Veggie Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (we used extra-virgin olive oil)
  • ¾ pound zucchini, trimmed and diced
  • 3 scallions, trimmed and sliced
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (we used table salt)
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • 1 can (14 ½ ounces) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can (8 ¾ ounces) corn, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
  • ¾ cup salsa verde (we used our Roasted Tomatillo Salsa)
  • 1 package (4.6 ounces) hard taco shells or 12 soft corn tortillas (we used hard taco shells)
  • 2/3 cup crumbled farmer cheese or queso blanco (we used queso fresco)
  • Lime wedges

Directions

  1. Take a large nonstick skillet out and pour the oil in, setting the heat to somewhere between medium to medium-high. Once the oil’s hot, toss in the zucchini and scallions, cooking for 5 minutes. Add in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, stirring constantly for one minute.
  2. Add the beans, corn, spinach and salsa to the skillet, stirring to combine. Continue to stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until the spinach has wilted (ours took less than 3 minutes)
  3. While the spinach is getting wilted, heat up your taco shells or tortillas in the microwave for 45 seconds or however long the package they came in says to. Spoon roughly 1/3 cup of the vegetable mixture into each taco shell, sprinkling the cheese on afterwards and squeezing the lime wedge over the taco. Only thing left to do now is to eat it !
DSC_1253 copy 2

We did have to season this with some kosher salt to bring out the maximum flavor in the dish. This really does taste the best once you have the cheese and lime juice with the taco filling. Choosing to go with the hard tacos shells gave the dish a crunch that’d be missing otherwise.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Green Poblano Rice

Ingredients

  • 4 poblano chiles
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • ½ teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (we used extra-virgin olive oil)
  • ¼ cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 cups uncooked converted white rice
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped parsley (we used Italian parsley)
  • ½ teaspoon salt, if desired (we used it)

Directions

  1. Take the poblanos and place them over the open flames of a gas stove, turning occasionally until the skin is blistered and looks lightly charred. If you don’t have a gas stove like us, then preheat your broiler and take a baking sheet out and line it with aluminum foil. Coat the poblanos with oil (not the 2 tablespoons mentioned in the ingredients list) and place them on the lined baking sheet. Stick the sheet under the broiler (on the first rack above the middle one) and cook until they look blistered, turning the poblanos occasionally with tongs. Take the chiles and place them in food-storage plastic bags for around 10 minutes so their skins loosen up. You can take the skin off by simply running your hands down the chile and peeling the skin off. Cut a vertical slit into one side of the chile, opening it up one side, carefully removing the seeds and stems afterwards.
  2. Take the lid off your blender and place the poblanos, cilantro, 2 cups of the chicken broth and the bouillon granules into it. Put the lid back on and blend for 45 seconds or until smooth. Strain the mixture, throwing away solids (we pureed ours so we had no solids to throw away). Leave the poblano sauce off to the side for now.
  3. Take a 12-inch skillet out and pour the olive oil in, setting the heat to medium-high. Once the oil’s hot, toss in the onion and garlic, stirring constantly for one minute. Add the rice into the skillet, stirring now and then for 5 minutes or until the rice looks lightly golden.
  4. Stir in the poblano sauce, followed by the remaining chicken broth, half of the parsley and the salt (if you’re adding salt that is). Turn the heat down to low and put the lid on the skillet, cooking for anywhere between 20 to 25 minutes or until the rice is almost tender. Mix in the remaining parsley at this point.
  5. Turn the heat up to medium, taking the lid off afterwards. Cook for an additional 3 minutes or until any liquid in the skillet’s been absorbed. Take a bite of the rice and see if you need to add any additional salt (we did). Let it stand for 5 minutes before digging in.
DSC_1243DSC_1245 copyDSC_0088DSC_1303

This recipe does take a bit of work but the flavor is so worth it !

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Tomatillo Corn

Ingredients

  • 1 2/3 cups  frozen corn kernels (16 oz.), thawed
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup diced tomatillos
  • ¼ cup minced onion
  • ¼ cup minced jalapeño
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

Directions

  1. Pour the oil into a large skillet, setting the heat to high. Once the oil’s hot, add in the corn, stirring constantly until the corn has a light brown appearance.
  2. Add in the tomatillos, onion and jalapeños, stirring for 3 minutes or until the tomatillos soften. Take a bite and season the dish with salt and pepper. Mix in the cilantro and oregano and enjoy !
DSC_1329DSC_1337 copy

My father liked this so much, he couldn’t stay away from it !

We got this recipe from CuisineTonight.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote CuisineTonight.

Take care everybody !

Refried Beans

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons bacon grease (we cooked up some thick-cut peppered bacon to get our bacon grease)
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 2 serrano peppers
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 (15-ounces each) cans pinto beans, including the liquid
  • ¼ cup crumbled cotija cheese (we didn’t measure how much we used)

Directions

  1. Pour the bacon grease into a large skillet, setting the heat to medium-high. Once the grease is hot, add in the onion, serranos and garlic, stirring constantly for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onions look slightly translucent. Take the serranos out of the skillet and either throw them away or keep them and chop them up to use as a topping (we kept ours and just sliced them). Add in the beans and their liquid, mashing the beans with a potato masher or wooden spoon (we used a potato masher). Mash until you reach your own preferred consistency, stirring afterwards until the beans are warmed through. Serve right away, topping with cheese and the chopped serrano.
DSC_1343 copy

These refried beans are so damn good ! If you choose not to use cotija cheese then you may need to add some salt to the beans but otherwise the cheese will bring all the saltiness you need. Just to give you a heads up, the blistered serranos pack a lot of heat so even just a few slices will probably provide enough spiciness for your individual portion.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !

Key Lime Slab Pie

Ingredients

  • 2 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons Key lime zest
  • 1 ½ cups fresh lime juice (we used Key lime juice)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 (8-ounce) containers frozen whipped topping, thawed (we used Cool-Whip)
  • Garnish: lime slices

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Take a large mixing bowl out and mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in it until thoroughly combined. Take a rimmed 15 x 10-inch baking sheet out and press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides.
  3. Stick the sheet in the oven to bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Let cool completely.
  4. In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the following ingredients until combined: condensed milk, eggs, lime zest, lime juice, vanilla and salt. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes (it’ll start to thicken during this time). Pour the mixture into the crust, spreading it out evenly.
  5. Stick the pan back in the oven for 10 minutes or until the mixture sets. Let it cool completely on a wire rack.
  6. Loosely cover the dish and place it in the fridge so it’ll be cold before serving, anywhere from 4 hours to 3 days. Just before you’re ready to eat, spread the whipped topping on and garnish with a lime if you want.
dsc_1220 copy

A great dessert but can’t eat a lot at one time. It’s tart (pucker power !) and sweet at the same time. It’s nice to have the contrasting textures of the smooth filling and crunchy crust. We used Key lime juice to keep the pie true to its name. We never timed it, but by the time we got the juice needed from the Key limes, mommy and I had swimmers fingers, they were so wrinkled up ! We suppose you could use regular limes to speed up the process of getting the juice.

This recipe came from Cooking With Paula Deen.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cool-Whip or Cooking With Paula Deen.

Take care everybody !