Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on December 11, 2014
Tortilla rolls ups. An easy thing to make and bring to a potluck or serve at a party. I brought them to our Thanksgiving lunch. I wasn’t sure if we would be snacking beforehand or not. Lately we have been so I brought them. This time we did not and they were served with lunch, which is fine. At the meal there were several names that were being tossed about and, of course, I don’t remember any of them because I just have always called them tortilla rolls. I don’t consider it a wrap because it is sliced and not served whole. I have also called them turkey rolls because I make them with turkey lunch meat. I have made them often enough — which is just a few times — that I have learned a few things. Well, this time I learned even more. So I am going to share the things I learned about Turkey Tortilla Rolls Ups.
First here is the “recipe”:
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Turkey Tortilla Rolls Ups
Tortillas (large), 5
Cream Cheese, a brick
lunch meat (I usually use turkey), 15 slices
cheese, sliced, 15 slices
onion, sliced
olives, sliced
lettuce
Before you start you might want to take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator to soften.
I use the ingredients in the order listed. I find that it seems easier to lay out cling wrap. The size of the wrap does not have to be that large because the tortilla is going to be rolled. So it can be as long as the tortilla, but the entire tortilla does not need to fit on it (say from top to bottom).
Lay out 5 pieces of cling wrap. Then place a tortilla on each piece. Then spread the cream cheese in a “band” across the tortilla about 1/3 of the way up. Then put a little “ribbon” of cream cheese on the upper edge of the tortilla. Place the lunch meat across the band, (at least 3 slices per tortilla). Place the sliced cheese (at least 3 slices per tortilla) on the lunch meat near the bottom of it. I don’t have pictures because, can you guess? I really wasn’t planning on posting this because this recipe can be found anywhere, but what I found out made me want to share.
Put slices of onions on top of the sliced cheese. On top of all that add the slices of olives. Then put handfuls of lettuce on top of that. The lettuce can be put on the tortilla from the bottom all the way up to — and even past — the band of ingredients you have across the tortilla. So basically you can “fill up” the entire bottom half of the tortilla with lettuce.
When you roll, I find it works best to roll it has tight as you can. You have to push the lettuce in and under the roll as it goes. Roll it as TIGHT AS YOU CAN. You will probably hear lettuce crunching!
Then roll the tortilla roll into the plastic wrap. Then let them set at least two hours. Before serving, cut into slices. I usually get about 8 rolls out of a tortilla. So this recipe will make about 40 little roll ups.
They seem to slice best with a serrated knife.
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My family got together AFTER Thanksgiving. I made the roll ups on Thursday night. I sliced them and served them Saturday. When I made them I rolled them very tight. When I sliced them they were very loose. I was confused while cutting the first wrap. Then by the time I got to the second one I realized that the lettuce had shrunk. It wilted a bit. It wasn’t really soggy and totally wilted, but it did lose a lot of volume. So that is something I need to keep in mind if I make them in advance.
Also . . . people seem to love the flavor of cream cheese and olives. Interesting the things you learn:
-serrated knife, the lettuce will lose volume making the wrap loose (and more difficult to cut), and olives and cream cheese. Oh, and at the store I found THIN sliced cheese. That helped a lot.
Do you like these? Do you make them? What would you put in your Roll Ups?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cream cheese, easy potluck dish, party pleasers, potluck, Thanksgiving, Tortilla roll ups, turkey lunch meat | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 13, 2014
Ok, not really, but Salsa is a dance. In my post where I had asked what to make with all the winter fruits and veggies I said I had about seven persimmons and I did. I didn’t know what to do with them and I know we are going to be get more in the next delivery. I know I can always make Fancy Toast, but I wanted something else to do with them. All I found when doing a quick search on the internet were cookies and cakes. I wanted a savory persimmon recipe. So I searched for “savory persimmon recipes” and I found one on the ad infested Organic Authority. It is a persimmon salsa. I thought, “Why not?” So below is my version of Persimmon Salsa, which is not too much different from theirs. I just cut up the persimmon smaller, used tablespoons instead of teaspoons, and used a different, milder, pepper.
