Smoked Turkey

For all the non-meat eaters out there, advert your eyes ;-) The day after Thanksgiving Joel smoked a turkey. Since I brined it, I'm taking credit too.

This was the brine recipe I used. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/pws-turkey-brine/

My sister turned me onto this blog. she takes some good food shots.

Note to anyone who wants to try this at home. do not make gravy from the drippings unless you want to eat a plate full of smoke.

Sorry about the rotated picture. it's late and I'm tired.

Camamelized brussels sprouts with pistachios

This hands down was the winner of the night. I followed this recipe exactly but for halving the Brussels sprout and onions. Of course I didn't take a picture of this, but there are some on all recipes where I got this recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Caramelized-Brussels-Sprouts-with-Pistachios/Detail.aspx

Barley & wild pilaf with pomegranate seeds

I'm not even going to post the recipe, since I really did not care for it. It sounded great in theory and healthy to boot. I did seed a pomegranate for the first time. Doing everything underwater is key. The seeds sink to the bottom and pith rises.

Roasted corn pudding in Acorn Squash

I got inspired from 101 cookbooks. I mostly followed the recipe here. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-corn-pudding-in-acorn-squash-recipe.html

Things I learned. I really don't care for anise (who knew it tasted like licorice?) and cheese inside of the corn pudding would have made this even better.

presentation wise though, it wins hands down.

Mexican Calabacitas

This is another healthy (and tasty) Mexican side dish.

5 medium size zucchini or yellow squash (or a mix), peeled and diced
1 can sweet corn, drained
1 onion, chopped
1 can ro-tel tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, zucchini, and onions. Cook until the onion is tender, and then add the corn and tomatoes. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Apparently this is an incredibly popular recipe on the web (probably because it is so easy). Once I found it, I found about a million copies of the recipe with slight variations.

Sopapilla Cheesecake
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with Pam. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth. (I don't have a mixer and was able to do this by hand.) Unroll one can of crescent roll dough and press the two rectangles into the 9"x13" pan to cover the bottom. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish. Unroll the other can of crescent rolls, press them into a 9"x13" and shape, and put this on top. Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, the cinnamon, and the butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Potato Chimichangas

This recipe is from my neighbor Mary. She's made them for us a few times, and Jake and I both love them! The recipe is not exact, but very flexible. (Really, how can you go wrong with tortillas, potatoes and cheese?)

Chimis
3 russet potatoes
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (pressed)
goya adobo seasoning
tortillas
sour cream
shredded cheese

Boil the potatoes until you can easily stick a fork in. (Tip: do this early, and then stick in fridge to cool so that they will be easy to peel.) Peel skins from potatoes, and cut into cubes. Saute the pepper and onions in olive oil. Add the cubed potatoes to the peppers and onions. Sprinkle with adobo (liberally, to taste) and add the garlic.

In each tortilla, put the potato mixture, a spoonful of sour cream, and a little cheese. Wrap and roll. At this point you can either put them in the fridge overnight or cook immediately. Heat slowly either on the grill or on the stove.

Serve with salsa. You can slice these to serve as appetizers, or serve them whole as a main course.

Mexican Layer Salad

I don't usually associate "healthy" with Mexican food (mainly because I love cheese). But after the queso and bean dip, I knew I needed to find something light if we were ever going to make it to dessert. I drew inspiration from a number of similar recipes I found on the web, and this what I came up with.

Of course I forgot to grab my camera until we had already dug in, but you can see the idea.



Mexican Layer Salad

For the salad:
2-3 hearts of romaine chopped
1 medium red onion cut in half and finely sliced
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can corn drained
1 can green chiles drained (mix the corn and green chiles together)
4 plum totaoes, seeded and sliced
1 avocado, sliced
lemon juice (to keep avocado fresh)
shredded cheese

For the dressing:
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup salsa
2 T fresh cilantro
2 t fresh lime juice
(whisk all dressing ingredients together)

In large glass bowl, layer half the lettuce and follow with half of each of the other ingredients ending with half of the dressing. Repeat with other half. Cover tightly overnight. Before serving, top with shredded cheese. (I'm pretty sure I forgot to top our's with cheese.)

Mmmm... dip!

Bean Dip
This is my aunt Holly's specialty, and we always devour it at family functions.

1 - 8oz brick of cream cheese (softened)
1 - 8oz tub of sour cream (cover your eyes, Emily!)
1 can vegetarian refried beans (refried black beans are particularly delicious)
1/2 package of enchilada seasoning or taco seasoning
1 - 16oz jar of salsa
1 - 8 oz bag of shredded cheese (I usually use the Mexcican blend)

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, beans, and seasoning together. Spread the mixture in two 8" pie pans. Top with salsa and cover with cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. Serve with tortilla chips.


Queso

1 can of Ro-tel tomatoes (undrained)
1 small block of velveeta

Cube up the velveeta and mix in tomatoes. Microwave for 5 minutes or until melted, stirring once in the middle. Serve with tortilla chips. (So easy, but so good!)

August Fiesta

I apologize for holding up the blog... I had the girls (and guys) over for a Mexican-inspired dinner in August, but haven't posted my recipes. Now that we've had two more dinners, I figured I really need to figure out this whole blogging thing. I hope this works. (And I hope I can remember the recipes.)

We were excited to show off our almost-finished basement (which 3 months later is still in the same almost-finished state, so this blog isn't the only thing I've been neglecting), so we scheduled the dinner for a Friday night, bought lots of Mexican beer, and invited the guys. For appetizers we had queso and bean dip (which, let's be honest, was the main reason for the Mexican inspiration). For the main course we had potato chimis, a Mexican layer salad, and some other vegetable dish which I will remember the name of when I dig out the recipe. For dessert it was sopapilla cheesecake. We had a lot of fun watching Molly and Dave rock out to Guitar Hero. (And we had a lot of fun watching everyone else try...)

Recipes to follow... TODAY! (I promise!)