Mushroom Onion Quesadillas

I was going to try out this recipe for mushroom, spinach and goat cheese quesadillas, but I forgot to get spinach. I had to use what I had around the house, and this is what I came up with. They were so good that I could have eaten 10 of them (well, maybe not 10....) I served them with salsa verde and a little sour cream.

Serves: 4
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

8 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
1 package sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/2 red onion sliced thinly
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 c. grated monteray jack cheese

In skillet over med. heat cook mushrooms, onions and jalapenos in 2 tbs. olive oil until mushrooms are soft and onions are translucent- about five minutes. Sprinkle 1/4 c. cheese onto one flour tortilla, cover with the cooked mushroom onion mixture, top with 1/4 c. of cheese and another tortilla. Cook both sides over med. heat for 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted and tortillas are lightly browned.

Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

So this is mostly a Pioneer Woman recipe ( I love her so much!!!) with a few tweaks. I love it because it's light and really flavorful.

Serves: 4
Difficulty: fairly easy

Ingredients

3 red peppers
1 med. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbs. butter
1/2 c. shaved Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. half and half ( I use fat free- may as well save those calories for wine!!)

Set oven to broil on high. Place red peppers on baking sheet and place under broiler. Broil 3-5 minutes until side is mostly blackened, turn 1/4 turn and blacken that side, repeat until peppers are blackened all over. Seal in a ziploc bag and let them sweat 15-20 minutes. Saute' onions, garlic and basil in butter until soft. Peel the skin off the peppers and scrape the seeds out of the inside. Puree' the peppers, onions, basil and garlic in a food processor. Pour into med. saucepan and heat over med. heat. Add salt and pepper to taste, Parmesan cheese and half and half. Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted. Serve over pasta with a sprinkling of shaved Parmesan.

Maple Glazed Chicken Thighs

This is one of my favorite fall dinners. It's easy and delicious, and combines so many great fall flavors. I think I got it from Good Housekeeping, but I'm not positive. Wherever it came from, I'm grateful to them, because I have yet to meet anyone that didn't love it- including my picky kids!!!!

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

1 package chicken thighs
2 med. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 in. cubes
2 med. onions, sliced thinly
3/4 of a 1 lb. bag of baby carrots
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 c. maple syrup (REAL maple syrup- NO SUBSTITUTES!!!)

Preheat oven to 450*. place sweet potatoes, carrots and onions in 9x13 baking dish. Place chicken thighs on top. Sprinkle garlic powder, salt and pepper over everything, then pour maple syrup over. Mix well to distribute seasonings and maple syrup. Chicken thighs should be on top, skin side down. Cook 20 minutes, then flip chicken and give veggies a quick stir. Cook 20 more minutes until chicken skin is golden brown and crispy.

Peanut Chili Pork Loin

This is another recipe from my mother-in-law. It's probably Matt's favorite pork recipe. It's easy, but it takes a while. Cook times will vary from an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of your pork loin. I recommend using a meat thermometer- the finished product should be between 170-180*.

Serves: 4-6
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
1-3 lb. pork loin
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 c. unsalted peanuts (lightly salted also work fine)

Mix the oil, soy sauce, cayenne pepper, sugar, garlic and peanuts in a small bowl. Pour over pork loin and marinate at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350* and cook in baking dish or roasting pan 1 hour- 1 1/2 hours or until internal temp. reaches a minimum of 170. Let pork loin rest 10 minutes before slicing.

*Hint: Toss a few ice cubes in the pan, this will add water to the marinade to keep it from drying out in the dish. Check on it every 30 minutes or so, and add more ice as needed to keep sauce from drying out and sticking to the pan.

Spaghetti Sauce

Since it's been almost a week since I posted, I'm trying to make up for it by doing two posts today! This spaghetti sauce is not much harder than opening a jar of the stuff, but infinitely more delicious!