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Persimmon Salsa
5 small Fuyu persimmons
2 tbsp minced shallots
1 tbsp PLUS 1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp minced fresh basil
2 tbsp minced fresh mint
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp minced Anaheim pepper
salt
pepper
Peel the persimmons and cut into tiny chunks. Mix the shallots, lemon juice, basil, mint, ginger, and pepper in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Let the flavors meld together for at least two hours. Then serve however you would like.
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My idea was to let my hubby munch on it as an appetizer. I wanted to serve it on crackers. That is why I cut up the persimmons really small. If I were just going to plop in on some meat, I might not finely “chop” the persimmons. Even though I thought I would have leftovers and would end up putting some of it on chicken (or perhaps pork), I thought I’d start small since its original purpose is to pile it onto crackers.
Next time I make it, I will pair it with some meat. Instead of using it to flavor the meat during cooking, like I do with marinades, I will just use it raw as a topping.
I also think the next time I make it, I might use a little more pepper since he couldn’t taste the pepper at all. Before the flavors all settled it wasn’t too hot. I was careful to avoid the peppers though when I tasted it. We will see. My husband really liked it even though he didn’t experience any heat.
Anaheim peppers are supposedly less hot than the jalapenos that the original recipe called for. I was going for “less hot.”
So now I have another type of relish, salsa to use during the holidays. It can be used as an appetizer with crackers or used to add flavor to meat, just like the cranberry relish recipe I just posted. (click here to go to: A Quick And Yummy Way To Use Cranberries). I normally try not to post recipes so close together, but I had Nia class this morning and have to rush off to yoga tonight. I don’t know where the day went. I had this post all typed up and ready to go. . . . so two recipe post close together!
I won’t be eating this salsa by the spoonful because of the peppers, but the cranberry relish . . . . no telling.
What are you doing with all of your persimmons? Do you just eat them as you would an apple? Do you have a favorite recipe?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cranberry relish, Dancing, Fancy toast, Nia, Nia class, Nia on Thursdays, Organic Authority, Persimmon salsa, Salsa, savory persimmon recipe, shallots, winter vegetables, Yoga class | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 8, 2014
I received cranberries last year a couple of times in the organic produce box that we buy. At least one batch went to waste. I think — I can’t remember, but I think we ate some from the next batch, but not a lot. So part of that container went to waste. I was convinced that I could make something with them, but I had no idea what. Everything I looked up just didn’t seem appealing. I asked a question on my blog about what people are eating. I mentioned cranberries, asking what to do with them and one of my students replied with a very delicious and EASY recipe. It is a “no cook” relish. I didn’t know that I would like it, I am not a relish fan. But this is fresh fruit and not a pickled variety. Also, this student, this friend, has supplied me with great recipes before so my trust level is high. The recipe is so easy. Sometimes I think that adds to a recipe. If it is something you can whip up quick it helps it taste better. The relish is raw, no cooking involved. That is one way that it is easy. It is a cranberry orange relish. It is delicious!
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Cranberry Orange Relish
a little over a cup of cranberries
1 apple
1/2 of a medium to large size orange
a little less than 1/3 C sugar
maybe a little salt
Remove the core from the apple. Leave the peel on. Then cut the apple into large chunks. Cut the orange into chunks — LEAVE THE PEEL INTACT. Put the cranberries, apple chunks, cut up orange WITH THE PEEL ON, sugar, and pinch of salt into the food processor or blender. And pulse until the ingredients are mixed up and finely chopped. Scrape the sides down, if necessary, in between pulses.*
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I served it on some boneless pork chops. It was awesome. I figured since my husband likes Porky Pork Chops, which has apples, the relish with cranberries, apples, and oranges would be good. And it was. It was soooooooooooooo good. We had some leftover. And my friend mentioned eating it on crackers. So I wanted to try that. DELISH!
This relish is so good you don’t need to put it on anything, you can eat it by the spoonful!
