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Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake

Mar 28th, 2013
by erin.
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Garden Vegetable Tortellini Bake

Date: March 20th, 2013

Recipe: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/poultry/tortellini-and-garden-vegetable-bake/

Modifications: We don’t like mushrooms, so I omitted those. I added more carrots, and used frozen peas instead of snap peas. We bought chicken, but on that night I didn’t feel like going through that extra step of cooking it, so I just didn’t use it and we felt it was plenty filling. We didn’t have parmesan.

Time to table: About 30 minutes prep, 30 minutes baking time.

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like+

Annie: Like

Luke: Dislike

Notes: I saw this mentioned on a blog recently and figured we needed some new recipes to try so I gave it a shot. I did like it quite a bit, and I really don’t think it would need chicken at all. Annie ate this but only the requisite amount of bites so she could leave the table. Luke would not put a single bite in his mouth because he’s a lunatic sometimes. Ben says he liked this a lot more than he thought he would. I did find it a little weird to have basically a cheese sauce coating cheeses tortellini but I got over it. It was slightly rich but with all the vegetables in the dish, it worked well.

Garden Vegetable Tortellini Bake

Mexican Stuffed Shells

May 17th, 2012
by erin.
1 comment

Mexican Stuffed Shells
Date: 5/10/2012

Recipe: http://www.thewaytohisheartblog.com/mexican-stuffed-shells/

Modifications: I used ground turkey,and this taco seasoning recipe.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, plus 45 minutes of baking time

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like – it was a bit “picy” for her :)

Notes: This was really good and actually pretty easy. I thought the filling could stand to be cheesier, so I would up the cream cheese next time, and maybe add some veggies into the filling too.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Mexican lasagna

Sep 28th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Mexican Lasagna

Date: 9/14/2011

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2011/05/02/mexican-lasagna/

Time to table: 75 minutes

Servings: 2 adult dinners, 2 adult lunches, 1 toddler

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This ended up being a very chicken heavy dish. If we make it again I would for sure cut back on that. We also didn’t have a 7×11 dish (never even heard of that size) so we used an 8×8 pan instead and just made it work. The recipe says it feeds 6-8, but we seemed to get a little less out of it.

Mexican Lasagna

Spinach & black bean enchiladas

Aug 22nd, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

Date: August 18th, 2011

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2011/03/07/meatless-monday-chipotle-and-tomatillo-sauced-black-bean-enchiladas/

Modifications: I doubled the amount of cream cheese because we had half of a package left and I wanted to use the whole thing up.

Time to table: 75 minutes

Servings: 4 adult dinner, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: We used a salsa verde recipe from our CSA newsletter this time that used some stuff from the box (tomatillo, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro) and we used a green pepper instead of a red pepper because that’s what we had on hand. This was a delicious recipe that we’ve made before and we’ll definitely make again as it’s so easy and would probably be a good freezer meal. I used a dry, white cheddar cheese that didn’t melt too nicely and while it tasted fine, the pics don’t make it look too appetizing.

Annie eating enchiladas

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

Smoked spare ribs with roasted veggies and potatoes

Jul 21st, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Ribs

Date: July 16th, 2011

Ribs recipe: http://www.thesmokerking.com/page1b.html

Modifications: I used the same rub we use for our pulled pork: http://www.crumblycookie.net/2008/05/30/crockpot-pulled-pork/. I didn’t use a mop or a spray for the ribs, just smoked them for two hours, wrapped them in foil and smoked for another hour. The rack I had was 2.65 pounds, and following the “one hour per pound” rule worked perfectly.

Veggies recipe:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 head of broccoli
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
Cut up the broccoli and cauliflower and toss with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and put on a hot grill for 20-30 minutes, until the veggies are tender.
Potatoes recipe:
  • 3 large russet potatoes
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 stick butter
  • 0.5 cups sour cream
  • salt and pepper
Cut the potatoes into fourths and boil for 20 minutes, until potatoes are soft. Drain the water and add the cream cheese, butter, salt and pepper, and sour cream. Stir (don’t even need to mash) until all the ingredients are worked in and the potatoes are broken up and creamy.

Time to table: 3 hours smoking, 40 minutes for the potatoes and veggies, while the ribs were smoking.

