French Lentil and Swiss Chard Risotto

I love growing my own swiss chard. Nothing makes me happier than seeing those beautiful rainbow stalks in my garden. I have been really lucky this spring and summer- all of my chard has been doing great. No bugs, no problems. Usually I just quickly saute it or add it to whatever we happen to be eating. But, when I harvested it about a week ago, there was a ton of it and I wanted to do something bigger and better.

I found this recipe and knew it was perfect because it combines 3 of my most favorite things in the world- swiss chard, risotto, and lentils. I had just made chicken broth the weekend before I made this, so I had some of that on hand to use too. I know lots of people don't like cooking in the summer, but I find it really relaxing after a day of activities and swimming to be able to spend some time in the kitchen, making a delicious dinner. And this was delicious!

Here is the recipe for French Lentil and Swiss Chard Risotto
* I used chicken broth in place of the wine
* I didn't have any radicchio on hand to use as a garnish

Grilled Zucchini with Buttermilk-Basil Dressing

Here is another zucchini/summer squash recipe that caught my eye when I was flipping through a magazine. The preparation takes minutes and it is really fun when you can go and pick the ingredients that you need for dinner from your own garden and then turn them into something this delicious.

I was pleasantly surprised by my childrens reaction to this dish. They all loved it, which is really saying something since my son doesn't like zucchini or summer squash unless they are cooked just right. The grill really made these zucchini/squash slices taste yummy but still left enough of a bite that they were not soggy at all.

I will definitely be repeating this simple side dish!



Grilled Zucchini with Buttermilk-Basil Dressing adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

1. Heat a grill or grill pan over high. Clean and lightly oil hot grill. (I sprayed my indoor grill with cooking spray).

In a small measuring cup, combine 5 Tablespoons each buttermilk (I used low-fat) and extra-virgin olive oil with 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar. (I used red wine vinegar).

In a food processor combine 1 garlic clove, 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, and 1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese. Process until basil is finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper.
With machine running, add buttermilk mixture in a slow, steady stream and process until smooth.

2. Cut 4 medium zucchini or yellow squash into 1/4-inch slices.
Place on hot grill. Coat with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Grill zucchini, until lightly charred and tender, 4 to 6 minutes, flipping once. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with dressing.

Spicy Cucumber and Blueberry Salad

I know it really isn't "technically" summer yet, but guess what- at my house, it is. When you are dealing with mid 90's, no school, swimming, sun and fun- that is summer.

I' m all about the fresh and quick salads right now. I saw this in a magazine and decided it would be a fun twist on 2 of our favorite ingredients- blueberries and cucumbers. Plus, I love spicy, so this was a fun one to try.

Colorful, light and easy. I really couldn't ask for anything more on a hot summer day.

Spicy Cucumber and Blueberry Salad from Everyday with Rachael Ray
2 lbs. english cucumbers, halved lengthwise
salt
1 large jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs discarded, finely chopped
4 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbls olive oil
1 pint blueberries
1 cup cilantro leaves

1. Thinly slice the cucumbers into half-moons, about 1/8-inch thick; season with salt.
2. In a large bowl, combine the jalapeno, lime juice, garlic and cumin; whisk in the olive oil. Add the cucumbers, blueberries, and cilantro and toss to coat.

Garlic Shrimp and Chickpeas

This is a super easy, delicious dinner that I made when my parents were here visiting us. I almost always roast shrimp in the oven when we have it for dinner and I have roasted chickpeas in the oven before too, so the method wasn't new to me at all. However, I had never thought to combine these two ingredients- shrimp and chickpeas.

I am happy to say that this combination really works! If you have ever roasted chickpeas, then you know that they get nice and crunchy. That texture was wonderful with the shrimp.
We had a beautiful green salad on the side, with lots of spring greens and romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes and a few people at the table ended up putting the shrimp/chickpea mixture on top of their salad. I had to try it out and it made for a delicious salad.