It is also so good, I can imagine it on a variety of things. It would be good on chicken, on some salad greens, on pancakes, on waffles, on French Toast, or served as a fruit “bruschetta”. I don’t eat dressing/stuffing, but I imagine it would give your holiday dressing a little zip. I know . . . and I mentioned it in the post that netted me the recipe . . . that my sister-in-law put cranberries in her dressing so this would be just a little bit more umph!
It would be yummy as an ice cream topping. Perhaps it could even go on a fruit pie.
Really it can go anywhere your imagination goes. I wanted to post this recipe in time for Thanksgiving in case you wanted to use it for Thanksgiving Dinner. (Or Thanksgiving Lunch – as is the case with us because someone has tickets to the 49er game so we have to have dinner at noon!)
To see my friend’s write-up of the recipe (she used about 4 cups of cranberries or a 12 ounce bag – which she says is about 3 cups) go to my post and scroll down the comments. Then go make it and tell me what YOU put it on.
Thank you, again, for the recipe Joan!
Doesn’t this sound good? Doesn’t this sound easy? What are you going to put it on?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: 49er game, breakfast topping, cranberries, no cook relish, orange peels, pork chop topping, something to make with fruit, Thanksgiving | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 6, 2014
As is my schedule I like to stop by the store on my way home from my Nia classes. I prefer the store near my Tuesday/Thursday Nia class, it seems to have better produce. But on Tuesday I am rushing from Nia to yoga so I don’t get to do any shopping at that store. This past week I wanted to make Boneless Pork Chops In The Crockpot on Wednesday so I would have them for Wednesday’s dinner and Thursday’s dinner. So I went to a different store on Wednesday after class on my way home. I decided to buy fresh basil for the recipe. Argh! The basil was anything but fresh. It all looked like it was growing something. Something black and fuzzy. There was enough nice leaves in each bunch, but I hate buying fresh herbs as it is because they go bad so quickly. If I bought ones that were already bad that would really not be good. So, I decided not to buy them. I stood there wondering if I should ask the produce guy if they had more in the back, I decided not to. I did decide to buy tomatoes which I had already passed. So I had to go back over to them. I was approaching the tomato display from a different angle and what do I see? Basil. A live basil plant. Ahh-ha! I don’t know how much the black, fuzzy basil cost because I didn’t see a tag on the shelf, but there was a PACKAGE of basil (that was also black and fuzzy) that was the same price as the plant so I thought it was comparable enough. Plus this plant was not black and fuzzy. It was not perfect, but it was WAY better looking than the other options. So I bought a basil plant. How does one grow basil?
I never thought of growing basil because, just like cilantro, I thought I didn’t like it. According to Organic Gardening basil is susceptible to fungal diseases such as “Fusarium wilt, gray mold, and black spot”. I think the plant I bought might even have the wilt disease because there were a few wilted leaves. But that could be because it needed water. I am convinced the bunches in the store had gray mold AND black spot!
Of course, I have no idea about how to grow it, the first site I looked at was the one referenced above. The article I linked to talks about growing basil outside. I want to grow it inside. A further search on that site returns this information: “Basil: Start basil from seeds and place the pots in a south-facing window—it likes lots of sun and warmth.” Well, I didn’t start it from seed. But I believe I have it in a south-facing window. It will get a lot of sun and warmth there.
SF Gate gave me more information. It said that as soon as it flowers, the plant will die. So I should start a new one right now. So basil is an annual, but you can have basil all year round. This sounds like it will take a little bit of work. But I am frustrated enough with buying a bunch of basil when I need it and then having half the bunch go bad. I don’t use basil that much . . . but with plants to snip from I might.
The article says:
–the plant needs about 12 hours of light daily
–to encourage new growth it should be trimmed every few days
–the plant likes warm humid air
–feed the plant every two weeks with nitrogen rich food
I am going to root a cutting from the plant so hopefully I will have a plant with enough basil on it by the time this one dies and I can just keep going.
We’ll see how this goes.
Help. What can you tell me to help me keep this plant alive/keep a crop of basil going? What else can I make (besides pesto) with basil?
