Tomatillo Cilantro Rice

This is a little concauction that I came up with last night, and I must say- it turned out pretty dang good!!

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice (not minute rice)
cooking oil
1 tomatillo, pureed
1/2 medium lime, juiced
1/2 medium lime zest
1/4 poblano pepper, seeded and pureed (may skip this or sub with any other pepper including jalapeno)
1-1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 chicken bullion cubes, dissolved
6-8 sprigs of cilantro, remove leaves and chop fine
1 Tbsp minced onion
salt
pepper

Directions

Fry rice in sauce pan with cooking oil (just enough oil to coat rice) on high heat. Fry rice until golden brown, stirring constantly.

Measure the amount of liquid that your particular rice calls for (mine is a 2:1 liquid:rice ratio) using lime juice, tomatillo puree, poblano pepper puree (puree these together) and chicken bullion.

Side note--I hate microwaving food, so to dissolve the bullion cubes, I will typically add just enough water to cover the top of the cubes in my pyrex measuring cup and microwave that small amount of water for about 1-2 minutes until cubes are dissolved. Then add other liquids to measuring cup and top off with water to reach desired liquid amount. Add lime juice and chicken bullion first in case your tomatillo puree is more than the required liquid amount.

Add liquid, minced onion and garlic to rice and cook according to package directions. 3 minutes before rice is done cooking sprinkle cilantro and lime zest over the top. Once rice is fully cooked, fluff with fork and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, I made up this recipe from memory of what I did to make it. So if there is something too vague or missing, let me know! :)

How to de-skin a chile pepper

When using peppers such as Poblano, Pasilla, Anaheim or even a green pepper its best to remove the thin outer skin prior to eating. Sounds easier said than done, right? Not the case. Its actually quite easily done by roasting the pepper.


There are a couple ways you can roast the peppers. 1- high heat on the BBQ grill. 2- medium/high heat on your oven broiler or 3- the flame on your gas cook top using a steaming basket.


I prefer the first option because its less mess, but have done it all 3 ways in the past.


So here is how you do it:

• Wash and dry chiles





• Get your heat source ready. Fire up the BBQ or preheat the broiler.





• Place chile on (or under) heat, turning every minute or so until the skin is blackened. Your end result should be 60% to 75% of the chile being blackened. If you think it looks like you're burning the chile, you're doing id right!





• Remove from heat (tongs are a great tool for this) and place in a plastic bag. Seal bag and let chiles sweat for about 10 minutes. This process allows the chiles to continue to cook, and will make it much easier to peel skins. My dad puts the bag in the fridge- which I have found this is useful when on a time crunch and I need the peppers to cool quickly so I can touch them to remove the skin.





• Carefully remove skins one at a time by rubbing the skins with your fingers. I do this over my sink since removing charred skins tends to make a bit of a mess. Try to avoid running chiles under water in as much as that lessens the flavor by removing oils.

For those of us who are unfamiliar with chiles and peppers here is a great visual guide.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

These enchiladas are a great twist on the classic.My husband has decided this is the best meal he has ever had! (gee, that says a lot about my cooking right!) I cooked up half these, and put the other half in the freezer.







Ingredients
9 Tortillas
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1- 10 oz can red enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons bbq sauce (optional)
1/3 to 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (depending on how "wingey" you want them to taste)
1 cup Mexican blend cheese, shredded
3 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (I cheaped out and used Feta and it was excellent)
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
1 red (or green) pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk together enchilada sauce, ketchup, bbq sauce and wing sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine shredded chicken, yellow onion, red pepper, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 3/4 cup of the sauce mixture.
Spray 9x13 baking dish with non stick spray then drizzle a bit of the enchilada sauce in bottom of pan.
Fill tortillas with a couple heaping spoon fulls of chicken mixture. Roll and place in baking pan seams down.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of tortillas, then sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 min.
Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over top of enchiladas immediately after removing from oven. Garnish with cilantro and green onions.

Mandarin Bowtie Pasta Salad

Ingredients
16 oz bowtie pasta

Dressing:
1 cup oil *veggie or canola*
2/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2/3 cup white wine vinegar
6 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


10 oz fresh spinach
6 oz craisins
3- 11oz cans mandarin oranges (drained)
2- 8 oz cans water chesnuts (drained)
1/2 cup fresh parsley- chopped
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 bunch green onions- chopped
6 oz honey roasted peanuts
2 cups cooked chicken cut to sm. pieces

Directions

Cook pasta according to directions, then chill. Mix dressing and add to pasta and marinate for atleast 2 hours. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with pasta and dressing right before serving.

This is a large recipe great for parties or showers.

Mini Ham Quiche

Mini Ham Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 package processed ham (2.5 oz) finely chopped (or 2.5 oz chopped bacon)


• 2 Tbsp fine chopped yellow onion


• 1/2 C Swiss or Cheddar cheese


• 1 Egg


• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley


• 1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard


• 1/8 tsp ground pepper


• 1 package refrigerated cresent rolls

Instructions:

1. Beat egg


2. Combine all ingredients except cresent rolls


3. Unroll cresent dough and press edges of triangle pieces together to from 1 large rectangle


4. using pizza cutter, cut dough into 24 pieces


5. 5. press 1 square into each greased cup of mini muffin tin using spoon or finger


6. 6. using small scoop, fill each muffin cup with 1/2 to 3/4 full scoop.


7. 7. Bake 350 for 12-14 min

I made this for my moms birthday party and they were excellent! Somehow the picture of the finished product was erased, so please use your imagination!

Variation: I tripled this recipe+ 1 extra egg and used a pie crust (and pie tin obviously) to make a full sized version and it was every bit as good!

Market Street Potatoes (on a budget)

My favorite side dish is the Market Street Potatoes that Market Street serves with their brunch. However last year I came across the recipe and made it, but it cost over $20 just in the cheeses that the recipe calls for. So this is my fake and cost effective version of it. although definitely not the same, still pretty good.

Serve with breakfast or dinner!
serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:

4lbs red potato cut into large bite-sized pieces
3-5 green onions chopped
2 oz cream cheese (optional) diced
sour cream
grated cheddar cheese
real bacon bits to taste

Take washed and chopped potatoes and mix with enough sour cream to generously cover all the potatoes. I used about 1/4 of the tub, but the more you add, the better!! Note: to reduce cooking time microwave the potatoes for 6-10 minutes before mixing with other ingredients. Then mix in green onions, cream cheese, bacon, and a couple hand fulls of cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper, garlic, season salt or whatever you have in your cupboards. Top with a generous helping of cheddar cheese. Bake covered in pyrex @ 350 until potatoes are soft. (If you don't microwave first that will be at least 90 minutes)