Tortellini Roasted Veggie Salad

Ingredients:

1 package of 3 cheese tortellini, cooked
1 small red onion, big dice
1 zuchinni, big dice
2 yellow squash, big dice
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 small eggplant, big dice
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
1 tsp sugar
Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Place all diced and chopped veggies on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and then season with salt and pepper. Bake in 350 degree oven until fork tender.

Combine with cooked tortellini and mix. Sprinkle with sugar and
Italian seasoning and then dress with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic.

Can be served hot or cold.

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Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:

6 to 8 cups of grandma's Mexican chicken broth

1 diced small red onion
1/2 a diced yellow pepper
1/2 a diced green pepper
1 small can crushed tomato
4 cups shredded chicken
1 small can drained and rinsed black beans
1 cup frozen corn
6 ounces cream cheese
Cayenne pepper & garlic powder
3 cups corn tortillas cut into strips
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Cheese, green onion and sour cream to garnish

Directions:

After your broth has simmered awhile in a sauté pan cook your vegetables in olive oil until they are tender then add to broth with the chicken and black beans. Stir in cream cheese and tomatoes and let simmer 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

On a cookie sheet coat tortillas in a little olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and cayenne. Broil until crunchy (like a chip).

Serve soup in a bowl topped with tortilla shreds, shredded cheese, green onion and sour cream.


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caldo de pollo de la abuela

So I had a dream two nights ago that my friend Lynn's grandma was teaching me to make chicken broth soup. Mind you, the woman never taught me to make anything or spoke English in my presence but I'm not going to split hairs.

The grandma soup had whole chicken legs, potatoes cut in quarters lengthwise, halved carrots and big pieces of onion but the kicker was this broth.

The broth was filled with spices and flavor and while I didn't recreate the whole soup last night I did make the broth as a base for another soup using different pieces of chicken. Also, in her recipe she mixed dried chiles with oil and ran them through the food processor with tomato sauce but I just used a little enchilada sauce.

So here is my version of the broth.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast
1 lb chicken thighs
1 yellow onion
3 carrots
2 celery stocks
2 bay leaves
1 adobo chile in sauce
1 small can red enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons each of cumin, chili powder and cayenne
1 tablespoon thyme
1 can diced tomatoes w/ chiles and onions (I used Rotel)
2 cups roasted tomatoes
3 crushed garlic cloves
Water
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Place chicken and veggies in a sauce pan. Cover 2 inches higher than items in pot with water. Add garlic and bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer until chicken starts to fall apart a little. Remove chicken.

Take the tomatoes and blacken them on the BBQ, then dice them up to add to broth with everything else.

Place the broth and all remaining ingredients on low heat and simmer 1 to 2 hours.




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Mini Enchiladas (mild)

Ingredients:

3 cups shredded chicken
1/2 diced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
3 cups shredded cheese
Large can of mild enchilada sauce
Small corn tortillas

Directions:

Heat enchilada sauce in a sauce pan. Heat tortillas for 1.5 minutes in the microwave. Cook onions in butter until translucent and then add garlic, chicken and half the cheese.

I used a mix of cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack.

Dip each tortilla in sauce then fill with a few tablespoons of chicken mixture, roll and place in pan open side down.

Continue until all chicken mixture is used. I used the smallest corn tortilla I could find and filled a jelly roll pan. Drizzle top with remainder of sauce and top with cheese. Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes.



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Provolone & Ham Scramble

Ingredients:

1 slice if ham, diced
2 mushrooms thinly slices
1 green onion, chopped
1 slice of provolone
3 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Melt 1/2 of the butter in a pan and sauté the mushrooms and ham until for tender. Mix eggs and milk. Add more butter then pour in egg mix. Season to taste. Scramble until eggs are a soft scramble. Add green onion and cheese. Cover and remove from
heat for 1 minute. Scramble together and serve.


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Layla & Ani's Fresh Beat Smoothie

Layla is obsessed with the Fresh Beat Band on Nick Jr. She wanted to make a Peachy Keen Smoothie so here is what we did...


Ingredients:

1 cup sliced peaches
1 banana
1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
1 strawberry yogurt
Ice
A little apple/grape juice if too thick

Blended in the blender...

Ani totally approves of today's lunch, too.




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Santa Maria Rub

Seasoned Salt Mixture:
6 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika

Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl.

Sauce for Basting:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup garlic-infused vegetable oil


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