When Tamales become Tostadas

I had this wonderful idea for dinner. There was a great recipe in my WW cookbook - Simply Bueno - for Mushroom Tamales. So I went all over creation looking for cornhusks and couldn't find them.

So I finally settled on tostada shells from Aldi and would do something similar for supper.

This was SO good and filling and wonderfully vegetarian! We're going to use the leftover tostadas to make another dish this week too.

Mushroom & Bean Tostadas

1 8oz container sliced mushrooms

1 onion thinly sliced

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed

1 can hominy drained and rinsed

tostada shells

taco sauce - 3/4 of a small jar

In a large skillet heat some pam and sautee the mushrooms and onion until just tender. Add in the drained beans and hominy to heat. Add taco sauce. Serve layered on tostada shells with cilantro and tomato.

Salad with mexican dressing.

I've made this a couple times now and it's always so good. I base it off of my caesar dressing I make and it's a great salad to go with Mexican food.

In a mesasuring cup, mix 1/4 cup olive oil with 2-3 tsp. lime juice, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder and some green tobasco sauce, about 3 drops. Toss with chopped lettuce and top with cilantro and tomato - avacado too is great!!

Olives and Capers - how can it be bad?!?

I found a recipe on a blog recently -dont' remember where though and I'm sorry -so if it's yours let me know.

This was so easy and yummy. I did use about a half cup olives instead of the called for amount and I added more capers - since we LOVE capers. I omitted the butter as well and tossed with some olive oil.

Pasta with Olive Tapenade
- serves 2 -Adapted from Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons pitted kalamata olives

1/2 teaspoon capers

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

olive oil as needed

2 tablespoons chopped parsley - didn't have - I left it out.

1/2 pound long pasta, such as spaghetti

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste - I omitted salt

Procedure
1. Bring a pot of salty water to boil, and cook the pasta until al dente.
2. In the meantime, combine the olives, capes, oregano, and a little olive oil in a mini food processor or mortar and pestle. Blend or smash until well-combined into a paste. Add more olive oil if needed, aiming for a loose paste. (If you'd like to add a little chili, cook chili flakes over low heat in the olive oil, then add to the rest of the ingredients).
3. Drain the pasta, reserving some cooking water, and toss in a serving bowl with the olive paste and chopped parsley. Add the butter and toss until melted. If the pasta is dry, use a little pasta water or more olive oil to loosen it. Serve immediately.

Stew - The Wonder Food

We love stew - it's easy to make, you can't really mess it up and it's a one bowl wonder meal.

We had a 1 lb. package of veal stew meat in the chest freezer for a while now and I had no clue what to make with it.

I found this recipe on BensBabe blog from the Nest What's Cooking Board.

This was out of this world delicious!

Lemony Veal and Artichoke Stew, adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two: For the Small Slow Cooker

Makes 2 Servings

(we had 2 extra servings of leftovers as well!)

1 lb. veal stew meat cubed

2 T flour

pepper and salt

1 small onion sliced thin

1 clove of garlic, minced - we used 4 - we love garlic!

3/4 cup reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth

1/4 cup lemon juice

3-4 small red potatoes, diced

1/2 can drained artichokes quartered - i used frozen ones from Trader Joe's

1-2 T fresh parsley and basil - I totally forgot to even add these and it was still REALLY good!

Heat skillet over medium heat. Toss the veal with the flour, salt and pepper. Add the meat to the hot pan and brown on both sides. Remove and place in slowcooker. Place the potatoes and artichokes in the crockpot as well (NOTE: add the artichokes about 20 minutes before you're ready to eat - otherwise they totally breakdown and you loose them in the stew). Add the onion to the pan drippings and cook for a few minutes - until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour over the meat and vegetables in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Add parsley and basil and cook for 20 minutes before serving.

Greek Goodness

I have this wonderful WW cookbook called Take out Tonight. There is this recipe in there for Greek Meatballs that I've wanted to make since I got the book - about 5 years ago.

Finally we made them and they did not disappoint. What a blend of flavors that mesh beautifully. It is a little time consuming so best for a weekend night dish. Certainly not the quick weeknight meal. Do try this one - it was so wonderful!

Greek Meatballs

6 servings - we ended up with 7 servings - we upped the pounds of ground turkey

Ingredients

3/4 pound skinless ground turkey - we just used the full pound in the package

1 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup plain bread crumbs

1 large egg

4 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 T fresh parsley chopped

1 T fresh mint chopped - we used about 1 tsp. dried that we put through the mortar and pestal

2 tsp. dried oregano, split

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 T olive oil

1 28 oz can diced tomato

3 T tomato paste

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 pound orzo cooked.

