Chicken and Plantain Stuffed Chili Rellenos with Homemade Enchilada Sauce, by Diane

On my recent return to Texas, I rekindled my love of chili rellenos! I forgot how good these things were. I wanted to recreate them back at home (already missing my family and that FOOD!!), but in a healthier version. Chili rellenos typically consists of the mild but large poblano pepper that is charred and then stuffed with cheese, battered, and deep fried. I usually get mine with chicken, and there are a variety of other ways that you can fill them.

Since I didn't want to bread or fry mine, and I always try to avoid cheese, I had to do some thinking on what to fill my version of chili rellenos with. I came up with a concoction of some of my favorite latin flavors, and they really combined nicely for an awesome dish! I also found a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce, after learning what crazy ingredients store-bought enchilada sauce contains. The enchilada sauce recipe was an amazing flavor- way better than store bought!

This recipe creates a pepper that still has a bit of crunch to it, which I've often eaten. I like my peppers softer, so next time I may steam them after removing the skin and before stuffing them.

Recipe for crockpot chicken enchilada sauce from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/super-easy-slow-cooker-chicken-enchilada-meat/

Guide to charring and prepping chili rellenos from: http://www.chow.com/recipes/29565-chiles-rellenos


Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken breasts
2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1/3 cup chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp flour
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne (or more depending on your preferred heat level)
6 poblano peppers
EVOO
1 small yellow onion, cubed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium yellow ripe plantains, cubed
1 small can mild green chiles (or hot if you want!)
1 can black beans, rinsed


Directions:

1. Place chicken in the bottom of a crockpot. In a blender, combine tomatoes through cayenne until well blended, and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Remove chicken and shred, then return to sauce, setting the crockpot on warm.

2. In the last 30-60 minutes of the chicken's cooktime, prepare the poblanos by slicing them vertically down the center from top to tip, careful not to slice all the way through. Make a second cut to form a "T" shape right below the top (see the link for the prep of rellenos above for a great illustration). Using a spoon, remove the ribs and seeds of the peppers and discard. Set the peppers aside cut side up.

3. Now it's time to fire roast the chilis. If you have a gas stove, you can turn the flame to a medium setting and roast them directly on the burner until they blister and char on all sides. If not, you can place the chilis on your oven rack and broil on high, turning so all sides can char. After charring, place the chilis in a large bowl and cover tightly for 15 minutes to steam them. This allows for easy removal of the charred skin, which you should do carefully with a butter knife and discard the charred skin.

4. Preheat the oven to 350. In a large saucepan, heat EVOO on medium high heat. Add in onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in garlic and chiles, cooking for another 2 minutes. Add in plantains and cook for 5 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add in the beans and cook for another 2 minutes and remove from heat.

5. In a 9x13 baking dish, pour enchilada sauce on the bottom to coat the dish. Place the chilis cut side up in a single layer. Stuff with the shredded chicken and plantain mixture, and pour remaining enchilada sauce over top. Bake for 20 minutes, covered. Remove cover and bake another 10 minutes until sauce is bubbling.

Maple Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates with a Balsamic Honey Glaze, by Diane

For this batch, I drizzled on only balsamic vinegar before they cooked, but if you make it according to the recipe, there will be a mouth-watering glaze on these babies!

This is hands down the best party appetizer in my bag of entertaining tricks. I've made this several times before and they are always the first things to go! These are gooey, hot, and the most amazing combination of sweet and salty ever. The maple bacon, tart blue cheese and balsamic vinegar, and sweet caramel-y dates and honey are such an amazingly addictive combo. They do take a bit of prep work (about 15-20 min) to set up, but each time I make them it gets a little quicker. Bonus- if you're the host your whole house smells amazing for your guests! :)

*Note- I've learned that dates that are packaged in plastic bags or containers are more moist and sweet than in a cardboard container!

*Note- If you are more in a hurry, as I was for the occasion in this photo, you can simply drizzle balsamic vinegar over the dates before you place them into the broiler and omit the honey glaze.