Posted in Food | Tagged: basil, basil plant, Boneless Pork Chops In The Crockpot, growing herbs, indoor plants, Nia Classes, nitrogen rich food, Organic Gardening, pesto, SF Gate, Yoga class | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 1, 2014
It is winter time, although with the way the weather has been behaving the past few years I am not sure that nature knows how to respond. Animals and plants do not have clocks and calendars, they react to their internal clocks and the way the weather is. If it is warm they might not realize winter is on the way and they need to prepare. If there is no water they might not be able to prepare. If their homes or hunting grounds are being torn up because buildings or houses are being built they might even be at more of a loss. But there are still a few fruits and veggies we might see during the winter. Perhaps not all of nature is confused. One is the delicata squash I recently mentioned. A friend was over asking if we ate the skin. She also mentioned winter squash and while I had heard the term before I never really paid attention. It used to be in the same category to me as how things are classified. I never paid attention to what is a winter squash and what is a summer squash. I just buy what is in the store. I have been receiving winter veggies and fruits in my delivery. Perhaps more accurately described as fall fruits and veggies. I have pomegranates, persimmons, and pears. We have received chard, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and delicata squash. What do you do with that stuff?
You know me. If you have read one, you’ve read them all . . . I roast it. Roasting is so easy. It is easy, tasty, and time efficient. Time really is the main reason why I love roasting. Cut it up, oil it, garlic it, salt it and put it in the oven, then go do whatever it is you still need to do. So easy. But I can’t do that for everything. Ok, with the squash I get “fancy”, I roast it THEN I stuff it, but c’mon . . . there has got to be other ways.
Tonight I made a stuffed pumpkin. I didn’t have any ricotta so I used the Neufchâtel cheese I had left over from the chicken dish I made – documented in my post Leftover Rainbow Chard To The Rescue. I think it might have even made it better. I’m not sure. I just didn’t want to buy a container of ricotta just for 2 ounces. So I just decided to use the Neufchâtel since I had bought 8 ounces of it and only used 2 ounces. It was fine.
I do want to roast a pumpkin to make soup out of it, but what else do you do with all of these wonderful winter vegetables. I have never gotten beyond my Fancy Toast when it comes to persimmons and I have about seven sitting on my counter right now. What do you do with persimmons? Can they be uses in a “salsa” or a chutney?
Can you use delicata squach for soup? I also received some baby bok choy. Read any of my posts? If so, you know I LOOOOOOOVE baby bok choy. It can be cooked and eaten by itself or added to just about anything. YUM!!!!
I am just thinking you might have ideas that you could share. Some tried and true, some favorite recipes that you might want to share. I asked last year and I received a SPECTACULAR recipe I am going to share soon. It is easy and yummy and one of those things you make that you just want to put on/in everything because it is so good. You can eat it by itself.
So . . . what have you got? What do you do with all of or any of this wonder winter produce we have?
Posted in Food | Tagged: baby bok choy, chutney, Dinner of Herbs, Fancy toast, Neufchatel cheese, pumpkin, rainbow chard, ricotta cheese, Salsa, Stuffed pumpkin, winter fruit, winter produce, winter vegetables, winter veggies, yummy recipe | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 25, 2014
You might know from reading my posts that 1) I teach Nia in the morning and yoga in the evening on Thursdays 2) On Thursdays I like to have dinner at the point of readiness at which it will only take a 20 minutes tops for me to have dinner on the table 3) I cook a lot of ground turkey and use the same flavors/spices. So, I was so excited that on Sunday I thought ahead to what I would cook on Thursday. I found a recipe in my “Recipes I really want to try” folder. Artichoke hearts are not something I think of using because I didn’t always like them. The recipe I decided to try had them in it. I was very focused on the artichoke hearts. My plan kind of consisted of the fact that by the time I went shopping on Thursday we would need A LOT of things. The weekend before we had been out of town so I let the fridge get rather empty. So this trip I was going to be grabbing some staples. I had added a few things to my list as I thought of them. I was focused on the artichoke hearts, that DIFFERENT flavor. The recipe I chose was a chicken recipe and when I glanced at it when scribbling out my list I thought the chicken was shredded. My idea was to check the recipe again before I shopped on Thursday to see if it was or not. If it was I could have used chicken I had, if not, I needed to buy some. I got busy and didn’t check the recipe again and I just decided I could buy the chicken and use it if I needed it or save it if I didn’t. Something came up Thursday morning after my Nia class so I arrived home after shopping later than I planned. After putting away the groceries and having some food, I looked at the recipe – the SPINACH and Artichoke Chicken recipe. I hadn’t bought spinach. I hadn’t even put it on the list. (EYE ROLL!)
