Well, did you evah?

I was telling a fellow blogger recently how I hate serving tacos for company because they are always hideously ugly. I just can't figure out how to make them attractive. Nevertheless, tacos are a staple in our house, mostly because they're easy to make, can be made from leftovers, and taste great. Even if they are ugly.

Chicken Tacos

• 2 tortillas
• 3/4 tsp canola oil
• 3/4 tsp taco seasoning
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 chicken breast
  
• 1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lime
• mixed salad greens
• 1 Tbsp chipotle salsa
• 1/8 cup sour cream

1. Combine the salsa and sour cream and chill.
2. Combine oil, seasoning, garlic, and chicken.
   
3. Cook chicken in nonstick pan over medium high heat.
   
4. Shred chicken and combine in bowl with cilantro and lime juice.
5. Heat tortillas and top with mixed greens, chicken, and salsa.

I'd like to coo with my baby tonight

I'm not one of those girls that needs a designated "date night." We're one of those really obnoxious couples who finds a way to work romance and togetherness into random everyday occasions. Spur of the moment picnic lunches, surprise yogurt deliveries, and one of my faves - wine and movie nights. Those are the nights when we open a bottle of to die for wine, close our computers, curl up on our gigantic couch (10 people - right L?) and put on a movie we both want to see. (and we have VASTLY different taste in movies, so this in itself is usually the cause for the occasion.

I like to make us something that is both decadent and snacky on those nights and perfectly complements the wine. This usually means an appetizer for dinner, which is always a favorite. Especially when it blends sweet and spicy - which you MUST know by now is one of my favorite combinations. The spice in this totally takes you by surprise, in fact, after his first bite, Thatboy turned to me and asked "what makes this spicy? Isn't it fruit and honey?" So then I confided in him the secret ingredient - crushed red pepper flakes.

We're big red wine drinkers, and we paired this with one of our new favorites - Hartford Family Wineries Land's Edge Pinot Noir. The creaminess of the cheese, sweetness of the fruit, and spiciness of the pepper perfectly complement this complex wine

Sweet and Spicy Cream Cheese Dip

• 1/4 cup Light Corn Syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, and chopped dried apricots
  
• 1/8 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  
• 4 oz cream cheese

1. Mix syrup, salt, cranberries, raisins, apricots, almonds and crushed red pepper in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Heat to simmer, stirring to blend all ingredients. Remove from heat; let cool to room temperature.
   
3. Place cream cheese on serving plate. Top with fruit mixture.

How to use those eyes of blue

My high school chorus teacher used to tell me I seemed to think I could get away with anything by batting my little eyes. I got in trouble a lot in chorus. Now, in general I deserved to get in trouble in classes. I was a note passer, a whisper, a talker backer. But in chorus I SWEAR that every time I got in trouble it was undeserved. I would be whispering the correct page of music to my neighbor and SOMEHOW I'd hear my name bellowed from across the room instructing me to shut my mouth (which seems like the antithesis of what you would want to do in chorus, but whatever). But as my first sentence intimates, I was never in trouble for very long and I was never in bad trouble.

Nowadays its much harder to get out of situations by batting my eyes. I mean, it still works great with Thatboy, but I have yet to get opposing counsel to settle a case by using the big blues I was blessed with. At my office, I am considered a different type of trouble maker. Everytime I bring in a goodie, I get head shakes and curses (as they go back for seconds). I also have become the new sounding board for "have you tried this recipe?" The organizer stopped by my office a few weeks ago to ask this very question in reference to a cake she makes and uses boxed cake mix and pudding as filling. I decided to use that as a jumping post and try to make a healthier treat for everyone to enjoy.

This post is a couple of weeks late, because I actually made this to celebrate the 4th of July which is explains the red, white, and blue. Instead of frosting the cake with traditional frosting, I decided to make a patriotic, lighter stand and just use powdered sugar and fruit.

And I'll let you in on a little baking secret. Growing up, my best friend had a thing for white cake. It was her favorite. Her mom, who taught me the joy of homemade pasta and pizelles, confided in me the secret to a perfect white cake. It's egg whites. See, most people who make white cake throw in the whole egg, and the yolks make the cakes less than white. It gives it a bit of a yellow cast. Substitute egg whites in for whole eggs and your cake will be as white as newly fallen snow. And then you can tell all your coworkers how healthy this cake is since it doesn't use egg yolk! Although as one of my coworkers announced "It sure doesn't taste healthy!"

