Tuesday Recipe: Hummus

Hummus is all the tasty rage and has as many variations as it does ways to eat it! Interestingly, many think it is made either from nuts or from some exotic ingredient. Nope! It's made from stuff you can toss in the buggy-basket from your local grocer. The key is to have a food processor.

Cilantro & Jalapeño / Chilis Hummus

1-2 cans of Chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans), drained & rinsed.
2-3 cloves Garlic
Fresh Cilantro, coarsely chopped (including stems) the chopping of the stems prevents them wrapping around the center of your processing blade.
4 oz can Green Chiles or 1 Jalapeño, chopped with seeds
Olive Oil
1-2 Limes, zest and juice
Salt
Water

• Toss all ingredients except oil and water into processor and click on high speed.
• While it is processing, pour olive oil and some water down shoot until the hummus starts to look creamy. Alternately, scrape down the sides.
• Taste, add salt. Does it need more oil or water for a creamy texture?
• Store in lidded container in fridge! 
• Serve with tortilla chips or veggie sticks!

Suggested Variations: 

• Hummus with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Pine Nuts, omitting cilantro and jalapeño. Make sure your pine nuts are fresh; otherwise, you may get a metallic taste...for days.
• Hummus with Cilantro, Sriracha & Pepperdews, one of my faves, but it looks kinda gross.
• What about Hummus with Walnut Oil? Truffle Oil? 
• Hummus with Lemon & Basil -- It's next on my #playwithyourfood list!

Go #playwithyourfood to create your own hummus and let me know how it turns out!

Tuesday Recipe: Shrapnel Dip

When good friends get together, there's good food to go with the fun. Why bother with the plates when the party can happen standing around the kitchen island loaded with fare that brings us together? 

"Mmmm!"
"That is sooo yummy!"
"Oh my goodness!"
"I gotta have this recipe!"

One dish that had us hanging over the bowl scooping with tortilla chips was texted to me while hanging over the bowl scooping with tortilla chips! Thanks, Gabs! Now, you can hang over the bowl scooping with tortilla chips laughing it up with friends!

Shrapnel Dip

1 can White Beans (like navy beans)
1 can Black Beans
2 cans Green Giant Steam Crisp Corn! (Trust me on this!)
1-2 Avocados, diced
1-2 Red or Orange Bell Peppers, diced (Because they're pretty!)
Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, halved & quartered
Cilantro, leaves only chopped
Fresh Lime Zest & Juice
Salt & Pepper, to taste
optional: 2 Tablespoons Red Onion, finely chopped (None for me.)


Choose the sauce... What brings it all together depends on your tastebuds. I experimented with 4 different options, all to taste and texture:
(1) 3-4 Limes, zest and juice (My fave!); or
(2) Italian Dressing; or
(3) Wish-Bone Balsamic Vinaigrette; or
(4) NEW! Wish-Bone E.V.O.O. Dressing Lemon Herb (What I went with for an after party!)

• Drain AND Rinse beans and corn together in colander. Then, PAT DRY to remove excess liquid. Ain't nobody got time for soggy chip.
• Gently mix all veggies, cilantro and lime zest together.
• Squeeze lime juice over the veggie mixture.
• Decide which sauce choice to gently fold into the veggie mixture.
• Serve with tortilla chips!

Here's an idea... add a finely chopped jalapeño for some heat!

Go #playwithyourfood!

Tuesday Recipe: Cabbage Salsa

Whether or not "salsa" is the correct word is purely subjective. It tastes good on a tortilla, a tortilla chip and will top tonight's grilled shrimp taco. See? Salsa.

Actually, the basic recipe came from a healthy food blogger, Lindsay, over at Pinch of Yum where she created a "slaw." Of course, she realizes people like herself tend to adapt recipes to their specific taste. And, of course, I just gotta go play with my food to change it up ever so slightly.

A food processor is not required, but greatly cuts down the preppin' time and gets ya to the eatin' time! So fresh!

Cabbage Salsa

1/2 cup Olive Oil
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup Water
Lime Zest & Juice (How big are your limes?)
Green Onions
Garlic
Jalapeño (How hot do ya like it?)
Cilantro
Green Cabbage, shredded or finely sliced
Salt, to taste

• Toss all ingredients, with the exception of the cabbage, into the food processor and zip it down! I zipped the cabbage down, earlier.
• Taste. Does it need more of your fave flavor? Get it to tasting like you like it. Then...
• Pour over 2+ cups of shredded or finely sliced cabbage and toss it around to coat the cabbage.
• Um...no more steps. Go eat it and...

Play with Your Food!

Tuesday Recipe: Cheesy Potato Bake

Mmmm! All around our family post-Easter dinner table decided this side dish was a keeper! I mean, after all, potatoes and cheese and garlic just go.to.ge.therrrr!

