*I am not one to get all touchy-feely with my meat, so some of the skin stays on. So does the neck. I just try to ignore it and pretend like it's not there!

**I use a plastic bag to reach inside so I can just wrap it around the innards without having to see/touch them much and then dispose of them properly.

Once I know the chicken is cooked through, I remove it to a pie dish {this helps keep the juices from running all over my makeshift counter onto my washing machine below}, and set it aside while I make some rice. 

For the rice, I strain all the liquid that remains in the slow cooker {and usually get around 4 cups}, and put it in a pan.  I bring it to a boil, add the appropriate amount of rice {2 cups in this case}, and cook as usual.  If I want to make extra rice, I just add some water.  This works with brown or white rice.

While the rice is cooking, I shred my chicken with a couple of forks.  For a five pound chicken, I will usually get around 5 cups of meat.  I could probably get more, but I call it quits when I get to the point where I would have to really be dissecting the bird to get the rest of the meat.  Some of the meat goes right to our dinner with the rice I've been cooking, and the rest gets divided into 1-ish cup portions to be frozen for later use. 

Oh, and that huge pot of rice I just made? What we don't eat that night for dinner gets frozen for use later.

There you have it. A whole, cooked chicken, a dinner, and plenty of left overs for later!

Summer Reading

Source: flickr.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

I have been doing a fair amount of reading recently and have tried to keep up with reviewing the books on my other blog.  My latest review of The Hundred-Foot Journey may be of special interest to you with it's culinary setting, but I also really enjoyed and recommend The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and a few others.

What have you been reading lately?

Three Bean Salad

Nov. 4, 2010. That was my last post!  I feel like I should just be starting an entirely new blog, but for the sake of time, I'm just going to pick up where I left off and see what happens.

Summer "officially" arrived this past Sunday with all 95 humid degrees of impact.  This is for me the most challenging time to keep up with preparing real foods that my entire family enjoys because I live in a very old house with a very old oven and very old window unit air conditioners--none of which make for pleasant cooking conditions.  To be honest, I didn't expect to be passing another summer here, but we are, and I am going to make the best of it and the best of my food.

That's where my blog comes back into the picture.  Offering good meals to my family is certainly a big motivator to not just swing by the drive-through or pour a bowl of cereal, but being able to share the struggles and successes with others helps as well!

Della is old enough now (almost 2!!) that I think she's ready to be involved in the process of making meals, so that adds a really exciting element for me.  Doesn't she look like such a big girl helping me make a Three Bean Salad?!

I found the original recipe here and adapted it to fit with what I had on hand.  It was delicious, and we had enough to share with our neighbors who also loved it!

Three Bean Salad
(measurements are approximate)

Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked Garbonzo Beans
1.5 cups cooked Kidney Beans
1.5 cups Green Beans, steamed and chopped to bite-size
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1/3 cup Feta Cheese*

Dressing 
1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Stone Ground Mustard
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions
In a large bowl combine beans, tomato and cheese.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl before drizzling over salad.
Toss gently to mix.
This salad is best if made several hours in advance to allow the flavors to mix together.
Serve cold or just below room temperature (be smart with whatever cheese you use!).

*The original recipe calls for Gouda cheese, which I think would definitely provide a superior finish to the salad than Feta, but use what you have on hand if it goes with the other ingredients!

Recipe: Southwest Pot Pie

When you cook, do you follow recipes? I do. sort of. kind of. I mean, I like to look at them and then figure out what I actually remembered to buy last time I was at the grocery store, and go from there.

One of my new favorite cookbooks, thanks to my friend, Alicia, is the Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian cookbook.  I'll try to do a review later, but suffice it to say that this one gained immediate entry to the coveted shelf over my sink where only two other cookbooks and a recipe box reside plus a whole lotta junk. The rest of my cookbooks live on the bottom shelf of one of our many book cases in the bed room where they try to hide from the baby who loves to "look" at any book she can get her hands on aka open the book and sit on it.

One of the recipes we have tried multiple times is the Southwest Pot Pie, and I have a little adaption you all are going to thank me for (right?). This is a delicious one-pot meal that makes wonderful leftovers; think Chili and Corn Bread meets Chicken and Dumplings. It takes about an hour to make, but there is usually plenty of time to wash your dishes while you wait for sweet potatoes or corn bread dumplings to cook.

Please remember what I said at the beginning: I kinda, sorta follow recipes, so remember there are many ways to change and adapt this as you please. I have a few ideas, but I'm restraining myself to not give you a hundred. It makes 4-6 servings; make a side salad if you need to those extra two servings.

I have made it with and with out meat, so you can view the meat as an optional ingredient. Also, feel free to sub the can of southwest diced tomatoes for another type (like Fire Roasted or even a jar of salsa--whatever you have on hand).  The sweet potatoes can be subbed with 1 butternut squash, and it is just as tasty. This can be one of your go-to meals when you just need a recipe to use with your pantry goods.

Southwest Pot Pie with corn bread dumplings
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 can Southwest style diced tomatoes
1/2 c. water
2 small or medium sweet potatoes, cubed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 can, or 1 cup soaked & cooked, beans of choice
1 cup frozen corn kernels

For the corn bread dumplings:
1 1/3 c. corn meal
3/4 c. all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons honey
2-3 Tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted
1-2 large eggs 
1/2 c. milk

Directions
1. In a large skillet or dutch over, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, approximately 3 minutes. Add ground beef and cook until there is little to no pink left inside.
2. Meanwhile, rinse, peel and cube sweet potatoes (should be bite-sized pieces). Add sweet potatoes, diced tomatoes, water, cinnamon, and cumin to cooked meat and onion. Stir well and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15-25 minutes, until sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
3. While the sweet potatoes cook, mix all ingredients for the corn bread topping. Set aside until potatoes are ready.
4. Stir in beans and frozen corn. Bring mixture back to a simmer.

5. Drop corn bread topping by the spoonful over sweet potatoes and meat mixture. Cover and cook 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the corn bread dumplings comes out clean.

6. Serve with grated cheese, a small spoonful of reserved onions, or sour cream.