4th of July Cake

• Baking Spray
• box white cake mix
• 6 Tbsp water
• 3 egg whites, separated
• 4 oz vanilla pudding
• strawberries and blueberries
• confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 8 inch cake pan with baking spray. Place cake mix, water, and 2 egg whites in bowl and beat with electric mixer just until moistened.
   
2. Increase speed for 3 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then remove from pan and cool completely.
3. Beat remaining egg white until soft peaks form, fold into pudding and refrigerate.
4. Slice cake horizontally in half to make 2 layers. Place bottom layer on serving dish and spread pudding over top. Add top layer.
   
5. Sift powdered sugar all over cake and then top with berries. Add some more sugar (go on - no one's looking)

I'm ridin' high

Or possibly I'm just high - I'm too tired to really tell the difference. I'm also to tired to do much cooking which always leads to creative meals. This is probably one of the easiest, quickest, summer meals because its nice and cool. Now, I love lettuce wraps, so let me be the first to say these are a far cry from my favorites. First because they don't use hot chicken. Second because they don't use minced chicken. Third, because, well - they're just not okay? So if you came here looking for the deliciousness served in a cool crunchy exterior you've come to the wrong place. If you've come looking for a lazy substitute, then you, my friend are in luck.

The one thing I have learned about lettuce wraps is that they require iceberg lettuce. Accept no substitution.

Terriyaki Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups

• 1 chicken breast, cooked, shredded
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1. Combine chicken, teriyaki sauce, carrot, and green onion.
2. Serve in lettuce cups
3. Sprinkle with almonds

A physical condition

I am soooo tired. Ridiculously tired. Another whirlwind weekend, out of town in a city that has black out blinds for a reason. I got in late last night and barely dragged myself out of bed this morning. I hardly ever drink coffee in the morning, so instead I reached for something a little more filling for a pick me up. It's a complete meal in an attractive package. It doesn't have the same effect as coffee, but it definitely makes me smile and brings me back to the days of packed lunches. Heck, who am I kidding - I STILL eat packed lunches. Every day. Although now they're a little more interesting than Peanut Butter and Jelly. For instance, today's lunch had a baby spinach salad with honeyed sesame sticks, strawberry and a gorgonzola pear vinaigrette, combined with some broccoli spears, and apple slices.

But I digress. Even if I'm not eating PB&J any more, I still appreciate the simplicity of that childhood favorite. Okay, I'm cracking myself up again because the first year of our marriage I made Thatboy PB&J for lunch every day. So I knew we both would enjoy these muffins. They have all the flavors of the peanut butter and jelly and help keep me fueled throughout the day. And on days like today I needed all the fuel I could get. And a closed office door for naps. Thank goodness there's so much room under my desk.

PB&J Muffins

• cooking spray
  
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• raspberry jam (you can use whatever you want, this is Thatboy's favorite)
• 2 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
  

1. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400ºF. In bowl, stir together flour sugar, baking powder, salt.

2. Add peanut butter.

3. Add milk, eggs and oil and stir until just moistened.

4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups 1/2 full. Place about 1 Tbsp jam in the center of each muffin. Fill muffin cups with additional batter.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan about 5 minutes.

There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me

Green Bean Casserole, take 2!

We're on our way to a lighter green bean casserole. I decided to cut out the cream of mushroom soup in this one. I tried to figure out "what makes cream of mushroom soup" and I decided it was a thick, salty, mushroomy, creamy mixture. So I used each of those ingredients.

For the creamy part I used skim milk (1/2 cup)
For the mushroomy part I used mushrooms (why yes, I AM a genius - I used about 1/2 an 8 oz pkg, sliced and sauteed)
For the salt I used soy sauce (I also thought this would give it a little more flavor. I was so right. See "I AM a genius" - I used just about a Tablespoon)
For the thickness I just used a little bit of flour (Tablespoon).

So basically you combine all those ingredients together to create a kind of sauce and use that instead of the cream of mushroom soup in the original recipe. Because this sauce is more liquidy than the cream of mushroom soup, you can cut out the milk from the recipe.

