Black Bean, Corn and Zucchini Enchiladas

So I may have a thing for enchiladas as well, I know these sound similar to the other Vegetable Enchiladas I posted, but the zucchini and the sauce completely change the dish. I did not actually cook these myself, but I did eat them after one of my friends had made them and I will be making them soon. I recommend everyone do the same.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 2 cups diced zucchini
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen whole-kernel corn
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups Enchilada Sauce, divided
• Cooking spray
• 8 (8-inch) whole wheat tortillas
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups zucchini and corn; sauté for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, and stir in beans.

Spread 1 cup Enchilada Sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon about 1/2 cup zucchini mixture down center of 1 tortilla; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese, and roll up. Place seam-side down in baking dish. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, zucchini mixture, and 14 tablespoons cheese. Spread remaining 2 cups sauce evenly over enchiladas.

Cover with foil; bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; top with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained

Preparation

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in broth and remaining ingredients. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross. Recipes from Cooking Light

Birthday Belgian Waffles

I love pancakes and waffles and I am always trying new variations to find the ultimate in homemade breakfast items. For my birthday I really wanted some waffles so Chris, being the great husband that he is, whipped some up- this is the only picture we have of the actual waffles because they were consumed so quickly. Look how perfectly fluffy they are. These are delicious and luckily Chris never looks at this blog so he won't ever see this picture of himself posted for your enjoyment. When you decide to try these out, make sure you have plenty of time as the batter has to rise for an hour (we were hungry so we only let ours rise for half the time and they still turned out great).

A little bit of food history for you all-this was included with the recipe:

When Belgian waffles were introduced to Americans at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City, they were yeast-raised and served with sweetened whipped cream. This recipe is in the spirit of the original Belgian waffle.

Recipe

Whisk together:

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm (105°F to 110°F) milk

Let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Whisk together in a large bowl:

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

Whisk in the yeast mixture along with:

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add, in 3 parts:

4 cups all purpose flour

alternating, in 2 parts, with:

2 1/2 cups warm (105 °F to 115 °F) milk

Beat until soft peaks form, then fold into the batter:

3 large egg whites

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Stir to deflate the batter. Preheat your waffle iron.

Spoon batter onto your waffle iron as you normally would and bake until waffle is golden brown.

We served ours with real maple syrup, berries, and freshly whipped cream.

From the Joy of Cooking's All About Breakfast & Brunch

Not your everyday muffin...

The NY Times has a running series called Recipes for Health and I've really enjoyed some of the recipes I've found there. Not all... but many. This is one of their latest. I was feeling adventurous this morning, and couldn't sleep anyway so I gave these a shot. Not your typical sweet and cakelike muffin, these are heartier and healthier. And, they are quite good warm with a little butter.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries (I recommend fresh but frozen would do)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle. Oil 12 muffin cups. Combine the oats and milk in a bowl, and let sit for 15 minutes, until the oats have softened.

2. Sift together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, honey, buttermilk, coil and vanilla. Quickly whisk in the flour, then fold in the oats and the blueberries. Combine well.

4. Spoon into muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a rack.

Greek Salad

This is a wonderful summer salad. The recipe actually calls for the salad to be layered in a glass jar... but plates more than suffice.
* 3/4 cup orzo
* 1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
* 1 large tomato, diced (1 cup)
* 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
* 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 1/2 seedless cucumber, halved lengthwise, cored, and diced (1 cup)
* 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon finely chopped oregano (this can be overpowering)
* 2 to 3 cups coarsely chopped romaine
* 1/2 pound feta, crumbled (1 cup)


Cook and drain orzo, rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well.

Toss black-eyed peas, tomato, and parsley with vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Marinate, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss together orzo, remaining tablespoon oil, cucumber, onion, lemon zest and juice, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.

Divide black-eyed-pea mixture (with juices) on plates and layer orzo salad, romaine, and feta on top.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Greek-Salad-with-Orzo-and-Black-Eyed-Peas-243207

Burgers

For the 4th of July we decided to celebrate with burgers on the grill. I love a good burger but I also like my burger to be seasoned. I had Chris season mine with this mixture and it was one of the best burgers I have had in a long time. Please feel free to post your burger seasoning secrets as we are always in pursuit of achieving the ultimate burger flavor.

For every 2 pounds of beef:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper

I topped my burger with cheddar, bacon, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, ketchup and mustard. Delicious.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Chris and I were craving something chocolatey this weekend so we decided to make these cookies. I have been hesitant in the past about chocolate cookies because they never seem to meet my expectations, but these were delicious. I fully intended to photograph the ones we made, but once I got the camera out I realized they were all gone.

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 pound good-quality chocolate, 4 ounces coarsely chopped and 4 ounces cut into 1/4-inch chunks* I used the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bars for this- they were on super sale at our grocery store one day so I stocked up and I prefer this over milk chocolate anyway.
  
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Melt 4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly.
2. Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft). Let cool on parchment on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

A New Type of Pesto Pasta

So the other day while I was at Costco I thought it would be a good idea to buy a 3 pound bag of walnuts (they were so cheap in bulk) even though we are moving in 4.5 weeks. Oh well, Costco wins again. So Joseph and I have been trying to think of ways to eat all of these walnuts, he made this delicious pasta for dinner the other night and it was really good. Sorry I forgot to take a picture.

Use some type of short pasta, I used Penne, cook in salted water

okay for the topping, it is a pesto of sorts

1 can kalamata olives
feta cheese
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
walnuts

put these ingredients in a food processor and blend until they form a paste of sorts, you may want to grind the garlic first to make sure it gets ground up really well. Add olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the noodles are finished top with the olive/walnut/feta pesto and enjoy.