Green Chili Burgers

Summer grilling... it is truly a delightful experience.  Perhaps one of the best traditions belonging to an American 'summer.'  This tied with swimming is one way I could spend every 100+ degree day in Tucson, or anywhere in the world...

However, I do live in Tucson, and I do love a delicious grilled meal.  Though I have to admit, I'm not a big burger fan (unless it is In-N-Out, then I'm always game).  So burgers need to be big, flavorful and juicy for me to really want to dig in to them.  This one hits the mark!

So grab your grill master, and have him light it up! While you are letting your grill get nice and toasty, grab your yummy burger flavor preparations...
 


2lbs ground meat (I used beef, but turkey would be great too)
2tbsp green chili
1tbsp chopped cilantro
2tbsp chopped scallions
1tbsp chili powder
3tsp garlic salt
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in, though don't overmix or you will end up with burger that resemble the hardness of bricks... Now patty the meat out into about 6 patties (these will be large so you could definitely squeeze 8 patties out if needed).  Make sure they are thinner in the center so that they cook evenly.  Then load them onto the grill and relish the wonderful smell of summertime grilling!



The only thing to make this better?  Grilled vegetables of course!  My favorite?  I would have to say grilled squash and zucchini, (they are seriously the best!) so just slice them up into big rounds so they won't fall through the grates, lightly cover them with olive oil, salt and pepper and then grill!  And yes, these grill marks are real, and real easy to achieve.  So top your burgers with your favorite cheese (monterey jack for me), finish your perfectly looking and tasting veggies, plate up, and enjoy a taste of Tucson summer!

Summertime Smoothies

There is nothing better than an icy, cool, smooth treat for the hot summer days.  However, ice cream and icees aren't exactly great for the figure, especially for the soon-to-be-bride.  So we turn to the ever delicious fresh fruit smoothie!

In a blender, add two bananas, one cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt, one cup frozen berries (blueberries in this case, and fresh is fine too) and about two cups of ice.  Process until smooth.

In the meantime, make sure you have two glasses with crazy straws prepared. 

Oh yes, crazy straws make everything taste better!





Now, pour and enjoy. 

Oh, what's that?  You have some left over?  DON'T DRINK IT!  I know, I know it's ever-so-refreshing and delicious, but I have something even more wonderful in mind... Blueberry Banana Popsicles!  Great!  So pour the remainder of your smoothie into popsicle molds (they are pushed all the way in the back of your pantry...), freeze for at least 3 hours and then enjoy!  Again!  Just like my mom is modeling for you in the picture below  :D

Chicken and Potato Lettuce Wraps

Delicious, refreshing, light, and fun!  Yes, these truly are!  So it is about 107 outside, and I wanted to do lunch with a friend...  I'm also on a budget these days (all play and no work makes for poor Danielle).  Anyway, solving the problem was more than simple with this delicious recipe!  Its a potatoy-chickeny salad, and probably not like any other potato salad or chicken salad you have had before  :)  Yum!

So it is definitely warm outside and this recipe does use the oven, but the results are sooo worth it!  The basics:  peel, cut and roast 4 or 5 russet potatoes (depending on their size), fry up 3 or 4 strips of bacon (depending on how much scrumptious you want), and poach 2 breasts or 4 tenderloins of chicken (depending on what you have in the freezer). 
 

Okay, while all of those ingredients are cooking away, chop up about half of a small yellow onion, one large stalk of celery and two cloves of garlic.  Dice them pretty fine, as they are going into your salad raw, and the last thing you want is a large bite of onion!  Put them into a bowl that is big enough to mix all of your ingredients.  Now add about 3/4 cup of light mayo, 2tsp mustard, 2tsp apple cider vinegar, 1tsp rubbed sage, 1tbsp dried parsley (or fresh if you have it!), and 1tbsp paprika.  Mix it all together now!

Excellent!  Now you are ready to crumble your scrumptious bacon and add it, plus your chicken and potatoes to the mixture!  Now, we could put this on bread, but I feel like that would just be overload... (I could go for a nice crusty bread and smear this on... but I have a better idea! And really, why use light mayo if you aren't going to go light the whole way...)  Get out a large head of romaine or other big leafy lettuce and make lettuce wraps!  Now it is the perfect light and healthy lunch!  :D

White Bean Cassoulet

Okay.  I have a confession.  I watch the FoodNetwork pretty much all the time, but there are very few shows I actually record.  So what do I record?  Well, if Alton Brown had every show, I would probably then record every show... but he only has Good Eats, so therefore, I record Good Eats.  Hmmm what else?  Well, I record 10 Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian.  Why?  Well, I have to admit I can't ever seem to get my meals completely as cheap as her, but I definitely come close, and she is also totally my type of cook.  I can't tell you how many times I have watched her show and thought to myself "I just did that yesterday," or, "I think she took that from my head just now..." and so on.  You get the picture.