The result? It's a little drier than the original recipe, but I kinda liked that. It made the onions crunchier. I think I still want to tweak it a bit, but for right now I like this so much better, and it's definitely lighter!

Time is fleeting

This is my last party dessert post. As I mentioned before, by the end I was getting tired, but unwilling to relent in my quest to make sure no belly went unstuffed. And there wasn't much time before the guests arrived. I decided to try another Fleischmann's 1 dish recipes, even though my last one did not go so well. And honestly, the results here have made me pretty much decide that Fleischmann's has magic ovens or something, because nothing turns out right. I didn't even cut the recipe in half this time!

This came out as much more of a coffee cake breakfast-y dish than a dessert. In fact, I cut it into squares and Thatboy ended up bringing in the leftovers to work for a breakfast treat for them.

In the spirit of being a good sport, I'm entering this recipe in Bookmarked recipes. Here's hoping that I'm the only one who Santa neglected to bring a magic stove!

Fleischmann's 1-Dish Hot Fudge Swirl (from Fleischmann's)

Batter

• Mazola® PURE^TM Cooking Spray
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 envelopes Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup very warm water (120°F to 130°F)
• 2 tablespoons buter OR margarine, melted

  Chocolate Topping

• 1 cup (11.75 ounce jar) hot fudge sauce, regular or dark chocolate (Don't substitute chocolate syrup for hot fudge sauce.)

  Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

MIX batter ingredients in a pre-sprayed 9-1/2-inch deep dish pie plate.
TOP batter with evenly spaced spoonfuls of hot fudge sauce. Using spoon, swirl fudge sauce into batter.
BAKE by placing in a COLD oven; set temperature to 350°F. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm in center. Cool 10 minutes. Combine icing ingredients and drizzle over warm cake.

Laziest gal in town

So as usual I am terrible at planning. For some reason, everytime I have people over I make far too much food. Enough food to feed 3 to 4 times as many people as I've invited. I blame my fabulous mother who taught me that the ultimate crime of entertaining is for guests to leave hungry. In the process of making enough food to feed the Czech Republic, I got worn out. And when it comes to desserts, I had made from scratch cookies, and from scratch brownies, but I just felt that it wasn't enough. Plus, where was the fruit? But I was tired, so I cheated. I used the "No pudge" brownie mix from Trader Joes to create this masterpiece. Luh-Hay-Zee! But I just didn't have the energy to do much more than combine yogurt and powder. Heck, I didn't even chop up these gorgeous pieces of fruit. Thatboy has become my go to fruit prep man.

No Pudge Brownie Shortcake

• 1 pkg No Pudge brownie mix
• fat free yogurt
• 1 container lite sour cream
• 1 cup cool whip, thawed
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• kiwi and strawberries, cut up
  

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare brownies according to mix and add 1/2 cup of the sour cream. Pour into greased and floured 9 inch cake pan.
2. Bake 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes and remove to wire rack to cool completely.
3. Mix remaining sour cream, cool whip, sugar, and vanilla. Cut the cake into two layers and place bottom layer on plate. Spread layer with half of the sour cream mixture and top with the other layer. Cover with remaining sour cream and fruit.

Just one of those things

If you were to ask Thatboy what his favorite dish I make is, he'd have a hard time picking just one. But there are definitely a few that stand out. One of his often requested dishes is my turkey pot pie - and there is NOTHING special about this dish. I use a prebaked pie crust, cream of crap soup, frozen veggies. And yet he raves about this dish. I wanted to see if another version that was a smidge more special would meet his approval. I kept with the premade pastry and the frozen veggies, but added some real honest to goodness veggies too. AND I skipped that cream of crap stuff and just milk and flour. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

I ended up using chicken in this because we didn't have any turkey breasts lying around my freezer.

The verdict? Passable, but not as good as "the real thing" (funny since there's nothing real about the real thing other than the turkey).

Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 8 oz pkg mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• bag of frozen broccoli
• 1 chk breast, cooked and diced
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked
• 1 can refrigerated biscuits (here's a little secret about me. I hate hate hate opening these things. I always think they're going to blow my face off. I ask DH to open them for me. I'll still love him without a face)

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a skillet saute onions and mushrooms in oil until tender.
2. Add flour, broccoli, chicken, milk, chicken broth, thyme, and parsley to skillet. Bring to a boil.
3. Stir in rice and pour into a 13 x 9 baking dish.
   
