Green Chile Pork

These are our favorite pork burritos!!

Ingredients:
Pork
1 small can Green Chiles
Green Enchilada Sauce
Crushed red pepper flakes
Chili Powder
Salt and Pepper
Taco seasoning (Sometimes)

Directions:
Throw everything into the crock pot.  We just do about an inch of green enchilada sauce on the bottom.  Cause we buy the bulk can of sauce so we only end up using half of it.  Set the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.  No water needed, the enchilada sauce is moist enough.  If anything this turns out a little too soupy for us sometimes.  Still working on fixing that.  Always delicious though!

Toppings for Burrito:
Guacamole
Refried beans (with water added)
Cheese
Sour Cream
Green Enchilada sauce (sometimes)
Lettuce
Fresh Tomatoes

Oat Groats

One of our favorite breakfasts!  Especially when you can add bananas and strawberries!

Ingredients
1 cup oat groats
Cinammon
Fruit
Brown Sugar
Milk

Directions:
Put 1 cup oat groats in pressure cooker to 2 cups water on high or low for 15 minutes in pressure cooker.  Sprinkle cinammon on top.  We normally let this sit overnight and then eat it in the morning.  So it sits on warm all night.  I did add some more water after it finished cooking, since it would have to be there all night.  I added about 1/2 cup more water, which worked great, then added some more in the morning to get it stirred.

We add milk, and brown sugar and fruit.  EAT! Yummy!

Focaccia Bread

This recipe is from Brad's mom!  Delicious!  Next time I would flatten it out all the way on my cookie sheet.  Cause it still rose? a little bit once it cooked, so parts of the bread were really dense.

Ingredients

2 ¼ tsp. Yeast

4 tsp. Sugar

1 ½ c. water

½ c. chopped onion

3 ½ c. flour

2 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. rosemary

1 tsp basil

2 cloves crushed Garlic

 Directions:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water.  Saute onions in dry skillet.  Place dry ingredients in bowl.  Mix garlic into onions.  Add to dry ingred.  Add yeast slowly.  Knead 10 min.

Roll in to a ball.  Coat bowl w/ olive oil.  Turn dough over in bowl to coat.  Cover and let rise till double.

Brush baking sheet w/ oil.  Punch down dough and then down onto pan leaving craters and indentations.  Brush w/ olive oil, sprinkle w/ sea salt and cracked pepper

375 till golden brown.

Spicy Roasted Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese

We skipped adding panko bread crumbs and broiling it in the oven.  We like are Mac-n- Cheese to stay creamy. We loved the spicy kick this had!


Ingredients:

1 cup broccoli florets, chopped into small chunks
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 yellow squash, quartered and diced (Skipped cause I forgot to buy it)
10 baby carrots, sliced thinly
2 cups whole wheat pasta (elbow macaroni, rotini, penne, etc.)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups (8 oz.) Sargento® Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (Used Chili powder instead)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Set a medium pot of salted water to boil. Prepare a large baking sheet by lining with aluminum foil and coating with a little olive oil or nonstick cooking spray.

Toss broccoli, red pepper, squash and carrots onto the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until vegetables have softened. Remove from oven and set aside.

Once water is boiling, lower heat slightly and add pasta, cooking according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, stirring constantly until mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in cheddar cheese until well distributed and melted. Add red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Add macaroni and vegetables.

Place mixture in a large casserole dish and sprinkle with panko breadcrumbs. Place under the broiler in your oven (500 degrees) for 3-4 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Santa Fe Turkey stuffed Peppers

YUM!  This was a delicious filling meal, packed full of good stuff too!

Brad couldn't even tell that I had used Turkey, until I told him and he tasted it without all the fixings. :) Success!  Instead of using cumin to season it with I used taco seasoning, and chili powder, so it had more of a Mexican taste.  We both loved it though, and would add sour cream next time!  I forgot...

Ingredients:
For the filling:

• 1/2 lb 99% lean ground turkey
• 3/4 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cups frozen corn
• 1 hot pickled serrano pepper, chopped (or jalepeño) more to taste (I skipped this and used crushed red pepper flakes instead)
• 1 large diced tomato (I used a can of diced tomatoes)
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp chopped onion
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 1 tsp cumin
• kosher salt to taste

For the peppers:

• 3 red bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/3 cup reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth
• 9 tbsp shredded reduced-fat Sargento Monterey Jack cheese  (I used medium cheddar)
• 1 tbsp chopped scallions, for garnish

Directions:

In a large skillet brown the turkey and season with salt. When the turkey is browned, add onion, garlic, black beans, cilantro, serrano pepper, diced tomatoes, and cumin. Mix well and simmer on low, covered for 20 minutes. Remove lid, add corn and simmer an additional 5 minutes or until all the liquid reduces.

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, removing seeds and stem.

Place peppers, cut side up in an oven-proof dish. Fill each pepper with 1/2 cup turkey mixture. Pour about 1/3 cup water or chicken broth on the bottom of the dish. (I used just water) Cover tight with foil. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until the peppers become soft.

Remove foil, top each with 1 1/2 tbsp of cheese and bake uncovered an additional 5 minutes. Top with scallions and serve with reduced-fat sour cream if desired (optional).

Grilled Chicken w/ quinoa

This dinner was thrown together with what we had in the kitchen.  Which turned out FABULOUS!!

I just cut up the chicken and seasoned it with Lemon Pepper seasoning.
Cooked 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups chicken broth.  Brought that to a boil, then reduced heat to medium-low for 20 minutes.
Steamed Peas

Mixed it all together and voila!

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Sald

Finally back to trying recipes!! :)  It's been fantastic!  I'm loving quinoa right now!  So easy and yummy with anything or in place of rice, for me.  Brad will mix his rice and quinoa. 

This has been one of our favorites so far.  I cooked the chicken in my pressure cooker though, which was 6 minutes on high.  I also just took frozen corn and cooked it on the skillet.  Instead of mixing our BBQ sauce with greek yogurt we just used bbq sauce.  We figured that was good enough. :)



Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, rinsed very well
2 cups chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
salt & pepper
2 ears corn, shucked (or 1 cup corn kernels)
1/2 cup black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (plus more for chicken)
Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa very well in a fine mesh sieve under cold running water. Combine with the chicken broth in a saucepan then bring to a boil. Place a lid on top, lower heat to medium-low, and cook until quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt & pepper, then grill over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes a side, or until no longer pink in the center. (Alternatively you could poach the chicken, or use leftover or rotisserie chicken.) Add corn to the grill at the same time, and rotate every couple of minutes to evenly char on all sides. Remove chicken and corn to a plate and let cool slightly. Shred or cut chicken into cubes, then mix with enough BBQ sauce to coat. Slice kernels off the cob.
3. Mix together Greek yogurt and BBQ sauce in a bowl. Evenly divide the cooked quinoa, shredded BBQ chicken, grilled corn, black beans, and shredded cheese between four plates. Drizzle with yogurt and BBQ sauce mixture, then garnish with chopped cilantro.