Spinach Recipe No. 2: Enchiladas

As you may have just read in the blog post titled "Spinach Recipe No. 1: Strata," I recently had an abundance of spinach from our CSA box. The first recipe I made from about half the spinach and arugula was a strata. Here is the second.

Spinach, Pork and Swiss Cheese Enchiladas

Like with the strata recipe, I just made up this recipe as I went, so please forgive the lack of true measurements!

• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1/2-1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 2 cups spinach and arugula, chopped
• 1 cup or so shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 can enchilada sauce, any time (I used a mild red sauce)
• 8 small corn tortillas 
• Spices: salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, coriander

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

In a skillet, saute pork, onion, jalapeno and a shakes of each of the spices (to taste) until pork is cooked through. In another skillet, saute spinach and arugula in a skillet with a bit of water (you could probably cook the spinach withe pork, but for some reason I didn't). Mix the spinach in with pork.

Lay out all tortillas and scoop a hefty amount of pork mixture onto each tortilla. Top with cheese. Roll each one tightly (easier said than done) and lay in pan with seam side down. After all tortillas are rolled, pour can of sauce on top and top with additional cheese, if there is any left.

  

Bake for about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Broil on high for about 5 minutes. Enjoy with some black beans on the side!

Step Aside, Mashed Potatoes

There's a new kid in town. New to us, anyway.

I'm talking about root vegetable mash. I've had it a few times before (the side dish they serve at The Eatery stands out as one of the best I've had), but never attempted to make it. Last weekend's pre-Thanksgiving feast with foodie friends turned out to be the perfect opportunity for making it.

I looked up some recipes online, but ultimately just bought whatever root veggies I could find at the farmers market and added anything else that sounded good and made sense.

The recipe was super easy and very delicious -- the worst and most tedious part was peeling and chopping all of the vegetables. Here's what I used and what I did:

• 3 big sweet potatoes
• 4 potatoes (Yukon gold, red potatoes -- anything works)
• 6 medium-sized parsnips
• 2 celery roots
• a small carton of heavy whipping cream
• about half a stick of butter, cut into pieces
• garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

Peel and cut all vegetables into small cubes Fill a pot (I had so many vegetables that I need to big pots) with salted water, place cut vegetables inside and bring to a boil. Simmer (don't turn the stove too low -- you'll wnat some bubbles) for about 20-25 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

Drain, and place back in pot. Mash vegetables with a masher. Pour in cream and butter, and shakes of garlic, pepper and salt, and beat with an electric mixer. It should be ready to eat then, or, if serving it later, just put back on the stovetop to heat up. This made about 10 servings.

That's all there is to it! I can't wait to try making this again. I think it would be good with any sort of vegetable you can find -- rutabagas, turnips, carrots included. If I made it again, I might tone down the cream (and use skim or 2% milk) and butter. But it's probably tastier the way I made it!

Green Chile Chili

There are many things I love about Colorado -- the mountains, the craft breweries, the skiing and hiking, the laid-back lifestyle -- but one of the things I love most is that you can order delicious, homemade green chile chili just about everywhere you go.

Whenever we're in Colorado -- and we're there a fair amount, with Nate being from Colorado and having plenty of family members there -- I'm always sure to order a cup or a bowl. The style I've had in Colorado always has pork in it and is very thick. It's often served over other foods, such as burritos. Yum!

Green chile chili is always something I've wanted to make and for some reason never did. Until now.

With the cool fall temps and changing leaves, I figured now would be a good time to make our first batch of chili of the season. Nate and I both consulted a few different green chile chili recipes for ideas and insight, and then came up with this recipe.

I have no idea how traditional it might be (I have a feeling it's not too traditional at all), but I can tell you this -- it was delicious, and we will definitely be making it again. It had just the right amount of heat for us (it might be a bit much for those who don't like things too spicy) and the pork and Great Northern beans made it very satisfying. 