So click here for the recipe I was going to make. The recipe I ended up making is below. Just some slight adjustments. (Be sure to visit Dinner of Herbs for more yummy recipes!)
When I was putting away the groceries I noticed I had a container of “fresh” baby spinach that needed to be used. There was about a handful of nice looking leaves. I had also noticed we had our leftover Rainbow Chard. I had cooked the Rainbow Chard as I usually do with onions and garlic and salt in some olive oil. I had even added a bit of Worcestershire sauce to help over power the “green” taste. So the chard was tasty. I was just concerned that it would get too cooked after baking for 25 minutes. But . . . I didn’t have the time nor the desire to go out to get spinach. I needed to use up the chard anyway so . . . why not?
Also, the store I was at did not have the usual brand of chicken breast so I bought some that I have never seen. They were quite large.
So below is what I ended up making. I thought to take a few pictures while I was making it, but after I got home from class and was in get-it-on-the-table mode I forgot to take pictures of it cooked. It was good. I will be making it again . . . . next time with spinach and then who knows. It seems any green you would cook would work.
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Chicken With Spinach, Rainbow Chard, and Artichoke Hearts
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
garlic salt
handful of baby spinach, chopped
1.5 cups of cooked Rainbow Chard
2 6.5 oz jars of artichoke hearts, drained (save a little for the pan)*, and chopped
1/8 C sliced almonds**
2 oz Neufchâtel cheese
2-3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Preheat oven to 375° F. Sprinkle garlic salt on both sides of each chicken breast. In a large bowl mix the spinach, chard, artichoke hearts, almonds, Parmesan cheese, and powders. Use two utensils to cut the Neufchatel cheese into the mixture. Put the chicken in a 9X13 glass casserole dish. Spoon the filling onto one side of each of the butterflied chicken breasts, then fold over. Spoon any remaining filling onto each folded chicken breast, if you have enough put it all around. Bake for at least 20 minutes . . . until chicken is cooked to your liking.
*I poured a little bit of the artichoke marinade on the chicken.
**Next time I am going to add more AND sprinkle some on top!
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The chicken breast I used were so huge, I actually had to cook them for 40 minutes. PLUS, I left them in the oven with it turned off for an additional 10 minutes while I prepared our plates with the rice I served. I don’t think that the chicken I normally buy would require 40 minutes.
Neufchâtel is like cream cheese in that it has the same consistency, so it just didn’t stir into the other ingredients. I had to “cut it in” with two utensils. Basically you want to make sure there are no clumps of cheese.
The store I was at had only ONE brand of Neufchâtel cheese and I don’t know how authentic it is because it tastes just like cream cheese to me. Perhaps on my next go at this recipe I will find a brand that I feel is more authentic. I will do some research.
Sounds yummy, huh? Don’t you think any green that you would cook would work? If you make it with another green (kale, collard greens, etc) let me know. Go wild!
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: almonds, artichoke hearts, baked chicken, boneless chicken breats, chard, Collard Greens, cream cheese, Dinner of Herbs, Kale, Nia, Nia class, nuefchatel cheese, spinach, Yoga, Yoga class, yummy dinner | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 21, 2014
A few weeks ago I received an acorn squash in the produce box. You know me, I would have just chopped it up and roasted it. But I decided to roast it and stuff it. Just like the pumpkin. I had a friend visit the day I received it and when I told her that I was going to stuff it she asked me, “So you just eat the inside?” Nope. Once you roast it, the outside . . . the skin, cooks up to a tender edible state. So we just eat it. We did the same thing with the pumpkin. It is actually difficult to believe until you do it. Of course, once you cook it you can always opt NOT to eat the skin, but why not? It becomes really tender. So anyway, I used the same recipe as the stuffed pumpkin, so this post is kind of a repeat. The sugar pumpkin was much larger than the acorn squash. I wasn’t really sure how much of the mixture from the original recipe I was going to be able to use. So I cut the recipe in half . . . sort of.
