Taco Pizza

This is a great way to use up some leftovers, or for when you want to have tacos but don't have quite enough toppings for each person.

Ingredients:

two tortillas

half a can of refried beans

1/2 lb cooked hamburger meat (flavored like tacos, or maybe leftover hamburgers from last night that you chopped up... :)

1/4 cup-ish of sour cream

1/4 cup-ish of salsa

Optional: 

tomatoes

green onions

other onions

cheese

etc.

Tip: This is not tasty with lettuce.

Lay down a tortilla.  Spread refried beans and meat onto it.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and put down the next tortilla.  Spread on salsa and sour cream.  Sprinkle on whatever else you like on your tacos! Chopped tomatoes, onions, green onions, cheese, you name it.  We used leftover Greek tzitzaki sauce with cucumbers on ours and it was awesome :)  Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

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Chicken Soup with Sweet Potatoes

Joel was sick last week, so I made soup.  I wanted to add potatoes but knew we didn't have any, so I decided to experiment with sweet potatoes.  They were amazing!  While we were eating this soup, Joel said he loved the sweet potatoes and he wished all the carrots were also sweet potatoes. :)  The balsamic vinegar and lemon juice were also an experiment, and I was really worried about how it would turn out.  When I went to shred the chicken, though, I tasted the broth and was FLOORED by how astounding it tasted.  The vinegar adds some color to the broth and puts a little something in the background.  You can't taste the lemon juice on its own, but it tones down the "vinegar-iness" of the balsamic and creates a nice balance.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
5 cups water
1 can chicken broth
1 T dried basil
1 T dried parsley
1/2 T lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 T chicken bouillon powder
1 boneless skinless chicken breast - I used one that was absolutely frozen solid, right out of the freezer.
1 small onion, chopped
1 small head broccoli, chopped
2 large carrots, diced
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 T lemon juice

Optional: celery or other vegetables; dry noodles (add to the boiling broth 7-10 minutes before serving)

Put water, chicken broth, basil, parsley, lemon pepper seasoning, pepper, salt, chicken bouillon powder, and chicken breast into 3-quart pot to boil, uncovered.  After about 20 minutes of boiling, start chopping the vegetables.  About 10 minutes later, add the vegetables to the broth.  When the chicken is cooked through, remove it and shred the meat.  Return the shredded chicken to the pot.  Add balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.  Continue to boil until sweet potatoes are fork-tender. ¡Buen provecho!

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Jamaica (Agua de jamaica)

(pronounced huh-my-kuh)

This is a drink made from dried hibiscus flowers.  It is very common in Mérida, Méxcio, and delicious!  It is a bit of an acquired taste.  The first time Joel tried it he didn't like it all, but he decided to try a second cup and now he loves it.  I probably drank this everyday while I was in Mérida.  I hope you like it!  I don't know if the flowers are available in regular grocery stores, but they definitely can be found at Hispanic grocery stores.  They're worth the trip!

Agua de jamaica

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups water
additional 3 cups cold water

Put sugar, hibiscus flowers, and 4 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil.  You may cover the pot or leave it uncovered.  When the mixture comes to a boil, cover the pot (if it's not already covered) and remove from heat.  Let it sit.  The amount of time you let it sit is variable.  The reason is to draw the flavor from the flowers, so it can sit for as few as 10-15 minutes or all day long.  Some people say it's best to do it overnight; I did it for about five hours during the day.

The mixture you have now is a concentrate.  When you're ready to drink it, add the additional 3 cups of water and pour the mixture into a pitcher, straining out the flowers.  These can be discarded.  You can add more sugar if you so desire, but I prefer it with just the 1/2 cup. 

Enjoy your jamaica! ¡Buen provecho!



**In addition to being tasty, agua de jamaica is chock full of Vitamin C, antioxidants, and anthocyanin.  It also may help alleviate female monthly  cramps, normalize high blood pressure, help purify arteries and kidneys, and lower high cholesterol.  It also is a mild diuretic, mild laxative, and treatment for cardiac and nerve diseases, as well as cancer.  It's popular in the folk medicine :)

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Homemade pizza

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's finally happened!  I've moved into a kitchen that I keep clean enough to take pictures in!  And thus begins the posts that have pictures with them :)  You're about to get more than you ever asked for...

