Chicken Quesadillas

You know the song that goes:

"See, I've been waiting all day
For you to call me baby
So let's get up, let's get on it
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight"

It's on the radio ALL
                                THE
                                       TIME.

When I first heard that song, I totally thought it was a sequel (are there sequels to songs?) to "Call Me Maybe". I wanted to say, you only said to call you maybe, why are you waiting up for him to call you?

Now if you know music better than me, you know that these songs are performed by two different ladies, but still, did anyone else feel this way?

Anywho.

I do enjoy a quesadilla-- warm cheesy goodness. You can make one with whatever filling you prefer; today we're doing chicken, ok? I like to eat the cut quesadillas as doctored up chips layered with lettuce, salsa and avocado. They are quick and easy and perfect for any lunch or dinner.

So I'll be waiting for you to call me maybe?

Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients:
For the quesadillas:
1 small chicken breast*
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil*
1 tbsp taco seasoning (homemade + 1 tbsp cornstarch, or storebought)
1/4 cup water
4 8 inch flour tortillas (I used whole wheat)
2/3 cup shredded cheese (I used four cheddar blend)
1/4 cup diced green chilis from the can

For serving:
chopped lettuce
chopped tomato
chopped avocado
chopped red onion
chopped peppers (jalepeno and bell)
sour cream or Greek yogurt
salsa

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, lower the heat to medium, and cook for about 2-3 minutes until browned on the bottom side. Flip the chicken over and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until browned. Cover the skillet and cook until the chicken is no longer pink, about 4-5 additional minutes. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Return the chicken to the pan and add the water and taco seasoning (including cornstarch if it is homemade). Bring to simmer and allow the flavors to meld together for 2-3 minutes.*

To assemble the quesadillas, lay two of the tortillas on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle about 1/3 cup shredded cheese over each of them. Add the about 1/8 cup green chilis over the cheese, spreading out with a spoon. Then top each with half of the chicken mixture. Cover with the other tortillas.

Bake for 5-8 minutes until the cheese is melted. Turn on your broiler and broil until the tops are golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.

Serve the quesadillas topped with a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, peppers, sour cream and salsa, as desired.

Serves 2.

*If you want, you can substitute leftover chopped chicken instead.

Pork and Green Onion Wonton Soup

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope that you have plans of costumes, pumpkins and candy tonight. Me? I've got a date with my oven to make some pumpkin flavored treats. Don't worry, I'll share them with you later.

For now, I'm sharing this AMAZING recipe. No joke, it has some of my most favorite characteristics in a recipe. Number 1- it is delicious (you know how much I love some yummy food). Number 2- it is so quick and easy to put together, like literally 10 minutes to cook (well once you have the wontons frozen). Number 3- I will definitely be eating it again (and not only because I have a freezer bag of wontons ready to go).

So here's the deal, spend a little bit of time on the weekend prepping the wontons and you are ready to go with a simple weeknight meal.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to play around with some different flavors inside of the wonton wrappers to mix it up in the future. But this combo of pork, green onions and ginger is great. You've got to try it out.

Pork and Green Onion Wonton Soup (adapted from Foodie with Family)
Ingredients:
For Pork and Green Onion Wontons:
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
2 green onions (green and white), finely minced
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp rice vinegar
24-32 wonton wrappers (depending on how much you put in each)
1 egg, beaten

For 1 serving of soup:
1 tsp oil (sesame, peanut or canola)
7-8 frozen pork and green onion wontons (from above)
3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 small carrot, cut into matchsticks
3-4 button mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and whole
1 green onion, diced
1 tbsp of Asian chili sauce (more or less to taste)
Fried rice noodles, for serving

Directions:
To make wontons:
Combine the ground pork, fish sauce, ginger, green onions, cornstarch and rice vinegar in a bowl and mix until homogeneous.

Working with 4-6 wonton wrappers at a time, brush the entire wonton with the egg and then place approximately 1 tsp of the pork mixture into the middle of the wrapper. Bring together the corners and squeeze to close. Place the prepared wontons on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Once you have assembled all of the wontons (I ended up with 32 wontons), place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze through, at least 2 hours. At this point, you can put all of the wontons into a freezer bag for longer term storage.

To make the soup:
Place the oil in the bottom of soup pan. Add the frozen wontons, carrot matchsticks, mushrooms, garlic clove and white parts of the onion. Add 1 cup of broth and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a strong boil, add another cup of broth and bring back to a boil. Once that reaches a strong boil, add the last cup of broth and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.

To serve, remove the wontons, carrots and mushrooms to a bowl and pour the broth over them (discard the garlic clove). Garnish with the green parts of the onion and fried rice noodles.

Serves 1.

NOT WINNING. :(

I have a sad cooking confession for you.

