Avocado Whipped Potatoes w/ Caramelized Onions
Mashed potatoes will never get old to me. As one of the three “vegetables” that I would eat as a kid, I ate them practically every day. At family dinners I would always mash my potatoes, peas and steak together; my mom called it my homemade shepherd’s pie, even though I would never have eaten a shepherd’s pie back then. I also remember the first time I had a double stuffed potato… in LOVE! My brother gave me a potato masher for my birthday, something I have wanted for ages!, so I have been back on my mashed potato game. These days I am interested in finding more unique combinations for my mashed potatoes.
Baked Tex-Mex Egg Rolls
I recently saw the idea for Southwestern egg rolls on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and was instantly interested. For one, I have never made egg rolls; they are still on my list to make. Secondly, I love Mexican food. I was surprised to see that they were inside tortillas instead, but figured that is probably a better idea anyway. I decided to make my own combination of ingredients for the filling, because I wasn’t a huge fan of the black beans in the recipe I saw.
Sun-Dried Tomato, Flank Steak & White Bean Stew
I feel the need to start this post by saying that this was supposed to be a recipe for Mexican Posole. Of course, I had a bit of trouble with the one ingredient needed to make an actual posole- the hominy. I have heard many people say that they usually used canned hominy, but I decided to use dry hominy since that was what was in the pantry. Recalling my artichoke disaster, I am noticing a trend that apparently canned food works better for a lot of things. Luckily, I had a feeling the dry hominy would take a long time to cook and decided to cook it separately, rather than cooking it in the stew. I must have refilled the pot with water at least four times, but the hominy still wasn’t getting soft. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I had to improvise from there. I decided that white kidney beans would be a good substitute for the hominy, since they kind of have a similar texture.
365 Days of Slow Cooking Guest Post: Cafe Rio Pork
Today I would like to share with you a great slow cooker recipe, courtesy of Karen over at 365 Days of Slow Cooking. Being a snowboarder, I love slow cooker recipes. I can just put everything in the pot, then head out for the hill for the day. Karen’s site has tons of delicious slow cooker recipes for those who could always use a bit more time. She also has her own cookbook as well! With that said, I would like to welcome Karen!
-Jenny
Baked Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Taquitos
I don’t know if I ever mentioned that my most recent job was at Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (don’t ask me why they decided to make their name so much longer and more annoying to say). After working at restaurants for so long, this job was so slow some days that I would read the cooking magazines at the register and write down recipe ideas; my boss probably wouldn’t have been too stoked, but what can you do!? I am getting off topic though, being a cashier is pretty cool as a foodie for one reason- seeing what everybody is buying and spending all day thinking what you want to make for dinner that night. The other day at work, a lady bought taquitos and reminded me how much I loved them, and how long it had been since I had had them!
I went home that night on a mission to make my own, healthier, taquitos. I added roasted red peppers and green onions to give them some extra flavor. I also baked them, instead of frying them, which makes these tasty things much healthier. I would highly recommend making your own taquitos so that you can add your own twist like I did, it is much more rewarding! I also need to warn you that this recipe makes pretty big taquitos, three were plenty for me and I usually eat like ten!
Chipotle-Lime Shrimp Taco Salad w/ Cilantro Vinaigrette
You know those nights when you have an entire meal planned out in advanced, but when dinner time roles around you just don’t feel like eating that oh-so-exciting dish? Well, last night was one of those nights. As delicious as sun-dried tomato and feta stuffed chicken sounded, I just wasn’t in the mood for those flavors. I wanted spice and citrus. I decided to save that for another night. Instead, this is what I came up with.
The cilantro vinaigrette pulls this dish together. It adds a nice tangy flavor that is a great compliment to the spicy shrimp. Roasting the tomatoes gives them move flavor and juice, making this recipe even more delicious! I was planning on eating this with guacamole and salsa, but tasted it and realized it didn’t need any additions and was perfect as is.