Cheesy Potato Bake

1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Figure 1 Russet Potato per person (thinly sliced rounds) 4 potatoes for this particular recipe
1 large Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Onion, diced
1-2 cloves Garlic, coarsely minced or chopped
1 (8 oz) block or package Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
S&P, to taste
(optional: fresh Cilantro, coarsely chopped)

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high. Add bell pepper and onion. Sauté until tender. (OR, if you prefer, consider a dry sauté or water sauté.)
• Add garlic; sauté slightly.
• Arrange half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly oiled casserole dish.
• Season potatoes with Salt & Pepper; spread half of the bell pepper, onion and garlic sauté mix and sprinkle with half of the shredded cheese. **Our family really loves cilantro. I sprinkled half of the cilantro, stems and all, on this first layer and saved the rest for after baking.**
• Repeat with another layer of potatoes, seasoning, sauté and cheese.
• Cover (with foil or lid) and bake 40 minutes.
• Uncover and bake until potatoes are tender and cheese is golden, 15-20 additional minutes.
• Remove from oven, sprinkle with cilantro and serve!

Comfort food with a Latin kick OR NOT, instead use your fave cheese! Play with your food!

Tuesday Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Quesadillas

Some days you just gotta have some cheesy, spicy (or not) Texican-Mexican flavor! Here's a super fast resolve to settle your inner longing for the Southwest when you are far, far away and "#7 Speedy Gonzalez" menu item will never suffice.

Roasted Red Pepper Quesadillas

1/2 to 1 cup  bottled Roasted Red Bell Peppers, drained & sliced
1 tablespoon Mayonnaise (or Vegannaise)
1 cup + Colby Jack/Fiesta Blend or Sharp Cheddar, shredded
Cilantro, chopped
For heat: 1 Jalapeño Pepper, seeds & membrane removed, chopped OR
For heat: splashes of Sriracha, to taste
(optional: 1-2 splashes of Mesquite Liquid Smoke)
(optional: sauté one small onion, diced)
Flour Tortillas, size and flavor depends on you
Olive Oil or spray oil

• Drain Roasted Red Bell Peppers and slice into strips.
• In medium bowl, combine mayo, cheese, cilantro and chopped jalapeño. Stir in strips of sliced Roasted Red Bell Peppers.
• Heat skillet to medium to medium-high and lightly coat with oil.
• Spoon some of the cheese mixture onto one side of each tortilla. Then, fold tortillas in half.
• Slide the stuffed & folded tortilla onto the heated and prepared skillet for 3-4 minutes each side OR until cheese is melted and tortilla is toasted.
• Remove from skillet. Cut each tortilla in half or thirds to serve!

The breakfast twist on this recipe is to scramble one egg per tortilla. Spoon the cheese mixture and the scrambled egg onto one side of each tortilla and proceed with heating. Serve with salsa and additional cilantro! :)

Go play with your food!

Tuesday Recipe: Roasted Jalapeno Poppers

(Before Roasting)

The church where we attend teamed up with Second Harvest Foods to host a Mobile Food Pantry for those who are needing just a little help during a financially difficult time. It was a great day where almost 70 families received the equivalent of about $200 worth of groceries...for FREE! God is so good! Not only did I get a good body workout lifting boxes, my soul got a workout, too.

Because our site had more jalapeños than we could distribute, I was blessed to take home a sack! I'm not into deep fried food and found this quick and easy recipe online to mess around with!

Roasted Jalapeño Poppers

6-8 large Jalapeño Peppers
8 oz block Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Sharp Cheddar or the Monterey Jack & Colby Fiesta Blend, grated
Fresh Cilantro, rough chopped with stems
S&P

(A portion of the heat is in the membrane and seeds)

• Slice jalapeños in half. Stem is optional. Careful not to rub your eyes during this process! EEK! 
• Remove seeds and membrane of peppers. Set prepared peppers aside.
• In bowl, mix up the softened cream cheese, grated cheese, cilantro and salt & pepper and fill the cavities of the jalapeños.
• Place on a lined cookie sheet. (I lined mine with my Silpat, but parchment or foil will work to keep you from scraping any burned cheese, later.)
• Bake at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes OR until the cheese is bubbly and the peppers are slightly softened.
• Let cool enough to handle and pop into your mouth!

This recipe serves as a great base to begin playing with the ingredients. You may want to add chopped bacon or onions and garlic to the cheese mixture or wrap the popper with bacon before roasting. Have fun and go Play with Your Food!

Tuesday Recipe: Red Lentil Dal

Love me some Indian cuisine! Especially love when it's inexpensive...like this recipe from friend, Chef Dilip. The first time meeting him was at the restaurant in Fortune Hotel in Calcutta / Kolkata, India, when he oversaw the five course menu for our small team of educators, ministers and businessmen. His Thai Kimchi was amazing, beautifully plated and had a heat intensity set at 5! Wow!

Snowed and iced-in with a bag of dry red lentils (only .70 cents at Walmart), I turned Chef Dilip on Facebook to see if he would mind providing a recipe for dal. Dal (meaning split) is a word for the ingredient and the final dish which is like a soup. Lentils are legumes like split peas and beans - high in nutrition!

Dilip fired back with what he deemed the most simple way to make dal! I only had to make a minor adjustment with my ingredients resulting in a dish that warmed my soul and tummy!

