Pico De Gallo & Bean Enchiladas

In case you can't tell, I LOVE mexican food!  And my favorite thing to make are these enchiladas, which are vegetarian, and filled with refried beans and homemade pico de gallo.  Doesn't this look amazing?

First, I could do a whole entry on making pico de gallo, but I don't have a picture if just that, so I won't.  It's super easy though, and you should always do your own.  I make the pico, then save a little to mash avocados in and - bam - perfect guacamole.  For the pico, you need:

2-3 tomatoes
A red onion
Fresh cilantro
A jalapeno
Fresh lime juice
Salt

You really just chop up the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno in a proportion you like, and add everything else to taste.  So easy!  So good!  It's also an absolutely perfect guacamole base.  So, you're making two things at once.

I suggest refrigerating the pico at least overnight before you eat it or use it in these enchiladas, as it gets better as the flavors mingle.

For the enchiladas, you need:

Pico De Gallo
Soft Corn Tortillas
1 Can of Your Favorite Refried Beans
2 Cans Enchiladas Sauce
2 cups Cheese
Avocado (Optional - Mash with extra Pico for gauc)
Sour Cream (Optional)

These are my favorite beans to use:

I put the beans in the tortillas, then the pico, and about half the cheese.  Then I roll them up:

Top with sauce and the rest of the cheese, and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes:

This obviously isn't a fancy recipe where I make everything from scratch, but it's a fantastic combination that's quick and easy.  It's also a great vegetarian alternative to "cheese and onion" enchiladas (boring).  I like to serve them with rice and a Corona!

Making Sushi & Spicy Veggie Rolls

If you're going to make sushi, I highly suggest you get Sushi For Dummies.  My sister got me the book last year for Christmas, and when I followed the directions exactly, the rice and everything else came out PERFECT.  Though it is an involved process (do it when you're in the mood to make a big production in the kitchen), it was actually easier than I thought it would be.

First, I bought everything I needed.  As far as equipment goes, you only need a rolling mat, which I got at the grocery store next to the nori for like $2.  I used a shallow dish for turning the rice and a piece of cardboard for a cooling paddle.  (Nothing fancy.)  You need nori (seaweed sheets), short or medium grain rice, and unseasoned rice vinegar (definitely not the seasoned kind, the book says you need to season your own), among other things:

I was amazed that the rice turned out perfectly.  I just followed the directions exactly.  You are supposed to toast the nori in the oven for 30 seconds first, so I did that too.  Then you put the rice on, and like magic, it sticks!  You can even then turn the whole thing over to make inside-out rolls, and somehow the rice doesn't fall off when you do.  I made a few types of rolls, including california rolls and rolls with shrimp.  My favorite, though, is just a veggie roll with spicy mayo:

Then you just roll it tight:

And slice it into pieces:

In this picture below, I have some inside out rolls.  They actually turned out to have a high rice ratio, but were still good:

I just make the nori-on-the-outside kind now because they are just as good and one step easier.

If you are wondering about making your own, you should!  It is a lot of fun and deciding what to put inside and trying different combinations lets you be a little creative.  Here's what I put in my favorite spicy veggie rolls:

Avocado

Red Pepper

Tomato (Optional)

Cilantro (A Must-Have)

Green Onion

Spicy Mayo (Mayo, Siracha, and a little Soy Sauce)

Silver Christmas Tree

So my Button Ornaments are creating much more of a buzz than I expected.  I have several requests for them, and my mom's friends are trying to pay me for them, lol.  It's too bad I can't find enough buttons!  Jo Ann's is sold out of most of their selection.  But anyway, speaking of Christmas, can I show you a spliced-together picture of my Christmas tree?  Okay.  Great!

I'm so excited.  I wasn't going to have a tree this year, but I picked this one up at Hobby Lobby for $65.  It's 6 feet tall, though skinny.  I found the mini tree skirt at Target today.  I got the silver tree in part because this is the first Christmas I've had my own place, so no stupid boys can tell me it's tacky.  It's a super girly tree and I love it!  Perfect.

Dessert Wins! Raspberry Almond Cupcakes, Key Lime Bars, & Red Velvet Brownies

I am a dessert person.