Green Chile Chili

• 1.25(ish) pounds pork (I can't remember what we used, but shoulder or pork butt would work) 
• 4 Anaheim chiles
• 1 Poblano pepper
• 1 banana pepper
• 2 small red chiles
• 1/2 jar tomatillo salsa
• 1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 teas. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• flour
• olive oil

Cut pork in about 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces (you can cut it after cooking, too, which is sometimes easier). Dredge pork in flour. Heat olive oil -- about a tablespoon -- in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork until browned.

Meanwhile, turn oven broiler on high. Place peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet. broil peppers and chiles, other than the small red ones, until blackened, rotating as needed (I think this took me about 20 minutes total). The small red  ones were too small to broil, and ended up crispy. I would just chop those and throw them in with everything else. After the peppers are blackened, place in a plastic bag and seal for about 15 minutes. Peel skin off the peppers, de-seed if desired and chop. 

Add pork, peppers and rest of ingredients to a slowcooker. Cook all day on low (you could also do this on the stovetop for a few hours, but I like how flavorful soups/chilis get in the slowcooker). Serve with cornbread, shredded cheddar, tortilla chips or anything else you'd like.

I was so excited to eat this meal that I didn't take a picture of the finished product. But I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like!

Grilled Quesadillas

I've been CRAVING quesadillas, so I decided to put them on last week's menu. We thought we'd try something new and a little different, but something that made complete sense--cook them on the grill, rather than in a skillet. It turned out to be a great idea!

While the way we usually make quesadillas is very good, it was fun to try something different. We also used smaller tortillas (I know I once mentioned I'd never buy tortillas again, but I caved and picked up a package of fantastic La Tortilla Factory white corn tortillas at Outpost. When I don't make my own, these are definitely the ones I would buy), a little less cheese and didn't pile tons of ingredients on them.

I'd try to tell you exactly what we used and what we did, but we really kind of made it up as we went. But here is a general idea of how to make grilled quesadillas:

• Package of 8 tortillas


• 1 chicken breast


• A couple small sweet peppers, chopped


• About 1/4 of a red onion, chopped


• Jalapeno(s) to your taste, chopped


• Mixture of spices: garlic powder, garlic salt, pepper, salt, coriander, cumin, chili powder, etc.


• Shredded cheese

Preheat grill on medium-high heat. Turn to medium-low when ready too cook.

Meanwhile, cook chicken in a skillet on the stove top with peppers and onion until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

Using a cookie sheet or tray, place four tortillas on the tray. Sprinkle cheese on each tortilla, and top with chicken mixture. Top with more cheese and the other tortilla. This way you'll have the quesadillas ready to place on the grill.

Place on the grill and cook until cheese melts and tortillas are brown and a bit crispy.

Do your best to flip them over and cook until tortilla looks the same.

That's it! It went A LOT quicker doing it this way, and they tasted just as good, if not better. We served ours with some spiced-up black beans and guacamole and chips. Yum!

Bacon-Beer Bread Grilled Cheese--Vote for Me!

About a week ago, I came across a post on DudeFoods blog (check out his blog--he eats the craziest concoctions and lives to write about them), talking about the ultimate grilled cheese contest. With a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card and cheese at stake, I knew I--along with Nate's help--had to participate.

We immediately put our heads together to think of a delicious grilled cheese we could enter. We had lot of ideas (one involved a pretzel roll; the other involved some Mexican cheeses), but ultimately we decided on the Bacon-Beer Bread Grilled Cheese we made for dinner Sunday night and submitted to the contest.

Low and behold, our creation is one of nine finalists in the contest! We're alongside some pretty crazy and delicious-looking grilled cheese creations. Even if we don't win, it was really fun coming up with something somewhat crazy (it's not everyday we make bacon-beer bread around here, but it could come to that). But, it would be fun to win, so I ask that you check out what we made and go to DudeFoods' Facebook page, "like" the page and then vote for our creation by "liking" the photo.

Bacon-Beer Bread Grilled Cheese (serves 2)

• four slices beer-bacon bread (see recipe below)


• sharp cheddar cheese (enough slices to cover one side of the bread)


• chipotle cheddar cheese (enough slices to cover one side of the bread)


• Bavarian mustard


• 3 slices cooked cherrywood-smoked bacon


• 2 eggs, fried


• 1 large tomato, sliced


• butter for outside of sandwich

For each sandwich, take two slices of bread. Spread butter on outer sides of bread and mustard on the inner sides. Top bread with slices of sharp cheddar, followed by the cooked bacon (1.5 slices per sandwich), tomato, 1 fried egg and chipotle cheddar. top with other slice of bread.

