It’s hard to believe January’s almost half over and I haven’t posted my Christmas pictures yet. Actually, that’s not that hard to believe. The only resolution I’ve accomplished was canceling my gym membership. Ciao (for the 4th time), 24 Hour Fitness! You know I can’t stay away for long & will always support you! (Financially, that is.)
Also, I had hoped to have my new blog “theme” up to make the recipes more easily searched etc. but alas, I no longer have any free alone time now that I always have a child with me. Therefore I’ll need to enlist professional help. Stay tuned for my new blog & URL “Real Housewife of Santa Monica” hopefully out in 2012!! Seriously, hopefully up in February.
I love the idea of enchiladas but wanted to make them without that jar of red/brown sauce they’re usually swimming in. Not that I don’t LOVE that sauce & pretty much all sauces but every once in a while I like to make something a little lighter, fresher & more easily visually discerned. What the *@#$% am I talking about?
We were heading out to a friend’s birthday “Under the Sea” birthday party so I made all the components before we left. Our friend, Katarina (remember her from the alphabet wall post?) wowed us with all the details!
Maddie dressed herself for the party.
We were the first to arrive so I took some quick snaps before anyone else got there. Don’t you hate the guests who arrive RIGHT ON TIME?
A watery wonderland!
Fishing pole licorice imported from Sweden in person by a helpful brother.
Starfish honeydew!
Floating jellyfish.
Make a fish station.
Starfish PJBs.
Shimmery fishy background.
The CAKE!!!!!!
This cake was not only cuteness overload but also REALLY DELICIOUS!!! (Katarina: if you are reading this – please tell us what kind of cake it was in the comments section below??) I know it had chocolate and a fruit jam layer…YUM!
An adorable party thrown by our friends! Phew – that was a ton of work.
When we got home, we assembled & baked the enchiladas. These are easy, appealing (despite poor photography skills) & tasty.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
3 TBS favorite salsa (OPTIONAL)
2 tsp cumin
2 TBS chili powder
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 ear corn (or 1 c frozen corn) removed from cob
cilantro to taste (I totally forgot to buy cilantro)
ground black pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you want some spice!)
3/4 c Mexican shredded cheese
8 corn tortillas (makes 4 enchiladas)
We were getting ready to go to a friend’s birthday party so I didn’t take pictures of each & every step but I know you get the idea of sautéing the veggies… Here we go:
1. In a medium bowl, mash the drained & rinsed black beans. Add 2 TBS cilantro, half the cumin & half the chili powder.
Add the salsa to the black bean mixture if you have it! Combine.
2. Sautee onions in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes being sure to stir to coat with oil. Add minced garlic for another minute & stir to coat.
3. Add corn, stir & cook for about 2 minutes. Add zucchini & red pepper & stir to coat. Cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes to mixture along with the remaining cumin and chili powder & cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. (Option: I pureed my tomatoes in a blender. This is only recommended for the PICKIEST of eaters. They will never know there are tomatoes in this dish now.) If you blend them, add to the onion/veg mixture at this point!
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I am a huge fan of this stuff now. You all probably use it all the time but I just started using it and it saves on REALLY bad dishes when you’re done cooking. But I digress… place 4 tortillas on the baking sheet. Using half the bean mixture, top each tortilla. Then top that with the tomato/veggie mixture. Finally, sprinkle about half the cheese on top of the tortillas. Now add your 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th tortillas on top (think “lasagna.”) And repeat the process, using the rest of all your ingredients.
First (bottom) layer complete!
You probably noticed 6 stacks in my pix. That’s because I planned to make extras. I started making the first layer and soon noticed I must’ve only had 10 tortillas to begin with. You do the math(s). Anyway, I decided to make two open-faced ones.
Mmmmmm…jalapenos!!! I LOVE THEM!! I can’t help myself.
Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Top with remaining cilantro, lemon wedges & sour cream if desired!
Tasty, healthy, visually impressive layered vegetarian enchiladas. These look terrific on a plate & will WOW your dinner guests.
Ingredients
2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
2 tsp cumin
2 TBS chili powder
2 TBS olive oil
½ onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 ear corn (or 1 c frozen corn) removed from cob
cilantro to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you want some spice!)