Preheat oven to 400. spray a large jelly roll pan with cooking spray and set aside.

make the meatballs by combining Turkey thru 1 tsp. oregano - ONLY USE 1/2 cup of the onion here. Also add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Mix together well. With damp hands form into 18 1 inch balls. Place on baking sheet and bake turning once for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. swirl in oil and add the remaining half cup onion, garlic, and 1 tsp. of oregano. Cook until onion softens. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, salt and the remaining cinnamon. bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook stirring on occassion. Add the meatbals to the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes or until meatballs are done.

Divide the orzon among serving bowls and top with sauce and meatballs.

3 meatballs and 1/2 cup orzo per serving is 6 points.

Squashy!

Well I took pictures of this meal but they all came out fuzzy and un-appetizing. Which is totally the opposite of what this meal was!

My freind's husband makes a spaghetti squash for dinner that he shared the recipe with us for, but we wanted to bulk it up to make it a little more of a full meal in one dish.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

1 medium spaghetti squash cut in half and seeded
1 lb. ground meat - turkey, beef, your choice
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 can diced tomato
1 bag fresh spinach
2-3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 onin diced

Cook the spaghetti squash - either in the microwave or the oven, just until tender.

Meanwhile, brown meat and onion in a skillet. Add the garlic once the meat is cooked to retain the flavor. Add the tomato, peas and spinach to the pan and toss. Season with salt, pepper and basil.

When the squash is just tender, place two good spoon fills of the filling into the squash halves. You will have leftover filling. Re-use this with pasta or take for lunch.

Once the squash halves are stuffed, top with a sprinkle of bread crumbs and some parmesan cheese. Place in an oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes until roasted and toasty brown.

Shredd the squash as you eat the meal along with the filling. Careful contents will be hot - steamy hot!

It's Fondue-rific!

This was our first new years alone in 5 years - so ever since we've been married.

To commemorate the occassion we wanted to do something really fun and romantic without leaving the house - ok get your mind out of the gutter now people!

So we went out and bought a fondue pot and planned a night of fondue fun!

We did the cheese course and the entree course - we skipped the chocolate for dessert since the hubs doesn't eat chocolate and I certainly did not need to eat a whole pot of chocolate alone!

The cheese - we cheated a bit - we went with one of the pre-made box kits you get from whole foods - and really it was worth it and so good and saved us a ton of shredding. I did add a bit of nutmeg to the cheese. We dined on bread, apples and cheese for the appetizer and almost ate all of the cheese between the two of us - only one cup left!

For the main course, we used broth, flavored with some garlic and onion and pepper. We cooked shrimp, scallops, potatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli and carrots for the entree course. The zucchini and broccoli were a flop, otherwise everything else worked really well.

Why broth you ask? We learned this method from The Melting Pot years ago and it's a nice way to go to save on fat, save the grease fest and also the potential fire hazard at home. The broth was great, but really became a seafood broth by the time we were done! The hubs is adament we do oil next time at Valentine's Day.

We had the best time ever. We ate slowly, chatted, laughed and just had so much fun - and spent a good chunk of the night drinking wine and having fondue before we headed down to play some wii and watch the ball drop and pop open the champagne.

We think the cats were even truly intrigued with the fondue experience - we'll be breaking out the Cuisinart Fondue pot again for V-Day!

Oh and the Cuisinart Fondue Pot - so worth the price and purchase - it's great and we truly recommend it to anyone looking to invest in a nice fondue pot.

Another Asian Favorite to Add to the List!

I'll say it again - God love the 101 things to do with Ramen cook book! We find more fun and tasty recipes from that book.

I'm so lax in posting that this recipe has to be easily from before the holidays!

Oriental Chicken Salad

1 package ramen noodles - any flavor - we used two

1 cup slivered almonds - we just used a couple of tablespoons

1 tsp. vinegar - we used rice wine vinegar for the oriental flair

1/2 cup oil - I only used about a quarter cup total and did a mix of canola oil and sesame oil

3 tsp. seasoned salt - we just used a pinch of kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 T sugar - I only used 1

*ADD* Add about 2-3 T soy sauce for the dressing items above - you'll tahnk me later! Even a pinch of dried ginger is good to add here

4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast - just used some leftover roster chicken - and like only 2 cups

3-6 green onions sliced - we used 3

3/4 cup sliced celery - we omitted this and added a can of water chestnuts instead

1/4 cup sesame seeds - we just added a T or so

1/2 head lettuce shredded

Cook noodles and drain. Roast almonds until lightly browned on stove top or in oven.

In a bowl mix vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, and sugar - add the soy sauce here. Add the chicken, onion, celery and sesame seeds. Add lettuce just before serving and toss.

Makes 2 hearty servings.