Layered "enchiladas"

After a week or two of trying to get into a routine, I think I am finally getting somewhere. This week, I have successfully made a few real meals, and, through planning ahead and shopping for just what is on my list, I have successfully cut down on a lot of wasted time, leaving me time to relax, get my studying done, and even clean the house a bit(on the one day I felt so inclined).

Two months ago, I decided to stop eating meat. To be honest, it was a rash decision and I had very little logic behind the decision, but thus far, I have been happy with it. No meat has, however, created some new challenges, trying to come up with new recipes, looking for ways to change recipes to not include meat, and convincing my husband that a meal doesn't need meat (possibly the biggest challenge of them all). When I am feeling less inspired, or just looking for something I know we will both love, I tend to lean toward Mexican fare. I find beans to be so filling, and that it is so easy to leave out meat when it is something you already love (and my husband DEFINATELY loves Mexican food). This recipe is one of those types, easy, Mexican-inspired, not at all lacking in flavor or texture, and great without needing meat. Since the dish is layered, rather than rolled like traditional enchiladas, it is quick to throw together, and much less fragile. I only made two (since there are only two of us), but definitely had enough filling for 2, or maybe even 3 more.

Layered Veggie Enchiladas
Ingredients :
1/2 cup diced onion
1 jalapeño pepper
1 bag (12 oz) frozen corn, thawed
1 pepper (I used a Hungarian pepper, but a bell pepper would work well too)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 Tablespoon Chili powder, divided
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1-2 cups fresh baby spinach
Corn tortillas 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large pot, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and peppers and sauté for about 5 minutes, until onion is softened.
2. Add 1 tablespoon chili powder, tomatoes with liquid (reserve about 2 tablespoons of liquid), corn, and spinach and cook over medium heat until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 10 minutes.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mash beans with 2 tablespoons cilantro, remaining chili powder, and reserved liquid from tomatoes. 4. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread 1/4 of bean mixture evenly on a tortilla. Top with about 1/2 cup veggie mixture, a sprinkling of cheese, and another tortilla. Top with about another 1/4 cup or the veggie mixture and desired amount of cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas until you run out of filling.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Garnish with remaining cilantro, and any additional toppings desired (such as guacamole or sour cream).

Source: Adapted from Whole foods

A new schedule and some pumpkin cookies

I haven't been getting much cooking done lately. Between and empty fridge, and a new class schedule that has me not getting home until 6, I haven't even made it to the store in over a week. This leaves me to be creative with meals, finding things to prepare in the back of the pantry and, though they have all been more than edible, none of the recipes have been refined enough to share. I am sorry for this.
Instead of cooking an awe-inspiring meal this weekend, my hubby and I went and experienced our first Korean meal. The restaurant was called Seoul Garden, and the food, though completely overwhelming to me, was delicious. I cannot tell you what a single thing I ate actually was called, but it was all great, and I would recommend it to anyone in the Cleveland area.

Though I have been lazy with meals lately, I did make one recipe worth sharing. The recipe comes from Annie's Eats, a blog I would suggest anyone going to, because any recipe of her's I have made has been AMAZING. This recipe was no different. The cookies were soft, with just enough spice and pumpkin flavor to be different, without being overpowering. I followed her recipe almost exactly, only adding some allspice to the dough, and was very happy with the outcome. The cookies will be a great fall dessert, maybe even as something different for Thanksgiving or other Holidays.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
For the dough:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating: ½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.
3. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Scoop the dough and roll into a ball. Coat each ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on baking sheet, keeping the balls 2-3 inches apart.
6. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture. Use glass to flatten dough balls slightly, recoating the glass as needed.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes, until set and baked through. Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Source: Annie's Eats

Black Bean Soup

Confession: I ate 3 Klondike bars on Sunday. Confession 2: I may have eaten 2 on Monday also. We are now out of Klondike bars.

After eating all of my delicious ice cream, the weather has cooled down and it has started to feel like fall. I love fall, so this is a welcome feeling to me. To welcome in the new fall weather, I decided to make soup, delicious, hearty, black bean soup. It was a quick meal, and went perfect with my leftover bread(in the form of a grilled cheese), and a nice pumpkin beer. I suggest making this immediately if you too are hoping to welcome in the fall weather.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Black beans*
2 cups veggie broth
1 tablespoon oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt**

1: In a large stock pot, heat oil. Add onion, garlic, pepper, and spices to heated oil and cook about 5 minutes, until pepper and onion are softened.
2: Add beans and broth, mix well, and simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered.
3: Stir and cover. Simmer about 10-15 more minutes, until beans are soft.
4: Using and immersion blender, or a regular blender, blend soup to preferred consistency. Serve, topped with cheese, sour cream, or other garnish.

*I cook dried beans, rather than using cans, but 2 1/2 cups would be about 1 1/2 cans, in general.
**If using canned beans, salt can be ommitted, since the canned beans will contain salt.

Potato and broccoli quiche

I had this recipe ready to share yesterday, but due to a killer headache, I never got around to posting it. I'm fighting through today, so forgive me if there are some errors, but computer screens are quite bright when you have light sensitivity issues.
I always thought quiche was delicious, but assumed it was super difficult and incredibly horrible for you. Well, though it may not be the healthiest option out there, a slice of this clocked in with less than 400 calories, and was incredibly filling. Overall, I was very happy with how this recipe turned out. My husband, who apparently had never eaten a quiche before, even complimented it and said he would like to have it again(and good thing, since there are still 6 slices in the fridge). I used a simple crust recipe that I found here, but I'm sure this could be made with any crust recipe, or even those refrigerated, premade crusts.

