Tag: cheese

Food

Breakfast Burritos

Amanda

For how much I say I don’t like Mexican food… I seem to post a lot of Mexican recipes? Maybe I’ve just been lying to myself, and I actually love Mexican food…

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Anyway, digressions aside… this is the ultimate morning-after-being-overserved breakfast. We made it originally when Tim was in town, constructing a mini-burrito bar in the apartment for everyone to serve themselves from. We combined all of our favorite breakfast foods/burrito fillings and made them into a delicious breakfast burrito! Yum. Charlie and his brother took it one step further, and actually crushed tortilla chips as a first layer to the burrito. So creative!

Smiley eggs!
So happy to have Breakfast Burritos.

Breakfast Burritos

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print
Ingredients:

  • 4 large flour tortillas
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1/2 cup black beans
  • 2 russet potatoes
  • 1 lb protein (we chose bacon – of course)
  • 1 cup Mexican cheese
  • 1 cup guacamole
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • dried rosemary (or preferred potato seasoning)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place bacon in a single layer on paper.
  3. Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil into a cast iron skillet. Cut potatoes into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes. Add potatoes to skillet and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary.
  4. Place both taters and bacon into heated oven. Set time for 15 minutes.
  5. After 15 minutes, check and stir taters and check bacon. Continue to check in five minute intervals.
  6. The taters should take about 30 minutes until they’re soft and just starting to crisp. After they soft in the oven, place on stovetop and crisp on medium-high.
  7. The bacon will take about 20 minutes to crisp. After bacon is done, chop into 1 inch pieces.
  8. While bacon and taters are cooking, chop tomato and pepper and place in a bowl.
  9. In a separate skillet – cook eggs as desired. (We chose scrambled!)
  10. After all burrito innards are finished cooking – line a large flour tortilla with cheese (and crumbled chips if desired). Microwave for 30 seconds.
  11. Fill warmed and cheesy burrito as desired. Roll up, and top with guacamole!

*Chef Note: I did make a little “sauce” out of the beans/tomatoes/peppers… but I preferred the fresh ingredients better. If you would like to make the sauce, just mix a portion of the fresh veggies and beans and sauté them for 10-15 minutes until soft.

Food

Taco Tuesday!

Amanda

Okay so this recipe is not for an actual taco. It’s better. Because it is less messy, and literally takes a blink and wink to make. Once again we rely on our trusty Penzey’s stockpile to produce a delicious meal with minimal effort. We really didn’t change much in this recipe except for shaking up the seasoning a bit!

There are all sorts of different textures in this Taco Soup, there are the crunchy chips, the melty cheese, the yummy veggies. Everything! Ugh, mouth watering now.

Taco Soup

  • Servings: 5
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print
Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground Turkey
  • 2 15 oz. cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 14.5 oz can Corn Kernels, drained and rinsed
  • 1 14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes, NOT drained (I prefer unsalted as well)
  • 1 16 oz jar of Salsa (Pick your own heat level)
  • 1 ½-2 tsp Penzey’s Bold Taco Seasoning
  • Salt
  • Tortilla Chips
  • Shredded Cheese (We used the “Mexican” mixture)
  • Sour Cream

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, cook Turkey until well done
  2. Drain fat from pot
  3. Add Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes (with juice), Salsa, and Taco Seasoning
  4. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently
  5. Add approximately 16 oz of Water (conveniently the size of your Salsa jar)
  6. Add Salt to taste
  7. Cook for 20-30 minutes over medium-low heat
  8. Serve with crumbled Chips, Cheese, and Sour Cream
Food

Chicken Tostadas

Amanda

Confession. And please don’t hate me. But I kind of really dislike Mexican food. I don’t even like salsa… Obviously living out in San Diego, this is a crime. We’re just a short trip to Mexico and we are surrounded by amazing Mexican cuisine. Charlie has been so great about being patient with my “pickiness,” but at the same time, he likes to challenge me, a lot. Therefore, I have come to like some Mexican food. Mainly Tostadas. Tostadas are delicious. Who even knew such a delicious thing existed?

My first introduction to Tostadas came when we were moving out of our first SD apartment. We were trying to avoid buying food at ALL costs, and more importantly trying to use up all of the food we already had. While we were scrounging around the cupboards we came up with: corn tortillas, beans, rice, and tomatoes. Charlie said “Oh! Let’s make tostadas!” At this point I had no idea what they were, and just deferred to Charlie for cooking that night. Well, since then tostadas have become a staple in our household – something I even crave.

