Quick Spring Dinner Ideas

With Baseball, Art Shows, concerts, etc... in full swing I try to plan ahead and use the crock pot for meals that whenever someone gets home to eat there is dinner ready! For tonight I decided to try Shephard's Pie, as I had leftover Lamb from Easter. All I needed to do was make Mashed Potatoes and mix frozen veggies and gravy with the lamb. I will post later to let you know how it turned out! Thursday I will be doing

Beer Brisket (from Prevention Slow Cooker)

2 large onions

3-4 Lbs Beef Brisket, fat trimmed

1 bottle of beer

1/2 c chili sauce

2 tsp dried steak seasoning

Place onion in slow cooker, top with beef. Mix chili sauce, beer and steak seasoning. Pour over beef. Cook on low 10-12 hours. Thinly slice across grain. Use slotted spoon to remove onions and place on top of meat. Drizzle some cooking liquid over meat and serve on rolls!

Thai Chicken Wraps

This was quick and yummy! It's from a Back Packing site Manny goes to: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?61693-Thai-Chicken-Wraps&s=ec5e1b8aa83a921921ea6b59ebafd783

This recipe was designated a lunch/snack recipe due to it's simpleness but of course can be used for a dinner as well.

Ingredients

•1/2 C. Creamy Peanut Butter

•1/2 C. of Prepared Pad Thai sauce (easily found in most grocery stores)

•1 Bunch of Green Onion

•4 Large Tortillas, Wraps, or Flatbreads

•1 Pkg - 7 Ounces of Tyson Chicken (or two 5 ounce cans)

•Leaf or Romaine Lettuce (We suggest Romaine. It's much stiffer and will hold up well in a pack for a day or two as long as it does not get overheated)

Package the above ingredients using whatever method suits you

Trail Preparation

In your cookpot (we suggest using hard anodized aluminum for its non stick properties) stir together the peanut butter, chopped green onions and pad thai sauce. Cook over medium heat stirring until sauce is mixed completely and warm. Do not overcook!

Layout a Tortilla or Wrap, top with lettuce, chicken and onions. Sauce over the top and then wrap burrito style.

Notes

You may also consider saucing the wrap first, then other ingredients but we find personally that having the sauce on the chicken imparts a better flavor.

Fall is here, and it is, perhaps the most beautiful Fall I’ve seen. It has been sunny and warm with soft winds. Really perfect.

To celebrate such perfection I prepared Sautéed chicken with apples and cranberries, healthy, yummy, quick, and very, very Fall-like. Enjoy!

Sautéed chicken with apples and cranberries

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
flour
salt
pepper
butter
¼ c apple jack or brandy
¼ c apple cider, or apple juice
¼ c cranberry juice
¼ c chicken stock
½ c fresh cranberries, or dried if fresh are not available, more if you like
2 apples, preferably tart, Granny Smith
juice of 1 lemon

Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Pound chicken breasts to about ¼" thick cutlets. Dredge cutlets in salt-and-pepper-seasoned flour. Melt butter in hot skillet. Sauté in skillet about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown, but not completely cooked through. Remove cutlets to plate, cover loosely with foil, and set aside.

Deglaze skillet with apple jack. Add cider, cranberry juice, chicken stock, and cranberries. Return cutlets to skillet. Simmer about 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce reduces slightly. Remove cutlets, sauce, and cranberries to serving platter.

Dice apples and toss in lemon juice. Sauté in skillet until slightly golden, but not too soft. Spoon over top of cutlets and serve.

If you prepare this ahead and want to freeze or refrigerate it to serve later, let cool before packaging in airtight container in refrigerator or freezer.
To prepare and serve: If frozen, defrost in refrigerator the day before you plan to serve.
To heat in microwave: Heat at 70% power for about 3 minutes, until heated throughout. Do not over-microwave or chicken will become tough.
To heat on stovetop: Place in skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is heated through, about 7-10 minutes.

Getting dinner on the table, when you'd rather be at the beach, in the pool, in the garden, or playing with the kids, is a challenge on summer days. Not to mention the nights like tonight when it's much too hot to turn the oven on, slave over the stove, or even the grill.

While cooking for my Weight Watchers client today, I stumbled upon this easiest of yummy dinners ... Thai coconut curry shrimp over jasmine rice (for those of you counting, one serving of shrimp with one cup of rice is 7 Weight Watchers Points).

