Mandarin Spinach Salad with Citrus Vinegrette

 

What better way to add a festivity of color to your table during the Christmas season than a salad? This salad is not only colorful but also a healthy way to combat that holiday sweet tooth many of us get around this time of year.

Salad:
1 bag of baby spinach
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained (reserve the juice)
1 finely grated carrot
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/4 c. candied or non-candied walnuts, coarsely chopped

Combine all ingredients by either layering or tossing. I find that layering works well so as not to shake all the non leafy bits to the bottom. Serve with the dressing on the side.

Citrus Dressing:
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1 T. juice from canned oranges (or fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice for a stronger tangy flavor)
1 T. orange zest
1/4 t. black pepper
1/8-1/4 t. salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serve immediately or let stand for 30 minutes for flavors to blend. If you let stand, you may have to blend it again before serving or put in a sealed container and shake as vinegar and oil will separate while standing.

Butternut Spiced Soup

It is that time of year again when the weather is cooling down and everything is about pumpkins and spice and everything nice! One of my favorite things about the fall season is the abundant variety of squash in the produce isle at the grocery store. Winter squash is like art in the form of vegetable, and as fun as it is to decorate the home for fall with them, sometimes I wonder what else I can do with them besides the simple bake it and eat it method. I am sure I can't be the only one with this problem so I have decided to share my recipe with you all: Butternut Spiced Soup, the perfect food to provide a warm, comforting taste of Fall.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
3 or 4 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh parsley
rubbed sage
ground cloves
ground ginger
ground cinnamon
chicken stock or salt

Directions:
In a large soup pot, combine squash, celery, onion, garlic, and carrots. Cover with water* until about an inch above the ingredients. Boil until the vegetables are soft. Carefully scoop out about half of the soup contents including the water into a blender with the parsley (if you have a pyrex measuring pitcher with a handle I recommend using that to scoop out the hot soup) and blend until smooth. Pour contents from the blender back into the soup pot. Add about 1/2 tsp rubbed sage, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ginger, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Salt with chicken stock or plain old salt to taste and let the soup simmer for about 5 to ten minutes.

*for thicker soup or bisque add less water or blend all ingredients. You can always add more water if the soup gets too thick.

Chicken Verde Burritos

Save-money recipe #2. This recipe is not as easy as the bean burrito recipe, but it is still fairly simple, and though I haven't actually sat down and compared the nutritional value of both, I think it is safe to say that these are more nutritious than the bean burritos. The ingredients go a long way as well. I will also put a cost estimation next to the ingredients just so you get an idea of how much it cost me to make these burritos. But remember it is just an estimation. I cant remember the exact amount I paid for each item. Also note that though I used all my tortillas and chicken filling, I did not use all of my sour cream or cheese. So, even though my costs add up to about $20, I really only spent just over $10 on the burritos for 10 burritos. These burritos are a little more expensive than the bean ones, but chicken usually costs more than beans anyway, so that figures. Either way, you eater-outers like me will save money from these things :)

Ingredients:

*shredded chicken ($7)
your favorite green enchilada sauce (I used the El Pato brand, which you can find at Food City. Very good)($1)
sour cream ($)1
*rice ($?)
shredded cheese ($8)
tortillas ($2)
**directions for how I cooked my chicken and cilantro-lime rice at bottom

Directions:
Prepare your tortillas by warming up a stack in the microwave. I used 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts and a whole can 27 oz. can of enchilada sauce. Mix the sauce with the shredded chicken in a bowl. Spread a thin layer of sour cream on a tortilla. Add a spoon full of chicken filling, then some rice, and then a small handful of shredded cheese. Roll up like a burrito, wrap it in plastic wrap, and throw it in the freezer until you are ready to eat it! My husband and I cook these for about 3 minutes. 1:30 on each side should do the trick, though sometimes more and sometimes less. Hope you enjoy!


*Chicken directions:
I boiled all six chicken breasts in a large pot with a sliced onion and garlic clove on medium-low heat. Nothing fancy, but the onion adds a great flavor to the chicken. When the chicken was fully cooked I ladled all the chicken and onion pieces into a bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator. Once it was cool I shredded them with a fork and put the shreddings back in with the onions before adding the sauce.

*Rice directions:
Cook your rice according to the packaged directions, with these few changes. Juice one lime into the measuring cup you are using to measure the water (example: if you need two cups water, the juice will be included in the two cups). You will boil the rice with the lime juice. Chop a handful of cilantro and one green onion, but only add them into the rice toward the end of the rice cooking time. I added mine just before you couldn't see the water was gone.


