Enchilada's....My Way!

I seem to have a fridge full of vegetables! I was brainstorming trying to come up with a creative way to use some of them up and came up with a take on enchilada's.

I started off by placing chopped gold bell peppers, fennel, spring onions, asparagus and savoy cabbage into a large saute pan with about 4 tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.  This was sauteed until the peppers and the asparagus began to soften and the cabbage starting wilting, I then added the leftover chicken from my soup the other night, shredded carrots and some chopped arugula.  I continued cooking until the arugula was beginning to wilt and added a mixture of 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 can of green chile enchilada sauce. Once the sauce was fully mixed with the vegetables and the chicken warmed through, I removed from the heat and began to assemble the enchiladas.

I placed a few spoonfuls of black beans (rinsed and drained) onto a large flour tortilla, added a few large spoonfuls of the vegetable and chicken mixture, topped with shredded sharp white cheddar and sprinkled some cooked shredded beets on top, rolled the tortilla to close and placed into a rectangular baking dish. I repeated this until I couldn't fit anymore filled tortilla's into my dish, which turned out to be about 4, however if you use a larger baking dish I'm sure that you could easily make twice that.  When the tortilla's were all filled, I poured a can of green chile enchilada sauce over top, sprinkled with aged white cheddar cheese and chopped spring onion (green parts only).  This was then baked in a 425 degree oven for approximately 25 minutes, until the cheese was melted and beginning to brown and the enchilada's were warmed through.  To finish this dish, I sprinkled some chopped fennel fronds on top, just before serving.

I have one word...Wow!  These turned out every bit as good as I imagined that they would! I had even hesitated on putting the shredded beets in, since I know not everyone in the house likes them, but I'm really glad that I decided to keep them.  Not only did they add a nice flavor, but they gave the dish a beautiful pink color too.  Everyone ate two plates full (well, except for Dylan, she had three!) and even my boyfriend who really dislikes beets loved it!  Although, he did ask what the special pink sauce was and I wouldn't answer him even though he already knew what it was (and he still went back for more). 

I've also decided that one photo just wasn't going to do this dish justice, so I had to include another!

Strawberry Mango Crisp

I've been on a mission to find something tasty to make with my strawberries, so when I found out that I was getting mangoes in my bin you can only imagine the ideas that started running through my brain!  I decided to make a crisp.  It sounded really good and the thought of warm fruit with a crisp topping alongside vanilla ice cream just seemed to be the way to go!

I used two cups of sliced strawberries and two cups of mango cut into chunks. I combined the fruit with a mixture of flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and oats (reserving about 3/4 cup for the topping) and mixed until all of the fruit was coated.  I then poured this into a glass baking dish, covered it with the remaining flour mixture and poured half a stick of melted butter mixed with the juice from one fresh squeezed lemon over top.  This was baked in a 375 degree oven for a little over half an hour.

Needless to say, it turned out really good! I have a feeling that I may be craving this quite a bit and everyone else in the house seemed to really enjoy it too!

Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings

I figured after almost four weeks of being sick now, and since I can't seem to eat much of anything, that it was about time I made a chicken soup.  When I brought up chicken and dumpling soup, Dylan got extremely excited, so I figured we should make it together.

We started off by placing a whole uncooked chicken in a pot with about four cups of water and some chicken bouillon cubes and brought to a boil.  I reduced the heat until just simmering, added some chopped carrots, celery, fennel, potatoes, gold bell peppers and spring onions. This was covered and cooked for just over an hour, until the chicken was fully cooked.  About thirty minutes into cooking the chicken and veggie mixture I added some broccoli and cauliflower (this way it wouldn't over cook and become mushy).

When the soup was done, we took the chicken out and let it rest for about ten minutes, until it was cool enough so that we could separate the chicken from the bone and skin and tear into bite sized pieces.  We then made the dumplings, with a little Bisquick, some milk, fresh parsley and black pepper.

The vegetables were brought back up to a simmer and Dylan added the dumplings.  This was allowed to cook for about 10 minutes and then we added in the chicken.

I am really happy with the result. This chicken turned out so amazingly moist! It was falling off the bones and the pieces were pulling apart so easily!  I will definitely be making this chicken more often. As for the dumpling  soup, well, Dylan did a great job on the dumplings, they turned out perfect! This soup was a huge hit and after making a large pot even, it resulted in very little leftovers.  My favorite part, I was actually able to eat it! Yay!!!

Friday Bin 3/25

I think that it's safe to say spring is officially here! It's about time too, because some of my favorite fruits and vegetables will be in season soon!!  This week I have quite the selection going on...

