Category: enchiladas

Sweet Potato Two Ways

Sweet potatoes can be a great side dish or the star of the meal. They can be fancy or very simple. They can be baked, topped with marshmallows, made into fries or create an amazing soup.

This sweet potato side dish is the perfect comfort food on a cold winter night.

Sweet Potato Gratin

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes, thinly sliced

1/3 cup of unsalted butter

1/3 cup flour (I use Gluten-Free Cup4Cup)

1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

1 teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of pepper

3 springs of thyme

3 cups of milk

4 ounces of cream cheese or 3 tablespoons of mascarpone

12 ounces of shredded cheddar, divided, save about 4 ounces for the top

Directions

Boil slices of sweet potatoes for about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Make béchamel: melt butter, add flour, mustard and herbs. Whisk for 2-3 minutes. Whisk milk in. Add cream cheese and combine. Take off heat and mix in cheddar. Make layers, one of potatoes, one béchamel and repeat. Cover top with rest of cheddar and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Broil for 2 minutes if you want to melt the cheese more. If you have extra béchamel sauce, freeze it and add it to quinoa or rice another time.

Serve at Valentines day with a grilled steak or barbecued salmon and a fresh salad.

I love to be able to create more than one meal out of the same ingredient. Especially one that completely hides the fact that I’m using leftovers. That way it is more likely that my family will eat it 🙂

Sweet potato and zucchini enchiladas

Ingredients

4-6 tortillas (I like to use Joseph’s gluten free flour tortillas)

1 1/2 to 2 cups of leftover sweet potato gratin

1 large zucchini, shredded

4 ounces of shredded cheddar

chili powder

1 to 1 1/2 cups of tomatillo salsa or your favorite enchilada sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 300. In a casserole dish, pour tomatillo salsa or enchilada sauce to cover the bottom. In each tortilla place 3 to 4 Tablespoons of the gratin, 1 Tablespoon of the shredded zucchini and sprinkle with chili powder (about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon), roll and place in dish.

Repeat until you have used up your ingredients.

Pour more of the enchilada sauce over all the rolled tortillas. Top with shredded cheddar.

Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 minutes. Broil for 2 minutes at the end if you would like to melt the cheese any further.

The enchiladas would make a great meal for the Super Bowl next weekend! If you haven’t made the gratin, just substitute some mashed sweet potatoes and add some shredded cheddar inside the tortillas.

I’ll be posting more ideas for Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Taco Tuesday – Step Outside the Taco Shell

Theme nights are a really good way to organize your weekly meals and make meal planning easier. We joined the #TacoTuesday bandwagon a couple of years ago. The kids love tacos and I have a wide interpretation of “taco.” It is really more like #TexMexTuesday. Some nights it is nachos, literally just tortilla chips with melted cheese in the microwave, on a paper plate, with a salad or fruit on the side. Other nights if we have more time, it is enchiladas with homemade tomatillo sauce or stuffed peppers. I often use whatever protein we had over the weekend, like leftover grilled chicken or steak and whatever vegetables we grilled and throw them into a quesadilla.

Quesadillas

Ingredients
Tortillas (Our new favorite is Joseph’s soft gluten-free tortillas which I find at Target or Market Basket locally) – 1 to 2 tortillas per person depending on their appetite
Shredded Cheese (I used Cabot blocks and shred myself or task a child/spouse) – 1/4 cup per person
Canned black beans (I use Wegmans or Goya) – 1 12 oz can is more than enough for a family a five

Optional: sour cream or plain yogurt, fresh cilantro, salsa, sliced avocado with fresh lime juice.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 or use your toaster oven. Assemble and cook for 4 – 6 minutes on each side on a cookie sheet.

TIP: If you don’t have tortillas, use taco shells, tortilla chips or butter lettuce. If you are making it GF, remember to check the labels on the shells and chips.

A recent favorite in our house was a spin on a traditional quesadilla: Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadillas. Invented by one of my 6 year olds. All we did was add leftover grilled chicken and some cooked bacon to the cheddar. Cook according to recipe above and serve with ranch dressing and sliced peppers.

I often keep a bag of already cooked frozen shrimp in the freezer. All you need to do is defrost in cold water and then dry in between paper towels

Shrimp Tacos

Ingredients
1 pound of medium/large cooked shrimp
Juice of 1 1/2 limes
1 Tablespoon of sugar or teaspoon of agave
1 clove minced garlic
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the shrimp for 15-30 minutes while you prepare the taco accompaniments. Saute shrimp for a couple of minutes to heat through, if you want to or just use cold. Use for favorite taco shells and toppings then you are ready to serve! I love using feta and avocado.

TIP: If using fresh uncooked shrimp, marinade as above and then add 1 Tablespoon of butter and cook on a baking sheet for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

The options are endless. You can take this shrimp taco recipe and make it into a burrito bowl with rice and beans. You can also top the rice and beans with whatever other leftover veggies and or meat you have in the fridge. I’ll let you in on a secret. I lost the ability to cook rice when I went to law school. I cannot cook rice on the stove to save my life. I have only tried it once in the last 13 years after burning a few pots. I LOVE my rice cooker. My $15 rice cooker from Target. The rice always comes out perfectly and I don’t have to watch it. Instead I can battle through homework with the kids.

I have been making red salsa for almost 2 decades, since I worked at a Tex Mex restaurant in DC. It disappears quickly from the table at any gathering and is very simple to make. I passed the torch last year to my 8 year old daughter, who can easily make it on her own now. Since then, I have been experimenting with a green salsa made with tomatillos. It is tart and delicious and makes a great salsa, enchilada sauce or chilaquile sauce or sauce for grilled steak, chicken, fish or veggies.