4. Place biscuits on top. Bake about 13 minutes.

Like a frightened colt

Have you ever seen a stampede? It's fast, it's powerful, and it's liable to crush you if you don't get out of the way. That is exactly the reaction this cookie elicits. Seriously, do not get in between the cookie tray and the people you are setting it out for. Dangerous.

I initially made these cookies for Thatboy to take into work with him. But I made a ton (one of the perils of only have 3 cookie cutters to your name, and 2 of them being for Christmas cookies). So I was piling them on the plate I heard a "WOAH - I don't need to bring that many in, my office isn't that big." So I gave him about a dozen and kept the rest for an upcoming party. There were complaints. One of Thatboy's coworkers told me the cookies were gone within an instant. When I informed her I had tried to send in more, she sent Thatboy a nasty look. Apparently there was a fight for the last cookie, and one poor individual who didn't realize there were cookies was devastated when he heard what he missed.

The rest of the cookies got put out on my big "I'm out of town for the 4th of July" party. Anyone who didn't grab a cookie was quickly advised by their spouse to get one. One of my friends remarked that she didn't think she'd like the cookies because they looked crispy, and was pleasantly surprised when they were soft. Then she dragged her husband over to the dessert table (oh yeah, a whole table of desserts, pretty much the theme of the next few days).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is these are good cookies. And I completely think its due to the secret ingredient - cocaine. Just a little in every cookie. I mean, that stuff's not cheap! Or the secret ingredient might be the unsweetened chocolate shortbread. I think it creates a cookie that's not overly sweet and lately I've become nearly obsessed with shortbread cookies because they actually turn out well for me and cookies do not always turn out well for me. I also think the mixture of the unsweetened cookie and the sweetened chocolate adds just the right amount of chocolatey goodness. Although I'm sure the cocaine doesn't hurt.

Double Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tbsp butter
  

1. Melt baking chocolate in stainless steel bowl set over pan of simmering water.
   
2. Mix flour and salt together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth.
4. Add melted chocolate and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and mix until just blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough to 3/8 inch on lightly floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Bake for 8 minutes and cool on pan.
7. Melt chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp butter in stainless steel bowl set over pan of simmering water.
8. Dip cooled cookies in melted chocolate and let chocolate set.

Game winning

I'm back! I bet most of you didn't know I was even gone - you just gotta love the new "schedule a future post" aspect of blogger. Now you never know if I'm here or there! It's good to be home, but it's hardly relaxing. And I don't expect relaxing for a couple more weeks, although I did get an email today which indicated that at least when relaxation does occur I'll have a couple weeks of it!

So the rules of the game are pretty simple - create a quick, easy, light summer dinner for one. While Thatboy is more than happy with a salad dinner, I don't think he really appreciates a salad meal the way I do. The crisp apples, crunchy almonds, sweet cranberries, spicy onions, and tangy cheese just tell me to pass go and collect $200. In other words, this one is a sure fire winner.

Cran-apple Salad
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup mixed greens
1/4 cup dried cranberries
sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 green apple, diced
1/4 onion, sliced
favorite salad dressing

1) Combine almonds, greens, cranberries, blue cheese, apple, and onion.
2) Drizzle with dressing and toss.

Peachy summer

Growing up, we spent every summer in South Carolina and over indulged in two foods, shrimp and peaches. We would eat both until our hands were puffed up from the salty shrimp and our faces were coated in the juice of peaches. Our first trip upon reaching our vacation home was to the supermarket where the moment of entry was marked by the overwhelming aroma of fresh peaches.

So for me, peaches are the quintessential summer fruit, associated with beach trips, sunrises, and long summer nights. Warm breezes and warm currents. Now there's no way my recipe exchange partner could have known this, I mean, she didn't even know who was going to get her recipe, but fate waved a magic finger and for this month's recipe exchange I was given the ultimate summer dessert - peaches and cream.