Anyway, so this recipe is one of the few recipes that I have tried without editing anything of my own.  I truly stuck to her amounts, times of cooking and ingredients and I must admit, it was delicious!  Sometimes, you just can't mess with the original.  So thank you Melissa.  (By the way, this recipe also got rave reviews from Heather, and if you know the relationship between my sister and I, you will know that we are incredibly critical of each other's cooking, so a rave review is a tough thing to attain!)

Weekday Cassoulet Recipe: Melissa d'Arabian

Fish Tacos!

I was grocery shopping for the week, and as I do before most shopping trips, I check my inventory.  Upon opening the freezer, I noticed just how much fish I had... lots of tilapia especially.  A few months back, I gave my first go at fish tacos (I had never even eaten them before), and I really enjoyed it.  However, I know that there are quite a few different ways you can get a fish taco, so I decided to put Fish Tacos Round Two on my weekly menu, and off I went to the store!

Fish tacos have lots of variety.  Last time I made them, it was broiled mahi-mahi with black beans, rice and an avocado-cream cheese spread.  This time, I decided to go for the popular breaded fish tacos.  Okay, here's my thoughts on breaded fish tacos:  why are they breaded when your bread is your tortilla?  Isn't it just added unnecessary carbs and fat?  I mean, when they are breaded, you fry them!  So for the deep-frying, greasy lovers out there, I can see the appeal, so I gave it a go...

First step:  breading/frying your fish.  Get out your three steps; flour one, egg wash, flour two.  Cut your fish into roughly 1-2oz pieces (a normal filet of tilapia cut in three chunks).  Also, I always mix a little salt and pepper into my flour for seasoning...  And then fry those pieces away in a heavy skillet, like a cast iron which is a personal favorite of mine.

While frying your fish to a beautiful golden brown, you can prepare your other ingredients...  I love black beans, plus they are probably the most healthy bean for you.  Throw them in a pot, put them on the stove and add some cumin, red pepper flakes and fresh cilantro, all to taste.  Make some spanish rice.  I now know that I have used spanish rice a few times as a side on this blog and I have yet to give my recipe... that will come the next time I make it (promise). 



Okay, the last few ingredients to a fish taco are some shredded cabbage and the taco sauce.  My first attempt of fish tacos was great, even though I forgot the cabbage completely, and I must say, the cabbage adds the perfect crunch!  Don't forget it!  Ok, and now for the taco 'sauce.'  I guess there is generally always some type of a sauce instead of salsa on fish tacos.  I have heard and seen on the internet that sometimes it is just your everyday tartar sauce...  PLEASE oh please don't tell me that is what you prefer!  Tartar sauce belongs in Long John Silver's in packets when we are talking fish tacos friends!  You need a white sauce, or a cilantro-lime-avocado-y sauce for a real delicious fish taco experience!

So my last attempt at making this sauce was really delicious... it was basically whipped cream cheese, an avocado, cilantro and lime.  This time I decided to take a sour cream approach and I must admit it was just as delicious, and I am not sure which I liked better...  anyway, mix together about a cup of sour cream, a whole avocado (minus the pit and skin obviously), the juice of a whole lime (and if it is not juicy enough, add the zest too), freshly minced cilantro and BAM, you have the perfect fish taco sauce/spread!

Now just stick it all together on a warmed tortilla (I prefer corn here, but most everyone in my family likes flour better so I sacrificed...), throw a movie in the tele and you are good to go!  We chose to watch Alice in Wonderland and it was the best Friday night I've had in a long time  :->

Left-over Vegetables!

By the way... You don't have to throw out those veggies that you just realized you hadn't eaten yet...  you know, the ones in your crisper drawer... the broccoli, squash, zucchini, bell peppers... My family decided to get some salad stuff for the week, though about Thursday we were ready to finish off our veggies.  In my stir-fry you can see baby bell peppers, broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms, snap peas, carrots and broccoli slaw.  (All of this stuff also goes great with pad thai if you want another Asian-influenced dish to use up some left-over veggies)

Simple solution: get a jar of teriyaki sauce from the store on your way home.  Get out your wok, dust it off, and throw it on the fire.  Chop those veggies, put a little oil in your wok, and saute them.  Put some rice in the rice cooker.  Add teriyaki sauce to your veggies at the last minute, toss them around and stick the lid on them until your rice is done. 

