Menu of the Week #7

Our seventh menu of the week in 2018 was disrupted, but you can see in the above picture what I intended to make. What didn't get made this week will appear on next week's menu. This post will have the following recipes: Baked Chicken Parmesan Meatballs, 1770 House Meatloaf with Garlic Sauce, and Enchilada Soup.

Menu of the Week #6

The menu of the week turned out to be delicious. This week we had Salmon with a Salad of Green Beans and Bok Choy, Chicken Tacos with Refried Beans and a Garden Salad, Pork Chops with Roasted Beets and Oranges, Pumpkin Pasta with Chicken Sausage, and Sheet Pan Pasta Bake with Chicken and Kale.

Menu of the Week #5

Harper says hi. This week I tried two new recipes, and both will make a return on our menu this year for sure. Cuban Shredded Beef with Rice and Beans, Salmon over Faux Risotto, Old Bay Shrimp Rolls, Chicken Picatta over Egg Noodles, and Pumpkin Pasta with Chicken Sausage.

Sausage, Greens and Beans

My family loved this cold weather pasta dinner, and I thought it was pretty easy to pull together. I used hot Italian sausage, cannellini beans, rigatoni and hearty swiss chard leaves.

Weekly Menu + Bacon & Bean Soup

 

This is like a "throwback Thursday" post since this was Superbowl week. Game day was an easy cooking day at our house. We had family over and everyone brought a dish to share. We let the kiddos run around while we snacked casually until we were full.

Santa Fe Chicken Skillet

After being out of town and away from my kitchen for a couple days, Jim was really missing my cooking. I didn't have time to plan dinner, or grocery shop but I did go through the fridge and pantry to dig out some ingredients to make a spectacular dinner in less than 30 minutes.

Here is how I did it. We always have chicken in the house, that was a good start. The veggies I found were an onion, a green bell pepper, 2 garlic cloves and a can of diced tomatoes (which I always have on hand.) I also gathered some leftover black beans (from another recipe), a block of cheddar cheese and egg noodles.

The key ingredient, that pulled all these random foods together is the new Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Santa Fe Blend.

Southwestern Eggrolls for Superbowl

It's the end of football season, and I can't necessarily say I'm sad to see it go. I'm looking forward to getting my Sunday back. During football season the games dictate what church service we go to, and when we can run errands, and what we watch on TV (obviously). With one TV in the house...well, you get the picture.

To celebrate the BIG Superbowl Game (and the end of football season) I think you should make these Southwestern Eggrolls. They are an exact replica of the Southwestern Eggrolls at Chili's and are SO delicious. A crispy flour tortilla filled with smoked chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeno Jack cheese, bell peppers and spinach. Served with cool avocado-ranch dressing, you will certainly be the MVP at your house this weekend!

To make 5-7 egg rolls (cut in half to make 10-14 pieces) you will need to gather the following:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or olive oil, for sauteing the veggies)
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
2 tablespoons minced green onion
2 tablespoons minced bell pepper
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels (or canned corn)
1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
3/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
5-7 (7 inch) flour tortillas
1 quart oil for deep frying

Start by seasoning your chicken breast with your favorite spices. I used a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Sear in a frying pan over medium-high heat in a little bit of oil until just cooked through, about five minutes per side. Set the chicken aside while we prepare the rest of the filling and the chicken cools a bit to handle.

Give a red or green bell pepper a small dice. You only need 2 T of this.

Give the green onion a fine dice, you need 2 T of this.

In the same fry pan that you cooked the chicken, turn the heat down to medium and add 1-2 T of oil and add the bell pepper and green onions, saute for 3-5 minutes, until tender.

I used both canned corn and canned black beans. Drain and rinse each. We will use about 1/4 cup of black beans and 1/3 cup of corn.

Add the black beans to the pan.

The chicken should be cool enough to handle now. Cube the chicken into small pieces and add to the pan along with the corn and frozen spinach.

I took the frozen spinach and just chopped off an estimated 2 T and threw it in frozen. It didn't take long to thaw in the hot pan.

Next, chop 2 T of hot jalapeno peppers and add that to the pan.

Season the mixture with 1/2 T minced parsley, 1/2 t ground cumin, 1/2 t chili powder, 1/3 t salt and 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper. I don't know why I was so shocked, but as soon as you add the seasoning you realize this is exactly how the Southwest Eggrolls at Chili's smell.

Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterrey Jack cheese so that it melts.

 I put the mixture in a separate bowl, then added the shredded cheese.

Ideally, you should use at least 7-inch flour tortillas. The tortillas I had on hand were not quite as large, so my eggrolls were a little shorter, and the filling stretched to way more than the five egg rolls. I made around a dozen egg rolls.

Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds. This steams them and makes them more pliable to work with. One at a time, fill a tortilla with about 1-2 tablespoons of the filling and wrap up tightly. Fold the sides in, and roll up snuggly. Place seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Note: I would suggest at this point you secure each egg roll closed with toothpicks. You will thank me later. Alternatively, I would suspect that you could use a slurry of cornstarch and water to seal these closed.

Once they are all rolled up, place in the freezer for 2-4 hours (or overnight, if you want to make these the day before).

Now we turn our attention to that AWESOME avocado dip that comes with the eggrolls. You won't believe how easy this is to make. You need a cuisinart blender (or you could do this by hand with lots of mashing and stirring.)

Here is what you need to gather:
1/2 cup smashed fresh avocado (I used an entire medium sized avocado)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon buttermilk  (I used milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1 dash dried dill weed
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash pepper

Add all the ingredients to your blender, and whirl away until it is smooth. Taste for seasoning and add more of whatever you think it needs.
 