[In hindsight, homemade bread can be kind of tricky if you don't have experience with it, so I'm glad I included so many pictures.]

Homemade pizza is one of my family's all-time favorite foods.  All growing up, it was a special meal because it took a little while to make, and it was often the chosen meal for birthdays, coming home from college, and other special occasions.  The crust for this recipe makes more of a soft, bread-like crust instead of a crispy one, but I'll leave instructions to make it either way if you prefer a crispy crust.  This is my mom's recipe :)

First, let me introduce the star of the show:  

My friends, this is Bosch, Jr.  "Junior" because it's the small version of the glorious mixer variety called "Bosch."  My parents gave it to me my sophomore year of college and I love it.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Okay, so step one: Mix together 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of yeast, and 1 1/4 cups of hot water.  How can you tell if "hot" is hot enough?  My mom told me it's like this: It should be almost too hot to put your finger in the water coming out of the tap, but not hot enough for steam to also be coming out.  After putting everything together, wait for the yeast to activate.  Here are some pictures in case you're new to bread-making:

This picture was taken pretty soon after putting everything in the bowl.  See how the yeast has started to get a little fluffy, but there are still some small yeast particles, too?

This is after the yeast has been activated.  You'll see the particles float to the top of the water and then quickly fluff up.  At the beginning, you'll wonder if it's happening, but just give it a little time.  All of a sudden big clumps will start to fluff up and then you'll know the party has started!

Next, add in 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 cup of vegetable/canola oil, and beat everything together for two minutes.

Yum! :)

After the two minutes, knead in more flour until the mixture pulls away from the sides.  This is the confusing part, at least for me.  Lucky for you, I took plenty of pictures during the process so you can see exactly what it should look like.  The amount of flour that gets added will depend on how humid the weather is, how humid your house is, whatever the flour feels like doing... you get the idea :)  I like to add the flour 1/2 cup at a time and often have to add about 2 cups, just to give you an idea. 

This is the dough before any extra flour...

And this is it after some extra flour has been added.  See how it's starting to pull away from the sides?

 

Ok, that picture is a pretty good one of the dough pulling away from the sides.  It's a little hard to get a picture of during the actual process, but I hope that helps.

 

Alright!  So when the dough has enough flour to have pulled away from the sides (as shown above), take it out of the bowl (put some oil on your hands!) and stretch it out a little.  Hold onto one end of the dough and work it between your hands - like how you might hold a baby up in the air and bounce it up and down - and it will stretch into a tube.  Lay this onto your greased cookie sheet.  By stretching it out now, you have made the rolling-out process later much easier.

 

 

Set the timer for 40 minutes.

 

Yay!  They've risen!  (I always make a double batch, so that's why there are two.)  Now set the oven to 350 degrees, roll the dough out to cover the whole pan, and cook your dough for 15 minutes.

 

Rolled out... I use the sophisticated cup method.

...and baked!

Now you're ready to add on the toppings.  I use canned spaghetti sauce for the sauce, and this time chose to make one pepperoni pizza and one Hawaiian.  

 

Check out that sweet spatula in the spaghetti sauce can. Why yes, it does have arms and legs.

We tried using sliceable mozzarella this time.  Not sure how I felt about that.  Much trickier than just using grated.

Bake your pizzas at 350 for 10 minutes if you want a very bready-textured crust, or for 20-25 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown for a crispier crust.  ¡Buen provecho!

Homemade Pizza
makes one cookie sheet of pizza crust

1 tsp sugar
1 T yeast
1 1/4 c water
1 1/2 c flour (+ additional)
1 tsp salt
1/4 c oil

Pizza toppings

Put sugar, yeast, and hot water into mixer and let stand until yeast is activated.  Add the rest of the ingredients and beat for 2 minutes.  Continue to knead while adding in flour until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Shape dough into a tube and lay out to rise on a cookie sheet.  Let rise 40 minutes.  Roll the dough out to fill up the cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Put on desired toppings and bake an additional 10 minutes for a soft crust or 20-25 minutes for a crispier crust.