You may not have some of the ingredients on hand, Thai red curry paste and fish sauce, for example, but buy them and you will definitely continue to use them, in this recipe and other Asian specialties, even to marinate chicken, fish, and veggies for the grill.

Jasmine rice, like white rice, cooks in only 15 minutes, not like it's longer-cooking brown and Basmati cousins. Even in today's 93° (and rising) temps, I can stand cooking 15-minute rice and stir-frying for less than 10 minutes. Especially when the results taste this good.

Thai coconut curry shrimp over jasmine rice
serves 4

cooking spray
4 green onions, chopped, whites and greens separated
1 T Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt, to taste
6 oz light coconut milk
2 t fish sauce
¼ c fresh cilantro, chopped
4 c jasmine rice, cooked

Cook jasmine rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet or wok to medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Add green onion whites and red curry paste and sauté 1 minute. Add garlic and shrimp, season with salt, and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, and mix well. Simmer about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in green onion greens and cilantro. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

To save even more time today, I bought the shrimp peeled & cleaned, and I used already-minced garlic from a jar in the produce section.

“I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of food.”

— Erma Bombeck

This sounds good, but the waists of my pants these days might differ in their opinion. So, one of our New Year’s resolutions around Chez Habib is to eat healthier and watch our portion sizes. As a culture, we are all guilty of super-sizing. Start reading serving sizes on labels, you’ll be surprised by how many servings you and your family might actually be consuming. (My older kids recently told me that one of the best lessons I’ve taught them is to be cognizant of what the serving size really is — they don’t always follow it, but they know where to find it if they choose to ;)

One of my new favorite recipes is Sweet Hot Tofu from myrecipes.com. What I love about it is that it’s so adaptable. The first time I make a recipe, I usually try to make it as directed so I can evaluate whether it’s a “keeper” or not. When I first made it for my daughter and I for lunch, I thought it would benefit from the addition of broccoli, so I added broccoli to the leftovers and had them for lunch the rest of the week.

One of my clients loves shrimp and Asian food, so Sweet Hot Shrimp with Broccoli often appears on her menu. Another client loves chicken, voil&agrav;! Sweet Hot Chicken and Snow Peas! What are your favorites? Give it a try yourself.

Sweet hot tofu
serves 4
(modified from myrecipes.com)

1 14-oz package firm, reduced-fat tofu
1 c rice
2 c water
2 t canola oil
2/3 c fat-free, low-sodium vegetable stock(use chicken or seafood stock if you desire modifying the recipe)
1/4 c hoisin sauce
1 T dry sherry
1 t cornstarch
2 t low-sodium soy sauce
1 t honey
1/2 t dark sesame oil
dash of crushed red pepper
2 t fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 t garlic, minced or grated
1 c broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
1/3 c green onions, thinly sliced

Drain tofu, wrap in several layers of paper towels or kitchen towel, and place under a heavy plate for about 30 minutes.

Bring rice and water to a boil in a medium saucepan, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Once rice is done, add broccoli florets to saucepan and replace cover. Broccoli with steam.

In a small bowl, combine stock, hoisin, sherry, cornstarch, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper, stirring well. Set aside.

Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and sauté for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet.

Add ginger and garlic to pan. Sauté 30 seconds. Stir in broth mixture, and cook 1 minute, or until thickened, stirring constantly. Add tofu and broccoli to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring gently to coat. Remove from burner and add green onions. Serve immediately over rice.

Today is unseasonably cold in New England, sunny but cold. I’m taking advantage of it to clean out the freezer and the pantry and make a tasty treat for my family to each when we come in, freezing, from baseball somewhere between 5:30 and 7 pm.

This is an easy, yummy, spicy black bean soup. It can be made in the crockpot, and tailored to your family’s specific &ldqou;spicy quotient” (add less salsa or less spicy salsa—smoky or smoked garlic salsa works very well with black beans, just omit the extra garlic), thickness preference (add more broth or stock, or fewer beans), and other likes and dislikes (omit garlic and red pepper, add onions or diced tomatoes, use vegetable broth rather than chicken for a vegetarian soup).