¾ c Mexican shredded cheese
8 corn tortillas (makes 4 enchiladas)
lime, cut into wedges for serving
Instructions
Mash drained beans in a medium bowl with half the chili powder, cumin & cilantro.
Sautee onions in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes being sure to stir to coat with oil. Add minced garlic for another minute & stir to coat.
Add corn, stir & cook for about 2 minutes. Add zucchini & red pepper & stir to coat. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes to mixture along with the remaining cumin and chili powder & cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. (Option: I pureed my tomatoes in a blender. This is only recommended for the PICKIEST of eaters. They will never know there are tomatoes in this dish now.) If you blend them, add to the onion/veg mixture at this point!
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 4 tortillas on the baking sheet. Using half the bean mixture, top each tortilla. Then top that with the tomato/veggie mixture. Finally, sprinkle about half the cheese on top of the tortillas. Now add your 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th tortillas on top (think layered “lasagna.”) And repeat the process, using the rest of all your ingredients.
Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until cheese has melted!
Serve with remaining cilantro, sour cream & lime wedges.
Phew! It’s been a while and I have loads of recipes to share with you. And a lot to keep to myself (read: “Coxy’s Kitchen Disasters.”)
I hope ALL my loyal readers (Dad?) enjoyed your holidays and are set for the new year. Or, are at least recovering from overdoing it in every way.
We’ve had a wild month and if it was hectic, we brought it on ourselves. We had a Christmas party over here that was loads of fun. Unfortunately, there are no pix as our hands were literally full the whole time. Luckily Bea had just started walking so every so often I’d see the crowds part and a little 2 footer stagger on through like a tiny drunk looking for her Mama (her nickname for George.)
The party presented me the opportunity to live a lifelong dream of making decorated/frosted sugar cookies for Christmas. Until around 12:45AM the night before the party, as I stood up squeezing Royal Icing onto each of the three dozen cookies when I started hating the cookies. Those cookies were privy to lots of F bombs.
Anyway, I’m a little bummed we didn’t get any pictures as we saw a lot of friends we haven’t seen lately – some in over a year. We sure did appreciate them coming by to see us!
Around the middle of the month, Patsy arrived and we couldn’t have been more thrilled! Having Nana here as another set of ears to listen to the 3 year old soap operas going on between a green alligator finger puppet (named “Toy Store”) and his sister, a golden lab Calico Critter named “Bella” was a HUGE relief for another set of ears. (Mine.)
Maddie finally understood the tree decorating. I still don’t really understand it but I’m glad she does.
And Bea helped too.
Between our party and Christmas, we were invited to a 3 year old “Under the Sea” birthday party. Stay tuned – that will be a separate posting for those of you interested. Amazing work by a talented & extremely pregnant Swedish woman.
Enough about family reminiscing – let me insert this yummy Carmelized Mushroom recipe for you before you’ve fallen asleep for the night!
G doesn’t “do” fungus but Maddie & I do. Since he was working late every night, we threw all mushroom caution to the wind!
This recipe marks my first attempt to use egg replacer. I picked it up at The CO-OP in Santa Monica. It comes in a groovy, totally Brady Bunch looking box.
See?
You can probably get egg replacer at any health food store or maybe even Whole Foods? The kind I got comes in powder form.
Ok. Let’s make the biscuits first!
Here’s what you need for those:
BISCUIT INGREDIENTS
2.5 c all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 c chopped fresh chives
3/4 c unsalted butter, cold & cubed
1 large egg (I used egg replacer!)
3/4 c buttermilk, cold
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, black papper & chives.
I spent so much time buying, chopping and photographing my chives…
that I forgot to add them until the end. It worked out fine though.
2. Add butter to dry ingredients. Just look at it!
3. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg replacer & buttermilk.
5. Make a small well in the center of the fat and flour mixture.
6. Add the buttermilk mixture.
Use a fork to combine the wet & dry ingredients.
7. Be sure to moisten all the flour bits with the liquid. Your dough will be “shaggy.” No problem!
8. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & kneed together until well combined. Use a rolling pin or your hands to make your dough about 1.5 inches thick.
