Meatless Monday

If you're looking for a good, fairly healthy, vegetarian dinner, give these chipotle and tomatillo-sauced black bean enchiladas with spinach and red peppers a try. They get both mine and Jimmy's seal of approval.

{Image: Ella Says Opa}

A recap of the weekend to come tomorrow. I have a date with my Kindle and the book I'm reading, The Weird Sisters, tonight. Nighty night!

Classic Twists

Below are two recipes I made this week that I thought I'd share!

Who, besides a vegetarian, doesn't love a BLT? I got the idea from this recipe, but otherwise did my own thing for Jimmy and I's lunches this week. Roasted a head of garlic, mixed the garlic with an 8 oz cream cheese, slathered it on good, toasted wheat bread with salt and peppered tomatoes, bacon and greens dressed in balsamic vinaigrette. Yummy!

{thelonelybean.com}

Grits are a classic and a staple in the South. We had Pioneer Woman's rendition, creamy cheese grits with chiles, on Tuesday night and they were delicious. Such a nice starch alternative to potatoes, rice, quinoa, etc.

{thepioneerwoman.com/cooking}

 Happy little Friday!

Baked Ziti!

Just wanted to share the recipe for the baked ziti I made tonight. I have to borrow Lets Dish's photo because we put a gaping hole in our casserole of baked ziti before I could snap a picture. Too hungry. This makes A LOT, so plan to eat it for lunch leftovers for at least one day, but maybe two. Cottage cheese in baked ziti? Trust me, it's good.

Ingredients
1 (16 oz.) container cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound ziti or other short, tubular pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 medium garlic cloves , minced
1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Prepare pasta according to package directions, cooking only until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander.

Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano and basil.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.  In a medium saucepan, whisk cornstarch into heavy cream. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese to thickened cream.  Stir cottage cheese/cream mixture into tomato mixture and mix well.  Add half of the cubed mozzarella and the pasta and stir until pasta is thoroughly coated with sauce.

Transfer pasta mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cubed mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

2010 Beerfest

...went on today at Greenfield Lake while Jimmy and I did more productive things like grocery shopping, paddleboarding, running with Malloy, yard work and more. Sigh. We're responsible adults. That doesn't mean, however, that we didn't have a wonderful night. A little Post Road Pumpkin beer, Spaten Octoberfest, salad, very yummy creamy chicken picasso and a little relaxation is the perfect recipe for great evening. Happy Saturday!

Maple Sweet Potato Sandies

Inspired by Wedded Whittaker's baking fest and the lonely sweet potatoes sitting in my pantry, I decided to whip up a batch of these yummy maple sweet potato sandies from Visions of Sugar Plum. Enjoy!

1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated North Carolina sweet potato

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place pecans and coconut on a large cookie sheet. Bake 6-7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, brown sugar and sugar until creamy - about 1-2 minutes; beat in maple syrup, egg and vanilla until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in toasted pecans, coconut, and sweet potato until combined. Chill dough in refrigerator for 45 minutes, or until well chilled and firm.

Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls, and place on greased cookie sheets, about an inch apart. Flatten balls slightly using palms of hands. Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes 30 cookies

Easy, Fall-inspired Side

I personally love sweet potatoes, so I was super excited to find this very easy and delicious way to make sweets from Cooking Light. We had our over-roasted sweet potatoes and onions with grilled steak and a salad tonight. Yum yum...

Maiden Voyage

Tonight we had the pleasure of using Jimmy's birthday present from his momma - a new grill! We've used a Coleman tailgating grill since CA, so we are beyond excited to have a real, grown-up grill. Thanks again Martha!

Here's me taking her for a spin...

And us enjoying the fruits of her labor - Herbed Balsamic Chicken with Blue Cheese...

Can't wait for countless more grilled meals. Happy Tuesday!