Cover and refrigerate this, I found the dip tasted better after an hour or two in the fridge!

Now for the fun part. I've always wanted a deep fryer, but never bought one because I couldn't justify the purchase and we don't really need to be eating lots of fried food. Well... I won this at a tradeshow from the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. What better way to break it in than to make these Southwest Eggrolls?!?!

Fill the fryer with 4-6 cups of oil (or to the minimum fill line in your fryer) and heat to 375 degrees. I used canola oil. Deep fry the eggrolls in the hot oil for 5-6 minutes or until nice a golden brown and remove to paper towels or a rack to drain for about 2 minutes.

My first batch of egg rolls didn't turn out so well. The eggrolls opened up in the hot oil....

For the next batch, I used toothpicks to hold the opening closed. This is the way to go!

The eggrolls turned out MUCH better!

Slice each eggroll diagonally lengthwise and arrange on a plate around a bowl of the avocado dipping sauce.

Then stand back and watch them disappear (like football season soon will). The flavor of the eggrolls and dipping sauce was spot-on-identical to the eggrolls at Chili's. Yum, yum, yum.

Yum.

Want more game day food ideas?
Check out my roundup of recipes for football season!

Texas Chili: To Bean or Not To Bean

Texas Chili is a very personal recipe for those of us who live in the Lone Star State. Everyone has "their own" version of the meaty, sometimes spicy stew. It's served up in so many different ways: with beans, on top of fritos, topped with cheese, topped with onions. 

I was in the mood to cook up a winter dish and I had my mind made up on a thick Irish Stew with cubed chuck, carrots, onions, celery and potatoes all cooked in a red wine sauce. I had even made it TO THE GROCERY store this morning when Jim says to me that he really felt like a bowl of chili for lunch. Chili?? I have never written my own recipe for chili, although that task is quickly rising to the top of my to-do list. When we go camping I like to use our leftover breakfast meat and make a pot of chili by adding a can of beans, a can of tomatoes and a packet of chili spices. I realize this isn't REAL chili, but when you are camping and it's cold out, a pot of this will warm you right up.

I went ahead and purchased the ingredients I needed for Irish Stew, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make all Jim's dreams of chili come true...and there was a buy one get one free at my HEB for Texas Two-Step Chili Mix. It's made with Hatch Chiles right here in Austin, Texas and boasts an all natural ingredient list including tomato juice and tomato puree, green chiles, fresh onion, garlic, masa, cumin, sugar, ancho pepper puree, jalapeno and spices. I thought I would give it a shot and rate this product here on my blog.

The cooking instructions are simple. Brown one pound of ground beef and add the contents of the jarred chile mix, simmer until hot.

I wanted to customize the mix a little, so I began by chopping a yellow onion and cooking over medium heat until almost translucent, then I added a teaspoon of garlic. In my ingredient picture above, notice the new garlic I found at my grocery store, Spice World came out with a squeeze bottle!

Instead of ground beef, I used one pound of ground turkey meat. I don't think anyone can really tell the difference so I almost always use turkey.

I seasoned the ground meat with my "house mix" of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and "other stuff." Then I added the sauteed onions and garlic.

The second step in the Texas Two-Step Chili Mix is to add the jar of sauce and spices.

Right off the bat, I thought it smelled heavily of tomato and not enough of spice. I will have to stir, taste, add seasoning, stir, taste, add seasoning...repeat... until it's perfect.

There is a lot of debate whether proper Texas chili has beans or not. I like the taste and texture of beans in my chili and I believe it helps to stretch the meal as well. You could add any type of bean you prefer.

 I chose the pinto because it was what I had on hand.

Here is the taste, season and repeat part. After the beans were stirred in I ended up adding a good pinch of red pepper flakes and somewhere between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder.

In our house we start with a handful of fritos, a ladle of hot chili and then a generous topping of shredded cheddar cheese.

The Texas Two-Step Chili Mix by Cookwell & Company makes a pretty good bowl of chili, but I'm confident I could do it better from scratch. I will start working on my recipe and post on HWM once it's complete.

I would love to hear from you... How do you make your chili? Does it have beans? What are your preferred toppings?

Crunchy Chick Peas

Do you notice there are sometimes trends in the food blogging world? A recipe or food will be "in style" for a while and everyone makes it and posts about their version. I saw many crunchy chick pea recipes online a while back and bookmarked them to make sometime. I may be behind the curve posting these photos but you can get on the bandwagon too and whip these up in no time flat.

What appealed to me was that they were a healthy snack to satisfy that crunchy/salty addiction so many of us have. There are lots of recipes online for crunchy snacky chick peas, including one for Chickpeas with Thai Chiles from the Food section of the New York Times.

This is super easy to make. Start with one can of chick peas and pour into a colander and drain and rinse very well under running water.

Pat dry.

You’ll see that some of the beans have a thin skin on them…you can leave them on, or use the paper towel to rub them off.

Toss the chickpeas with the about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and spread out on a large cookie sheet. Roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until brown and crispy. Turn and stir every ten minutes so they don't burn.

Take out of the oven and toss to taste with salt and spices.

The variations on spice combinations are endless. Here are some great flavor ideas I found online:

• 1 tablespoon chunky sea salt and 2 teaspoons spice like garam masala
• Sprinkled with Creole seasoning
• 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoons of dry ranch dip
• 3 teaspoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon Asian Sea Salt or sea salt
• thyme, pepper and lemon zest