Serves: 6

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced (optional)
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 (15 0z) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (6 0z) can tomato paste
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. oregano
pepper to taste
2 Tsp. sugar
1/2 c. red wine (optional)
2 bay leaves

In large skillet over med. heat cook onions, mushrooms and bell pepper in 2 Tbs. of olive oil for 2 minutes. Add ground beef and garlic, and brown beef. (If you use lean ground beef, there's no need to drain. If you use ground chuck, drain before adding other ingredients) Add everything else and mix well. Simmer 20-25 minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Chicken Chili

Today's recipe is for the working moms. Some of the recipes I post involve a fair amount of prep work, and that's not so tough if you're a stuck at home, ahem, I mean stay at home mom like me. But when you've worked all day and then come home to start the second shift as the queen of the homefront, I'll bet you'd rather not spend 15-20 minutes chopping vegetables and such! So supermoms, this one's for you. Not only will you have dinner waiting for you when you get home, this one's so simple you can throw it together in the middle of the morning rush. It literally takes less than five minutes!

Serves: 8-10

Difficulty: so easy a monkey could do it (provided you could teach him to open cans)

Ingredients

1 lb. package chicken breasts
2 (15 oz) cans great northern beans
1 (11 oz) can white corn
1 (7 0z) can chopped green chilis
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 package taco seasoning

Throw it all in a crock pot, mix it up, cook 8-10 hours on low and break up chicken with a spoon before serving.

Easy Cheesy Manicotti

Pasta tubes filled with cheesy goodness- what could possibly be better than that? Nothing. And this recipe is insanely easy and guaranteed to please even the pickiest kids. You can even fancy it up by adding chopped spinach, sauteed mushrooms, or whatever floats your boat to the cheesy goodness!

Serves: 6-8
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients
8-10 manicotti (you can also use jumbo shells)
1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
2 c. italian cheese blend
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of pepper
1 egg
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I like the Barilla tomato basil kind)

Preheat oven to 350*. In a med. stockpot, cook manicotti or shells 5-7 minutes. You want them to be al dente, so don't over cook!!! Drain pasta and set aside. Pour 1/3 of the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish and spread it around. Mix ricotta, 1 1/2 c. italian cheese, parsley, nutmeg, pepper and egg together in a medium bowl. Spoon cheese mixture into gallon size ziploc bag and snip one corner off the bottom of the bag. (you can skip this step if you're using shells) Using the ziploc like a pastry bag, squeeze the cheese mixture into the manicotti and place it in the baking dish. Once you've filled them all, pour the rest of the spaghetti sauce over it, and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c. italian cheese over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Honey Lime Chicken Quesadillas with Pineapple Mango Salsa

I'm all about seasonal cooking, but even though the calendar says it's almost November, the weather is a humid 83 degrees, and that just doesn't inspire fall food. So today's recipe is one that I cook a lot in the summer. If it's actually cold where you live (lucky!!) you can file this one away until the warmer months!

Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

Marinade:
1/2 c. lime juice
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
1/4 c. fresh cilantro
2 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 lb. chicken breasts

Mix all ingredients together and pour into gallon size ziploc bag with the chicken breasts. Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours. Drain the marinade and pound the chicken breasts to flatten them a bit. Grill chicken and shred it.

Salsa:
2 c. diced pineapple
1 mango, cubed
1/2 red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime

You can make this salsa just before serving, but I think it's better after it sits in the fridge for an hour or so. Just toss everything in a bowl and stir it up.


To make quesadillas, heat a large skillet over med. heat. Layer chicken, shredded monteray jack cheese and salsa on a flour tortilla and to with another tortilla. Cook on one side 3-4 minutes until tortilla is lightly browned. Flip and cook on the other side until cheese is melted. Cut in triangles (a pizza cutter works best!) and serve with sour cream for dipping.

Killer Pot Roast Sandwiches

It's rainy and gross today. And rainy and gross days make me want to use my crockpot. I love the way it makes the house smell delicious all day long. Of course, it also makes me hungry all day long, and that's not such a great thing!!! But diets be damned, it's gross outside and I'm making pot roast!!! Normally when I make pot roast, I use this really yummy Paula Deen recipe, but I didn't have a key ingredient, so I had to make do with what I had. You can certainly go the traditional roast route and serve it with mashed potatoes, veggies, etc. but I'm not. We're turning it into the most sinfully delicious sandwich!