The recipe combines fresh sliced peaches, a creamy cream cheese and cool whip frosting, and then another one of my southern summer favorites - a pecan encrusted crust. Peaches, pecans, and cream? It's summer in a dish - or on a plate - or in a bowl! It's inexplainably light and airy, and everyone loves a fruit dessert in the summer right? Especially one that uses fresh fruit. Thatboy helped out by slicing the peaches for me while I ran around preparing the rest of it - true teamwork. Of course, I'm sure the promise of a quicker finish was appealing to him!

So while I can't tell you who sent me this recipe, I can tell you that they have excellent summer taste!

Peaches and Cream Layered Dessert 1st layer: 1 1/4 stick margarine 1 1/2 cup plain flour 2 Tbsp sugar 1/2 cup chopped pecans 2nd layer: 2 8-oz blocks cream cheese at room temp 1 cup powdered sugar 2 cups Cool Whip 3rd layer: 4 or 5 cups sliced fresh peaches 1 cup granulated sugar 2 Tbsp corn starch 3 Heaping Tbsp peach jello (dry Powder) 1 1/2 cups water 2 Tbsp margarine 1 tsp lemon juice 2 drops yellow food coloring and 1 drop red food coloring 1 tsp vanilla In the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, melt margarine. Add next 3 ingredients. Mix together and pat evenly in bottom of pan and bake at 350 for 15 to 20 min or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool. Next. Mix next 3 ingredients in mixing bowl until smooth. Spread evenly over 1st layer. Next. Blend sugar, cornstarch and dry jello in pan. Add water, lemon juice, and butter. Cook until thickened. Then add vanilla and food colorings. Cool somewhat and then mix with the sliced peaches and place on top of 2nd layer. Refrigerate several hours prior to serving. The jello mixture will continue to congeal. Decorate with more whipped cream if desired.

Contented to Charm

The first time I tried to make tortilla bowls I royally screwed up. I didn't really understand the directions and they came out really weird. I have since very nearly perfected the art of the tortilla bowl, and making it at home is a hundred times healthier than those tortilla bowls you get at a restaurant that are deep fried. Now as I think I've mentioned before, these still aren't very healthy because the amount of fat in a flour tortilla, but if you're looking for a cute presentation tortilla bowls are definitely the way to go. You can pretty much serve anything in tortillas bowls (though I don't recommend soup). I served some easy chicken and rice in mine.

Chicken and Rice in Tortilla Bowls

1 Tbsp oil
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup black beans
1 cup shredded chicken
1/4 cup water
1 cup cooked rice
2 flour tortillas

1) Preheat oven to 425. Press tortillas into oven safe bowls to form bowl shape. Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Let cool in bowl.

2) Heat oil over medium-high heat and cook pepper and onion until tender.

3) Stir taco spices, tomatoes, black beans, chicken, water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.

4) Stir in rice and cook until heated through. Spoon into tortilla bowls.

I'd like to shine in a physical way

Shine like the stars, shine like a diamond, shine like the light glistening off of a fresh glaze...I love pumpkin, so the thought of glazed pumpkin cake is as shiny as my favorite star. And yes, I do have a favorite star. Don't you? Everyone should have a favorite star. When I was but a wee lass I used to bring boyfriends out under the stars and make them tell me about constellations. Now I don't think I ever dated a guy who actually knew about astronomy, but hanging out under the stars always struck me as very romantic. It's be even more romantic if these nighttime stargazing sessions were nighttime picnics. Now I'm lucky enough where we can sit out on our balcony and enjoy the moon, the stars, and dinner or dessert. Oh so romantic! So bake a cake, grab your favorite guy and head out to watch the sky.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

3 cups AP flour
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp water
1 cup chopped walnuts

1)Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, and baking powder in bowl.

2) In separate bowl, mix butter and sugar on medium high of electric mixture until creamy.

3) Add the eggs and mix until blended. Lower the speed and add the pumpkin, then the flour.

4) Stir in the raisins.

5) Grease a 13 x9 pan and pour batter in. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool completely.

6) Blend confectioners sugar and water and drizzle over cooled cake. Top with walnuts.

Easy to love

I'm going through a cranberry phase right now, cranberry lemonade, cranberry chicken, cosmopolitans...I decided it'd be really really easy to add cranberries to my rice. And it was! For some of you this might be cranberry overkill, but for me it was perfect. I made cranberry chicken by roasting chicken and topping it with a glaze made from cranberry relish. Served it with some roasted zucchini, and then came the cranberry rice.