Cook in a large skillet over medium heat, until bread is browned and cheese is melted. Put cover on skillet if cheese isn't melting.

The sandwiches were very over-the-top compared to the grilled cheeses we usually make, but they were so tasty, and all the flavors worked really well together. So, if it sounds good to you, too, please go vote for it!

Beer Bacon Bread (12 slices, 1.5 lb. recipe)
Recipe from Betty Crocker's Bread Machine Book

• 3/4 cup flat beer


• 1/2 cup water


• 1/4 cup chopped green onions


• 2 Tbs. mustard (we used Dijon)


• 1 Tbs. butter, softened


• 3 1/4 cups bread flour


• 1 Tbs. sugar


• 3/4 teas. salt


• 1 3/4 teas. bread machine or quick active dry yeast


• 1/3 cup crumbled cooked bacon (we used cherrywood-smoked bacon)
  

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except bacon in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Add bacon at the raisin/nut signal.

Select basic/white cycle. Use medium or light crust color. Do not use delay cycles. Remove baked bread from pan and cool on wire rack. (We like slicing the cooled bread with an electric knife.)

Proscuitto Pizza

Last Friday, Nate and I were craving pizza, so we picked up some fresh dough and toppings at Outpost. Since it was a decent night, we thought we'd throw it on the grill, our favorite way to make pizza.

For toppings, we had sliced tomatoes, chopped red onion, slices of fresh mozarella and slices of proscuitto. We used some basic marinara sauce as our pizza sauce.

The pizza was really, really good--the proscuitto added some great flavor, and who doesn't love fresh moz? The only thing I would do differently next time is use a lighter, maybe olive oil sauce, rather than a red sauce.

Cooking Demonstration Recap

As many of you know by now (through Facebook, Twitter or word of mouth), I participated in a cooking demonstration last week. The demo took place during the Milwaukee NARI Home Improvement Show at State Fair Park. It was really fun, although I was incredibly nervous leading up to it.

Let me back up a bit. Last summer, I got an e-mail from the editor of M magazine, asking if I wanted to be profiled in an upcoming article on local bloggers. Of course, I said yes! Please! After the issue came out, someone from Ron Sonntag PR contacted me and said he had an opportunity I might be interested in. Turns out, Ron Sonntag PR helps organize the homeshow, and, in particular, the cooking demos. So, I was chosen as one of the cooks (along with a chef from Saz's, Princess Di's former chef and a former Hell's Kitchen contestant).

I put off thinking about the demo for quite some time. Then, before I knew it, it was the end of January and I had to figure out what the heck I was going to make! Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. I knew I wanted to make something I created on my own--I didn't want to just follow someone else's recipe. And I figured that meant making Mexican, as it's something I love and something I am very comfortable making.

So I decided to make veggie and bean burritos, guacamole and pan-fried tortilla chips. Nate was my right-hand man, up on stage with me and helping through the whole process. It was much appreciated, and allowed me the opportunity to tell some stories and jokes.

We had a lot of fun. As I said, I was pretty nervous going into it, but lucky for me (I guess you could say that!) I had a really busy week at work and didn't have much time to dwell on it.

Thanks to my friend Lisa for taking some pictures during the whole thing (I hear there is a video of me making guacamole, too! If it works, I'll post it to the blog). And thanks to other friends and family for coming out to watch: my parents, friend Leah, and mother in law and step-father in law. Thank you so much everyone--it means a lot!

Here is what we made for the demo and the recipes we used. Nate and I did a test run about two weeks before the actual event, so that's where the food pictures came from. Unfortunately, there wasn't an oven to use to bake the burritos during the demo, so we had to take them home and bake them (no big deal, though!).