I used the original amount of mushrooms and sausage. I wasn’t sure how it would cook up. So I just went with what I knew (seven mushrooms and 1/4 pound of sausage). At the point when the sausage and mushrooms were done cooking and mixed together, that is when I decided I only needed half of it. So half of it went into the fridge for another meal before I added any of the other ingredients. But I used the same amount of herbs . . . a little less cream and one less piece of bread. The recipe below is the ADJUSTED one.
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Stuffed Acorn Squash
1 1 pound Acorn Squash
some olive oil
salt
three mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1/8 pound sausage
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 cup cheese (small chunks)
2 tbsp ricotta
1 tbsp sherry
less than 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
handful of spinach
three slices bread – toasted and cubed
Wash the squash since you are planning on eating the entire thing! Cut the acorn squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. Rub a little oil in the acorn squash and on the outside, salt inside and out, then place the halves – cut side down – on some aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes (check it after 20 minutes to see if you want to flip it over or not – up to you. It depends on how cooked the edges are getting.) After the 45 minutes you want it to be cooked, but not cooked so much it can’t stand another 45 minutes to an hour in the oven).
Heat some olive oil in a pan with 1/2 of the chopped onion. Once the onions are translucent put the mushrooms in the pan and cook them. Sprinkle with salt. As they are cooking mix in one clove of garlic. Cook the sausage, either after the mushrooms are cooked or use a different pan. If the sausage has a lot of grease drain it off before you add the sausage to the rest of the ingredients.
Mix the mushrooms and the sausage in a bowl. Add the rosemary and thyme. Mix in the remaining two cloves of garlic and the onions. Mix in the cheese. Mix in the sherry. Pour a small amount of cream into each acorn half. Then use more cream to moisten the rest of the ingredients. As the list of ingredients state I used less than 1/4 cup. I did not use the full 1/4 cup. Add the spinach and bread cubes last. Mix it all carefully.
Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin. I used the spoon to press the mixture down into each half. I really pressed the ingredients in because I wanted it all to fit. Then on my half I put most of the left-over-from-the-handful of spinach.
Put the squash in the oven for 45 minutes. After about 20 minutes check on it. The squash is done when you can gently pierce its side with a sharp object. Check to verify the inside is cooked to your liking. Since the mushrooms and the sausage are already cooked it is just a matter of it heating up, melting the cheese, and letting all the flavors blend.
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I served it with a green salad. But we have salad pretty much every night.
This was good. I liked it. It was not as good as the Sugar Pumpkin, though. My husband said it was as good, but I don’t think so. I think the sugar pumpkin had a better flavor. The pumpkin itself added to the dish. The acorn squash tasted like squash. Which is fine, I like squash, but it didn’t help kick this dish out of the park!
As I said, this is exactly like the stuffed pumpkin except it is an acorn squash. But I did want to document the adjustments. 🙂
I am learning a lot of people don’t like winter squash. Do you? What type of winter squash do you like? Have you ever cooked with a sugar pumpkin (besides making a pie)?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: acorn squash, baked dinner, dinner, fall dinner, heavy cream, mushrooms and sausage, organic produce box, roasted squash, Stuffed pumpkin, stuffed squash, winter dinner | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 20, 2014
My niece came to visit us recently over the weekend. I thought it would be nice to serve something for dinner that I don’t make often. Even though she doesn’t eat with us often, so something we eat all the time wouldn’t necessarily be something she eats all the time, I thought I would try something new. Well, I had done it before but I don’t remember the recipe I used before, so I was kinda making it up as I went along. Big surprise, huh? Well, I decided to make chicken enchiladas with sour cream sauce. I don’t really like red sauce and green sauce does not like me. I like sour cream sauce.