9. Use a round 1.5 inch biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits. I didn’t because I didn’t have one. But I did use a flower cookie cutter. Because I did have one. Doesn’t my biscuit look cute?
Place biscuits on a cookie sheet, wrap with plastic & refrigerate until ready to bake.
Here’s what you need for the mushroom mixture:
MUSHROOM MIXTURE INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 pound small cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into bite size chunks
1 medium purple onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 teaspoon dried thyme
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
2 cups diced sweet potatoes (small!)
1.5 cups frozen peas
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups vegetable or mushroom broth (Mushroom broth? They really have that?)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
dash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
1. If you plan to make the whole kit n caboodle, then set the oven to 375 right now!
2. Melt butter into olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add mushrooms in a single layer in the pan and allow to cook, without disturbing, for about 4 minutes. Add a hearty pinch of salt & black pepper. Toss the mushrooms every once in a while until softened and golden brown.
You’re probably looking at this picture and thinking to yourself, “That doesn’t look like a single layer of mushrooms to me.” I need to use a bigger saucepan next time. So sue me!
Remove mushrooms from pan.
3. Add more olive oil and sautee onions about 4-5 minutes, until soft & translucent.
4. Add garlic & cook for another minute.
5. Add carrots & sweet potatoes and sauté for 5-7 minutes. I actually did 10-12 minutes because I worried I hadn’t chopped them small enough.
6. Add thyme. Return mushrooms to the pan. Turn heat to low and add flour. Toss. Slowly add broth, stirring constantly until thickened. Add peas.
7. Add salt & pepper to taste. Stir in Worchestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.
Pour mushroom mixture into an 8×8 inch pan. Or whatever you have that comes close. I think I used an 8×11 glass casserole baking dish. Place the biscuits on top of the mushroom mixture.
8. Bake for 20-35 minutes until biscuits are golden brown.
YUM!
These will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days and they get better!
Tasty & filling, not to mention good-looking healthy comfort food!
Ingredients
BISCUIT INGREDIENTS
2.5 c all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
½ – 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
¼ c chopped fresh chives
¾ c unsalted butter, cold & cubed
1 large egg (I used egg replacer!)
¾ c buttermilk, cold
MUSHROOM MIXTURE INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 pound small cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into bite size chunks
1 medium purple onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 teaspoon dried thyme
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
2 cups diced sweet potatoes (small!)
1.5 cups frozen peas
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
2½ cups vegetable or mushroom broth (Mushroom broth? They really have that?)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
dash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
Instructions
BISCUITS:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, black pepper, and chopped chives.
Add butter to the dry ingredients. Use your fingers to quickly incorporate the fat into the flour. Break up the butter with your fingers until some of the fat is the size of oat flakes and some of the fat is the size of small pebbles.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk.
Make a small well in the center of the fat and flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Using a fork, combine the wet and dry ingredients. Try to moisten all of the flour bits with
the liquid. Dump the shaggy biscuit dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead together until dough forms a disk about 1½ inches thick.
Use a round, 1½-inch biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. Gather the dough scraps, knead for a few turns, and cut out more biscuits until no dough remains. Place biscuits on a small cookie sheet and place in the fridge until ready to bake.
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
MUSHROOM FILLING:
In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter into olive oil. Add mushrooms in a single layer in the pan and allow to cook, without disturbing, for about 4 minutes. Add a hearty pinch of salt and black pepper. Toss mushrooms every once in a while until softened and golden brown. Remove mushrooms from the pan.
Add a touch more olive oil and sautee onions until softened and transluscent. Add garlic and toss for one minute. Add carrots and sweet potatoes and saute for 5 to 7 minutes, softened the potatoes slightly. Add thyme. Return the mushrooms to the pan. Turn heat to low and add flour. Toss together. Slowly add the broth, stirring constantly until thickened.
Add peas.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in Worchestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.
Pour mushroom mixture into 8×8-inch pan. Remove mushrooms from the refrigerator and place 9 biscuits over the filling. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Mushrooms and dumplings will last for up to 4 days, well wrapped, in the refrigerator.
Notes
Stores in refrigerator for up to 4 days!
