Ten-Minute Chilaquiles

I love Mexican-style recipes. They usually incorporate 3 of my favorite ingredients.........tomato sauce, beans, and cheese. This recipe used all three!!

TEN-MINUTE CHILAQUILES (Layered Tortilla Casserole) is a very easy and satisfying dish. For the sauce, salsa, tomato sauce, water and kidney beans are mixed together. This is poured on the bottom of a casserole dish, and topped with crumbled tortilla chips. The chips are covered with sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese. The layers are repeated, and then the casserole is baked for 35 minutes.

Yum! This was so easy, and delicious. It was warm, spicy, and flavorful. The leftovers were even better the next day!! I will be making this again-Mr. Sexy Veggie will love it!

Ravioli with Broccoli and Red Peppers

On Sunday evenings, I usually take ingredients for dinner to Mr. Sexy Veggie's house. I prefer quick and tasty recipes, and many pasta recipes fall into this category.

This Sunday I made RAVIOLI WITH BROCCOLI AND RED PEPPERS. This meal is easy to prep and cook. One red pepper, sliced, is sauteed in oil with garlic until tender. Meanwhile, frozen ravioli is cooked in water until done. Broccoli is added to the boiling water for 3 minutes. All of these ingredients are mixed together, and sprinkled with Parmesan before serving.

This was great! Very easy to prepare, and pleasurable to eat. Leftovers were great for lunch the next day too!

Mixed Berry Smoothies

Today is a beautiful, sunny Sunday in southwestern Virginia. It was a perfect day to start with MIXED BERRY SMOOTHIES for breakfast!

This unbelievably easy recipes combines frozen berries, orange juice, sugar and ice in a blender. The mixture is blended until smooth!

These were wonderful! A delicious and nutritious way to start the day!

CHEERS!

Classic Fresh Salsa and Chocolate Glazed Almond Cookies

Last night, I made one of my favorite recipes that I have preciously made out of the cookbook-the roasted sweet potato and black bean quesdadillas. I made classic fresh salsa and chocolate glazed almond cookies to round out this meal.

The CLASSIC FRESH SALSA was an easy and beautiful dish. Ripe, fresh tomatoes, red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, garlic and lime juice are chopped and mixed together to create this festive dip.

The CHOCOLATE GLAZED ALMOND COOKIES were also easy. Butter, sugar, ground almonds, flour, egg, and almond extract are mixed together to form the dough. The dough is dipped in sliced almonds before being placed on a cookie sheet and baked until golden. After being removed from the oven, the cookies are glazed with melted chocolate chips.

Both of these recipes turned out very well! The salsa was very fresh and good, I can't wait to make it again next summer with ingredients from my garden. The cookies were good-very similar to pecan sandies, only with almonds. The chocolate glaze was perfect touch!

Mushroom Pate, Crostini, Spinich Salad with Pink Grapefruit and Avocado, and Upside Down Gingerbread Pear Cake

Last night I cooked with my sister (http://www.bostonsinvirginia.blogspot.com/), and we made a great dinner. I used four recipes out of the cookbook for the evening.

The first was an appetizer, MUSHROOM PATE. This simple topping is made my pulsing portabella mushrooms in a food processor a few times, and then sauteing the mushroom pieces with garlic and thyme until tender. Once cooled to room temperature, it is enjoy with bread. I served it with CROSTINI-french bread sliced, coated with olive oil, and baked until crispy.

Our salad for the evening was SPINACH SALAD WITH PINK GRAPEFRUIT AND AVOCADOS. This salad is simply fresh spinach topped with sections of pink grapefruit, and slices of ripe avocado. (picture at top of post)

Dessert was delicious......UPSIDE DOWN GINGERBREAD PEAR CAKE. This cake has a caramel type topping drizzled on the bottom of the baking pan, and pear slices are placedon top of the caramel. A simple cake batter that incorporates molasses is poured over the pears, and then baked for 30 minutes.

These recipes all turned out well. The mushroom pate was more like caviar--it was not smooth and spreadable as I had expected. It was tasty though, very earthy and a good contrast to the crispy crostini. The salad was wonderful-very fresh and light! The dessert was perfect--rich, moist, and tender. I would recommend all of these dishes!

Zucchini and Red Pepper Gratin and Sauteed Kale

This was a side item spectacular meal! I made two recipes from the side dish chapter of the cookbook tonight.....zucchini and red pepper gratin, and sauteed kale.

The SAUTEED KALE dish was very easy to prepare. The kale is chopped into bite size pieces, added to a pan that has olive oil that has been heated, stir in some water, cover, and steam for about 7 minutes. Balsamic vinegar is stirred into the greens right before serving.

The ZUCCHINI AND RED PEPPER GRATIN was another easy side dish, but this one took longer to prepare and bake. Zucchini, red pepper, and onion are thinly sliced and coated with olive oil. Then they are transferred to a baking dish, and they bake for an hour. Breadcrumbs are scattered over the top of the dish during the last fifteen minutes of baking.

These dishes were good, but not great. I am not a fan of greens, so the kale didn't impress me too much. It was slightly bitter and tough-but I don't think that was the recipes' fault. The gratin was very good, fresh, and tasty. It makes a great dish for a side item, and I will make it again!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Breakfast is my hardest meal to plan for. I usually have cold cereal during the work week, so that doesn't require much effort. On weekend, usually I will make some scrambled eggs and toast, or sometimes French toast. This cookbook has quite a few breakfast and brunch recipes, and I am grateful that they will help me break out of my breakfast rut!

This morning I made PUMPKIN PANCAKES. This was a simple pancake recipe with canned pumpkin added. The batter was thin, so it cooked quickly on the hot skillet. Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg were added to the batter to give it a great autumn flavor. Served with butter and hot syrup, these quick pancakes were a great treat!

These were very good. As I was making them, I was worried they would taste too much like pumpkin pie with the addition of the spices. Luckily, the pumpkin and spice flavors were light, leaving the pancakes with just a hint of pumpkin. These are great for a fall breakfast, and I will be making them again!