Addict.

Fiend.

I love sugar more than anything, and I love baking.  I have so many great wonderful awesome desserts I’ve made that I would love to blog about, but if I haven’t changed anything about the original recipe, it isn’t really mine to blog.  I will share a couple photos of my favorites, however:

Key Lime Bars, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

Red Velvet Brownies (oven pic), found through Pinterest on this awesome blog.

And, then, one of my mother’s favorites, these amazing Raspberry Filled Almond Cupcakes.  So, so good.  And they turned out perfect.  They are most moist, tasty cupcakes ever.  I know I mentioned in my Amaretto Cheesecake Truffle post that I love anything Almond, then there’s raspberry.  And cream cheese frosting.  Come on.  Come on.

Here were the cupcakes before frosted:

And the finished product:

After being in the refrigerator overnight, the gel firmed up some:

I’ve made some pretty bad desserts as well, but that’s the fun of Pinterest, finding the gems.  I highly recommend any of these three, as well as my new favorite, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, which I’ll be baking and blogging about this weekend.  (But here's a sneak peak pic from my last batch:)

Falafel with Cucumber Sauce

There's this amazing Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain in downtown Chicago called Roti.  Every time my boyfriend and I are downtown we have to stop by for some falafel and falafel wrap sandwiches.  But since we don't live downtown, and we can't have Roti all the time, I decided to make my own falafel.  I started with this recipe for Sean's Falafel and Cucumber Sauce.  Now, I don't know who Sean is, but I thank you!  This is now one of my boyfriend's and my favorite meals.  The only thing I do differently than the original recipe is use a combination of parsley and cilantro instead of just parsley.  This takes a bit of time to make, but it's very worth it.

Ingredients:

15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
pinch of cyanine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup dry bread crumbs
oil for frying

And for the Sauce:

12 oz plain yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
2 tsp dried dill weed
2 tbsp mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Serve with (Optional):

Pitas
Shredded lettuce
Tomatoes

First, mix together all the sauce ingredients and chill for at least 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, mash up the garbanzos with a fork until they're smooth.  (The original recipe says don't use a blender, so I never have.  This is most tedious part.)  Then, in a food processor, chop up the parsley, garlic, cilantro, and onion.  Stir it into the beans.  

In a small bowl, combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir it into the bean mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together.  Add more or less bread crumbs as needed. Form 8 balls and then flatten into patties.

Heat an inch or so of oil in a skillet.  Fry each patty until golden brown on both sides.  Set aside on a paper towel to dry.

Serve them up in the pita with the sauce and fixings.  

Enjoy!

Chili Two Ways (Vegetarian or with Turkey)

Everyone thinks they have the best chili, right?  So I'm not going to claim that.  However, I am going to claim that my chili is way way way good.  And I'm also going to claim that any beef lovers out there would have no idea this chili has ground turkey in it instead of beef if you didn't tell them.  (In fact, I haven't always told, and when I do, people are shocked.)

Though the original recipe was designed around ground turkey, when I became (mostly) vegetarian a couple years ago I started making a vegetarian 3-bean chili version, which is also amazing.  All you have to do is add a third kind of bean, like black beans, instead of the turkey.  

The thing about this chili is that is tastes fresh and spicy and flavorful.  In addition, it only has 260 calories per serving!  What?!  That's insane.  I dare you to make it.  Really.

Bren’s Turkey Chili

1 pkg ground turkey (or add a third bean, like black beans)

1 cup onion

½ jalapeno (optional)

1 cup green pepper

2 cloves garlic

½ tsp olive oil

1 28 oz can crushed tomato

1 14.5 oz kidney beans – drained and rinsed

1 14.5 oz can spicy pinto chili beans

(All spice can be adjusted to taste, start with these and add more as necessary.)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cyanine pepper

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

dash of oregano

dash of pepper

Cook green pepper, jalapeno, onion, and garlic cloves in oil for 5-10 minutes.  Add turkey and cook until the pink is gone.  Then, add everything else and simmer for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

Top with fresh onion to serve.  Makes 8 servings.

