Tortillas and Oranges » lunch

Lunch: Corn Tortillas Stuffed with Kale

admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:45:17 +0000

It is time for lunch. You want to eat healthy. You don’t have a lot of time. Once again, I am here for you. It turns out that our Costco intermittently sells kale. I’m in heaven when they have it. When they don’t, I leave a comment card. Make sure you have the following:

corn tortillas (Don’t use white. I mean you can if you absolutely have to, but ugh. Corn tortillas have so much more flavor and depth. I have a few strong opinions.)
shredded mexican cheese
a bit of butter (not much)
fresh kale
fresh salsa
avocados (optional)

Melt a small handful of cheese on each corn tortillas and set them aside.

Pour as much fresh kale as you can into your favorite fry pan (that has a tight fitting lid). With pan on medium high heat, add 1 Tablespoon water to fresh kale, put on lid, and steam kale until wilted.

Once kale is wilted, set it aside and return one of the open faced cheese/corn tortillas to the pan.

Top tortilla with kale and add second tortilla, cheese side down.

Once all of the cheese and kale melt together, remove from pan and plate. Top with fresh salsa and avocados. Eat with a cold diet coke and while you watch your children chow down on PB & J’s. Sorry, but you deserve a nicer lunch than they do.

Farewell to Summer: Pita Filled with Goodness

admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:59:36 +0000

This post is really misplaced. I should have done it during the hottest days of summer–where the thought of turning on the oven makes you cringe. But there are school nights where the thought of turning on the oven makes me cringe–so there. Don’t get annoyed that there are no measurements. Just add what you like and take out what you don’t like. And above all, make sure the pita bread is fresh.

Summer Pita Mix
Dice and toss together:
Black beans (rinsed)
Corn
Tomatoes
Green bell pepper
Green onion
Cilantro

Dress with Italian dressing. Serve in pita bread.

Dinner: Sesame Ginger Thai Chicken

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:30:20 +0000

I love to think that I am really great about sharing recipes; that my treasure trove belongs not only to me, but to all of my friends. And while that is mostly true, sometimes I dread giving a recipe out because I love it so much. I find this all ironic because the recipes I hate to share were shared with me by others, usually dear friends. Are you following me? This is one of those recipes. Sesame Ginger Chicken is just cool (my friend JM, once again, gifted me this gem). I fix this once in a while, when friends are coming over and don’t know what to expect. It is easy, refreshing, and different. It is also addictive. While I do make it for company, I never offer to send home the leftovers. Like I said, some things are easy to share; some things aren’t.

Sesame Ginger Thai Chicken

1 head iceberg or romaine lettuce (you will be using this as a “tortilla” of sorts to hold a chicken mixture so I recommend romaine–it’s just easier to fold.)

1/3 cup boneless, skinless chicken breasts, finely chopped (That’s right. Chop the raw meat before you grill it up)
1 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
½ Tablesp. Sugar
½ Tablesp. Salt

Sautee above ingredients in 3 Tablesp. Oil, then add

2 ½ Tablesp. Minced ginger
1 ½ Tablesp. Soy sauce
3 Tablesp. Water
1 Tablesp. Lemon juice
½ cup cashews

Cook for one more minute.

Dipping sauce:

½ cup rice wine vinegar
1 ½ Tablesp. Soy sauce
1 t. sesame oil

Serve chicken mixture wrapped in lettuce leaves, accompanied by dipping sauce.

Lunch: Whole Wheat Bread

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:05:22 +0000

Oh friends. I don’t know what to say. Just kidding. I totally know what to say. I found a killer bread recipe. Every few years I get the craving to make my own bread. I can’t say that I make my own bread on a regular basis because it really does happen every few years. Today I skimmed through the internet and read a few recipes. The one below stood out because of its use of evaporated milk. I’ve never heard of a recipe that called for that bit of goodness. Another interesting part of the recipe was the advice to let the moisture absorb the whole wheat flour. Fascinating. The very best part of this recipe was how beautiful the bread cuts. The biggest pain about homemade bread is that it falls apart and feels…well “homemade”. I want my bread to taste homemade but feel store bought. Does anyone out there know what I’m talking about? The crumb in this bread was absolutely perfect: firm yet moist. I just loved it. Make it and you’ll be as happy as I am.