Happy B-day Hubby and Tailgate Dinner Club

That's right folks - today is officially Jimmy's 30th birthday. I feel like we've been celebrating for months since we got his b-day present, stand-up paddleboards, back in August and I threw him (with the help of family and friends) a kickin' surprise party over Labor Day weekend. Who's counting though, right? As hard as he works and as much as I love him, I say we celebrate until Christmas! Okay so that's a little excessive. I did make him these though. They're Snickers Cupcakes and they're pretty delicious. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMMY!!

In other news, yesterday marked the second dinner club get-together. The theme was tailgate foods which meant we were to drink beer, wear jerseys/sports t-shirts and eat lots of not-so-good-for-you foods. We all obliged and it was super fun. We even got a special guest appearance from Miss Julia, Elizabeth's daughter...

Here's a picture of the spread, which you can't tell here, but it was excessive - pigs-in-the-blanket, cheesy potatoes, chili, jalepeno popper dip, buffalo wing dip, another sausage dip, grilled pizzas, 2 kinds of cake and 2 kinds of cookies. Oy vey!

The crew...

Hope everyone's having a great Monday!

Weekend Eats!

There's not much to report in terms of happenings for us, so I'll just share some of our meals from this weekend...

First up was a fall, comfort food inspired meal on Friday night - Giada's turkey meatloaf with a few modifications, my own rendition of a sweet potato puree and a "kitchen sink" salad.

The modifications to the meatloaf were additions of fresh spinach, a chopped red onion and a little ketchup covering the loaf. For the sweet potato puree I just cooked the potatoes in the microwave (too lazy to wait for oven baking) and then scraped the flesh into my food processor and pulsed with a little butter and brown sugar. For the salad I just grabbed everything I could kind and mixed it together with a homemade mustard vinaigrette - spinach, cucumber, apple, red onion, chopped dates and almond slivers.

Saturday for lunch I made my step-mother-in-law Marisol's lettuce wraps. Thanks for sharing Kelly!

Nancy's Lettuce Wraps

2 lbs.  Ground white chicken

2 (small) cans Water chestnuts (sliced or diced)

½ cup Chopped peanuts

3 tbs Garlic

1 bunch green onion - chopped

1 9 oz. jar of Hoisin sauce

2 tbs.  Soy sauce

2 tbs. Rice vinegar

Sriracha sauce – dashes to taste

Peanut or olive oil

1 head of iceburg lettuce

Cook the chicken first until almost done.  Place in a dish off to the side.

Heat up a little oil (1-2 tablespoons).  Add garlic and onions. 

Add & cook water chestnuts, peanuts

Add sauces – lots of hoisin, soy sauce,  rice vinegar and srirachi to taste

Cook everything up a bit and then add chicken back in for a couple of minutes.

To make hotter:  Add Sriachi sauce individually on top

To prepare lettuce:  cut core out; cut in ½ and separate leaves

And then Saturday evening we went out to dinner for our one year anniversary since last weekend in Colorado was so crazy. We actually decided to go to Havana's where we had our rehearsal dinner just over a year ago. The Mr. had a black and bleu NY Strip and the Mrs. had salmon.

When we got home we followed tradition and dove into the top tier of our wedding cake. It was... pretty gross. Maybe we didn't have it sealed tight enough or something, but it was not tasty at all. Oh well!

That's all for now. I think in food...

New Favorite

I try to eat healthy and kale is one of the best-for-you foods around. Despite it's health benefits though, I had never had a positive recipe experience with kale. That is, until now. Try this recipe for massaged kale salad and you won't be disappointed.

1. It's easy - the lemon juice, little bit of olive oil and a few minutes of massaging tenderize the kale - no steaming necessary
2. The flavor combo is great - toasted nuts, mango, lemon vinaigrette, leafy green
3. Unlike a lettuce, the kale holds up it's texture enough to make a great lunch leftover the next day
4. It's Aarti Sequeira, winner of the Next Food Network Star's, recipe

*Please note if you've never had kale, it's pretty tough - nothing like wilted spinach...

P.S - I love the natural light on the windowsill near my kitchen + our SLR. I bet you Jimmy could have never guessed when he bought this camera in CA that I'd someday take pictures of everything we eat.