Turkey Tetrazzini

So, even though I usually don't eat (let alone cook with) meat, Thanksgiving just having passed, I found myself with turkey on hand.  Not having a go-to turkey recipe, I thought back to high school, when I worked in the kitchen at a nursing home.  Most of the food there was what you would expect from a nursing home cafeteria, but sometimes some stuff was really good.  One of those good things was turkey tetrazzini.  I set out to create the dish just a couple days ago, combining tips and tricks from several different recipes, and I must say, the end result was fantastic!

Now, Turkey Tetrazzini is not a pretty thing.  So excuse the not-so-great picture.  It looks good to me, but that's because I know what it tastes like:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 cup flour
1/8-1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup milk
6 oz cooked pasta
1 cup diced cooked turkey
salt to taste
cheddar cheese
bread crumbs

Cook the onions, pepper, and garlic in the butter in a skillet.  Once soft, add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the flour, mixing until you have a roux.  Add the wine, stock, milk, and pepper, bring it to a boil, and stir until it starts to thicken up.  Simmer 15 minutes.  Add the pasta and turkey and salt to taste.  Add to a greased casserole dish and mix in about 1/4 cup cheddar.  Top with more cheddar and breadcrumbs.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes covered, then remove cover and cook 10 minutes more to brown.

Happy leftovering!

Amaretto Cheesecake Truffles

One year I got really creative and made cheesecake truffles in various flavors.  My favorite ones are the amaretto (anything almond or amaretto is pretty much my favorite, but I also made lemon cheesecake ones and chocolate-covered plain cheesecake ones:

Below is the recipe for the amaretto truffles, but you can basically just trade out the flavor extract you like (use vanilla for plain cheesecake), dip them in whatever kind of chocolate you like, and top them with whatever you want!  To color white chocolate, I've found food coloring doesn't mix well, but nestle sells green and red swirled white chips around the holidays that mix in quite nicely.

Ingredients:

16 oz Cream Cheese (Softened)

2/3 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

2 Eggs

12 oz White Baker's Chocolate

Vegetable Shortening

Small Bag Sliced Almonds

Preheat oven to 350º.  Combine cream cheese, sugar, and extract in electric mixer and whip on low speed until combined.  Add eggs one at a time.  Poor into 9" pan (if you don't have a spring form pan, it doesn't matter, as this part doesn't need to be pretty) and bake at 350º for about 30-35 minutes.  Cool cheesecake for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 

Scoop cheesecake into small balls using a melon baller or tablespoon and place on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet.  Freeze cheesecake balls overnight.

Melt the chocolate using a double boiler (or other method that works for you).  Add shortening into chocolate until the consistency is smooth and easy to work with (about 2 teaspoons).  Dip each cheesecake ball into chocolate and coat, then replace on cookie sheet.  While the chocolate is still warm, add sliced almonds to garnish. 

Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.

Black Bean Tortilla Soup (Vegetarian)

One of my favorite things is this vegetarian tortilla soup with black beans.  I'm sure I worked off of some base recipe at some point, but I've made it my own.  Now, the key to this soup is really the toppings.  You have to have all the toppings.

Soup Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion

1 Small Red Bell Pepper

2 Cloves Garlic

1 Tsp Cumin

1 14 Ounce Can Diced Tomatoes in Sauce

1 4 Ounce Can Diced Mild Green Chilies

1 14 Ounce Can Enchilada Sauce (Hot or Mild)

21 Ounces Vegetable Stock

1/2 Tsp Pepper

1/2 Tsp Salt (To Taste)

1 14 Ounce Can Black Beans, Drained and Rinsed

1 14 Ounce Can of Corn (Optional)

Must-Have Toppings:

Blue Corn Tortilla Chips

Avocado, Cubed

Fresh Cilantro, Coarsely Chopped

Shredded Cheese of Your Choice

Sour Cream

Lime, Cut into Wedges

Cook Onion, Garlic, Pepper, and Cumin in Olive Oil for five minutes, until soft.  Add Tomatoes, Chilies, Enchilada Sauce, Stock, Pepper, and Salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.  Add Beans and Corn and continue to simmer 10 more minutes.  Squeeze lime into each bowl and serve topped with Cheese, Avocado, Cilantro, Sour Cream, and Tortilla Chips. 

