Mexi-Peppers and Witch Fingers!

Wow!  My blog is at an all-time low this year for the number of posts I've written!  That means two things:

1.  Life is CRAZY busy.

2.  I may have gotten a better handle on cooking.  

So, it's weird to think that my initial reason for starting a blog had nothing to do with cooking.  See?

I really just wanted to start a blog to get out my thoughts... and somehow that turned into this lovely collection of yummy recipes.  

I also can't believe that I started this blog 5 years ago.  FIVE?!  That's nuts.

I've come a long way.  Like... instead of following an exact recipe, I can concoct!  Ah, how much better is now that I can concoct!  Okay, don't get me wrong.  I still have a lot to learn.  For example, I've still never made a pot roast.  Or cooked Thanksgiving dinner (not that I want to, my uncle makes the best everything for Thanksgiving <3).  I don't know how to use Swiss chard.  Or bake bread.  Oh, the list could go on and on...

...but I got some free green peppers from a friend with a garden today and thought, 'Oh!  Those would be perfect stuffed with my chicken concoction from last night!'  Voila.  Dinner done.  Aren't they pretty?

Alissa's Mexi-Peppers

 ...and here's what it looks like cut open!  Not so pretty anymore, but delish.  Though, I think I've decided that, in general, I like other colors of peppers better than the green ones.  They seem more subtle in flavor, I think.

So, for my Mexi-Peppers, I just cooked ground chicken and added taco seasoning, chopped onion, tomatoes, diced green chiles, reduced fat cream cheese, and a bit of garlic.  Two nights ago we used the mix in soft taco shells... or you could make enchiladas... or put it over a baked potato... or make a quesadilla... or put it in a salad... whatever you like!

OR... add the mess to a pepper of your choice and bake it.  I did 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Top with fresh salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, or whatever else you like and enjoy!  :-)

...

On a completely different topic, I have to tell you about my friend, the cotton candy grape.

For those of you who don't know the story, I became addicted to these last summer (2013) when I was pregnant.  This is bad news when these grapes are only available for a few weeks a year.  And you don't know that.  And you're pregnant.  Yeah.

Well, my lovely hubby found them this year and stocked up!  I actually still have a bag in my freezer that I've been slowly eating.  :-)

...and that same smart man found these today... witch fingers!!!  They are fabulously weird, juicy, and sweet.  I like them!

So strange!

What will they think of next?  ;-)

Cuts Through Chicken Flesh!

Recently, I got some awesome Pampered Chef stuff and have been having all sorts of fun playing in my kitchen with new toys.  :-)

*This post is not in any way an advertisement for Pampered Chef, but here's how I used some of my items to make a pretty tasty Buffalo Chicken Lasagna!  (I'm all about lasagna and Mexican food right now.)

Salad Chopper?  Not just for salad.

Thankfully, I didn't even have to touch the chicken.  My hubby cooked it up for me and then dumped it into the bowl and I went at it with my salad chopper aka super sharp scissors that cut through chicken flesh!  ;-)

Spice it up!

Spread it into a dish.  I tried out a new baking dish.

Noodles, cheese mixture, then more meat...

Baked deliciousness!

Sprinkle blue cheese on top if you want!

We ate this as leftovers for most of the week and were both pretty excited about it every time we went to the fridge and saw it there.  I'd call that a success!  :-)

The below picture is of fresh salsa I attempted to make using a little manual food processor.  I didn't really follow a recipe, just threw some stuff in and hoped for the best.  Not generally the best way to go, but it sort of worked in this case.  I didn't enjoy the salsa just on chips, but it was AMAZING when added to tacos.

There is a Pampered Chef recipe for this recipe... I just didn't follow it.  I threw in onion, grape tomatoes, cilantro, lemon juice, and some cilantro.  You can throw in jalapeno, but I don't touch jalapeno peppers while pregnant.  See this post.

PS.  Six more weeks of winter coming our way... Happy Groundhog Day!  :-)

"I Need That Zucchini!"

...is what my 21 month old daughter says when she sees them now.  She also runs over to pick them up and hand them to me.  I may have created a monster!

So, people have been giving me extra zucchini that they've grown!  I like free yummy things!  :-)

To put it into perspective, I took these pictures...

 

...and now to show you some of the things I've made with all of this zucchini!  First, I went onto Pinterest, as anyone should do, and I searched for "zucchini".  You sure can make a lot of things with zucchini!

Zucchini Tots

Zucchini Tots

I give these two thumbs up.  They don't really taste like tator tots, which is fine... but more like little quiches.  I love quiche.  These are tasty.  I also did not feel the need for any dipping sauce, but you could certainly do that!

This next one was my own little experimental recipe... I chopped up 2 medium-sized zucchini and put them in a bowl.

Like so.

I then cooked them in a pan with some EVOO, pepper, garlic, pearl onions, and a bit of salt.

Then I added that mixture to whole wheat noodles and a light basil pesto sauce that I found at Wegmans.
Mmm... yum.

Very tasty!  We like anything that makes a lot of leftovers, too.  I shall call it... "Alissa's Zucchini Pesto"!