Tailgate Toss-up

My next dinner club is Sept. 26th and the theme is "Tailgate Foods". Not surprising, I like to bring it at dinner clubs, so I tested out a few recipes on Jimmy today to make sure I had a winner. He kindly obliged to taste test, as that was all I was making for dinner and it's the first Sunday of the football season - a.k.a Christmas in September for Jimmy...

Contender #1 and First Place Winner - Jalapeno Popper Dip with Tortilla Chips

This recipe is from my friend Catherine. She adapted her recipe from another friend, Sarah. You can find Catherine's rendition here. I didn't have parmesan cheese, so I used cheddar and I wish I had toasted my panko crumbs before topping the dip. All in all though, very, very yummy!

Contender #2 and Second Place - Hot Wing Wontons

Though these were very good tasting, any time you make homemade wontons, it's always a hassle. I don't have a good pan for frying - wish I had a fry daddy - so it also made a big mess. For the two aforementioned reasons, this recipe lost points, falling into second place...

Contender #3 and Last Place - Ham and Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Spiral Rolls

For one thing, I don't think these were very "tailgate-ish". I chose this recipe because I had ingredients in my fridge to use up. I also bought crescent roll dough,  not dinner roll dough, so rolling the ham/cheese/broccoli mixture into the dough and cutting into spiral disks, was a huge bust. Jimmy and I both agreed it tasted pretty good though, so I may try doing it the right way for another occasion...

In other news, Team O'Connor is beating the Westchester Crushers 122 to 45 in my ladies Fantasy Football league and the night's not even over!

Recent Recipes

While Jimmy was away at class last night, I made this pasta for us to have for lunch today and tomorrow and I must say it was pretty tasty. I subbed some of the milk for chicken broth and added a little swiss and leftover cream cheese I had in the fridge. I also opted to use a whole bag of fresh spinach - it wilts to nothing the second the hot cheese sauce hits it - instead of frozen spinach. Lastly, I used whole wheat shells. Not exactly super healthy, but a must try nonetheless...

Speaking of not super healthy, I made this cobb salad for dinner tonight. What? It has the word salad in it. And I used a vinegarette instead of blue cheese dressing. That counts for something. Anywho, I think cobb salads are great because you can pretty much add whatever veggies you have lying around as additional "layers" and/or switch out the protein to include turkey, ham, etc. Using a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken made this a very quick meal to pull together. In case you can't see, our salad included hard-boiled eggs, bacon crumbles, chicken, tomatoes, green onions and (of course) lettuce. Should have also used an avocado, but couldn't find any good ones...

Reminder

Make me with all the leftover Thanksgiving turkey you can find in a couple months. Until then, enjoy me with shredded chicken at lunch tomorrow.

Thanks,
Brown Rice Casserole with Leftover Turkey, Mushrooms, Sour Cream, Cheese & Thyme

P.S - I'm relatively light, but still super delicious...

Donovan McEgg Scramburglar alert!

In honor of the Redskins victory over the Buffalo Bills, Kaylie cooked a breakfast egg casserole and we named it after Redskins QB, Donovan McNabb (with a little help from Spencer on the name)...

Best Mac and Cheese

Jimmy had to study all weekend, so it was pretty much just me the last couple days. I enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation on the beach and otherwise took it pretty easy all weekend. Saturday night I made a green curry dish for dinner (I had so much lemongrass, kaffir leaves, etc left over from the first time). This morning I made edamame hummus and then whipped up a yummy veggie sandwich for myself. I've read a couple times on Peanut Butter Runner about Great Harvest Bread Company and come to find out I drive by our local Great Harvest Bread Company everyday on my way to work and had never really taken notice. I'll definitely be a frequent customer from here on out...

For dinner tonight, it was a side dish that was the star of the show. My brother sent me two mac and cheese recipes that he thought looked good and I pulled my favorites from each to make what I swear is the best mac and cheese I've ever had. Thanks for the recommendations, Colin! Initially caveat, this recipe is not for the faint of heart or the health conscious. Once you commit to making it, you've just got to go for it!