I had 4 cups of chicken stock in the freezer, so I used that, but canned (or boxed) stock is fine too.
Black bean soup

2 t olive oil
1 t minced garlic
1 red peppers, diced small
6 15-oz cans black beans
½ 14-oz jar Mrs. Renfro’s Green Salsa, more for spicier soup, less for milder soup (Mrs. Renfro’s also has a very good Smoky Garlic Salsa that is excellent with black beans, if you use this one, omit the extra garlic and the oil above, the oil is only for cooking the strong taste out of the garlic)
4 c chicken stock

Heat olive oil in stockpot or crockpot. Add garlic and peppers, cook until garlic is translucent and peppers start to soften. Process 3 cans of beans in the blender with salsa (in batches). Add stock, bean mixture, and whole beans (rinsed) to the garlic and peppers.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes, until soup is warm and flavors have blended. Flavor will benefit from additional simmering, so feel free to let it simmer longer, just keep it over a low flame and stir occasionally so beans don’t stick to bottom of pan and burn. If you like, garnish with additional diced red peppers or thinly sliced scallions.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We were early on the celebrating this year. We attended a neighborhood bash on Saturday, because we just couldn’t get it together for tonight (too many darn kids running in too many darn directions). Delicious empanadas, fajitas, and frijoles a la charra.

Then, in our household, yesterday I needed a meal I could throw together quickly and early and with what I had on hand, so that everyone could feed themselves when they came in from baseball practice, before the baseball game, and from the baseball game, respectively. It ended up being a great, family-pleasing meal — I love when that happens!

I have a divided crockpot. In half, I put 4 chicken breasts, a can of enchilada sauce, and a can of diced green chiles. In the other half, I put 2 cans of red kidney beans, a large can of diced tomatoes, a cup of white rice, uncooked, a teaspoon of garlic, some salt, pepper, and cumin, and about ¼ cup of diced red peppers that I had on hand. I turned the crockpot on High at 2:30; I cut up some avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, green onions, and put them and shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream in Tupperwares together in the fridge, defrosted some tortillas, and by 5:30, the chicken was cooked and ready to be shredded and returned to the sauce, and the rice and beans were cooked (but I might add about ½ cup of water next time) — soft chicken tacos with red beans and rice, from where there was no original meal plan, I love it! (And, as it turned out, thunder and lightning ended the first game early and canceled the second game altogether, so we got to sit down and eat as a family, even better.)

Tonight, we’ll grill, but my nod to Cinco de Mayo will be this Black Bean Salad that my family has lovingly turned into a dip (or filling for burritos and tacos). It’s one of the healthiest dips you’ll find. (Oh, and we’ll have a glass of sangria.) Enjoy!

Black Bean Salad

2 16 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed
1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, minced
½ t cumin
2 dashes Tabasco pepper sauce
2 small garlic cloves, minced
4 T balsamic vinegar
8 T olive oil
salt and pepper
2 avocados, diced

Combine all ingredients except avocado in a bowl and let stand for 30 minutes to combine flavors. (Can be prepared up to 2 days in advanced and refrigerated.)

Just before serving, add diced avocado, correct seasonings, and serve on a leaf of Boston lettuce as a salad, or as a dip with tortilla chips.

Pork and chirrizo Burgers

I'm hoping to make these for dinner tonight, for a twist on a old favorite.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/emerils-pork-and-chorizo-burgers-with-green-chile-mayo?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/burger-and-slider-recipes-for-game-day#slide_5

The Dunican sisters were anti-grocery shopping today. I’m not sure what Regina ended up finding in her pantry and freezer to turn into dinner, but I had quite a coup, inspired by National Seafood Bisque Day, I combined the recipe the punchbowl.com page recommended with some inspiration from Ina Garten’s Shrimp Bisque (because I had all the ingredients on hand).

This recipe is truly a last-minute preparation. I made the whole thing from frozen shrimp to eating the piping hot bowl with a piece of crusty bread in 30 minutes. If you use frozen shrimp, skip the sautéing step, but the olive oil does add some depth of flavor to your bisque. If you don’t have white wine, you can substitute seafood stock or even water, but add a splash (less than ¼ cup of brandy, vermouth, or dry sherry at the end). Remember to take the center out of the blender when blending hot liquids; hot liquids tend to cause the blender to “explode” and are quite dangerous, so place a folded dish towel over the hole in the blender top to let the steam escape, and keep your hand on it so the top and towel stay in place.

