Goat Cheese & Corn Quesadillas

I spent the last few evenings going through three months of Cooking Light magazines that I haven't had time for because of school. I've now got a list of about 10--probably more--recipes on my to-do list. So tonight I started with goat cheese and corn quesadillas. They were really good and super easy. I served them with a tex-mex salad on the side.













Quesadillas:
4 tortillas (recipe called for corn, but I used flour)
1 cup whole kernel corn
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa (I had an open jar of black bean/corn salsa so I used that)

Saute corn in a small amount of EVOO. Mix heated corn with cheese. Lightly butter the tortillas, place butter side down in a warm skillet, top with corn mix and a spoon full of salsa, top with other tortilla. Cook two min on each side and slice with a pizza cutter.

Salad: (not from the magazine)
Spring mix
Roma tomato, chopped
Corn
Black beans
Bell pepper, chopped
Avocado, sliced
Cilantro
Salsa, on the side

Cinco De Mayo

It's no secret by now that we love Mexican food and I love trying new recipes, so last night we opted to stay in and avoid the crowds. I have also been dying to re-create a dish I had at the Border Cafe in Boston; Black Bean & Corn Empanadas.















I made them with pre-made cressent roll dough this time for ease, so that I could see how the filling turned out. We had Spanish rice and margaritas with them. They were really fantastic, so I think I'll try them again with puff pastry, then maybe venture to making the dough by hand. I had enough filling left to make a whole additional batch, so I froze it.

Recipe:
1 can black beans
1 bell pepper, I used orange
Cilantro, chopped
Shredded cheese
Red pepper flake
Cumin
Cressent roll dough, 1 can

Saute the beans and pepper for a few min. Then mix with cilantro, cheese, and seasoning. Fill dough and pinch together. Bake at 375 for about 15 min. I made four empanadas, and had enough filling left to make four more. I froze it.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce:
1 roasted red pepper, from a jar is fine
EVOO
Balsamic Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Red Pepper Flake, I used a lot to make it spicy

Mix together in a food processor until you like the consistency. For more than two people, double or even triple this.

Spicy Shrimp Tacos

These were so good, I wished I had doubled the amount of shrimp. Again with the phone photos, sorry.
This is a Cooking Light recipe. I can't get the web site to load, so I can't link to it for you. This is from my memory.

Tomatillo Salsa:









1/2 lb. of tomatillos (I used canned)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 jalapeno (I used a whole)
1 clove garlic
Green onions (I used a shallot)
Salt & Pepper
1 banana pepper (not in the recipe, but I had a ripe one on my plant and wanted to use it.)

Toss all of that into a food processor and pulse until the consistency of your liking. You are supposed to grill the tomatillos first, then rough chop them and only process the other ingredients and toss, but b/c mine were canned, that wasn't an option. I just processesed the whole thing and it was great.

Shrimp:
I used 20 shrimp, can't remember what the recipe called for, but next time I will use a lot more.
Put them on skewers and grill for two min on each side.

Hot Sauce:
1 tblsp. hot sauce (I used Franks)
1 tblsp. chili powder
1/2 tblsp. cumin
1/2 tblsp. salt
2 tblsp. EVOO (I added this, it seemed like it needed more liquid and I felt that more hot sauce would become overwhelming. Coat the cooked shrimp in the hot sauce.


Layer the following:
Tortilla (I used 6-inch.)
Shredded slaw (I bought the bag of shredded broccoli/cauliflower/carrots/cabbage)
A little quessadilla cheese
Shrimp
Tomatillo salsa

Sara's Version of Susie's Version of Sara's Chicken Enchiladas

Did that make any sense? Probably not, it's fine.

Potato, zucchini, and chicken enchiladas--Yum.


1 chicken breast diced and cooked in chipotle seasoning
2 potatoes diced, boiled for 3 min, then sauteed in a little bit of green enchilada sauce
2 small zucchini diced, sauteed in a little bit of green enchilada sauce


In the tortilla:
green sauce
chicken
zucchini
chicken (I made some w/o chicken for me)
quesadilla cheese

Roll them up and top with green sauce and more cheese.

No laughing...Fish Tacos

Mmmm....mmm. These were so good and so easy. No original recipe this time, I saw a picture of tacos on the homepage of Foodtv.com and decided I wanted fish tacos for dinner. I worked with what I had.

Fish:
Whisk together:
EVOO
Fresh lime juice
Chipotle season
Marinate the fish in that for as long as you have. Place the fish on a baking sheet, then mix the marinate with panko breadcrumbs and spread on top of the filets. Oh, I used tilapia. Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes. Then flake the fish apart with a fork to make it bite-sized for the tacos.

Sauce:
2 parts plain fat free yogurt
1 part fat free mayo
Chipotle seasoning

Salsa:
1 can corn, drained
1/2 an onion, diced
Fresh lime juice
Cilantro

Then I topped them off with some chuncks of avocado and served with Mexican rice.

Tomatillos are so hard to find in Toledo

But once in a while, I get lucky and there they are! Anderson's almost always has them. After researching many many recipes, this is what I came up with for tomatillo sauce. It's quick and easy, and we really love it.

Tomatillo Sauce

5-6 tomatillos, boiled for about 5 min.

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

salt and pepper

Toss it all in the food processor until smooth, add about 1/4 cup water to thin it.

We like it over cheese enchiladas. Put a spoonful of sauce in each tortilla, then fill with cheese and roll the enchiladas, cover with tomatillo sauce and bake for about 20 min at 350.