Gucamole (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 avocados (reserve the other half for burritos)
• 2 tbs. red onion, chopped
• 1 tbs. prepared red salsa
• 1/4 teas. lemon juice
• 1 teas. mayonnaise
• 1/4 teas. each garlic powder, cumin, coriander and chili powder
• 1/8 teas. garlic salt, salt and pepper

Cut open avocado and remove pit. Scoop out fruit in a medium bowl and mash with a spoon, fork or potato masher. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well. It tastes better if it sits for a little bit (half hour to an hour) in or out of the fridge.

Pan-fried Tortilla Chips (serves 4)

• 4 small tortillas
• cooking spray
• 1/4 teas. each garlic powder, garlic salt and ground black pepper
• 1/8 teas. each salt and chili powder (both optional)

Stack the tortillas on a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, cut tortillas into 8 wedges, making a total of 32 wedges. In a small bowl, mix spices.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, and heat the skillet on medium-high heat. Place the tortillas on the hot skillet and coat with additional cooking spray, then flip tortillas a few times to coat. Sprinkle with spice mix, then flip the tortilla wedges a few times to coat with spice mix. Cook the tortillas on one side for 3-4 minutes (until the bottom is crispy) and then turn each tortilla over, using tongs. Let tortillas cook for another 3-4 minutes (until the chips are crispy and have browned edges). (It's best to cook the tortillas in one thing layer (not piled up) if possible.)

Let cool for 1-2 minutes and serve with guacamole.

Veggie and Bean Burritos (serves 4 (but they're huge!))

• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup orange, red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
• 1 can black beans (reserve 1/4 cup liquid), rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/4 prepared red salsa plus more for burrito topping
• 1/2 teas. (or more or less to taste) each cumin, coriander, garlic powder and dried cilantro
• 1/2 teas. chili powder (optional)
• 1/4 teas. (or more or less to taste) each ground black pepper and garlic salt
• 1/4 teas. cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 and 2/3 cups shredded pepper Jack cheese (or any other cheese or combination of cheeses)
• 4 large tortillas
• cooking spray
• 1/2 an avocado, sliced (leftover from guacamole)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add chopped peppers and onions, and cook about 7 minutes, with cover on, until tender. Add beans, salsa and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer, with cover on, for 10 minutes.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Using a slotted spoon, scoop a 1/4 cup of bean mixture into a tortilla. Top with 1/3 cup shredded cheese. Tuck tortilla into burrito shape--fold in sides first, then top and bottom, making sure to keep sides tucked in tight. Repeat process with the three remaining tortillas. Spread a dollop of salsa on top of each burrito and use the remaining 1/3 cup shredded cheese on top of 4 burritos.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn broiler on for another 5. Top with avocado slices.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Last Friday, we had a hankerin' for pizza (really, though, when don't we have a hankerin' for pizza?!). I wanted to try a topping flavor we'd never had before, and for whatever reason--even though I'm not a fan of chicken wings--a buffalo chicken pizza came to mind. Nate loves wings, so I knew he'd be all for it.

I really just made up the pizza as I went, which was kind of fun. You can add or take away whatever ingredients you want or don't want, but I wouldn't recommend piling on too many toppings. The only thing I would change about making this next time is that I would use a thicker crust or maybe a premade crust (like a Boboli). I love thin crust pizza, but with such a buttery sauce, it got a little messy and a bit soggy.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

-1 bag of premade pizza dough (it's easiest to work with when it's room temperature)

-3 tbs. Frank's Red Hot sauce

-2 tbs. Cholula hot sauce

-3 tbs. butter

-about 2 tbs. ranch dressing

-about 1/2 cup red onion, chopped

-1 chicken breast

-about 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

-salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in both Frank's Red Hot and Cholula and stir to combine.

Cut the chicken in about 1-inch pieces and coat with some salt, pepper and garlic powder in a skillet.. Pour in hot sauce and butter mixture. Cook chicken on medium-high until no longer pink (about 7 minutes), chopping it as it cooks to make smaller pieces. Set aside once cooked.

Spray a small skillet with cooking spray, and cook onions on medium-high until tender.

