Cuban Style Black Beans and Cilantro Lime Rice

     A few weeks ago I was in search of some meatless recipes to add to our meal list in order to reduce the amount of meat we were eating- mainly due to cost. I asked on Facebook for suggestions and my friend Kate suggested this recipe upon others. I added in zucchini, left out scallions (forgot to grab some), left out bay leaf, and used a whole small onion. I also went light on the spices because my family is not crazy about spicy food.

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Cuban Style Black Beans
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2 tbsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp cilantro
15 oz can black beans, do not drain
~ 1/2 cup water
pinch cumin and oregano
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Add chopped veggies to hot oil in a skillet or large pot. Saute until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Simmer about 15 minutes, stirring. Serve over rice.

Cilantro Lime Rice
4 c. cooked rice
1/2 juice of a lime ( or 1 tbsp lime juice)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

Mix and serve

My son and husband added soy sauce to theirs and I tried it both ways- very good and adding it to our meal list!

Do you Roux?

     When I initially started cooking more from scratch, I had no idea what a roux, or white sauce, was. Turns out I had been doing it for awhile and simply forgot that it was a white sauce I was making. I primarily did it to make creamed peas, but now I use it to make my cheese sauce.

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup of milk

Melt butter over medium low heat. Mix in flour once butter is melted. Add in milk and turn up on high. Let it boil for about a minute and then turn it back down to a simmer. I try to stir periodically as I do this. It should thicken and become a white sauce. I will also add a pinch of sugar for the creamed peas along with salt and pepper.

Now when I make the cheese sauce, I double the the ingredients and I will leave it on high and toss in the cheese. The amount of cheese I use varies now because I no longer measure it out, but about half a block to 3/4 block. I'm a frugalnista so I don't buy pre-shredded cheese. I guess you could use 1/2-1 cup of cheese. I cut it up into small cubes before adding it to the roux so it melts down faster. After it starts to melt down, I turn it down to medium heat and continue to whisk occasionally until all the cheese is melted. Then turn it to warm until you are ready to add it to whatever you are making. Enjoy!

PW's My Favorite Meatloaf

I love The Pioneer Woman and her blog. This is the recipe I have been using for meatloaf: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/my-favorite-meatloaf. Now the first few times I made it I ran into the issue of it not being done at 60 minutes. Bacon was still limp and the meatloaf pink in the middle. Decided to read further into the comments and a few mentioned taking two hours to cook which is more accurate. Tonight I decided to split it in half and freeze half which should bring the cooking time to the time listed. Because I split it in half, I only made half the sauce mixture.

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Ingredients

• Meatloaf:
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
• 3/4 teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs, Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon
• Sauce:
• 1-1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Yummy, Easy Baked Chicken

     I pretty much winged this recipe. I knew I was going to do baked chicken for dinner tonight, but did not have a plan in mind until I went into the kitchen to start dinner tonight. I got a little creative and use your creative mind as well because I utilized a few ingredients I normally don't have in the house. Turned out moist and delicious.

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1/3 can evaporated milk (leftover from loaded mashed potato casserole- will share that another time)

heavy cream (I had a little left from when I made perfect au gratin potatoes- a Pioneer Woman recipe)
bread crumbs
lemon pepper rub (or whatever you want spice-wise)
grated parmesan cheese
parsley flakes

chicken breasts (as many as you'd like)

Now I don't have measurements at all for you. I find that depending on the size of your chicken breasts you might need more milk mixture and dry mixture or less. The main part of the dry mix is bread crumbs. Just eyeball it- you can't really go wrong.

Mix together heavy cream and evaporated milk (regular milk would probably work as well- I just don't like wasting ingredients). Dip chicken breasts into milk mixture. Combine bread crumbs, parsley flakes grated parm cheese, and lemon pepper rub into a bowl. Coat chicken in mixture. Put into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until chicken is done.

Conquering Your Fear

     About 5 years ago the most complicated homemade meals I made were grilled cheese sandwiches or spaghetti. My husband and I were young newlyweds and even though we lived together a year still hadn't ventured outside of the box- literally. We ate a lot of processed foods- Banquet, On-Cor, Homestyle, Stouffers, and more. We also ate A LOT of fast food- didn't help that my husband worked for a major fast food chain.
     It wasn't until I had my first child and he started eating table foods that I realized I needed to change how I did things. I very slowly started cooking and baking. However, if a recipe had a lot of ingredients, I immediately ran for the hills and wouldn't try it. Sometime around when I was pregnant with my second son or around the time he was born, things started to change again. No longer were those recipes with tons of ingredients scary. Once I separated out the spices-- which by this point I had accumulated a variety-- the lists weren't so big and bad anymore. After the first trimester ended with my daughter and I had avoided cooking for weeks due to bad morning sickness and sensitivity to smells- especially chicken (I had hide in the bedroom!), my cooking resumed full force. I had missed it!
    Now 5 years later, we rarely eat fast food. It is seen as a treat rather than bad meal planning on my part. It is also something we reserve for the difficult days where being a mom to three takes a huge toll and I am just barely keeping the house from falling apart. The only boxes you might find are Kraft Mac and Cheese (because for some reason my homemade stuff isn't good enough for the kids plus it's easier for the hubby). You'll find the freezer filled with ground beef, chicken breasts, french fries, and frozen vegetables instead of pizza rolls, chicken tenders, salisbury steaks (unless it is the homemade variety which I have yet to freeze), etc. Occasionally some ice cream and homemade pancakes. Actually has pumpkin puree and homemade chicken nuggets in it right now!
   Don't be afraid to take that step out of your comfort zone. Look a recipe over and separate out what is all spices and what are the main ingredients. A recipe might have 3 main ingredients and the rest are spices. You might come to realize just like I did that a lot of recipes aren't scary or difficult after all.

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

    Another Pinterest recipe that was suggested to me and looked good so I figured why not? This is the link to the original: http://rita-may-recipes.blogspot.com/2011/11/crock-pot-cream-cheese-chicken-chile.html

This recipe is very spicy so the next time I do this I plan to only do half the amount of the cumin and chili powder originally called for in the recipe. My kids and I don't like spicy much- them less than me. I also made my own ranch dressing mix: http://selfreliancebyjamie.blogspot.com/2011/08/tis-seasonings.html. You would use three tablespoons to equal one prepackaged mix. We served over rice.

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2 chicken breasts, still frozen
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can corn kernels, do not drain
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 T cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t onion powder
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese
_________
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Top with the tomatoes, corn,
the drained and rinsed beans,
ranch dressing, cumin, onion and chili powders,
stir to combine then top with the cream cheese.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring one or twice
 to blend in the cheese.
Shred the chicken into large pieces
and serve over rice.
Can also serve in tortillas or taco shells.
(Serves 4)

Fiesta Chicken Casserole

    So I was browsing Pinterest and stumbled across this recipe. It has chicken, it has cheese, and some pasta. All things I love so of course I have to give it a try. It didn't link back to the original source so I can't give credit, but here is the recipe. Pretty easy! I used mild cheddar because I missed the part where I needed the pepper jack cheese blend. It is a little spicy so I think next time I will leave the green chilies out and just use the Rotel. My kids do not like spicy at all.

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Fiesta Chicken Casserole:
2 cups chicken breast grilled & cubed
2 cups medium shell pasta cooked
2 cups cheddar/jack cheese blend
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel
1 can green chilies
1/2 cup of milk

Cover with cheese salt and pepper to taste! Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!