Ingredients:
Pitted whole dates (the amount depends on your guest count, I now plan for about 5 a person!)
Blue cheese (again amount depends, typically one container works well)
Maple flavored bacon (I like to use thick cut here, one package typically works well)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar (a good, thick one works best!)
3 tbsp honey


Directions:

1. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.

2. On a large cutting board, slice open all dates horizontally, being careful not to cut all the way through (you're only cutting open one side). I've found the best way to streamline this process is to line all the dates up on the cutting board once sliced.

3. Stuff a generous portion of blue cheese in each date, going row by row. Pack in the cheese and press down until it's nearly one solid piece of cheese (this ensures that it won't fall out onto the baking tray during cooking so that you get a nice big cheesy bite!).

4. Slice each bacon slice in half width-wise, then roll around each date and fasten with a toothpick. Place each bacon wrapped date on the baking tray, separated by 1/2-1 inch.

5. Place tray in broiler for 10-20 minutes on high. You want the bacon to be fully cooked at the end but not burned. Halfway through, you'll need to flip the dates and pour out some of the grease so that the dates can continue to crisp up. It may be necessary to remove some of the dates that have cooked already to let the remaining dates continue to cook without burning some of the ones that are done.

6. While the dates are cooking, combine the balsamic vinegar and honey in a small saucepan over medium high heat and stir for about 5 minutes until it thickens into a syrup. Set aside.

7. Remove the dates and place onto a paper towel lined plate to remove any extra grease. Transfer to a serving dish after a minute or so open side up, then pour the balsamic honey glaze over the dates. Let cool for 5 min before serving.

Scones (England), by Cheryl

I can't believe I just made scones... and they were really good! And super duper easy! What a perfect way to start a weekend day - scones and some tea! I'm really impressed with how these came out and I would DEFINITELY make them again, especially when I have guests over. I might even start up my own b&b with these babies. I even learned what it meant in a recipe to "cut butter". Alton's Brown's recipe was great, but I did two things differently. I put in some white chocolate chips (on Jon's request), which didn't change the recipe at all and it really blended well. The second thing was that I didn't use shortening... I just used two tablespoons more of butter. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup cream
1 egg
handful of dried currants or dried cranberries

Ingredients:

1) Heat oven to 375.

2) In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix well.

3) Cut in butter and shortening.

4) In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg, and then add to dry ingredients.

5) Stir in fruit.

6) Turn dough out onto floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit sized rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

Pastelon (Dominican Republic), by Cheryl

This is a typical dish from the Dominican Republic. I'm also told that it is made a lot in Puerto Rico. There are two different ways to make this - one is the way I made it with the mashed plantains. The other is with sliced plantains. The flavors in the dish really meshed well together and it was something that I enjoyed very much! It's super easy and quick to make, which is a bonus! It's also very healthy and can be served with a side salad. Yum!


Ingredients:

10 plantains, peeled and broken into chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp oil
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or spray a baking dish.

2) Place plantains and salt into a large pot and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until plantains turn a darker yellow; add one cup of water to the pot, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

3) Mash plantains, milk, and butter together in the pot until smooth.

4) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir ground beef, onion, bell pepper, tomato sauce, garlic, and chicken bouillon, adding water if mixture gets too dry, in hot oil until beef is browned and cooked through, 10-12 minutes.

5) Spread 1/2 of the mashed plantains into the bottom of the dish. Pour the meat mixture over the plantains and top with cheddar cheese. Spread remaining plantains over the cheese.

6) Bake in the oven until plantains are golden and filling is bubbling, about 10 minutes.

Bramboracky (Czech Republic), by Cheryl

Czech Republic! These are traditional pan-fried potato pancakes usually accompanied with beer. These were a side with just about every dish we had in the Czech Republic. They are exactly like latkes! After making latkes last month for Hanukah I found myself making them again. So I decided to switch it up a bit and use sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes. The original recipe is below. They were sweet and delicious! Yum!

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper to taste
pinch dried marjoram (optional)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
1 egg
2 teaspoons milk
2 tablespoons flour
oil for frying (I used coconut)

Directions:

1) Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes, squeezing out as much liquid as you can. Transfer them to a mixing bowl. Stir in the crushed garlic, salt, pepper, marjoram, and caraway seeds.