The only thing I changed was to use egg replacer instead of the egg.
2.1.7
Please excuse the funkiness of the printable but that’s the only way to insert two recipes on one posting according to my technological prowess.
I was going to go into more about the neighbor who “adopted our cat” and renamed him “Maxwell” despite him sleeping here every night but I think we’re all tired so I’ll sign out here.
Tomorrow check back for the Christmas pix and, more important, the recipe for the EASIEST NO-KNEAD (no need to knead?) rustic bread you’ve ever (or never) made in your life!! If you’ve never made bread before, you only need FOUR ingredients, all of which can be purchased at Ralph’s. So definitely check back tomorrow for that posting! And then call Maddie & ask if she can take a nap tomorrow so I can actually write it. Thank you!
Some days I have no idea(r) what to make for dinner. Sesame noodles, pasta with olive oil & parm, pizza, and mac & cheese can only be served so many times. Well, LOTS of times, actually.
Here’s something you can literally throw together without feeling *as* guilty. (I’m not a Catholic, but I play one in real life.)
Here’s all you need:
1. Sautee onion in heated oil over medium heat until translucent (about 4-5 minutes.) Add garlic & cook for another minute.
2. Add diced tomatoes.
3. Add oregano.
4. Yell at kids & remind them that you only need 10 minutes if they can just “be good & watch TV!”
5. Hold baby while finishing this soup and thank your stars you picked something easy tonight.
6. Add broth. Bring soup to a boil. Then add tortellini & follow cooking instructions on package. Unless you made them yourself, in which case you aren’t reading this blog.
7. A minute before tortellini is done, add spinach. I told you to read the WHOLE recipe before you started! Oh, you say I didn’t? I meant to!
That’s it!! There’s nothing else to do except sprinkle fresh parmesan cheese on top.
You really don’t need to bother with bread or a salad which makes fewer dishes.
My kids loved this the first time. (I had to cut Bea’s tortellini up and obviously she couldn’t handle hot soup but she ate the solid parts cut up.) The second time Maddie refused to eat anything but the tortellini. Believe it or not, I have read all sides of the picky eater being made v. born and, with that knowledge under my belt, I think next time I’ll puree the soup before adding the tortellini. In other words, in one ear & out the other.
I might even puree the spinach in if it won’t look too gnarly.
***
UPDATE: I made this a few more times and finally have it down! The reasons I omitted the spinach are threefold:
1. My kids hate it.
2. I refuse to buy spinach when my garden is full of swiss chard.
3. It gets slimy the next day. Nobody likes slimy leftovers and I don’t like wasting food.
Instead I added 3-4 shredded carrots. I also pureed the tomatoes before adding. My beloved in-laws gave me an immersion blender for Christmas so I used that. Thanks Fitzs!!
Finally, I added some parmesan cheese directly to the soup & stirred. I then sprinkled a little across the top of each serving! Yum!
Tortellini Soup Recipe – Last Minute Dinner Idea(r)
Author: Christina Cox (Adapted from Annie’s Eats)
Recipe type: Soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
The EASIEST, quickest soup to make when you’re not up for cooking! Yes, I love me some soup. – Revised version
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
½ c onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, grated
½ tsp dried oregano
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable broth
9 oz tortellini (fresh or frozen)
OPTIONAL: ¼ c chopped parsley
salt & pepper
grated parmesan, to serve
Instructions
Heat oil in large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onions to pan, stirring to coat in oil. Cook until translucent about 4-5 minutes.
Add garlic for 1 more minute.
Add grated carrot & stir. Cook for another minute.
Pour in diced tomatoes.
Add oregano.
Add broth.
Bring to a boil
Add tortellini & cook according to package directions minus 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese & serve!
Notes
I pureed my tomatoes before adding them using an immersion blender. That was to disguise them from my kids. It worked! They ate it all up.
I also tossed in just under ¼ c of the grated parmesan & stirred it right into the soup. Yummy!
why don’t I put the oven on to 375 for an hour or so?
What was I thinking? My friend posted a recipe for quinoa stuffed squash on my Facebook wall (DANG another plug for Zuckerberg! You haven’t won YET, Zuckerberg!) and, having only multi-colored peppers (on sale at Ralph’s for $1 each!) I decided to stuff some peppers. All I thought about was the lightness, the sweet & the crunch. Not the HEAT.