Here is the recipe for Garlic Shrimp and Chickpeas from the Food Network Magazine
* I only used 3 Tablespoons of olive oil- 1 for the chickpeas, 1 for the shrimp marinade and 1 at the end
* I added the juice of 1 lemon to the shrimp marinade, it seemed silly not to

Spicy Chard Soup

Do you dye eggs for Easter?
We do and this year, we might have gone a little overboard. Lots of lots of hard-boiled eggs.

The good thing is that we love to eat hard-boiled eggs around here. Well, at least the white part of the hard-boiled egg. My kids don't like the yolk and I only like a little bit of the yolk with my white and it has to be cooked perfectly. No green ring around the yolk and no dark yellow, crusty, not cooked all the way yolk. They must be perfectly creamy and dreamy light yellow.
I don't always get them just perfect, the way I want them, but this time I did have some success.

We always make these Egg Salad Sandwich faces with some of the eggs and eat them for snacks, but I wanted to do something else this year. Something new.

When I saw this recipe for Spicy Chard Soup in a recent issue of Food Network Magazine, I thought it would be the perfect way to use some of those extra hard-boiled eggs. I have never seen a hard-boiled egg in soup before, so I was intrigued. Plus, it contains swiss chard- my favorite food.
The soup was easy to make. Not too many ingredients, but yet the results were really fabulous.

What is your favorite way to use hard-boiled eggs?

Here is the recipe for Spicy Chard Soup from Food Network Magazine
* I used less olive oil than called for and didn't drizzle the soup with olive oil at the end
* I didn't have caraway seeds, so I just skipped them
*I didn't have cumin seeds, so I just used ground cumin
* I didn't add the hot sauce to the entire pot of soup. I put the hot sauce on the table and the adults added it to their own bowls. My son even got brave and added a couple drops to his soup.

Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club- Notes of Citrus, Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip

This month's Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club's theme was Notes of Citrus, which was chosen by Jamie.

I love citrus and the beautiful flavor it can give to any dish, savory or sweet.
I chose to make a dip this time around, which was very quick and easy to throw together. My life has been so extremely busy the past couple of weeks, so this was the perfect thing for a superfast, after-school snack.
Now, unfortunately for me, I didn' t realize the picture was so bad until I started editing photos late last night. SO, I apologize for how this dip looks. Keep in mind that it is pureed black beans and go over to Cooking Light to see a better picture of this dip. It has to be the angle.

Oh well, moving on- the dip was delicious and only contained a few ingredients.
I went ahead and pureed the cilantro, garlic and green onions in with the black beans, which made this even easier. I found some organic blue corn tortilla chips that we dipped in it, but cucumber slices, and carrot sticks were also really tasty. This would also be a really great spread for a sandwich or wrap.

Check out what the other members of the Supper Club chose to contribute below and go see how the other citrus-y parts of this menu turned out!

Jamie - -Mixed Lettuce, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Citrus Dressing

Val - - Blood Orange Sangria

Sandi - Lemon Sage Chicken

Mary Ann (me) - Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip

Jerry -Braised Fennel with Orange

Roz- Nathan's Lemon Cake

Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip from Cooking Light
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Place beans in a food processor, and pulse until almost smooth. Combine the beans, carrot, and the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring until well blended. Let stand 30 minutes. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

Mexicali Chop Salad with Crunchy Tortilla Strips

I don't usually get posts up this quick, but somehow I did with this one.
We had this salad for dinner a couple of days ago and it was really good.

The salad caught my eye in a recent issue of Vegetarian Times. It looked too delicious to pass up and seemed like the perfect summer meal.

First you crisp up some lightly seasoned corn tortilla strips in the oven. While that is happening you mix up a quick, light dressing. The dressing starts with warming some olive oil, garlic and spices, which is then combined in the food processor with lime juice, scallions, and cilantro.
The dressing was really good!