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Chicken & Pea Sauce

This recipe is about as "family recipe" as they come at my house.  So much so, in fact, that I'm surprised I haven't posted it here before now.  History of the name: This sauce is supposed to have peas in it, hence the name Chicken & Pea Sauce.  My dad doesn't like peas in the sauce, though, so we usually have them on the side.  Now that I'm married, I sometimes serve peas with this and sometimes serve something else, but we still always call it Chicken & Pea Sauce. :)

(This sauce is incredibly forgiving.  Sometimes I add onions; it's really good with a packet of Italian dressing mix; if I don't have sour cream I use cream cheese + however much milk to make it the thinness I want; it's very tasty with vegetables mixed in, ...etc.)

2 cups chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
cheddar cheese, to taste

Cook chicken in a pot.  Add soup, sour cream, milk, salt, and pepper just to boiling.  Reduce heat and cook until it reaches desired thickness.  Best served over rice, home-smashed potatoes, or baked potatoes. 

CROCKPOT: Put raw chicken, soup, and seasonings in crockpot.  Cook as long as you cook chicken (on low 6-10 hrs or high 4-6 hrs).  When chicken is cooked, shred.  Add sour cream, milk, and cheese and let sit until melted and heated through.
 

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Black Beans & Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa

This is another recipe from Our Best Bites that we have fallen in love with.  [By the way, have you noticed a theme lately? We eat tons of Mexican and like-Mexican food in our house :) ]  On the first day, we eat it as specified in the recipe.  The second day, it's tasty like that, but we also really like to mix all the leftovers up in a big bowl, scoop it out onto a tortilla, squeeze some lime on top, and eat it like a burrito.  Very tasty and healthy, too!  


By the way - the apple salsa? Trust me.  DE-licious.


Yield: A lot. Around 6 servings.

1 cup chopped peeled Granny Smith apple
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion, divided
2 limes
1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoons coriander (**I've never included this before.)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 13.5 ounce can chicken broth
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups cooked brown or white rice (**We've found it's tastier with brown.)
1 rotisserie chicken, or 4 grilled chicken breasts (**We use less than this - about half as much chicken as if we were each just eating a chicken breast - and usually have extra.)
1 lime wedge per person

Combine apple, cilantro, 2 tablespoons onion, and the juice from half a lime.  Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and black pepper.  Set aside.

Combine remaining onion, bell pepper, and oil in a large skillet.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until completely softened, 6-7 minutes.  Add garlic and next 3 ingredients; stir constantly for 2 minutes.  Stir in broth and beans; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium; simmer briskly, mashing some of hte beans with the back of a spoon and stirring often, until sauce is thickened, 8-10 minutes (or longer if needed).  Season with salt and pepper to taste and a big squeeze of lime juice.  Divide rice and beans among plates.  Top with some chicken and apple salsa.  Garnish with additional cilantro and lime wedges. 

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Black Bean Soup

I do not claim this recipe as my own, but I will call it a "family" recipe - We love it so much it's a regular in our house.  We like it best with a little bit of sour cream on top and tortillas to dip in it.  And just so you know, it tastes about a million times better than it looks. :)


(from Our Best Bites)

1 T olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3/4 C diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)

3/4 C diced celery (about 2 ribs)

1 C diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 3.5oz can green chilies

2 cans low-sodium beef broth

1 t kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 t chili powder

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t dry oregano leaves

1 bay leaf

Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, tortillas, etc.

1. Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat.  When pan is warm, add olive oil.  Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

2. Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

3. Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

4. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup. 

5. Place soup in a blender. (You could use an immersion blender in place of this step.) Place lid on blender, but remove the stopper in the lid to let heat escape. Place a paper towel over the hole to avoid splatters. 

6. Puree soup until completely smooth.  Optionally you could pulse until a semi-chunky soup is achieved. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.

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