But I digress… these came out AWESOME!!
After being inspired by my friend’s squash version, I did use a recipe from Christie’s Corner to which I made some changes.
Here’s what you need:
and this:
(I always seem to forget at least one ingredient in the ingredients picture!)
First, pre-heat oven to 375.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp oil (canola, olive – whatever you have!)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1-2 stalks celery (finely chopped)
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 cup frozen or 2 ears fresh corn (if fresh, cut off cob)
1/2 cup grated carrots (or whatever you can bear grating!)
3/4 c quinoa
1.5 c vegetable broth
1 c grated cheese (swiss/gruyere if you can find it!)
Heat oil in sauce pan on medium-high heat.
Add chopped onions/celery.
Watch 2 year old rearrange silverware drawer with sticky hands.
When onions & celery are soft & translucent, add spices. It will get pasty & dry-ish so have your can of tomatoes ready to dump in! The original recipe said to use a 28 oz can but I didn’t read the directions so I used a 14.5 or whatever those smaller cans are. Do whatever you want! If you go for more tomatoes, it says to drain them first but I wouldn’t.
NOTE: Do NOT cut your corn off the cob onto a FLAT PLATE unless you feel like washing the kitchen floor afterwards.
Who is holding that corn up?
Add black beans, carrots, corn & 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa.
Now, stir it and if it seems to “dry” i.e. there’s no way in $#@@ that quinoa is going to cook (for those who don’t cook quinoa it is a grain that needs water the way rice does so think about that kind of liquid), add 1.5 cups of veggie broth. If yours has a lot of liquid, hold off on the broth! Mine needed liquid so I added the broth.
If you’ve never cooked quinoa, how do you know when it’s done? Easy – it will have these tiny white “threads” coming out of each grain. You can also taste it and I recommend you do taste it! It should have a pleasing crunchiness. Not to be confused with a bad crunchiness, signaling the need for longer cooking time. The threads look like this:
Now, prep your peppers. The author of Christie’s Corner cuts her peppers sideways so they won’t fall over but I just can’t make that radical move. Instead, I cut just the tips off the bottoms of the peppers to make them flat. See, like this?
Don’t go crazy with this! You don’t want holes in the bottom or your filling will come out. But now that I think about it, who cares? It’ll be good and the filling won’t come out b/c it’s standing up anyway.
See how it stands up:
I didn’t tell you this but you should’ve cut the tops off the peppers first. Don’t cut too close to the stem or it’ll fall out of that pretty ring. Or do. It really doesn’t matter!
Scoop out the seeds/innards & throw into the compost! (If you have a yard & want to start composting – let me know!)
Hold onto the cute little tops!
Now add 1 c grated cheese. I can’t recommend the swiss/gruyere combination cheese enough. The gruyere has so much flavor that you don’t need that much which keeps the dish healthier and the swiss keeps it from being too rich/overpowering. Add salt & pepper to taste & stir really well.
EXTRA:
I tasted the filling and didn’t find it spicy enough for my tastebuds but it was plenty spicy for the little monsters. So I separated about 1/3 of the filling into a bowl which I saved for the monsters. To the other 2/3rds (which I intended to stuff the peppers with) I added chopped jar jalapenos. Obviously you can add any kind of heat you like/have! Fresh is great but I am addicted to these hot jalapenos in a jar that I get at Ralph’s. Mezzetta Deli-Sliced HOT Jalapenos. Mmmmmmm…
Now stuff those peppers & put the lids on.
Stand them upright in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake about 25 minutes. Take out of oven, remove lids & add grated cheese to tops of peppers, put back in for 10-15 minutes.
Take out & serve. These would be good with some crusty bread. Maddie ate hers with a spoon with the pepper rings as a side. YUM I can’t believe how much flavor these have and they are a very light yet satisfying dish for the summer.
As a main course – probably 2 peppers per adult. I had a LOT of extra filling but it’s really good the next day too! Enjoy and please comment on my blog if you make this recipe especially if you altered the recipe at all. Thank you!