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Chicken Enchiladas With Sour Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter / 3
4 tablespoons flour / 3
3 cups chicken broth / 2
1 1/2 cup sour cream / 1
1/2 4 oz can diced green chillies
(this makes EXTRA sauce, the / number is the amount to us if you want less sauce)
3 cups shredded and cooked chicken (I actually used canned chicken)
3 cups shredded Mexican Mixture cheese
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 garlic salt
7 large soft flour tortillas
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Stir the flour into butter. Whisk it to get all the lumps out. Watch the heat making sure it does not get too hot. Whisk in the broth. Continue to cook the sauce until it’s thick and begins to bubble. Turn off the heat/burner.
Mix the chicken with the cumin and garlic salt. Put about three tablespoons of chicken in a tortilla, sprinkle in some cheese then roll up and put seam side down into a greased casserole dish. Continue filling and rolling the tortillas until they are all filled. Using about two cups of the cheese.
By now, the sauce should be cool enough so the sour cream will not curdle when added, but still warm enough to allow the sour cream to “melt” and blend well into the sauce. Add the sour cream to the sauce. Whisk until blended. Add the chilies to the sauce.
Pour the sauce over enchiladas. Filling in all the space. Use the remaining cup of cheese to sprinkle over the enchiladas. Save the remaining sauce for allowing individuals to add more sauce to their enchiladas.
Bake in oven for about 30 minutes.
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So my hubby likes extra sauce and leftover sauce, so I made extra. You can make less by using the number after the slash. You can also use more chilies. I brought the remainder to the table so that my hubby and niece could add more to their food.
I think next time I will add the chilies into the enchiladas. I will mark them so I know which ones have the chilies.
You can use any type of chicken you would like. I just wanted really easy so I used canned.
So this is easy and kind of quick. And I thought it was very yummy. I will be making it again. It made enough for leftovers. You know I love leftovers.
Do you like enchiladas? Are you a fan of sour cream sauce? Does this sound like a recipe you would make?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: canned chicken, Cheese, chicken enchiladas, easy dinner, fast dinner, green sauce, red sauce, sour cream, sour cream sauce, yummy dinner | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 11, 2014
What to make for dinner is often a tough question to answer. My husband does not understand why it is so difficult. He doesn’t understand that when he eats ground turkey and a vegetable two nights (at least) every week for months it is because I just do not have the time or mental capability to THINK of something to make for dinner. Ground turkey and whatever vegetable we have is soooooo easy. But this past year I was told I made it too much. So . . . now that I have more time and can think about something other than planning a “memorial”, I am trying to come up with something else for dinner. On Thursdays I like to have something pretty much prepared before I go to teach the evening Gentle Yoga class. My hubby has been experimenting with making deviled eggs so we ended up with a lot of eggs. So I thought why not make a Frittata? Is it still a frittata if you don’t bake it in the pan you do the initial cooking in? I don’t have a cast iron skillet. Or pan that can go in the oven. Or — perhaps more accurately, one I want to put in the oven. But I just put my “frittatas” in a casserole dish.
According to Wiki:
“Frittata is an egg-based Italian dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. The word frittata is derived from Italian and roughly translates to “egg-cake”.
History
The Italian word frittata derives from fritta and roughly translates to egg-cake. This was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.”
Well, I had a small piece of chicken to use and a lot of eggs. So I bought some mushrooms and a leek.
Here is our dinner tonight.
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Leek and Mushroom Frittata
1 leek, chopped up into little pieces
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
olive oil
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs
1/3 C milk (I use 1%)
1/2 C cooked chicken (optional)
1 C Cheddar cheese (I used mild)
salt
pepper
butter
(I used a 7.5 in X 11 in casserole dish)
Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Heat the oil. Then add the leeks. Salt them a little while cooking. When they look as if they are getting cooked add the mushrooms to the pan. Add a little more salt. Add the rosemary. Add the garlic. Cook the leeks and mushrooms until they are almost done.
While the vegetables are cooking beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk. If you feel you need more salt and pepper you can put it in the egg mixture.
