Kale Chips

I have heard about these for awhile now but never made an attempt to try them until recently. All I can say is they are amazingly delicious!

Ingredients
1 bunch kale
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar

sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash kale and dry completely. I used the salad spinner.

Cut kale away from stem and chop into "chip" size pieces.

Lay kale on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar, sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 15 minutes. Check to see if they are crispy, if not turn over and continue cooking for 5 more minutes or until crisp.

Eat immediately or allow to cool and keep in air tight container.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe

This original Cooking Light recipe uses Salsa Verde instead of enchilada sauce and great northern beans instead of black beans. I have made this dish a lot, it's an easy way get my Mexican fix without blowing up the calories. And it feeds us for days! This time I tried it with the enchilada sauce and it was just as good. Either way, red or green it's a "sure to please" go to dish!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup prechopped fresh onion
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
Dash of ground red pepper
2 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken
1 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives, divided
18 (6-inch) corn tortillas, divided
Cooking spray
2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
1 cup non-fat milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (16-ounce) can enchilada sauce

10 tablespoon reduced-fat sour cream

Cilantro sprigs (optional)


Directions

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add prechopped onion; cook 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, and pepper; cook 1 minute. Stir in beans; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chicken, 1/2 cup green onions, and 7 tablespoons ripe olives; stir well.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Layer 6 tortillas on bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread 2 cups chicken mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining 6 tortillas.

Combine milk, chopped cilantro, and enchilada sauce in a blender, and process until smooth. Pour over top of tortillas.

Cover and bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese, remaining 1/2 cup green onions, and remaining 1 tablespoon olives. Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve with sour cream. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Homemade Granola with Olive Oil

After trying a friends delicious homemade granola at our "brunch" theme, I knew I had to make some. I searched and searched for the "perfect" recipe but couldn't find it. So I had a little fun of my own using an Alton Brown recipe as a base. I wanted to add flax seeds to this but I didn't have any left, so that will be added to the next batch. It turned out just as I had imagined and I can't wait to try it with my Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast!

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cup raw cashews

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

2 Tbs brown sugar

1/4 plus 2 Tbs real maple syrup

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.

In a seperate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, cinnamon and salt.


Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans.

Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed. Store in air tight container.

FoodGawking!

Here is what has caught my eye lately.

Roasted Beet Hummus

http://www.integral-living.com/home/2010/3/8/roasted-beet-hummus.html

Spicy Pineapple Chicken

http://culinarygeek.net/geeky_food_blog/spicy-pineapple-chicken.html

Tiramisu Pancakes

http://ivoryhut.com/2010/03/tiramisu-pancakes/

Spicy Chicken Satay Quesadilla

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2010/03/chicken-satay-quesadillas-with-spicy.html

Breakfast Quinoa

http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2010/03/breakfast-quinoa.html

Tomato, Goat Cheese, and Onion Tart

This recipe is out of my latest cookbook Gourmet Today! Our latest theme was "brunch" and I thought this tart would be perfect. I want to apologize about not getting pictures of the end result :( I always seem to forget once we are all together and all that delicious food is staring me down!



I used a basic tart/pie dough recipe from another source. I will post the link:
http://localfoods.about.com/od/basics/r/pie_tart_crust.htm

Before I baked the crust I pierced it in several places with the tines of a fork, covered it with foil and filled with beans to keep it from puffing up! Bake in preheated 375 oven for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and bake shell until golden, 8-10 minutes more.












The tart shell is the labor intense part of this recipe, the rest is a breeze!



3 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 large onion, very thinly sliced

salt and freshly ground pepper

6 ounces soft mild goat cheese, crumbled

3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

sliced fresh basil leaves for garnish



Directions



Heat 2 Tbs. oil in a 12 inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 15-20 minutes.

Spread onion over bottom of tart shell. Top with all but 1/3 cup goat cheese. Arrange tomatoes, slightly overlapping, in concentric circles over cheese. Sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil.

Bake until cheese begins to brown slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool tart on a rack for 5 minutes, them remove from pan and garnish with basil!

Chicken Pasanda

Chicken Pasanda is a traditional Pakistani dish. Yogurt replaces heavy cream in this version of the dish and includes fresh pineapple and warm pita bread to dip into the creamy cashew sauce.

Ingredients

1/2 cup roasted cashews
2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded
2 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( more if you like spicy )
1 teaspoon salt, divided
6 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into thirds
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup cubed fresh pineapple
2 tablespoons chopped cashews, roasted
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 (6-inch) pitas, each cut into 6 wedges"

Directions

Cube fresh pineapple.

Place 1/2 cup cashews in a food processor, process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once. Add yogurt, process until well blended. Remove from processor; set aside.

Combine onion lemon juice, ginger and jalapenos in food processor; process until finely chopped.
Combine coriander seeds and next 5 ingredients in large zip-lock bag; add 1/2 teaspoon salt and chicken pieces, and shake to coat.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat; add chicken pieces. Cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add onion mixture to pan. Reduce heat to medium, cook 3 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and yogurt mixture to pan, cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Spoon 1/2 cup yogurt mixture onto plate. Top with some chicken pieces. Sprinkle each plate with about 2 1/2 Tbs. pineapple, 1 tsp. chopped cashews and 1 tsp. cilantro. Serve with pita wedges.