When baking bread, the best weigh to measure flour is by weight, not by cup.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
makes two loaves
1 lb whole wheat flour (This means you need to weigh the flour. If you can’t weigh it, it’s about 3.5 cups.)
12 oz hot water
8 ounces bread or all-purpose flour (about 1.5 cups)
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast
an additional 1/2-1 cup flour, as necessary, to achieve the desired consistency

Directions for making bread using bread machine (and you know how I feel about bread machines)

Add hot water, milk and honey to bread machine can. Add salt, wheat flour, white flour, and yeast. Set pan in bread machine and select “dough” setting. When complete, divide dough evenly between two well oiled bread pans. Allow dough to rise while preheating oven to 425. Once oven is preheated, put both pans in and immediately reduce oven to 375. Cook loaves for 45 minutes or until brown on top. When done, remove from oven. Take loaves out of pans and let them cool and cooling racks.

Directions for making bread by hand:
Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and set aside until around room temperature, at least 1 hour.

(Soaking the flour may help soften the bran and release some of the sugars in the wheat.)

Add the milk, honey, salt, yeast, and bread flour to the original mixture and mix until well combined. Add additional flour and knead by hand or in a stand mixer until a tacky but not completely sticky dough is formed. Place the ball of dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 60 to 90 minutes.

Divide the dough in two and shape the loaves. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, cover the pans loosely with plastic (I put them in a plastic bag), and set aside to rise again for 90 minutes.

During the final 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pans once so that they brown evenly, until the internal temperature of the loaves is around 190 degrees and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Dinner: Chicken Chile

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:00:26 +0000

So. Here’s how it goes at our house: Sundays are insane. We wake up early. We go to church. We have meetings (before and after church). We play our instruments. We have people dropping by to say “Hi!”. We eat a serious amount of comfort food. We collapse on the couch. Because of the intense schedule, Sunday food is simple (read into this: not creative, not very interesting. Both Danny and I can make either of the following menus with our eyes closed. Option #1: Mexican Food (taquitos, cheese crisps, bean dip, salsa); Option#3: American Food (shredded bbq chicken, rolls, salad).

Because of option #2, I often have a large leftover container of shredded bbq chicken on Mondays. Over the years, I’ve discovered a lot of great ways to recreate the leftover chicken. But tonight I discovered the very best way. Chicken Chile. Recipe follows.

Chicken Chile
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

3 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch cubes**
(OR Any leftover shredded bbq chicken you may have in your fridge)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with liquid
2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed chicken broth
2 cups water
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

**At this stage in the game, I simply dump Sunday’s leftover shredded chicken.

In a 5-qt. Dutch oven, cook onion, green pepper and garlic in oil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; cook and stir constantly for 4 minutes or until browned. Add the next 10 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. Add beans; cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.

Lunch: Curry Chicken Salad

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:56:44 +0000

Who doesn’t have a Curry Chicken Salad recipe? Wait, did I just offend you by asking who doesn’t have one and you don’t have one? Lame. To make up for my lack of tact, I’ll give you one right now. This is from the June 2000 issue of Sunset Magazine. If you don’t subscribe to Sunset, do so now. You’ll be part of an elite group of people who just know more.

Curry Chicken Salad
1 cup grapes (cut in half if large, color doesn’t matter)
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup sliced green onion
Curry Chutney Dressing (listed below)
1/3 cup roasted, salted, chopped pistachios
1/4 cup chopped mint (optional, I rarely use it)

Dressing:
3/4 cup plain yogurt (greek is always best)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablesp. Major Grey Chutney
1 tsp. curry powder
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt to taste

Toss all salad ingredients together, coat with dressing. Serve over bed of lettuce, spinach greens, or stuffed in some good sourdough. One friend adds cooked pasta to her’s and calls it dinner. Your choice.

Salad: Romaine Salad with Goodness, aka Jen’s salad

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:32:22 +0000

I won’t say names but my friend Jen has a funny story. She served this really amazing dish one time (I can’t even link to the dish or tell you what kind of dish because it would give the story away) and brought it to a girls’ day out gathering. Her friends loved the dish. So, doing what Jen does, she shared her goodness. She gave everyone the recipe. All was well. A few months later, she showed up at a birthday party and saw her now famous dish sitting on the table. “Wow,” she thought, “I’m glad people liked it so much they’re still making it.” She went on with her day, enjoyed the function and went home. Days later she was talking to a friend who said “Could you believe the salad that Sally brought to Harry’s birthday party? It was amazing! I asked Sally for the recipe.” Not being petty, Jen thought nothing of it. Well she thought nothing of it until Sally started handing out the recipe with the title reading “Sally’s Famous Dish”. Today the recipe circulates through many a circle and is know as Sally’s. It’s not Sally’s. It’s Jen’s. Knowing this grave injustice, I’m giving you one of Jen’s recipes. Not mine. Not Sally’s. Just Jen’s. Love you, sister.