Roll out dough on a floured surface. My crust never ends up being in a perfect circle, but I figure that's OK--it all tastes the same! Place dough on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Prick a few times with a fork. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 for about 5 minutes (you'll just want to cook the crust a bit so it's not so soggy).

Take dough out of the oven and leave on the baking sheet. Coat crust with ranch dressing, then top with chicken mixture and red onions. Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake in the oven, again at 350, for about 10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. Turn on the broiler for a few minutes if desired.

The taste of the pizza was really, really, good--it was good leftover the next day, too. Next time, in addition to the thicker crust, I would maybe leave out the ranch. While I love ranch, and I know ranch/bleu cheese is a vital part of chicken wings, you couldn't really taste it, as the butter and hot sauce taste really over powered everything. I had my pizza with some celery sticks, to keep with the buffalo wing theme!

Personal Pita Pizzas

After the huge, rich meals we had had all weekend, Nate and I decided to take it kind of easy on Sunday night's meal. We thought pizza sounded good and with all the pita we had left over from Christmas Eve, we thought we'd make personal pita pizzas.

The pizzas were really easy to put together, and they took less than 15 to bake. Here's what we did:

Personal Pita Pizzas
-3 whole pitas (one for each of us and then one leftover)
-pre-made spaghetti sauce
-pre-made pesto sauce
-about 1/3 cup yellow onion, chopped
-about 1/3 cup green and red bell peppers, chopped
-1 small can sliced black olives
-fresh, small mozzarella balls, sliced
-feta cheese, crumbled
-1 Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled in a skillet (this was for Nate--I wanted a veggie pizza)

Combine spaghetti and pesto sauces to make a super tasty pizza sauce. Spread on pitas.

Layer rest of ingredients, dividing among the three pitas. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350-degree oven for about 8 minutes. Transfer pitas directly to oven rake and bake for 4 more minutes.

My pizza:

Nate's pizza:

Looking back at it, I think we should have baked the pizzas at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time. I think that would have helped crispy the bottom a bit. But, nonetheless, these were really tasty. I think the pesto-red sauce had something to do with that.

Chicken and Veg Fajitas

This could very well look familiar to my faithful readers (there are some out there, right?!. I can't remember if I've blogged about making chicken fajitas. I'm sure I have, because we really enjoy eating them. But I can't seem to find a post.

In any event, last Friday, we wanted to make dinner at home. I've been craving fajitas, so I stopped at Outpost to pick up supplies: chicken; red, yellow and green bell peppers; red onion; jalapeno; and tortillas. I originally wanted to marinate the chicken and peppers in fajita spice from the Spice House, but I didn't have the lime juice the recipe called for. So, we ended up just cooking the chicken and all the veggies in a skillet with Mexican seasoning: chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, salt, cumin and coriander. We served the fajitas on small tortillas from El Rey's, along with some guacamole and shredded pepper jack cheese.

For a side, I heated up a can of black beans, seasoned with some red onion, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and chili powder.

The fajitas were good as usual, but holy cow we had a hot jalapeno! It was quite a big one, and you could tell it was going to be spicy the minute Nate cut into it. Our eyes were watering, and I kept coughing. It was good, but maybe a teeny bit too spicy.

Smoked Sausage and Potatoes

We used to make this dish quite a bit, as it's one of Nate's favorites. We decided to make it this week, because we had a bunch of potatoes (both regular baking and purple (SUPER purple!) potatoes) from our last CSA box to use up as well as some leftover smoked sausage from a German soup we made in October (don't worry, it's been in the freezer since then). We also threw in about half a yellow onion we had (also from the CSA box).

The recipe is really easy, and it always makes enough for tasty leftovers. Here's what we did:

We cut up the potatoes (five or six of them? They were all different sizes) into pretty small chunks and tossed them with some spices, including garlic powder, pepper, crushed red pepper and cayenne pepper. We cooked them over medium in a skillet with some olive oil for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

We then added the chopped onions and sausage we cut into halves (below) and then quarters.

We cooked it for a bit longer (about 5-7 minutes (just need to have the sausage heated through)) and voila! That's all. We served the sausage and potatoes with a side salad.