Truly last-minute “National Seafood Bisque Day” shrimp bisque

1 T olive oil
1 lb shrimp, in shells, frozen is fine
1 bottle white wine
1 qt light cream
¼ t thyme leaves
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper

If shrimp is thawed, sauté shrimp, shells and all, in olive oil; add thyme, pepper, and salt. Simmer shrimp in wine just until cooked (pink), overcooking shrimp will cause it to be tough. Pull shrimp from wine and chill in refrigerator until cool enough to handle. In the meantime, add cream to wine and continue simmering over low heat.

Once shrimp is cool enough, peel shrimp and place in blender; reserve 12 shrimp, peeled, with tails intact. Add liquid so blender is half full. With center of blender top out of hole, place folded dish cloth over hole. Keeping your hand on dish cloth, pulse blender until shrimp is chopped fine. Return to pot to warm over low heat. Stir in cayenne pepper. Serve immediately with two whole shrimp as garnish.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

It was a quiet rainy night. One football practice had ended early, the other one had been canceled altogether, so there were more kids around, and fewer adults. It called for just a bottle of red wine and an easy dinner. Corn chowder was in the crockpot, and I put together some Open-faced Italian tuna melts based on Rachael Ray’s Tuna Mini Melts with Rosemary, but I was looking for less sandwich, more appetizer. And, as usual, I wanted to use what I had in the house, so I used a hearty whole-grain bread, and made them open-faced (who needs that extra slice of bread when you could have an extra glass of wine instead?). I added some sundried tomatoes for color and flavor too.

Open-faced Italian tuna melts

2 cans Italian tuna in olive oil, lightly drained
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
1 sundried tomato, finely chopped
Black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 slices provolone cheese, deli sliced and chopped
8 full-size slices of grainy bread, or 32 slices of cocktail bread

Mash tuna with finely chopped shallot, rosemary, sundried tomato, black pepper, and olive oil. Stir in the chopped cheese. Toast one side of the bread under the broiler until light brown, turn bread over, top each with a generous tablespoon of tuna. Place under the broiler again, just until warm.

The Ultimate Sandwich

I love this blog author’s honesty; that is exactly what would happen to me if I planned a hike to discuss how the key to the success in the new school year is to be “organized, organized, and organized.” But it did get me thinking about The Ultimate Sandwich. What would yours be?

Sunday is Football Day in our house this Fall. Youth football games at one o’clock, and the Patriots after that (so far it’s been on tape delay because the games have all conflicted with the 1 o’clock youth games). It has worked for us, though, because I have been able to throw a meal in the crockpot and have dinner waiting when we come in to sit down in front of the game. Last Sunday I tried a new recipe, and (as usual) I didn’t have all the ingredients handy, so I improvised. It made so much that we had some other folks from my son’s team come back and join us, and it was such a hit that my sons asked for it again for dinner on Monday night — and there was enough that they could.

Crockpot pork carnitas (Based on Slow Braised Carnitas from foodtv.com)

3 lbs lean boneless pork loin, roughly chopped
15 ozs red enchilada sauce
15 ozs beef broth
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 chipotle pepper, roughly chopped
4 green bell peppers, roughly chopped
4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 T vinegar
½ bunch fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (even better if you have a friend to do this for you like I did)
hard and soft taco shells, salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese, sour cream

Season pork with salt and pepper and sear in skillet until it has a nice golden crust. Place pork in crockpot with enchilada sauce, beef broth, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Cover, and simmer on low for 6 hours or until pork is tender.

Stir in cilantro and serve with taco fixings.

I served a quick black beans and rice side dish with this. Nothing beats a quick side dish, and I like this one because of the easy proportions, so put this in your mental file (and the ingredients in your pantry) for a rushed night. It would work equally well as a main dish if you add in a sausage like kielbasa or chorizo.

Quick black beans and rice

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 can water
1 can rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ c cilantro, roughly chopped

Add tomatoes, water, and rice in saucepan, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes, remove from heat, stir in black beans , and let sit covered for 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Can also be served as a cold rice salad.

P.S. The Patriots won!

