Hearty & Healthy Nachos - Recipe # 3

This is sooo good! James will probably say this is his favorite of mine so far. The recipe is like I said; Healthy & Hearty. You can have it for dinner or lunch or a snack. Whatevs! 

Hearty & Healthy Nachos

Things you will need:

Medium saucepan

1 cup of frozen corn*

1 1/2 cup of Salsa (mild, medium, or hot - your choice)

1 can of black beans drained & rinse

1/2 teaspoon paprika (spicy or regular-your choice)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 ground pepper

1/2 cup of shredded cheese** (optional)

1/4 cup of sour cream** (optional) James doesn't like sour cream, but I love it!

Warm tortilla chips (I like to buy white corn tortillas and heat up canola oil in a frying pan and tear them up and throw them in the frying pan for a couple of minutes and then lightly salt them - or you can just buy a bag of  blue corn chips if you're really trying to go healthy.) :-)

Directions

1. Combine corn, salsa, beans & spices in saucepan over medium high heat until boiling. Lower heat to medium-low.

2. (optional) Stir in cheese and sour cream. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes; stirring occasionally.

3. Dip your chips in and enjoy

*If you want to use canned corn make sure to drain and rinse the corn and add a 1/4 cup of water to the pot.

** If you are trying to go vegan, you can either omit these (like I said, it's optional) or buy vegan cheese and sour cream at a whole foods store.

Creamy Squash Sauce Recipe #2

Here it is folks! Another experiment gone good! This is a recipe that I have worked on a few times and my husband tells me it's restaurant worthy. I looked him in the eye and told him that he better not be lying and he said he wasn't. That he would really buy this dish at a restaurant. So for your sake, I hope he's not lying. I mean, I enjoyed it! So I hope you do to!

Creamy Squash Sauce

Items you will need: 
LARGE SKILLET
1 TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL
1 TABLESPOON MINCED GARLIC
1/2 CUP ONIONS FINELY CHOPPED
3/4 CUP ITALIAN DRESSING (PREFERABLY SUN-DRIED TOMATO)
1 CUP YELLOW SQUASH (CROOKNECK) CHOPPED INTO BITE SIZE PIECES
1 CUP ZUCCHINI CHOPPED INTO BITE SIZE PIECES
1 BLOCK OF CREAM CHEESE (DON'T GET THE KROGER BRAND, IT TASTES FUNNY)
1 TABLESPOON ITALIAN SEASONING or A MIXTURE OF BASIL, MARJORAM, OREGANO AND SAGE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ITALIAN SEASONING.
1 TEASPOON SALT
1/2 TEASPOON PEPPER
1/4 TEASPOON CRUSHED RED PEPPER (OPTIONAL)
1/2 MILK (OPTIONAL IF YOU WANT YOUR SAUCE A LITTLE MORE CREAMIER)




DIRECTIONS:
1. Warm olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic and onions and sautee until the onion is translucent.
2. Add squash and italian dressing and cook for a few minutes.
3. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Then add all of the seasonings and stir again. (If you want the sauce to be creamier then add the milk) Continue to cook on medium-high heat until it starts to boil.
4. Cover and lower heat to low for 10 minutes. Stirring Occasionally.
5. Serve with your choice of either pasta or grilled chicken breasts. or both!


Bon Appetite!







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Journeys in the Kitchen - Recipe # 1

 Note: I started this on my family blog, but decided to make a separate blog with just my recipes. This is the first one. Tomorrow I will post one that I have been working on for the past week or so. I think I finally have it where I want it, so check back!

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Beef and Black Bean Wraps

Let's face it, in this world of economic struggle, we all don't have the money to go out and buy steak or porkchops all the time for our growing families. So what's the meat (other than chicken) that we tend to gravitate towards? Ground beef. And I don't know about you, but I get mighty tired of having the same thing with ground beef and the same boring tacos. So I stumbled upon this recipe and made some changes to it and it has become a beloved dish among me and my husband. Try it out! I promise, you will love it too! And it's very easy to make.

  

Start to finish: 25 minutes Makes: 6 Servings 

• 8 ounces of ground beef

• 1/2 cup of chopped onion (about half of a regular size onion)
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (or bottled minced garlic if you have it for a stronger garlic flavor)

• 1-1/2  teaspoons ground cumin

• 1  teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2   teaspoon of ground coriander. (if you have whole coriander like me, you can toast the seeds in a toaster               oven or your own oven for a few minutes and crush the seeds. I don't go through this step because I don't               want to take the time and I don't mind the coriander not being crushed, but my husband does. So it's up to           you!)

• 1  15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

• 1  15-ounce can of chopped tomatoes (i have found the Hunt's tomatoes: diced taste the best)

• 1/4  teaspoon salt

• 1/4  teaspoon black pepper

• 6    8-inch whole wheat flour tortillas (or regular flour tortillas - both work fine)

• 1-1/2  cups shredded lettuce

• 1-1/2  cups of shredded cheddar

• Bottled salsa (optional)

 Step one: in a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, and garlic about 5 minutes or until meat is brown and onion is tender at medium high heat. Drain off fat. Stir cumin, chili powder, and coriander into meat mixture in skillet. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in black beans, tomato, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook for 10 - 12 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. If you don't have a skillet with a cover just cover with tin foil. Covering the meat mixture is important because it keeps the flavor in.

Step two: warm up tortillas either in the microwave for 15 seconds or on a new skillet. Spoon some beef mixture down the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with lettuce and cheese (and avocado if you like it) and roll up. If desired, serve with salsa.

Each wrap is approximately 267 calories if using wheat tortillas and 283 calories for regular flour tortillas.

I hope you try this out and let me know what you think!