Heidi's "Quesadillas" with Spiced Coconut Spinach

We actually had this for Father's Day dinner after a morning of bacon and lemon bars on the way for dessert. 

Heidi's "Quesadillas"  Rating: 5

We liked the yogurt and capers but the rest of these were nothing special.  I would be equally happy with a fried egg.  Although, Neal did pitch in to make Rick Bayless' Corn Tortillas for this and they are great on their own.

Spiced Coconut Spinach  Rating: 9

This side thoroughly rocked!  It sounded quite weird but we like trying new flavors and ideas to stretch our culinary boundaries so we gave it a go.  It was so wonderfully flavorful.  Warm spices with a bit of warm heat, a zing of lemon, and the delicate sweetness of the coconut made us want to go out and buy a huge bag again.  The linked post for this recipe provides other ideas on how to use this versatile side.

Juevos Rancheros

Juevos Rancheros  Rating: 9

Juevos Rancheros is Mexican comfort food at its best.  This is just a layering of Not Refried Beans (below), Rick Bayless' Corn Tortillas, grated cheese, a fried egg, and salsa (store bought).  Using two corn tortillas is too much food but his recipe is so good we can't help ourselves.  We were able to use yet more of our home canned pinto beans in this simple recipe.

Not Refried Beans  Rating: 9

You can use store bought or home canned beans for this.  Reserve 1/3 of the beans and place the other 2/3 in a food processor with blade attachment.  Toss in any combination of salt, onion powder, ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, or taco seasoning until it is seasoned as you like and puree it until smooth.  Add a bit of water or vegetable stock as you go until you get the consistency you prefer.  Remove to a bowl and stir in the whole beans for a chunkier texture.

Spring Salad with New Potatoes

Spring Salad with New Potatoes  Rating: 8

I made this last summer while my mother-in-law was visiting and she loved this salad so much she requested the recipe.  It is a lovely potato salad that is lightened up with other veggies and a zingy dressing.  It is not your average potato salad, it is better.

This time around I subbed green beans for asparagus because that is what I had on hand, but I do prefer it with the asparagus.  I also used snap peas and radishes from the garden. You can put whatever seasonal veggies sound crisp and fresh to you.  I cheated on the pickled onions this time and just put some thinly sliced white onions in a leftover jar of pickled banana peppers Neal canned last season.  Just as good.  Served it up with slices of pineapple.

Ginger Chicken with Coconut and Kale Chips

Ginger Chicken with Coconut  Rating: 7

This recipe came from Tyler Florence's Start Fresh: Your Child's Jump Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating and it was pretty good but nothing overly special.  It felt like comfort food because the coconut milk used.  We used veggie stock in place of chicken stock.

The big hit of this meal was the kale chips.  The whole family could not get enough of them.  A great side or snack for us and our kids since we grow it in our backyard. 

Kale Chips  Rating: 10

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Put a large bunch of kale, stemmed, and torn into chip size pieces in a bowl, drizzle with a bit of oil (we used garlic infused grapeseed oil) and toss until lightly coated. Spread out on baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt.  Put them in the oven and after 5 minutes toss them around on the baking sheet a bit.  Once back in oven check every few minutes.  They get crispy and you don't want too much browning at all.  You are just trying to dry them out not brown them. 

Dill Pickle Meatloaf and Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Dill Pickle Meatloaf  Rating: 8

What's a girl to do?!  If you've read our Pickle Soup post, you know I have 5 grieving jars of botched home canned pickles sulking in my pantry.  I must put them out of their misery!

We made several changes to the recipe.  We used 1 cup old fashioned or rolled oats in place of the bread, 1/3 cup chopped pickles in the meatloaf, added one grated medium carrot, 4 finely chopped kale leaves, and ground turkey rather than beef.  For the sauce we doubled it and used demerara sugar in place of brown sugar and cut it by 1/3 (1 Tbsp., and 1 tsp. for the doubled sauce).  I also upped the amount of chopped pickles to a heaping 1/2 cup (for the doubled sauce).

The recipe had us bake it in a 8x8 pan which felt a little weird to Keri.  It sort of lost it's meatloaf appearance and made her think of it more of a meat cake.  Mmmmm...meat cake. 