Combination of Lucky 7 Mac and Cheese and Homestyle Mac and Cheese Recipes

3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sharp cheddar
1/2 cup bleu cheese
1/2 cup colby
1/2 cup swiss
1/2 cup monterey jack
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 lb elbow pasta
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cook pasta per directions (minimum length)
3. Meanwhile, add butter and flour to saucepan to create roux. Next add the heavy cream, all the cheeses, dijon mustard and salt and pepper and stir until melted and combined. 
4. Combine the elbow pasta the cheese sauce. Put in a greased 9x13 baking dish. 
5. I choose to top mine with panko crumbs that I tossed in a little melted butter. 
6. Bake for 20 mins

Note that you can use any combination of cheeses, as long as you end up with 3.5 cups. So bad but so good...

Another First

Not much to report from these parts. Jimmy is busy studying for exams and I'm just consumed with feeding him! We had a single NY strip in the freezer from a bachelor meal never made (I was in Charlotte with my favorite girls when he bought it), so I sliced that really thin and did a beef, broccoli and mushroom stirfry. It was very yummy. Of course, I was too hungry to pause to take pics.

For lunch (BOOORRRING, I know), we're doing our own rendition of these buffalo chicken wraps and this watermelon feta salad. I can't tell you how many times I have seen watermelon, feta and mint salads in magazines, cookbooks, etc lately and I've yet to try one until now, well tomorrow at lunch really. Looking forward to it. Hopefully I have something non-food related to talk about soon. It's a Heintzelman thing. I think with food if that makes any sense. Happy Hump Day tomorrow!

Kitchen Time

This afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen making some things for our  lunches this week and dinner tonight and I thought I'd share the recipes...

First up, lunch on Monday and Tuesday of this week will be "grown-up" turkey sloppy joes on wheat buns and cream & vinegar cucumbers.

"Grown-Up" Turkey Sloppy Joes

1. Saute 1 chopped onion with a little vegetable oil
2. When onions are translucent, add 1 lb ground turkey and cook until turkey is no longer pink
3. Drain turkey and onions, then return to pan
4. Add 1 cup ketchup, couple dashes of garlic powder, couple dashes of worcestershire, couple dashes of red pepper flakes, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, pinch of salt and pepper
5. Mix and let simmer for a couple minutes
6. Serve hot on wheat buns

Cream & Vinegar Cucumbers

My mom made these growing up and I always loved them. Very refreshing side dish for the Summer!

1. Peel 4 cucumbers and slice into thin rounds
2. Combine the cucumbers with 1 cup cream (sour cream, half and half or heavy cream will work), 1 cup vinegar (red wine or apple cider), 1 cup white sugar, pinch of salt and 2 tsp. dill
3. You can eat immediately, but they're far better when left to sit. 

I had a hard time menu planning this morning for dinners this week.  For some reason, I wasn't feeling anything. I was looking through the refridgerater and saw that I had about a half pack of corn tortillas left over from the other weekend and suddenly it came to me - that Mexican chicken casserole thing my mom used to make with tortillas. I called my mom and she gave me the recipe, which happened to actually be a recipe she got years ago from my Grandma Heintzelman. I'll call it...

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Casserole

1. Combine 4 cups shredded cooked chicken, 8 oz. sour cream, 9 oz. diced green chiles (I doubled the original recipe because I love green chiles), 1 can low-fat cream of chicken soup and 1 can low-fat cream of mushroom soup
2. Add to this bitesize pieces of tortillas. My grandma's recipe says to use 12 flour tortillas, but I had the little corn ones, I think I used maybe 15 of them?!?
3. I also opted to add to this mixture about a tsp. of cumin and a tsp. of Emeril's Southwest Essence
4. Add chicken and tortilla mixture to a greased 9x13 baking dish and top with 1 cup of low-fat milk and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 1 hour

Must Try Recipe

So I made the fish dish that I blogged about earlier today and it was very, very good! If you're looking for something light, flavorful and easy, this recipe is the ticket...

