My new favorite salsa

I'm back from the dead!  Okay, not really dead, but with work and working out (and I went on a diet last year....down 30 pounds!), I haven't made time to blog. Sadly in my "posts" here there are several started ones from last year that were neglected and never finished.  I've decided, though, that I'm going to TRY to do at least one recipe a week. 

Another thing that has caught my attention is pinterest!  I'm sure that you've heard of it, and once I got the hang of it, I realized what an excellent resource it is for all kinds of things!  My favorite thing to do is to search for recipes (Imagine that, right?). Pinterest has totally put in direct contact with other bloggers out there that I would probably never heard of.   My first amazing find was a salsa.  As you may remember, I'm a huge salsa fan, and while I enjoyed the one I made way back when, it was still missing something.  Then I saw a pin for this salsa.  I was a little skeptical of one of the ingredients (the honey) and couldn't believe that I didn't think of another (the cumin).  This one is even easier because it utilitzes diced canned tomatoes along with Rotel tomatoes (always a favorite of mine).  I've made a couple of subtle changes when I've made it for Rick and I or for our neighbors, but it always turns out perfect!  I hope that you enjoy!

Super Easy Salsa
Ingredients
1  14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz can orginal Rotel
1/2  sweet small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled & smashed
1 jalapeno (sliced)
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
medium size handful cilantro leaves, washed
juice of 1 lime

Directions:
Put all the ingredients in the base of a food processor or good blender and pulse to combine for 30 seconds or so until all the ingredients are finely chopped and salsa is desired consistency.                  

Saturday Salsa Fresca

Those that know me well know that I disdain uncooked tomatoes.  It's something about that smushy, mushy core with the seeds that just kills me.  I don't mind them cooked, and I love them in salsa.  I've never successfully made salsa fresca. I haven't tried in a while, and my last attempt was way too chunky.  I have a food processor now (of course, I've had it for quite a few years now...yes, it's been that long since I made salsa) which should take care of the chunky problem.  I modeled my salsa after my favorite salsa fresca in the world which is found at Carrburritos in Carrboro, NC.  Mine had a few changes (I used lime instead of lemon because I had one here).  I decided to give making salsa another try as a way of using some of the jalapenos that my dad gave me last weekend.  I liked the end product though I think that next time I will use a sweet onion instead of a red onion because it was a wee bit onion-y.  Rick really liked the lime in it, and I agree.  It just adds something that is often missing from most store bought varieties.  A big improvement over my last salsa adventure!

Before

Here's what I did...

Salsa Fresca

Ingredients

5 tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced

1/2 onion, chopped

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1 lime (or lemon)

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend together.  Refrigerate and serve.  

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

As my final semester of nursing school moves forward, I'm wishing that I had more evenings to cook for Rick and I, but with clinicals that start at 6:45 am, I am cooking more for myself than us. At least I have Ty and Weezy to keep me company now. Too bad, they don't have thumbs, or I'd have them chopping, too!

I've also decided to start eating more healthy dishes. This one is one of the first lower fat meals that I've tried in a long time. I'm of the belief that just because it's healthy, it doesn't have to taste like crap. I turned to my favorite place on the internet for recipes, epicurious.com in search of the perfect meal. I've been craving grilled chicken lately, and when I stumbled across this recipe, I knew that it would be the perfect way to use up some of the chicken that I bought on sale at Publix this weekend.

I did the marinade for the chicken first, and I opted to stray from the recipe and use Corona Light instead of dark beer. I also added two gloves of garlic and doubled the amount of low sodium soy sauce. I let two chicken breasts marinate for two hours and thirty minutes.

The corn salsa...all I can say is wow! Once I got it together, I sampled it with some tortilla chips, and it was as awesome as the recipe reviews say! It was a struggle not to continue eating it all. I immediately called Rick and told him how delicious it was! I foresee myself making it again in the very near future!!! I did use the juice of half a lime (had to do something with the other half of lime that I had) and added one clove of minced garlic.

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

Ingredients
Salsa

• 1 1/4 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of half of a lime
  
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
  

Chicken

• 1/2 cup Corona Light
  
• 2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• juice of half of a lime
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

For Salsa:
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

For Chicken:
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

Preheat barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Drain chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil chicken until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Cut chicken into thin diagonal slices. Arrange chicken on plates. Top with salsa and serve.

Stuffed Green Peppers

I finally got to make the stuffed green peppers last night. I've been wanting to do them since I picked up two at the farmer's market last week. I was scared that they were going to go bad because we hadn't been able to do them (gotta love birthday weeks!). I guess that when they come straight off the farm, they last longer than when you get them from the store. They definitely look better! Before Rick came into my life, I wasn't as big of a fan of green peppers. I didn't hate them, but I often felt that they overpowered the meal. I've gotten over that, though, and I love them now!