For those of you who are bored with your basic rice, this is an easy way to snazz it up. And did I mention tasty? Although, that could just be my inner cranberry coming out.

Cranberry Rice

1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white cranberry juice
1 cup white rice
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds

1) Toast almonds.
2) Combine broth and juice in medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
3) Stir in rice and cranberries, bring back to a boil, cover, and remove from heat.
4) Let stand 20 minutes, or until rice is done, and stir in almonds.

Do I love you?

How do you know when you are loved? Well if you live in this household, you know you're loved when your beautiful and talented wife makes you homemade quesadillas for lunch on a weekend - just cause. You know its really love when this lunch is made while you're off surfing all morning.

If there's someone you love you should tell them of course, but you should also show them. You don't have to do anything crazy like skywriting, but taking that little extra time to make your own salsa and melt your own cheese is a sure fire way to let someone know they're worth the effort.

And because I love my readers (well some of you...) I'll share with you my:

sure-fire-easy-as-pie-hardly-changed-from-7th grade-home-economics quesadilla.

I practically lived off this thing back when I was a vegetarian.

1/2 cup diced tomatoes (I use the canned kind...Hunt's has this new fire roasted kind I'm loving. If you use the one with garlic, omit the garlic salt)
1/2 cup corn
1/4 cup black beans
1/2 cup onion, diced
chopped cilantro
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of 1/2 lime
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
flour tortillas (I love love love the gigantic burrito size from Trader Joes)

1) Make the salsa! Combine tomato, corn, onion, black beans, cilantro, garlic salt,cayenne, and lime juice.

2) Spread half of cheese on each tortilla, and each tortilla with 1/4 of salsa.

3) Fold tortilla over cheese and salsa. Heat large skillet over medium heat and brown quesadillas 3 minutes on each side.

4) Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges and top with 1/2 of remaining salsa.

C'est magnifique

If you recall, I promised you that I'd share that famous classic grape jelly and meatball recipe with you. Well today is your lucky today. I honestly have no idea who invented this recipe. I can only imagine the chaos that must have been going on in a kitchen where someone decided to dump both grape jelly and barbeque sauce in with their meatballs. There are variations of it all over the internet, this is pretty much as basic as any of those recipes can get.

And the result? So good! I know most people serve these as appetizers and I can imagine that they'd go over very well. As for us, we were happy enough just to eat them on their own, swimming in saucy goodness. Thatboy was very nervous when he walked into the kitchen. I hate when he walks into the kitchen while I'm cooking. He starts making "comments" and then making up his mind which is never good. This time he came in and took a look - "is that jelly?" I was prepared for him to turn up his nose at dinner, but luckily he dug right in and loved them. Neither of us could taste the jelly, but loved the sweetness it added.

Grape Jelly Meatballs
Cooked meatballs
1 jar jelly
1 cup barbeque sauce

1) Combine jelly and barbeque sauce in large saucepan and cook over medium heat until jelly melts.
2) Add meatballs and lower heat. Cook 15 minutes or until meatballs are warmed through.

All the world loves a clown

I love playing little tricks on Thatboy, mostly to see if he's paying attention. About 90% of the time he isn't. Which means I probably don't have to play tricks because he's already a step behind me without added tomfoolery (seriously, when's the last time anyone used that word?) One of my favorite easy tricks is to serve leftovers with completely different sides and pretend they're not leftovers, that instead I worked all day creating the menu. This type of trick usually works best in the summer, when Thatboy surfs every night after work, giving me plenty of time to work my shenanigans. Unfortunately, this trick fools him every single time, because, well, he really doesn't pay attention.

In fact, the joke is really on me, since I could probably serve him the exact meal two nights in a row without him realizing it. So maybe the joker here isn't me.....

I whipped up some stovetop stuffing to go with our leftover pot roast. And I'm serious about stovetop, I love that brand. Mostly because I always wanted to be that kid from the commercials who seemed to have the neverending stomach and had stovetop dinners at three different homes. I love stuffing, but I get so full so quickly, stuffing always means a very small dinner for me.

Stovetop Stuffing
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
3/4 cup chicken broth
Stovetop boxed stuffing

1) Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and celery and cook until veggies are tender.
2) Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
3) Remove from heat and stir in stuffing.