Fall flavors

In my last post, I extolled the benefits of the pressure cooker. Today it’s the crockpot. I’m reinventing the leftovers from last night’s intimate dinner party (roasted pork tenderloin with tomato-pear chutney and sweet and sour butternut squash) to be today’s game day repast for the boys (pulled pork). Nothing says “Fall” like pulled pork, yum. I just pulled out the crockpot out of the cabinet, threw in the little bit of leftover pork tenderloin (which I had roasted only with lemon pepper and garlic last night) and another pork tenderloin, because I’d bought the value pack of tenderloins on sale, along with the leftover chutney (about 2 cups), the leftover squash (about 1 cup), and a cup of my homemade BBQ sauce, put it on low and let it go. When the boys sit down to watch the UMass football game at 3:30, it’ll be falling apart and ready for some crusty bulkie rolls and pineapple-cole slaw. Bear in mind, that you don’t have to have the same leftovers to do what I have done. Whatever flavors you had together as your first meal will meld wonderfully into your new meal. Usually the key to pulled pork is some sweet (fruit or molasses or sugar) and some acid (vinegar), it’s also a good idea to add something spicy (jalapeños). In this case, the fruit from the chutney and the squash will just melt into nothing but flavor when the pork falls apart. You can also use a cheaper cut of pork, but I used what I had on hand because I had bought the value pack. Slow cooking is a great method for tenderizing less expensive cuts of meat, and the crockpot is the best for slow cooking on a day when you have a lot of things going on. As a final note, many of the meals you can cook and leave in the crockpot, you could also cook quickly, at the last minute, in the pressure cooker. Test out your favorites in various methods, or click on these links to try some of mine.

Tomato-Pear Chutney
The first time I made chutney of any kind it was tomato-pear chutney, from the pears from the tree in my yard about 10 years ago. The trees have since stopped producing usable fruit, but I was feeling nostalgic for the chutney.

2 ½ c plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 ½ c pears, peeled and coarsely chopped
½ c raisins
½ c green pepper, diced
½ c onion, diced
1 c brown sugar
½ c white vinegar
1 t salt
1-inch piece fresh ginger
½ t dry mustard
⅛ t cayenne pepper
1 jalapeño, minced

Combine all ingredients in saucepan or crockpot. In saucepan, bring to a boil; boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened and reduced about one-half in volume (about 45 minutes), stirring occasionally. In crockpot, simmer on low for 4 hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Can be packed in clean, hot jars, and sealed using the pressure cooker, or can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months.

Sweet and Sour Squash

3 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium butternut squash (about 2½ lbs), peeled, seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 c balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°. Toss squash with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and place in a single layer in a casserole dish. Bake for about 2o minutes, until squash is golden. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. Experiment with this dish with your other favorite vegetables. I’ve also done this on the stovetop, and with green beans and shallots or broccoli and golden raisins.

I made the most unbelievably easy comfort food for dinner tonight. It was another one of those crazy, busy days when it was unlikely that we’d sit down for a family dinner, so I pulled out the pressure cooker. What a savior for a busy family! With the crisp, Fall weather, butternut squash was a natural, and nothing is more “comfort” than creamy, cheesy risotto.


The trouble with most 30-minute-or-less recipes, and what most people don’t know, is the ingredient lists. If the recipe says that it takes 30 minutes to complete it, but lists 2 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed, that means that the squash has to be prepped before you begin the work, the peeling, seeding, and cubing time is not included in the time estimate. So, at 3:08 pm I pulled out the pressure cooker and the ingredients and got started. (I’m a big fan of the chop-and-throw method, that way you don’t have to worry about pre-prepped ingredients, you just chop (or dice or cube) and throw them in the pot as you go.) I poured the olive oil in the pressure cooker, diced and added the pancetta, onion, rice, butternut squash, chicken stock, and white wine (thank God for my neighbor, Ellen basically sharing her pantry with me; I was out of white wine; the payoff is that I sent her some risotto when my son went to babysit for her son), placed the cover on the pressure cooker and brought it to full pressure. I cooked it for 20 minutes, turned it off, and was in the car on my way to my son’s football game by 3:38. Thirty minutes exactly.

Now, the pot just needed to let the pressure come down while I was gone. When I returned from the game I mixed in the butter, parmiggiano-reggiano, and sage (from Ellen’s beautiful pot of herbs), and dinner was ready. If I had been really prepared, I would have had my other son make a salad while I was at the football game, then I wouldn’t have even had to do that before I sat down to eat.