Serves: 6
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients:

3 lb. chuck roast
1 onion, sliced
1 packet dry onion soup mix
4 beef boullion cubes, crushed
2 bay leaves
1/2 c. white wine (or red, I just have white on hand because that's my booze of choice!)

In a med skillet, heat 2 Tbs. olive oil on med. heat. Season roast with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Transfer roast to crock pot. Cover with sliced onions, soup mix, crushed bouillon cubes, bay leaves, wine and enough water to cover. Cook on low 5-7 hours.

Okay, so that does it for the roast, but if you want the most delicious sandwich on earth, here's what you do. Slice another onion and toss it in a med. saucepan with 2 Tbs. of brown sugar. Cook over med. low heat until onions are super soft and sticky- about 10 minutes. Slice french bread, hoagie rolls, whatever your sandwich bread of choice may be (use a substantial bread, this is a hefty sandwich!!) Slice your roast and place several slices on the bread. Cover roast with caramelized onions and a slice of swiss cheese. Place under the broiler until cheese melts. Top with another slice of bread- preferably one that's slathered with mayonnaise- unless you hate mayonnaise) Use the liquid in the crock pot as an au jus, and honey, you've got a sandwich so good it will make you cry!!

Peach Curry Pork Chops and Coconut Rice

The thing I love most about these pork chops is the spicy sweet peach sauce. I always serve coconut rice with it, because the sauce is awesome on the pork chops, but it's out of this world on the rice!!! This recipe is a tweaked version of one I found on Allrecipes. I recommend using fresh peaches with this, even if you have to get bland, out of season peaches like I did- they'll still have better flavor than canned peaches once you cook them down. You can use canned peaches, it will still taste good, just not quite as good. You could also use thawed frozen peaches. I haven't tried that, so if you do, let me know how it works!

Serves: 4
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients
4 center cut pork chops
4-5 ripe peaches (or 1 14 0z. can sliced peaches in syrup)
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbs. dijon mustard
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. honey
1 onion, diced
1 Tbs. vegetable oil

Peel and cut peaches into 1 in. chunks. In med. saucepan, mix sugar with peaches and bring to boil. (If you're using dry, out of season peaches, you'll need to add 1/2 c. water as well) Simmer over med. heat for 10-15 minutes until peaches are soft. Remove from heat and cool. Drain syrup from peaches. Mix syrup with dijon mustard, curry powder and honey and whisk until smooth.
In large skillet, heat vegetable oil over med. heat, add onion and pork chops and brown chops on each side. Pour peach sauce and peaches over chops. Cover, reduce heat to med. low and simmer 15-20 minutes. Cover pork chops with sauce to serve.

Coconut Rice

Serves: 6
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. white rice
2/3 c. water
1 can coconut milk
2 tsp. sugar

In med saucepan, mix rice with water, coconut milk and sugar and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook 15-20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork before serving.

Sunday Dinner- Cranberry Pear Crisp

When I first spot cranberries in the store, I buy a bag specifically for this recipe! Cranberries really symbolizes fall and the start of the holiday season to me, so I'm filled with happiness the first time I spot those little red jewels! This recipe actually started as a pie- and it is an awesome pie- but since Matt's not a huge fan of pie crust, I changed it into a crisp. If you want to do it as a pie, all you need is one 9 in. pie crust and use a 9 in. pie pan
Serves: 8
Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Ingredients
12 oz. package cranberries
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. apple cider or apple juice, divided
5 c. pears, peeled and chunked
1/4 tsp. ginger
5 Tbs. butter, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
3Tbs. cornstarch
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400*. In skillet over med. heat, bring cranberries, sugar, 1/4 c. apple cider/juice to boil. Cook, covered, until slightly thickened and cranberries begin to burst. Stir in pears, ginger, 2 Tbs. butter, and salt and cook 2 more minutes. Stir cornstarch into remaining 1/4 c. apple cider/juice, and stir into cranberry pear mixture. Stir until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and pour into 8x8 baking dish (or into the pie crust if you're doing the pie version).