Potato and Broccoli Quiche

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold water

For the filling:
1/2 head broccoli, roasted with garlic and cut into bite-size pieces*
2 small russett potatoes, rinsed and cubed into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup white onion, diced 2 teaspooons olive oil
5 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 cup milk
1/4- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder

1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the crust by mixing the flour, oil, salt, and water in a small bowl until well mixed. Press the mixture into a 9" pie pan.
2: Boil a large pot of water. Add potatoes to water and cook for about 4 minutes, until slightly softened.
3: In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high until shimmering. Add cooked potatoes and onions and cook around 5 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown and onion is softened.
4: Mix eggs, milk, and half and half in a bowl. Add seasoning and mix until lightly beaten. Add broccoli and potatoes and mix until combined.
5: Pour egg mixture into crust. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until set and lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and let stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

*I roasted the broccoli the same way as I did for the ravioli posted yesterday, but in case you missed it: Place broccoli in bowl with garlic and oil and mix to coat. Pour mixture onto baking sheet and bake 15-18 minutes at 400, until broccoli is soft. Remove from oven.

Roasted Broccoli Ravioli

I'm going to be honest here...I was quite on the fence about posting this recipe. Though I think it tasted good, as did my husband, I'm not sure everyone will love them. They had a much dryer center than your typical ravioli, which took getting used to, but were quite tasty none the less. Be prepared for these to take you some time to put together. I don't have alot of practice making ravoili, so I'm sure if you are more familiar with it, it won't take as long, but preparing them does take effort.

I'm sure these could be made with homemade pasta, but I took the easy route and used wonton wrappers to save a bit of rolling and cutting. These also would have been great deep fried or baked in the oven!I'm planning another recipe for tonight that, hopefully, I will be able to share tomorrow. Everyone cross your fingers!

Broccoli Ravioli
Makes 24 large ravioli

Ingredients
1 head broccoli, chopped into florets
1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced
1/4-1/2 shredded cheese(I used 1/4 cup, but think it would have been better with more)
1 package wonton wrappers
3 Tablespoons grated parmesean
1 egg alfredo sauce

1. Preheat oven to 425. Place broccoli in bowl with garlic and oil and mix to coat.
2. Pour mixture onto baking sheet and bake 15-18 minutes, until broccoli is soft. Remove from oven.
3. Pour cooked broccoli and garlic in food processor and process until finely chopped. Add cheese and mix.
4. Lightly beat the egg and add a bit of water to make an egg wash. To assemble the ravoili, place 1 wonton wrapper on the counter and brush the edges with the egg wash. Place a scoop of filling in the middle, and place another wonton wrapper on top. Press the sides together with a fork all the way around the edges.
5. Boil a large pot of salted water. After assembly, place finished ravioli in boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove and place on a cooling rack to dry.
6. Top ravioli with warmed alfredo sauce and sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Enjoy!

Sweet Chocolate Pockets

Sometimes a girl real needs a gooey, warm, yummy dessert. Last night was one of those nights for me. After an exhausting day, I really wanted something that would be warm, tasty, and super simple. I'm not sure calling this a recipe is even fair, but whatever it is, it was delicious and definitely worked to quench my sweet tooth for the night(I may have eaten 4 last night, that is how much I enjoyed them).

Sweet Chocolate Pockets

Ingredients
1 tube crescent rolls
1 bar Hershey's Chocolate
8 marshmallows

1: Grease a baking sheet and preheat oven to 375.
2: Separate dough into 8 triangles.
3: In each triangle, place 1 piece of chocolate and one marshmallow. Roll up, and fold open ends in (try to completely close the roll on all sides so nothing can leak out)
4: Bake 11-13 minutes

That's it! The marshmallows will melt and absorb into the dough, leaving it sticky and sweet in the center.

Tasty Vegetarian Meatloaf

Even with the heat lately, I have been looking for a meal that is hearty, comforting, and classic. After seeing a few recipes for vegetarian meatloaf, I decided that that would be perfect. Meatloaf was always a comfort food for me, especially since in my house growing up, it was almost always served with mashed potatoes (a personal favorite). This recipe still has the comforting feeling, but without the meat (obviously) and without that overly greasy feeling that comes from ground beef. I decided to make my own twists on the recipe, mostly because I had foods in the fridge that needed to get eaten, but overall, I think they worked out great, and I will definitely be making this again when it cools down and having the oven on isn’t torture.

Vegetarian Meatloaf>

Ingredients
2-3 cups water
1 cup dried lentils
1 tsp oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/4- 1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed, diced
1/2 cup corn
1 cup oats
3/4 cup shredded cheese, divided (I used four cheese Mexican)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup enchilada sauce, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt

Directions: 1: Bring water to boil in a saucepan.
2: Add lentils to boiling water, cover, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.
3: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4: In a small skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and pepper to heated oil and cook about 5 minutes, until onion is slightly soft.
5: Add garlic, jalapeño, and corn and cook an additional 30 seconds.
6: In a large bowl, partially mash lentils. Add onion mixture, oats, and 1/2 cup cheese and stir until combined.
7: Stir in egg and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce and mix well.
8: Spoon mixture into a greased loaf pan. Smooth top with a spoon.
9: Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top of loaf is firm and golden brown. Remove from oven and pour remaining enchilada sauce and cheese on top. Cook and additional 3-5 minutes, until cheese is melted.
10: Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before cutting or serving.

Recipe source: Adapted from Food.com