Then all sorts of veggies are chopped and added to a bunch of romaine. You've got celery, tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, fresh corn kernels, roasted red peppers and really, whatever else you want to add. I decided to add sliced mushrooms since my family likes them. Oh, and don't forget the pinto beans, for some protein.

My son doesn't like dressing on his salad, but this time I decided to go ahead and dress the entire salad before serving it to my family. I gave everyone a large bowl of salad and we all dug in.
The kids really liked this salad, even my son- with the dressing.
I loved it too. It was really fresh and delicious.
The tortilla strips gave just the right amount of crunch and the dressing was the perfect compliment for all the veggies. I had the leftovers for lunch today. Wish there was more for tomorrow!


Recipe for Mexicali Chop Salad with Crunchy Tortilla Strips
* I seasoned half of my tortilla strips with chili powder and half with paprika (for the kids)
* I used grape tomatoes, halved, in the salad
* I added sliced mushrooms to our salad
* I omitted the red onion

Roasted Shrimp with Lemon, Garlic, & Parsley

This is another dish that we had for our Father's Day dinner that I made because I knew my kids and husband would love it. I used the same basic recipe for roasting the shrimp that I used a few months ago. I just added some different flavors this time around.

My friend that was visiting with us doesn't like shrimp, but she was intrigued by the fact that I roasted the shrimp, so she decided to try one. She loved it! She said it was the best shrimp and that roasting it completely changes the texture and makes it firm and delicious.

We also made this when we went to DC for our visit and it was loved by my sister and her family as well.

Roasted Shrimp with Lemon, Garlic and Parsley- technique from Ina Garten

1-2 pds shrimp with tails, peeled and deveined (thawed if frozen)
1-2 Tbls olive oil
juice of 1/2-1 lemon (or more)
1-2 garlic clove, minced
salt
pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the shrimp on a sheet pan. Drizzle them with olive oil and lemon juice. Add the minced garlic, chopped parsley, and season with salt & pepper. Toss together with your fingers and arrange the shrimp in a single layer.

Roast for 8 to 10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through.

Serve immediately, with lemon wedges.

Curried Vegetable Couscous

This is another great recipe from the Mayo Clinic Cookbook that caught my eye, even though there was not a picture provided alongside the recipe. Kind of disproves something I said the other day about pictures being the inspiration for the dishes I choose to cook and bake, but oh well!

I love anything that has curry in it. Curry powder, curry paste- whatever it is, I love it.
My mom used curry powder in quite a few dishes when I was growing up and I think that is probably part of the reason why I love it so much.

I made this to take to a family dinner as a side dish and it was well liked by everyone which meant I didn't get as much of it leftover throughout the week for my lunch, but at least it was a hit.
It uses whole wheat couscous, which is almost exactly the same tastewise as normal couscous.
You use a food processor to mince celery, carrot, red bell pepper, onion, garlic and gingerroot and then saute the veggie mixture with the curry powder. (That is why the whole dish looks yellow, not bad lighting, just curry powder!)
Meanwhile the couscous cooks up and then you throw the whole thing together. It was so easy and really delicious.

I am going to try it again with quinoa or millet and can't wait to eat it again!


Recipe for Curried Vegetable Couscous

Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash, Parsnips, and Turnips

A couple of days before we left for DisneyWorld, I tried to use up the veggies that I had in my fridge and decided it was the perfect day for risotto.
The thing about risotto is that everyone thinks it is complicated for some reason. I used to think that and I don't even know why.
When I actually tried it and made it at home, I realized that it is easy.
You don't even have to stir it the entire time. You can walk away and do something else, come back, add more broth, stir, and do something else again.
It's easy; once you have tried it and once you make it at home, you will want to try it again.

I wanted to top my risotto with some roasted veggies and I had a butternut squash, turnips, and parsnips, so I decided that is what I would use.
I also used up the rest of my fresh herbs that I had on hand, which happened to be-sage, rosemary, and oregano. Thyme would also be tasty here or whatever herbs you like to use to flavor your veggies.
You could also use whatever combination of vegetables that you like- roasting them in the oven is the key.