I was searching the internet for recipe ideas when Rick came over. I was fairly certain about what I wanted to do, but I was unsure about cooking times once the peppers were stuffed. I opted to follow a recipe that had them cooking (once stuffed of course) for an hour at 350. Sounded good to me.

I browned around half a pound of lean ground beef with garlic and onions then mixed in salsa, cooked rice, and 2% sharp cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. I thought it would be cool to use the rest of the salsa that I had gotten at the farmer's market instead of the traditional tomato sauce. Rick did the stuffing once the peppers were cleaned out, and we placed them in a baking dish. Somehow, I managed to make the perfect amount of stuffing! Into the oven they went! While they were in the oven, I opened the rest of the birthday presents that Rick had gotten me. He thinks that I peeked, but I swear I didn't!!!

About 20 minutes in, I added a little bit of salsa to the top of the peppers. When there was about 5 minutes left, I topped the peppers with mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Because I was using the reduced fat cheese, it wasn't melting as nicely I was liked so I ended up broiling them for a few minutes at the end.

We were amazed at well they turned out, and Rick said that he was adding this dish to his list of favorites. We weren't sure how to start eating them so I halved them and topped each half with additional cheese. What can I say? I LOVE cheese!!!

Here's the recipe:


Ingredients
2 green bell peppers
Salsa of your choice
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup water
1/4 onion, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, minced
Cheddar Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a sauce pan, cook rice and water. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Let rice simmer for around 20 minutes.

While rice is simmering, brown beef along with garlic and onion in a medium skillet. Set aside when it is cooked.

Cut the tops off each green pepper and carefully remove them. Remove seeds and insides from the peppers. Discard the tops and insides. Rinse out the peppers with water and place them in a baking dish (open side up).

When the rice has finished cooking, mix rice, salsa (don't have an exact measurement for this--just go with however much you want), and cheeses (again, go with how much you'd like) into the skillet with the ground beef. Using a spoon, stuff each pepper to the top with this filling.

Place baking pan into the oven, and cook the peppers for 1 hour at 350 degrees. After 20 minutes, add salsa to the top of the peppers. When there are 5 minutes left, place additional cheese on top to melt.

When plating the peppers, add salsa to the plate around them and a little on top. Cut them in half and sprinkle cheese on top when served.

Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Quesadillas

Thursday, I went to the farmer's market on Daniel Island with Niki and Jeff. There weren't too many booths, but I did pick up two beautiful green peppers that I'm looking forward to stuffing for Rick and I soon. One lady had a pickle booth, and I probably had more than my fair share of her pickled okra. I would've bought some, but I have two jars at home that my mom gave me. I did, however, buy some dill spears and some salsa. The salsa was chunkier than I prefer, but the taste was perfect with just a little bit of bite.

For dinner, Rick and I decided to do quesadillas because I was dying to use the salsa that I had purchased. I sauteed shrimp that was seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Usually, I mince garlic, but I was feeling a little lazy so I went with the powder. The shrimp were sauteed in olive oil. Because I had a ton of shredded cheese, I opted to "sandwich" the shrimp inbetween a layer of cheddar and a layer of mozzarella.

My favorite pan was sprayed with a little Pam, and we were in business! While I was putting together the first one, Rick said that he wanted to do the second one (his) himself. He did a great job and didn't lose any cheese when he flipped it (something I sometimes struggle with myself!). Rick is on a "super foods" kick, and he started coming up with all kinds of future quesadilla idea. Even though I had cooked up a whole pound of shrimp, we didn't use it all and had some to snack on throughout the evening. I really wanted to take a picture of Rick cooking to post here, but unfortunately, the batteries in my camera were dead! Unfortunately, my camera batteries were in my car, and we were experiencing some amazing storms. Once the quesadillas were cooked, I topped them with the salsa and a little bit of light sour cream. Delicious!!!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
Olive oil
1/2 pound shrimp (peeled and deveined)
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
PAM cooking spray
Two tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Salsa of your choice
Light Sour Cream


Preparation
For shrimp filling
Season 1/2 pound of shrimp with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Heat around 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp is opaque (stirring with a spatula). Transfer the shrimp to a plate that is covered with a paper towel and set aside.

For quesadillas:
Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and spray with Pam. Place one tortilla on the pan and covered half of the tortilla with shredded cheddar cheese. Add half the shrimp to the cheese, and cover with mozzarella cheese. Fold other side of tortilla over and cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip tortilla and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and repeat with the other tortilla.

When they are finished, cut each into four pieces and top with salsa and a small amount of sour cream. Enjoy!!!