Quesadillas

It has been a long day at work and the last thing you want to do is cook, right? Quesadillas are a quick fix, add a handful of not-s0-g00d-for-you Tater Tots, a side salad and consider dinner done in the amount of time it takes to bake those Tater Tots!

Quesadillas
Quesadillas

Turn oven on the 425F.
Lightly spray baking tray with vegetable oil spray.
Put tater tots on tray, put them in the oven; when the oven reaches 425F turn timer on to 20 minutes.

In large Skillet, sautee:
1 Onion, thinly sliced; cook until soft and translucent
While Onion is cooking, de seed and thinly slice:
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
Add to onion and cook over high heat, stirring often.
Add:
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Cook for a few minutes, while grating about
1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese

Heat Griddle to 350F.
I have one of those long Griddles and can cook 3 – 4 Quesadillas at a time.
Place 3 – 4 Flour Tortillas, slightly over lapping, on Griddle.
Put about 1/2 cup of the Pepper mix on one half of the end Tortilla, sprinkle with Grated Cheddar and fold in half.
Proceed until all 3 – 4 Tortillas are “stuffed” and folded over.
Cook until lightly browned, turn over and continue cooking until second side is lightly browned.
Continue with remaining Flour Tortillas and Pepper Mixture.
As the Quesadillas are removed from Griddle, cut each into wedges.
Serve with Tater Tots, a Side Salad and some Salsa on the side.

Rice and Bean Burrito

Sometimes I end up with a lot of leftover rice. I do a lot of baking already so I don’t always want to make Rice Pudding.  Yes, sure,  Fried Rice is always an option but I don’t always have the rest of the ingredients that I would like to use on hand. Then I came across this idea on vegetarian.about.com and knew I had to try it! I didn’t follow the given recipe much but it gave me a great starting point and I went from there to create my own version of Rice and Bean Burritos.

Rice and Bean Burrito
Rice and Bean Burrito - a spicy blend of flavours to liven up leftover rice!

1-425gm can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced Garlic
1-425gm can Crushed Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup prepared Salsa
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground Coriander
1 1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 teaspoon dried Basil
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper, to taste
1 3/4 cup leftover Rice
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

6 – 8 Flour Tortillas

In a large skillet, over med – high heat saute onion until soft; add minced garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Add tomato sauce, salsa and the spices; bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
Stir in leftover rice and shredded cheddar, heat through.
Heat 3 tortillas in the microwave, on HIGH, for 45 seconds.
Spoon about a cup of the rice and bean mixture onto a single heated flour tortilla; wrap.
Repeat with remaining tortillas, heating tortillas, 3 at a time, in the microwave before filling and wrapping.
Top each tortilla with some shredded cheddar, a dollop of sour cream and serve on a bed of lettuce.

*I made up 8 burritos, wrapped them in cello wrap then l-foil and put them in the freezer for ready to go lunches in a hurry.

A variation of the recipe I found at:
Rice and Bean Burrito

Scalloped Potato Soup

Everyone loves scalloped potatoes! But sometimes there is just too much leftover. I had a whole lot left over and simply had to come up with a new way to serve ’em up instead of just heating them up as a side.

Naturally I googled  Scalloped Potato soup because I had it in my head that it had probably been done and I was right. I loosely followed a recipe I found on AllRecipes, tweaking here and there and came up with what I thought was almost better than the original Scalloped Potatoes!

Scalloped Potato Soup
Scalloped Potato Soup - All the flavours of Scalloped Potatoes with a little something else...

4 cups Scalloped Potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
4 cups Water
2 McCormick’s Vegetable Stock Cubes
1/2 teaspoon ground Thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground Sage
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 bunch Broccoli, cut into small pieces

Drag a knife through leftover scalloped potatoes, turn pan, drag through again to create bite size pieces of potatoes.
In large saucepan combine potatoes, water, vegetable stock cubes, thyme, sage and garlic powder; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer, toss in broccoli, place tight fitting lid on pot and cook until broccoli is tender; about 12 – 15 minutes.
If desired, top each serving with a bit of shredded cheddar cheese.
Serve with warm Herb Biscuits.

The link for the recipe that I sort of followed:

Scalloped Potato Soup

Reeses Bars

This recipe was given to me by a neighbour about 20 years ago. Living in a house with four children you can bet peanut butter was a favourite so these were a natural hit! One son used to request these bars for his “birthday” cake! On your birthday, anything goes, so instead of making bars? I pressed the peanut butter mixture into a springform pan, topped with chocolate, let it set then wrote, “Happy Birthday Ryan!” on top!

Now I will be the first to tell you, health bars, these are not! I have recently started doing them as individual cups in order to help with portion control. However, I will not be held responsible for how many of these you eat! And may I suggest a nice cold glass of milk? Normally I am all about the coffee but these bars/cups need something to tone down the sweetness.

Reeses Cups
Sinfully Sweet - Reeses Cups

3 1/2 cups Icing Sugar
1 1/2 cups Peanut Butter
1 cup Butter
1 1/2 cups Graham Crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips
1 Tablespoon Butter

In medium saucepan melt peanut butter and butter.
Stir in icing sugar, one cup at a time and stirring well after each addition.
Add graham crumbs and vanilla, mixing well.
Press into a 9X13 (3.3l) pan.*
Melt chocolate and 1 Tbsp butter over very low heat, stirring constantly until completely melted and no lumps remain.
Spread over base; cool until chocolate has set.
Cut into bars.

* Line 48 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
Use a two ounce scoop to fill each cup; press each filling firmly into cup.
Using a small coffee spoon (Aussie style!) top each peanut butter cup with melted chocolate, swirling to cover entire top.
Cool until chocolate has set.

 

Luke’s Boiled Fruitcake

From whence this recipe originally comes from, I do not know. I got the recipe from my mother in law quite a few years ago and make it twice a year: Luke’s birthday and Christmas. I think traditionally Luke would have it with custard but we don’t have that readily available at our grocery stores and I don’t make it well! I usually give it a light drizzle of plain icing but I think it needs a little something more….will keep you posted on what I decide to top it with.

Luke's boiled Fruitcake
Luke's beloved Boiled Fruitcake - not just for Christmas!

1/2 lb (1 cup) Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 lb (2 cups) Mixed Fruit: sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed peel, glace cherries, chopped
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Bundy Rum or Capt Morgan’s Spiced Rum
1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Granules
1 cup Water
2 Eggs, well beaten
2 cups Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Combine from Butter to Water ingredients in medium size saucepan; bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.
Meanwhile, combine flour, baking powder and salt in small mixing bowl; set aside.
Prepare a 10″ (25cm) springform pan by spraying with vegetable oil spray.
Preheat oven to 300F (150C)
When fruit mixture is cool, stir in eggs and dry ingredients, stirring until well combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in moderate oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from oven and cool in pan, on wire rack for 30 minutes.
Remove sides from springform pan, slide cake off base to wire rack and cool completely.

 

Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.