I got my veggies in the oven and then started on my risotto. The veggies ended up being done just a few minutes before the risotto, so they were ready to serve at the same time.

I have also heard that risotto doesn't taste good warmed up or as leftovers. This is absolutely false, in my opinion. These leftovers were good cold, straight out of the fridge and tasted great warmed up too.


Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash, Parsnips, and Turnips by Mary Ann
Risotto:
1 Tbls olive oil
1/2 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 cup arborio rice
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/4 t 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Roasted Veggies:
1/2 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 parsnips, peeled and cubed
2 turnips, peeled and cubed
1 Tbls fresh rosemary
1 Tbls fresh oregano
1 tsp fresh sage
1 Tbls olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. On a large baking sheet combine your squash, parsnips, turnips and chopped herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and toss.
Roast for 25 minutes or until tender.

In a large, heavy saucepan, or dutch oven type pan, over medium high heat, warm 1 Tbls olive oil.
Add onion and saute until soft and translucent, abt 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add rice and stir, for about 2 minutes, making sure that the rice is mixed with the onion and coated with oil.
Add 1 cup of chicken broth and stir.
At this point you can stir continuously, or make sure you stir every few minutes.
Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup chicken broth, once the rice has absorbed the broth that is already in the pan. Continue to stir and add broth, until the rice is creamy and all the broth has been absorbed.
This process should take about 25-30 minutes.
Grate fresh Parmesan into your risotto until it melts and is combined evenly.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Scoop the risotto into bowls and top with the roasted veggies.

Happy Birthday to Me! Tomato-Broccolini Soup

This year I decided to celebrate my birthday on my blog with a savory, healthy recipe. Plus, since my birthday is the day before Christmas, I thought this red and green soup was the perfect thing to post!
Right now, we are on day 4 of our DisneyWorld Christmas Trip and I am sure it has been very fun (I am posting this ahead of time- no computer for me on our trip!)
Yesterday was my hubby's b-day and today is mine, so we get 2 days of free admittance to DisneyWorld.

I made this soup when my sister was here for Thanksgiving Break because my hubby hates tomatoes and I knew if she was here with me, I would have at least one other person that would eat it and love it.
The soup is a basic tomato soup without any cream or anything, so it is really healthy.
I added more stock, to get it to the right consistency of soup-i-ness for us.
I actually had 2 kids who really liked this one and I loved it!
The broccolini in the soup added a really great flavor.
I made extra broccolini so that even those people who think tomatoes are poisonous, could enjoy the yummy green stalks.

So give it a try, if you aren't scared of tomatoes. It makes great leftovers too.
I am going to go get on a roller coaster to celebrate my birthday!

Recipe for Tomato-Broccolini Soup

Red Curry Chicken

This is going to be a super quick post. I wanted to get to this sooner, but had a really lazy morning, so here it is.
I saw this recipe on Prudence Pennywise a couple of weeks ago and since I absolutely LOVE red curry paste and this recipe looked super easy, I made it on a random weeknight.
I have made tons of Prudy's recipes and they always turn out fabulously. Always. I had absolutely no doubt that this one would be any different.
I used apricot preserves at the end and they really tone down the red curry paste, so that it isn't too spicy at all.
Prudy suggested that you could sub garbanzo beans for the chicken to make it vegetarian, but I thought it was a great addition, so just threw a can of them in with the mix.
Very good.
Very easy.
Make sure you come back tomorrow for National Bundt Day!