Tomatillo salsa

Ingredients
2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 1/2 to 3 pounds of tomatillos, husked
1/2 of a large while onion, chopped
1/4 cup of chopped poblano pepper (use jalepeno if you want more spice)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Handful of cilantro
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2 to 2 1/2 cups of water

Directions
Combine all of the ingredients, except the water, in a large pot on the stove. Turn the heat on to medium-high. Stir until fragrant. Should only take a couple of minutes. Add the water, stir occasionally and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the tomatillos are soft. Either blend with an immersion blender in the pot or wait for it to cool and transfer to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and allow to fully cool. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Our #TacoTuesday turned #TexMexTuesday means I always have a plan for Tuesday nights and can adapt it to what our schedule is for that day, whether I have 15 minutes to prep dinner or an hour. You are only limited by what it is in your fridge or cupboard, but all it really takes is cheese 🙂 Send me your questions or share your ideas for #TexMexTuesday! Remember you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, on Twitter @mammascooking and now I’m also figuring out how to use Google + (if anyone wants to give me a tutorial, I will cook for you!).

Summertime!

I love the summer! There is more to do with the kids outside and there are some great foods available like fresh fruits, corn and copper river salmon! There is nothing better on a warm summer night then sitting outside eating fresh grilled salmon and great glass of Riesling. Take last Saturday night for example. We went to a bbq at a friend’s house. Giant copper river salmon on the grill, cheese and crackers, veggie tray and lots of wine and beer. Kids running around. I brought a pasta salad (see recipe below) and the perfect summer fruit (in my opinion) = watermelon.

A blog I follow called Family.Friendly.Food. had some great recipes for Copper River Salmon last week. The author is a local mom who also loves to cook. Check it out. Here is a link: http://www.familyfriendlyfood.com/

What Karina has been eating and I’ve been cooking:

In the heat, Karina has been eating a lot of berries and cantelope. She really loved the nectarine I gave her at breakfast this morning. For dinner we have been grilling quite a bit, especially with our new grill 🙂 I made turkey burgers last week (ground turkey, grated red onion, garlic, palmful of whole wheat breadcrumbs, 3 Tbsp of flaxseed meal, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper). I made a few too many, so I used the leftovers to make enchiladas last night and they were spectacular! I chopped up the leftover burgers and tossed them into a sauce I made. The sauce included 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 small can diced mild chiles, palmful of chili powder, tsp of cumin, tsp coriander, salt and pepper to taste, 2 Tbsp minced garlic, 1 diced red onion, 1/2 cup pureed canned pumpkin, 1/2 can of tomato paste, olive oil and 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Cook in saucepan until heated through. Spoon mixture into whole wheat tortillas, roll and top with extra sauce, shredded cheddar and colby jack cheeses. Cook for about 30-45 min at 425 (covered for first 15min). I served it with black beans and avocado, which Karina has decided she doesn’t like this week 🙂


Pasta salad
Roasted Asparagus
Asparagus – chopped (about 5-6 handfuls after chopped)
Shallot – minced (1)
Garlic – minced (1tsp)
Salt – to taste
Pepper- to taste
Lemon zest – (1 lemon)
Olive oil

Whole wheat pasta (1 3/4 boxes of rotini)

Cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes, about 1 1/2 cups diced)

Vinagrette
Lemon juice (two lemons)
Lemon zest (one lemon)
White balsamic vinegar (about 1/4 cup)
salt and pepper (to taste)
fresh rosemary (2 springs chopped)
fresh thyme (4 sprigs)
garlic (1 tsp minced)
Olive oil (to taste)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean and chop asparagus. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest, garlic and shallots and roast for about 12-15 minutes. While oven is preheating, boil water for pasta. Cook pasta until just a little past al dente. While waiting for water to boil, chop tomatoes and put aside. While pasta is cooking and asparagus is roasting, mix all the ingredients for vinagrette, except olive oil. While whisking ingredients, pour in enough olive oil that you don’t lose the sharpness of the lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. Once you have drained pasta, pour it into a large bowl. Add roasted asparagus and tomatoes. Then pour in the vinagrette and toss. Chill in the fridge until serving.

Happy Thanksgiving!



Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Karina sure enjoyed the turkey 🙂 She wouldn’t eat the little pieces we put on her tray, but gave her the drumstick and she went to town! She also enjoyed some mashed potatoes, stuffing and squash soup. I put the squash soup in a sippy cup (thanks Adriane for the tip) and she loved it! I think I am going to try to make her a smoothie in the morning and put it in the sippy cup (a cup without a valve) for her to enjoy.

With the turkey leftovers, I am going to make turkey enchiladas tonight. Some store bought mole sauce, shredded cheese, turkey, fresh salsa, cilantro, sour cream and whole wheat tortillas. Heat the sauce in a skillet, put some of the shredded turkey in. Wrap some of the turkey with mole in a tortilla and put in baking dish. Repeat until done with turkey. Leave some mole sauce to pour over the top and then cover with shredded cheese. You can also put cheese inside the tortilla. Bake in the over for about 30-45 min.

Salsa recipe:

1 large can of whole tomatoes

1 jalapeno (take out seeds and chopped)

about 1/2 a red onion roughly chopped

cilantro (to your taste – I usually grab a handful)

salt

pepper

about a clove of garlic, minced.

Put ingredients into a blender or food processor. Mix until it is the consistency you want. Less if you like it chunky and more if you want it smooth.


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