2) Beat the egg with the milk. Add the egg mixture to the potatoes and stir well to combine. Gradually mix in the flour to form a thick, but pourable batter.

3) Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Form patties and place into the oil. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels.

Fritule (Croatia), by Cheryl

Pre-powdered picture

Next up, Croatia! I think we had these only once during our five day trip to Croatia, but when looking for Croatian recipes these looked so easy and delicious that I had to make them! These are like little donut fritters, and although they look like some floury potato pancake thing they're not. They're subtly sweet, fluffy, and airy. The recipe from here calls for them to be dropped in hot oil and turned with a slotted spoon for about 4-5 minutes, making them look like round munchkins. I didn't want to submerge them in oil so I lightly fried them as pancakes (in coconut oil) so they would cook through without soaking up a lot of oil. I think the entire recipe from start to finish took about 8 minutes! Dust them with some confectioners sugar and they are a tasty treat! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup yogurt
1-2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp run or brandy
2 tbsp sugar
raisins (optional)
confectioners sugar

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients.

2) Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of batter in hot oil and fry, 2 to 3 at a time, until golden, about 4-5 minutes, turning with a slotted spoon as necessary.

3) Drain on paper towels and dust with confectioners sugar.

Thai Fried (Cauliflower) "Rice", by Diane

In my search for recipes without grains, I have come across a lot of cauliflower "rice" recipes. Apparently, if you process raw cauliflower it cooks up and tastes just like rice, making it a great substitution. I was always skeptical of this until I had a delicious stew at my local favorite organic market last weekend and realized after I finished it that it had contained cauliflower and not rice as my friends and I had thought. The fact that we were all duped by this made me excited to get started on a recipe using this cool substitution!

One of the first recipes I came across is cauliflower fried rice. It seemed easy enough, but I wanted to steer clear from using exclusively soy sauce as chinese restaurants do (I'm trying to avoid soy, sodium, and gluten!) so I created a thai red curry sauce to pair with it instead. The end result- Thai Fried Cauliflower Rice- was SO good and tasted like it came from a restaurant! The best part, while it was filling and healthy, I would have never known it wasn't rice. I will say that the end result did have a hint of cauliflower taste, which was fine by me because I would have used it in this recipe anyway if it wasn't already the star ingredient. Definitely predicted to be on repeat across 2015!

One last note- the coconut oil really brought out the flavors of the sauteed ingredients even before adding the sauce in, you could definitely skip the sauce and be satisfied!!


Ingredients:

2 medium heads cauliflower
2 steam bags of oriental stir fry vegetables (or you can buy all the ingredients seperately, this is what I had on hand and worked perfectly!)
3 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1 package baby bella mushrooms, sliced (any other kind works well too)
1/2 lemongrass stalk, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch scallions, sliced, green and white parts
1/2-1 whole jalepeno, seeds and ribs removed, sliced thinly
1 lb thin sliced chicken breasts
1 lime, cut in half
1 tsp ginger (in spice form)
Pink Himalayan sea salt and pepper
1 15 oz can lite coconut milk
4 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp chicken broth
6 eggs, whisked together
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Directions:

1. Steam the bags of vegetables separately and set aside.

2. Chop cauliflower heads into large chunks, place in food processor in batches until it processes down to the size of rice grains. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

3. In a large saucepan heated on medium high, add 1.5 tbsp of coconut oil and heat until melted. Add mushrooms, lemongrass, garlic, scallions, jalepeno, and steamed veggies. Cook until the mushrooms have softened. Place in a very large bowl and set aside.

4. In the same saucepan, add 1.5 tbsp of coconut oil and the cauliflower rice. Cover and steam, occasionally stirring until all the rice is cooked and softened. Add to the bowl with the veggie mixture and set aside.

5. Sprinkle the chicken breasts on one side with lime juice from 1/4 lime, 1/4 tsp ginger, salt and pepper. In the same saucepan, add remaining 1/2 tbsp coconut oil and heat until very hot. Add in chicken breasts, making sure there is enough room (you'll likely need to do 2 batches) and placing the chicken seasoned side down. Season the top side and flip over until cooked through and browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

6. In the same saucepan, add coconut milk, red curry paste, and brown sugar, whisking together until combined. Add in remaining 1/2 tsp ginger and salt to taste. Bring heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the chicken thinly and add it back into the pan with the sauce. Combine sauce and chicken with veggie mixture.