What is so great about these is that you can really make them with just about anything in your cupboard. You can use beef/fish/chicken… anything! The only kind of tedious thing is frying the tortillas. But you can always buy pre-crispy tortillas!

Mouth salivating...
Mouth salivating…

These have brought me joy. I am not exaggerating. Real joy. Credit to Whitney for the fantastic photography. Though I did hold a paper bag to serve as a light diffuser. Charlie was so unamused with our photography.

Chicken Tostadas

  • Servings: 8 Tostadas
  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print
Ingredients:

  • 3 Chicken Breasts
  • 8 Corn Tortillas
  • 1 Cup Uncooked Rice (Cooked – I think approximately 2 Cups)
  • 14 oz can of Diced Tomatoes
  • ½ Cup Black Beans
  • Bold Taco Seasoning
  • Cheddar/Mexican Cheese
  • Guacamole
  • Canola Oil (About ½ cup depending on pan size)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  2. Season Chicken Breasts with Bold Taco Seasoning
  3. Once oven is heated, bake Chicken Breasts for 17-20 minutes
  4. While Chicken is cooking, start Rice
  5. While Rice and Chicken are cooking (hey multitasking!) start frying Tortillas
  6. To fry Tortillas… fill a large skillet with enough Canola Oil to completely submerge Tortilla, heat to medium high
  7. Once oil is hot carefully place one Tortilla into oil and, using a spatula, flatten Tortilla against bottom of the pan
  8. When Tortilla begins to crisp – with more structural integrity flip over and repeat on other side
  9. When finished, drip oil off Tortilla into pan and place Tortilla on a plate covered with paper towel
  10. Repeat for all Tortillas
  11. When Rice is done, add Tomatoes and Beans, as well as any desired seasoning (We use Bold Taco)
  12. When Chicken is done – shred (by hand or by Cuisinart… We prefer Cuisinart!)
  13. Set up “stations” and eat while hot!!

Food

Gruyere Pizza with Quinoa, Chard, and Prosciutto

Amanda

My name is Amanda, and this pizza changed my life. Before today I thought pizza was just ingredients put on a crust. But today… today I realized that pizza is a vessel for happiness inside of my mouth. And I have found the perfect combination of pure edible bliss.

We are constantly getting Swiss Chard in our CSA. The first recipe I made with it was a pasta mustard combo – and it was pretty good. But I quickly realized that to eat Swiss Chard, at least for me, it had to be disguised by something else. Preferably cheese. I came up with this recipe after cooking a few different dishes with Chard. When it came out of the oven and we all took a bite (our friend was over), there was complete silence. I am pretty sure this is the pizza jackpot. AND we can even pretend it is slightly healthy for you! Whole wheat crust! Quinoa! Chard! For the Quinoa, we buy the Costco “Ancient Grains” mixture. It is a reasonable price, cheaper per ounce than plain Quinoa, PLUS it contains lots of other good and yummy things in it. (Millet & Amaranth)

I hope this pizza leaves you as speechless as it left us!

Gruyere Pizza with Quinoa, Chard, and Prosciutto

  • Servings: 3 People
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Print
Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cup Gruyere Cheese – shredded (approximately 5 ounces)
  • 4 cups Swiss Chard
  • 2-3 cloves Garlic – minced
  • 4 slices Prosciutto
  • 3 Tbsp + 1 ½ Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
  • ¾ Cup Quinoa/Quinoa Blend (pre-cooked)
  • 1 pound Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Grease 12×14 baking sheet with either Crisco or Cooking Spray
  3. Stretch pizza dough to fit baking sheet (Set aside)
  4. Wash Swiss Chard, remove stems, and chop into small strips
  5. Heat skillet on medium low with 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  6. Add minced Garlic, cook one-two minutes. (Do not let Garlic burn! Gordon Ramsay hates that.)
  7. Add Prosciutto and Quinoa to skillet
  8. Cook 5-6 minutes or until Prosciutto begins to get crispy
  9. Add Chard leaves and 1 Tbsp of Olive Oil
  10. Sautee until Chard leaves are wilted
  11. Remove from heat
  12. Brush Pizza Dough with 1 ½ Tbsp of Olive Oil and season with Pepper
  13. Sprinkle 1 cup of Gruyere over Pizza Dough evenly
  14. Distribute Chard goodness
  15. Top remaining Gruyere over Chard goodness
  16. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until ingredients are melted and crust is fully cooked
  17. Remove Pizza from baking sheet and slide directly onto oven rack
  18. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until Pizza Crust has reached desired crispiness
  19. Remove from oven and let sit for two minutes before cutting