P.S.  you can always add more to these burritos (cumin, chili powder, green chiles, bell pepper, etc.). Whatever is your fancy! I just wanted to provide a simple recipe that is easy for all to follow. I hope I was successful in doing so! :) (the fanciest thing is the rice, but you can just make plain rice if you want :))

Frozen Bean Burritos; An Effort Toward Affordable Living

If you are like me and stuck in the rut of eating out all the time for the sake of convenience, you may want to try this out. Although refried beans may not be the healthiest alternative to fast food or store-bought frozen burritos, at least you know your ingredients are fresh and you get to choose which ones go in. If you do not like the way I made these burritos and you have your own favorite version of bean burrito, all you have to do it make it and follow the rest of these simple directions for freezing--and then maybe share your recipe with me :). I am always up for a good refried bean burrito recipe. My recipe is very simple because my husband likes his food to be simple and I wanted to be sure I was making something he would want to eat everyday. There is nothing like making a mass quantity of food that no one will eat :(

Ingredients:
(you decide on the quantity depending on how many burritos you want)
-your favorite refried beans (I used Rosarita, what I had on hand)
-La Victoria thick and chunky salsa verde (to flavor the beans)
-your favorite enchilada sauce (I chose to go with el Pato red enchilada sauce because I had never used their enchilada sauce and wanted to try it out. Tastes very similar to their tomato sauce)
-shredded cheddar cheese
-your favorite tortilla (food city has some they make fresh every morning and I like them the best)
-plastic wrap

Note: I used 4 cans of beans which made about 14 burritos. My tortillas were about the 12 inch size.

Place a stack of tortillas on a plate and heat them up for about 30 seconds in the microwave. This will make them easier to roll up without tearing. Dump the beans into a bowl and mix some of the salsa verde into it. This is to flavor the beans and it also thins them out a little. Add the salsa according to your own taste. Spread a spoonful or two of beans onto a tortilla. Add about a table spoon of enchilada sauce. The more sauce you add, the messier the burrito will be when you eat it. Sprinkle a small handful of cheese. Roll up burrito. If you dont know how to roll up a burrito, there are many tutorials online, though most I found in an attempt to post one on here were really, really terrible. Don't look to an American white male to show you how to roll a burrito. Judging from those tutorials I found, they don't know what they are doing!
Anyway, once you are done rolling all your burritos, roll them individually in plastic wrap and freeze them. When you reheat them in the microwave, it seems that 2 to 3 minutes does the job, turing over once. Enjoy!

It cost me less than 6 dollars to make 14 burritos.

Dried Spiced Apples

What better way to welcome the Fall season into your home than filling the house with the wonderful aroma of drying spiced apples? It is super easy, the outcome is delicious, and there are several ways to do it. My recipe is for the sauce that goes on the apples before you dry them. I found a website with drying directions and several ways to do it if you, like me, are new to dehydrating. You don't need a dehydrator for this! Click here to go to the site.

Spice Mix:

1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
dash of ground ginger (optional)
1 Tbsp honey
juice from one small lemon
juice from 1/2 an orange

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until well blended. Then add your sliced apples and toss to coat them with sauce. I used the gigantic Honey Crisp apples that were on sale at Fry's, and just like the name, they were very sweet and crisp. Once the apples are coated evenly with sauce, they are ready for drying. I used a dehydrator for the drying process. I put them in at around 7pm and they were done by 2pm the next day. It is tricky to tell when they are just right because they will still be bendy and chewy if you taste them while they are still warm. To test their doneness, take a slice out of the dehydrator and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes and if it is crispy like a chip, it is done! I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Warning! They don't keep for very long..... because you cant stop eating them!! :D

Greek Style Pizza

Sometimes it is fun to venture out into unfamiliar territory and explore different ways of life. Some people accomplish this with religion, some by moving to a different place, and some people travel. Me, I like to cook, and I think some might take it for granted just how EASY it can be! :D
I got the idea for this recipe from a pizza I ate at Picazzo Pizza years ago. It is quite easy and very delicious. If you are tired of a life of take out pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, and mac'n'cheese, this is a good place to start your food adventures. I hope you have as much fun going GREEK as I have been having!

Two whole flat breads (I found mine at the bakery from a Walmart Marketside, and it was surprisingly good)
1/3 c. olive oil
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
2 c. baby spinach leaves, shredded
1-2 roma tomatoes, cut in slices and halved
freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese
1/2 c. kalamata olives
1/3 cup goat or feta cheese, crumbled

Place the flat breads on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350. Combine the italian seasoning with the oil and then brush the oil mixture over the flat breads. You may have some oil left over.  Sprinkle lightly, or generously with the romano or parmesan. Then add by layer the spinach leaves, tomatoes, olives, and goat or feta cheese. Drizzle the left over oil over the top of the pizza. Bake the pizzas for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly crisp, but still somewhat soft and fluffy. Do not burn. Then kali orexi! (enjoy your meal!)

Note: it may not be a bad idea to toss the spinach lightly in olive oil before adding to the the pizza, mine dried out around the edges during baking, but it was still yummy!

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies

Smoothies are one of my favorite treats. They are definitely my favorite way to get my fruit serving. Yes, there is sugar (blah blah blah) but what better way to get your vitamins while getting a treat at the same time!? This treat is like cheating the system!

Ingredients:
2 cups milk (or milk substitute; almond milk tastes pretty good in this recipe)
1 banana
3-4 Tbsp sugar (less if your milk substitute is sweetened (I used my homemade vanilla sugar for more flavor))
3 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp chocolate syrup
dash of cinnamon
3 cups ice

Put all of the ingredients in a blender that can handle ice like nobody's business (we have a Vita-Mix and it is a beast). Blend on high until the mixture is smooth and the ice is very fine. Wah-lah! A delicious smoothie that you didn't have to spend 5 dollars on and you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home.  It makes about 2-3 servings.

Tip: This smoothie freezes very well. If you want to save it for later, put it in the freezer immediately. Or if you have a popsicle mold, poor the mixture into it and let it freeze over night. Now you have several treats for later!