NACHO MAMA...

Not your average nachos.

A dish inspired by the very best kind of leftovers--the kind that can be transformed into a totally new meal in mere minutes. And that makes me happy.

The Leftovers:
1. Beans from the previous night's Beans and Cornbread
2. Homemade Ranch from pizza night earlier in the week

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans (or in my case, the equivalent in leftover pinto beans)
• 1 can diced green chili peppers, drained
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, grated or finely chopped
• 4 TBSP salsa

Pick your toppings: tomato, avocado, grated carrots (huge fan!!), more diced onion, diced bell pepper, shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream, ranch dressing, guacamole, shredded chicken or ground beef, cheese, and the list goes on and on...

I just used what I had on hand: salsa, cheese, carrots, and ranch dressing... and we were all happily filled, no meat involved! 

To do:

• In a small pan on the stove, mix together your beans, peppers, garlic, onion, and salsa. Heat through.
• Assemble the nachos in whatever manner suits your fancy.

Notes to self:

1. Sam does not like the nacho chips on the bottom in the event that small children must be attended to before we're able to eat, and the chips get soggy. Moral of the story: Sam does not like soggy chips. 

2. Next time I think I'll throw everything up on top of a beautiful bed of lettuce and forget the chips. I suppose that undoes the whole "Nacho" theme for a third of the family, but perhaps I could crumble some chips up on top of it and call it "Nacho Mama's Salad..." Enough said. 

Recipe adapted from The Probiotics Revolution

Baked Oatmeal

My lovely sister-in-law, Susan, made this recipe for all of us last time she was in town. She's currently in Europe taking classes and picking her way across the continent from vineyard to olive grove with her sister, Alexis, and dear friend, Joy Snyder. You are all missed!!

In your honor, baked oatmeal:

Ingredients:
2 c oats
1 c walnuts, crumbled
1/3 c maple syrup
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c milk (I use almond milk)
1 egg
3 TBSP butter, softened (or melted and cooled)
2 tsp. vanilla
berries to your heart's content! (I used about 2 cups total of blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries)

To do: 
Combine all of the above ingredients into a buttered 9x9 pan, and bake away!

We usually top off the baked oatmeal with a little bit of milk or whipping cream to add some moisture back in. Delicious!

Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.

"Beans and Cornbread..."

"They go hand in hand..."

Thank you Mr. Louis Jordan for the inspiration: listen to it here!  And when I think of the song, I think of blanket forts in the family room, TBS Dinner and a movie night, and watching The Money Pit for the first time. Oddly enough, I don't think even tasted beans and cornbread until our fifth year of marriage... last year! Crazy! 

My apologies for the picture. Oh never mind that my beans are a little on the, well, dry side.  However, Sam went back for seconds, so he didn't seem to mind too much-- sweet husband that he is! And just for the record,  butter and sour cream do wonders for dry beans! 

Ingredients:
dried pinto beans (I used the small bag from Publix)
water
salt
pepper
sour cream, for topping it all off

drum roll please.... Jiffy Corn Bread (1 box), 1 egg, 1/3 c milk, butter

To do:

• Rinse and drain beans in a colander, picking over them to remove any debris or unsightly beans. 
• In your pot of choice, cover the beans with a couple of inches of water.
• Bring the beans to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and well... simmer for about two 1/2 to 3 hours until the beans are tender. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste. 
• Important note to self: Check on the beans during the cooking process, and add more water if necessary! 

Prep time: 15 minutes total, maybe.

And just FYI... leftover beans make a fabulous base for nachos! 

Grilled Cheese with Spinach, Garlic, and Artichoke

Not your average grilled cheese.

Another triumph in the meatless meals department around here. Even if we don't have artichoke hearts on hand, the spinach and garlic made this sandwich! Now if I can just resist the urge to add cream cheese or heavy whipping cream to the filling...

Ingredients:

several handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, washed
one can of artichoke hearts, drained
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c cheese of your choice (I used mozzarella and monterrey jack)
3 TBSP sour cream
butter
6 slices of bread
salt and pepper, to taste

To do:

• Prep the ingredients: mince the garlic, wash the spinach, drain and roughly chop the artichoke hearts, grate your cheese, butter each of the slices of bread, melt a little bit of butter (a couple tablespoons) in your skillet.
• Very briefly sauté the garlic in the melted butter before adding your spinach. Once the spinach begins to wilt, add the artichoke hearts, heating all the ingredients through. 
• Drain any juices from your pan, and place the veggies in a bowl, adding about 3 TBSP of sour cream to bind the ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Stuff your sandwiches: layer cheese, the veggie mixture, some more cheese, and place the sandwiches in your skillet until the bread is browned on both sides and the cheese is melted.

Serve immediately. 

Servings: 3 sandwiches

Recipe from A Couple Cooks blog

Pesto.

Summer = pesto. 


Here's the first batch this year thanks to the tried and true Joy of Cooking! I wish I could say that the basil was home grown, but at least it's fresh. This pesto looks a little "blonde" if you ask me, so I may have too "loosely" packed the basil? Fortunately, it still tasted great despite its pale complexion. 


Combine the following in the food processor:
2 c fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
1/3 c pine nuts
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
While processing, add approximately 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil. 


Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Our favorite uses of pesto: as a sandwich spread, on pasta, on pizza, and smeared on toasted bread with melted feta or goat cheese...


Stores for about a week in an airtight container in the fridge, or so they say. It's never lasted that long at our house. 


Maybe, just maybe this took me 10 minutes?

Chickpea Spaghetti

My sister-in-law, Logan, made this dish for me while our husbands were off at the Hall of Men drinking beer and eating who knows what. Now it's a regular at our kitchen table, and I keep the ingredients on hand for nights like tonight, when the my original meal plan goes out the window. Why? Because it's so very easy and healthy to boot, and I was just ready to call it a day.

Ingredients:
whole wheat spaghetti
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can chickpeas
a few handfuls of fresh spinach
heavy whipping cream
parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

While your water is heating up for your spaghetti noodles, heat about a TBSP of olive oil and some butter in a large skillet. Add to this:
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or hot dogs, as Jack lovingly refers to them! Ah, the creativity of a two year old!)

When you drain the pasta, be sure to reserve a little bit of the pasta water to add moisture back into the dish (I forgot, of course!).  Since I failed to remember the "reserve the pasta water step," I grabbed the whipping cream out of the fridge, and this turned out to be a very popular choice that I will repeat.

Combine the noodles with the sautéed chickpeas, onion, and garlic. Add a couple handfuls of spinach and a little bit of reserved pasta water, or in my case, heavy whipping cream to just get a good coating on the noodles. Add grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste.

And serve.