Food

Spicy Sweet Potato Burrito

Amanda

Do you know the difference between a Sweet Potato and a Yam? That’s great. California doesn’t. Among other things California does… oddly, they mess up Sweet Potatoes and Yams. I know this because in a hurry for an impromptu belated Thanksgiving Dinner I grabbed a Yam, instead of a Sweet Potato. Thinking it was a “silly old me” moment, I brushed it off. Until I went back to the grocer a few months later and my horrors were confirmed – they have Yams and Sweet Potatoes mixed up. This is consistent with almost all grocers in San Diego, save Target and Trader Joe’s. I feel like I am living in The Truman Show and everyone is laughing while I hold a Yam to the sky and yell “Why, God?! Why!” I even tried talking to the Produce Manager at the grocer and she said “No, Yams are orange on the inside and sweet. Sweet Potatoes, are white on the inside.” I wanted to grab a knife and slice open that tater, cook it in the deli, and make her do a taste test between a Yam and a frozen Sweet Potato fry. But I didn’t, because at that point I thought they might tackle me if I wielded a knife.

Yam Controversy aside, I love Sweet Potatoes. So much. I also love a company called Penzey’s Spices. It originated in C’s hometown, but now there are franchises everywhere. INCLUDING SAN DIEGO. Add that to the list of things I like about SD. Penzey’s sends out a catalog each month, we get two – I’m not sure why, and not only does it include a coupon it also includes lots of fun recipes that include Penzey’s Spices! One of these recipes was for a Sweet Potato Burrito, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Spicy Sweet Potato Burrito

  • Servings: 6 Burritos
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print
Ingredients:

  • 3 Medium-Large Sweet Potatoes
  • A dash of Salt
  • ¾ tsp Vindaloo Penzey’s Seasoning
  • ¼ tsp Sweet Curry Penzey’s Seasoning
  • Juice of ½ a Lemon
  • 1 ½ cups Sharp White Cheddar Cheese – grated
  • 1 15 oz can of Black Beans – unsalted or reduced salt
  • 1 15 oz can of Corn Kernels – unsalted or reduced salt
  • 6 Whole Wheat Tortillas

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Pierce Sweet Potatoes with a fork and roast until soft. (Around 40-60 Minutes)
  3. Remove Sweet Potatoes from oven and let them cool.
  4. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
  5. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil.
  6. Combine Spices, Black Beans, Corn Kernels and Salt in a large bowl.
  7. When Sweet Potato has cooled slightly; puree, rice, or smash the insides in a separate bowl.
  8. When Sweet Potato is smooth to your liking, combine with other ingredients.
  9. Add 1 cup of Cheese to the mixture.
  10. Spoon mixture into Tortillas and top with remaining Cheese.
  11. Wrap Burrito tightly and lay fold-side down on baking sheet.
  12. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until heated through.

Food

Breakfast Nachos

Amanda

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Ever since we subscribed to our CSA (more on that later) I have found myself becoming more and more adventurous with food. And while I find it fun and adventurous to try new recipes and foods, I also don’t like being the first to try them. Charlie and I attended an Indian Wedding Weekend in Chicago a year-and-a-half ago, and he was assigned with walking in front of me at the buffet line and trying everything to let me know if I would like it. I know that might be epicuriously lazy. But I ‘m just kind of scared of diving head first into a bucket of food I don’t recognize.

Digressions aside, occasionally I do whip up something adventurous in the kitchen that even though I know I won’t like it, I’m confident Charlie will find it be a somewhat “party in his mouth.” Such was the case this past weekend.

We’re big into using all of our food. I hate throwing food out, because it is sad, and also a waste of money. The night before we had some fresh tortilla chips from Albertson’s (the BEST tortilla chips!), homemade Guac made with our CSA avocados, chicken, and salads. Well the morning after, when I looked in the fridge I saw that we had about a half serving of Guac left… Maybe it is being in so close proximity to Mexico, but Mexican food is slowly growing on me. I decided to delve into my inner Mexican foodie and whip up the below for Charlie. The reviews were stellar.

Breakfast Nachos

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Ingredients:

  • 4 Eggs (3 Eggs, 1 Egg White)
  • 5 Mini Tomatoes (Pearl, Cherry, Whatever…)
  • ¼+ cup Shredded Mozzarella (also works with Cheddar)
  • EVOO
  • Tortilla Chips
  • Guacamole (I’ll post Charlie’s recipe another time – for the time being use this one.)