Last week pork ribs were on sale at Meijer. I was super excited because I love a good sale and because I haven't had ribs in a long time. Plus I've never made ribs at home. I usually just wait until I'm out to a nice dinner and order up something extra messy so that I can eat with my fingers and show off my amazingly proper table manners. Nowadays I don't really go out often because I eat most meals by myself. So I figured I would give the ribs a whirl at home. I had pinned this delicious looking recipe for bourbon barbecue ribs and I always get excited about a bourbon barbecue sauce so I knew this was the one. Plus to make it even more of a "Julie" recipe, it was in the crockpot!?!! And you know how much I love my crockpot. :)

So yesterday morning, I set it all up. I cooked up the ribs a little in the morning, mixed together the barbecue sauce and let the slow cooker do the deed while I was at work dreaming of the smells I would come home to at the end of the day.

Sadly, I came home to a burned mess stuck in the bottom of my slow cooker. I could salvage a few bites of rib meat here and there from the center ribs, but overall it was a total flop. I couldn't even bare to take a picture because it made me so sad. :(

What went wrong?

Here's what I think.

1. I cut the recipe down significantly from the 5 lbs of ribs she suggested to only about three quarters of a pound. I mean, there was no way I was going to cook 5 lbs of ribs for myself. I think there was just not enough liquid in the slowcooker and it caused the brown sugar and bourbon to caramelize too quickly and resulted in browning.

2. I did cook it for longer than the suggested 9 hours. It was close to 11 hours because that's how long I was gone from the apartment. I'm not sure it was the extra two hours that pushed it over the edge, but I'm sure it didn't help.


Moral of the story: Sometimes your cooking fails.

Suck it up, eat some burnt meat along with a big salad, and start planning your next excursion in the kitchen. I have some ribs in the freezer that are dying for a chance to redeem themselves. I think I'll have to use the oven to adjust for the smaller servings though. Don't worry, I'll keep you in the loop.

Pumpkin Pesto

Well it's official. I had to turn my heat on today. My house was down to 60 degrees and I couldn't handle it. I did bundle myself up and head out to the second to last farmer's market of the season. Either the crops are diminishing or the farmers were cold as well because it wasn't quite as full as normal.

Oh don't worry, I'm actually not complaining. I like the cooler weather especially a cooler house. I love to cuddle up with blankets on the couch to watch a movie or read a book. I like sleeping with extra layers on my bed (yes, I did add my down comforter to the bed last night). 

Have you been wondering what I have been making with that pumpkin puree? Wait no longer, today is pumpkin pesto day! I came across this recipe through one of my daily recipe emails that just knew I had to try it out. I decided to skip the walnuts and substitute in some toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds!) instead. 

Overall, I thought the pesto was good on spaghetti noodles although I didn't get a strong taste of pumpkin. The predominant flavors were definitely the garlic, basil and parsley. However, that being said, I would still suggest trying it out. You can use pesto for so many things including as a sauce for pasta as I did below or as a pizza or calzone sauce or as an appetizer dip.

Stay warm and eat pumpkin pesto!

Pumpkin Pesto (adapted from Diabetic Living)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup packed fresh parsley

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (homemade or store bought)

1/4 cup pepitas, toasted*

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp honey

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped, scraping down the sides as necessary. With the motor running, stream in the oil and blend until the desired consistency is obtained. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.

Use as pesto in anything you desire.

To serve with pasta, combine with cooked noodles and 1/8-1/4 cup pasta cooking water to help coat the noodles. Serve garnished with additional parmesan cheese and pepitas.

Chili in the Crockpot

What do you do when the weather turns from high of 80 to high of 50 within 24 hours?

1. Wear a scarf. Obvi.

2. Make some chili. Probably in the crockpot if you are working all day and don't have time for a long simmer.

It's inevitable that I'll make chili multiple times during the fall and winter. When it comes to a bean-laden thick stew, I just can't say no. I like a traditional red chili or a white chicken chili or a vegetarian chili. This fall I'm thinking I'm going to try a pumpkin chili. I told you once that I have this one slow cooker cookbook that I enjoy because it has about 25 variations for each dish. I typically don't follow just one recipe but instead adapt things from multiple and go from there. Here's a look at my chili recipe page from the cookbook. Yes, I do defile my cookbooks by writing down my adaptions, folding down corners and even noting whether or not I liked the recipe. You may even be able to see some food stains if you look closely. :)

I'm pretty certain every time I make chili, it turns out a little different. That's because I use the ingredients I have on hand in my fridge and pantry. So I'm sharing with you what I did this time around. But as always, be creative and use what you have (is this becoming my cooking mantra?). Also, you can definitely double the chili recipe and it should fit in a normal sized crockpot. I made a little less this time around because it was just for me (lasted for 2 lunches and 2 dinners) but when I would make it for Scott and me, I always upped the ingredients.