7. In the same saucepan, add chicken broth and eggs and scramble until you have fluffy eggs. Make sure to dice them finely with the spatula while they are cooking.

8. Add the eggs and soy sauce to the rest of the ingredients and toss together. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Sausage and Winter Vegetable Supper, by Diane

First post of 2015!!! Here's to another year of fun, new recipes amongst friends :)

This dish was inspired by a Racheal Ray recipe, but I added in more winter root veggies and greens (of course). The original recipe called for cooking the sausage in EVOO, which I am usually opposed to because there is already grease in the sausage that cooks out and coats the pan. I tried it her way and wish I had stuck to just the sausage because it was really oily. The other complaint I have on this recipe is that it calls for 1/2 cup chicken broth at the end, and then cooking it covered. By the time the dish was finished cooking, it had about 2 cups of liquid in the bottom from the broth, as well as from the steam and water from the veggies that cooked out from it being covered. It resembled more of a soup, and I couldn't dump the liquid out because it had all the flavor (I made a pan sauce instead which is why it's so shiny in the photo!). I changed this for the recipe below to just a splash of broth and cooking the last few minutes with the lid off.

Overall, I really liked this dish and it was really hearty and filling yet healthy at the same time. I loved the combo of spices that I never would have thought to use! By making it with the following changes, I think it would be a total hit!

Ingredients:

2 pounds good-quality fresh Italian sweet sausage, casings removed
A fat handful sage--2 tbsp. finely chopped, 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or ground allspice
Coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds butternut, cheese or red kuri squash--peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 large turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

3 cups brussels sprouts
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small fresh Fresno or red jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped, or 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Salt

1/2 large bunch swiss chard, chopped coarsely
3 tbsp chicken stock

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix the sausage, finely chopped sage, fennel seed, cloves and lots of coarsely ground black pepper.
2. Heat a large skillet with a lid over medium-high. Add the sausage mixture and cook, breaking into large pieces with the back of a spoon, until browned, about 6 minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients through stock. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and cover. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. For the last 5 minutes of cooking remove the lid until the liquid has evaporated.

Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bites, by Cheryl

I originally made these for Julia, but after tasting them I decided that they are a great snack to have around for me as well! They are quick and easy to make and might be good with some kind of sauce, but they are mighty tasty on their own. If you make the quinoa ahead of time then this is super easy. The only adjustment I made was that I put the veggies in the food processor and chopped them that way so the pieces were smaller, rather than cutting them up. Delicious! Recipe is from Alida's Kitchen Yum!

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water or chicken broth (I did one of each)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups broccoli florets, finely diced
1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I did a mix of whatever I had on hand)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Crushed red pepper

Instructions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Preheat oven to 350.

2) In a large bowl combine quinoa, eggs, broccoli, onion, garlic, cheese, paprika, and red pepper.

3) Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

4) Fill each muffin tin with quinoa mixture. I filled mine to the top because it made a lot. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and then gently remove from pan to cool completely.

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip, by Cheryl

We beat our record for number of posts in a year by a whopping 14 recipes!!! With all of the many changes that happened in 2014 I really didn't think we'd even make it to our normal 60 recipes, let alone 80! Go us! So to start off 2015 on two friends with spice I'm posting a recipe that we made last night for an appetizer. Jon is still eating soft foods so I made a hot spinach dip and bought naan to dip into it. The recipe, from Alton Brown on the Food Network, was originally a spinach and artichoke dip, but I neglected to buy the artichokes. But with just spinach it was really good and very easy! I would definitely make it again for a party. We were saying that next time we might put in some minced sauteed onions. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach
1.5 cups thawed, chopped frozen artichoke hearts
6 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

1) Boil spinach and artichokes in one cup of water until tender, and drain. Discard liquid.

2) Heat cream cheese in microwave for one minute or until hot and soft. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and serve hot. (We put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 300 to warm it up more and it tasted so much better).