Directions:

  1. Whip 4 eggs (3 eggs, 1 egg white) in a jar/bowl
  2. Lay out tortilla chips on a large plate (we use our pasta bowls from Ikea) and then crush remainder and keep to the side. (Don’t turn them into crumbs, just crush them a little!)
  3. Heat a skillet on medium low, pour two turns of EVOO
  4. Drop sliced mini tomatoes into EVOO and cook until soft (about four minutes)
  5. Add eggs
  6. Cook eggs using a spatula to stir constantly and keep from burning
  7. When eggs look almost done add crushed chips and cheese
  8. Cook for about 1 more minute (until eggs look done)
  9. Place eggs on top of chips. (I used a spoon to evenly place them)
  10.  Top with Guac and extra cheese
  11. Serve to a very hungry Charlie (only applies if you’re in my house)
Food

Artichoke and Cheese Quiche

Amanda

Quiche! For dinner? Yes! I don’t know if that actually is kosher, but I love eggs, cheese, and artichokes… and I figured this would be a yummy quick meal. This turned out SO well, and was a delicious left-over as well. It came from a recipe on Health.com. The recipe originally called for egg substitute but instead I did a combination of eggs and egg whites until I had 1 cup of beaten eggs. Depending on the size of the eggs you use – you might want to adjust accordingly.

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Artichoke Quiche

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cooked long-grain rice
  • 3/4 cup (3 oz) shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
  • 4 eggs and 3 egg whites mixed (1 cup of eggs)
  • 1 tsp dried dillweed
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed
  • cooking spray
  • 1 (15-oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
  • 3/4 cup almond milk (you can use fat-free milk)
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onions
  • 1 T dijon mustard
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine rice, 1/4 cup cheese, 1/4 cup eggs, dillweed, salt, and garlic; press into a 9-inch pieplate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.
  3. Arrange artichoke quarters on bottom of rice crust; sprinkle remaining cheese. Combine eggs, milk, green onions, mustard and pepper. Pour egg mixture over rice and artichokes.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until eggs have set.
  5. Let stand 5 minutes; cut into wedges!
Food

Spinach and Artichoke Pizza

Amanda

In Chicago there was this magical place called Homemade Pizza. You could get all sorts of fun and delicious toppings on a yummy thin crust – and then bake it at home! My favorite was the Georgia, Charlie’s was the Buffalo Chicken (gross). Anyway, since relocating to sunny California, I have been craving Homemade Pizza like crazy! I had never made a real home-made pizza before so I was kind of apprehensive about the dough/baking instrument/ingredients/toppings… everything. After all thirteen of our boxes showed up… (Yes – we packed our entire life into two cars and thirteen boxes) I found Charlie’s old pizza baking tray and felt inspired! I searched for pizza recipes and found this one on Real Simple. I changed some of the ingredients/steps… but it turned out AMAZING! Like Meryl Streep Amazing.

Enjoy! 🙂

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Spinach and Artichoke Pizza

  • 1 lb pizza dough at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups quattro formaggio (mixture of yummy cheeses of your choice!)
  • 4 oz light cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 T olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups marinated artichoke hearts
  • 2 cups spinach
  • salt and pepper

Instructions:

  1. Form pizza dough into a 12-inch circle on a floured surface. (Note: This is a pain in the biz-utt, make sure the dough is at room temperature – I had to use a rolling pin and a whole lot of perseverance).
  2. Place pizza form onto a baking sheet (with corn meal on the bottom) or pizza pan.
  3. Spread olive oil over crust – sprinkle salt and pepper.
  4. Break cream cheese into small pieces and place on oiled crust.
  5. Sprinkle 3/4 cup cheese over cream cheese and oil.
  6. Quarter artichoke hearts and spread over pizza.
  7. Cover pizza with spinach.
  8. Sprinkle remaining cheese over pizza. (Feel free to add more cheese – you can never have enough!) 🙂
  9. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Things I will try next time!

  • Cooking the crust for a little bit prior to dressing it up. (Charlie says this will make it crispier!)
  • Moooore artichokes. Yummy!!
  • Spreading the cream cheese over the pizza dough evenly before adding olive oil and other toppings!
Food, Life

A lovely night…

Amanda

There is NOTHING better than catching up with friends you haven’t seen in a million years! Especially when said catch up is done over this:

The above *was* from the freezer at Trader Joe’s!! It was so easy – popped it into the oven and voila, the perfect catch up snack. I am not going to inform you as to the calories, fat content, or how short of time it actually took for two females to finish this off. Adorable cheese knife, right? Bluff Gardens in Harbor Springs!

So full,

Amanda