But after pushing past that it came out really good.

It was tasty.  We liked it and the kids ate it up.  Keri who loves pickles and has tried selling her first born for extra pickles on her burger would have tripled all things pickle in this recipe; however, not everyone is as enthusiastic as she.  But two good things happened here: 1.) a good dinner and 2.) we used up a jar of pickles!

The meatloaf held together well and made plenty more than 4 servings.  So it you like meatloaf sandwiches or love it as leftovers, hooray for you.

What better to serve up meat with than potatoes?

Johnny Garlic's Famous Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes  Rating: 8

We halved this recipe and have plenty for leftovers.  We did use 2 1/2 tsp. minced rosemary for the halved recipe since our rosemary is not very strong.  It's an old plant and it has been dry this year so the oils are not so pungent.  We also used whole milk in place of skim because that's what we have.  And we did not have Yukon gold potatoes so we used red skin potatoes.

The adults liked the creamy mashed potatoes, although, Keri would reduce the amount of white pepper if she makes it again.  It had kick and she found it overpowered the rosemary.  We did have chives but forgot to add them before taking the photo. 

Baked Beans - The Healthy Foodie Version

Baked Beans - The Healthy Foodie Version  Rating: 8

These baked beans interested me because they had no lard or bacon and were sweetened with apple and what the creator claims is a reduced amount of molasses.  I have very little experience making baked beans.  Except for the past year, they have always come from a can in our house.

These were very good and I'd make them again.  The maker of this recipe suggest adding water as needed and I would add water a little more frequently than she suggested so the beans stay moist and the skins a touch more tender.  They were still super sweet which is what I want when I eat baked beans. 

We cooked them in a Dutch oven in the oven as directed but I'm sure this can be moved into the slow cooker as well.  While they were cooking, visitors continued to comment on the wonderful scent.

We teamed them up with green salad and corn on the cob and called it dinner.

Cranberry Pomegranate Brussel Sprouts with Gorgonzola

Cranberry Pomegranate Brussel Sprouts with Gorgonzola  Rating: 8

I, Keri, love brussel sprouts.  Neal is not a fan.  We have not had them in our marriage span because of his dislike and my lack of drive to cook in years past.  This past week we got a pound of them in our co-op produce.  I was giddy with joy! 

As a general rule, if I can introduce a Neal-leery vegetable with some Gorgonzola, I at least know it will have a chance.  It got Neal to open up to cauliflower anyway.  So I went with the recipe linked above and we did well.  Neal still does not like the smell of brussel sprouts but he liked the taste of the dish.  I was happy because it had cranberry and pomegranate yuminess. 

We subbed pecans in for walnuts because we were out of walnuts.  Served it with a mix of bulgur, butter, and fresh parsley on the side.

Roasted Cauliflower with Apple and Dill

Roasted Cauliflower with Apple and Dill  Rating: 9

1 serving = 1/4 recipe, 220 calories

This 9 rating coming from a man who did not like cauliflower a little over a year ago.  I liked this too. It was sweet and nutty and the dill was light.  It made for a generous side but we served it with a big garden salad anyway.  Hurrah for veggies!

Greek Chicken and Barely Salad and Roasted Tomatoes

We had friends over tonight and they are very good friends and provided us with honest ratings for the dishes.  We served Greek Chicken and Barely Salad (Rating: 7) and on the side, Roasted Tomatoes (Rating: 4).

The salad was easy and I loved the barely in it.  It also made a ton--8 servings!  I had to sub in some black olives because I only had 4 kalmata olives left in the jar.  Neal and I and one of our guest agreed that if we had used only kalmatas it would have probably been an 8 rating.  My son ate 4 helpings of the salad.  Despite the fact he is one giant toddler, he doesn't ask for repeat servings often.

The roasted tomatoes were a hit with one of our guests; however, the remainder of us had issues with the squishy texture, although approving of the flavor.  Using roma tomatoes may provide better results as they are meatier with less water--though I don't care enough to test that hypothesis.