Recipe for Red Curry Chicken on Prudence Pennywise

Black Bean Pumpkin Chili with Pumpkin Cornbread

Chili and cornbread. They go together this time of year. Some people don't care for either of them, like my hubby, so I rarely make either.
I saw a post on Real Mom Kitchen about this cornbread, which contains pumpkin puree and whole wheat flour and I was very intrigued. She got the recipe from The Recipe Girl, so I went over to Lori's site and found out that she served the pumpkin cornbread with a pumpkin chili. Sounded like a great combination.
At first I was going to half the recipe for the cornbread, but then my hubby told me some friends were going to be stopping by for dinner and I figured this was the perfect time to serve both of these foods.
I changed the pumpkin chili recipe up a bit. I do not like beef or ground beef, so I thought that I would make a bean chili, but then decided to add some lean ground turkey since there were going to be so many people eating with us.
I also added a zucchini, since I had one I needed to use, and black beans. I changed the spices, so that it would be mild enough for my kids to eat and switched the toppings.
The pumpkin puree in the chili is very subtle- it adds texture, but not so much flavor.

The pumpkin cornbread was fabulous. I love cornbread-I grew up eating it all the time, so I really liked this version. It had a hint of sweetness, great spices and a nice pumpkin flavor. The best part is that my kids all liked it! I couldn't believe it. None of them like regular cornbread, I think because of the texture, but this cornbread was a winner. I was so happy about it.
The pumpkin cornbread also tastes good the 2nd and 3rd day after it is made, which is usually a problem with cornbread because it dries out. The pumpkin keeps this one tasting good for leftovers.

The friends who were supposed to join us for dinner didn't make it, so I actually saved the chili and cornbread and invited some other friends over the next night. Great thing about chili is it tastes better after sitting in the fridge and being reheated. The flavors were great.
If you like a spicier chili, up the chili powder or add a jalapeno.
And try this cornbread, it is really good!
Black Bean Pumpkin Chili adapted from The Recipe Girl

1 Tbls canola oil
1 lb ground turkey (93% lean)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red, yellow, or green bell pepper (I used all three)
1 small zucchini, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14 1/2 oz cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp chili powder
1 heaping tsp cumin
dash of oregano
pepper and salt to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken broth
toppings- greek yogurt, shredded cheese, cilantro

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey, onion, green pepper, and zucchini. Cook for a few minutes, until veggies are tender and meat is browned.
Add garlic and cook for additional minute.
Add tomatoes, black beans, pumpkin puree and spices. Add enough chicken broth to loosen it up a little bit, but not too much.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Garnish with greek yogurt, shredded cheese, and cilantro.


Recipe for Pumpkin Cornbread

CEiMB-(rewind) Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Tuscan Vegetable Soup is not this week's recipe for Craving Ellie in my Belly. This week I was supposed to make Linguini with Shrimp.
Well, sometimes it just doesn't happen.
I didn't get to this soup in the middle of October for some reason, but saw that everyone was completely raving about it.
I decided to go back and make it, because it looked really easy, delicious and was getting rave reviews from everyone. It was chosen by Pam over at Lobster and Fishsticks, find her post about it here.

I made it when my mom was here visiting and it came together in a flash. We had been out at the park and got back home really close to dinner time. I couldn't believe how quickly this soup came together. It really is a simple soup, but it was really full of flavor and vegetables. My mom really liked it and so did the kids.

So, since it is soup weather right now, I encourage you to make this soup.

If you are feeling like shrimp is a better option, then go check out the CEiMB Blogroll to see what everyone thought about the linguini.

Recipe for Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Risotto with Swiss Chard

Risotto- I love you. I love you plain, with veggies, different grains, whatever it is, I love you.
Thanks for being you.

There are so many beautiful blogs out there. So, so many. One that always has beautiful pictures and great commentary is The Way the Cookie Crumbles. When I saw Bridget's post- Risotto with Swiss Chard, I knew I would be making it.
I decided to put it on the menu when my mom was here visiting.
The swiss chard I found was red swiss chard and since I love the stems and all, I just washed it, chopped it, and added all the parts.
Delicious. I knew it would be. I had absolutely no doubts.
The day I ended up making this was a cold, rainy day and it was the perfect dinner. Perfect.

If you have never tried making risotto at home, you really should. It is so easy and worth it. One of my favorite things to make.