Servings: 4 adults, 2 toddlers, with a little leftover potatoes. The ribs were gone.

Ben: LOVE

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: We made the food and then ate this at our neighbors with them and their daughter. The ribs were heavenly, and incredibly easy to make. Smoking food is easy as long as you have the time to do it, and the food comes out so awesome it’s unbelievable. Erin tricked Annie by combining the cauliflower and broccoli with her mashed potatotes, and she ate them. It’s not lying though, because Erin TOLD Annie she was doing it! :)

Ribs

Ribs, pre-rub

Ribs

Ribs, post-rub, mmmmmmmmm

Ribs on the smoker

The ribs were nearly too long to fit on the smoker

Roasted veggies

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower

Mashed potatoes

Mashed potatoes

Annie's meal

Annie with her meal, making good progress on her potatoes with hidden veggies!

 

 

Creamy chicken taquitos

Jul 16th, 2011
by ben.
2 comments

Chicken taquitos and refried black beans

Date: July 12th, 2011

Taquitos recipe: http://annies-eats.net/2011/04/27/creamy-chicken-taquitos/

Refried black beans recipe:

  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, diced
  • 1 T chopped cilantro
  • 1 can black beans
  • 2 T butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
Melt the butter in a frying pan. Sautee the onions until translucent, add the garlic for the last minute or two. Add the beans, water, and cilantro and let simmer until the water reduces to the consistency you want. Add the cheese to melt and serve.

Modifications: I had to use more than 1/4 cup of salsa for the taquitos mix to thin it out some.

Time to table: 40 minutes with cooking time

Servings: 14 taquitos

Ben: Love

Erin: Like (amended to Love after trying this when not in the first trimester of pregnancy and puking)

Annie: Love

Notes: This was a huge hit. Everyone loved the taquitos and Annie even would take bits of tortilla and dip it in black beans and eat it. I had leftovers for lunch today (and will again tomorrow) and they are great reheated. Easy and a crowd pleaser, can’t beat that!

Chicken taquitos and refried black beans

Smoked salmon

Jul 10th, 2011
by ben.
3 comments

Date: July 10th, 2011

Recipe:

  • 1/2 pound salmon filet (any size works, just make sure to cook it long enough)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • cream cheese
  • crackers

Slather the salmon in olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Fire up your smoking apparatus (I used an electric smoker) and smoke the salmon for 60-90 minutes until done.

Time to table: 5 minutes prep, 60-90 minutes cooking time

Servings: Hard to say, as this is more of an appetizer. Maybe 6 adults?

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love (might have been the cream cheese and crackers, but who knows??)

Notes: Our friend Scott was coming over for breakfast with his son Simon, my intention was to have this as an appetizer before breakfast was ready but it ended up being done right about the time the meal was finished anyways, oh well.

My dad has made this several times at their house and I was trying to replicate his recipe. When I called to ask what it was, he was reluctant to give me his “special recipe”, then proceeded to tell me it was just olive oil and salt and pepper. Thanks for sharing the family secrets Dad! It didn’t taste the same however, I don’t think I used enough salt. This was my first foray into smoking, with the recently acquired smoker (more details on that in a future post).

UPDATE: My dad now tells me this morning that he forgot to mention that I should also brine the salmon for 12-14 hours, I guess there IS a family secret!

 

Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas and Mexican Cream Cheese Rice

May 1st, 2011
by ben.
2 comments

Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas and Mexican Cream Cheese Rice on Flickr.

Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas and Mexican Cream Cheese Rice on Flickr.

Posted by Erin

Date: 4/17/2011

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2011/03/07/meatless-monday-chipotle-and-tomatillo-sauced-black-bean-enchiladas/

http://goodthymesandgoodfood.blogspot.com/2011/02/mexican-cream-cheese-rice.html

Time to table: Sauce – 20 minutes, Enchiladas and rice – 30 minutes prep, 25 minutes baking

Modifications: We used whole wheat tortillas and monterey jack cheese. No modifications to the rice.

Servings: 6 adult servings, 2 toddler servings

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: LOVE

Notes: This tasted amazing but felt healthy because of the spinach and vegetarian-ness. Annie ate half an enchilada and some rice, and when her rice was done she reached over to my plate to finish mine too – definitely a huge hit all around!

Annie's portion