Enchilada hotdish

Luke refers to this dish as Mexican Lasagna....because it has layers, sauce, meat, cheese.....he has a point.

Ingredients:

24 small corn tortillas
1 pound ground beef
1 package Old El Paso taco seasoning
1/2 large white onion, diced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 small jar of salsa verde or green enchilada sauce
4 cups of cheese (I used 2 cups pepper jack and 2 cups of colby jack)
1 can refried beans

Directions:
Brown hamburger and mix in taco seasoning according to package directions. Set aside.

In a 9x13 baking dish, layer tortillas to cover the bottom. Spread with refried beans (as thick as you'd like) and sprinkle with 1 cup of pepper jack cheese. Layer with more tortillas. Spread out the diced tomatoes and diced onion and sprinkle with cheese. Layer with more tortillas. Spread on the taco beef and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Layer with more tortillas. Pour salsa verde or enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle on the last cup of cheese.

Bake until edges of tortillas are crispy and cheese is all melted.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

One of the things I've been craving the most since going GF is Chinese food. We have the best neighborhood Chinese restaurant ever. The Cleveland Wok. I miss it sooo much. I've learned that La Choy brand sauces are all GF, so I've used some of those. Here is my Sweet and Sour Chicken:

 

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 jar of La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 can of diced pineapple

2 green peppers, chopped in large pieces

1/2 large white onion, chopped in large pieces

cooked white rice

Directions:
Fry the chicken in a little oil until almost cooked through. Add the veggies, pineapple and the sauce. Heat through and cook until veggies are desired consistency (I like them still crunchy).

Serve on top of white rice.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

 

This soup was so hearty and creamy and warm and comforting and delicious......yummmm.

Potatoes have become a weekly staple for me, while eating gluten-free....which means you can get awfully tired of potatoes - if you don't look for new ways to prepare them. This soup was really easy, and so good.

Luke had a "guys night" and I made the boys potato skins - I baked 6 small baking potatoes, halved them and scooped out most of the middle, leaving just a little in the skins. I saved all the potato I scooped out and refrigerated it for this soup. 

You could also prepare the potatoes the same day as the soup, baking potatoes just takes some time - so be prepared for this recipe to take a lot longer. You could also cube some potatoes and boil them until tender, drain and use those in the soup.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of bacon,

2 to 3 cups of cubed, roughly cut up potatoes (cooked)

1/2 white onion, diced

10 stalks green onions, diced, divided into 2 bowls

3 cups half and half

s/p

2 cups grated cheese (I used a colby jack mix) plus more for topping.

Directions:

In a large stockpot, fry the bacon until brown and crispy. Remove the bacon strips and crumble, leaving the drippings in the pot. Cook the onions (all the diced white onion and half of your green onions) in the bacon drippings until they are tender. Stir in the potatoes. At this point, I used a mashed to push some of the onion and bacon grease into the potatoes, I think this really blended the flavors well.  Stir in the half and half and salt and pepper. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Add half of your crumbled bacon to the pot, reserving the rest for topping. Make sure soup is heated all the way through.

Serve with green onion, bacon and shredded cheese.

Semi-homemade tortellini with red sauce

I had never tried any of the Buitoni fresh pastas, and decided to give it a try. I purchased the Sweet Italian Sausage Tortelloni (http://www.buitoni.com/products/#/tortelloni/sweet-italian-sausage-tortelloni) and made a semi-homemade sauce for it.

I sauteed diced green and red pepper and onion in EVOO and added a clove of garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes, 1 tsp. of sugar, a pinch of salt and some Italian Seasoning.

Serve atop the cooked tortelloni with fresh Parmesan cheese. Deliciouso!

Chicken with capers and tomatoes

I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook and didn't change much. The flavor was good, but I would recommend seasoning the chicken more heavily, as without the tomato sauce it was a little bland. I love capers (salt) and this was a good use of them!

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. rice flour
s/p
2 Tbsp. EVOO
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 white onion, minced
1/2 cup white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
2 tsp. small capers plus 1 tsp. caper juice
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 cups cooked white rice

Directions:
Heat 2 Tbsp. EVOO in a large saute pan. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Fry in the EVOO until cooked through, remove from pan, keep warm.

Add garlic and onion to pan, cook one minute (until tender), remove skillet from heat and add wine. Stir to loosen browned bits from bottom of pan. Return to heat; simmer one minute.

Add capers, caper juice and tomatoes, stir until heated through.

 Return the chicken to the pan and coat with the sauce, heat until chicken is hot again. Serve with white rice.

Refrigerator pickles

Yummmmm. My mom always makes these in the summer, this was the first time I tried to make them. The recipe is super easy...the hard part is waiting three days for the pickles to pickle.

Ingredients:
10-15 small pickling cukes
1/2 to 1 white onion cut in small slices
2 tsp. celery seed
2 tsp. salt
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar

Directions:
Slice the cucumbers and onion, place in a large bowl or jar with a lid. Sprinkle the celery seed and salt over them and set aside. Pour 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil and set aside to cool. Cool completely and then pour over the cucumbers. Stir mixture and cover. Refrigerate for 3 days, enjoy!

Salsa

I love fresh tomatoes, I can't wait until local tomatoes are available in MN. Fresh salsa and bruschetta are two of my favorite things. I love to have this with chips, but it is also _really_ good on grilled chicken - yummy!

My salsa recipe is very simple. I generally use Roma tomatoes, but any variety will work, it just depends upon preference. I usually spoon out the seeds and juice, as I prefer thick and chunky salsa to the liquidy variety.

Recipe:
3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, diced (or 2 to 3 larger tomatoes)
1/4 white onion, diced
1/8 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
juice of 1/2 to 1 lime
sprinkle of cumin

Beer-braised chicken

I've been wanting to try cooking with beer, and I thought about a "beer in the rear" chicken, but then I found this recipe. It's from Rachael Ray, however, it took a lot longer to finish cooking than the recipe indicates - so I've added info based on my results. The aroma was awesome....bacon, beer, potatoes, chicken....what could be better?!

Ingredients:
1/4 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken (RR suggests thighs, I used breasts)
S/P
rice flour for dredging
EVOO
1 12 oz. bottle beer (preferably a brown ale - I used Leinie's Creamy Dark for GF you could use Red Bridge)
1 cup frozen pearl onions, thawed
1/2 pound small potatoes, halved or quartered
2 Tbsp. mustard (I used a spicy deli mustard)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 sprigs fresh thyme (I used other spices - like herbs de provence and oregano)
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Heat a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add the bacon and cook until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess. Add some EVOO to the bacon drippings in the pot. Add the chicken (in batches if needed) and cook until golden on the bottom, 6 to 7 minutes, then flip and sear the other side. Add the beer, onions, potatoes, mustard, sugar, thyme and 1 cup of water to the pot and stir. Make sure the chicken is fully submerged. Simmer until the chicken is done and the potatoes are soft. RR says 15 minutes....I say more like 30. Add more water if needed, as a lot will boil off while cooking. Discard thyme (if used) and stir in the bacon and parsley.