The only thing I changed is using more chicken broth instead of wine and I didn't warm my broth ahead of time. I tried a recipe for risotto once that didn't have you heat the broth and it turned out just as good as those that did, so I eliminated that step.
Yum.
My hubby requested that the leftovers be packed in his lunch the next day. If you know anything about him, that is really saying something.


Recipe for Risotto with Swiss Chard

Cuban Black Beans

(I have no idea how authentically "cuban" these black beans are. That is just the title the recipe had when I got it)
My sister sent me this recipe for Black Beans and said that they were the best ones that she had ever tasted. I believed her and decided I would have to make them.
I usually use canned beans when I cook, draining and rinsing them, but this called for dried beans, which you have to soak overnight.
I actually started this recipe in the morning and soaked my beans for 8 hours. It worked!

I didn't really know what to expect from this recipe, but it was worth the time. The taste was amazing. These beans are so flavorful, which really surprised me and by the time they were done cooking, the texture of the beans was perfect-not hard or crumbly.

I ate a big bowl of these plain and then added some cooked rice and chopped tomato when we ate them again.
These would make a great addition to a burrito or a nice side dish. Very, very tasty.
Thanks Audrey, for passing the recipe on to me!

On a little side note, has anyone seen these cute little mini pitas?
When we went to visit my sister (same one who gave me the BB recipe) this summer, she was making all sorts of cute things with these mini pitas.

I found them at Publix and now, we eat them all the time. I stuff them with lunchmeat, cheese and a spinach leaf and pack them in my son's lunch for school, we dip them in hummus, make pb&j sammies with them, and also make little breakfast bites, here I just filled them with scrambled eggs. I buy the whole wheat mini pitas and they are really fun to fill with different things. If you can find them, try them out!

Cuban Black Beans from my sister's friend, Sharra

Ingredients
1 lb black beans
6 cups water
1 large green bell pepper chopped
1 large minced onion
4 cloves minced garlic
A second green pepper minced
2/3 cups olive oil (I only used a couple Tbls)
4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dry wine (I omitted this)
2 tbsp vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
2 tbsp oil (I forgot to add this!)

Rinse Beans. Combine beans, water, chopped pepper. Soak overnite.
Cook covered for 45 minutes or until soft.
In a frying pan, saute onion, garlic, 2/3 cup olive oil, and minced pepper.
Take 1 cup of beans and mash into sauteed vegetables.
Pour sauteed veggies into bean pot.
Add 4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, oregano, bay leaf broken in half, and sugar.
Cook covered 1 hour.
Add 2 tbsp vinegar and wine.
Cook 1 hour uncovered to thicken.
When ready to serve add 2 Tbsp oil.

CEiMB-Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

I picked my mom up at the airport yesterday and we are so excited that she is going to stay with us for a whole week! It has been fun already and having an extra pair of hands all day is wonderful! I have to apologize about my lack of commenting on other blogs while she is here. Last thing I want to do is sit at the computer when there are so many fun things to do. I will get to all of you, as soon as I can.

There are a few foods I don't like. Not very many, but mushrooms are one of the things that I am not especially fond of. I will eat them if they are mixed into something or on top of pizza, but I will not eat them plain, on their own. ( This little tidbit of information relates to the post- just hold on a second.)

This weeks Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, Easy Chicken Mushroom Quesadillas, was chosen by Marthe over at Culinary Delights. You can find the recipe on her blog or by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.

These quesadillas were very easy to throw together. Good thing, since easy is in the recipe title.
You saute onion and mushrooms, add garlic, chicken, oregano, cumin, chili powder and spinach.
I already had some cooked chicken in the fridge, so I just shredded that and used it. I also added matchstick carrots, since they were in the fridge.