This is a vegetarian dish but you could add chicken instead of or in addition to black beans, and use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock if you choose.  If you are vegan, you could substitute vegan cheese and sour cream for the dairy versions.

Trust me.  This is sooooo good.  Makes 4 servings.

Spicy Quinoa Stuffed Peppers & Quinoa Vegetarian Chili

I'm starting my food blogs off with a two-fer.  Vegetarian Quinoa Stuffed Peppers and/or Quinoa Chili.  I make the chili when I want a quick, awesome meal, and I make the peppers when I want to make an impressive looking (and tasting) meal.  They are gorgeous, I think:

I made some quinoa stuffed peppers once, but they just didn't have enough flavor or spice.  Then, I ran across this recipe for a vegetarian quinoa chili.  (The chili recipe is not mine even though the picture on the site is because I'm the one who submitted it.)  I decided to take the chili recipe, but instead of chopping up the peppers in the chili, I sliced them and stuffed them.  The picture above was from when I made them for my mom's birthday.  (And no worries, it satisfied my whole family of non-vegetarians.)  Here's what you will need:

Olive Oil
1 Large Yellow Onion, Diced
2-3 Stalks Celery, Diced
2 Carrots, Diced
4 Garlic Cloves, Minced
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 1/2 Tsp Cumin
28 oz Can Diced Tomatoes w Juice
2 Cups Organic Vegetable Stock
2 Tbsp White Vinegar
1 Tsp Sugar
Salt & Pepper to Taste
1 cup Quinoa, Rinsed
14 oz Can Pinto or Black Beans (I use black)
1 cup Corn
About 4 Bell Peppers - Whatever Colors You Like - Halved
Cheese of Your Choice, Shredded

Here are the key players:

First, you soften up your diced vegetables with the garlic in oil.  In this picture I was making the chili, so my peppers are in there too.  It looks so pretty:

After about 7 minutes, add the spices and cook for another minute.  Then add the tomatoes and stock.  If you're doing the peppers, reserve some tomato juice and stock to bake them in later on.  Bring the mix to a boil, then add the sugar and vinegar, quinoa, beans, and corn.  Stir until it comes back to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, until the quinoa is cooked.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Once the "chili" portion is done, place your halved peppers in a baking dish and fill them with the mix (get them heaping, but you'll still have extra, that's ok - yum!). Add extra stock and juice to the pan around the peppers.  (It should be about 1/3-1/2 inch deep.)  Bake 45 minutes covered with foil.  Then, remove the foil, top with cheese, and bake for 15 minutes more.

Here's a picture of the chili version.  Not as pretty, but still tasty:

Next, I'll share an actual recipe I came up with myself for an amazing vegetarian tortilla soup.  Mmmm Mmmm I do love spicy things :)

Melted Crayon Art

So when I moved into a new apartment a couple months ago, I needed things to decorate the walls.  The melted crayon art thing has been insanely popular, so I decided to try it.  After I got past my OCD tendencies (I seriously spent hours and hours rearranging crayons trying to decide on the order), it was really fun.  Surprisingly fun.  When I got done I wanted to make more immediately and I might still do another one for my bedroom.

I decided to do three separate square canvases that would go together to fill a blank dining room wall.  You can see the wall right when you walk in the apartment, so they have really became a focal point.  Everyone loves them too:

So first, like I said, I spent hours trying to decide on an order for the crayons.  I also agonized over whether to put the crayons on the canvas or off.  My boyfriend voted for off the canvas, so I went with that.  But it was a very tough decision for someone as indecisive as me.  What I did know is that I wanted black canvases, so I painted them first with black acrylic paint.

One thing I highly recommend.  I practiced first!  I took the "ugly" colors I wasn't using from a pack, put them on cardboard, and melted away.  You learn as you go how to blow the wax just right, how it melts, how close to hold the blow dryer, how not to splatter, and how to just get a feel for the whole thing.

Then, I felt I was ready to begin.  I glued the crayons for the first canvas to cardboard with a glue gun, then attempted to tape that to the top of the canvas.  Turns out that was the hardest part of the whole operation.  The cardboard doesn't want to stay where you want it, so I ended up holding the cardboard with one hand for the most part.  This also worked to my advantage though, because I could move them around and sort of press the crayons to the canvas in certain spots when I wanted to.  (It's hard to explain, but again, practice with your reject colors!)