Carrots with Tops
Celery
Arugula
Zucchini
Broccolette
Russet Potatoes
Fennel
Spring Onions
Ataulfo Mangoes
Strawberries
Murcott Tangerines

Looks like I have the perfect ingredients for a soup and I'm extremely happy to have mangoes in my bin! I can't wait to make up a big plate of sliced mango and strawberries.  Also this week I have something called broccolette, which I've never heard of, but it looks like really long, skinny broccoli.  I'm looking forward to trying it out!

Stir Fry Yumminess!!

I absolutely had to find a great way to showcase some of these wonderful vegetables, so a stir fry seemed like the right thing to do!

I made a sauce using minced garlic and ginger in a little vegetable oil over high heat.  I added in a mixture of rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar and white pepper, brought this to a boil and added a cornstarch and water mixture to thicken.  To the sauce I added broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, spring onions, red and orange bell peppers and some water chestnuts.  I cooked this just until the sauce was thickened and the asparagus was just beginning to soften.  This left the veggies still a bit crunchy (exactly the way that I like them, because I won't eat mushy vegetables) and only slightly softened.  I served this with a side of fragrant jasmine rice.

I have to say, this is probably my favorite stir fry ever.  Way better than any restaurant or store bought sauce and everyone had seconds tonight, so I have no leftovers (yay!).  I was even able to get the older boy in the house who eats nothing but cheese pizza, mac and cheese and canned pineapple to eat two plates of it!!  We were all pretty impressed that he was actually eating something that was good for him.  Dylan came to me and asked, "What is this stuff smothering my vegetables? It's delicious!".  I thought that was a pretty awesome thing to hear.

Shepherd's Pie

I figured that since I am Irish and I missed being able to make a meal for St. Patrick's Day that I should probably make up for it this weekend.  Especially since I have so many vegetables to use up!

I started off by making the potato crust. First I boiled the potatoes and a lot of garlic cloves, then added sour cream, butter, salt, black pepper and a bit of beef broth, mashed this really well and set aside for later use.

Then I made the filling. I used about two of my spring onions, coarsely chopped, and sauteed them in some olive oil until soft. I added a bit of sugar and cooked just until they started to caramelize and then I added about a pound of ground beef. This was cooked until brown and then I added chard (yellow and red), gold beets (because I am out of carrots), frozen peas, a bit of chopped red bell pepper, minced garlic and some salt and pepper. I cooked this just until the vegetables became soft and added a bit of flour and some diced tomatoes until mixed. A bit of beef broth and a can of beer was added next along with some chopped fresh rosemary.  I let this simmer about 20 minutes until the liquid started to cook away.

Once the filling was done, I sprayed a glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, added the filling to the dish and topped with the potato mixture.  I baked this, uncovered, for about 40 minutes and then I sprinkled the top with shredded cheddar cheese and paprika. This was then baked for another 10 minutes.

This turned out great! It was a bit more liquidy than I think it was supposed to be, but everyone, including the picky eaters, loved it!! I also got to make some room in my fridge. I especially loved that I was able to get everyone to eat beets and the potatoes with the cheese on top was a really good idea!

Friday Bin 3/18

It's that time again!! I love Fridays!  Even if I haven't felt well enough to do much cooking lately, I still look forward to getting my bin full of fresh fruits and veggies! I've got quite a few tasty ones this week too...

Asparagus
Spring Onions
Cauliflower
Zucchini
Collard Greens
Zucchini
Red Chard
Red Leaf Lettuce
Russet Potatoes
Fuji Apples
Navel Oranges
Strawberries
Murcott Tangerines

I've never had spring onions before, but they look a lot like purple leeks! I bet that they taste excellent just sauteed in some butter maybe to go on top of potatoes or steak? Also, my baby bok choy was substituted for collard greens this week. Even though I was looking forward to it, one of the many reasons that I love New Roots so much is that she substituted them for the greens this week because the supply just wasn't up to her standards!  I think that it is excellent that she does this, that way we aren't left with something that we are unhappy with.  I do hope that I get to make more dishes this week than what I have over the last few weeks, however now that I have discovered something called Blue Apple (a blue plastic apple that has a packet in it to catch the ethylene gases which make fruits and veggies ripen quickly and not last very long), my fruits and veggies are staying fresh longer and I have to say, I've got quite a bit to choose from which should make for some very good dishes.

Seafood Pot Pie

I've been wanting to make pot pies for a while now, I figured tonight was as good as any to give it a try. So, off to Whole Foods I went to buy some seafood to go into them!