Bing...

Bang...

Boom...

1. Lay tin foil on a baking sheet
2. Put on the foil:
1. 1/2 lb fresh spinach
2. Couple mild white fish fillets (we used Jimmy-caught mahi mahi from the freezer)
3. 2 tbsp. soy sauce
4. 2 tbsp. sesame seed oil
5. 2 tbsp. marsala cooking wine
6. 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
7. 2 tbsp. fresh minced ginger
3. Fold up tin foil to create a little pocket of yumminess
4. Bake at 400 for 20mins
5. Serve over Near East Basil & Herb Pearled Couscous (highly recommend this brand and variety)

P.S - I'm experimenting with food photography. Ree from Pioneer Woman and Tasty Kitchen suggests no flash and natural light, among other things, so we had a period of near darkness before we dug in tonight. You can tell, however, that it was much lighter outside when dinner was being prepped. I'm learning...

Success!

Well last night's Green Chicken Curry turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself. I was too ravenous from my afternoon workout to pause to take a picture for proof - I'd make a horrible food blogger - so you'll just have to take my word for it. For anyone who's interested, here are my modifications:

• Green Curry Paste - I decided not to make my own, but used a jar of Thai Kitchen's pre-made paste instead. One review said you should use a specific Asian food specialty store version, but I think the kind I used worked out just fine. Per yet another review, however, I would recommend adding a dash of chili and curry powders to give it a little more heat and flavor.
  
• Lemongrass - Harris Teeter didn't have this fresh, so I used about a tablespoon of a minced version (found in the produce section near the packaged herbs)
• Kaffir Lime Leaves - Again, Harris Teeter didn't have this fresh, so I used a few pinches of bottled kaffir lime leaf shreds (found in the Asian food section of HT)
• Curry Sauce - Just before I added the chicken to poach in the sauce, the last step, I did a little sauce taste test. Luckily, I still had the taste of the restaurant green curry I had a couple weeks ago lingering on my palate, so I quickly knew something wasn't right - it just wasn't sweet and flavorful enough. So, I added two teaspoons of sugar and that was the ticket. Perfect!
• Thai Basil Leaves - Just used regular basil
• Serve over Jasmine rice
  

The whole meal took 30 minutes from start to finish. I will definitely be making this again - Lord knows I have enough minced lemongrass, green curry paste and bottled kaffir lime leaves left over...

I'm on a boat...

Kelly, Spencer, Kevin and Stefanie are on their way down to Carolina Beach as we speak!

The plan for this weekend started out as just a guys charter fishing trip to the Gulf Stream aboard Captain Gorges' Seaward Action - yes, it's pronounced gorgeous. Then Kelly and Stef decided they'd come down too, so I wouldn't be stuck in a house with a bunch of dudes. Captain Gorges, also known as Mark, one of Castle Branch's Sales Reps, then broke the news to the guys that the seas were supposed to be too rough and/or too high to go out, so then no one was coming to visit. Then it was just Kevin and Stef coming with no intention of fishing and now finally Kelly and Spencer have decided to come too! I was so happy that our plans were bouncing back and then I became ecstatic when last minute the Captain said that it may be calm enough for an inland joy ride on Saturday. If it's looking good in the AM, it'll be me, Jimmy, Kelly, Spencer, Kevin, Stef, Mark and his girlfriend on his 30ft Grady White just cruising and soaking up the sun... 

Seaward Action and the Captain...

 
What's on the menu this weekend, you ask? 

Dinner Tonight - Emeril's Fish Tacos (I'm using mahi mahi) with cabbage, avocado, pineapple habanero salsa, lime and crema.
Saturday Breakfast - Pioneer Woman's Make-ahead English Muffin Melts and To Die For Blueberry Muffins
Saturday Dinner - OUT

I had two pints of blueberries to use up and I saw the muffin melts on Ree's blog earlier this week and thought they looked delicious, so my sibling-in-laws will just have to be my guinea pigs...