Chili in the Crockpot (heavily adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground turkey, browned and grease drained

1 16 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bell pepper, diced (I used half of a red pepper and half of a yellow pepper)

1 jalapeno pepper, diced (with or without seeds depending on your heat tolerance)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp chili powder 

salt and pepper, to taste

shredded cheddar cheese, for garnish

sliced jalapeno, for garnish

Directions:

To help the flavors meld, brown the meat and cut up the veggies the night before you are going to cook the chili. Combine everything, except the salt and pepper, in the crock of your slow cooker. Cover and refrigerate over night. (It is not essential to follow this step... just my recommendation).

In the morning, remove the crock from the fridge and place in the slow cooker. Turn heat to low and cook for 8-12 hours. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve hot garnished with cheddar cheese and sliced jalapeno. 

Serves 3-4.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I know the saying is "America runs on Dunkin"

But today the truth is "Julie runs on Dunkin". I had an early morning (think 7am) date with the car dealership for an oil change. Of course I picked up a large coffee on my way to drop it off.

I went back this afternoon to pick up the car and this necessitated another stop at Dunkin Donuts for a medium coffee.

For those of you counting that 36 ounces of coffee today. Certainly needed after only about 6 hours of sleep last night. It has kept me alert and fairly productive today so that's a good thing, right?

Completely unrelated, but another fun fact about today. It is in the high 70s and b-e-a-utifully sunny outside.

Duh duh duh duh duh I'm loving it.

Oh wait. Wrong restaurant.

Anyway.

This beef and broccoli stir fry is great. Broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable for stir fry because it soaks up the sauce so well. Mushrooms are probably a close second. That's why I loaded this up with both of them. Be creative with the veggies that make you tick. Feel free to substitute vegetable or chicken broth for the beef broth if you don't have it on hand.

As always with stir fry, your meal will be ready in as much time as it would take you to run out and get another cup of joe from Dunkin.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 lb top loin steak (or other steak), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tbsp dry sherry
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
approximately 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
approximately 1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup sliced onion
1 tbsp diced onion
1 garlic clove, diced
1 pinch sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp dry sherry
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp sriacha sauce
2 cups cooked rice, for serving
sliced green onion, for topping

Directions:
Whisk together the egg white, 1 tbsp sherry and 1 tbsp corn starch. Pour over the beef in a bowl and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 min to 1 hour. Drain off excess marinade.

Prep all of your vegetables while the meat marinates. Also, cook rice as indicated on the package.

Whisk together the beef broth, 1/2 tsp corn starch, soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dry sherry, hoisin sauce and sriacha. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat in a wok (or large skillet). Add the beef and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the beef to a plate and wipe out the wok.

Heat another 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat in the wok. Add the garlic and diced onion. Cook, stirring until softened, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and salt and stir to mix. Add in the broccoli, mushrooms and onion slices and stir fry until crisp, about 4-5 minutes. Add the beef back to the wok. Add the sauce and stir everything until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes.

Serve the beef and broccoli over cooked rice topped with sliced green onion.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

Show of hands:

Who loves Bdubs?

Who loves a boneless buffalo wing?


Well, for one two-- my parents. They are kinda regulars at their local Buffalo Wild Wings. I accompanied them once when I was visiting and the waitress brought over their diet cokes as soon as they sat down; they also proceeded to show her pictures of their grandbaby, my niece.

My mom bought one of their bottles of sauce and they tossed it with some grilled chicken to get their flavor fix at home. Sounds good, right? I think so. However, when they were visiting last my dad mentioned how he wished they could get the breaded boneless buffalo wing taste using the sauce without just simply dipping a chicken nugget into the sauce. Oh, I said, that's easy. Just make "the crunchiest baked chicken nuggets of your life" and substitute in your desired sauce for the egg white.

So they went home, tried it out, and reported back yummy success. Of course, I had to reproduce it in my kitchen. And now we have unanimous positive votes.

So do it up. Pick up your fav bottle of buffalo wing sauce (doesn't have to be from Bdubs) and start creating. A plus is that they are baked instead of fried (aka totally healthy).

Serve with some ranch or blue cheese dressing and carrot and celery sticks, turn on a football game and you'll forget you're at home.

Boneless Buffalo Wings (adapted from The Crunchiest Baked Chicken Nuggets)
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch pieces

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

dash of salt

1 tbsp peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)

1/2 cup flour 

2-3 tbsp buffalo sauce 
1 tsp water

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Spread panko on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 6 minutes. Transfer to a shallow dish and stir in salt.

Whisk together the buffalo sauce and water. Place the flour in a shallow dish.

Set a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray.

In batches, coat the chicken in flour, shaking off the excess, dip in buffalo sauce and then coat with panko, pressing to adhere. Place on wire rack.

Bake until the chicken in cooked through, 12-15 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Serves 4.

P.S. Next time I'm making these into a buffalo chicken salad. Or maybe a buffalo chicken wrap. SO MANY CHOICES! :)