For my friends using Weight Watchers (WW), the salad was from "Point-less" Meals, a food blog catering to the points system used and has a wide variety of recipes.  Skinnytaste is another food blog that has a ton of recipes and provides points information for the old and new WW program.  Hope they are helpful.

Spinach and Mushroom Green Enchiladas with Cumin-Scented Quinoa and Black Rice

Tonight's meal is bringing together lots a flavor from a variety of sources.  I hope we catch them all.

First up is the enchiladas, we began by making the corn tortillas.  We recently bought a tortilla press and have been waiting for a chance to use it.  It was simple thanks to Rick Bayless' Corn Tortillas (Rating: 9).  And, far better than any store bought tortilla we've ever had.

The Spinach and Mushroom Green Enchilada Casserole (Rating: 9) were a combination of sauteed sliced white button mushrooms and spinach.  We did a layered enchilada with tortillas on the bottom, followed by green sauce, then  queso fresco cheese, followed by another layer of tortillas, sauce, and cheese.  Below is Neal's recipe for Green Chile Sauce;

Green Chile Sauce

Ingredients
2 Tomatillos
4 Green Whole Green Chilies (with canned or fresh, fire-roasted and pealed)
1/4 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 c. Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
Mix all ingredients well in a food processor until you reach desired consistency (I prefer a medium chop on this as opposed to a puree),

On the side we enjoyed the Cumin-Scented Quinoa and Black Rice (Rating: 6).  Although good, this recipe did not deliver on the expected flavors when it all came together.

Broccoli Tangerine Salad with Spicy Sesame Chicken on Asian Quinoa

All items on this menu received a 9 rating.  The Spicy Sesame Chicken (Rating 9) I take from a recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad just minus the salad and dressing.  We just use chicken tenders.  One tender was a single serving for us, when atop the quinoa. Wear an apron when preparing the chicken as the oil really likes to spit and pop. 

The Asian Quinoa (Rating 9) is a cinch and can be made even easier by tossing it all into a rice cooker.  It had really good flavor.  Quinoa (pronounced keen-wha, I just love words that are fun to say) is a grain high in protein. It can be bought in bulk at Sprouts.  Rinse it in a sieve to remove its bitter coating prior to cooking.

Neal and I regularly check out books at our local library and often bring home cookbooks.  Tonight's salad was adapted from At Home Healthy Cooking's Chinese Long Bean Salad with Tangerine and Sherry-Mustard Vinaigrette.

Broccoli Tangerine Salad (Rating 9)
Serves 6 as a side

Ingredients
3 crowns of broccoli, florets cut into bite-size pieces, stalks removed
3 tangerines, peeled, 2 1/2 tangerines separated into sections, remaining 1/2 squeezed for juice
1/2 cup sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper

For Vinaigrette:
3/4 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup vegetable broth (used homemade)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
juice from 1/2 tangerine (mentioned above)
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. demerara sugar
1 clove garlic
healthy pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

Method
1. Bring pot of water to a boil. Add in the broccoli and boil for a couple minutes.  Drain and cool.
2. Place broccoli, tangerine sections, onion, and seeds in bowl.  Season with the salt and pepper.
3. For the vinaigrette, combine cornstarch with 2 tbsp. of the veggie broth and mix.  Bring the rest of the broth to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat.
4. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and bring it all back to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
5. Combine the remaining vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk in the thickened broth.
6. Pour over broccoli mixture, toss, and serve.

Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread Cakes with Jalapeno Sour Cream and Sauteed Collard Greens with Raisins

Having fun with some of the New Year superstitions that are popular in the southern states, we had a black-eyed pea and greens dish tonight.  Black-eyed peas are good luck and greens symbolize good fortune (looks like folded money).

Black-eyed Pea Cornbread Cakes With Jalapeño Sour Cream  Rating: 7

I used the Albers Cornbread (Rating: 9) recipe and subbed in whole wheat for their all purpose flour. olive oil for vegetable oil, demerara sugar for white sugar.  In the recipe for the cakes I subbed full fat Greek yogurt for the mayo and used grapeseed oil for frying them in.  I just used plain sour cream but Neal went with the spicier version.

Served the cakes up with Sauteed Collard Greens with Raisins Rating: 7