I started off by putting butter, onion, garlic and chopped chard into a large saute pan and cooked until the vegetables were soft.  Then I added a bit of flour, cooked for a minute or two and added some dry sherry, shredded gouda parrana and Old Bay seasoning.  When this was mixed, I added the heavy cream and cooked just until it began to thicken, removed from the heat and added crab meat, cooked shrimp, bay scallops, some chopped cooked potato and gold beets and mixed just until combined.  I divided the mixture between two individual serving dishes, covered them with puff pastry and brushed the tops with melted butter.

I baked the pot pies for about 40 minutes on 350.  By the time I removed the pies from the oven, the house smelled amazing! When these came out of the oven, they smelled even better and had a wonderful golden brown, flaky crust.  I couldn't wait to try it, but had to, because well, they were really hot! So after an impatient 5 minutes of letting them sit, I finally served it up and had my first bite.  Wow.  They turned out better than I had imagined and were well worth the wait and the effort.  Although, I won't be making this all of the time, because well, it was a bit on the pricier side to make, I will keep it in mind for special occasions.  Dylan and I are now pleasantly stuffed and got our seafood fix for the weekend.

Artichokes with Butter Sauce

Well, I promised Dylan artichokes, so it only seemed right to follow through with my promise tonight.  I placed some orange slices, onion chunks, capers, pink peppercorns, salt and pepper in a large pot.  After trimming the artichokes I added them to the pot and brought the water to a boil.

While the artichokes were cooking, I made the butter sauce.  It was supposed to be a hollandaise, but for some reason I haven't been able to get this to turn out since my first successful trial.  So, after whisking the egg yoks, lemon juice, white pepper and worcestershire and adding the melted butter, it started to separate.  I knew after the last time, that it would still taste good, it just isn't exactly what I was going for.  However, I put it into the small serving dishes anyways, and sprinkled it with paprika.  The sauce, turned into more of a two layer butter sauce. The first layer, the egg yolky one, had a melted cheese-like texture and tasted smooth and creamy.  The top layer, was a clarified butter.

When the artichokes were done, it was time to eat them!!  The artichoke leaves dipped in this sauce were SO good!  It was by far the best dipping sauce that I've ever made to go with artichokes.  I will be making sure that I remember this and I don't think Dylan will let me go too long without making it again.

Friday Bin 3/11

I got my bin today and although a lot of the items are similar to what I've been getting I do have a few new items this week too!  These mixed with my veggies left from my last bin should make for some really tasty meals this week now that I'm feeling better!

Gold Beets with Tops
Rainbow Carrots
Yellow Onion
Artichokes
Collard Greens
Red Leaf Lettuce
Broccoli
Klamath Pearl Potatoes
Zucchini
Fuji Apples
Navel Oranges
Strawberries
Murcott Tangerines

I'm happy to see that I have artichokes this time, I still owe Dylan after my artichoke fiasco.  I'm also looking forward to the gold beets and rainbow carrots! It's been a while since I've had either of these and they are both delicious!  I've also got a feeling I'm going to be making a few potato dishes this week (I'm starting to acquire quite a few!) and have something in mind already for these yummy looking zucchini.  I can't wait until tomorrow so that I can start cooking with these veggies!!

Broccoli Soup

I'm sad to say that shortly after getting my bin full of goodness last Friday I got sick.  I didn't eat for nearly four days and after going to the doctor yesterday and hearing that I need to stick to bland foods for the next couple of days, I wasn't a happy camper.  However, not all bland foods have to taste bad, and bland doesn't necessarily mean flavorless, it just means little flavor or nothing that will irritate your already tender throat (such as in my case).  So I decided on a nice and simple soup.

For my first real meal in almost a week, I knew that I needed to use up my broccoli since I have an abundance of it from two bins now and figured I would try my hand at broccoli soup.  I started by sauteeing some garlic, onion and gold bell pepper in olive oil until soft and adding all of my broccoli and 4 cups of chicken broth.  Once this started to boil I took it off the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes.  Working in small batches, I poured the broccoli mixture into a blender and pureed until smooth.  The pureed mixture was added to a clean pan with cream cheese and shredded aged white cheddar cheese.  I cooked this over medium high heat until all of the cream cheese was melted.

To finish the soup, I garnished it with a little arugula (to add a bit of crunch and an additional flavor element) and some shredded cheddar cheese.

I have to say this soup was pretty tasty, it was mild in flavor but smooth and creamy.  This was also a nice light meal, which I feel was well within the rules of what the doctor ordered.  I only hope that I am feeling even better tomorrow so that I can start cooking again, especially since I get my new bin and now I really have a lot of catching up to do!!

Friday Bin 3/4

This week's bin is pretty similar to last week's with just a few changes.  I love having the challenge of keeping the same veggies interesting each week! Plus, it looks like I will have the opportunity to try another version of strawberry cupcakes and see if I can get them to turn out or not!