Red Lentil Dal

1 lb. pkg  Dry Red Lentils (on the beans and rice aisle at your grocer)
1 teaspoon Turmeric (soooo good for your body)
1 tablespoon Mustard Oil (I purchased mine at an Indian grocer, but have since seen at the grocery store)
1-2 Onions, chopped or diced
1-2 Garlic cloves, chopped/minced
1 Dried, Whole Red Chili Pepper
S&P, to taste
Garnish with diced tomatoes and cilantro (in India, it's called coriander)
Basmati Rice, cooked

• First, boil the lentils in water, which cook in a matter of 7-10 minutes. I prefer a more solid lentil --almost al dente-- to start with because there will be additional cooking time where the lentils begin to cook down into more of a pulp.
• Add turmeric and mustard oil.
• I jumped the gun and sautéd my onions, first, but you can simply dice and add to the lentils with the chopped garlic.
• Here's where I had to make an adjustment. I didn't have a dried, whole red chili pepper ...nor crushed or paste, but I did have a small can of Green Chilies. I diced and added to the mixture.
• Also, I did not have fresh cilantro to garnish, so I added a couple of teaspoons of ground coriander with the turmeric. Don't tell Dilip, but I added a little bit of Garam Masala, because I love it!
• Serve over a helping of cooked, fragrant Basmati Rice and enjoy! Naan is a yummy flatbread, much like pita, you can dip into the broth!

Note: If you prefer a thinner or thicker dal, make the boiling water adjustment!

Play with your food!

2-on-Tuesday: Lime and Cilantro Cauliflower

On #MeatlessMonday, Olena at ifoodreal.com had me at "lime and cilantro." 

Whether as a side or a vegetarian entree, this is a low calorie, high flavor dish and pairs well with homemade salsa and oven-baked tortilla chips!

Ditch the cheese and you've got a totally plant-based, vegan meal!




Lime & Cilantro Cauliflower

1 large cauliflower head, chopped into bite size pieces
2-3 Limes, zest & juice
4 (or more!) Garlic Cloves, crushed or coarse chopped
1/2 to 1 cup Cilantro, rough chopped or snipped with kitchen shears (save some for the garnish)
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
1+ cup Colby Jack or Fiesta Blend Cheese, shredded
**optional: 1/2 to whole Avocado, diced
**optional: drizzle of olive oil

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl, toss cauliflower with lime zest and juice, garlic, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil, if using. 
• Let sit to marinate from 10 minutes to overnight.
• Transfer cauliflower into baking dish (no need to oil). I used a small casserole, 8x11, but a 9x11 would work just fine.
• The bits of marinate clinging to the bowl will be used, as additional fresh garnish.
• Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the clingy bits of marinate and cheese.
• As cheese melts, top with additional cilantro ...and avocado.
• Serve immediately!

Mmmm! Go #playwithyourfood!

2-on-Tuesday: Roasted Pepper & Corn with Quinoa

I needed a quick vegetarian, Tex-Mex-tasting, protein-packed filling for a tortilla or topping for a salad or I was gonna blow my nutrition budget!

To truly get the roasted effect I was craving, there should be gas in the grill. I didn't have time...I WAS HAWNGRY! I turned the oven up to 400 degrees at a medium broil, placed the orange bell pepper in the little cast iron skillet and monitored the roasting while occasionally turning the pepper with tongs.

Attempting to achieve a fire-roasted effect on the corn didn't pan out, too well. Will try, again, when the grill is fired up! I used what I cooked, but should have gone with fresh corn. Live and learn!

What I wanted was Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno Dip. What I opted for was a very ripe avocado partly diced and partly smooshed with shredded sharp cheddar to serve as the "creamy" binder for the recipe with a very large jalapeño chopped small for that bite I like! With the lime zest and juice, my hubby never suspected avocado was even near his mouth! (Sneaky wife stands smiling while hubby enjoys his tortilla!)

Cilantro is the star with quinoa receiving the supporting

role! You'll probably want to double or triple the entire recipe if serving a family.

Roasted Pepper & Corn with Quinoa!

1 cup cooked Quinoa
1 cup Corn
1 orange or red Bell Pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded & diced
4 Green or Spring Onions, sliced (I'm not fond of raw onions)
1 - 15 oz can Black Beans, drained & rinsed (I used half of the can)
1 bunch Cilantro, chopped
1-2 large Jalapeños, chopped small
1-2 very ripe Avocados, partly diced & partly smooshed with
1/2 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar
Zest and juice from 1-2 Limes
1 teaspoon ground Cumin or Adobo
Salt, to taste
Tortillas or salad greens

• Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well!
• If your quinoa is still warm, it will somewhat "melt" the very ripe avocado with shredded cheese!
• Remember, this is NOT an exact science, so add and subtract with what your mouth likes!
• Serve chilled over a bed of salad greens OR stuffed into a warm tortilla!

It curbed my hawnger in a nutritious way and there were left-overs for another meal! <cha-ching!>

#GoPlaywithYourFood