But wait, there’s more, this can be one of those everready go-to recipes for you too. When I buy pancetta, I only need ¼ of the piece, so I cut the rest into individual pieces and store it in the freezer for future batches. I also keep frozen butternut squash on hand so I’m always ready.

And, even my anti-vegetable son had seconds ... it’s amazing how a little cheese and rice can change the character of a vegetable.

Butternut squash risotto with pancetta and sage

2 T olive oil
4 ozs pancetta
1 medium onion
2 c arborio rice
1 small butternut squash
6 c canned low-salt chicken broth
1 c dry white wine
2 T butter
½ c parmiggiano-reggiano cheese
6 fresh sage leaves

Place the pressure cooker on the stove over medium heat. Add olive oil. Coarsely chop and add pancetta, sauté until it’s a little crispy. Finely dice and add the onion until it’s a little soft. Add the rice and stir to coat. Chop the butternut squash into large pieces and add them (when the risotto is done, you will have some larger pieces of squash in there, if you like a smoother risotto, cut your squash into smaller pieces).

Add chicken stock and white wine, place the cover on the pressure cooker, and bring it to full pressure. Cook for 20 minutes, turn it off, and let the pressure come down. (If you’re in a hurry, you can run it under cool water to bring down the pressure more quickly.)

While the pressure comes down, grate your parmiggiano-reggiano and chop your sage leaves finely. Once pressure is down, mix in the butter, parmiggiano-reggiano, and sage. Serve immediately, with freshly ground pepper and more parmiggiano-reggiano for the top.

For ease of getting the family to the dinner table, nothing beats a recipe that you can remember all the ingredients, unless, of course, it’s a recipe that you always have the ingredients on hand. My sister, Bridget, passed along this recipe for Fejoida (Brazilian Black Beans) years ago, and it is a family favorite.

When I buy ham hocks, they come packaged in 2 in my supermarket, I simply put the extra one in a baggie in the freezer. If that's all the meat I have, that is fine. This is versatile, it really can be made with whatever leftover sausage or pork you have on hand, I've even used pork chops. Yesterday, I used dried beans (wanted to test the pressure cooker precooking method) and the leftover ham and it's bone from our Palm Sunday brunch, yum! (My second son still prefers the chorizo.)

Keep canned black beans and rice in your pantry, then the only fresh ingredients you need to worry about are 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tomato, and cilantro. Nine out of 10 days I have onions and tomatoes on hand. Five out of 10 days I have cilantro, because we like the flavor and use it alot. You could substitute a little jarred pico de gallo or even salsa, or just serve the beans and rice alongside a salad. But even if you need to run to the market for a little produce, it’s about the easiest meal you can make.

I put mine in the crockpot yesterday, because it was a rainy, raw day, and I craved the comfort of having dinner ready at the end of the day, besides, my days get a little crazy after 2 pm when the boys get home from school (I may have mentioned that a time or two before, it’s a tired old refrain), but this can as easily be made in 30 minutes on the stovetop.

Fejoida (Brazilian Black Beans)

1 med onion
2-3 15oz cans black beans, drained*
1-2 T olive oil
1 lb cut up chorizo, liguica, smoked sauage, keilbasa, or ham
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 c rice
1 med tomato
1 med onion
fresh cilantro chopped
Olive oil and vinegar to taste

In a large sauce pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. Add meat to brown. Add crushed tomatoes and black beans. Simmer 20-30 minutes, if time permits flavor is enhanced with additional cooking time.

Meanwhile, prepare white rice. Dice the tomato, onion, and chop the cilantro. Mix together, season with salt and pepper, dress with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to hold together, but do not overdress.

Serve beans over rice. Garnish with cilantro-tomato mixture. Tastes even better the next day (but make the cilantro-tomato mixture fresh).

*To substitute dried beans, which are very affordable, soak them overnight according to the package directions, or place them in a pressure cooker, covered by an inch or more of water. Bring to full pressure and cook for 7 minutes. Turn burner off and let pressure release naturally. Use these beans in any recipe where canned beans is called for. Beans will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

Moo Shu Beef Lettuce Cups

1 lb lean ground beef

1 c  yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced

2 med garlic clove, minced

2 cup bok choy, thinly sliced

1 med sweet red pepper, thinly sliced

2 cup button mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

8 leaf bibb lettuce

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and cook beef, onion, ginger and garlic over med-high heat for 5-7 minutes. Add bok choy, pepper, mushrooms and soy sauce; cook about 305 minutes. Spook about 1/2 c beef into each lettuce leaf. Yields 2 filled leaves per serving. Serve with extra soy sauce if desired.