Next!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

  

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

As you can see, I did not use chicken because I had lean ground beef in my fridge.  I also didn't add corn.  You can really make these by putting any sort of mixture into them.  They were pretty good, but the zucchini was still pretty watery after baking.  I'm not really sure how to eliminate all of the moisture!  Any suggestions?

Zucchini Coconut Raisin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft Zucchini Cookies

My name for these is way better, I think.  ;-)  I mostly followed the recipe... although I used greek yogurt instead of shortening and added raisins, white chocolate chips, and coconuts.  No nuts.  

I will say that I had the same moisture problem with these and I'm fairly certain it's the zucchini factor!  They were AMAZING right out of the oven, but then when I put them into an air-tight container, the moisture got trapped.  What do I do about this?

Alissa's Zucchini Smoothie

It kind of looks like a green, bubbly mess... but here's what's in it:

2 bananas, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, greek yogurt, vanilla almond milk, about a cup of spinach, and a whole mess of zucchini

Both baby and husband approved.  It was delicious!

Zucchini Chips

I'm pretty sure I just flat out did these wrong.  Hehe.  First of all, when you look at the picture, it gives you an idea of how much zucchini we were trying to fit on one pan.  They didn't come out like chips, but more like warm zucchini rounds seasoned with Old Bay and garlic salt.  Not bad, but not what we were going for here!  

Ah well. 

...I think that's about it so far.  We've done lots of zucchini grilling on our grill, too.  Keep those zucchini coming!  Well, after I've used what's in my fridge.  ;-)

KEEN-wa

My mind has been blown!  Tonight, I ate quinoa (KEEN-wa) and it was glorious!  :-)  

*Side note: Every time I see the word "quinoa", I say it in my head the way it's spelled.  

Okay, well, thanks to the hubby, I ate quinua... 

...which I think is the same as quinoa?  Please correct me if I'm wrong.  If they are NOT the same, then you should purchase quinua, not quinoa.  Hang on... okay, upon further googling, quinua refers to quinoa or the town Quinua in Peru.  As I did not eat a town this evening, please assume that I mean the former.  (I was just reminded of the fact that people in Peru sometimes eat guinea pigs and it made me sad.)

Don't eat guinea pigs!
(Me and Pig)

Anyway, back to quinoa.

It's very important to rinse your quinoa!
If you don't, it tastes bitter.

Also, boil it in broth.
The quinoa package did not tell me how to cook it AT ALL.  Fail.
Thank goodness I have friends who want me to like quinoa.
Thanks Sara!!!  ;-)

Oh, and this may go without saying... but don't let it boil all over your stove top like I did.  Second fail.

Quinoa everywhere...

OH, and don't stand anywhere near shallots cooking while trying to clean up the quinoa mess that you made.  Your eyes will burn.  Third fail.  (I know, it's not sounding good, is it?)

Done?  What a weird thing.

In this pot are sauteed shallots, black beans, corn...

...green chiles, cumin, Adobo, chili seasoning, oregano, paprika...
...red chili pepper flakes, garlic salt, and onion powder... *whew*

Add and stir quinoa...

Then you set up a little filling station...

Fill em' up!
I used fresh salsa and some jarred salsa that I had in my fridge and needed to eat.
Oh, and cheese.

Make those suckers pretty!

Prettier...
Doesn't cheese really make everything better?

...and BAKE!  Do it!

Quinoa Enchiladas (about 315 calories each)

These were soooo filling that I could barely finish the two I put on my plate... I did it because I was really, really hungry and these were really, really delicious.  I excitedly put two more in a container for tomorrow night's dinner, too.  I know.  I liked quinoa?  What's the world coming to?  

At Least There Wasn't Any Quinoa...

Dinner was too healthy tonight.  It tasted healthy.  Who wants that?  

I found this recipe for Cornmeal-Dusted Catfish with Quinoa Saute in a Cooking Light magazine.  Sounds fancy, doesn't it?  I've been wanting to try more quinoa (pronounced 'keen-wa') recipes because I feel like I could like it.  It's good for you and something different, right?  So far I haven't been all that impressed with quinoa, but I'm hopeful!  Jimmy, maybe not so much.  He's a good sport though and eats whatever I make (love you, babe!).  Anyway, I thought this recipe sounded like it had some potential.  

It may have been better if I'd actually used catfish.  I don't know, I've never eaten catfish.  Since I didn't have catfish in the freezer, I used tilapia instead, thinking that maybe it would be okay... 

...and then I realized that there wasn't any quinoa in my pantry.  

Uh, what was I thinking here?  

Tonight's dinner became Cornmeal-Dusted Tilapia with Brown Rice and Sauteed Vegetables... which tasted way too healthy for our liking.  Don't get me wrong, we ate it.  It was probably even good for us.  I just won't be making it again.  ;-)

Veggies: Zucchini, Red Pearl Onions,
Shallots, Celery, and Grape Tomatoes

Little one did gobble up some fish, though.  That's something!  

So, as we were eating it, I said to Jim, "At least there wasn't any quinoa..."

His response?  "True dat."