Monday Menu

It was a rainy morning here in Corn Country. I'm sure the farmers appreciated it, as I did for my little garden that is growing like crazy! I've never seen such big peppers, lettuce and potatoes! Of course the weeds are going strong too. If the rain holds off a few days I might be able to get out to pull. We did our grocery shopping today and ate at our favorite place for a fast supper....Chipotle Mexican Grill! I have to give a shout out to Chipotle for their sustainable, ethical and yummy practices. Fresh food is always great and Chipotle does a great job at trying to get fresh and even local food into their restaurants. They have my full support! Anyway, on to the menu...

Monday-Chipotle!! :)
Tuesday-Veggie Calzones; salad;
Wednesday-Fajitas; peaches; chips & salsa
Thursday-Cajun Salmon; dirty rice; green beans
Friday-Pesto (first of the season!!!) Tortellini; salad; garlic bread
Saturday-Paninis; oven fries; fruit

Look for the recipes for many of these dishes in the future!

Easy, Jazzed-Up Spanish Rice

I started making Spanish Rice after we got married and have been playing with the recipe ever since. This is what I have come up with that I like, but you can modify to your own tastes.

Spanish Rice

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-1/2 cups brown rice (white rice will cook more quickly, but brown rice is healthier...and still yummy)
• 1-28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes-not drained
  
• 6-8 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 bell or poblano pepper, chopped
• 1 can black, pinto or red kidney beans
  
• chili powder-to taste
  
• chipotle power (optional)
• salt & pepper-to taste

Directions

Heat oil in a deep skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and rice, cooking until rice beings to brown. Add pepper and tomatoes, breaking up the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces with a spoon. Add vegetable broth and reduce heat. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more broth/water, as needed. Add beans last and cook until beans are heated. Season as desired with chili powder and salt. You can add ground beef/turkey/chicken if you would like a more meaty option.

Enjoy!

"C-ville Style" Deep-Dish Pizza

This is no Giordano's or Geno's East, but it was pretty good deep-dish pizza. I used the same recipe for the dough as I do for my calzones. Just grease up some 8" or 9" cake pans and press dough up the sides of the pan. Layer veggies, then cheese and sauce on top-that's the Chi-town way. For this one I used mozzarella cheese, broccoli, green pepper, zucchini, and tomatoes, but you can add any of your favorite toppings. I baked it for about 30 min in a 400 degree oven.

Here's a link to my post on calzones with the dough recipe I used, but feel free to use your own recipe, or frozen...if you must. Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

Enjoy!

PS-Sorry the pic is so small.

Snickerdoole Cookies

This post in honor of my hubby for both his 30th birthday this past Monday and our 1st Wedding Anniversary last Sunday. There's a little story that goes with this recipe, so I hope you don't mind if I reminisce for a bit.

Four years ago I began playing bass drum for Prairie Thistle Pipes and Drums. When I started college without a car, I needed rides to and from practice, so I sent out an email to the band, asking if anyone would be willing to pick me up on Tuesday nights. The man that would two years later become my husband was the first to offer. This began a great friendship that was deeply rooted in long, thoughtful conversation. Sometimes these talks would last way past the end of band rehearsal, but neither one wanted to end the night's conversation. So, as the days past, the friendship grew and mutual feelings developed. Although both were very outgoing, both were reluctant to express feelings in a more direct manner.

During one of these conversations in May of 2008, the subject of cookies was brought up. I offered to make cookies for David's birthday, if he would tell me when his birthday was. Although cookies were a strong motivation to divulge this information, he stuck to his guns and would not tell me his birthday. I decided that more covert measures needed to be taken and it just so happened that a conversation one night with a neighborhood cop produced the needed information.

So on Friday, May 30, 2008 I made cookies for the birthday boy and suggested we go to dinner to celebrate. It was later that night on a very, very, very long walk around my small hometown that we finally opened up and the rest is history! Of course, the cookies were snickerdoodles and even though he doesn't have a favorite cookie (he likes them all) snickerdoodles were ones he mentioned he liked. So, in honor of this historic event (for us anyway), here is the snickerdoodle recipe. Hope you didn't mind the rambling.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
  
• 2-3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Mix dry ingredients and add creamed mixture. Form small walnut-size balls. Roll balls in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for about 7 minutes until cracks appear in top.

Enjoy & Happy Birthday to my Hubby! I love you!

Cheesy Spinach Egg Casserole

I fell in love with this recipe at a bridal shower that was given for my hubby and I by his side of the family before we were married. His aunt Joan made this casserole for the brunch and I thought it was fantastic! I finally got the recipe and have tried it out on a few other people. My hubby took some to work a few weeks ago and it was a hit there too. We're having it once again to night for supper, as we both love breakfast for supper. I hope you'll try this recipe out too and love it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 24 oz container cottage cheese, don't drain
  
• 7 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 6 oz frozen spinach
• 1 Tbsp Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt
• 5 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sauteed chopped onion

Directions:
Thaw and drain spinach well. put cottage cheese in mixing bowl and beat in one egg at a time. cut up butter and put in mixture and add cheese. Add spinach, seasoning and slowly add flour 1 Tbsp at a time to avoid lumps. Add onion. Bake in a well-greased 9x13 pan or in 2 pie pans, uncovered at 325 degrees F for 1 hour.

You can also add any breakfast meat of your choice to the recipe. Also, it works great to mix it up the night before if you're making it for breakfast or brunch the next day!

Enjoy!

Barbecue-glazed Salmon

This recipe came from Real Simple magazine, which I just recently started getting. They have had a lot of fish recipes and I tried out this salmon recipe on my hubby last night. Two thumbs up! And it's so simple too!

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon steaks
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Place oven rack on highest setting and preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Line baking sheet with foil and grease with cooking spray. Season salmon steaks with salt and pepper. Brush tops of salmon liberally with barbecue sauce. Bake for 8-12min until salmon flakes easily with fork.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Enchiladas

Supper got postponed Tuesday do to the threat of a storm and the lawn needing to be mowed before it hit. I put the oven on warm and ran out with the push mower until it ran out of fuel, while my hubby tore through the yard on his grandma's Kubota tractor. Needless to say the lawn got mowed and we got fed. Let the rains come! Now, let's get down to the good stuff:

Black Bean Enchiladas

Filling:

• 1 onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red or green bell pepper
• 2-15 oz. cans black beans
• 3/4 cup salsa
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground chipotle (optional)

Other ingredients you'll need:

• 6-8 flour tortillas (I use multi-grain) or 12 corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• fresh chopped tomatoes (optional)
  
• sour cream (optional)
  
• sliced black olives (optional)

On medium-high heat cook onion, garlic peppers and beans for about 5 minutes. Add salsa, cumin, chili powder and chipotle. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Smash some of the beans with a fork or leave them be if you'd like a different texture. Divide mixture evenly between tortillas and sprinkle some cheese in each enchilada, laying them side by side, rolled up in a 9x13 pan. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top. Cover with foil and back at 350 degrees F for about 20-30 min or until bubbly.

For another variation: layer corn tortillas in the pan and layer the filling, cheese and tortillas like lasagna and add enchilada sauce to the top for a Enchilada casserole.

Enjoy!