George and I love it in the lettuce, but usually serve to the kids with tortillas.

This is a recipe from WeightWatchers.com.

Healthy Meals

My husband and I are trying to lose a little weight and get in better shape, and be healthier, in general. I have been adding extra fruits and veggies to every meal I can. 

I'd love some of your favorite healthy meals. If they are kid-friendly, all the better!

Yesterday I made a big pot of vegetarian chili. Added lots of mushrooms, peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, beans, and cilantro. We'll be having tonight, I like to let it sit a day, if I can. I will be foregoing my favorite toppings of cheese and sour cream. I think I'll toast some tortillas to serve alongside rather than a nice crusty roll.

Look forward to seeing your great ideas.

I got this link in an email from BHG.com today: Effortless One-dish Chicken Dinners. Each one looked better than then last. I especially liked the looks of Ginger-curry chicken with lentils and leeks and Chicken with olives.

Enjoy!

File under: You gotta try this! It's the simplest, nicest, chocolate treat ever!

Now, if you ask my kids what my favorite candy is, they'll tell y0u it's Junior Mints or maybe Mounds or Almond Joy. And I do love those, don’ get me wrong. But my favorite candy is Chunky. I’m just generally unwilling to pay $1 for a 1½" square of chocolate with raisins and nuts. Enter: Chocolate, Fruit, and Nut Clusters that arrived in my e-mailbox this week, as if from Santa, but really from Health.com Healthy Holiday Postcard ... Healthy Holiday?! This just got better! The sidebar on the recipe says it’s healthy because dark chocolate offers stress-busting (really?! no wonder I like it so much!) antioxidants, while cranberries may help fend off winter colds and fight stomach bugs.

The other thing I love about it is it’s a half-cup of everything. That, I can remember when I’m walking through the store with no idea where I left my shopping list (usually on the passenger seat of the car).

I tried it as written, but I’d like a little more dark chocolate and a little less sweet, so I might substitute darker bittersweet or more semisweet chocolate for the milk chocolate next time.

Chocolate, Fruit, and Nut Clusters

½ c (3 oz) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped baking bar, such as Ghirardelli
½ c (3 oz) milk chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate bar
½ c dried cranberries
½ c coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

Place the semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water; make sure the water is not actually touching the inner pan. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Stir in the cranberries and pecans. Immediately drop by level teaspoonfuls onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes. Clusters will keep in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Second (or third or fourth) time around

Bridget asked:

What are you doing/did you do with the leftover turkey? I tried some different recipes, I'll post them later. Thanksgiving Strata for Brunch on Sunday, it was tasty, a good change. Turkey Enchiladas and of course Turkey Divan.

I just made the best—and one of the easiest & quickest!—leftover turkey meals I've ever made! I served it with white rice—to which I added leftover mashed butternut squash & a can of drained, rinsed black beans just before serving. It was adapted from www.cookinglight.com.

(BTW, I still have more turkey & a great stock (for this, I just put the carcass in my crockpot Thanksgiving night, fill with water & let it simmer for 12-24 hours), any ideas for a different soup or stew?)

Turkey Picadillo
Turkey matches well with the flavorful ingredients of this Cuban dish: tomato, chiles, cinnamon, and cumin. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

1 t olive oil
¼ c finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 c chopped tomato
2 T chopped jalapenos
1 T dark brown sugar
½ t ground cinnamon
½ t ground cumin
½ t black pepper
¼ t salt
2 T golden raisins
2 T capers
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T dry sherry
2 c chopped skinned cooked turkey
8 flour tortillas

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chopped tomato and green chiles; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, and salt; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to low. Stir in raisins, capers, vinegar, and sherry; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring often. Add turkey, stirring to combine. Remove from heat.

Warm tortillas wrapped in foil in oven. Spoon about 1/3 cup turkey mixture onto each tortilla; roll up.

Makes 4 servings.