Serve the veggies over rice.  You forgot how easy and tasty a stir-fry is?  Oh, your husband needs meat?  Men just can't have a manly-meal without some manly-meat?  Alright, cook up some beef, chicken, pork, whatever you have in your freezer and bake them in the sauce in the oven.  Now you have a complete manly-meal  :)

Dia de las Madres

Okay... so in my family, we never go out to celebrate Mother's day.  I'm not sure why that is, but I really like it.  So a few days before Mother's day, I asked my beautiful mom what she wanted for her special dinner.  And she chose fajitas.  Fajitas are not my favorite dinner (by far) so I can say I wasn't thrilled, but of course it wasn't about me, so I happily planned the meal.  She ordered "something chocolate" for dessert, so I went with chocolate covered strawberries, yummm.

My mom and dad went to breakfast together that morning, she got a Starbucks to take her through church and then it was my turn.  I must confess I was a little sad at the simplicity of making fajitas (its essentially onion, bell pepper and meat on a tortilla) but I was excited to make my own spice mixture. Growing up, my mom was a pre-made-fajita-spice-packet user, and I just could not bear using it, taking one less step from my meal...  So first things first: making the spices!

I made just enough spice mixture for the amount of chicken/onions/peppers, but this is definitely worth making more and storing for a quick dinner:
3tbsp chili powder
2tsp onion powder
2tsp garlic powder
1tbsp paprika
1tbsp white sugar
2tsp cayenne
2tsp cumin
1tbsp salt
2tsp crushed red pepper

Also you can add cornstarch into this if you think you may need a thickening agent (I didn't).

So mix that all together and set aside.  The rest is so simple.  Slice your onions and peppers into strips (making sure they are all similar in size so they cook evenly).  Also slice/shred your meat into pieces about the same size.  I 'cheated' here and bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it.  I really think you just can't beat the flavor and moisture of rotisserie chickens, and they are so versatile.

So now you can add your raw vegetables to a large saute pan, or a wok which is what I used since I was making so much.  Add a little oil and salt to help them cook down.  After they are cooked about half-way to how you want them (we liked just a little crunch left), add your pre-cooked meat to the pan, and the seasonings.  Cook them all together until your meat is hot and the vegetables are perfectly to your liking.  Add the seasoning lightly (you can always add more but you can't take it out).

Now throw it on a tortilla and garnish as you please.  I added some fresh avocado and sour cream... and after eating one, I have to admit my liking for fajitas went up quite a bit.  There is just something delicious about having control over your foods, your seasonings and eating the fruits of your labor  :)  Happy Mother's Day!







Oh... and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the giant, sweet, delicious chocolate covered strawberries... what a perfect dessert... you just can't go wrong with fruit and chocolate!

Hot dogs?

Tucson isn't a city like New York or Philadelphia, where they have restaurants featured on Food Network everyday.  Tucson has just recently started getting some TV fame for its food, so naturally, Heather and I are pretty excited when we can go try something that's been featured on a show.  The Travel Channel's 'Food Wars' recently aired an episode featuring Tucson's sonoran hot dogs, so we watched it.  The funny thing?  Neither of us had ever eaten a sonoran dog.  So, we ventured out with the family to give these strange hot dogs a try this past weekend.

The 'war' was between El Guero Canelo and BK.  They are both set up on 6th street in South Tucson and they are within eyesight of each other...  The winner on the show was BK.  However, when we decided to venture out and try this Mexican-American fast food 'staple,' we weren't the only ones choosing where to go, so our group of foodies ended up at El Guero Canelos (yes, the loser), in another part of town.  I can't say it affected our tastebuds much though  :)

We all ordered sonoran dogs, loaded down with all the fixins'.  I'm not even sure I know everything that was on it, but I do know one thing:  it was like no hot dog experience I've ever had!  I love chili, mustard, ketchup, coleslaw and relish on my dogs, but this had none of that!  It was loaded with onions, salsa, bacon (yummm), mayo, mustard, jalapeño sauce, and other things that you would never guess were prominent Mexican ingredients.

