Quasi-Healthifying Garlic Pepper Chicken

Quite simply, this recipe was fan-flippin-tastic!! I found the meat of the recipe here -

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/becky-higgins-garlic-chicken-farfalle.html

And let me tell you that Kevin and Amanda have been in my kitchen more than once now, well, via recipes, and they have never failed me! haha.

Anyway, the only differences I made, was that I used light cream instead of heavy whipping cream, I used whole wheat rotini pasta and I only used half of the called for 16 oz., and I only used 6 slices of bacon (because I only had half a package of bacon in the fridge and only half a box of rotini, unless I wanted to use spaghetti, and I didn't). Also I used pepper bacon instead of regular bacon. Finally, I also added peas, just for a LITTLE green :)

I think it's delicious though. A little on the alfraedo side, which I usually don't like, but it was really good.

Potato Chorizo Tacos with Guacamole

So after getting Rick Bayless' cookbook as a gift and testing out some of the simpler recipes, I decided to take it a step further and try one of the more complicated ones, which really wasn't more complicated so much as more ingredients... and more chopping! haha.

Potato-chorizo tacos
3 medium red-skin potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
8 ounces Mexican chorizo sausage, store-bought (casing removed if there is one)
1 small white onion, diced up nice and tiny
2 poblano (or red bell) peppers, roasted and peeled - I used 1 poblano and 1 red bell pepper, cut into ¼ inch slices.
Vegetable oil
12 warm, fresh corn tortillas (you can use flour, but I prefer corn, and so does Rick Bayless, so I must be doing something right!)

For the avocado salsa (aka guacamole - also for reference, I should've just bought this):2 large ripe avocados1 garlic clove 10 sprigs of cilantro

So, first and foremost, we chopped the onion and cilantro. Then we cooked the chorizo in the skillet for about 5 minutes until it was nice a crumbly, and set it aside in a bowl to re-use the skillet until it was time to add the chorizo back in.

Then the pepper roasting began! Zack used a method I like to call blow-torching. The cookbook recommended using an open flame so this seemed like a natural thing to do. It also said you can use an electric ovens broiler if that’s all you have, you just need to watch and rotate the peppers so they cook evenly. You want to blacken up the peppers completely, until they look something like this…

Then, you want to put the charred peppers into a plastic bag to let the peppers get nice and soft, to make taking off the skin that much easier. It takes about 5 minutes. Once they feel nice and squishy, take then out, peel off the charred-ness under cool running water, chop off the stem and take out the seeds, then chop those suckers up like you would do for peppers in fajitas, into long thing slices.

The next step is to grab the chorizo-ed skillet, empty except for oily chorizo remnants. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil at medium heat and throw in your onions.

Once they are translucent, which takes anywhere from 2-5 minutes depending on how big your onions are, you want to add the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.

After they’re nice and even more tender (remember you’ve already cooked these guys! Cooking them on the stovetop with the onions, is just to brown them up a bit).

Then you want to add the peppers and the chorizo, stir it up a bit and throw a lid on it, turn the stovetop down as low as you can, and get to workin’ on the rest of the dish!

Which includes cooking the tortilla’s and making the guacamole. I recommend doing the tacos LAST. To make the guac, it’s the easiest thing in the world. Take the avocado that’s been peeled and pitted, throw it in a blender or food processor with the cilantro and the clove of garlic and get it nice and smushed up, but still chunky.

To cook the taco shells, take out as many as you need, we used 6. Wrap them in a damp paper towel, and put them into a plastic bag that isn’t sealed but is folded over to somewhat steam up. Microwave them for 5 minutes, and they should be good to go. And watch out when taking them out because those suckers are HOT!

Then all that’s left to do, is enjoy!

Mothers Day Casserole

I got a lot of requests for this recipe so I'm throwing it out there for everyone. I've got the regular dish for you, and the WW dish in pink.

Serves: 6 (in WW portion world, this should easily feed 8-10 people)

Regular Ingredients:

- 1 lb bag of hash browns
- ½ cup of green pepper and ½ cup of onion
- 1 lb deli ham chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 doz. eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups of cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup of butter
- Salt and Pepper
- ½ lb of bacon, crumbled

I did the WW thing for this meal and modified the recipe as follows -

- I doubled the amount of green pepper and onion
- You can use turkey instead of ham, or half turkey/half ham
- I used half regular eggs, and half egg whites - may need a few extra egg whites. I did.
- I didn't use any cream
- I used fat free cheese. I also think that Swiss cheese would be really good for this
- I didn't cook my pepper/onion mixture in butter. Rather I used some olive oil
- Put salsa on top in lieu of bacon

Directions:

1. Dry the hash browns with a paper towel or two until most of the moisture is out of them and they feel relatively dry, but not totally smushed.
   


2. Put the dried hash browns in a 9x13 casserole dish, sprinkle salt and pepper on top and put in the oven while it’s pre-heating to 350 degrees. They should stay in there for at least 20 minutes.
   


3. While the hash browns are baking, do the following:
   
   a. Sauté the green pepper and onion in a quarter cup of butter (or olive oil)
   b. Break open the eggs into a bowl and whisk
   c. Add the cooked green peppers and onion, and the milk to the eggs (or just the green pepper/onion if you aren't using the cream)
   


4. Once this hash browns have been in there the allotted 20 minutes, take them out and begin the assembly:
   
   a. Spread the ham (or turkey) evenly, over the hash browns
   b. On top of the ham, spread 1 cup of the cheese
   c. Pour in the egg/green pepper/onion/milk mixture over the casserole
   


5. Throw that sucker in the oven for 40 minutes in a middle rack
   


6. Take back out once that’s done, and add the remaining cheese and the crumbled bacon (or just the remaining cheese if you're not using bacon), if you’re using it and put back in the oven for about 5 minutes, on one of the racks closer to the top of the oven
   


7. If you're going to add the salsa, I would keep that on the side and have people add as much or as little as they like.
   


8. In case you're wondering how to keep peoples serving sizes small, I served this with a fruit salad of strawberries, bananas and clemintines with a squeeze of lemon juice over top. It's good to balance out the heaviness of the casserole with something a little lighter.
   

And that’s it! I hope you enjoy it.

ps - Unfortunately, I don't have a picture so just use your imagination as far as the deliciousness is concerned...