In med. bowl mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in remaining 3 Tbs. butter and mix with fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. (you can also pulse these ingredients in a food processor until crumbly.) Sprinkle over cranberry pear mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

Sunday Dinner- Squash Casserole

This is one of Matt's favorite side dishes. This is a Paula Deen recipe, and that girl has never steered me wrong- fat maybe, but never wrong!!!

Serves: 6
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
1/2 stick butter
3 c. cooked squash, drained with all the water squeezed out
1 c. crushed Ritz crackers, with additional 1/2 c. for topping
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350*. Slice squash into even slices, cover with water and boil 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain into colander and mash with potato masher to squeeze out all the water. Saute' onion in butter until softened. Mix everything together and pour into buttered 8x8 casserole dish. Top with remaining 1/2 c. of cracker crumbs. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Sunday Dinner- Roasted Chicken with Gravy

What could possibly be better than Sunday dinner? A big ol' yummy meal to top off a great weekend is the epitome of family togetherness for me. So in honor of Sunday dinner, I'm posting three recipes that you'll find on my table tonight. I hope you'll be having a delicious dinner with your family tonight as well!

Roasted Chicken and Gravy

Serves: 4-6 (depending on size)
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (3-5 lbs)
1 med. onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, cut into 2 in. pieces
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbs. butter, softened
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*. Season cavity of chicken with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning (make sure to take out bag of giblets and other chicken innards! Lots of people save it to make gravy- I don't, but that's totally your call.) Stuff chicken with onion, celery, garlic, rosemary and 2 Tbs. butter. I like to kind of layer it- stuff in some onion, some butter, some garlic, some celery and repeat- you get the idea. Place the chicken breast side up on a foil-covered roasting pan. sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and rub the remaining 1 Tbs. of butter all over the chicken. Roast chicken for 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on size. (usually about 20 minutes per lb.) Check on it after about 45 minutes- if skin starts to get too dark, loosely tent it with foil and return to oven. If you're not sure that it's done, use a meat thermometer- if the thickest part of the breast is at 170*, it's done.

After it comes out of the oven, loosely tent with foil (if you haven't already) and let it rest 10-15 minutes. Drain off pan juices into med. saucepan. Mix 2 tsp. of cornstarch with 1/2 c. cold water until smooth, and whisk into pan drippings. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened. Some people like to use flour in their gravy. I prefer cornstarch because I think it blends better, but it's totally up to you, use whatever makes you happy. If your gravy gets too thick, add water, if it's too thin add more cornstarch (mix with cold water first. If you add plain cornstarch to hot gravy, you'll wind up with monster lumps!) Gravy is an inexact science, and a lot of it depends on the amount of pan drippings you start with.

Chorizo Torta

For lunch today, I'm knocking off my favorite sandwich from the best Mexican restaurant in town. You may think, "Who gets a sandwich at a Mexican restaurant?" I do- it's that good. Depending on where you live, you may have a hard time finding chorizo. I found it at Walmart, but I think it's a relatively new product from Johnsonville. If you want to try this recipe, but can't find the Johnsonville Grilling Chorizo, check Mexican grocery stores in your area. Trust me, it will be worth it!!! This sandwich is so easy and soooooooo delicious. You can also use chicken, marinated pork, grilled steak, whatever, but chorizo is, by far, my favorite.

Serves: 4
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

1 lb. chorizo
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 c. shredded lettuce
2 avocados, sliced
1 8 0z. can sliced jalapenos (0r 3 fresh)
1 med. onion, sliced thinly
mayonnaise
4 white sub rolls, or 1 loaf ciabatta bread (or as we call it, chewbacca bread) cut into four pieces


In large skillet over med. heat, brown chorizo (If using links, remove casing from meat and break meat up with a spoon until the texture resembles browned ground beef). Lightly toast sliced sandwich rolls in broiler if desired. Spread mayonnaise to taste over bread. Spoon browned chorizo onto rolls, top with tomato slices, lettuce, onions, avocados and jalapenos. Yummmmmmmm.