The best part for me?  The 'bun' or bread that held everything together.  It's a sweet bread specially made for the purpose of El Guero Canelo's Sonoran style dogs, and it is just delectable.  The owner of El Guero Canelos buys this special bread directly from Mexico (talk about authenticity) and I am not sure you could find a better bread for this purpose. 

Not only is the bread special, but he also only sells soda in glass bottles, once again directly from Mexico.  Yep, these bottles have the 'Hecho en Mexico' stamp right on them.  I don't think you can get this close to Mexico without actually crossing the border.

Anyway, to really get the feel of our experience, you just have to see the pictures... or try it yourself.  I promise you, even if you aren't taken by the taste, you will be by the experience.  It's the whole enchilada!

       

*Matt opted to get a burrito instead. He ordered a 'medium'.  I wonder what a large looks like...

Banana Caramel Muffins

I usually stray away from making muffins. I am much more a sweet person than a fruity-nutty-semi-savory breakfast person. But I made homemade caramel (recipe coming later) a few days ago and had so much left over I had to use it for something so, under recommendation from my mom,  Banana Caramel Muffins it was.

This recipe only calls for 2 bananas but the flavor wasn't very intense, if you like a lot of banana flavor up the salt a bit and add another banana. This recipe only make 10 muffins, so I tripled it. It was awesome because when I started putting everything together I had only tripled the bananas. But don't worry! I realized my mistake and added everything else too. :)   So here we go!

Banana Caramel Muffins

2 or 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (unsalted is always recommended, but salted is fine too)
1 cup of brown sugar (I always use dark)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (NOT imitation vanilla)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons caramel

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line 10 muffin tins with liners, or spray with nonstick spray.
2.Put naked bananas in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about 1 minute. Add the butter and continue to microwave until butter is soft.
3. Using a potato masher, or fork, mash the bananas and butter together until most lumpiness is gone.
4. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, milk, vanilla, and salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients, you can measure them right into the bowl and stir or sift them in for a lighter muffin.
    5a. This is where you add the caramel, if caramel chews, melt in microwave first, then stir right into the batter.
6. Fill the muffin tins almost full. Bake until they are dark brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.  Total baking time is about 20-25 minutes. 15 if you are making mini-muffins which are also quite enjoyable. :)

  Mini Muffins!

7. Get them out of the pans almost right away and drizzle with caramely goodness.

8. Celebrate with your doggies!

Breaking Your Fast

The best way to start off the day is definitely breakfast!  And I really prefer starchy, super sweet, calorie-loaded and sugary food...  mmm or a stack of pancakes with a couple fried eggs on top...  Anyway, pancakes are the topic today!  Blueberry pancakes, yummm.

First things first, make sure you have a fool-proof recipe for pancake batter; the fill-ins and topics are just the afterthought.  You really need a tried and true recipe that you are comfortable with, and then making a delicious homemade pancake breakfast is only about 20 minutes away!

So Heather and I grew up on pancakes from my mom, though she cheated and used Bisquick  :)  I don't play that game!  Once I started making breakfast on the weekends for Virgil (my wonderful husband) and I, I decided to try my luck with homemade batter.  So I stumbled upon a few recipes and finally found one I love.  I will never go back to the Bisquick route... at least not for pancakes.

So here is the recipe I love, (thanks to Dakota Kelly's grandma...):

Original Recipe Yield 8 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. 

 

Okay, so the recipe says it is 8 servings... but it makes about 12 normal-sized pancakes.  And yes, normal sized is according to my mind  ;)

 

Tip One:

Keep some sort of frozen fruit in your freezer at all times!  You never know when they will come in handy!  They are great as a breakfast topping, or in batters, in smoothies, on ice cream...the list is endless!

Now, to make the pancakes super special, just one or two simple steps is all that is needed.  You like nuts?   Add nuts!  You like blueberries?  Add them!  Whipped cream?  Put it on!!  Its really that simple.  This particular morning I chose blueberries, and I just mixed it right in the batter...

Tip two: The trick to making sure your pancake is ready to flip is to watch the bubbles!  My mom taught me early on that the bubbles that form in the batter when you pour it on is how you can tell your pancake wants to turn over.  So as soon as those bubbles start popping, you know it's ready!

 Alright, flip your delicious pancakes, and admire your golden-brown beauties :)  let them cook on the other side, and then transfer them to a plate!  My final tip about cooking pancakes?  Let them stack up on your serving plate.  Make sure you cook them all and stack them high so whomever you serve will be impressed at how fast you made such a special breakfast, and they will be doubly surprised once they take a bite!