Beets with Tops
Savoy Cabbage
Yellow Onions
Arugula (Yum!)
Red Leaf Lettuce
Broccoli
Red Potatoes
Gold Peppers
Honey Gold Grapefruit
Gala Apples
Navel Oranges
Strawberries
Murcott Tangerines

I love arugula and I'm excited that I have it in my bin this week.  It has such a great flavor!  Also, the Honey Gold grapefruit is absolutely delicious, the perfect addition to any weekend breakfast or dinner salad.

Balsamic Strawberries

I promised a very tasty strawberry dessert this week and it's been quite the journey getting here.  My first idea was to make strawberry cupcakes, however these turned out a dark purple muffin (which I feel tasted quite similar to blueberry muffins).  I was extremely disappointed.  So, Tuesday I set out my second attempt at making them, altering the recipe a bit and chopping the strawberries rather than pureeing them and adding them to the mix.  What I ended up with was more of an eggy, spongelike muffin than a cupcake.  Again, it tasted like blueberries to me, but it wasn't purple!  Dylan actually loved both versions and ate several of them, but I'm not happy with either and decided that I would give my strawberry cupcakes a rest for the week. 

I spent the next couple of days this week trying to figure out a fun way to use these strawberries and decided on using the balsamic vinegar.  I've never had balsamic strawberries before so I wasn't really all that sure what to expect when I sliced them up and added them to the balsamic, sugar mixture.  I patiently waited the next hour until it was time to try them and heated them up on the stove just until warm, finally pouring them over top of vanilla ice cream. (I opted out of sprinkling black pepper on top, I still find this a strange combination, but maybe next time...) When I finally took that first bite of warm strawberries soaked in balsamic and vanilla ice cream...I didn't think I liked it.  It wasn't until about the 3rd or 4th bite that I decided it really wasn't so bad and started to really enjoy it.  Dylan however, loved it from the beginning, which definitely surprised me (although, I guess it shouldn't, she has quite the taste buds)!

I do think that I will be making this again and I'm looking forward to finishing off the strawberries for tomorrow's (or maybe even tonight's) late night dessert!

Sweet Potato Biscuits, Baked Zucchini and a Beet, Avocado and Apple Salad

Well, since I haven't had much of an opportunity to cook this week, I knew that tonight I had to make dinner using several of my veggies.  I've heard about sweet potato biscuits quite a bit lately but have never tried them, so I decided to make my own.  I made a simple biscuit mix using self-rising flour, butter, milk, shortening and added some cinnamon and allspice.  To this mixture I added some mashed sweet potatoes and mixed just until blended.  I formed biscuits after kneading just a bit and baked for about 15 minutes.

For the baked, stuffed zucchini, I first split the zucchini in half and boiled it just until tender and let cool.  In the meantime, I mixed cream cheese, sour cream, chopped crimini mushrooms, shredded gouda, aged cheddar and garlic together in a bowl.  When the zucchini was cooled, I scooped out the seeds and filled with the cream cheese mixture and sprinkled with paprika. The zucchini baked in the oven for 15 minutes just until the cream cheese was warmed through.

I'm most excited about my beet salad.  I found a suggestion online to place the beets in a bowl with 1/4 cup of water and bake, covered, in the oven for an hour.  I've never heard of that before, but decided to give it a try.  While the beets were baking I made an apple cider vinaigrette from, apple cider, white wine vinegar, mustard, oil, salt and celery seed. I also sliced the apples, onions and avocado, thinly.  At the last minute I decided to segment a blood orange and add that to the mix.  When the beets were done, I peeled and sliced them and added them to the vinaigrette to marinate for about 20 minutes.  To assemble the salad, I put a layer of spinach down on a plate, and topped with layers of the beet, apple, onion, avocado and blood orange.  To finish the salad I drizzled a bit more of the vinaigrette on top.

I have to say that dinner tonight was very light, refreshing and tasty!  The word that was used to describe tonight's meal was "superb" which made me feel pretty good.  The sweet potato biscuits were probably the best biscuits that I've ever had.  Light and buttery with a sweet flavor, resembling more of a fluffy cookie than a biscuit.  They went extremely well with the salad, which had several different flavor combinations going on, a little sweet and slightly spicy, turned out quite good.  The beets had a wonderful flavor and went very well with the vinaigrette.  I love the pinkish hue that it turned my salad!  I have to say that the zucchini was probably the biggest hit though.  It was very garlicky, but that didn't seem to bother anyone at all, since we all love garlic. Also, I'm a huge fan of just about anything with a cream cheese filling, so I was quite happy with this dish.  Needless to say, I really don't have any leftovers and my fridge is now ready for my new bin tomorrow.