After the filling was cooked and warm, I melted the cheese and finished off our quesadillas in the microwave. That is how make quesadillas for my kids most of the time. My husband requires that his quesadillas be cooked in butter, so they are nice and golden on the outside (since he is an adult, he can get away with unhealthy demands sometimes) and he doesn't like whole wheat anything, so we used normal flour tortillas.
Hubs said " it's pretty and seems fancy and healthy. Doesn't taste bad either." (He really isn't that demanding, he puts up with a lot of wierd food, when he would rather be eating McDonalds.)

We dipped ours in the best jarred salsa out there- Herdez, it is the only jarred salsa I like. We used greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

We liked these. A nice way to get some vegetables into something that usually is just full of cheese and chicken. Plus, there were enough other things inside of these that I wasn't too bothered by the mushrooms.

Go see what the other Ellie's thought by checking out the CEiMB Blogroll!



Recipe for Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

One Year Ago-Weekly Lunchbox

Lentil Soup with Chard

It is definitely soup weather. It has been all week. The temperatures have dropped and it has been raining. Cloudy skies and rain always make me feel like making soup and baking.

I found some beautiful swiss chard a couple of days ago and had a couple of recipes that I had been wanting to try. This was one of them.
It is a basic lentil soup without any meat and with the added nutrition and flavor of some dark greens. Dark greens and lentils pair together really well.
I really like lentils. They are easy to prepare and delicious. Make sure you sort and rinse them well. You don't want any tiny rocks to make it into your soup!

When I chopped my chard, I chopped up the stems and ribs and just added them to the soup. They soften up nicely and have to texture of celery in this soup.
I also used canola oil to cook my onion mixture instead of butter.
We topped ours off with a nice dollop of greek yogurt.

If it is cold and rainy where you are or you are in the mood for soup, give this one a try. It will warm you up.
Have a good weekend!
Recipe for Lentil Soup with Chard

One Year Ago-Vegetarian Pad Thai

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp

What a busy morning! Do you ever just feel like you are running around and before you know it, it is lunchtime?

Anyway- on to today's food- Shrimp.

I have mentioned before how much my kids and husband love shrimp and fish. We finally got around to trying crawfish (that is a for another day) and when we were at the seafood counter, my kids were pointing out the things they want to try next- scallops, clams, mussels and the tiny salad shrimp.
I am glad that they are so adventurous.
I had some shrimp left in the freezer and we were going to have a busy night, so I marinated the shrimp for a little bit and cooked it up right before we got in the car to go somewhere.
I gave everyone a plastic container filled with these shrimp and some steamed asparagus. Everyone also got a fork and we were off.

This recipe originally calls for the shrimp to be soaked in a salt/sugar mixture and then rinsed, skewered and grilled.
I skipped the salt soak and marinated my shrimp in the lemon-mixture for about an hour. Then I just cooked my shrimp in a little bit of olive oil, in a saute pan. They were ready in a matter of minutes. Nothing complicated or strange here.
Easy flavors and easy preparation.
My family loved it.



Recipe for Lemon-Garlic Shrimp

One Year Ago-Slider Caesar Salad and Veggie Manicotti

Sauteed Broccolini

Back in the spring, I had the chance to choose the bonus recipe for Barefoot Bloggers. I am no longer a part of that particular cooking group, but at the time, I could not find Broccolini anywhere!
It was so frustrating. I must have checked at 6 or 7 different stores and just gave up.

So, imagine my surprise and excitement, 6 months later when I spotted Broccolini at Publix!
As soon as I saw it, I decided that I would make this very easy, Barefoot Contessa side dish and find out exactly what I had missed.

Well, if you have had Broccolini, then you know that it is delicious!
This recipe is so easy. It takes only a matter of minutes.
First, you blanch the broccolini and then, you saute it with a little garlic and lemon zest, except I didn't have a lemon, so I used lime. It was soo good with the lime zest.

The best thing about broccolini, is that you can eat the entire stem and it tastes good. It is 20x better than normal broccoli.

We ate ours with our fingers, while we were having a picnic in the front yard, with pizza.
My kids went crazy for it, but who doesn't love finger food?


Recipe for Sauteed Broccolini

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