Potato Cheese Soup

I love, love, love fall weather, especially after a crazy-hot summer. And there is nothing I love cooking on a cool day more than soup. This one comes from my mother in law, and it's one of Matt's favorites. He introduced me to this yummy recipe many, many moons ago when we had only been dating a few months. I was finishing my senior year at Georgia Southern and he was making the 3 1/2 hour trip from Atlanta to Statesboro a couple of times a week (smitten fool!). One night he decided to cook dinner for me. He called his mama to get this recipe, and whipped it up in the tiny kitchen of my apartment in this ramshackle old house. It was delicious, and I've been cooking it ever since!!

Serves: 6-8
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

2 stalks celery, diced
1 med. onion, diced
1 Tbs. butter
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, diced
3 c. water
5 chicken bullion cubes
3/4 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. rosemary, crushed (crushing it is optional, but recommended. I use a mortar and pestle)
pinch of garlic powder
dash pepper
2 c. milk
1 c. shredded cheddar (sharp or mild)

In a large sauce pot or medium stock pot, saute' celery and onion in butter until soft. Add potatoes, carrots, water, bullion cubes, and seasonings. Cover and simmer 20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and mash vegetables with a potato masher. Return to heat and add milk and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.

Super-Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Tonight is soccer night at my house, a night that is always hectic and rushed as we scramble to get homework done and dinner on the table by 5:00 before the game at 6. Today will be particularly hectic because the twins have a doctor's appointment at 4:00. Arrrggghhh, it never ends!!!! On days like this, I need a really easy dinner, preferably something I can make ahead, that reheats well. See, Matt and I don't really care to eat the early bird special with the kids, so we wait until after soccer's over and the kids are in bed to eat, hence the reheats well.
This recipe fits all the requirements. It's super-duper easy, tasty, and has lots of veggies. And you can make it, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it.

Serves: 6-8
Difficulty: So easy a trained monkey could do it.

Ingredients:
2 (9 in. ) pie crusts (make your own if you want, but I don't)
1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded
1 (10 oz.) bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. chicken stock or milk
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. rosemary
pepper to taste

1 egg yolk beaten with pinch of salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 400*. In a large bowl, mix cream of chicken soup, chicken stock (or milk), garlic powder, thyme, parsley, rosemary and pepper. Stir in chicken and veggies and mix well. Place pie crust in 9 in. pie plate, spread chicken mixture in crust and top with second crust. Seal the edges and cut 4-5 slits in the top crust to vent. Brush egg yolk over the top if desired. Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Southwest Chicken and Red Potato Chowder

Last night I took an old recipe and made it infinitely better. The basic chicken and red potato chowder recipe was good, but it was kind of bland. My mom thoughtfully stocked my fridge for me while we were sitting at the hospital with Will, and the barbecue rotisserie chicken she got gave me just the inspiration I needed. This soup of slightly spicy and full of flavor. Matt ate three bowls of it and he didn't even add hot sauce!!

Servings: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

4 strips bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
1 med. onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cans chicken broth (or 4 c. water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes)
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
2 tsp. adobo paste (found in mexican foods section)
1 lb. red potatoes cut into thin slices
2 c. chopped barbecue rotisserie chicken
1 c. frozen corn
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 c. half and half or light cream (or go all out and use heavy cream!)

In large saucepan, cook bacon over med. heat until crispy. Remove and place on paper towel to drain. Cook onion and celery in bacon drippings until soft. Add chicken stock, seasonings, and adobo paste and bring to boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Add corn, chicken and tomatoes and bring to second boil. Reduce heat and stir in half and half. Sprinkle with bacon crumbles before serving. You can also sprinkle some freshly grated monteray jack cheese over the top to make it extra delicious!!!