Chicken Taco Pie

Chicken Taco Pie
4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 T vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 t cumin

1/2 t paprika

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1/4 cup taco sauce

1 flour tortilla

1 can refried beans

4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

1 c Doritos Nacho Cheesier chips, smashed (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook onion and green pepper over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken and garlic; stir occasionally until chicken is cooked through.  Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika.  Add tomatoes, corn, and taco sauce.  Simmer over low heat until liquid is mostly gone.

Meanwhile, place the tortilla on the bottom of a pie tin.  Spread refried beans over tortilla and up the side of the pan.

When chicken mixture has lost most of its liquid pour it into the pie tin.  Sprinkle cheese over chicken mixture. 

Cook pie for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.  Sprinkle chips over pie and cook for 5 more minutes.

Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note: This can be made ahead and frozen (without any chips).  Bake just until the cheese is melted and let cool before covering tightly with plastic wrap.  Defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours before reheating.  Bake at 350 degrees until cooked through, about 45 minutes.

Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bread

I love banana bread but wanted to put a twist on it.  I try to incorporate wheat flour when I can and that was my goal in creating this loaf.  I don't like that wheat flour because it makes everything so dense and heavy so I used oatmeal to lighten it up without adding white flour.

I figured I'd have to experiment with a few loaves to get it right, but this one was good right off the bat!

Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bread
1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

2 eggs

3 bananas, soft

1/2 c milk

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 c old fashioned oats

1 1/4 t baking soda

1 t salt

1/2 c blueberries (I used frozen)

1 c walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom on one 9x5" loaf pan.

Stir  sugar and butter in a large bowl until well mixed.  Stir in eggs, bananas, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.  

Stir in flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt just until combined.  Add blueberries and nuts and stir until combined.

Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 60-75 minutes in the center of the oven.  When bread is finished cooking (toothpick test) move to a cooling rack and let rest in pan for 15 minutes.

Remove from pan and let cool for 2 hours before slicing.  

Bread should be stored in plastic wrap.  It can be frozen for later use.

Zucchini as Pasta

No, I'm not talking about zucchini flavored pasta; this is sliced zucchini that you can substitute for your regular old spaghetti.

I'm not a big fan of food substitutes, but this one isn't too bad.  We always have garlic bread with our pasta so we are still getting carbs, we just aren't getting the carb overload.

To make "spaghetti:"

Julienne 1 zucchini per person.  

Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot.

Put zucchini in boiling water and cook for 1 minute.

Remove zucchini and place in an ice bath and let cool.

Serve with your favorite pasta sauce or with melted butter and parmesan.

To make "lasagna:"

Slice zucchini very thin.

Cook in boiling water (as in last recipe) for 2-3 minutes

Move zucchini to a water bath and let cool.

Use a towel to get excess water off of zucchini.  Get as much water out as possible as it will make your dish soupy.  If you have time, let it sit out for 15 minutes before preparing lasagna.

Pasta Sauce

Making your own pasta sauce isn't as hard as you might think.  It does take more time that opening a jar, but it's worth it.

Pasta Sauce
4 Servings

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

15 roma tomatoes, halved

15 basil leaves, chopped

12 oregano leaves, chopped

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 cans V8 Spicy Hot

Instructions:

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pot.  Cook mushrooms and onion until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and 2 c water; cover and stir occasionally.  After 15 minutes use a potato masher to press down on the tomatoes.

Add remaining ingredients.  Cook down until mixture becomes thick.

Serve over pasta.

Potato Chips

Potato Chips

Ingredients:

russet potatoes

peanut oil

salt or other seasoning

Instructions:

Preheat oil in fryer to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, slice potatoes very thin (I use a 1/8" ruffle cut on a mandolin).  It is essential to have them cut evenly.  Place sliced potatoes in water until ready to use to prevent them from turning brown.

Before you fry the potatoes, drain the water and place potatoes on a towel.  Remove excess water by rolling the towel.

Place a few potatoes in the fryer (be sure to not overcrowd).  I found that they cook best when fully submerged.  My fryer has a basket that has an up and down position.  When I placed the basket in the up position it was just low enough to keep the potatoes submerged.  If you don't have this option, you will have to flip as you cook.

Cook potatoes until they are slightly tanned.  They should be rigid, not soft and mushy.  If your potatoes are not cut evenly you will see that one side is rigid while the other side is soggy.

When the chips are fully cooked move them to a cooling rack topped with paper towels.  Allow them to cool slightly before adding salt or other seasoning.

Tips:

My favorite chips are sour cream and cheddar and I wanted to try to make something similar.  If I were at the store I would have bought a cheddar popcorn flavoring or something but I wasn't at the store...I had to improvise.  I took the cheese packet out of a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and sprinkled the chips with that.  It wasn't the same, but it was actually better than I expected.  

What flavors do you like on your chips?

Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Fried Rice

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 c chicken broth or stock

1 c brown rice

2 t oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 c mushrooms, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1-2 chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c frozen peas

2 eggs, scrambled

1/4 c soy sauce

1/4 c rice vinegar

Instructions:

Place broth and rice into a saucepan and bring to a boil; cover and cook 30-45 minutes until rice is tender (broth need not be completely dissolved).

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan heat oil.  Add onion, mushrooms, and carrots and cook until tender.  

Add chicken and garlic; cook until chicken is cooked through.  Add cooked rice and peas.

Push everything in the pan over to one side.  Add the eggs to the free side; stir and cook until cooked through.  

Stir eggs into the rice mixture.  Add soy sauce and vinegar.  

Serve.

Notes:

Fried rice is great because you can really throw in any vegetables that you have around the house.  You can serve it as an entree or side dish.

Sesame Green Beans

My favorite sushi restaurant is in Chesapeake, VA and they make the most amazing sesame spinach dish.  I make a spinach dish but also incorporate the flavors into other vegetables like green beans.

Sesame Green Beans

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1 T rice vinegar

2 t sesame oil

1 t sesame seeds

Instructions:

Place a steamer basket in a large pot with 1 inch of water; bring to a boil.

Add green beans to basket, cover, and cook until tender; about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix vinegar and oil.

When beans have cooked through place in a medium bowl.  

Pour vinegar/oil mixture over beans and toss to coat

Top with sesame seeds.

Notes:

Sesame oil is VERY strong.  Add a little bit at a time until you find a taste that you like.