Here was my first set up.  I realized that because I wasn't including the crayons on the canvas, that I could break them in half and even in thirds if I wanted a larger stripe of some colors.  I ended up returning a box of crayons after I realized this too.  One big box may be enough for you, but buy the biggest one for the most cool colors:

And here was the first finished one.  It is a little lumpy in the upper right corner.  They got better as I went:

Here is the second one, in progress.  The neon and metallic colors look great on the black:

My intent was to make it seem the three, though on separate canvases, would continue the same rainbow of colors if put together.  The last one was blue:

And here they all are on my wall!

Here are my final tips:  Again, practice first!  Paint your canvases if you want a different look.  Different crayons melt at different speeds.  (White doesn't want to melt, metallics melt fast - and btw, use metallics!  I have just a few but they add a pop of sparkle that is so cool.)  And, if you don't put the crayons on the canvas, in addition to not needing the whole crayon at the top, you can reuse the strip of half-melted ones when you're done.  I've saved mine just in case!

This would probably be fun for older kids too, but when it comes to the blow drying part, it gets to be a long process, and you have to be patient.  Use the low setting; the high setting will cause splatter.  And if you do it inside (I did), cover everything with newspaper.

Button Ornaments

'Tis the season.  So I've decided to start by posting about my most recent project - which is actually very simple and easy.  Ornaments made from buttons!

I've been seeing a bunch of cool button ornaments on Pinterest (marthastewart.com seemed to be the origin of many of these), and since it seemed so easy I decided to make some myself.  I figured it would also be a cheap project, but actually, buttons cost more than I expected.  I dropped about $25 at Jo-Ann's and I ended up being able to make 5 large ornaments (2 snowmen, 2 large trees, and 1 santa) and a few more smaller tree ornaments.  I bought string, orange felt (for snowman noses), star beads for the trees ($3.99), two large bags of buttons, one red & green, one black & white ($5.99 each, but I had a 50% off coupon for one), a some other random buttons, including extra green ones.  I also busted out my sewing kit with all my own extra buttons.  I ended up with this:

I started making trees with different color stars:

Then I made a snowman, which turned out very cute.  I made an orange triangle with felt and poked a hole in it for the nose:

And just because I had extra red buttons, I decided to make a santa.  Here's all three of the larger ornaments I made:

I gave some to my mom and she thinks I should make them for all my relatives.  They are really very easy to put together, so I just might.

An Introduction

My first blog post in years!  (If you don't count facebook.)  Being a writer type, I used to blog all the time.  In college I obsessively shared every aspect of my life with random Internet people 5-6 times a day.  Yes, sometimes more.  Sometimes 12.  Or 15.  Non-writers will think I am crazy, and so will writers (but writers will understand).  Either way I'm crazy.  Anyway, life got in the way a bit since then, but with this lovely invention called Pinterest I was inspired to blog again.  I'm always cooking and crafting and pinning, but it's no fun when your pins don't have anywhere to link.  I wanted to be able to share my recipes and elaborate on my successful (and non-successful) projects, so here we are.

I'm currently an English Instructor at three different colleges (it's insane but I love it).  I don't have any kids, unless you count the fuzzy ones, which I do.  Here's my 7 year old Golden Retriever, Roxy:

And here's my new kitty, Clover.  She's 2 years old but I adopted her only a couple months ago:

With regards to food, I am "primarily vegetarian," which means I only eat meat here and there, maybe once or twice a month, or on holidays, etc.  I realize this doesn't make me a "real" vegetarian, so I never claim to be one, but I love vegetarian cooking and I feel much healthier since becoming "mostly" one a couple years ago.  I don't believe people aren't intended to eat meat - I do think we are - but I just think we eat too much meat.  I'm against factory farming, unnatural ways of "producing" meat, and unnecessary cruelty to animals.   Most the recipes I'll post about will be vegetarian, but you may also see some with meat here and there.

For the purpose of this blog, there's probably not much else to say about me right now (I'm pretty boring).  So I'll leave it at that!