Once the veggies are cooked add them to the eggs in the large bowl. Butter the casserole dish. Then pour the veggie-egg mixture into the casserole dish. Then add the chicken, use a fork to spread the chicken around in the vegetable-egg mixture. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. With the fork sink the cheese into the vegetable-egg-chicken mixture.
Bake on 350° F for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes check it to see if it is done to your liking. Usually you want eggs to be cooked thoroughly. But everyone likes their eggs done differently so cook it to the way YOU like it.
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Of course this can be breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, a snack . . . . whatever you want. I am sure you can adapt it to one pan cooking like a “real” frittata, but . . . it works in a casserole dish too.
Do you like frittatas? Do you ever eat them for dinner?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: breakfast lunch dinner, casserole dish, cast iron skillet, City of San Jose exercise classes, crustless quiche, deviled eggs, egg-based Italian, egg-cake, Eggcellent Dinner, fritta, frittata, garlic, Gentle Yoga class, ground turkey and a vegetable, leek, minced, mushrooms, omelette, rosemary, THINK of something to make for dinner, Wiki | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 30, 2014
I was looking in a catalog of supplements . . . one of my Nia students gave it to me after class. We didn’t even have a chance to discuss it because she handed it to me as she was leaving, so I didn’t even realize it was a catalog of supplements until I flipped through it and saw every other page was an advertisement for a supplement. Anyway . . . it had an article in it about the flavonoid, quercetin. It reminded me of the information stating that it has been proven to be an anti-inflammatory and an antihistamine. Since I primarily mention eating onions, apples, and citrus fruit in my two posts, An Apple a Day and Allergy Relief, I thought I would look up some information regarding what other foods contain this interesting plant component. I found two sites with the same list. I went through the list and found the things that I eat or would eat. Some of the foods listed I didn’t even know what they were, such as Bog wortleberries, dock leaves, and lovage leaves. Some I wouldn’t eat because they are peppers, such as ancho peppers and hot green chili peppers. But I would eat some of the items listed. I DO eat some of the items listed. I could increase my consumption of some of them.
Here is my list.
Food Chart
This is a food chart showing fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains rich in quercetin.
mg/100 g.
Apple, raw with skin 4.42
Apricot, raw 2.55
Blueberries, raw 3.11
Broccoli, cooked 1.06
Broccoli, raw 3.21
Butterhead lettuce 1.19
Cherries, raw 1.25
Cherry tomatoes, raw 2.77
Green beans, raw 2.73
Kale, raw 7.71
Plums, raw 1.20
Red grapes 3.54
Red onion, raw 19.93
Spinach, raw 4.86
Tea, black brewed 2.07
Tea, decaf brewed 2.84
Tea, decaf green brewed 2.77
Tea, green brewed 2.69
White sweet onion, raw 5.19
I love apples. I could easily eat more of those. I don’t experience apricots that much, but I like them ok. I think you know how I feel about blueberries, but I did discover I like them in a green smoothie. I LOVE cherries! Not so sure about eating green beans raw, but I just had kale in a green smoothie this past week. I have received plums and grapes in my produce box. But I don’t eat them often. I eat onions pretty much every day in a green salad. It is good to know that quercetin is in tea.
So what about you? Do you know what a Bog wortleberry is? It has a lot of quercetin in it but not as much as canned capers or dock leaves. Since I don’t know what dock leaves are I don’t know if you would eat a 100 grams of them, but I can’t imagine someone eating 100 grams of capers. So, I guess it is good that they have so much quercetin in them. You can still get some from a smaller amount.
I am sure there are a lot of people who eat a lot more than is on my list. The peppers alone. I know many people who love peppers. Anything on my list that you eat? Anything you might think of increasing consumption of? What about the full list?
Posted in Food, Fruit, Vegetables | Tagged: allergy relief, an apple a day, anti-inflammtory, antihistamine, black tea, broccoli, flavanoid, green smoothie, green tea, list of foods, Nia class, Nia students, onions, peppers, quercetin, supplement catalog | Leave a Comment »
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