A word to the wise. This recipe has very few measurements. It’s a salad so combine a lot or a little of whatever suits your fancy. I’m constantly asking Jen for recipes over the phone, so I rarely write down measurements (unless we’re baking of course; don’t want to mess that up).

Jen’s Comfort Salad Extraordinaire

Romain Lettuce
Spinach
bacon, cooked and broken to bits
swiss cheese, shredded
red onion, thinly sliced
mushrooms, washed well and sliced, and fresh
cottage cheese, drained

Prep ingredients and toss. Dressing for this scrumptious salad is below.

Jen’s Dressing:
1 cup sugar
bit of salt
2 tsp mustard
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups vegetable oil
1 Tblsp poppy seeds

Dinner: Asparagus and Mushroom Crepes

admin — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:24:44 +0000

If you’ve ever had a baby and someone has brought you dinner, you never forget what they bring. Well let me rephrase that–If someone brings you dinner after you have a baby, chances are you’ll remember their meal. I remember some postpartum meals being the very best thing I ever placed in my mouth. This is one of those meals. To be fair, I don’t find this dish particularly easy. It’s easy to make but it takes a lot of time. I only make it if I have leftover crepes. But, if you are desperate for it and make the crepes just for the asparagus and mushrooms, use this recipe. Now, you know how I feel about crepes; and its safe to say I am now very good at making them. I made this last winter for a crepe party and it brought the house down. Nobody was postpartum, and it was still a memorable dish.

6 Tablespoons butter
3 cups cut asparagus (diagonal 1/2 inch lengths)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 dried tarragon
dash white pepper
2 cups grated Gruere Cheese (can use Swiss or Jarlsburg)
16 basic crepes, 6-7 inches in diameter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
dash cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large frying pan over medium high heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Cook and stir asparagus, green onions, and mushrooms until mushrooms brown lightly and any liquid is gone. Mix in lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, tarragon, and white pepper. Remove from heat and mix in 1/2 cup of cheese. Fill crepes, dividing vegetable mixture evenly and roll them up. Place side by side in a shallow, buttered 9×13 baking dish. For sauce, melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a 20quart saucepan, then stir in flour and cook until bubbly. Add remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, mustard, and cayenne. Remove from heat and gradually blend in half-and-half, then wine. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until thick. Stir in 1/2 cup additional cheese until melted. Pour sauce over crepes. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 cup cheese and parmesan cheese. At this point, you can cover and refrigerate. Or, if you are ready to hippity hop, preheat oven to 400. Bake uncovered until crepes are heated through and lightly browned (30-35 minutes, or a bit more if you’ve refrigerated the goodness). Enjoy!

Soup: Beef and Lentil Stew

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:00:50 +0000

This recipe is a keeper. I’ve been making it for so long that I can’t even remember where I got it. But, it is a comfortable, healthy, Fall kind of meal. And while cooking with ground beef is not one of my favorite things, I’ll gladly buy a package for this meal. Now that I think about it, I’ll probably try this same recipe with braised and stewed chuck roast instead of ground beef. If I do, I’ll let you know what happens. And if you try it, let me know what you think.

Beef and Lentil Stew

1 pound ground beef
½ cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 ounces mushrooms
16 ounces stewed tomatoes
1 celery rib, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup lentils
3 cups water
¼ cup red wine
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 beef bullion cube
¼ tsp. pepper
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

In a kettle over medium high heat, brown ground beef, chopped onion, and crushed garlic clove; drain. Stir in drained mushrooms, stewed tomatoes, sliced celery rib, sliced carrot, lentils, water, red wine, bay leaf, slat, beef bullion cube, pepper, and chopped parsley. Heat to boiling. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Salad: Corn and Black Bean Salad

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:28:03 +0000

When we lived in Berkeley, we had a Sunday night tradition. When the weather was just right (90% of the year), we (all of our fellow graduate school neighbors) gathered outside of our apartments and had a beautiful supper during sunset. The salad below was brought by my dearest friend. She just threw it together. And in honor of corn’s lovely season, here is one of my favorite corn salad recipes.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

1 12 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained -or- corn off of two corn-on-the-cobs, fresh
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, slice with tops
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1 avocado, chopped

dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar (type is up to you)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I’m begging you, please use fresh)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 clove minced garlic
chili powder or hot sauce, to taste

Mix dressing ingredients to emulsion. Add everything but avocado to salad bowl and mix with dressing. Add avocado just before serving.